Time Is Flying... Israel IS More Amazing Than Ever! I Wish I Could Stay!!!!!

The past two weeks of TRY have been amazing though it is sad to realize how fast they are passing.  3 weeks from now, I will be back home.

The last Shabbat I stayed with Maia and German again, German had his police van so he gave me a tour of the car and when it was time to go to the bus station, he took me in the car! It was really funny to watch the cars move to the other lane because they were scared of the car! At the station, I met up with my friend Jenna and Naomi to catch the same bus back. On the bus, a Shomer Negiah guy was flirting with them and tried to convince us that he was a drug dealer but then said just kidding. 

On Sunday night it was lag Baomer, we had the awesome opportunity to walk around the streets of Jerusalem and see the massive Bon Fires.

On Tuesday we went on a Tiyul past the green line to learn about the settlements. We went toGush Etzion, a settlement which was built 3 times after being destroyed, one of the most brave battles of the War of Independence was fought there. We then went to Efrat to listen to a right wing speaker tell us about what he thinks should happen with the Palestinians. He said that we need peace, but that we cannot have two states, it has to be under Israel.

On Thursday we went to volunteer either to a soup kitchen, or to a farm. I volunteered at the farm and we began to clear the rocky Jerusalem land from locks to make it suitable to farm. Later, we walked to a beautiful synagogue and met up with the shutaf kids for sports day. It was really a great experience, the kids were happy to see us and we were happy to see them! I was having fun, but then I fell during the obstacle course and hurt my toe L We then had our free night early at emek rafaim. I went to go eat at a really good vegan restaurant with my vegetarian friends.

Shabbat Yachad, Shabbat together was really fun! On Friday, we had the amazing opportunity to go to a soccer game. It was great because I really miss soccer, and it got me into the mood for the world cup this upcoming year! Even though the game was really bad, it was still really fun! The team we were chearing for won the game 9-1. We then came back and it was time for Shabbat! I got ready, and I went to Shir Hadasha, the orthodox synagogue that has a mehitzah (Separation between men and women) but women wear tallit and read the Torah. We then had Shabbat dinner, and I crashed early because I was so tired.

            On Saturday I woke up at 6:00 to go to my madrich, Avihai’s synagogue. On that day I learned that Yemenite Jews sound like a herd of goats when they pray, and that goat noises should now replace all of the sleeping music on my Ipod. Everyone was out. We then came back and I slept until 1:00. We then had free time until 4:30 when it was mincha. We had activities and by the time we were done it was time for havdallah.

On this past Tuesday, instead of going on a tiyul, we had an ICC project. We were assigned to different groups and given an article to write topics on. My group chose the topic Yizkor (Rememberance) and we went to Yad Vashem and Har Hertzel to interview 10 people. Out of all of the interviews, my favorite one was when we met an aboriginal survivor from Canada in Yad Vashem who was sent away from home to rehabilitation schools to become more “Civilized” Like what happened to the native Americans in America.

            On Thursday we woke up at 1am and got on a two-hour bus ride to the middle of nowhere in the Negev. We got out of the bus, and began hiking. We hiked for an hour and a half and we had 35 minutes to our selves to watch the sunrise and the beautiful mountains. We then hiked up to David Ben Gurion and his Wife’s grave, the first prime minister of Israel.

We then went back to the hava and we were all exhausted. We slept until 2:00 and then did homework all day until our free night, I went to Ben Yehuda with my friends and walked around for two hours.

Women of the wall

This past Friday, I had the opportunity to attend a Women of the wall protest. WoW is a group of women who gather at the kotel every rosh hodesh to pray freely, out loud, with tallit and tefillin. I have allways wanted to go to a WoW protest because I believe that everyone should have the right to pray freely without being persecuted for what they believe in.

