ראיתי עיר עוטפת אור (I see a city wrapped in light)/ Learning for Life

(May 4-13/ Iyar 16-25)

After a busy week on Tiyul, it felt quite good to have a restful, quiet and productive (finishing The Life of Pi) Shabbat, despite having so few people here on kibbutz. While we had a very empty table in the Chadar Ochel for meals, it was a nice Shabbat because I again took advantage of the kibbutz’s Shabbat afternoon shiur series in Hebrew, which I was able to understand pretty well. After Shabbat ended, the joyous holiday of Lag Ba’Omer, celebrating the end of the plague which struck Rabbi Akiva’s students at this time of year 2000 years ago and the Yahrzeit of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai. Over the next day , we engaged in many of the traditional activities of the day such as making a bonfire Motzei Shabbat and observing the bonfires set up in almost every backyard in the neighborhood of Gush Katif refugees adjacent to the kibbutz. The next day after work, I went with a few friends in one of the kibbutz tractors to collect wood in one of the orchards, and in the evening we had a barbecue and another bonfire. My friend Josh Goldberg even came back from Mount Meron, the home of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai’s grave and celebrations which attract close to a quarter of a million people, with a special Lag B’omer haircut!

Monday was our final Yom Nativ, during which we had study sessions about Lag Baomer and Yom Yerushalayim. That night, four of us made the short trip in to Ashkelon along with our madrich Mike, to have an affordable by delicious dinner at a skewer restaraunt he had been to there. On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday we were back at work as usual, though to our luck, we were met by a scorching heat wave. On Wednesday, we made a decision to begin work half an hour early at 7 AM, and were able to finish at 12, in time to come back to kibbutz and eat lunch in the Chadar Ochel.

On Thursday after work, we had just a few short hours to shower and relax before boarding a bus that would take us to Jerusalem for the MASA Gala event (MASA, which means journey in Hebrew, is an initiative of the Jewish Agency to bring together Jewish young adults on long term Israel programs). Since MASA was providing the bus for us, we made a couple stops along the way, providing for a very interesting ride. On our way out of Kibbutz, we stopped at the Ein Tsurim Yeshiva to pick up about eight boys from overseas studying there. After that we stopped to pick up box dinners, and after a few kinks, ended up taking the scenic route to Jerusalem, stopping to kibbutz נתיב הלה south of Beit Shemesh to pick up twenty more people and driving through Gush Etzion and the Tunnel Road to end up at the southern entrance to Jerusalem. To describe about the MASA event, I will first insert a review of it that I was asked to write for MASA, and then I will add a few a few additional thoughts:

יחד לב אל לב נפתח בתקוה לאהבה
Together, heart to heart, we will open up in hope and love
This phrase, taken from the popular song by Gaya, perfectly reflects the amazing feeling one experienced while attending the MASA Gala event this past Thusday evening. Not only was it an amazing feeling of אחדות, togetherness, to come together with over five thousand Jewish young adults on long term Israel programs, but this feeling was intensified by the אהבה, the love that was expressed for the city of Jerusalem on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of its reunification, for our captured soldiers, and the entire country of Israel. The even began with a carnival in the חוצות היוצר area just outside the old city, which featured Israeli crafts for sale, performances, food, and an opportunity to mingle with friends, new and old, from the many different MASA programs. As the sun began to set, the gathering moved to the Sultan's pool amphitheatre for a multimedia extravaganza celebrating MASA's third year and the City of Jerusalem. Beginning a song and dance performance celebrating Jerusalem, the program continued with greetings fro the two MASA participants who MC'd the event, from Canada and Brazil, and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Mayor Uri Lupolianski, Jewish Agency Chair Ze'ev Bielski and MASA supporters around the world. Following a special presentation in solidarity with captured soldiers Gilad Shalit, Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, the real party started with performances from popular Israeli bands including a special MASA band, and a spectacular fireworks performance! The 5767 MASA Gala was a spectacular event that helped cap off another year of success for MASA and its participants, as well as showing our love and support foe Jerusalem and Israel.

The article pretty much sums up the evening, although I of course had to give it a slightly more positive review that my own personal opinion. Overall, I though the program part of the event was pretty good, especially the videos which featured friends of mine from my program and the video montage of MASA supporters included Rabbi Jerome Epstein, the head of United Synagogue and Rabbi Robert Golub, head of Mercaz USA, proudly representing the Conservative Movement. It was also cool that my friend Abi and I along with many other Nativers ended up sitting in section of the amphitheatre only about 20 feet behind the Prime minister, who did get quite a few boos during his speech since most Israeli's belive that he must tep down. There was also much security, including having to put our bags through x-ray machines, because of the high profile attendees. Although I thought the bands at the end weren’t so great, shortly after I started leaving, I turned around and got to watch an amazing fireworks display. As a final thought, while I was sitting through the ceremony, It was such an amazing feeling to look in front of me and see the Tower of David and old city walls lit up, and realize that just over forty years ago, the Sultans Pool ampitheatre was located in No Man’s land! This feeling that I experienced was the inspiration for the first part of this blog’s title, ‘a city wrapped in light’, which comes from a beautiful song about Jerusalem by the artist Yehoram Gaon.

After I left the event, I walked back with some friends to Beit Nativ, picked up my bags, and walked a block down Keren Hayesod street to spend the night with my friends Britt and George from the conservative Yeshiva.

On Friday morning, I woke up and walked over to the Yeshiva for the Shacharit service. After davening, I went across the street to Supersol with my friend Hillel, and picked up a bite to eat for breakfast and a large Friday edition of the מעריב newspaper. Pretty soon afterwards, it was time to board the bus for the Conservative Yeshiva’s closing Shabbaton, which I was privileged to attend along with three other nativers, most of the full year Yeshiva students, and many of my favourite teachers, including Rabbi Joel Roth who came in to visit from JTS in New York. We left Jerusalem and drove west and then north along the new Toll Road 6 and route 65, eventually making our way to the summit of Har Arbel, located above the Kinneret just north of Tiberias. We had a picnic lunch on top of the mountain, and then hiked down the mountain. This hike was a big accomplishment for me because we were supposed to do it two years ago on Pilgrimage, before it got cancelled at the last minute, and I had always been told that it was a relatively difficult hike. Mod tog the path turned out to be relatively easy, except for one section where we had to use ropes and metal rungs to scale down a cliff. I was very excited when I successfully completed this section, especially because I still have a decent fear of heights. After we all completed the rest of the hike, we made the short drive to Alon a field school at the foot of Har Tavor where we spent Shabbat. After I led the group in Mincha, we got our rooms, I being with Mendy and Hillel, and had some free time to prepare for Shabbat. About an hour before Shabbat began, we all gathered and had a great session devoted ‘taking the Yeshiva home,’ where we had discussions, both together and in smaller groups, about how to continue the great learning and religious experiences we had after we all leave Israel soon. Soon it was time to bring in Shabbat. We davened Kabbalat Shabbat outdoors, in a beautiful setting overlooking the mountain and fields of oak trees. We went inside for a D’var Torah and Ma’ariv, followed by a pretty nice Shabbat dinner. After zemirot and birkat hamazon, we had a short shiur taught by Rabbi Goldfarb, and then another quality Yeshiva Tish, with food drink, singing and Divrei Torah.

