I am writing this post on February 25, 2013 which is Adar 15 and Purim in Jerusalem. Purim is celebrated one day later in Jerusalem because it is a walled city. This week has definitely been the best week so far. On Monday, we went to the Old City to learn about the destruction of the Second Temple. When we finished, we followed the zealots up onto Massada. It was actually very interesting to finally understand the connection between the destruction of The Temple and Massada. I had been to Israel many times but it is only now that I feel that History is coming alive for me. I think it has a lot to do with our teachers and the way in which everything is being explained to us, you get to actually see the places that you are being taught about. We stayed at the youth hostel over night, and we were woken up at 4:00 in the morning so we could see the sun rise. Instead of taking the snake path, we took the long path, the runners path. It was about a two hour hike, up a cliff. The only reason that everyone was able to get to the top was because everyone was helping each other and being supportive.
My Purim Costume ;)
There is no better feeling than reaching the top of Massada. We spent some time in Massada and we visited the site and we also got plenty of explanations as to how everything happened up there. After we learned about what happened there, we went to the Dead Sea. The dead sea was really cold, but it was really cool. I had never been to the Dead See in the winter so this was a really cool experience.
With Andy Green, Archer Green and my friend Nate Cooper
Everyone was floating around, and we did a Harlem Shake video. We then put mud on ourselves. I can't believe that people come from all over the world to put mud from the Dead Sea on their bodies, it was not a pleasant feeling at all, actually, it was really gross. later we drove back, and had more school. Wednesday was the Purim Parade!! They actually have a Purim parade on Wednesday because Thursday is a fast day (The Fast of Esther) and it would be hard to have the parade on Friday. We all dressed up, and followed people dancing on a car playing music really loudly. We actually saw something very weird, The Russians all wore matching outfits, and held communist flags, it was very frightening and kind of crazy. After the Parade, we had a party! On Thursday we went cave crawling, we had races in an amphitheater and we went to an archeological dig. Little did I know that in a cave crawl, you actually have to crawl. I spent Shabbat in Jerusalem with Andy Green and his family. Andy is a rabbinical student at The Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in LA and we met during the fall semester when he was living in Las Vegas. He is actually a super nice guy and his wife Charlene is very nice too. They have a little boy named Archer who is very cute. I always wonder if I’m destined to spend every Shabbat with a rabbi, or a rabinical student...
Climbing Massada
Harlem Shake at The Dead Sea!!!
Guess who is wearing the horse mask...
Shavuah Tov! Shabbat was great! On Friday Night, we went to The Kotel to pray. I tried to go touch the wall, but was pushed back by the people who were praying there, after about half an hour of trying to get to the wall, I finally got there, I touched it, but I felt nothing. I then saw a group of soldiers dancing so I decided to go dance with them. Nothing is better than putting your arm around someone you don't know that is Jewish and sing and dance with them. It is an amazing feeling, I felt connected.
After about an hour of being at The Kotel, we walked an hour back to the Hava and had dinner and went to sleep. The next day we woke up for temple and got split into two groups. I went to a small Synagogue with about 20 families. It was very different for me because I am used to a huge Temple with many people. The people were very nice, and they gave me an Aliya! After praying, we were split into even smaller groups and went for lunch at the homes of people who are members of the Temple. I was hosted by a family from Belgium. The food was AMAZING. After thanking them for freeing me from the Hava food, we went back to the Hava on our own. We got lost, but eventually we made it back. When Shabbat ended, I went to the mall with friends and stuffed my face with Shwarma. There is nothing greater in this world than Shwarma.
These two weeks that I have been in Israel have been the most amazing of my life. Right now, I am experiencing Israel like never before. Instead of a family trip, or a Temple trip, I am surrounded by Jewish teens, like me., who love Israel as much as I.
When we landed in Tel Aviv, it was really awkward. No one knew each other. We then took a bus to Jerusalem, and went to a mountain, with a view of all of Jerusalem. It was very dark, so no one could really see anything, but we all sat down and sang songs, and said sheyechianu. We then got back on the bus, and drove to the campus. We were given our rooms, and then we were told to go eat dinner, and don't even get me started on the food. NEVER EAT ISRAELI INSTITUTIONAL FOOD. The Next day we went to the Negev. We went to the Negev Brigade memorial, where we commemorated the soldiers who fell to capture the Negev. We sat down, and we sang Oseh Shalom. We went to the place nearby were Abraham was told to leave, and we learned more about Abraham. We then went to a Beduin village, were we rode camels and we slept. We had a campfire at the end of the night, and everyone was singing and dancing, it was amazing. After we got back and took showers, we had more boring orientations. Shabbat was quickly approaching so we got to chose temples we wanted to go to. On saturday morning, I went to a Modern Orthodox temple, which was an amazing experience for me. It was really cool because there was a mehitza and the women were wearing tallit and reading from the Torah. After that we came back and had bonding activities.
The next day, we started school. School is 10 hours a day but it is worth it because every tuesday and thursday we go on a field trip. On tuesday we went to Sataf, which was a nature hike to were the Judges lived. We climbed into a cave, turned off our lights and sang. Our next field trip was to Ein Gedi. Ein Gedi is a water spring, in the middle of the desert near the dead sea which is a miracle, because it is in the middle of the desert surrounded by beauty and trees. We then had Shabbat, and we were allowed to stay at a friends house for Shabbat. The bed was slanted, so I woke up on the floor three times. Yesterday, we went to the City of David. We did an underground water cave walk for about an hour, and when we came up, we walked up to the Kotel. It was an extremely emotional moment for me, because for the first time, I really understood what it meant to be Jewish, and to be able to touch the Wall. I was overwhelmed with emotions. It was one of the most powerful moments of my lives. I've never had two weeks gone by so fast, I feel like I arrived only yesterday. I feel like I have known the people on this trip for years, I am very close to everyone. Oh and school isn't really that bad even though it's long, but the food they give us is. I am living off of cups of noodles, and tea. Here is also a video of The Campus so you can see where I live!
I am writing this post on February 25, 2013 which is Adar 15 and Purim in Jerusalem. Purim is celebrated one day later in Jerusalem because it is a walled city. This week has definitely been the best week so far. On Monday, we went to the Old City to learn about the destruction of the Second Temple. When we finished, we followed the zealots up onto Massada. It was actually very interesting to finally understand the connection between the destruction of The Temple and Massada. I had been to Israel many times but it is only now that I feel that History is coming alive for me. I think it has a lot to do with our teachers and the way in which everything is being explained to us, you get to actually see the places that you are being taught about. We stayed at the youth hostel over night, and we were woken up at 4:00 in the morning so we could see the sun rise. Instead of taking the snake path, we took the long path, the runners path. It was about a two hour hike, up a cliff. The only reason that everyone was able to get to the top was because everyone was helping each other and being supportive. 