We woke up at 6:00 In the morning, got in Taxis and drove to the Kotel. The first taxi on the street we hailed had a religious driver and he said that he would not take us. We then hailed another taxi and after the worst taxi ride of my life, we got off and began walking towards the kotel. At first sight of the plaza, there were thousands of people. I thought that this was normal at first because it is rosh hodesh! Only later we learned that all of the people there were Haredi (Ultra orthodox) trying to block the monthly protest. After finally pushing our way through the crowds, we made it into the area were the service was being held. A handful of police officers had barricaded the area so no one protesting could enter. For the first time, the police were defending WoW because a court order was passed that the WoW are doing nothing wrong and that no more arrests should be made. We began to pray, and it was one of the most amazing feelings I have ever had in my entire life. We drowned out the whistles and the yells of the Haredi men who were trying to stop the service. When I turned around again, hundreds of soldiers and police were there, the haredim had turned violent.

They began calling the people trying to protect us Nazis, and called the women whores. A man started yelling at me and he said “You are not Jewish! Why do you support this? Take your tefillin off now!” I was in shock. Soon enough they began throwing things at us, garbage, water, coffee, and even a chair! The police and Haredim began hitting eachother! 

Two of my friends from TRY: Meital and Jenna

 We decided that it was time to leave, we did not know at that time that the Police had made a pathway for us to go through so we tried leaving by pushing through the haredi women. At first, they would not move, but then, my friends put me in the front so I could push through because the Haredi Women are Shomer Negiah (Do not touch men) All of the sudden, it felt like I was moses and the red sea had parted. When we got to the end of the crowd, there was a police human chain, which would not let us out so we went back to where the services were. We found the actual exit and went through. The soldiers and police had ran out of barricades so they made a giant human chain through the entire plaza of the Kotel. As we went through, the haredi men tried to break the blockade, and called my friends whores. We eventually got out, and I thanked as many soldiers as I could. We were trying to get into a taxi as fast as possible because the Haredi saw us leave and began to follow us. A teenage boy, my age, started yelling things at me so I just looked at him, smiled, and waved. We got into a taxi and went back to school. I will never forget this experience; it will stay with me forever.

On Shabbat I stayed with my friends Nate and Aden with my moms cousins. We went to the beach on Saturday and regained our much-needed rest. I also met a cat that was like a dog and it came to sit in my lap and would not leave. I should really stop petting cats because I am allergic to them. Oh well, time for our last two weeks of school!

This is The "Official TRY week 15 Video!"

 

Gadna Week... Ken HaMefaked(et)!

Everything leading up to Gadna helped us understand what it meant to be in the IDF. We learned about what it meant to have a Jewish state that we could defend without depending on anyone else. We learned about the heroes of Zionism

  and of the Jewish people.

The Shabbat before Gadna I went with my friend Noah to Herzeliya. We stayed with Chris an American diplomat, and his wife Rene. It was one of the best Shabbats I have had in Israel by far! We went to temple Friday and Saturday and without Noah and I, there would not have been a Minyan. There was almost no Minyan on Saturday, so instead of reading torah, we studied torah. One woman had a yortzite for her husband so she was really sad that there was no Minyan so we ran out and grabbed 3 people off of the street and asked them to come for kaddish. I have never had the problem of getting a Minyan because I am used to a huge community with a lot of people, but it felt great knowing that I made it possible for the woman to say kaddish. When we got back to Rene’s house she told us stories about her life which was really cool because she has lived all over the world. She is a biker and is really nice which surprised me.

            

 When we got to the Bus at the Hava we drove to the middle of nowhere to an IDF base called Sde Boker which is across the kibbutz from where Ben Gurion lived. When we got there we were told the basic rules and we were divided into four different groups called Tzevets. My tzevet was made up of 11 with two boys and nine girls. The mefakedets (Leaders of the groups) were really intimidating and had no souls.

After the first hours, we had our uniforms and mine was ripped and the pants had no buttons so I asked If I could exchange them but she said no and made me do push ups. We then went to an opening ceremony and at this point we had been standing for three hours. The mefakedets chose two people from each of the tzevets and chose two group leaders who were responsible for the group. From my Tzevet, Ironically Shira and I were chosen to be the group leaders. We had dinner and it was amazing compared to the food that we get fed at the Hava. After dinner they gave us an hour to get ready before we go to sleep and in that hour we all took showers and that was when we had our first encounters with the Israeli Juvenile delinquents who were there. They really liked calling us Big Macs and Whipping us with towels but while they were talking to us in English, I would answer them in Spanish.