In the morning, I woke up and had a light snack, after which we were off to tefillot. The davening was all pretty nice, and the Torah service was petty neat, since the reading was done out of a Sephardic scroll. The Haftarah and Musaf were lead by cantorial students who, did beautiful jobs. After the end of Musaf, we had a Kiddush and then a session with Rabbi Joel Roth, which was entitled ‘Why I am a Conservative Jew,’ as he spoke about how he sees the three pillars of our approach to Judaism, the Academic, theological, and Halachic aspects, and how he is able to synthesize critical study with fidelity to Halacha. After the session, we sat down to a nice Shabbat lunch, which was followed again by some nice zemirot. I then had time for a much needed Shabbat nap, and after reading a bit, I slept straight through to the beginning of Mincha. After davening, our Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Shmuel Lewis, led a session with sources related to the Yeshiva’s motto, ‘Learning for Life’. We then had a treat, and were given a nature walk, where were able to see all of the many types of animal and plant life just within the area of the Field School. We then had a pretty satisfying Seudah Shlishit, followed by a really great closing session led by Rabbi Diamond. Before we knew it, Shabbat had ended and it was time for Ma’ariv, which was led in a special festive nusach composed by Cantor Jacob Mendelssohn , and which you can hear a recording of (from a different occasion) here.

After Havdalah, we packed our backs and boarded the bus back to Jerusalem. After a long drive and a rest stop, we arrived back shortly before midnight. I spent the night the home of my chevruta Miron and his wife Naomi. I woke up Sunday morning and walked over to the Yeshiva, where I was honoured to lead P’sukei and Participate in the davening, which I had missed so much. I made one of the best decisions to take Sunday as a day off and spend it at the Yeshiva. In the morning, I went to Talmud class just like old times, and I was so happy that I was able to jump back in, despite not having been there for so long. For lunch, I went downtown and had a Shawarma at Moshiko, and made a trip to Meah Shearim to buy a new pair of Tzitzit. I ran back and returned to the Yeshiva just in time for Mincha. After a break, I was fortunate to be able to attend the Chevruta portion of a class taught by my Talmud teacher, Dr. Josh Kulp, in Midrash Halacha. Around 5 PM, I walked across the street to the Sheraton and spent some time with the Club L’chaim group from my shul, who were in the middle of their biannual trip to Israel. I spent some time catching up, and then had a nice dinner together at the Primavera Italian dairy restaurant at the hotel. Although I would have loved to stay a while longer, I had to run and make my way over to the תחנה מרכזית to catch the lat bus back to Kibbutz at 8:15.

On Monday, I had a nice day at work to begin our last week on kibbutz. After showering and relaxing for the afternoon, we had a bonfire in the evening with some friends, some on kibbutz and others who had come from Be’er Sheva and further.

A great Shabbat in ירושלים with Rabbi Bauman, and an exciting and enjoyable North Tiyul!

Since I have been away on a nice ‘vacation’ from kibbutz and my computer for just about a week, so much has happened that I can’t wait to share!

After taking a day off last Wednesday to recover from a cold/ sore throat I caught over Yom Haatzmaut, and a day at work painting and doing irrigation work, I was just about ready to head off on my week of fun in Jerusalem and all over the northern part of Israel.

I first got packed for Shabbat and took an extra bag filled with along that Rabbi Bauman graciously agreed to take back to Toronto with him. I left for Jerusalem Friday Morning, and lucked out when I got to the bus stop outside Kibbutz and a few minutes later, after two sheruyot going to Tel Aviv drove by, I was extremely lucky to have one stop going to Jerusalem which was nearly empty. In case you’re not familiar, a sherut (literally meaning ‘service’) is a shared taxi, usually seating ten people that runs between cities and sometimes within them, for a slightly cheaper, quicker and more comfortable ride than the corresponding bus. I arrived in Jerusalem at the central bus station and in the end decided to take a bus, despite it being a pain in the neck as a result of it being packed and me having a huge suitcase, in order to meet Rabbi Bauman downtown at King George and Yafo. I found him right away, and we immediately went to Meah Shearim to make some small book purchases, which I always enjoy doing, especially with a friend. After we finished up there, we walked back Downtown and had a delicious lunch of Hummus basar (with meat) at Pinati, where I hadn’t been for months. One could tell that it is truly spring, with the sight of Pinati’s screened in porch totally dismantled and outdoor tables set up in its place. After lunch, we walked down King George and Keren Hayesod streets, and ended up at Rabbi Bauman’s hotel room at the Inbal. We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and hanging out, and later on, we showered and got ready for Shabbat. Friday night, we took a leisurely walk down the street, past the President’s residence (former home of Moshe Katzav) and museum of Islamic art to Yakar. Although I’ve davened at Yakar a few times before, this was the first time going to the downstairs minyan, which attracts a slightly older crowd (people in their thirties and up) and has a bit slower tempo than the upstairs service. Although many times I enjoy a joyous, fast-paced service on erev Shabbat, its also nice to have a change sometimes and it was nice to try something different. We walked back to the hotel and went to the dining room, to have a delicious and enjoyable Shabbat dinner.

On Shabbat morning we woke up and walked over to daven at the Ashkenazi shul in Yemin Moshe, where I would go every once in a while during first semester. Tefillot were pretty nice, and started at 8:15 and were finished by 10:30. The shul was packed with an Aish Hatorah group from Washington and a Schechter group from Cleveland, so although they had quite a delicious Kiddush as usual, it was pretty hard to get in and get food. We got back to the hotel around eleven and soon found out that lunch didn’t begin until one, which gave us plenty of time to take a Shabbat nap before eating. Lunch was a buffet, and just as delicious as the night before, with plenty of meat for my taste. After benching, we went back to the room and relaxed for a few hours. Around 6 in the evening, we figured we’d go somewhere and daven mincha, and the first place to try is the large Beit Knesset on Chovevei Tzion Street. We were about forty five minutes early, but it was no loss, as we both took advantage of the library of ספרים (Jewish books) at our fingertips. The mincha service was a nice surprise, as the leader used the perfect nusach for the entire service, and the Torah reading was also superb. One other amazing thing about the shul was a plaque I noticed the front, that all of the furnishings within, including the beautiful wooden benches and shtenders, ark and chandeliers came from a synagogue that closed down near Parma, Italy and were donated the state of Israel. I felt very privileged to be able to daven in this shul with such an amazing history. When we got back to the hotel, it was starting to get dark, so Rabbi Bauman and I sat in the lobby and chatted until Shabbat ended, which brings me to one of the most amazing stories of the Shabbat. As it came time to daven Maariv, we looked for the hotel synagogue, which we had trouble finding, and soon gave up and just decided to daven on our own on the hotel’s lower level. However, just we were about to start, a young man in a suit ran over to us and informed us that his family was trying to have a minyan, and were one person short. We ran up to his family’s room, a suite on the seventh floor, and on the way learned that his family was Sephardic and originally from Panama. We got to the room and after the family thanked us, the family patriarch moved to the front of the room and began to lead the entire sefardic Maariv service from memory, without needing a siddur or any help, which was quite impressive to see and experience. After Maariv, we went out onto the balcony and conducted the קידוש לבנה (sanctification of the new moon), which was beautiful to do overlooking the city of Jerusalem.

