Highest Light, Lowest Point

     Can I even begin to tell you about the beauty I have witnessed over the last three days? I don't think I can; a thousand words aren't even worth the vastness of all of my photos. Even my hundreds of photos can't begin to express all of the gorgious places I have witnessed.

    Four days ago (2/19) we left Kibbutz Tzuba, packed for ten days, and went to Jerusalem 20 minutes away. There, we were of our Jewish History South Wall Excavation Tiyul, and learned more about the Second Beit Hamikdash and King Herod. I also came to learn the Kotel wasn't the only remanent of the Second Beit Hamikdash platform. The Kotel, also named the Western Wall, had its counterpart on the South side, were other parts of the sacred temple's wall remained uncovered. In fact, it is believed the entire platform remains pretty much unscathed, just buried and covered. In the afternoon, we loaded the buses and headed to the Negev Desert. Watching the sandy doons cover the land until horizon, we finally saw the city of Jericho. Although we did not enter it, It looked pretty cool. A little after passing by Jericho, we had a short pit stop and then a little after the pit stop got to our Youth Hostel. 

     3:45 my alarm goes off on Feburary 20th and by five we are ascending Mitzadah (Masada). Hiking up Mitzadah was no 'walk in the park' by any standard! After reaching the top of it, watching the sunrise, I decided the agony of climbing it was well worth it. Followed by pictures of our feat, we began a short prayer service and an American/Israeli group joined us. At this point, the sunrise became the focus point behind the leaders of the service. Followed by a four to five hour tour of Mitzadah, I learned there was much more there than I had previously thought. Figuring it would be a small little plateau, I was met by an entire palace with Hellenistic bathhouses, village, and fort! From Herod's North Palace, we overlooked the Dead Sea and desert. From the Southern fort, we shouted "for a second time Masada will never fall," which echoed across the mountainous desert. Our teacher made a point to shout this because as he put it, "Never again will Jews will have to choose among fighting to certain death, slavery (in turn with loosing their identity), or suicide." To ensure this philosophy, Tzahal (Israel Defense Force) was created not only for Israel, but for the protection of Jews in the diaspora. More yet,  in the coming days, EIE was going to become apart of this assurance.  

      The very same morning at 9:30, with an entire day ahead of us, we descended from Mitzadah. With the afternoon approaching, the Dead Sea was next on our agenda of places to visit. Reaching the lowest point of the world, we listened to the instructions, rules, and other affairs of security, and as quickly as possible ran to our new hostel rooms and then made our way to the Dead Sea. Although a bit chilly, I was the first kid from EIE to run in and go as far in as it took to float! Despite the temperature, I was still surprised to see everyone hardly in the water with me already 30 meters from the shoreline. I eventually saw my sister jump in, and then my friends, and then soon most of us were in. It only took half an hour for us to all run back to shore, and cover ourselves in dead sea mud. Getting dirty and then cleaning off, I decided to go back for a swim... or in this case a nice float!

     I was looking at the panorama of Israel and Jordan from where I was in the Dead Sea. All I could think to myself was how beautiful the Dead Sea was, and its surroundings were. I soon came to realize a cute phrase I had heard the previous week couldn't be truer! It does seem like we are living in a postcard.

     Day two of the Dead Sea wasn't any less fun! Omitting it was pretty cold outside, I played off the day as if it was any summer day at a beach... only this beach was special. My friend and I were the only two willing to jump into the freezing sea and float around. Just talking and admiring the gorgeous scenery, having races of who could swim the farthest (which ended up with salt in our eyes), and relaxing, we spent a good 40 minutes in the Dead Sea. Funny story... we were admiring the scenery even though it was REALLY foggy. We were looking around until we realized we could see Jordan better then the invisible Israeli beach!!! We actually almost hit the land bridge indicating we nt only floating way out, but also way off north too! It took us twenty minutes to half swim/half float back to the beach, but it was so much fun... I think it was worth it. We got back to shore, entered the spa where almost all of the EIE-ers seemed to be! Hanging out there for a while (there was a heated pool of salty sea water and a sauna) I decided to go back. Also being yom shabbat, as the sun set we all headed to the beach. Holding Havdalah to close Shabbat and start the new week here, I couldn't think of a more perfect place to hold my favorite service! It was beautiful. 

