Celebrations from beginning to end

In order to make this blog entry true to its title, we have to begin immediately where the last blog entry left off. It was Halloween, and like I said, I was too tired and didn’t want to go out and celebrate with everyone else. I also didn’t want to be all alone so I hung out with my friends, Aaron Lapping and Jacob Feinberg, and some other friends kept popping in to hang out. I was tired, but it was Aaron’s Birthday at midnight, so I decided to stay and celebrate since mostly everyone else had gone out. Jacob and Aaron had long balloons and an air pump in their room, so to celebrate Aaron’s birthday I made him a hat out of balloons, and Jacob found videos online on how to make balloon animals. I made Aaron a balloon dog too, and Jacob made me a balloon bunny! 

The birthday boy with his hat and balloon dog

balloon bunny

 Since Sunday carried into Monday, the fun kept continuing. Michal Washofsky is a good friend back home from Cincinnati, and she made Aliyah (moved to Israel) this year and is in the army. Michal was able to spend some time in Jerusalem and I got to see her for lunch! It was so nice seeing a friend from home, and since Michal did a gap year in Israel last year, like what I am doing now, she was able to relate to all my new experiences and give me great advice.  That evening was also going to be our first real football game (the last was only a scrimmage) plus it was the first one I would be able to play in since the last time I hurt my leg and ankle. As I was getting ready, there was all of a sudden a mass collection of people outside of Bet Nativ… it was a huge protest!! There were so many people, roads were closed off and there were police everywhere. The protest was against the government for giving money to Charedi (Ultra-Religious) Jews to study at Yeshiva, while all the other students don’t get any money and have to go to the army. It was understandable why it caused such a riot, plus it was such an experience to be part of a moment in history; it can be a pretty cool place, living at Beit Nativ with its awesome location. We still had our game that night, I was pretty nervous since I have no experience with football. Even though we lost pretty badly, we still got one touchdown, we had a lot of fun, and I was able to play my defensive role without getting lost, lol. When I got back, I had missed a bit of the Israeli movie that they play every Sunday night, but my friend Jacob had already seen it, so he explained the movie and what I had missed so I was able to watch it. The movie is called, “Walking on Water,” and it’s an amazing movie about an Israeli soldier who’s supposed to catch an old Nazi that is suspected of still being alive. It was so intense and had such deep meanings, I’m so glad I was able to watch it even after our game.

Like every day on Nativ, something always happens even if it’s something small, like on Tuesday. That afternoon I went to the shuk because I wanted to get some kedem grapejuice. In Israel their grapejuice tastes awful and it’s what we get every week on Nativ. My friend, Tali, and I had been talking about how much we missed kedem grapejuice, but it’s very hard to find in Israel and is quite expensive.  I also knew that my friend, Dena Rapaport would be bringing me some of my Imma’s homemade challah the next day, so I figured it was the perfect opportunity to get some Kedem and enjoy the classic combo from back home. I was so happy I could find it at the shuk, and even though it was around $4 for a normal sized bottle, it is so worth it! That night we also had Erev Nativ, our mandatory night with our tracks. That night was a roommate competition. Roommates had to dress up in matching costumes and then we competed in trivia. Rotem , my roommate, dressed up as guys, and even though we didn’t win the competition it was so fun playing and seeing everyone’s costumes.

Rotem and i as "bros"

Our fun table with "KISS"

Wednesday evening I went to this new activity Nativ is starting. It’s called Beit Midrash, and we will basically get to study Jewish topics every week with students from the Jewish Theological Seminary. We discussed different topics that we’d like to study for the rest of the semester and I’m excited to learn more about some teshuvot and other modern day topics. That night I also got my homemade challah that Dena delivered, and that was freshly baked with love by my Imma on Sunday. Of course I wasn’t going to wait all the way till Shabbat, so I cracked open the bottle of kedem grapejuice (of course I gave a little to Tali) and enjoyed the best meal I’ve had since I got to Israel. I was so happy I was telling everybody about my “package” and even shared a few tastes. The fun continued through to the next day. One of my friends, Tali Marcus, who I mentioned has celiac disease, was turning 19 on Wednesday! As I’ve mentioned before, I have family friends that live in Pizgat Zev, in Jerusalem, the Weiner family, and one of their daughters has celiac disease too. I took Tali there for Sukkot and she had such amazing gluten-free meals when she was there. I was thinking about Tali’s birthday and thought about how she couldn’t get a real birthday cake because of her celiac, but then I thought of David Wiener, and when I called him up he said he could make a gluten-free birthday cake! Even though I had wanted to help bake the cake, our calendars didn’t match up, but David said it would be easy for him to bake one up and deliver it! I got the cake Wednesday, so I talked to Tali’s roommates about coming over and surprising Tali with it at midnight. Aimee and Roshana, were all for it and even had blown up tons of balloons that day to surprise Tali too. Tali had basketball that night so I came over around 11:45, the plan was for her to come back and while she was in the shower we’d bring all the balloons in and light the cake. Unfortunately Tali had homework she wanted to finish and she didn’t get our hints about taking the shower, so she didn’t start showering till 12:30. Luckily we were able to still surprise her when she came out of the shower. She was sooo happy with the surprise and with the birthday cake, and just the fact that her friends wanted to celebrate her birthday. It was so fun celebrating I didn’t get to sleep till 3.

