Shana Tova Umetukah!

It seems like as good a time as any to update this thing, considering it’s another typical Sunday night in Ramat Aviv, or anywhere else in the world for that matter. The weekend has wound down, everyone’s pooped, Monday morning is so close I can smell the morning commute and I had grilled cheese (Israeli style) for dinner- definitely just another Sunday night. I took this weekend to let myself relax and just hang around the Ramat Aviv/Tel Aviv area for some low key enjoyment after the last few weeks of some hardcore exploring, celebrating and futzing around.

I guess I should start by wishing all parties involved a very big Shana Tovah and G’mar Chatima Tovah, basically a very happy Jewish New Year. May it be filled with sweetness, love and happiness. Like I think I have mentioned before, the month of October in Israel is full of celebrations of Jewish holidays, which are, unfortunately, almost coming to an end. The most recent holiday, and of course the most meaningful and widely observed was Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement and one of the holiest holidays on the Jewish calendar. Israelis do not take Yom Kippur lightly, as there are absolutely no cars on the road (it’s basically illegal, and in this year’s case started a riot on the streets of Acre), people walking and children riding bicycles in the middle of freeways. Apparently about 63% of Jewish Israelis take part in the 25 hour long fast. Surprisingly, Israelis consider Yom Kippur to be the holiday that most unifies the nation, edging out Independence Day. It is the only day of the year when all Israeli radio and TV broadcasts go off the air, the hottest nightclubs in Tel Aviv, open almost year round, close their doors, and the entire country basically shuts down. It was an extreme departure from the way I am used to spending my Yom Kippur at home (driving, wasting the day in between temple services watching TV and on the internet), as I decided that this year, it was all or nothing. I spent the holiday with some good friends, Merav and Michal and their family, at their house in Ashkelon, about an hour south of Tel Aviv. The few days were spent both eating too much at their grandparents house, and of course, not eating at all, sleeping to keep our minds off the fast (about the only thing that remained the same as my typical Yom Kippur in the states) and eating more, making up for those 25 hours of food withdrawal- leave it to the Jewish mothers. I decided that I would observe the holidays exactly as the family did which meant no light switches, no buttons, no tv or radio (not like there was anything on to watch anyways), no internet, no cell phones and especially no cars. We walked everywhere, including around the city with the rest of the residents, ALL dressed in white and out for what seemed like their yearly block party/ gossip party. I went to a synagogue modeled after an old South African one which was pretty ironic, and all in all, the holiday was a new and interesting experience, definitely worth doing at least once.

Now, I am back in Tel Aviv, spending lots of time on the beach at night (unfortunately only looking at it during the day time from my office) and loving every minute of this trip. Speaking of the beach, my favorite red shoes got swept up by a beach cleaner tractor the other night on the beach causing me to walk around barefoot for a while, so if you are in Israel and you see someone wearing red flat shoes with a bow, steal them! In other, happier news, I had my first falafel in Israel today, it took me 3 weeks to finally get one- but it was so worth the wait, and the extremely high price of 10 shekels ($2.75!!)- can’t beat that. Tomorrow night I will be celebrating yet another holiday, Sukkot, in Jerusalem with about 80 other Jewish Agency Interns from all over the world with a potluck dinner- should be an interesting array of international foods, so I guess that will provide for some good bloggage to come!
I’m taking requests for Hebrew words of the day but for now, I can very truthfully say: Ganvu li et ha na’ala’im!! (my shoes were stolen!!)

Love, peace, Israel
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