We then went back inside for Havdalah, which the patriarch again conducted from memory. The sefardic havdalah has a few differences from the traditional Ashkenazi one I am used to. The major ones are that the service is done seated and usually around a table, and seondly, that the text of their introductory paragraph is totally different. Although I also find the Ashkenazi liturgy to be meaningful, what struck me about the sefardi version is the theme of their prayer, asking God’s blessings of success as we move from the comfort of Shabbat into the unknown of the week to come. Part of it reads:

הַצְלִיחֵנוּ. הַצְלִיחַ דְּרָכֵינוּ. הַצְלִיחַ לִמּוּדֵינוּ.
וּשְׁלַח בְּרָכָה רְוָחָה וְהַצְלָחָה בְּכָל מַעֲשֵׂה יָדֵינוּ.

Grant us success, in our journeys and our learning, and send plentiful blessing and success in the work of our hands…

May we all merit having this blessing come true as Shabbat ends and we move into the coming week of creative work.

After these beautiful tefillot, I unfortunately had to rush and pack my stuff up, so I could catch a bus to the tachana mercazit and then another one back to kibbutz. As a nice surprise, I ran into my staff Mike and friend Sarah, and we chatted on the hour bus ride home and walk back to kibbutz. When I got back I quickly unpacked, and then repacked for our weeklong טיול צפון (Northern Tiyul) which would begin the next morning.

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We pulled out of Kibbutz around 8:30 on Sunday morning, after eating and davening, headed in the direction of the Arozolov train station in Tel Aviv, where we stopped to pick up the rest of our group who had spent Shbbat elsewhere. When I went in to the building to use the washroom, I noticed a sign that newspapers were on sale for just 2 ₪ (about 65 cents Canadian), and bought a copy of Maariv. It sure kept me busy on the bus, as it contained information leaked to the press about the Winograd commission report, which as you’ve probably heard, criticizes the government for its handling of the war in Lebanon during the summer and personally criticizes the chief of staff, defence minister and prime minister. These political stories continued to unfold throughout the week, thus we continued to discuss them throughout tiyul. We left Tel Aviv and drove about an hour north to the town of Zichron Yaakov, which reminded me of many quaint villiages I had visited in North America, except for the fact that it was founded in 1882 by Baron de Rothschild and had a distinctly Hebrew/Jewish flavour. We had a little free time to walk around the beautiful town, and were given a lunch of salatim and schnitzel at a restaurant. After lunch, we got back on the bus and drove a little over an hour towards the northern border and hiked Nachal Betzet, a beautiful and shady hike in a valley just south of the Lebanese border not too far from Rosh Hanikra. This hike brought back great memories, since I also did it almost two years ago on Pilgrimage, and I made out pretty well, hiking pretty close to the front and keeping up with Yossi. After the three hour hike ended, we davened Mincha and got back on the buses to head to Achziv, a cottage colony located right on the Mediterranean shore between Rosh Haniqra and Nahariya. After putting my stuff in our cabin, I went over with a friend across the street to walk on the beach and watch the sunset over the sea, which was pretty cool and beautiful. We had dinner, which was – schnitzel again! and I called it an early night pretty soon after I davened Maariv.

The next morning, we davened Shacharit and had breakfast, and soon we were back on the bus and driving toward kibbutz Yifat, where we visited a living history museum depicting the period of the early kibbutzim and moshavim in Northern Israel. We had a pretty interesting tour, which ended with a lunch which was supposed to recreate the food that the early pioneers ate. The food wasn’t too tasty, but it seemed pretty authentic. After lunch, we got back on the bus and drove north to the area of Meron. I fell asleep, and when I woke up we were in a traffic jam. The reason, as I soon found out was that we were getting close to Meron, home of the grave of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai (Rashbi), and the police had already started to prepare for a crowd of a quarter of a million expected in anticipation of Lag Baomer. After a while of driving around and not really getting too far, we finally got off the bus and walked the rest of the way up to the tomb. We spent a few minutes at the gravesite discussing its significance, and then began our hike for the day, another mostly shady one through Nachal Meron and Nachal Amud. The hike was a little harder than the previous day’s especially the steep ascent we had at the end, but thanks to my friends I made it out with a lot of effort and just a few scratches. The hike ended just below the city of S’fat, which I could tell (besides for the modern buildings) by the fact that there was a makeshift mikvah, with clothing hooks and all, built under a highway overpass we walked by. We davened Mincha as a group as the sun was beginning to set over mount meron, and drove to our accommodations for the next three nights at the Ha’on holiday village, another vacation colony on the southeastern shore of the kinneret. We arrived close to eight, and had a pretty good fleichig dinner at the hotel. We then got our room keys, had an optional Maariv, and again got to sleep pretty early.