      Today starts a new day, a new experience, but more specifically Gadna! Gadna is a program for high schoolers to learn what to expect in basic training for their military service, as well as experience real military service. Im very, very excited and hope it will be a great experience.I seem to be the only girl REALLY excited for Gadna.... let's see if I survive!

Jewish Museum & Future Endevours

     Today we went to the Jewish Museum in Jerusalem. It was pretty cool although I have to admit not our best tiyul. What I DID like about it, however, was the exhibit on the Dead Sea Scrolls. We didn't actually get to sea the real ones, after all they are only 2,000 years old! But, it was nice to finally fill in the blanks that have been missing. I have heard of the Dead Sea Scrolls but never actually had the slightest idea of what they were! In fact, a lot of thing we have learned on this trip I have heard many mentions of, but never was explained as to what it or they were!

     The one thing I don't really like about my Jewish education back in the states, growing up, was we only got a lot of little tidbits on EVERYTHING. It made the understanding the main stories and importance of the factual information secondary to the "morals of the stories," that we have heard many a time. Finally, in Hebrew High School, we learned actual text and things I found very interesting, but with it being only once a week, I ask myself what happened to the other 10 years of Jewish education I had to endure? Going to Hebrew school was tedious until Hebrew High, and still yet, we can only learn so much in so little time. I'm just happy that I finally have the opportunity to physically come here and fill in the blanks that have been missing from my Jewish education and ultimately my Jewish Identity. With so much in the Jewish History, we often just get words and concepts from it thrown at us with out getting an understanding to it's background (like with me and only having a slight hint to what the Dead Sea Scrolls were), so I just regret that so many others might never get this chance to finally get explained the basics and fundamentals of Jewish history in addition to actually seeing its many artifacts.

     With the idea of "filling in the blanks" of my Jewish education and my Jewish identity, I'm further inclined to state I can't believe it's already the third week here, in Israel! I cannot believe we have learned so much and been through everything we have. Saying goodbye to a friend for the loss of his father, saying hello to him for his return yesterday. Saying goodbye to another friend for her injury this morning, but sadly knowing it was a closing to her semester abroad. Learning about the entire Biblical era, and now starting on the times of the Second Beit Hamikdash. Pulling through the long days of school, learning Ivrit with math, chemistry, and other general studies on the side. Late-night movie-nights, early wake-up calls for visiting the land. Funny short skits, and long afternoons. Shakrit services in the morning, Mishna in the afternoon, Tefilah at night, and berkat hamazon after the occasional meal. Sitting on my bed doing work, listing to the funny anecdotes of my roommates, and making LOADS of tea. Making a mess, and cleaning it up (repeat these two steps a hundred times)! Exploring the Kibbutz, and adopting a stray cat by the name of Twitch, in addition to playing with dogs. Watching Israeli elections and learning all about them. MTV Euro style, in  addition to the Arabic game show or Russian soap opera. Just simply sitting in the garden singing random songs looking over the Judean hills. It's only been three weeks... can this really be all real?

      At the closing of the third week coming in two days, I'm packing for our ten day trip to Masada, the Dead Sea, and our Israeli army training called Gadna. I'll write in a notebook, because I wont bring my computer, but I'm just astonished there are still 15 weeks of this trip left when it feels like we have already accomplished so much, and yet have already lived so vivaciously. 

Out For The Weekend

      This Shabbat was defiantly a great time! Instead of enjoying it with EIE, my friend from camp took me and Rachel out for the weekend. It was so much fun. We got to meet all of her friends and visit Jerusalem off the tourist sites. I looked out of her window and saw the amazing view of Jerusalem... I could not believe what I was seeing. It looked like I was looking at a painting, it was so picture perfect. Her friends are pretty awesome, and I have to say, while I'm still learning Hebrew, being able to follow along in the Hebrew conversations made me feel pretty great about my two hours of Hebrew a day. To be honest, I actually just found out Hebrew class is two hours... I originally thought it was a little over an hour because it goes by so fast! Well, at least I know I love what I'm learning!!! 

      I can't believe a few days have passed since my last blog, because so much has happened. I suppose a lot of it is just so hard to articulate. Oh, when we went to Ben Yahuda Street, on Saturday I bumped into a lot of people! A camp friend who wasn't on EIE,  my brother's friend I have been talking to, and one of my Rabbis and his wife from home! I couldn't believe the small Jewish world we live in. THEN, the rest of my group were running into people they knew on Ben Yahuda, such as their 6th grade teacher! It's still pretty hard to believe we ran into that many people! Well, I have to go to math pretty soon, so I'll wrap up... but I'll definitely post with new adventures as soon as I have enough stories to tell.