getting the balloons from one room into Tali's while she showered

Tali, Aimee, and Roshana

giving Tali her cake

Tali enjoying her gluten-free birthday cake

The next day, Thursday, school ended early because it was Thursday. I was just coming back from picking up a small treat for Tali on her birthday when I ran into her on her way to the shuk. I decided to join her even though I had her gift in my bag (a crazy hat we both wanted so neither of us got it, 1 month ago). It was so fun exploring the shops; we were just enjoying the afternoon exploring and even found this consignment shop with crazy clothes that made us laugh a lot. It was fun spending so much time with the birthday girl all afternoon. When we got back I had just enough time to write her card before dinner. After dinner there was football practice and there was also a mandatory meeting for all the people going on the Poland trip Nativ is offering for people who have never been. I went to football practice, but because of the Poland meeting only 8 girls came. I thought it was going to be such a waste of a practice but it was actually really good. I could feel myself improving with my defense, and the girl I was defending said she noticed I improved too, which was a very good feeling (not to mention I didn’t hurt my ankle). Even though I was tired after practice I was also pumped from my success and ready to spend the rest of the night celebrating Tali’s Birthday by going bowling! Before we left I gave her the hat, which she loved, mostly because I remembered how she’d loved its craziness when we’d seen it. I made her bring it to bowling to wear as her birthday “crown”. The night was so fun, even though my throat was feeling pretty soar near the end of the night.

Tali with her birthday hat

I'm such a bowler

Yossi and I were the best team... even though we lost

The next day I woke up (After sleeping in because the weekend starts on Friday in Israel!) and my throat was feeling worse than the day before because of drainage. I thought I’d check out the clinic to nip whatever-I-was-getting in the bud, and since my friend, Jenny was already going. Unfortunately we didn’t get there till 9:30 and the drop-in clinic closes at 9, so it was a wasted visit, but at least we got to walk 20 minutes there and back for some exercise. I had already decided to take a break from travels and enjoy a simple weekend relaxing on base and since I wasn’t feeling so healthy I decided to enjoy my day off, resting in my room and catching up on some American tv shows that I’ve missed. It was nice to have a day where I didn’t have to do anything; they don’t come often on a program like Nativ. Plus, that night I got to enjoy more of my Imma’s homemade challah and Kedem grape juice, which made my Shabbas amaaazing.

Like the title of this blog entry states, I got to end my week with more celebrations, and this time, not another birthday. At the Yeshiva we have many classes and with each class we have a chevruta which is a person you study one-on-one with before class time with the teacher. In my Chumash class I am chevrutas with Evan Ravsky¸ and I met his wife, Abby, during Yom Kippur who I immediately clicked with, and always get hugs from whenever I see her. It is their one year anniversary on Monday and Evan said to come to Kedem for services on Saturday because they would be sponsoring Kiddush in honor of their anniversary. It had been a while since I’d gone to Kedem but I’ve always loved services there. It was so nice to finally be back with the kehilla of friends, I knew so many people from Yeshiva that all waved Shabbat “hellos” when I walked in and the service was lovely as always. I even got the Levi aliyah, which is always an honor, and they told me that next time I could even wash the Cohens’ hands before Birkat HaCohenim! During the repetition of the musaf amidah, I left early to help Abby setup for the Kiddush, and it was just nice to see her again and catch-up. Kiddush was of course yummy and it was nice to talk to friends and feel like a part of the congregation. Abby and Evan even invited me to a lunch party one of their friends was hosting for them, which of course I accepted. I knew almost everyone at lunch because they were mostly from Yeshiva, and there were probably around 20 of them. It was so fun talking with friends and even meeting some new people. It was extra special because it was Evan and Abby’s last Shabbat within in their first year of marriage so it was the last time they would be putting honey on their challah (until Rosh Hashanah), but it was sweet to share that experience with them. The food was also amazing! Evan made this delicious honey mustard salmon and there was eggplant and sweet potatoes and salad and more, it was quite a buffet. They even sent e home with 2 meals worth of salmon! Plus I got invited to another celebratory party for Abby and Evan Wednesday night. Jewish geography even played a role in the event, because the party is being hosted by Jon Canel, who knows one of my friends from USY, Dan Bardenstein - even in Israel, American Jewish Geography still works. I was having so much fun celebrating that I didn’t get back to base till 4:30, and realized I never caught up on my rest because I missed my Shabbas nap. Since my cold is escalating I’ve taken the evening to rest up and go to bed early so hopefully I can heal before having to visit the doctor.

I hope your upcoming week will be as fun as y week has been. And don’t forget to change your clocks!