Hey everyone, so it’s been just over four weeks since I arrived in Israel to start NATIV 30!! A lot has happened and I realized I don’t want to forget all the fun times, plus I want you all to hear about Nativ even when I can’t make calls as often because of the time difference and phone call expenses. Also, I want to let everyone know the background of what I’m doing on Nativ. For the first half of the year I am in Jerusalem studying at the Conservative Yeshiva, and for the second half of the trip I’ll be volunteering in Be’er Sheva. In Jerusalem, we are roomed and grouped into the tracks that we’re doing for the second half of the year (the two other tracks are Yerucham and Kibbutz).
So I think I’ll try to do a quick sum up of what’s happened week by week…
Week 1
Monday, following Alex and Laura’s amazing and fun filled wedding in Chicago, Nina and I headed for the Chicago airport where we flew to New York and then onto Israel with most of the Nativers. The plane ride was full of excitement, but I still managed to catch a few hours of shut eye on that red-eye flight. I remember meeting a lot of kids from the Yerucham group, and getting really scared that I wouldn’t have any friends in my Be’er Sheva group. Luckily the next day they divided the 93 Nativers into their track groups so we could meet and make friends within our group. My roommate is Rotem Eitan, and even though I only have one roommate, our room is the smallest room in the whole building, so it’s really good that we both like to keep things clean and organized. For bonding we took tours of the city and even had our own cookout. Thursday we had orientations at our schools (Hebrew U, Ulpan or Yeshiva), I’m studying at Yeshiva and the first day at orientations were very overwhelming. I was thinking of dropping out ( luckily now I love it). Thursday night was an awesome night. Nativ was able to get us tickets to Israel’s International soccer game against Malta where they won 3 to 1! It was such a cool experience and only 20 shekel , including transportation! That Shabbat was also nice, we had services on base with all of Nativ and got more bonding time. Sunday was the start of the week with Yeshiva classes from Sunday through Tuesday, so it was a simple beginning that got me used to classes that I was so happy I had chosen. Tuesday was also the start of Yeshiva and Ulpan Jerusalem Course. Since all the Hebrew U students are taking classes about Jerusalem, the Yeshiva and Ulpan students have 6 field trips together to tour Jerusalem through the ages. We began with the First Temple Period and walked Hezekaya’s Tunnel. I’d done it twice before so it wasn’t that amazing but I did learn some new historical facts that were kind of interesting.
Week 2
Wednesday was break before chag and Thursday and Friday were Rosh Hashanah. On the first day of chag I went to a shul called Shira Chadasha. The service was awesome even though there were barely any places to sit. It’s an egalitarian shul but still has a mechitzah, but there is so much spirit and a lot of little kids and the songs were great. After services my roommate and I had lunch at Elkhana’s, he’s our assistant director for Nativ. It was my first home cooked meal since I arrived and it was delicious. The second day of chag all of our Be’er Sheva track got hosted at many different families houses for lunch after going to this conservative shul, Moreshet Avraham, an hour walk away! The service wasn’t amazing but it was nice to have another home cooked meal and the family was really sweet. They had 5 kids and the mom, Ilana, was from Cincinnati (and had a pretty awesome name). Then Saturday I went to a shul called Kol Rena, which is located in a bomb shelter. They had some good Carlebach tunes, but I wasn’t at all impressed. The mechitza was very "strict" so I felt so seperted away from the spirit. Even though I didn’t love the shul, it was still a really relaxing Shabbas on base with everyone. Sunday was back to classes at Yeshiva but it was also Tzom Gedalia. Though I don’t usually fast for this minor fast, after hearing the story of Gedaliah, it reminded me of Yitzchak Rabin, which touched close to home for me, being in Israel now. Plus I’ve been studying the prophets in Yeshiva and he was the last one, which also was something special. The fast actually wasn’t that bad because Israel’s government made it daylight savings time early, so the fast ended an hour earlier then it usually would have. I also broke the fast with my first Moshiko’s which is a famous/very popular falafel restaurant and I hadn’t had it the whole time I was in Israel so it tasted extra amazing. Monday was another tour of Jerusalem, we saw the Southern Wall excavation, which I’d also done before, but I was reminded of the history and its significance during the Second temple period. Tuesday was actually a really interesting Jerusalem Course. It was about the time of Jesus and we toured the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. It was so interesting to learn about the basis of Christianity and its start up in Israel. That was definitely an interesting tour.
Week 3
Wednesday I took the bus to Malcha Mall with a bunch of friends with hopes to get a white dress for Yom Kippur. Even though the night was unsuccessful for me, it was a really fun night for girl bonding and just fun to get off base and not just by going to Ben Yehuda/downtown area. Luckily the next day we didn’t have any classes at Yeshiva because it was the day before Yom Kippur, so I got to go to Ben Yehuda and found a really cute white dress on sale for the yom tov. We also did a tour of Jerusalem where we got to go to King David’s Citadel. Even though I visited it before, when there was the Chihuly exhibit, it was still cool and the view from the top was beautiful. We could see the whole city. Friday night was not only Shabbas but also Kol Nidre and I went to this shul called Kedem which is down in the German colony in a rented out room of a school. It’s an egalitarian service of mostly young adults in their mid- to late- 20s and I actually knew a bunch of people from Yeshiva. I loved the whole service, the singing was awesome and it was a very welcoming group, I even got asked to open the ark at one point. I liked it so much that I went back there the next day for Yom Kippur day services. I was really tired from fasting that day though so for the Neillah I went to the shul that is on Nativ base (Moreshset Avraham). It’s an actual conservative shul, and it was a really nice service to end the chag with. I was surprisingly not that hungry after the fast so me and a bunch of friends went out for ice cream instead of a really big meal, it was delicious. Yom Kippur was just such an awesome experience though. We walked in the middle of the roads to shul because there were no cars, and these roads are typically so busy they’re a death sentence. Plus Friday Night, most of the Nativers sat outside the intersection right near Beit Nativ and sang Ruach songs and a bunch of other people joined. It was so cool to be doing that right in the middle of the roads. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday were just normal days at Yeshiva. Monday we also toured Jerusalem and the Jewish quarter, Yemin Moshe, and the Beit Knesset “Chorva”. The Chorva synagogue had a really cool story and it just got finished being built, its gorgeous and we were the first group out of Nativ, Ramah, USY etc. to ever tour it!
