Simchat Torah

Last celebration/holiday for a while, but not least....Simchat Torah! In case you are unaware of what this holiday is, I'll give a brief explanation. It's a holiday that celebrates and marks the conclusion of the annual cycle of public Torah readings and the beginning of a new cycle. It's always a fun and exciting holiday! We danced and drank with the Torahs all night. It sounds weird, but its eventful! I also ate lots of delicious food before the night began at my family's house on my kibbutz. This weekend is also the last weekend with my whole group before people start drafting into the army. It's unbelievable how fast time went and I'm nervous, but also so excited for this new adventure I am about to experience. I am returning to the United States in November for three weeks and then I begin the army in December. Many people in my group start in November...I just got lucky and have a little free time before I begin! I am sure it will be here before I know it though.......

Experiencing Jerusalem and Bedouin tents

Day 2 of our traveling adventures! Yesterday, we woke up very early and drove to Jerusalem. It is about a two hour drive so it's not too bad. We got there and just explored the city really. I have been there countless times, but it's a beautiful city. We were there from around 10 am until 3-4 pm. We also went to Har Herzl which is a cemetery where all the important people are buried or soldiers who died either in war or just during their service in the army. I have also been to this cemetery multiple times and it amazes me every time. It is really beautiful and it is well taken care of. There are flowers and lots of green everywhere. It is sad reading all the grave stones because most of the people buried there are my age..so around 18-21.

So after our tour of Jerusalem, we drove very south of Israel near a city called Sde Boker. It was about a three hour drive. I was exhausted so I slept for most of the way. We drove to Sde Boker to sleep in the Bedouin tents. This is a very popular and touristy place to visit when you are in Israel. I have been multiple times, not because I want to but mainly because of programs I've done in Israel. The food is always amazing, but I can never sleep well. The tents are really dusty so it makes me sick. I think it's a really great experience to have though. Anyways, so we got there and ate dinner. Afterwards we had a bonfire and just socialized. I was still really exhausted so I just went back to my tent I was staying in. 

In the Bedouin tent!

The next morning we woke pretty early, packed up our stuff, ate, and got on the bus. We went hiking for a few hours somewhere nearby. I am not sure where, but it was fun. It was an easy hike, but it was hot. I enjoyed it though. It was really beautiful and most people would not expect Israel to have such scenery.
 

What a Bedouin tent looks like

After our hike, we had lunch which were just sandwiches we had to make earlier that day. We rested for about an hour and finally left. We then drove to a place called Mizpe Ramon, which is a city in the desert. There is a big crater called makhtesh there. It is also incredibly gorgeous. I could sit there for hours     and just looking at it. It sounds weird, but I have been there many times and the view never gets old! Anyways, after being there for a little bit we drove back to our kibbutz. It was a long bus ride and I was exhausted so I slept. Once I returned I ate dinner and now catching up with everything since we have free time until tomorrow. Tomorrow is another holiday called Simchat Torah. This is another fun holiday and during this holiday there is a lot of drinking and dancing with the Torah. Sounds weird, but like I said it's always fun to celebrate! I'll explain more about it on my next blog!:)

Tiyul

Just in case you were wondering, Tiyul is the hebrew word for trip or going hiking. So the past few days we have been traveling Israel. On Sunday we went to a museum on the Israeli Occupation in 2005. Usually I don't do well with museums because I can never focus, but this was very interesting and I learned so much even though the majority of it was in hebrew. Basically until 2005, Israel occupied Gaza in the same way that it occupied the West Bank. That included Israeli military bases and settlements, communities of Jews living inside Palestinian territory. In 2005, Israeli Prime minister Ariel Sharon decided to withdraw from Gaza.

"Sharon, a longtime hawk and skeptic of Palestinian independence, had concluded that the Israeli occupation was no longer in Israel's interest. Sharon withdrew Israeli outposts and uprooted about 10,000 settlers. It was a hugely controversial move inside Israel, particularly on the political right — the current Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, quit the government in protest. Sharon left control of Gaza to a united Palestinian Authority, governed by the moderate Fatah party from Ramallah, in the West Bank. But that's not actually how things worked out — Hamas quickly became the dominant power in Gaza. That means that Palestinians in Gaza aren't just physically separated form those in the West Bank, they're governed separately as well."

I knew about all this, but I never knew the details to it all. This is just a brief explanation for it, but I can't imagine being kicked out of my home and being forced to move somewhere else. I was also in Israel that year when it was going on. I remember I was young and all the protests going on for it, but I never knew what it was for. Now, its been 9 years and I finally understand. I remember that every one was handing out neon orange strings and we had many of them. We attached them to all our suitcases and we still have them. It's crazy to think all this time later that I would finally understand what it was for and it was actually a huge deal.

After all this, we went to the beach for a little bit and then out to eat for hamburgers in a city called Ashdod. Ashdod is about 30-45 minutes south of Tel-Aviv. They were the best hamburgers ever! Overall, it was an eventful day!

http://www.vox.com/2014/7/16/5904691/hamas-israel-gaza-11-things

Holiday after holiday!

Friends from a program I did in Israel 2 years ago

Hellooo- My life has just been so busy I haven't had time to blog at all until now!! So the week after Rosh Hashana (the Jewish New Year) was Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur is one of the holiest holidays of the year. It is a fasting holiday so I fasted for 24 hours. It is difficult, but if you sleep all day then it goes by quickly. Yom Kippur means day of Atonement. I was in Haifa, which is a city north of Israel for this. After Yom Kippur, we had two normal days of learning hebrew and then another Jewish holiday began! The holiday of Sukkot began Tuesday evening and it lasts one week. We are off all week for it, which is nice. Sukkot begins 5 days after Yom Kippur and is one of the most joyous holidays of the year with lots of food! It is such a drastic change from Yom kippur since it is one of the most solemn holiday of the year. Sukkot is always a fun holiday because for the holiday you are supposed to build a tent like model and basically live in it for the week. My family on my kibbutz I live on has a huge one. I helped them build it and we all made many decorations for it. A lot of people in Israel go camping for the holiday as well. I was planning on it, but I went to visit my friends in a city called Ra'Anna. Ra'Anna is a city in central Israel, north of Tel-Aviv. I stayed with them for two nights and it was a lot of fun because I had not seen them in about 5-6 months!

This is what a sukkah is supposed to look like!

My roommate for 9 months on a program I did in Israel two years ago

The months of September and October are busy with many holidays and many things going on! It is the best time to come to Israel because you can really experience all the celebrations and Jewish holidays.