I guess this is an IDF "red neck..."

When the hour was over, we got back in our Chet and the Mefakedet told us that we had to wake up at 5:30 the next morning. When we went to our tents, there was a mefakedet watching us sleep so we would not talk. All of the boys could not stop laughing and she was really annoyed. I asked to say the Shema and she yelled at me telling me to be quiet.

            The next day we learned a lot about techniques soldiers use to blend in and learned about how soldiers do things. We went to a big park and we ran, crawled, laid in bushes and camouflaged our faces with dirt. I carried a 30 pound container of water on my back all day and I was really proud of myself for carrying it all day.

When we finished at the park we walked back to the base for an hour. At night it was our turn to do kitchen duty and it was one of the highlights for me. We covered the entire dining room in soap water and we had to mop, but instead of mopping, we played hockey with squeegees and we used a spoon as the puck.

            

 The next day it was the same routine. Wake up at 5:30, roll up the tents, get in uniform and be waiting for the mefakedet in a chet at 6. Whoever was late whoever did not have a full water bottle and whoever was not standing in achshev was punished. I decided I was bored of following orders and that I was going to try my best to do push ups. I stopped counting after 400 push ups throughout the whole week. That day we had 5 classes on how to fire a weapon and learned all of the safety rules. 

Firing The M16

            The next day was the day that everyone was waiting for, the day we got to shoot the gun. When we got to the shooting range it was outdoors and it was very hot outside. We went 9 at a time and we shot laying down. We were ordered to sit down, then put our earmuffs on, lay down and pick up the gun, puck the magazine in the gun, cock the gun, turn the safety off, and fire. We had 10 shots and it was really cool to me because I have never shot a gun before. I was nervous to shoot it because I thought the recoil would hurt me but it did not. We did not get to keep the target we got to shoot at but I wish we did because I wanted to see if I was good or not. When we got back we had Sports Day and played physically challenging games.

           

  The last day, we turned in our dirty smelly uniforms and got into a circle with our mefakedet. She then told us to sit down and we said “Ken mefakedet!” she then said “No! Ken Amit!” We were all

Tzevet 2

really confused because she told us that under no circumstances we should call her by her first name! She told us about herself and said that she was from kibbutz Sde Boker! The kibbutz right behind were we went rappelling at! She also told us the story about her sister who was an officer in the IDF when she passed away and gave us her favorite quote a quote I will never forget. “The man who has been blessed is the one that can give without asking back and to get without ever forgetting”. It was amazing to know that she was not a mean person, but she was very nice. By the end of Gadna we were all exhausted from waking up early, standing, and running around all day. When we got back to school on Friday I had to hold back the urge to say “Ken Mefakedet” To my teachers! It was an amazing week that I learned a lot in and that I will never forget!


The TRY Gadna Week Video...

Three Yoms... Three Days... Shoah, Memory, Independence... Bitter Cold, Sadness, Exhuberant Joy!

When I last wrote a blog, we were finishing the Yam L'Yam walk and we were headed back to Jerusalem.  When we finally got back to Jerusalem, we began to prepare for Yom Hatsmaut, yom hazikaron, and yom Hashoah. On Thursday we went on a Tiyul to the king David hotel, and a British prison to learn about the British occupation of Israel during WWII. We learned about the underground military organizations of Israel who wanted to A) Not drive out the British because they were fighting the Nazis and then fight the British, B) Wait for the British to give them the land, or C) Fight the British because the army was busy in Europe. On Shabbat, I brought Shira with me and stayed with Maia and German who live near Rehovot. My dad married them, and I had a great time with them!  

 German is a member of an Elite Swat Unit of The Tel Aviv Police and Maia is one of the daughters of Rabbi Mauricio Balter.  They are like family to me! They have a baby named Maor who is only 4 months old, and he does not make a sound!

With my parents and Moshe who is really an awesome teacher!

