CRAZIEST SCHEDULE EVER! Part 2

Yes, I just posted the last blog entry and am continuing to make up all my late postings, so get ready for more crazy entertainment, there’s a lot…

December 22 – December 30, 2010

Even though the Conservative Yeshiva had started their break, that didn’t mean I was done with classes. Since the other Nativ students still had classes, Nativ wanted to make sure we wouldn’t be jealous so they created a special “Nativ Week” at the yeshiva with special classes just for us… how considerate :/ . Even though it would have been nice to have a break like all the other students, I was really excited for one of the particular classes they had lined up for us that Wednesday. Rev Shmuel is the Rosh Yeshiva (head Rabbi at the Yeshiva), and through listening to his many Thursday sichot (lessons/speeches), us Nativ students have been able to piece together different parts of his life, which seemed extremely interesting. The class that afternoon was “Questions with Rev Shmuel”, in which we could ask the Rabbi any questions we had. Of course the question from both Sean and I was to find out more about Rev Shmuel’s life, that led to him being the head Rabbi of the Conservative Yeshiva. The question was well worth it. Rev Shmuel told us about how he was raised in a Conservative Jewish family, but after high school he moved to Israel instead of college and joined the Charedi (ultra religious) community for 12 years to study at Charedi Yeshivas. Throughout his time studying he always felt like something was missing. He wanted to study more than what the Yeshivas were offering and eventually realized the Charedi community wasn’t for him. Of course there were a lot more stories and events that led to his role in Judaism now, at some points it even brought tears to his eyes, I was so glad we had the chance to hear his life story. The day continued with more interesting Jewish discussion; we were having our last Beit Midrash session that night, where JTS students come to Nativ to lead classes about Judaism for any Nativ students who are interested. For our last session the girls and boys were separated and we had a discussion about our feelings on women’s role is in Judaism. I loved hearing everyone’s views but I was also sad that it was our last program for the trip; I had found it so interesting studying with other Nativ students, not just at the Conservative Yeshiva.

The next morning I woke up extremely excited. Tamar was coming that night (well technically the next morning but she was technically supposed to land at 3 in the morning). Even though all I could think about was Tamar, on all her flights and long layover in Poland, I still had a full day ahead of me. We had a day off at the Yeshiva that Thursday, so I figured I’d take advantage of the free time by exploring Jerusalem. That morning after breakfast, my friend Sean and I went to the Underground Prisoner’s Museum he’d heard about. I had never of this museum, so I was especially excited to explore a place I knew nothing about. The second we arrived I knew this wasn’t going to be like a typical museum, considering we had to wait for a guard to electronically open the “jail” gate for us. Basically the “museum” is held in what originally was a Russian women’s hostile, and was later converted into the central prison by the British mandate in 1918-1948. It was so interesting learning that the prison was not only used for basic criminals, but for hundreds of Jewish underground fighters (members of Haganah, Irgun and Lechi), who were fighting against the British mandate to free the land of Israel and establish it as the Jewish State. I didn’t even know such organizations were going on, and even during the Holocaust and World War II. I learned so much and all the rooms were set up like how they would have been for the prisoners, the videos were even surprisingly good. I was so glad I had spent my morning taking advantage of Jerusalem; I had fun and learned so much. When I got back, I realized I should probably get ready for Tamar, so it was time for me to do laundry and get the room ready for her visit. By the time I had cleaned everything, it was time for dinner. As I’ve mentioned before, Paula Sass, a friend I met in USY, was studying at the Hebrew University this semester; my friend, Ben Roth, and I are both friends with Paula, and since she’d be going back to America soon, she had us over for dinner to bid goodbye. It was so exciting to see her and her apartment, plus helping with dinner was a bonus. I miss helping Imma cook at home, so chopping and stirring the stir-fry helped make it even tastier. After a delightful evening, I had more fun just hanging out with friends, and even though it was already midnight, I was too excited about Tamar’s arrival so I watched the movie, “Easy A”… at 12 am. Halfway through the movie I was greatly surprised by a knock on my door… it was my good friend Jake Gillis, all the way from Pittsburgh. I know Jake from USY and was so excited when I found out he was coming to Israel on a college program for a couple of weeks. I had tried to see Jake earlier that day but his schedule went later than expected, so he surprised me by showing up unannounced, the second he got free time. I was sooo shocked to see Jake and tremendously excited. Even though I was exhausted, I hung out with Jake for a bit to hear how his trip was going, and promised I’d see him again, but it was time for me to sleep. I said goodnight and kicked out all my friends from my room once they finished the movie. I fell asleep, ready to wake up to a call in the middle of the night from Tamar, and at 5:30 I woke up to a voice I’d been waiting to hear for quite some time. Even though Tamar’s plane had been delayed, she had finally landed and was catching a Sheirut (giant taxi used for the airport that stops at many cities, but is cheaper than a private taxi) that minute. She said shed call when she was at the gate, so I went back to sleep, though it was hard because of my excitement.

Sean looking at newspaper articles about the underground Jewish fighters

I got to go inside a tank!

Just an hour later, at 6:30 am Friday morning, I was at the gate of Agron, helping Tamar inside with her suitcase, after many many hugs of course. Of course we were both so tired, so we talked and talked till we fell asleep. I woke up at 8:30, got myself breakfast (and brought some back for Tamar, when she woke up), and after I showered, it was time for Tamar and I to start our day. After working out many plans for our exciting week-and-a-half together, we headed out for the Jerusalem arts fair and shuk (outdoor market) for an easy day after all the traveling. It was exciting for Tamar to first of all just see Jerusalem after FOUR years! Apparently, a lot has changed, and yet a lot has stayed the same. It was nice just walking around the city with Tamar, checking out the beautiful pottery and jewelry, etc. at the arts fair. From the fair we walked to the shuk, which is always busy and a big highlight of Jerusalem. Tamar and I even ran into Jason Mellman, a friend from Cincinnati who had moved to Israel this year. If that weren’t a crazy enough surprise, just as Tamar and I were choosing which scarves to buy at the shuk, I saw my Chevruta, Evan Ravski, and his wife Abby. I was so excited to get to introduce them to my sister; I guess the shuk isn’t just great for shopping, it’s a great place to see people too. After the adventurous morning, Tamar and I still had to pack overnight bags because we were spending Shabbat with Alex and Laura Freedman. We arrived at the Freedman’s and there were even more hugs, but then we got ready for Shabbat so we could make it for services at a shul Laura and Alex like to go to. Clali, the name of this shul, is known for its famous “Lecha Dodi”, a song sung during the service that welcomes in Shabbat. The services are mostly silent and not very exciting but when the congregation sings Lecha Dodi, they use a beautiful tune that makes their shul well-known. Unfortunately for Tamar, her jetlag hit in only for that song, and she couldn’t keep her eyes open during it, which was very ironic.  After services, all four of us enjoyed a relaxing and DELICOUS Shabbat Dinner. I loved spending Shabbat with Tamar, and of course the Freedmans; I especially loved how natural it was to be right back with Tamar, it made my Shabbat amazing. After having such fun talking (and eating), not only was Tamar exhausted, but so was I and we passed out by 9:45.

what a surprise to see Jason at the shuk

Spending Shabbat with Alex and Laura is always fun

After 11 hours of sleep, it was time to get up for synagogue, though Tamar and I both could have both slept longer after the little sleep the night before. It was surreal waking up next to Tamar, she was finally hear in Israel with me! After services at Shira Chadasha, we came back with Alex and Laura, and Nina Schneider too. Since we were staying with the Freedmans, they said I could invite a few friends over for Shabbat lunch so Tamar could meet them too. Since we know Nina from home, this was a great time for Tamar to get to see and spend time with her. My friends Tali Marcus and Aviva Pollack were supposed to come too, they just weren’t meeting us at Shira Chadasha. Tali arrived for lunch right on time, but Aviva wasn’t there. Tali had thought Aviva left before her so she came by herself but after waiting another half hour, we decided to start without Aviva and hope she’d show up eventually and hadn’t gotten lost (apparently she hadn’t printed out the directions before Shabbat and couldn’t never found Tali, but she was able to see Tamar later which was nice). It was still a fun lunch being with my friends and family, especially Tamar. And after Shabbat was over Tamar and I gave big hugs goodbye to Alex and Laura and hoped to see them once more during Tamar’s visit.  Tamar and I came got back with just enough time to get ready for the evening’s awaiting festivities. Last month the girls from our group, Karmiel, got together for brunch and some Karmiel-girl bonding- and had a blast. So another girl coordinated a dessert night for our group’s girls for more bonding. Of course Tamar was more than welcome, and, even though hanging out with a bunch of 18-year-old girls wasn’t at the top of her-to-do-list, she came along in great spirits, plus I was excited for the chance of her meeting a big group of my friends. We had made reservations for this cute restaurant called “Little Italy”, planning to get desserts; unfortunately after they realized all 17 of us were only ordering desserts, they kicked us out! None of us realized how much of an issue it would be that we weren’t ordering real dinners, but apparently the manager didn’t want to waste their seats on a group of girls who wouldn’t be spending more money than just desserts. We were pretty lucky that just down the road was “Cup o’ Joe”, sure it wasn’t as fancy as little Italy, but they took in our whole group, and the atmosphere was really welcoming. Tamar and I decided we actually needed some dinner since we had been in such a rush and had run out of time to have any. We shared a delicious Haloumi cheese salad. The Haloumi was cooked in this delicious Asian sauce, needless to say, we were both left very full. After dinner Tamar and I got to hang out with one of my friends Allie Griff for a while, and I was glad Tamar was able to get to meet another friend on a closer level. That night Tamar and I moved into Dan Brenner’s apartment and watched a movie in bed, which put me to sleep while Tamar knitted my scarf.