On Tuesday after davening and breakfast we split into two groups, myself choosing the easier hike, and we boarded the bus for the drive to Metulla, a beautiful town which sits right on the border with Lebanon. Before starting our hike, we drove to Mitzpe Dado, and overlook point where we could see both Israel and Lebanon for miles. (Unfortunately, my camera ran out of batteries at this point, so I’ll try to gather some other images to complement the text) We then began our hike through Nachal Ayun, which runs between the eastern edge of Metulla and the Lebanese border. It was a relatively short and easy hike, but included three beautiful waterfalls along its course. After the hike we drove over to the city of Katzrin, known as the capital of the Golan, for lunch at an Asian restaurant called Chi Thai located at a mall there. After lunch, we had one of the most exciting parts of the day, a tour of the Golan Heights Winery, which is located in an industrial park just behind the mall. The tour began with a flashy video, and then continued with a view of the oak aging casks, and then the cool bottling and packing machines. The tour ended with a formal wine tasting, where we got to try a semi-dry white wine, a dry merlot, and a swell Muscat dessert wine. It was pretty exciting to be at an age when we are old enough and mature enough to this as a group. After we finished at the winery, we got back on the bus and drove to a site on the Jordan river just a few kilometres north of the Kinneret to go kayaking. Although I don’t have the best coordination, I went in a 2 person kayak with my friend Ilana and we ended up doing pretty well and actually finished second out of all the kayaks and rafts. We waited for a while for everyone to finish, and then we went back to Haon for a few minutes to unpack from the day. That night, we had a free evening in Teverya, and I went with a group of friends to a nice meat restaurant called Decks on a pier on the kinneret for dinner, where I ordered a lamb rib in honour of Pesach Sheni. After dinner, three friends and I took advantage of being in the holy city (one of four in Israel, the others being Jerusalem, S’fat and Hebron), and went to visit the grave of the רמב''ם (Maimonides), which was just a few blocks from the shore. The tomb was actually a really beautiful complex, even in the dark, starting with the fourteen pillars on the walkway leading up to the actual grave, commemorating the fourteen sections of his magnum opus, the Mishne Torah – Code of Jewish Law. We davened Maariv there, and then spent a few minutes walking around the gravesite, and visting the other graves marked there, including the Rambam’s father Maimon, and a number of Talmudic sages supposedly buried there, including Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai. It was soon time to leave and meet the rest of the group, but we were in for quite a surprise when we got to the meeting place and saw a Nachman-mobile, a van driven by breslov chassdim who blast their music and invite onlookers to join in and dance. We decided that there was no reason not to join them, and for fifteen minutes most of group was dancing the night away. It was pretty crazy and intense. By the time we got on the bus and drove around the kinneret to go back to our hotel, it was already past eleven, and definitely time to call it a night.

The next morning there were again two hike options, and because the harder one included rapelling, jumping and swimming, it definitely made sense for me to do the easier one, which was still pretty challenging. We davened shacharit, had breakfast, and then headed off to Nachal Zavitan, the upper part of which would be our hike for the day. This hike was especially challenging for me because at least fifty percent of it wasn’t on a path at all, but rather on rocks, many of them unstable, but I’m glad to say I made through the hike pretty well. Towards the end, we stopped to eat lunch at the site of a pretty beautiful and impressive waterfall. After we finished hike, around 1:30, we drove down to the kinneret and spent a few hours at the Luna Gal water park, which I had actually visited with my family on my first trip to Israel nearly six years ago. Although I’m not a big water slide person, I still had a good time going in the pool and relaxing in the sun. Around 4:30, we went back to Ha’on and had a little while nap and relax until dinner. After dinner, which was pretty good meat again, we had another evening out, this time at Hammat Gader, an Ancient sulfur hot springs known since the Romans, and which is now a fashionable Israeli Spa.

Thursday morning began as usual with Shacharit, and it was a nice surprise to find out that the hotel actually had a sefer Torah. It was pretty neat that it was a sefardi Torah, which is stored in a wooden case instead of a cover. Since I knew the Torah reading, I got to read Torah and it was pretty neat. We then had breakfast, packed, and loaded the buses. Before we left, I made sure to buy a newspaper in Hebrew again, and that day turned out to be a pretty big news day again, as the backlash against the government continued, with a huge rally planned in Kikar Rabin in Tel Aviv (which ended up attracting close to 200,000), and the accusing of Azmi Bashara, a former arab member of Knesset, of treason against the state.

We left Haon, and drove through the Jordan River valley and Beit Shean to the Summit of the Gilboa Mountains. Around noon, we arrived and began descending the mountain on what began as a path but soon turned into just series of rocks to climb down onto. Unfortunately, this doesn’t come so easily to me, but my friend Shayna helped me out each step of the way, both physically and morally. After successfully completing the hike, we got our reward as we drove to the Sachne natural springs just five minutes away from the base of the mountain. We arrived and were treated to a hot Chinese lunch, after which we had time to swim in the refreshing waters of the pools. After saying goodbye to everyone, I boarded a bus that took me and a few others back to kibbutz. I even made it back for mincha, after which we had a deli dinner. I had a relaxing day for Friday, and am looking forward to another nice Shabbat.

שבת שלום!

From darkness to light, and from mourning to festivity מאפלה לאורה, ומאבל ליום טוב

I chose to title this post such because it describes, to some extent, the intense experience of observing יום הזיכרון (Memorial day for Israel’s fallen) and then transitioning into the joy of יום העצמאות (Israel’s Independence Day), and is also a quote from the ‘Kiddush for Yom Haatzmaut’, compiled by the Religious Kibbutz movement (of which Ein Tsurim is a member) and chanted on erev yom Haatzmaut by Kobi Ableman at Yedidya.

As I often do, I’ll take a few steps backwards a return to where my last blog entry left off. This past Friday, I woke up early for Shacharit, went back to sleep, and then ate breakfast around 8:45. I relaxed for most of the morning, and then because I’m not the biggest fan of the dairy pasta lunch on kibbutz, I took a trip to into Kiryat Malachi with my roommate Matt and had a delicious Shawarma lunch at ‘Shawarma shel Shuki’, my first since Pesach. I went back to Kibbutz and relaxed again for a little while, called home, and got ready for Shabbat. I davened in the Kibbutz Beit Knesset, which was a very quick and unelaborated service, but still included Yedid Nefesh and the traditional nusach. I ate dinner in the kibbutz dining room, with a number of people from our group, as well as my friends Cynthia and Daniel who are in B’er Sheva, and Shira who is studying at a seminary in Ramat Beit Shemesh. After dinner we had an Oneg with Marzipan Rugelach that our madrich Mike had brought back from Jerusalem.

Shabbat morning, I went to tefilllot as usual, and then had lunch with my host family. We had some beautiful weather in the afternoon and I spent part of the time reading outside on the grass. This week I decided to go to the late Mincha service at 5:30, because following tefillot there was a shiur taught by one of the kibbutz members about saying Hallel on Yom Haatzmaut. It was very interesting, especially the fact that I could tell that I was on a Kibbutz, because of the fact that the members had no problem chiming in with a comment or objection no matter what the teacher was in the middle of. By the time the shiur was over, it was time for seudah shlishit, and later, Maariv and Havdalah.

Sunday was supposed to be a regular work day, but four of us were given some random jobs to do around Massuot instead of the usual pipe laying. Shosh and Aviva were assigned to spray paint signs, and Tani and I were given the task of marking every six metres on a line of steel rope by fastening a bolt, all for the tree-planting division of the Moshav. To make our job a little harder, the 100 metre long rope was pretty tangled, and two hours later we hadn’t made it too far. We took a mid-morning tea break, and afterwards we checked out Shosh and Aviva’s spray-painting. I even tried my hand at it, and it was a lot of fun! We spent the rest of the morning, especially after Shosh and Aviva finished their task, with a combination of trying to work on the rope, taking pictures, and visiting the small horse stables which Aviva had discovered on the Moshav.

We returned to Kibbutz, and chilled for the afternoon, culminating with dinner and Mincha.

