Sunday, September 6, 2009

The weekend!

So. I have had a busy past couple of days and I am finally settling down to write about it. Inspired by Benzi's emails, this post is going to have sections, divided by a table of contents.

Table of Contents
i. Thursday's night hike
ii. Friday Shabbat
iii. Saturday Shabbat

i. Thursday night hike
Well, there is just so much I want to say about this and not enough ability to gather my thoughts. This hike was AMAZING...or, as Gali would prefer, AWESOME (she says Americans abuse that word).
Let me start at the beginning. Thursday night my program went on a nighthike in Sde Boker, a section of the desert about 40 mins away. Because the desert is so scary in the dark and pitch black to the point where you can walk off a cliff without even seeing in, we had a tour guide who would prevent that from happening. And with her explaining where we were and what we were doing, and the fun spirit of the group, the night was fantastic.

I wish I could emphasize how special the desert is, but I truly believe you can't understand unless you're living it. Yes, there are days when it's 99 degrees and you can feel the sun burning every part of your visible skin, and you think to yourself "why am I not in Jerusalem but in the DESERT." And then nights like Thursday reinforce the reasons why Ben Gurion wanted the desert to be established...and why we truly love it.

The best part of the hike, in my opinion, was the "three minutes" of quiet time. Sitting on top of desert rock with a breeze, stars wherever you look up, and silence, my thoughts wandered everywhere from thinking about my family and loved ones to "I wonder if this is what it was like when Abraham wandered here, or Moses and the tribes of our people." Constantly a conversation we have here, it seemed to be better in my head when I was physically living it and realizing it.
Once again, the desert proves to leave me breathless. It has a way of connecting a person to not only nature, but to faith and to God, and to my friends here and afar. So I am going to say it for the trillionth time-- Ben Gurion was onto something, and I can thank him everyday!








ii. Friday Shabbat Dinner
With all of my complaints about missing the reformed movement, I have grown attached to Shabbat in Israel. It is quite different than Shabbat in New York, but then again, quite similar as well.

This Friday I spent Shabbat in Be'er Sheva (meaning I wasn't away or anything...) And I would really like to give a "shout out" and a special thanks to Gali, my dorm counselor and friend, who threw together a fabulous Shabbat dinner.

After food shopping with her Wednesday, I expected everything to be good. But the whole atmosphere of Shabbat, outside on the grass with friends, great food, and conversation, was brought out much more intensely than I thought it would be.

It's fun for me to be with a group of people who appreciate and embrace our past, and understand that the past is also the present. What we do on Shabbat is more for ourselves than people think it is, and I know Friday night gave me the relaxation, rejuvenation, and pride that I needed.

So thank you, Gali. You are more than just our counselor and we love you very much.

iii. Saturday Shabbat
In addition to Gali, there are two other people I really have to thank: Rakefet and Bezi, you guys are absolutely two of the most wonderful people I have ever met and you bring so much to our program.

For those of you reading this that don't know who they are or what I am talking about, I'll explain...
Benzi and Rakevet are two members of my overseas program who graciously invite us to their home in Be'er Sheva to bring in Shabbat. They were with us on Friday night and then on Saturday, about twelve of us walked to their place and spent the afternoon the way Shabbat should be spent: singing, dancing, eating, drinking, and talking.
The conversations I get to experience are so great. Benzi has a way of getting us to think about Judaism and the Torah portion, which is lovely for me because we all know I like to do that anyway. To be able to talk about it and challenge it with people that have either the same or different opinions is a nice way to spend my time, and it is great preparation for what I will be doing in my future.

The songs we sing are so fun because if we don't know the melody, we hum until we catch on. If we feel inspired (which we did) we get up and dance, and if we really get into it (which we did...again) we close our eyes and belt out the words we truly believe in.

Shabbat with the two of them is so fantastic, and it is something I do look forward to and appreciate.
So thanks to you guys too, we love you also!

In an older post I touched upon how much Shabbat means to me. It's been a fun new discovery. Now, with it being sunday and the beginning of the week here in the Holy Land, I look back on the weekend and can only simply smile!

Shalom, cheers and peace,
Staci

1 comment: