MASA, Machpela, and more

(this should have been posted sunday but the internet hasn't been working, sorry)

Wow, what a way to start off the week. There is nothing better than a concert, especially when its free, it’s with all of your friends, and it’s with Idan Raichel! MASA which grants thousands of scholarships to people going for the year to Israel, sponsored this Idan Raichel concert, and since all Nativ participants are signed up with MASA, Nativ bought us all tickets and made it a mandatory event - which doesn’t seem like such a demand.  We all got Nativ 30 t-shirts, which is pretty cool and the concert was amaaazing. I’d already been to one of his concerts before but it was such a different experience- the first time was in Cincinnati and it was outside, a lot less people, and I got to stand in the “front row”. This time, the concert was inside and it was a huge theater, and Nativ seats were in the balcony. As the concert went on most people went downstairs to stand up front and get close to the stage. Since I’d already had that experience, I stayed up top and enjoyed watching the whole bands’ interactions. Even though there were also speeches by MASA people at the beginning, there were also some cool mini performances, one even included fire breathers! What an awesome evening.

we got our t shirts!



cool act



Idan Reichal concert!

Even though I’d usually be tired after such a crazy day, I woke up Tuesday morning with a lot of energy and excitement – we were going on a field trip with Yeshiva! We still had our morning Tuesday class that day (Chumash) and even though it was shortened, I had a really awesome class; me and my chevruta (study partner) were really productive and brought some of our own drashes (new interpretations of the text) to share with the class. When the second class was done, most of the Yeshiva students were rushed onto a bus to go to the Supreme Court. I’ve been making a lot of friends with the non-Nativers at Yeshiva so I was really excited to spend the day with them outside of the Beit Midrash.  The Supreme Court building had such interesting symbolic architecture and I got a brochure that described the symbolism of each room. It was so cool how the building combined the ancient with the modern to define Israel and its Supreme court. Even though I pretty much hate government and politics, I actually found it interesting when our tour guide tried to explain how Israel’s Supreme Court works. But it got much better when the Yeshiva left for lunch and went to a bird observatory for a picnic! There weren’t many birds out at  time, but we learned a lot about how birds are tracked, and the tremendously long journeys they fly for winter. It was also fun being on a field trip, I thought those days were long gone (even though this entire year is kind of like one giant field trip). The fun didn’t end that night either, we had erev Nativ. We were divided into our groups (Be’er Sheva etc.) and while the other groups had fun games/activities, we were going to have discussions, so I wasn’t too excited. It turned out we got to learn and discuss more about the Teshuva (new laws) on ordaining homosexual Rabbis in the conservative Movement. 3 groups of 4 were randomly chosen to represent the 3 teshuvot of the Conservative Movement.  I find teshuvot very interesting and I got chosen to be on a debate group to represent the Teshuva Rabbi Levy proposed. It was cool to read an entire to Teshuva and research it, even if our team didn’t win (it’s okay, I agreed with the teshuva of the winning team anyways.) Basically an amazing day, until our group sat down at the end of Erev Nativ to hear about the week and I started getting an awful headache, my eye started twitching and I couldn’t help but start to cry it hurt so bad. (I’d been having at least one for the past 2 weeks but I kept not wanting to deal with it) but because this one made me cry, I knew I had to go to the doctor.

The Straight Lines and circles represent justice and something else I forget lol
but its very cool symbolism

Tamar and I at the Supreme Court

Tamar, Aaron, and Becca
enjoying lunch at the bird observatory

I woke up Wednesday and rather than going to tefillot, Kayla (who had an eye infection) and I left for the health clinic. I was really nervous and even got a headache on the walk over, just to find out that I have migraines! How fun… L. I picked up my medicine from the pharmacy right below the clinic, which I’m supposed to take whenever I feel a migraine coming on, and went back to my room to rest for the day. It was a pretty sad day considering I found out about my migraines (but the medicine is working now, don’t worry J) and I thought that my weekend plans to Hebron had been canceled because no other girls were allowed to go. The day would have been pretty “blah” if Tali and I hadn’t gone out to dinner that night! We had heard of the restaurant that was vegetarian and had gluten free food (for Tali), that was only 10-15 minute walk away. The food was delicious! I chose the “salad” bar. But with the salad bar I could get tons of different stewed vegetables in different sauces plus tofu and more! Tali got that and a butternut squash soup; ultimately it was amazing dinner we could both enjoy.

Tali and I at our delicous dinner

After the uplifting dinner, the next day continued to heighten my happiness. I found at that morning that my friends, Daniel Lewis and Sean Haber, also wanted to go to Hebron and by lunchtime our staff member, Achi, told us she had a host family for us In Hebron that would host all three of us together!  Plus, that night, some of our yeshiva friends hosted a Halloween party at their apartment that some of the Nativers from the Yeshiva were invited to. I got dressed up as a Pink Lady from the movie Greece, and all the other costumes at the party were awesome! It was soooo fun being with Yeshiva friends outside in such a different and fun environment.