One of the most amazing experiences of my life was being in Israel for Yom Hashoah, Yom Hazikaron, and Yom Hatsmaut. On the week of the Shoah, we spent every day learning about the Holocaust. On Sunday night we went to a ceremony open to everyone on campus. The ceremony was all in Hebrew, and songs and poems were recited. The next morning, we walked to a busy street to hear the siren sound for two minutes. All of the cars pulled over to the side of the road and the drivers got out and stood in silence, traffic completely stopped. We held a ceremony and shared the stories of our families and how they survived the war. When we got back to the hava, we had an all day learning session in ICC class. Near 9:00 we ended the session by playing songs on the guitar and singing in the memory of the 11 million who died in the holocaust. At  this moment, I felt every emotion at once. Happiness because we are still here, and sadness for the ones who were senselessly murdered by the Nazis.

On Wednesday my parents came to visit me! I felt bad during their whole visit because I did not really want to be with them, I wanted to be with my friends, my family, TRY. I still cannot believe how fast time flies, I feel like I got here yesterday. 

On Thursday we went to Yad Vashem. I have been to Yad Vashem 5 times, but this was my sixth time, the first time I went into the museum. I never went into the museum because I was either too young or too scared, I did not want to learn about the holocaust or ever think about it because I would just get sad. In the museum, the huge electric fence poles from Auschwitz filled me with emotion. We went to the Children’s Museum, and our guide asked us to remember one name. I remembered Ziev Curtis, 13 years old, from Hungary.

At Palmachim Beach on Yom Hatsmaut...

For Shabbat I stayed with my parents and we visited 4 different families in one day, it was crazy! Right after school, we drove straight to Tel Aviv to visit my aunt Tali who came with the March Of the Living with the kids from Mexico. I was really happy to see her because I never get to see her, and I really love her! On Saturday we saw Yossi and Susan Silverman (Susan Is Sarah Silverman’s sister she is a reform Rabbi and very active in Women of the wall, Yossi owns a solar power company which he started in Kibbutz Keturah) Then we walked to Andy Green’s house (Rabinical student) who hopefully will be my father’s Rabbinic Intern in Las Vegas this coming year. On the way there, we saw Arie Hasit (TRY Recruiter). After that, my uncle Yahel and his wife came to visit us.

On Sunday Night, it was Yom Hazikaron. We held a ceremony and watched two documentaries on Michael Levin and Yoni Netanyahu. We watched the Ceremony at the Kotel and stood in Silence for two minutes to commemorate the 23,000 who gave their lives for this country.
The next morning we went to the Hava ceremony where we all stood in a garden and listened to songs and poems. It was not like the Yom Hashoah Ceremony, it was more powerful because it is still an ongoing event. More people are added to the 23,000 every year. Everyone in Israel knows someone who has been killed in the army or in an attack. It was even more sad than Yom Hashoah. At night we walked to a temple to have a ceremony to transition from Yom Hazikaron to Hatsmaut. We all sat outside and there was live music and a lot of people. Everyone was dancing and singing, the atmosphere completely changed from sad to happy in 30 minutes.  Below is a video of what the streets of downtown Jerusalem looked like on Yom Hatsmaut!

 

It was extremely weird. We then walked to Ben Yehuda Street to party. There were so many people, it was ridiculous. I have never seen Ben Yehuda more crowded in my entire life! After walking around Ben Yehuda for a little bit, I saw my friend Yoni who is in my USY chapter who came on march of the living! I then went to a side street off of Ben Yehuda where there was a huge concert and everyone was Israeli Dancing. When we got back to the Hava, it was 2 in the morning and my feet were killing me. I crashed on my bed. The next morning I could not feel my feet!

We got to wake up at 8, which was amazing because we never get to sleep in! We went to the beach and had a barbecue. Even though the weather was horrible, we still made the best of it! On Wednesday we went on a Tiyul to the Hebrew U to learn about possibly doing University here, which sounds really cool! On Thursday we went to the Independence Hall in Tel Aviv, the place were Israel was declared a State and The Palmach museum, which is a museum about the War Of Independence. These past two weeks have been extremely powerful to me, I am really proud to be Jewish. Off to Gadna!

