Jerusalem Shabbat

Shabbat in Jerusalem is unlike anything you've ever experienced.

Most of the HUC group that's here already (about 25 of us, plus some spouses, out of 55ish) met up and walked over to Kol HaNeshamah, a Progressive synangogue about a 20 minute walk from where a lot of us live. The walk was in a direction most of us hadn't tried yet, so it was nice to see that there are a whole bunch of stores and restaurants in that direction as well. The service was nice. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but this wasn't it. The congregation is made up mainly of people who have immigrated to Israel over the last 20 or 30 years and their families. Many of them are fluent in English as well as in Hebrew. The whole introduction was done in English, although I'm told this is also becuase there were a lot of visitors this week. There was a long kabbalat Shabbat, with lots of singing, all in Hebrew. The rest of the service followed the general Reform service, but in places there were some extra paragraphs. We skipped nothing. I was highly entertained when to hear one or two tunes we use in youth group thrown in with the otherwise very traditional melodies. There was no sermon, only a relatively short D'var Torah, although that was done in Hebrew with a little bit of English paraphrasing thrown in, so I didn't get a lot of it. The closing songs was one of my favorites, and another song I know from youth group and camp, Gesher Tsar Meod. It was really nice to hear a some familiar words and songs in the middle of this new experience! The picture is my roommates, Karen, me, and Amy, dressed for our first Shabbat here.

After services, we all walked back to HUC, where the interns had organized a mostly-potluck dinner for us. We sat and ate and talked for a while, and then did the longest Birkat Hamazon I've probably ever heard done fully aloud, without any muttering through it on your own. It was actually pretty funny, because most of us all know the same version, and this one had a bunch of extra paragraphs, so the whole group would get louder and quieter at once, and we would be left with just the interns singing a paragraph or two, and then the whole group would join in full force once again. I'm sure I'll learn it before too much longer.

After dinner, a few friends came back to our apartment. (Since three of us live here, we have one of the biggest places, with a great living room and lots of seating. I'll post pictures once we're all set up.) We all sat around and played cards and just hung out for a couple hours. On the way up our stairs (we're on the third floor), we could hear a group of people in another apartment singing Shabbat songs for a while.

Since we were up late, we all slept in and got up for our HUC picnic at lunch time. The picnic was really fun, and it was great to talk to some people I hadn't spent much time with yet. We all just sat and talked, threw around a frisbee for a while, and just enjoyed the afternoon. The park the interns had chosen was beautiful!

After the picnic, I went with a group over to one of the cafes that's actually open on Shabbat. (I had gotten to the picnic towards the beginning and eaten plenty, but not everyone did apparently.) This cafe is about a block from my apartment and really good, although in addition to being open on Shabbat, it's apparently one of the relatively few places in the city where you can get a cheeseburger....or a bacon cheeseburger. They make really good salads and vegetarian stuff too though.

After my second lunch, I borrowed hangers from a friend with extras, and finally finished unpacking. It feels great to not have a packed duffel sitting in the middle of my floor! With that finally out of the way, now I can focus on making it really feel like home: getting all the little things to make the room mine and cover up the blank white walls. I'm looking forward to it:)

In the evening, one of my classmates had invited us all over to his balcony for Havdalah. The balcony is amazing! We all sat in a circle on the ground, and there was plenty of space! Two people had guitars, and we just had a really relaxed, camp-like havdalah. It's amazing to look around this group of people, which is really only half of the class. Some of the people I've met and can see them right away as future rabbis. A few of the others...much less so. I'm sure I'll see it eventually, but so far, I'm a little puzzled by some people. Havdalah was great though.

After that, a small group of us (me, my roommates Amy and Karen, and our friend Stephanie) went out to an Italian place, also down the street from our apartment, that reopened after Shabbat for dinner. It was really good!! We'll have to go back to try more different things. We each had something different and tried everyone else's, and they were all delicious. Who knew we'd find good Italian in Israel?! We came back to our place after that, and a few other friends came over as well, and we hung out a little longer. Everyone really wants to get to know everyone else, play another round of Jewish geography, and just enjoy our time together while we're all still figuring out our way around. It's been really fun, but not so good for a regular sleep schedule!

I was blown away by the transformation the city undergoes for Shabbat. Israeli drivers are mostly fairly insane. They do (usually) stop for crosswalks, but not until their front bumpers are within a couple inches (one way or the other) of the edge of the crosswalk. On Shabbat, there's hardly any traffic. As the night wore on yesterday, I heard the city come back to life. This morning I can hear traffic whizzing by as usual. I liked it better quiet:)

Today is back to the craziness of getting settled. (The workweek in Israel is Sunday-Thursday. The weekend is Friday-Saturday.) I still have just over a week until orientation, and I plan to use it and enjoy it! My other goal today is to set up my Skype-In number, where you can call me from the states!

I miss you all, and I'm looking forward to talking to you soon!