Around 7:30, the mood began to change as the country prepared for the beginning of Yom Hazikaron, the Memorial Day for Israeli soldiers who died for the state, as well as the recent addition of victims of terror to those we mourn. Shortly before 8:00 we joined the entire kibbutz for their Yom Hazikaron service, which began with a 1 minute siren heard throughout the country. The ceremony included prayers, songs, poetry, the lighting of a torch, two personal stories, and one of the most moving parts, a slide show on a large screen showing pictures of all 153 soldiers killed this past summer. It was a very moving טקס, and our presence was an important sign of us becoming a part of the kibbutz community, as we joined with them on this sad occasion. After the kibbutz ceremony, which was about 45 minutes long, we came together as a group for our own commemoration, which included watching a movie about Alex Singer, an American who joined צהל and was killed in Lebanon in 1987. Alex also had a personal connection, as he had become part of the community and had planned to make his home on Kibbutz Ein Tsurim. We concluded with a discussion and Maariv.

Just as with Yom Hashoah, all of the entertainment channels on TV went off the air for 24 hours. However, the Knesset Channel is unique in that the entire day it screens a list of names of those who died for the state, from before 1948 to today

The next morning we davened Shacharit as a group, and shortly before 9 we departed for Jerusalem and the Har Herzl Military Cemetery, where the nation would focus at 11:00 as a siren is sounded throughout the country. We managed to get to Jerusalem in about 45 minutes, driving by way of Ein Kerem, but when we got off of the bus and started walking towards the cemetery, it was packed with people, most of them family or friends who had somebody to visit at the cemetery, though there were also a few groups such as ours who had come to pay their respects. I walked around for a little bit and spent a while in חלקה ד, the newest section of the cemetery which contains the graves of those killed this past summer in Lebanon, including Michael Levin z”l, a בוגר נתיב (Nativ Alumnus). Although I was not able to get close enough to watch the official state ceremony, it was broadcast via loudspeaker throughout the cemetery, and you can listen to my recording of it here.

After the ceremony ended, we took a bus back to Beit Nativ and had a surprisingly tasty fleichig lunch, followed by a video and short program related to the day. We were finished around 3:30, and spent a little time downtown with some friends, picking up a special siddur for Yom haatzmaut from one of the bookstores. Later on, I took a bus down to Talpiot, where I stayed with the Moshe family again. After catching up with Janet and having a light dinner, I walked down the street to Yedidya for a service marking the transition from Yom Hazikaron to Yom Haatzmaut. We began with Mincha, which was followed by a short memorial service. To mark the transition from sadness to the joy of independence, we joined in a collection of songs of peace and hope, including אלי אלי, עושה שלום, לו יהי, שיר הרעות and לו יהי. We then began the Yom Haatzmaut service with psalms of thanksgiving and the recitation of Shehecheyanu. We then heard a beautiful drasha by Rabbi Michael Melchior, the head of the Meimad political faction, the religious wing of the Labour party. We then had a festive Maariv service including full hallel, which was followed by a nice Kiddush. Because I was pretty tired and also relatively far away from downtown, I went back to Janet’s and called it an early night, though at one point I walked out to the Tayelet and took a look at the beautiful view of Jerusalem at night.

In the morning, I returned to Yedidya for a festive holdiday Shacharit, which included Hallel, and a special Torah reading and Haftarah. Later in the morning, Nahum picked me up and we drove downtown to Beit Nativ, where I took part in the Yom Ha’atzmaut tradition of watching the finals of חידון התנ''ך, the International Bible Contest on TV. It was really neat to watch, for a number of reasons. First of all , as someone who loves Tanach and was in chidon for two years, it was an event that was made for me. It was also especially neat to see Joshua Satok, who many of you in Toronto know, a graduate of Associated and a student at CHAT, compete in this prestigious competition. Although he didn’t win, he can in very close (about 6^th place), competeig against many Israelis, and deserves a huge Yasher Koach. Another neat thing was that two of the people sitting in the honorary dais were those I had heard speak this year, Ze’ev Bielski, the chairman of the Jewish Agency, who spoke to us during leadership week, and President Yitzhak Navon, who I had the privilege to hear at the Israel Bonds Rabbinic Conference back in January with Abba. One last neat thing about the Chidon was all of the different ‘celebrities’ who asked questions in the first televised round. These included a 92 year old window-washer who has been washing Jerusalem’s windows since 1947, the daughter of former Mayor Teddy Kollek z”l, and the wife of captured soldier Ehud Goldwasser. As per tradition, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert read the final question.

The culmination of my Yom Haatzmaut experience was the annual Nativ Barbecue to end all barbecues, with tons of good meat, and more importantly time to hang out with the rest of Nativ. As barbecuing (מנגל – Mangal in Hebrew) is the semi-official way to mark Yom Haatzmaut in Israel, the entire park of גן העצמאות was filled with different barbecues. We returned to Kibbutz in the early evening, and after davening mincha and maariv, our staff ordered us a pizza dinner!

חג עצמאות שמח – Happy 59, Israel!

A solid Shabbat and meaningful Yom Hashoah

This past Shabbat was closed, meaning that our entire group spent it together on kibbutz. Although beforehand I wasn’t so sure how much fun this past shabbat would be, in the end it turned out to be one of the nicer closed shabbatot. After a long Friday just for relaxing., we gathered together to bring in Shabbat as a group around 6:30. We davened Mincha and Kabbalat Shabbat, and had a discussion about פרשת השבוע (the weekly Parsha) before continuing with Maariv. As a funny aside, a Chassidic group (with Streimels and all) was staying in the kibbutz guest house last Shabbat and it was a little funny (and a bit disruptive as well) when they kept poking their heads in and were astounded to see us davening together with a girl leading Kabbalat Shabbat. Well, only in Israel. We then had a nice Shabbat dinner in the kibbutz Chadar Ochel. After dinner we had a really great Tish, one of the first in a long time, which was led by our fearless assistant director, Nahum Binder, and included some good desserts, and more importantly, spirited singing.

Shabbat morning, we also davened as a group, which was pretty nice to be able to pull off, and I read an Aliyah and recited birkat hachodesh. Musaf ended with a bang as Josh, Shosh and Phil led Anim Zemirot to the traditional ECRUSY nigun. Lunch was a pretty quiet affair, as Abbie and I ate at our kibbutz family’s home with one of their sons. We finished around 12:30, and I had a good five hours to relax and read a bit. Over the past few months, I’ve been reading many of the various Parashat Hashavua fliers that are distributed in Israeli shuls (such as on Kibbutz), and this Shabbat I got through all of them, which gave me some Hebrew practice as well as some food for thought. The day ended with Mincha, a discussion about issues facing Iisrael led by Nahum, Seudah Shlishit in the Chadar Ochel with zemirot, and finally, Maariv and Havdalah.

