Spending a Chag in Israel

I've made it through my first major holiday in Israel and there are many more "biggies" to come in the next few weeks. Rosh Hashana was really wonderful filled with family, friends, and lots (and when I say lots... I mean LOTS) of great food. This holiday and I decided that I was going to try to find a Synagogue that I liked. So literally I went service hopping. Here's a bit of a run down of what I experienced.

Wednesday night I went with my cousin, Abbie, and my Mom to check out the Nachman Breslov Shul here in Tekoa. Breslov are the "party guys". They love to sing and dance while they pray. Some of you may have seen them around with their van that they seem to randomly jump out of and start singing and dancing. There is a tradition to go to the grave of a "righteous man" for Rosh Hashana, so the majority of the Breslov community was in Uman, Ukraine at the grave of their Rabbi Nachman. They could barely get enough people together to start services here in Tekoa because of their tradition. I only recently knew about the whole grave thing and I'm not really sure how I feel about it. So, since I don't know enough information here is me saying, "my opinion on this subject will come at a later time, right now it's just a little weird." I might give them another shot for a Friday night service, which my cousin tells me is really fun. More details to come soon.

Thursday I went with my Mom and her friend Marylin to a Reconstructionist service in Modiin. Reconstructionist is like a mix between Reform and Conservative Judaism. It was nice and it felt like a little taste of home to me. The songs were familiar and there were mixed men and women's seating (which is a rarity in Israel). The synagogue was absolutely beautiful. I was very glad to have spent the main service with them. A little piece of home.

Friday Marylin was so generous and said that I could borrow her car to drive in to Jerusalem to go to the Kotel. I'm consistently drawn there. I just love being in the Old City and at the Wall. It's such a magical place and has a very special energy. My Mom decided to go with me and we headed in to the city in the afternoon. It was hot out, but I went straight up to the Wall and put my forehead against it and just started reading my Siddur. I could hear the Shofar blasting at different services around the Kotel. Eventually I sat down and started reading out of my book of Psalms. Apparently I had crossed my legs (didn't even realize I did that) and some lady came by and smacked my leg down and said something in Hebrew about me not crossing my legs at the Kotel! What?! Please don't touch me lady. I didn't mean to offend or upset anyone, honestly I didn't even realize I was doing it. So, I recrossed my legs calmly and went back to reading. It's a time for forgiveness right? Breathe in. Breathe out. I'm in a foreign country. Don't be offended by her. (Is what I was telling myself.) After about an hour and a half at the Kotel we headed back to Tekoa.

Friday we ended off the day's prayers at Marylin's house and fish pond doing Tashlich. For those of you who are unfamiliar, it's a small and very short service where you go to a body of water with fish in it and cast away your "sins" from the prior year. Typically the sins are in bread form and it's yet another opportunity to reflect on yourself and what you have or haven't done. A chance to decide what you want to do in the year to come.

Friday night I decided I wanted to check out one more place. So we (Abbie, my Mom, and I) went to the Ashkenaz synagogue here in Tekoa. I was by far the largest synagogue I have been to so far. It was beautiful and there were lots of familiar faces of people I've met here on the Yishuv. I brought my own Siddur (just like I did to all the other places) so that I could follow along in English and Hebrew if and where I could. Friday night services are FAST. Very very fast. Maybe 35 minutes (or at least that's all we caught of it). It was very welcoming and was really nice to be a part of the local communities main house of worship.

Between all of these major events we ate a lot. Have I mentioned that before? We, the Jewish people, eat a lot during holidays... and Shabbos for that matter. We did a major meal (for you Americans think Thanksgiving sized) at Marylin's on Wednesday night, Vivian's on Thursday night, and my Mom's on Friday night. By Saturday we were all so stuffed and tired that we went to the pool and ate left overs pic nic style poolside! One major meal a day is enough to fuel you for pretty much the whole day and don't worry I did a lot of walking to help burn off the mass consumptions of amazing home cooked meals.

Sunday was a new holiday for me to learn about. The Fast of Gedaliah. Gedaliah was a governor in the time of the 1st Temple of Jerusalem. Much like in Ceasar, Gedaliah was murdered. The unusual part of the story was that Gedaliah was murdered by a Jew which is a true rarity and was a preempt to the destruction of the first Temple. So we fast to honor his memory and the loss of the Temple. Let me tell you that after all the food I've had, fasting was NO problem. I didn't even think about eating until around 4pm. So that evening, to break the fast, I went in to Jerusalem to meet up with some girls from Jewel are still in Israel. Olivia, Leora, Elyse and her friend from her new program Bracha and I went out for Chinese food. Yum. How Jewish! Break the fast with Chinese food. Another tradition from home.

Now, Yom Kippur is coming up this weekend. The day of Atonement or as one of my Rabbi's says: At One Ment. Another fast day and day of reflection. After Yom Kippur comes Sukkot, which I am really looking forward to! I hear that it's a major holiday here and is a LOT of fun. I've been invited to lots of parties and am really looking forward to sharing about it. Lastly is Simchat Torah which celebrates the giving of the Torah to the Jewish people. Again, supposed to be a great party. Yay for holidays in Israel!

All the best for a sweet New Year. Eat some apples and honey would ya?