Finally Figured it Out!

10/2/2010

As the title states, I finally figured it out! Even thought most of you never saw, my blog was previously aligned like Hebrew so it looked very strange and I couldn’t figure out how to enter this blog entry last night because it was all in Hebrew. Even though I am entering this today (10/3/2010), I wrote it last night after Shabbas. Enjoy and I’ll post pictures soon.

Wednesday was Simchat Torah (we don’t have Shemini Atzeret in Israel, we only have one day of chag). It was a very spontaneous and fulfilling chag. I had actually planned since teusday to go to Shira Chadasha for Wednesday night service and then Kedem for Thursday morning. Everyone had already left for Shira Chadasha but I promised to wait for my friend Tali and thought we’d just catch up with the group. As we were walking to shul, we came across another group of Nativers who were off to some other shul, Yakar. I had heard nice things about it so we spontaneously decided to join their group. Yakar has a thin mechitza that doesn’t feel so “shunning”, and has really good tunes and spirit .It was also kind of fun because not as many Nativers were there, and Tali and I were the only girls, so the feeling was a lot more congregation-oriented.  It was such a fun start to Simchat Torah, when they began Hakafot. They brought 2 torahs into the women’s section so we could dance with them during the Hakafot. While dancing, I even saw a friend, Paula Sass, who had been in USY with me for two years, before she graduated. It was so nice to see a familiar face, especially because it was such a surprise. I also got to hold the Torah at one point which was pretty special. It was really nice singing and dancing with boys on one side and girls on the other, but it was crowded, so after the second Hakafa we heard one of the men shout “Bachutz” (outside). Apparently that was only meant for the men, so the women could take over the whole room inside, but Tali and I went outside anyway.  I was met with another exciting surprise- Laura Freedman! The surprise of seeing family on chag was so nice, the change in plans turned out to be the best choice of the night.

Since my plans had changed so much the previous night, Tali and I thought we might go between both services at Kedem and Shira Chadasha since they are both in Emek Refaim, only a couple minutes away from eachother. When we got to Kedem they were doing hakafot outside and the spirit was highflying but it was also really hot, so after a couple hakafot we left to see the dancing at shira chadasha, which sounded promising (and air conditioned). Unfortunately when we arrived they had just finished Hakafot and were starting Torah readings ad aliyot. In Israel everyone gets an aliyah (girls too if its egalitarian), so I gladly took my aliyah, and after aaaaall the other aliyot it was Kiddush time. Services go really late because of the hakafot and yizkor and the prayer for rain that synagogues just lead right into musaf, so the kiddushes on Simchat Torah are huge and delicious, I was even able to snag a bit of ice cream from the kids’ table J.  That night even after havdalah, there was this cool Hakafot Shneyot  in the park. All of Nativ went plus Jews from all of over Jerusalem, the park was crowded! We were dancing and bringing so much spirit to Hakafot. To add to the surprises of the chag, I even ran into Laura Freedman again… and Alex Freedman too, this time! Unfortunately I rolled my ankle, being the klutz I am, I wasn’t even dancing at that moment, and though it swelled that night, by the morning the swelling had gone down significantly!

Even though I had planned to go to the gym Friday, because of my ankle I decided that probably wasn’t the best idea, so I enjoyed a morning sleeping in, and a couple hours at the shuk with my friends Sean Haber and Eric Samuels, while most of the other kids were studying for their exams at Hebrew U ( I love not having homework or tests at Yeshiva). I was able to pick up cloves so I can clove up an etrog for Leah and Matthew as they requested for havdalah.  Aaron Sherman, one of the madrichim, and I had a very entertaining time circling the etrog in all the cloves. That night for services I went to the Great Synagogue, it’s a huuuge orthodox shul down the road from base. It has a men’s choir and is gorgeous, even though it’s not my style I thought I’d try it out just for the experience. Let’s just say it was my first and LAST time at services there. I felt like I was at a church and was falling asleep from the tunes the choir sang, it was not my cup ‘o tea.

Today was just a typical shabbas, relaxing, some reading in the park, and enjoying the fact that everyone had an exam to study for and I didn’t (Yay Yeshiva!)

So shavua  tov to everyone, and  I hope to update again shortly, plus put up photos as soon as I figure this whole blog thing out.