At The Hebrew University Of Jerusalem!  What An Amazing Place...

Pesach in Israel... Yam L'Yam Walk And Did I Mention I Got Pooped On By A Cow?

The week before Passover we had two Tiyulim. We went to Meah Shearim on Tuesday to learn about the ultra orthodox community, It was really interesting to learn about how different they are from everyone else, and how they do not serve in the army which is totally wrong in my opinion, and I still did not get to touch a fuzzy hat L. On Thursday we went on a Tiyul to the Zoo in Jerusalem where I was attacked by a tree. After the Tiyul to the Zoo, we went back to the Hava and said our goodbyes to everyone who only came for half of the program, which were two of my very good friends Nate, my roommate, and Sarah, who was the only senior who came on TRY. Everyone was really sad to see them leave because we were all so close to them. After they left, all of TRY left the Hava to spend 6 days at a host home of their choice.

  

Pesach Menú at Café Cafe

 I stayed in Ber Sheva with Rabbi Mauricio Balter who is like an uncle to me. He is one of the leading Rabbis of the conservative movement in Israel and he is one of my dad’s best friends, he is originally from Uruguay and made Aliyah with his family about 20 years ago. He came all of the way from Ber Sheva to Jerusalem to pick me up which was extremely nice. On Friday he took me to a place where food is premade for Shabbat and you can take anything, put it in a container, and pay by weight. To my surprise, the food was amazing. He then took me to an amazing restaurant to where troubled teens were taught to be chefs. Friday night, I went to temple, and after we had a great dinner. On Saturday I went to temple again and they gave me the honor of dressing the Torah, I was half asleep while they called me up so they had to call me up twice to wake me up. There were a lot of people because it was the assistant rabbi’s baby naming. On Saturday night we went to the mall to eat, they took me to Sushi which I tremendously miss. Sunday I slept all day because TRY has deprived me of my sleep. On Sunday I went to the mall with his daughter, Shani, and then he took me to the movies to watch Argo. On Monday, Erev Pesach (The eve of Pesach) ,

I went to temple before the Seder. The Seder was amazing, my first seder in Israel, AND it was only in Spanish. This was the first time that I was not at home for the Passover seder, and I really missed the way we did it at home, but it was fun to try something different. Tuesday was the last day I spent in Ber Sheva,

I rested all day so I could function for the rest of break! For dinner we went to a restaurant called CaféCafé. The restaurant was Kosher for Passover, and to my surprise, the Gnocchi that I ordered tasted better than any other gnocchi I have ever had, and it was kosher for Passover.

 On Wednesday I was reunited with the TRY group and we went North to do Yam L’Yam which is a hike from Lake Kineret to the Mediterranean Sea. Because we did not have enough time to do all of it we did half of it. On the first day we walked 3 miles and on the second day we walked 7. At night we made large campfires and everyone gathered around the fire. We set up our own tents for the night and shared a tent with 2-3 other guys on the trip. Even though it was freezing outside, it was not that cold in the tent because we all huddled up for body warmth. On the third day we went repelling at an arch which was covered with goat poop one foot deep at the bottom, it was so gross but it was fun to slide in. My shoes changed a shade of color from walking in it. The way up, which was supposed to be a “Nature walk” Turned out to be harder than hiking up the hard path of Massada. I loved Yam l’yam, even though I got sick, It was still an amazing experience. I did not like going 3 days without a shower, and I smelt worse than I have ever smelt in my entire life, I smelt worse than my dog Nacho, but it was okay because we all smelled bad. I also became a professional nature pooper.