Sataf & Ir David

       At the ungodly hour of six am, we woke up yesterday. While I normally wake up at six when I want to go running, I have been feeling... well... sick! My roommate has the flu, and a cold is going around so I really have nothing to complain about, but man.... I might have used a tree worth of tissues yesterday! And I don't mean any dinky sapling... like a Redwood tree's worth of paper!!! Anyway, I have been sucking it up because I really wanted to go on the tiyul yesterday and today! The tiyuls were both great!
     Yesterday, we walked to Sataf from the kibbutz, which took approximately half an hour. The hike lasted about five hours but it was well worth it. I took a massive amount of gorgeous pictures. While on this nature hike, with our Jewish History classes, my group wrapped up the lesson on the Exodus from Egypt and then continued on to learning about the Jews wandering in the desert and how they got to Eretz Yisrael. Then, last night, Martine and I were walking around and she showed me a tree which you could eat it's pods that had fallen on the ground. For Tubishvat her teacher had shown them this. While my teacher brought my class out to a cliff and served domestic oranges and apples, I figured her teacher was a little more adventourous so I tried some! It was really sweet, and quite good... until my mouth went numb and my throat got all itchy. Martine's did too! Haha, well... after watching a soccer game of EIE student's versus the Ulpan students (who were college or older) we headed back to our rooms. By then my mouth felt much better and my throat was fine so decided I wasn't going to die from eating the pods. But, I have to admit it's the last time I eat from that tree again!
     Today, we woke up at seven and I felt much better. I could breathe out of my nose (which the cold had previously prevented me form doing) and I felt better. Although throughout the day my cold gradually returned, I didn't let it interfere with my day. I had an awesome time in Ir David, and the tunnels that were under the City of Jerusalem. It was a real cool experience and we learned at this point about King Shaul (Saul) to when King David established the capital in Jerusalem.

Second Shabbat

     Our second shabbat was a... well, it was a very low point to close our last, yet fantastic week. In the morning we went to preschools to help children plant flowers for tubishvat (the birthday of the trees.. kind of like our Earth Day). They were ADORABLE. Haha, one of my friends was kidding around and told me to stop being so good with kids. This one girl followed me every where haha. She was so cute. I picked her up because she was crying... the hardest part about the experience was the 2 to 5 years olds could only speak Hebrew so we just smiled said shalom and asked them how they were and what their names were! Well, all she said was abba, abba, so obviously she wanted her dad. I picked her up and she finally cheered up. All the other kids were really cute too. I loved working with them! But, when we got back on the bus the madrachiem were speaking in hebrew with worried looks on their face. The announced that we NEED to meet by the bus once we got off. We all got worried thinking something terrible had happened. I had feared something in Gaza was the cause for worry. When we all grouped around they gave directions but then announced horrible news. One of the kids on EIE had left that morning because his father died. It was extremely upsetting. Quite a few people on the trip knew his father so when we went to services later that night, I have to admit it was eerily quite even with the loud praying and singing. The service was dedicated to the student and his father, which was very respectable.
     I have been enjoying the trip thus far extremely much, but with this hard-hitting occurrence, it also brought a sense of community about us. It's suspected that he will come back for the remainder of the semester... hopefully. Optimistically if so, he should be expecting many open arms.

Tel Gezer & Israel's Beauty

      On my last post on Sunday, I made a small mistake saying the tiyul was supposed to be the next day (yesterday, Monday). But, because the Israeli week starts on Sunday, I was thrown off! I decided not to edit my last post and explain how difficult getting used to that it is!

      Anyway, TODAY, we went to Tel Gezer. Just south of Regional Road 424 and North of Main Road 3, close to Tel-Aviv, Tel Gezer is a hill that basically has 26 different civilizations buried one on top of the other! It was INCREDIBLE walking through the ruins and learning about them all. I LOVE Jewish History and learning while on the actual sites. This learning method is nothing less than fantastic! In fact, I have ran out of every strong adjective to describe Israel and its greatness! 

     To sum up my experience in Israel so far, this is what I wrote to someone recently:

"I literally walk around and just look at everything. I have 600 pictures that are all starting to look alike. EVERYWHERE we turn, it's just simply beautiful... 

Not only that, but it's all historically significant, all having a story. 

It’s just amazing. 