Week Four
Wednesday night was the start of Chag Sukkot and Nativ gave us the choice of staying on base or going away starting Tuesday night through Saturday night. I knew that we had 3 day Desert Survival Sunday morning 6 am so I wanted to be on base for Shabbas and have some chill time to get ready. Luckily for chag I was able to go to our family friends, the Weiners, and they even let me bring 2 friends, Ariel Segal and Tali Marcus. We left Wednesday at around 2 and took the bus where we met up with Yael, the Weiner’s daughter my age. It was so great to see her after an entire year. It was so nice being there where I felt so comfortable, like my home away from home. We got to decorate the sukkah and have amazing homemade food. Tali was especially lucky because she has Celiac and so does their daughter Michal ,so all the meals were gluten free but still amazing (like gluten free mac & cheese and gluten free quiche and more!). It was also really nice to just enjoy the chag reading all day and relaxing. It was sad to come back Thursday but also nice to return home and get resettled before desert survival. It was also very empty on base because so many people went away for Shabbat, so less than a third of the Nativers were there. It was a nice and quiet Shabbas which I really enjoyed. When Sunday morning rolled around I was up at 5:15 am so I could shower and be ready to leave for Desert Survival at 6 am. Basically Desert Survival is supposed to be a 3 day intensive hike through the desert, and each group is supposed to be on their own so there is more bonding. This didn’t exactly happen for us. After stopping at a youth hostel for breakfast they informed us that there was going to be a heat wave and the Israeli government had blocked certain hikes, like ours, for the next few days – new plan. Instead of the three day hike in the desert we went to Ein Ovedat which is one of the biggest springs in the desert, and even though there is a real hike there, we only walked for 10 minutes to see the spring. Even though it was kind of lame, we then took these jeep rides to the other huge spring in the desert. The jeep ride was so bumpy and a little scary but it was something new and exciting. We had another small walk after the ride but then we got to swim in the spring which was really refreshing considering the temperature. The biggest problem with the new plan was that the groups weren’t really separated so there wasn’t as much bonding opportunity. We were even sleeping at the same campsite. But it was still fun being with the whole Nativ group, and that night we took a moonlit hike within our groups. Since it was a full moon we didn’t need any lights and it was so beautiful climbing up the sandy/rocky hills. Afterwards we had a bonfire and I went to bed early since they were waking us up at 4. It was also cool because even though we had tents, almost everyone else slept outside in our sleeping bags. After they woke us the next morning at 4 we had a breakfast and started our hike from our campsite (which was actually a firing range lol). We split into our tracks again and this hike I loved. It was about three hours and we basically hiked our way to the top of the Machtesh Ramon (Ramon Crater) It was a beautiful view! The hike was amazing too, the last part of it was really steep and was a little like rock climbing, which I love! It was so accomplishing. Then we went to a mall where we got meal vouchers and got to spend the rest of the day on base showering, reading and sleeping.
Wednesday 9/29/10
Since we weren’t supposed to get back from Desert Survival till Tuesday night, we had a full free day to experience Jerusalem during Chol Hamoed. Yesterday was a day full of adventure that my friends, Tamar Friedman and Sean Haber, and I really took advantage of the day. I had heard about this mini sukkah art display at an art museum down the street so we went exploring and turned into this one art museum where we thought the display was. It was actually the wrong museum, but there was still paintings that were really good and a photo display about the Israeli Settlement Freeze. Plus we found out that this museum holds different shows and concerts in their theater different nights, so it was a good mistake. Then they told us the way to the museum with the sukkah displays, and we got to see all the mini sukkahs that had such cool themes, plus we got to make Sukkot crowns with all the little kids. Afterwards we wandered down the road to this cute craft fair that they have every Friday until the cold weather comes. The fact that they come every Friday made me feel okay that I didn’t buy anything. As we were leaving to go back to lunch at base, I saw this stand with flyers so we stopped and got this map with all this information of sites and we found out there was tour at 1 really close to base (at Ben Yehuda) plus different concerts that would be playing that evening from 5-9 for free throughout the city. We rushed through lunch and then Tamar, Sean, Seth, and I went to the tour which we didn’t really know anything about. It turned out it was a tour on Israel just around the time it became a state, we saw the Ticho house, Eliezer Ben Yehuda’s house, an Ethiopian church and a few other places. It was really cool, but mostly because it was so spontaneous. Then there was this parade that was so fun, there were these huge international Christian groups and they all wanted photos with us, it was hysterical. The free concerts were also fun and chill, but after dinner I was so exhausted I just hung out with friends. Today was also a nice day to relax before chag, I mostly spent the day writing/finishing this blog and also got a really cute pair of gladiator sandals for only 30 sheckels! I’ll try to keep updating the blog so all of you can hear about my year in Israel. Chag Sameach