My Karmiel girls and I

It was great that Tamar got to meet some of my friends

The next morning it was the start of a normal week in Jerusalem, including more “Nativ Week” classes at the Yeshiva. The director of Nativ and the director of the Yeshiva both exempted me from most of my classes so I could spend time with Tamar, but I wanted her to come to at least one of my classes – I thought she’d find it interesting and it would be nice for her to be with all my Yeshiva friends. I decided on the class that my Talmud teacher would be teaching that week, since he had taught me the most classes and was one of my favorite teachers. The class was on being a “sofer” (scribe for holy Jewish documents: Torah, Mezuzahs, and Tefillin). We learned about the specific materials and calligraphy used to make these holy documents and even got to practice the special calligraphy with ink and special quill tips. After introducing Tamar to my Yeshiva-world, we had to grab a quick lunch. We wanted to go to the museum Yad-Vashem and have enough time to “take in” the exhibit. It was no question that lunch would be Moshiko’s- the best falafel in Jerusalem, from even before Tamar was on Nativ. After eating such a delicious and quick lunch, it was a perfect “dessert” for Tamar to run into a friend she hadn’t even known was in Israel – because that kind of thing ALWAYS happens whenever you come to Israel; you’ll be in this far of country and see EVERYONE you know. Since Tamar had co-oped in Australia 2 years ago, she had rented a guest house from a family who she became close with, and of all the people to run into, she got to see Tali, their daughter. Tamar was so excited to see someone she knew, especially because of how random it was! Though they both wanted to stay and catch up more, Tamar and I still had plans to go to Yad Vashem. Yad Vashem is this Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem that leaves me speechless.  Even though I had been to Yad Vashem just 2 summers ago, the exhibit was just as jaw-dropping as ever. The architecture really works with your emotions, and the path led out is truly spectacular. As you are led through the journey of the Holocaust from start to end, you learn something new with each visit, and can watch movies and read facts that touch your heart. I highly recommend it to anyone who comes to Israel. After that emotionally draining experience, Tamar and I stopped by Har (Hebrew for Mount) Herzle to see the grave of Theodor Herzl, the founding father of Israel. We didn’t stay long though because we wanted to get back so we could get dressed for our fancy dinner to come. Most people in America have probably heard of groupons, where you can buy coupons online for amazing deals but they only work if a certain quota of that coupon is purchased. I was able to find something very similar in Jerusalem, called groupbuy; when I got an email giving a great deal for some fancy restaurant, it was around the time Tamar and I were making plans for her visit and I thought it would be a cute treat for us to go there. The restaurant was called, “Polly’s”, and though it was a little difficult to find at first, it was well worth the hunt. The restaurant had a pretty “outdoorsy” feel, inside. It was fancy with cloth table cloths and napkins, and the food was delicious. I got a tuna steak, because I hadn’t had one since before I came on Nativ and missed it a lot. Tamar got a goat cheese salad with pesto and seame-toasted-goat cheese on crackers and covered in grilled vegetables –we shared and had a fun and fancy evening together, I was very proud of that groupbuy purchase