We spent Shabbat on the only Conservative Kibbutz in Israel, Kibbutz Hannaton. Shabbat was nice and calm, we went to temple Friday and Saturday. On Saturday we got a tour of the kibbutz, and a cow pooped me on.
At night we went to a party boat on a kineret which was really fun, even though it was infested with spiders. It was like the movie Snakes on a place, but instead it was spiders on a boat. I really wanted to try and walk on water, and prove that I am The Mesiah but my Madrich would not let me jump off. After the party, we had some free time at the outdoor market. On Sunday we went on a Tiyul to learn about Zionism and the foundations of Zionism. We had a couple of stops, first being the grave of Naomi Shemer and Rachel the poet. Then we went to another grave more north where we learned about Joseph Trumpeldor in Tel Hai and the place where 12 IDF soldiers were killed by a rocket from Lebanon that hit during the second world war. On the way there, it really surprised me to see how full the Kineret was, there was no more beach, just steps into the water. After a long while of being sad, we went to Raft on the Jordan River! Since there are only 10 boys and 34 girls, I am always in a group of girls. The raft man, called us up by saying “Ladies!” and then he noticed me… “And dude!” Rafting down the river was fun although I got lost in splashing the JAP boat so one person on my boat did all of the paddling, and she took it competitively seriously. After rafting we went back to the kibbutz, and we were all very tired.

            Monday, our last day on the kibbutz, and the last day of pesach, we had a lot of free time. At the end of the day we had a bond fire. It sounds boring, but it was amazing. We had Druze make Druze food which was really good. We also had live music, coming from everyone who could play guitar. I played and sang a song called “falling slowly” in front of everyone to my beautiful girlfriend, Shira. It was a great night.

            On Tuesday we woke up at 6:30, which not too many people were happy about. We went on a Tiyul to learn about minorities in Israel starting by speaking with Israeli Arab kids. At first it was interesting, but then it was sad to hear from them that they really hate Israel. It was shocking and disappointing to find out that they do not know about the holocaust, and that they commemorate “The Disaster” Instead of Israeli independence day. After that we went to the Bahai Gardens in Haifa to learn about the Bahai, And then we went to a Druze village to learn about the Druze. The Druze were cool to learn about because they are kind and peaceful people who support Israel. After an introduction to the Druze, we were able to walk around a Druze market place and buy stuff. Dad, if you are reading this, THANK YOU! My China Bargaining skills came in handy. It was sad to hear that some of my friends bought 5$ Things for 40$!! One lady tried to convince me that something plastic was hand made and was not plastic!

            When we got back to the Hava, everyone was sad that break was over but happy. I walked into my room, and was sad because one of my roommates was gone, the room felt empty. Can’t wait to see my parents next week!

           

Here is a Video of our TRY group during Havdaalah at Kibbutz Hannaton when Pesach ended!

TRY... Just Keeps Getting Better and Better! What a week...

This week was lots of fun! Even though it was parent week and there were old people everywhere, it was still great! On Tuesday we had a trip to a crusader fortress and an Arab village 10 minutes out of Jerusalem, they were both really cool to see! We went to a place that looked like a normal park, but we walked 10 minutes and found ourselves in a crusader fortress. 

Our ICC teacher told the group to pick a battering ram to open the doors, and of course they chose me. 6 people carried me head first to the doors of the fortress and they used me as a battering ram, when the doors opened, without being aware of what was going on, a water balloon had hit me in the face. 

The Madrichim (Counselors) were on top of the fortress throwing water balloons at us! After that, it was time to surprise the other half of the TRY group at the fortress. Little did we know that they had swords and helmets, we also thought that they would come through the front door, they came through both and started hitting us with paper swords.

After that, we got on the bus and left for the Arab Village. We went into a beautiful mosque and had a question and answer session with a woman who was from Britain and converted to Islam. I learned a lot about what they believe in, and how they practice their religion. I never really knew anything about Islam so it was really cool to learn, there are a lot of similarities between Islam and Judaism. It was also really funny to see the girls fully covered in 90º weather.

             

When we got back we had more boring school, but on Thursday we went on a trip to Tel Aviv! We went to the Diaspora museum, and then we went to Jaffo. We walked around the streets of Jaffo and then took a walk on the beach to the Israeli Dance team studio. We walked around for a little while, and had some amazing Ice Cream! 

We then saw the house of Shai Agnon, the man who is on the 50 Shekel Bill. After that we got on a bus for another 10 minutes and got off at the Tel Aviv boardwalk. It is one of my favorite places in Tel Aviv and in Israel because it is beautiful and although I had been there many times before, it was great being there with my friends and without my parents watching my every move. We had an hour of free time, and then we had pizza for dinner. We got back on the bus to Jerusalem and we were back at around 11. 