Sunday began as a normal working day, and we did some random irrigation work in the fields near Ashkelon (Today’s crop: corn!). When we got back from work we only had a little time to unwind, because that night began יום השואה והגבורה, Holocaust remeberance day, and the next 24 hours would be filled with interesting and meaningful activites appropriate to the day. We had an early dinner and at 6 PM, headed off on a bus to Jaffa and the Gesher theatre. You might be asking why we’d go to see a play on such a sad day like this, but the reason will become clear as I explain. The first thing to note is that as we arrived, we realized that this was yet another MASA event, and the famous poster featuring yours truly was prominently displayed in front of the entrance! The evening began with a discussion with the director of the theatre and two of the actors, a short intermission, and then an introduction by an Israeli author. The play itself was called ‘Momik’, and was a based on a book by author David Grossman. It told the story of Momik, a child of Holocaust survivors growing up in Jerusalem in the 1950’s whose grandfather comes to live with him. He spends much of his time trying to fight the ‘Nazi Beast’, and so the play is an interesting way to see how the younger generation, and especially children, struggled with the legacy left to them by their survivor parents.

One of the most important and amazing elements of Yom Hashoah in Israel (which be repeated again next week for יום הזכרון לחללי צה''ל, IDF Memorial Day) is the element of national mourning. The first thing I noticed while we were in Jaffa for the play and on the way home was that all places of entertainment (excluding our theatre), and even restaurants were closed for twenty-four hours, since they were not in keeping with the mood of the day. When I got home, I followed our staff’s advice and turned on the TV and radio briefly. All of the Israeli channels were either showing Yom Hashoah specific programming, or were totally off the air from 8 PM Erev Yom Hashoah until the same time the following day. Galgalatz, the Israeli music station that I often listen to on the radio, was playing a mix of slow, sad music as opposed to their usual repertoire of current Israeli and American hits.

Programming the next day began with Shacharit, which Josh and I led most of without a melody, as per the custom I had learned when I was back at Schechter in Philadephia. I also got to read torah, and recited the special El Maleh Rachamim in memory of Holocaust victims.

We then moved into one of the Moadonim for the day’s programming, which was planned by some of the Nativers and turned out quite well. They began by reading different stories of righteous gentiles, some of whom I had heard of, and others that were new stories for me. We then had some people tell their own families’ Holocaust stories, many of which were very sad and moving. A little before 10 AM, we went outside and stood in respect as a siren wailed for two minutes, as it did throughout the entire country. It was a very emotional moment as an entire country stopped what they were doing, no matter where they were (even in the middle of the highway) and remembered the tragedy of the Shoah.

To hear a live recordingt of the Yom Hashoah siren, click here.

We continued the programming by seeing a recent film based on the story a Jewish boy from Cracow who hid with a Polish peasant family during the Shoah. While I though the movie was okay, the next part of our day was probably the most moving, when Esther, a member of Kibbutz who is a Hebrew teacher told her own story of survival, from being born in Lithuania at beginning of the war, and ending it as a six year old child the only one from her family to survive, and miraculously making it to Israel. It was also nice to hear Esther’s story in Hebrew, which she spoke at an easy level and slow pace so almost everyone could understand.

After a pretty delicious lunch of tongue and schnitzel, we had a short wrap up for the day, and had the rest of the afternoon to relax. We again had an early dinner, and around 6 left for the short 20 minute ride to Kibbutz Yad Mordechai, located south of Ashkelon, for one of the official closing ceremonies for Yom Hashoah. The ceremony began with many speeches, including one by Defence Minister Amir Peretz, and a girl just a few years younger than me, who represented the Hashomer Haztair youth movement who helped organize the ceremony. Because Hashomer Hatzir is a very secular youth movement, the ceremony was very different than others I had been to in the past for Yom Hashoah, in that poetry was read in lieu of Kaddish or Yizkor. As well, the tone of the many musical selections, including one that sounded like an eighties rock song, was radically different than the somber ones like Ani Maamin or Eli Eli (both of which have religious connotations) that I am used to hearing in connection to Yom Hashoah. The ceremony ended with the emotion singing of Hatikvah, which gave me the most amazing feeling of the privilege we have to be living, after the devestation of the Shoah in a sovereign Jewish state. Overall, although the ceremony was totally different than how I am used to marking the day, it was definitely a very enlightening and worthwhile experience.

To hear a recording of this Hatikvah, click here.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were relatively normal workdays, with a few small exceptions. Our boss, Hanan, realized that my friend David knows how to drive stick shift, and on Tuesday and Wednesday, he got to drive the pipes (and us) around the field in a tractor, which made our work much more efficient.

On Tuesday afternoon, our staff organized an outing and barbecue for us at Nitzanim beach, located on the coast between Ashkelon and Ashdod. It turned out to be a nice way for us to bond and get off of kibbutz for a little while, as well as have a tasty meat dinner compared to the dairy stuff we usually get.

Finally, Wednesday and Thursday were Rosh Hodesh Iyyar, and as usual the Kibbutz Beit Knesset didn’t disappoint us in its ability to finish the entire Shacharit service, including Hallel and Mussaf, in 45 minutes! Hodesh Tov!

בחזרה לשגרה-Back to the routine

As I had done once before, I’m writing this entry on the egged bus from Jerusalem back to Kibbutz, after a great chag in Jerusalem and Haifa. I’ll begin right where I left off on Friday morning. I woke up around 6:30 and davened at the Yeshurun Central Syngogoue, where I went for Shacharit every Friday during first semester, and a few times for their Cantorial Carlebach Kabbalat Shabbat. Rabbi Rosen had told me an interesting fact, which I confirmed when I went to daven, is that the shul, which is today slightly to the right of modern Orthodox, was actually founded, and that plot of land on which it stands was donated, in 1926, by the United Synagogue of America, today known as the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. It’s very interesting to see what turns history makes, especially in the Jewish world. On the other hand, I hope it can help reinforce the lesson of כל ישראל ערבים זה לזה, that all of Israel is responsible for one another.

After I got back from tefillot I had a light breakfast, went down the street to help Rabbi Rosen with his Shabbat shopping, and then said goodbye to him. Shortly before noon, I walked north to the Goldberg family’s apartment, who have become close to cousins for me, and who I spent the next few days with. I had a lunch of salami on matza, and soon after we got ready to walk over to the תחנה מרכזית (central station) to leave for what would be an amazing Shabbat in Haifa, a beautiful city that I had previously only been in for less that and hour on pilgrimage a year and a half ago. Luckily, there was an extremely short line for security, and we arrived at the gate for the last departure of the 940 express to Haifa. Unfortunately, we weren’t the only ones, and Josh and I ended up sitting in the stair well, which although mildly uncomfortable, got the job done and even allowed me to get in a nice half-hour nap. About two hours later we arrived at the sparkling new Haifa Hof Hacarmel central bus station, which was inaugurated to replace the antiquated downtown one recently, and quickly walked to the other side of the station to catch a city bus to Neve Shaanan, the neighbourhood where Josh’s Aunt Shirley lives. We had about a 25 minute bus ride through the beautiful residential areas of Haifa, and then got of and walked the few blocks to Aunt Shirley’s apartment. We arrived, I met Aunt Shirley, and settle in and relaxed a bit. A little later, Josh’s cousin Yoni from England and his friend Josh from Australia arrived to also join us for Shabbat. Pretty soon it was time to shower and get ready for Shabbat, and around 6:30, which was candle lighting time, we all left go to tefillot, which were at the shul complex, which consists of two large, multi-storied buildings, with a total of about 7 minyanim running simultaneously. We davened at Aunt Shirley’s regular minyan, on the first floor building, which was pretty nice and goes at a good pace. We returned home for a delicious and leisurely Shabbat dinner. Aunt Shirley has the same idea about the essential character of meat for Shabbat and Yom Tov as the Goldbergs and I, and Josh even joked around and told Aunt Shirley that I was a vegetarian. We relaxed for a little while after dinner, and I got to bed around midnight so I could wake up in time for tefillot the next morning.