Tamar saw Tali from Australia

Yad Vashem's architechture is so impressive

After going to bed with full stomachs, we woke to an adventurous day that awaited us; the day before Tamar and I had spontaneously decided to go to Tel Aviv on Monday. Since Tamar’s visit only had Jerusalem and Eilat in-store, she thought it would be nice to visit another city. Not only did the spontaneous day hold promise, even the bus ride was fun. This past summer the family visited Leah and Matthew, where we all went to Northern California for vacation… and listened to the book, “Percy Jackson”, on tape. What else could make an hour long bus ride fun other than more “Percy Jackson”, so Tamar and I had a nostalgic start to the day with the action packed children’s story. After listening to such adventure, we faced some of our own as we got off the bus in the Tel Aviv Central Bus Station – neither of us knew which bus to take from the station! We had both assumed the other knew what to do once we got there, but alas we stood lost in the station. Luckily, we had already planned to call our friend, Michal Wiener, to see if we’d be able to see her in Tel Aviv that day, so we just called her from the bus station – even though she couldn’t see us, she did give us directions to the shopping area/beach so we’d be set for the day. When we finally got to Allenbee – the road with all the cheap shops that leads to the shuk (outdoor market) and beach, we realized our jackets were extremely unnecessary, it was in the high 70’s! The weather was gorgeous and it was time for shopping! It was mostly just fun walking around and looking at aaall the shops, but when it came for lunch time we went to this road where they host the famous art’s fair on Tuesdays and Fridays. It’s so cute with little café’s, tooons of fabric shops, and some boutiques too. Lunch was fun in the sun with my fresh salad and Tamar’s quiche. We got to sit down at a cute café’ outdoors and soak up vitamin D that Tamar’s had been missing a lot this winter in Minneapolis. Of course, after lunch, we needed to help our food digest by… doing more shopping! It was a good thing we went, we were able to find Tamar a really cute dress (that she could wear in the hot Tel Aviv weather) and a winter hat for me. The rest of the afternoon called for more sun time… on the beach! We even found someone willing to take cute sister photos, and enjoyed listening to more Percy Jackson, and reading our own books. We even got a little color on our cheeks (who knew we’d need sunscreen in the winter?). It was definitely a disappointing shock to get off the bus in Jerusalem and have the harsh weather hit us after such a “summery” day, but it made us appreciate our spontaneous trip even more.

Tamar and I had so much fun together on the beach



You always need at keast one jumping picture...

Since my official Nativ Winter Break hadn’t officially started, even though Tamar was visiting, I felt like I should go to at least one more class at the Yeshiva, even though I was excused. It was good we had had such a busy and tiring day in Tel Aviv because Tamar didn’t mind sleeping in while I went to my morning class, and I was really glad to see all my Yeshiva friends together one more time.  When I finished with class I met up with Tamar in my room so she could shower and we could start our day in The Old City of Jerusalem. The Old City of Jerusalem is the original “Jerusalem” that holds all of the ancestral history that has led to Judaism today. The entire Old City is enclosed in a huge and beautiful stone wall with 4 gateway entrances and inside there is David’s citadel, The Kotel (Western Wall), the Dome of the Rock, and tons of other Religiously important sights, not just to Jews. Since there is so much to see and it’s really important to see with each visit to Israel, Tamar and I designated our whole afternoon to touring it. Luckily it’s literally a ten-minute walk from where I live (we have an amazing location!). To get to the Kotel – which was THE key sight on our list! – we walked through the Arab shuk (market); they sell tons of little items, jewelry, scarves, shoes, everything! There’s always shouting and bartering and it’s so much fun, the chaos is a part of the experience. We took some turns through the shuk and wound up at our desired destination – The Kotel! We both were able to pray and it was extra special for Tamar, after not being there in 4 years. From the Kotel we had to pick up a quick lunch – falafel is great to eat on the go J - because we had heard about a free tour of the old city and we didn’t want to miss it. The tour was definitely not what we expected but it was very interesting. The tour wasn’t a religious tour at all, but much more diplomatic. Even though all the facts were right, it was still weird to hear about our holy sites without any emphasis on Judaism, but since I already knew all the Jewish facts, it was definitely interesting to hear all the other stories and it was nice to be taken around the city and see things we hadn’t yet gotten to see. After the Kotel part of the tour we left the group, we wanted to get back to Nativ base so Tamar could see JJ. I’ve mentioned JJ before, he used to work for Nativ, and though he doesn’t anymore, he led our 6 “Jerusalem Tours” at the beginning of Nativ. When he worked for Nativ, Tamar and he got extremely close and he was definitely a person that was top on our list of people to see. Even though Tamar and he didn’t get tons of time together, Tamar was really glad she had gotten the time to catch up on life and just see him. The rest of the night worked out well with both mine and Tamar’s schedule. While I had my usual mandatory Tuesday evening activity with Nativ –I got to make homemade hot chocolate by stirring chocolate into milk on a stove top, yummm J - some of Tamar’s friends had come in from Tel Aviv for a friend’s bachelor party and she was able to grab a coffee and catch up with them before the party. The whole day went accordingly, even when I had Nativ commitments, and we went to bed as early as possible, knowing we had an early wakeup call and long bus ride ahead of us.

