A (VERY) Belated Yom Kippur

So, this was bound to happen. I apologize for my horrible job at updating you on my life in Israel. Here is a blog post that I start after Yom Kippur, but didn’t finish until now (almost 2 weeks later). I am going to be leaving a video and photo post before Sunday night, catching you up on the past 2 weeks, which included finals, 3 days in the dessert, Magen David Adom Training and an unbelievable concert by Matisyahu!

Here is the blog I started typing two weeks ago... enjoy!

I keep feeling like I keep saying this over and over again, but I had the most incredible experience of the trip/ possibly my life. Now, I know I have said this before, but I am almost 100% sure that this moment will not be topped. It was the greatest religious moment of my life. But I’ll get to that later in the blog.

I’ll start with Thursday Night, and work my way to today…

Thursday Night: after we did Kaparot, we went back to base, and instead of going out on Thursday night, like we do every week, I went to play basketball with about 16 other guys (and Haley [props to her, she held her own with the boys!!!!]). At some point this week, we will be starting the NBA [Nativ Basketball Association], a 5-team league (4 people per team) that will last throughout the semester. It was a great and fun way to spend the night!

Friday and Saturday: This weekend was really awesome for me. Josh and I went to Kiryat Gat (More specifically- the moshav [community] “Sheqef”) to visit our friend Roi. I met Roi last year when he stayed at my house for 4 days before spending a week at Camp CHUSY at Camp Ramah Wisconsin. Getting to know him last year was awesome, but getting to spend time with him in his environment was totally astounding. When we first saw him, he took us to the top of a mountain, where we met up another friend (Miki) from camp! It was a clear day, and we could see for miles! We wee basically in the west bank, and we could see almost everywhere in the country! We saw Tel Aviv, The Med Sea, The Dead Sea, Beer Sheva and (way off in the distance) Jerusalem! It was totally beautiful, and we stayed there and watched the sun set over the Mediterranean Sea. His mother made dinner Friday night, and we then met and hung out with some of his friends. Getting to know them was an incredible experience, but really difficult. There were 4 girls and 3 guys there and they were all really nice. BUT… they didn’t really speak English. Some people sorta knew how to speak very basic English, but it wasn’t their main language (obviously), Which kinda was a problem for me. Josh has studied Hebrew for 2 years at Deerfield High School, so he was really holding his own! But, I struggled a lot BUT I learned a lot of Hebrew (because English wasn’t an option). Roi and Josh were really nice and helpful translating for me, but I felt bad that I had to keep going to them to find out what everyone was saying. It was just a great way to relax, meet new people and have a great time with an old friend!

Saturday Night: It was David and (our Staff) Cori’s birthday, so we HAD to go out to celebrate, but since I was really tired, so I didn’t party hard at all. But we went to a bar called “Sideways”, so that was fun! But I went back and crashed early, and got ready for the big day that awaited!

Sunday/Erev Yom Kippur: The day started out incredibly similar to Erev Rosh Hashanah. I woke up, went to services, and then went to learning sessions. I learned about the Yom Kippur War in 1973, where Israel was caught off guard and lost a lot of land. Afterwards, I went to a “learning about the service” session, and it was really interesting. Since the fast was beginning around 5, our eating schedule was really off for the entire day, as the kitchen staff had to be back to their own homes by 430 to prepare for themselves. So, at 1130 am, we had a (not so delicious) lunch. We then davened (prayed) at 12, to prepare for the upcoming holiday. We were also told what to expect for upcoming holiday. There was going to be A LOT of praying, almost no technology, and an incredible experience. Needless to say, I was really excited for Yom Kippur in Eretz Yisrael. That night, Seffi, Michael Gelb [of the Gelb network], Gabe, Tyler, Josh, Helf, and I went to Kol Rina, the synagogue in the bomb shelter, for Kol Nidre. The service was great, even though it lasted over two hours.

After the services ended, the previously mentioned moment started to happen. We walked back to base, taking a couple detours (Ben Yehuda Street and “Crack Square”, a place where a lot of people from Nativ like to go on Thursdays night) and were amazed at how dead the streets were. There was nobody on the roads (so we walked down the middle of them) and enjoyed the silence of Jerusalem. It was absolutely crazy. (Side story: Beit Nativ is located on the corner of HaMelech George and Agron Street, which are two very busy streets. There is always a lot of traffic and it is loud, and hectic). When we got back to beit nativ, the boys and I Joined in with everyone from nativ, sitting IN the intersection, singing songs. It was sooo wonderful, and people from all around walking home from services stopped to join in and watch us sing! There wound up being over 300 people standing in the middle of one of the busiest intersections in all of Jerusalem! It was unbelievable to feel the Ruach (spirit) of everyone that was there! We even made the paper, the Jerusalem Post (the story can be found here.) it was an incredible experience that I wont ever be able to duplicate (unless im back in Israel for Yom Kippur again!)

Here are some really cool pics of J-town on Yom Kippur

The next day, I went with almost everybody from the previous night to a synagogue at Yimen (previously called “Immen” in past blog posts) Moshe. The service was 6 hours long, and the repetition of the Amidah in Musaf lasted about 2 hours. It was kinda brutal, but still an incredible expierience. Afterwards, I went back to my room, took a long 3 hour nap! When I woke up, Parritz (my roommate) and I went right outside of our room, to Moreshet Israel, A conservative synagogue for Neila. The service was actually really short, and ended with an incredible break fast!

Ok, that’s all for now!

I’ll leave you all a fantastic video and photo blog post soon!

I Promise!