 We spent our Shabbat in Tzfat, one of the four religious “holy” cities in Israel. We arrived at a youth hostel one hour before Shabbat and everyone got ready, we all wore white. We then went to temple and got four choices, I went to the Carlebach synagogue, it was really cool to dance with people I have never seen in my life. After 10 minutes, I couldn’t breathe because in a room meant for 40 people.  There were 80, there was barely any room to move. I went outside and danced with some soldiers. We went back and had Shabbat dinner.

On the way back, we all sang and passed some Hassidim who covered their ears because they didn’t want to hear women singing (nice right?)... The next day we did the same thing, woke up went to Temple, but this time I went to a temple where there was a rabbi who was called the Lion Rabbi (The Ari).

During the war of Independence, A bomb exploded outside of the temple and shrapnel flew into the temple. Miraculously, no one was injured because everyone was bowing down for the Aleinu. There is still a hole in the Bimah today from the shrapnel, and people put notes into it. When Temple ended, we got into our ICC classes and we were given a tour of the old city of Zefat. There were men with fuzzy hats (Shtreimels) everywhere which was really cool to me, I’ve always wanted to touch one, I think though it was good to resist the temptation.  I am not sure these particular group of men would have appreciated me touching their fuzzy hats. 

Want to buy one?

It is like wearing a bear!

We learned about the many miracles the happened in Tzfat such as when there was an earthquake and the Rabbi instructed everyone to come to the ark if they wanted to live, everything collapsed and was destroyed around them except for the ark. We then went back to the Hostel did Havdalah, packed, and started our 3 hour journey back to Jerusalem.

             

Every week keeps on getting better, we are almost halfway done with the program and I really don’t want to go back home.  If I could I would stay here forever, I would! I have already learned a lot about me, and a lot about Judaism. I am having the most amazing time of my life. 

Oh, and watch the new video! Really fun and there is an interview of me in it!  Plus a lot of other great stuff.  Best TRY Video yet!

Druze Food, Bug Bites and Writing a Song for The Israeli Elections!

Yes! I did take this picture... Believe it or not!

Although we did get to walk in the footsteps of  Jesus (after all, he was an Israeli too...), this week was not as adventurous or exciting as the rest! When we got back from Ketura, it was time for school again! Everyone was really stressed out but my friend Sam, because Sam is like the honey badger, he wears bright colorful pants and he does not care. He lays on the grass all day. 

On tuesday, we had an ICC (This The Israel Core Class where we learn about Israel and Israeli Society) project which was to re enact the elections that took place in Israel recently. I represented the Yesh Atid party, and I learned a lot about Israeli politics. I got to write and perform an original song of why everyone should vote for Yesh Atid. 


Although I thought that my song was amazing, and could possibly win an oscar, we only got 10 votes while the Likud party got 13 votes.   Forming a coalition in order to get the majority of the seats was extremely stressful and everyone kept yelling at each other.  By the way, one of the people who ran for office with Yesh Atid is a woman by the name of Ruth Calderon, she gave AN AMAZING SPEECH at The Knesset.  She is the type of person that we need so that Israel can change for the better.  You can watch the YouTube video of what she said by clicking here (It has subtitles don't worry).

After that we just had more school, on Thursday we walked in the foot steps of Jesus! We visited two churches, which was really cool for me because I have never stepped into a church in my entire life, we went to the room of the last supper where Jesus ate his last meal, and under that room, we visited the tomb of king David where we held Mincha (although we all really know that King David is not really buried there). We also got to walk on the rampart of one of the walls in the old city and had some free time at Mamilla mall! 

This Shabbat, I stayed with my moms cousins in Herzeliyah. It is so great to have family so close to me here, my mom's cousin's name is Yahel and he and his family are super nice.  In Las Vegas we have no family.  Here in Israel I have a lot of cousins and my parents have a lot of friends. We went to a park on The North  for a picnic and ate Druze food and saw The Kalanyiot (beautiful Israeli wild flowers) bloom. It was really fun, until I woke up at 4 in the morning with bug bites all over me.  Which reminds me of one of the benefits of living in Las Vegas NO BUGS!  Oh well, time for another week of TRY!

