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!! 

Climbing Massada and Celebrating Purim

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...

A Really Great Shabbat at TRY

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. 

 

My First Two Weeks at TRY

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!