I woke up around 7:30 shabbat morning, had a cup of tea, and made it to shul by the time it began at 8. As per the beautiful Israel minhag, following hallel and Anim Zemirot, the entire book of שיר השירים (Song of Songs). Josh and I were honoured with opening the ark and carrying the Sifrei Torah, and the entire service was over by 10:30. We went back to Aunt Shirley’s and entertained ourselves with her book, ‘The Top 100 Jews’, as we laughed while evaluating this interesting list, and discussing why people should or shouldn’t have made it. Around 11, we had Kiddush, along with a plethora of dairy delights, including gefilte fish, herring, and all sorts of other Kiddush food. After this, I ended up taking a nap. Around 2, we had a nice fleichig lunch, and we spent a lot of the rest of the afternoon playing fun word games like speed scrabble and anagrams. Before we knew it, it was time for mincha, and we ended up in the large beit Knesset in the shul complex-it was a pretty standard service, except for the fact that it was full to more than its capacity, and we were packed in there like cattle. We had a bite to eat for seudah shlishit, and soon it was time to daven Maariv and make Havdalah. We left pretty quickly after Shabbat ended, and the seven of ended up catching a Sherut to the central station with three Israelis, which filled it up. We had a little time to kill until the bus left for Jerusalem, and Lani Goldberg treated us to Kosher for Pesach Burger Ranch, which was pretty good. The bus left Haifa at 9:30, arrived back in Jerusalem at 11:15, and got back to the Goldbergs’ apartment by midnight.

On Sunday we also began the day by davening at Yeshurun, after which we had a breakfast of matzah and delicious homemade omelettes by Joel. I spent a lot of the morning out and about doing some Yom Tov Shopping for the Goldbergs with Josh, and helping a bit with the cooking. After lunch, I went with Josh and his Abba to their cousins’ house as they had a draft for their eighth annual hockey playoffs pool, where eleven different teams of their friends make different fantasy teams for the upcoming games. By the time I finished watching the proceedings and resting a little bit, it was about 4:30, and I walked down the street to catch a bus to Talpiot, where I spent Yom Tov with my father’s close friend from his childhood in New London, CT, Kobi Ableman, his wife Nadia and four of their five children. I arrived at their apartment and helped get ready for the chag, including making a salad and showering. We davened at Yedidya, almost definitely my favourite shul in Jerusalem, and which Kobi helped found 25 years ago. After Ma’ariv, we returned home and had a delicious yom Tov meal with some friends of theirs from the shul. I was quite exhausted to the extent that I was almost falling asleep by the end of the meal, so I went to sleep around 10:30.

The next morning I again davened at Yedidya, for a service which was long by Israeli standards (but still under three hours), but very spiritually uplifting with a beautiful davening (including one of the best hallel’s I have had in a while), a special prayer available during Yizkor for those with two living parents, in deference to the shul’s custom that everyone remains in the service for Yizkor, and an otherwise great davening environment. After Kiddush, during which I chatted with my friend Daniel Peaceman who was there with his family. We returned to Kobi and Nadia’s for a delicious lunch, where most of the guests were Nadia’s aunts and uncles. I must have been pretty tired, beause after Birkat Hamazon and reading the newspaper (in Hebrew , of course) I fell asleep for pretty much the whole rest of the afternoon, and I woke up just in time for Mincha. After Mincha and before Ma’ariv, we followed the Hassidic custom of having a ‘סעודת משיח’, and we learned some sections in Massechet Sanhedrin about the Messiah while having our last Pesach meal. We davened Maariv, and I went back to Kobi and Nadia’s for Havdalah and to pack up. I then caught a bus to the תחנה מרכזית (central station), and met up with four of my friends, with whom I was able to make the 9:30 bus back to Kibbutz.

On Tuesday, after returning to Kibbutz we found out the moshav (where I usually work) had assumed we weren’t working, and the six of us ended up doing different jobs on Kibbutz. Along with my friends Tani and Shosh, I spent the day in the kibbutz laundry, mostly folding towels and sorting sheets. It was a pretty relaxing and fun job in the end.

On Wednesday, we finally returned to the fields, and spent the morning moving irrigation pipes to prepare for another parsley harvest, since the crop had already reached its previous height and then some. Beginning that afternoon and continuing into most of Thursday, we had an Israel advocacy seminar, where we were given tons of background information, tips, and hands on practice. Wednesday night and Thursday also marked the seventeenth yahrtzeit for my grandfather, Harold Ascher ז''ל, and I made sure to light a Yahrtzeit candle in his memory. In the morning, I got to read torah, and it was pretty interesting because it was probably the smallest Kosher sefer Torah I had ever seen. Here you can see a picture of my friend Tani doing hagbah on it.

Thursday ended with a sad sign that the year is starting to come to a close, taking our group picture, followed in the evening by another fun barbecue!

לשנה הזאת בירושלים L’shana Hazot birushalayim

This year in Jerusalem!

What an amazing feeling it was, to end the Seder with the words ‘Lshana Habaah birushalayim habnuyah,’ ‘next year in Jerusalem rebuilt, at the Friedgut’s Seder in East Talpiot, and then on the way home, to walk by the Tayelet and see the rebuilt city shining in the moonlight.

I’m now going to backtrack a little and talk about what I’ve been up too from Shabbat Hagadol, this past Shabbat up until now. I decided to spend Shabbat on kibbutz, since I would be away all of Pesach. Friday night tefillot were pretty nice; while the Shaliach Tsibbur didn’t sing Carlebach, he had a beautiful voice which made the standard Nusach all the more beautiful. Dinner was held in the chadar ochel, and all of the food, with the exception of Pitot that we were given for motzi. The food itself was pretty satisfying for institutional Pesach fare, but the service wasn’t as great because half the families on the kibbutz decided to take advantage of the food being serverd instead of cooking, and room was actually filled with families from the kibbutz, a far cry from the three kibbutz couples who eat there on a regular Shabbat.