Ben (the tourist) and I (a Pink Lady)

Yotam from Yeshiva was a beggar

Lior dressed as a vampire, about to "kill" Reka

Waking up Friday morning, I was excited and nervous to be heading to Hebron. Some of you may not know, Hebron is in the West Bank, it is the city that contains the Cave of Machpela , which Abraham bought for Sarah and future generations to be buried in. There lie the bodies of Abraham, Sarah, Yitzchak, Yaakov, Rivkah, and Leah! It is such a spiritual and holy place, the issue is that it’s not always the safest place because it’s mostly occupied by Arabs who don’t want the Jews to live there. But this weekend was way different. The Torah Portion of the week was “Chaye Sarah”, which is THE portion where Abraham purchases the cave. 20,000 Jews come this weekend to see the “cave”, so it’s extra safe, and special.  In fact most people (including us) are hosted by families in Kiryat Arbah, which is a small, completely Jewish town, right outside of Hebron. After lunch, the boys and I headed to the bus. Since soooo many Jews go to Kiryat Arbah that weekend, they have special buses set up for that specific trip. We first got on a public city bus, and at a switch point, we were transferred onto bullet proof buses for extra safety (though it wasn’t really necessary). We got off the bus at the stop at Kiryat Arbah, and called our host family, but when we tried to describe where we were, we didn’t know how. I was very thankful for a storekeeper who explained to our host that we were on the only real road of Kiryat Arbah (quite humorous). Esther met us at the stop with the youngest of her 10 children, Morasha. Achi knew this amazingly interesting family, we were so lucky to be hosted by. They had 10 kids (most had grown and left the house, only 2 were there that weekend).  The mom’s dad was the rabbi that started the Yeshivas that teach both Judaic studies, like Talmud etc., and general studies, like math etc., how interesting! After dropping off our bags (I got my own room!), we asked if we could see the cave before Shabbat so we could take pictures, at first Esther was going to have us hitchhike (funny to watch such a tiny women suggest such a sketchy adventure), but after declining she showed us the really short walking route, it was so close to their house! It was an amazing experience to be right there! Seeing where our forefathers and mothers were buried! The holiness of the land must have rubbed off on me, because at the cave I saw Claudia Namdar, who I had gone to school with in England and hadn’t seen since 3^rd grade. Freshman year we became friends on facebook, but I hadn’t seen her picture since, and hadn’t talked to her in 9 or 10 years! It turns out she is studying in Israel for the year at a Seminary, so I gave her my number and we’re definitely going to meet up soon.  We walked back after taking photos, and got dressed in time for Shabbat. The family said we could do Kabbalat Shabbat and Maariv back at the cave. Even though it is so close, the main part of the path is a really steep dirt hill. After the hill there is a bit more walking on the roads, but I felt extra safe because there were so many other Jews walking on the path with us and the roads were stationed with tons of Israeli soldiers. I didn’t enjoy evening services as much as the boys, because we obviously had to pray separately and there was no room to pray inside. It was cold and I could barely follow one of the many services going on outside, but after services our host family had an amazing Shabbat dinner that warmed me up and left me so full of yummy homemade food.

There's only 1 road in Kiryat Arbah?

"cave" (building built over) of machpela

Claudia and I!

We woke up bright and early the next morning (7:20) because we wanted to pray inside of the building that is built over the cave, and we wanted to get there early enough so there would be enough room. What is extra special about this weekend is that it is one of the four weekends where the bigger part of the building is opened up for Jews, because usually it is controlled by the Muslims who don’t let us in. The room is where Yitzchak and Rivkah are buried and it’s where I was able to have morning services! I got to hear the Torah Portion about the cave of Machpelah as I stood in that very room! It was an amazing service. Plus, walking to services that morning, IT RAINED! Rain is really special to Israel, and to have it truly rain (not just sprinkle/drizzle) in such holy land was such a moving experience. After morning services we walked down to the campsite where there was free Kiddush for everyone, so I took two pieces of regelach back on our way to the house that I gave to soldiers for a Shabbas treat. The food for Shabbas lunch was just as good as dinner, but instead of taking a Shabbas nap, we returned back to the cave since we  would probably never get to have this amazing experience again and we wanted  to take advantage of being in Hebron. There was this English tour of Hebron that we were going to follow, and at least 300 people showed up for it! Dan and I didn’t finish the tour because we felt it was inappropriate how some of the people were acting, singing songs of Israel loudly through the Arab quarter, so we told Sean we’d meet him back at the house for dinner and walked around the campsite, taking in the land, since it would be our last time there (as far as we know).  Leaving the family was sad and filled with hugs, and offers to come back (I doubt I ever will lol). The bus ride home included the bullet proof bus which was weird, considering how safe I’d felt all weekend, and after saying hi to a lot of friends on base, I passed out in my bed, exhausted from such an amazing weekend.

Avraham!

Yitzchak

Sarah

Our adorable host family

Today was Halloween, but since Halloween isn’t celebrated in Israel, a few friends and I went to the shuk (outdoor market) and bought candy in celebration, which I plan to pass out tonightJ. We also have the JETs class tonight but nothing too exciting. So have a good week.