I mean, in the morning I run at 6am and watch the sunrise over Jerusalem. 

I come back and go to eat breakfast with a bunch of Kibbutzniks, followed by tiyuls to visit gorgeous and enthralling historical sites. 

When we come back to Kibbutz Tzuba, I do my homework, which usually is paused for a second or two while I listen at the distant but distinct sounds of the Muslims’ call to worship. 

Then, I go off to school in little shacks and learn things I am genuinely interested in. The sun sets by the time I get out of school so I chill out. 

I usually go to the garden with friends and start singing random songs trying to figure out where the big dipper is painted in stars across the black sky. 

From here we also try to count how many cars we see passing on Jerusalem streets. After being here, physically here, I honestly don’t know how people can't NOT want to live here!"

     Israel is just a mind blowing place to live in. As I walked out of the presence of the Kotel, one of the holiest Jewish sites, I was met by the distinct praying of a nearby mosque. Walking on Tel Gezer we saw F16s in the sky heading to what I believed to be Gaza just a few hundred kilometers south of us. There is peace, just as there is war... but hiking the terrain and meeting the people, even just for a single week, I clearly see the land as a cherished home to so many people. This could very well be why it is so dearly fought over.

Shabbat Shalom

MY FIRST SHABBAT IN ISRAEL.

      My Shabbat could have been an array of words, but remarkable seems to be most fitting. While, to be honest, I did not like the version of prayers the Rabbi had chosen (it was a mix of USY-type melodies in addition to a monotonous tone which made it hard to join in and stay awake after the exhausting day), it meant something unbearably emotionally moving to me. It was my first holy day in the holy land. The day of rest, the day I couldn't wait for since I had arrived in Israel, which was met by my busy and full schedule.

      My typical day, which most of you probably do not know even now, consists of waking up and running at 6 before anyone is awake (with the exception of a few of the working kibbutzniks), then showering and getting ready to go to breakfast at 8. On the "normal" days, we go to class from 8:30am to 7:00pm with my classes going: hour of hebrew, three of jewish studies, general studies periods 1 & 2 off (which in that case I eat lunch, do homework, and/or relax), then carry on my day with an hour of math, followed by chemistry. On Tuesdays and Sundays, I have english class, so in that case I have English during general studies periods 5, which leaves period 6 off for doing that days homework.

     People might think 3 to 4 periods off is a lot of time off, however, what time isn't spent studying or doing homework or some other miscellaneous activity, I'm writing this blog (yeah.. which can take anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour, figuring out what I really want to say in as little as possible), and taking a much needed mental break (usually playing with Twitch; but i'll talk about her in a later blog =] ). Shabbat is clearly the day for rest... and on this trip, I'm really beginning to see the importance of it in both a religious and practical sense. 

     In brief words, after the Kotel we went back to Tzuba and had services in the Belmont. We then had free time until curfew, which was extended by two hours to 1AM. I decided not to run yesterday morning (Saturday) and sleep in. Then, yesterday, we had services which were hilarious. The melodies which were much more upbeat and enjoyable were followed by an actual debate!!! The Rabbi was seeking an interactive service, calling us to do various things, as well as answer questions as if we were in class. I loved how we turned a simple time for prayer into a time of praying, learning, understanding, exploring, and questioning what we were being told. This service became a communal time to share thoughts on midrash and verse (even extremely & openly disagree with) the Rabbi, simply by answering his questions by posing a different argument. I still continue to smile, thinking about the full blown debate the room got into. It was definitely a service not to be forgotten. 

     For the rest of the day we relaxed  and then around 7:30 held a mini song session where OSRUI and Eisner (URJ Camp) traditions clashed. It was nice seeing both sides of the tradition, but I'll stick to Eisner's upbeat jumping/dancing song session versus OSRUI's sitting down song session any day. Soon after, Havdalah was held. It was SO nice, and relaxing. Havdalah has always been my favorite service, but this one was obviously special. We went to Ben Yahuda street after Havdalah. We went shopping, and I got the best shwarma ever! It was delicious! 

     Today, classes were great, I can not say again how much I love my classes. I have a feeling this semester will be all about learning, and little about grades... I'm excited to go to school for once! But, I have to admit It's hard getting used to the fact that there is school Sunday through Thursday, versus Monday through Friday! I keep thinking today is Monday! haha, Well, that was my last thought for this blog seeing as it is getting unnusually long,

Hope I'll have something to talk about tomorrow's tiyul!