I have a brief correction on The Rocket Siren in Eilat: Actually, have you ever seen on TV, those people that say they were so nervous they don't remember anything? Well, it took sometime for all to come back but here it is...  When the Siren sounded, everyone was panicking and had no idea what to do, but I did, the door to my room was locked but the window was opened so I somehow squeezed myself into the window, ran to the door to let everyone else in, ran to the bomb shelter, punched out a window to close the Iron window, and closed all of the doors.

This was all in under 10 seconds. Everyone 
was really frightened, I was shaking. Luckily,  it was a false alarm and nothing was actually happening.

Here is the "Official Video" from our 4th week at TRY!  These have been some of the most exciting weeks ever!  watch the video,  really cool!

A Week In Kibbutz Keturah

This week on Try was a Relief! The week started like a normal one with 10 hours of long school on Sunday and Monday, with a really stressful test on Tuesday and a Tiyul (trip) to the Kotel tunnels! I’m not going to lie, the kotel tunnels just looked like tunnels under the kotel which I was not too ecstatic about walking through plus I was a little under the weather. Anyway, there is something special in knowing that you are walking on the very same street that someone like Ravi Akivah may have also walked on, yes, same paving stones and all.

On Wednesday we went to Kibbutz Ketura which is in The Arava in Southern Israel, we got a break from 10 hour school days and horrible plastic food. The whole Experience was amazing, on the first day they gave us a tour of the Kibbutz, from the Dairy farms, to the solar fields.  The Solar fields are the brain child of my dad's very good friend Yossi Abramowitz who was The President Of The World Union of jewish Students when my Dad was The President of The Latin American Union of Jewish Students like 100 years ago.  Then we went to one of the only factories in the world where an algae that slows cancer down is produced. 

After the tour, we climbed a mountain behind the Kibbutz were they have 7 barrels they light on fire which they use as a menorah for Hanukkah. On thursday we went on a hike to Eilat to a mountain were you can see four different countries from (Har Tzfahot) which I remember climbing on a Temple Beth Sholom trip when I was a little kid. It was a two hour hike, and when we came down we went to the red sea and went snorkeling in a coral reef. It was a windy day, so I felt like the water was trying to drown me. 



After I decided that snorkeling was not  my thing, I laid on the beach with friends for about an hour. 

When we came back to the Kibbutz we had some free time, and then learned more about how a Kibbutz works. On Friday, we did not leave the Kibbutz. We signed up for activities and I chose an activity called decoupage which is gluing napkins onto a pot, it was a lot more fun than it actually sounds though. Then it was time for lunch so we helped set the tables in the dining room and helped make Challah for the whole Kibbutz. 

We then had time to get ready for Shabbat, and walk around the Kibbutz. I decided to go pet some cows because I really had nothing better to do. 

Friday Night there was a malfunction on the Kibbutz' emergency signal system and when it started to sound we thought we were under rocket attack so we actually had to run to a shelter.  Everything was fine and had it been a real situation, everyone would have made it to the shelter on time.  It was amazing to see how calm people were and how they help each other in a situation like the one we experienced. 


On saturday we woke up, prayed, and then we had more activities teaching us about the Kibbutz. At night, we had free time on the Board Walk of Eilat. The next day we went on a biking trip to the Choco factory! Although it was supposed to be a biking trip, we got hit by a sand storm so it was more of a midway bike bus trip. It was upsetting to me because I really like Biking. We tried to go to some sand dunes after, but the wind would not let us get close to the sand! After we had our activities, we made our own Pita and had dinner, It was really good! The next day, was the last day. We got up, went on a hike to Timna, were the egyptians mined for copper and then departed for Jerusalem! We were all really sad because it meant that we actually had to do school work now, and a four hour bus ride. Eilat really made me think of Las Vegas because of the mountains and warm weather which is non existent in Jerusalem. Everyone makes fun of me because I am cold in 50 degrees!!