January 13, 2015

Hi!

New Years in Israel was not a big deal. Actually, the Jewish new year is a much bigger scene. However, I did see fireworks from my dorm window at midnight, which was a nice touch.

Two weeks ago for shabbat I went to Har Nof. My parents came after college to learn in Israel. It was here that they met, got married, and lived for a few years. They made a lot of connections studying here. A few of their teachers live in Har Nof so I spent Shabbat with them. Saturday afternoon, we went on a little tour of Har Nof. We stopped to pray afternoon prayers in the synagogue that had the terrorist attack about two months ago. There are still bullet holes in the window. It was quite powerful being there. Many of the survivors say they were able to get out because they were on the right side of the shul.  I was able to see the right side of the shul, and it’s emergency exit, and attempted to imagine the situation. The people of Har Nof are sill recovering. I heard a few people say that now, while praying in synagogue, in the back of their minds they will think about possible escape routes in case of another attack. The community is still taking care of some of the families that lost family members or have injured relatives. They do this by sending them meals and volunteering for them. It was a very powerful weekend.

The following Tuesday, I went to the artist colony in Yemin Moshe. Yemin Moshe is a gorgeous neighborhood right outside the old city, and was built by Moses Montefiore in response to the overcrowding in the old city. The artist colony is a “lane” of different artists’ studios, workshops, and their stores. I got the opportunity to meet the artists and have them explain their inspiration for each piece they had on display. One artist I met explained to me, that he was the artist to revive the ketubot, Jewish marriage contracts, as pieces of art. He told us it was an old custom and he brought it back into fashion, and now many people do it.

The following day my school took us to the south. We were supposed to climb Masada, but by the time we arrived it was closed, which was quite disappointing. I’m going to try go during our winter break which is coming up in a few weeks. While we were down south we did a six hour hike. It was quite intense, we basically scaled a mountain, at times we wondered if it was an actual path. Every time we saw other people we got excited! The scenery in the south was beyond stunning, especially from different points during the hike. It was definitely worth all of the effort, and I enjoyed quite a few ice creams after it.

The last exciting event that happened these past few weeks was the snow! We really didn’t get so much, a bit of hail though. However, we still got a snow day! It was so fun, and reminded me of home which was nice. I think the city was very scared from last year’s snow storm so they took extreme precautions. The bit of snow we did get was so beautiful.