Shabbat morning I davened in the Kibbutz Beit knesset, where we had a beautiful d’var torah (in Hebrew) by the Kibbutz Rabbi, who also chanted the Haftarah in special sefardi trope. I ate lunch with the Slaters, my adopted kibbutz family, who made a nice Hametz meal, and we also had some nice conversation as well. I then took a walk with them after Birkat Hamazon. Our fiest stop was at a neighbour’s plum tree, where we gathered to recite ברכת האילנות, the special b’racha said over the first fruit tree that one sees blossoming during the month of Nissan. We then took a stroll through the Kibbutz garden, with a variety of beautiful trees and flowers. We then made it over to the beit knesset for mincha, after which I read and slept for most of the afternoon. Shabbat ended with a chametz party-seudah shlishit in our Madricha Yael’s room, followed by a quick maariv with the kibbutz and a Nativ Havdalah.

Sunday was a Yom Nativ dedicated to Pesach which began with shacharit, and continued with session such as making chametz dioramas which depicted יציאת מצרים, making up songs that described our various family seder traditions, and a game show put together by my friend Yosef to test our knowledge of the intricate halachot of chametz and matzah. The rest of the day was spent cleaning our caravan for Pesach, rounded out with a deli dinner, Maariv, Bedikat Chametz, and of course packing for the week of Pesach.

Monday morning, being Erev Pesach, was also the fast of the firstborn. While most years the fast is broken by a siyum (celebration making the completion of a tractate of Talmud), this year was unique in that instead was able to eat by being part of a celebration of the bris of the kibbutz rabbi’s new son. Similar to what I’m sure my bris was like, the whole kibbutz was invited to the bris, which took place at the Yeshiva, and after a sefardi shacharit, the brit milah ceremony went by pretty quickly. On interesting note is that at the end of the service, when the rabbi explained the significance of his new son’s name יוחאי אשר, he metioned that his is proud to name his son Asher after his father (who was the sandak at the bris), which is a totally foreign concept to me as an Ashkenazi.

I quickly gathered my bags, and walked out the main highway outside of the kibbutz, where I waited for the #437 Egged bus to Jerusalem. Although I had heard horror stories about traveling in Israel erev Pesach, it seems that early hour at which we left provided perfect traffic conditions, including less traffic at the entrance to the city than I had ever seen before. One I got in I stopped near the bus station to say hello to the Haber family, and pick up a bag that they had left for me at their hotel. I then caught a city bus which took me to my next destination, the apartment which Avram’s family is living in on Derech Hevron for a month, in one of the sparkling new condominiums behind the Tayelet. We spent most of the afternoon relaxing, spending time together, and taking advantage of the wireless internet. Around 5:30, we showered and got ready for Yom tov, and about an hour later, we left to walk over to Kehilat Moreshet Avraham, the Masorti Kehilla of East Talpiot. A beautiful and festive Maariv service, including a full Hallel as is the custom in Israel, was led by Nahum Binder, the assistant director of Nativ. It was then time for the (only) Seder, and I was privileged to attend a very lovely one, along with Avram’s family, at the home of Jac and Diane Friedgut. From what I am used to, it was a relatively large Seder with 22 people, most of them from the extended Friedgut family. It was a lot of fun, especially because of all of the young children, as well as the ‘assignment’ that Jac had for us, to have each of us pick a character from the past (real or fictional; I actually chose Harry Potter), and speak in first person as if we were leaving Mitzrayim. The Friedguts’ children and grandchildren who were present represent the spectrum from secular to orthodox, as well as both Ashkenazim and Sefardim, and this as well added to what I was able to get out of the Seder.

On Yom Tov morning, we again davened at Moreshet Avraham. Tefillot started late at 8:45 knowing that people had been up late at the Seder, and was very nice as usual. I received third aliyah, Rabbi David Golinkin, one of the most important leaders of the Masorti movement in Israel chanted the maftir (and as a very nice note, the Rabbi of the shul even called him up as מורי ורבי, my rabbi and teacher), and we began praying for dew in musaf. The service ended with a bang as the Shaliach Tsibbur led anim zemirot to the rocking ECRUSY melody. We had a very nice and delicious lunch with a friend of Avram’s mother, and when we returned to the apartment, I took a much needed nap for a while. After davening Maariv and begging to count the omer, as well as making Havdalah, I walked over to Emek Refaim and had dinner at Norman’s restaurant (one of many open for the week of Pesach) with Dean Shuly Rubin Schwartz of List College, and a nice group of current sand future students, which made me very excited for next year.

Wednesday morning started off with me waking up pretty early (around 6 am) and went over to Yedidya for a festive Chol hamoed shacharit. I led p’sukei d’zimra, and compared to the kibbutz we took our time and had a much more festive Hallel. I packed up, said goodbye to Avram’s family, and took a bus over to Rehavia, where I met my former teacher, Rabbi Barry Rosen, at his pesach apartment, where I stayed the past two nights. After schmoozing for a bit, he went out for the morning, and in response to an ad I had seen in a newspaper that morning, I headed downtown to the plaza in front of the Hamashbir department store to donate blood to Magen David Adom. After waiting for a few minutes, I filled out the form in Hebrew without a translation, and then went into the bloodmobile to give the donation. It was such a great feeling to take just a little bit of my time and make a difference. I then strolled over to the Old City ad walked around for a bit before meeting Rabbi Rosen. We stopped at a few bookstores, I got a ‘shwarma on a plate’ for a lunch, and ran into my friend Koby Geller and his family, who my parents, and even Rabbi Rosen knew. What a small Jewish world! We ended the excursion by davening Mincha at a more crowded than usual kotel, and taking a cab back to the apartment. In the late afternoon I took a #14 bus over to the Renaissace hotel, and had dinner with Steve and Jeremy Haber. We davened maariv first, and then had a very slow, but delicious meal (including a main course of Prime Rib), which gave us plenty of time to catch up and talk.

Thursday morning I also woke up early and left the apartment at 6:45 to walk down to the old city, so I could get a prime spot at the Kotel for the annual Birkat Kohanim (Priestly Blessing), where hundreds of Kohanim come to blesses the thousands who fill the kotel plaza to be blessed. The Shacharit service began at 8:45, and used a microphone so everyone could hear the leader. The tefillot, including Hallel, torah reading and musaf went until 11, and ended with the recitation of a special prayer for the return of captive soldiers. Even though it was a very long service, it was a fascinating and worthwhile experience.

to hear part of the Hallel service and the actual Birkat Kohanim, use these links!

In the afternoon I spent some time studying from the אנציקלופדיה תלמודית (Talmudic Encyclopedia) with Rabbi Rosen. For dinner I went down to Ben Yehuda and ate a Burger King, where I had a whopper, fries and a drink, on a special Pesach bun.

מועדים לשמחה Moadim lsimcha!