October fifth was the first day of our vacation for the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. It’s our longest break until Passover in April, so I figured I should make the most of it! Because Israel is such a small country and the public transportation is very good, I had the opportunity to travel up and down the entire country. One of the best places I went to was Netanya, where my friends and I spent the day at the beach which was very exciting because we don’t get that in Saint Louis. 

To start off the break, two friends and I took the Israel railways to Haifa. The train arrived on the beach, where we watched the sunset from an amazing view. We spent the night in Haifa, and the next morning we jumped on a bus to the world famous Baha’i Gardens. We took a tour and it felt like we were in paradise. The beauty of the garden, which overlooked the port of Haifa, cannot possibly be captured by photographs. After the tour, we watched a movie on the Baha’i religion, and then headed to Nesher park. At the park, there was a bridge suspended over the entire park. It was scary but exhilarating.

Then we headed back to Jerusalem. Tuesday we went to Neot Kedumim Nature Reserve. We had the opportunity to heard sheep, which was quite an experience. The nature reserve also had a display of all different kinds of Sukkot. They take many examples from the Talmud, some that are acceptable and some that aren’t acceptable. They had a two stories sukkah, a round sukkah, a sukkah on a boat, a sukkah on the back of a camel and many more sukkahs. It was really cool to see them bring the Talmud to life. 

Wednesday I went to Me’ah shearim, Jerusalem, one of the Orthodox parts of Jerusalem. It was quite cool to see so many people preparing for sukkot, which was to start Wednesday night. There were so many stands in the streets selling everything one would need for the holiday, from decorations to dessert. 

I spent the first days of the holiday in Ramat Beit Shemesh, it rained a bit the first night here, but not as bad as Saint Louis, I was told. Here, everyone is so appreciative of the rain as they truly see the need for it. In Israel rain puts people in good moods as opposed to in Saint Louis it can sometimes be a pain, and we would rather sunny days! 

Sunday I went to the western wall to here Birchat Hachonim, the priestly blessings, along with thousands of other Jews. It was extremely moving.

Sunday night, my friends and I went to Netanya where there was a small art fair on the beach. Monday morning, we also enjoyed the beach. The family sitting near us was so friendly that by the time we left we had an invitation to their house for Shabbat and their phone number.

Tuesday was Tel Aviv. A friend and I went to this huge art festival which happens every Tuesday. There were artists selling everything from rag dolls to glass blown vases. We stopped at the Tel Aviv beach for a picnic lunch. The Tel Aviv beach was much busier than Netanya’s and Haifa’s. Then we walked to the Carmel Market, an outdoor market but much calmer and a less smelly version of Jerusalem’s famous shuk. My dad loves Harley Davidson, so I went to get him a Harley Davidson shirt at the store in Tel Aviv. The funniest part was that of all places, the shirts were manufactured in Saint Louis, Mo. So I traveled all the way to Tel Aviv to buy a shirt manufactured in Saint Louis, quite ironic.

Tuesday night I stayed in Givat shmuel, a city 20 minutes from Tel Aviv. Wednesday I headed back to Jerusalem. I spent the second day of the holiday in the old city, which was incredible. For the holiday of Simchat Torah, every corner I turned there was another group. When walking to the Western Wall, I got caught in a dancing crowd headed down there, and had to sneak out quickly.

School started again this past Monday, but we took a trip to Rechovot, to pick radishes for the less fortunate. We worked with an organization called Leket that uses donated fields to grow food and pick them for the poor. It was great to take part in something like that.

Tuesday, we had Jonathan Kessler, leadership development director of AIPAC, The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, come speak to us about the organization. He wanted to remind us of the importance of the relationship between the United States and Israel. He wanted to motivate us to write to our senators and representatives from Israel in an effort to build a relationship with them, in order that they will continue to be actively Pro-Israel. 

It’s been an incredible past few weeks!