The Arab Shuk and all it's craziness

Tamar finally made it to the Kotel

Tamar and I before the tour

Wednesday finally arrived… very early in the morning! Tamar and I got up at 5:15 in the morning so we could catch a city bus to take us to the Central Bus Station for our 5-hour bus ride to Eilat. Luckily our tickets worked and we made it on the bus and left on time for the south! Halfway through the bus ride we got an extra bonus to the trip… Sarah Ganson, a family friend from Cincinnati, got on the bus, it was so surprising to see Sarah, especially because a bus to Eilat is pretty random and small, but it was definitely an awesome surprise. We told Sarah how we had planned the trip to Eilat becuase we thought it would be a typical winter in Jerusalem (cold, wet and very rainy), and so we had planned to at least have 2 days of warmth in the southern most city of Israel , Eilat. Yet irony was on our side… we arrived to a very cloudy and wet Eilat. Even though weather in Jerusalem had been surprisingly gorgeous and warm, not to mention our extremely hot and sunny day in Tel Aviv, we were still looking forward to a day on the beach and maybe even snorkeling with dolphins. But alas the weather did not seem to correlate with our plans. From the bus station we checked in at our hotel, which was a nice treat for us both, but we were still in a disappointed mood about the weather. Rather than sit inside and mope, we decided to head to the center of town (in the few layers we had). We walked around and browsed at all the cute kiosk shops, and had a really nice lunch with a view of the deserted beach. We even came across a cute little art gallery and after looking at the paintings and sculptures, we walked outside to SUN! It wasn’t much but it brightened our mood, and we sat in a park, soaked in as much sun as we could and listened to our favorite Percy Jackson. Once the sun started to fade we walked back to the hotel, and even though our outlook on the Eilat trip had gotten a bit better, after talking with Imma our moods were much better. Mommies make everything better, and Imma reassured us that it was actually kind of funny, and even though we couldn’t really enjoy the beach or dolphins, we had each other and to just make the best of it… which is what we did J. After laughing at our ironic situation we relaxed in the hotel room and got to watch Matilda which was playing on the tv. Then we went out for a yummy dinner right next to the hotel and even sat outside - it was surprisingly warm enough. The rest of the night we spent together in our hotel room, having fun watching Sister Act and another movie with the actress from My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and doing crossword puzzles.

It was so funny to run into Sarah on the bus

Tamar and I enjoying the burst of sun outside of the art gallery

 We woke up the next morning to actual rain, which we couldn’t do anything but laugh at. Plus rain is important in Israel, so at least Israel was getting some, especially in the south! Since swimming with the dolphins was out of the question, we planned to spend most of our day at the underwater observatory. The Underwater Observatory is a very popular sight in Eilat, it’s basically an aquarium, but there’s a whole observatory underwater too, where you can see all the fish and coral in the Red Sea. Tamar and I had lots of fun; we took lots of fun pictures with all the sea-creature-statues and found all the exhibits beautiful. We even got to see them feed the sharks in the shark tank! We had a beautiful view of the sea while we had our lunch. Plus they had just installed this new movie/ride called Oceanarium. Even though the story line was a little silly, it was another fun activity, especially since the seats moved, and it took up time- and we had aaall day since we couldn’t really relax on the beach haha. We made it back to town with time to walk around and shop some more. Tamar and I got matching scarves and each got a couple of necklaces; Tamar even bought me a purse to thank me for all the time I took off from my friends and all the planning I had done – it wasn’t necessary but I had been looking for a purse like this for all of Tamar’s visit and the surprise was extremely appreciated! We made it back to the hotel with just enough time to do another crossword puzzle and make it back to the bus station to catch the bus back to Jerusalem. That night I had to pack up my room because they wanted us packed for our move to Karmiel before winter break started. Tamar was able to pack up her suitcase too, since she’d be leaving right after Shabbat L, and we fell asleep exhausted from Eilat and packing.

There were camels outside of the observatory!

Tamar and I with a giant turtle head

cold but enjoying the view