J-ru: I'm Lovin' It!

I had a refreshing walk home today from the Old City. It reminded me how good things are really going.

I am finally settled into my apartment and am adapted to getting back in the swing of taking classes. The classes I take are at the Judaean Youth Hostel, about a forty-five minute bus ride from my apartment. The hostel is really nice, but I am still happy to be living in the set of apartments owned by YC. It gives me a sense of actually living in the city and not in the bubble of the hostel. My roommate Scott and I refer to the hostel as "The Most Comfortable Prison Ever". Another pro to living in the apartments is a free bus pass. It might as well be called a key to the city. Although I still don't know my way around as well as I would like, it should only be another week or two before I have it down.

I am in Jerusalem for the studying portion of my experience. So, let me fill you in on my classes.

Ulpan (Hebrew): I moved up a level from last section, which means it is slightly more intense. My teacher is great. Her name is Sarit. She teaches beyond the text. For instance, this morning we all went down to the dinning hall and practiced ordering food at a resturant. I have ulpan 2 hours a day five days a week. I should learn a good portion by the time a leave.

Advanced Zionism: This a class I really enjoy. My teacher, Dr. Avi Berkowitz, is, well, a little different. He is a highly educated man, but sometimes his points of view are a little radical. I understand his points and, most of the time, the information he uses to back it up. I just don't necessarily agree with what he presents. Although, it is good to have to see a different point of view. Every week we go on a mandatory siyur (trip). Today we went to the old city, but obviously it wasn't planned out too well. I took advantage of time afterwards to explore a little bit of Jerusalem on my own. (See pictures below)

Jewish Prayer: taught by Rabbi Rob. This is a very interesting and thought provoking class. We spend each class examining and dissecting a prayer or set of prayers. Before this class, I never really put to much thought behind the history, meaning, and process of most prayers. I hope to get a lot out of this class.

Jewish Bookshelf: taught by Daniel Rose. This class is a basic intro into Tanach, Mishna, and other Jewish texts. We usually go off on some tangents, but I don't mind. I still learn a lot from them. I probably should be in an intermediate class, but I know I will still learn here. There is always more to learn.

Communication and Perusuasion: taught by two representatives of the David Project. The David Project is an organization in America the works with trying to spread factual information about Israel to combat anti-Israel entities. They work heavily in college campuses. I know that this class will be useful in the future. They have shown us some pretty crazy stuff that has been spread in the Arab media. Check out "Farfur". Hamas's version of Mickey mouse.



Well, Disney decided to sue. Guess what happened to Farfur?

Yes, "terrorist" killed him. Wonderful what extremest do for the world. By the way, Tel A-Rabi never exsisted.It sounds a lot like Tel Aviv, which was established in the early part of the 20th century, before that it was bunch of sand. Not a beautiful city like Hamas describes it.

But I digress.......
Besides learning about "Jew-hating-mikey-mouse-look-a-likes", I done a lot in the last couple of weeks. There is always so much going on in this city. I can't understand why so many of the people in my section have been going back to Tel Aviv every weekend. I love TA too, but there is plenty to do here. This last weekend was great. I went to two concerts and had friends over for shabbat.
The first concert was Thursday night. The bands that played were: Yaya (the bass player from Hadag Nachash) and Izabo at the Yellow Submarine, which is about a ten minute walk from my apartment. SWEET!


My friends from section 3, Zach, Dan, Aaron, and David, came Friday afternoon. Sarelle (sorry if I spelled it wrong), a friend who lives right down the hall, Malka (another friend) and I went shopping before the guys got here. When they arrived we hung out for a little and then a few of us head to Kabbalat Shabbat services at Shira Ha'dasha (A New Song). I had heard of this shul before, but was blown away by it. In orthodox Judaism men and women pray on different sides of the room and are divided by what is called a "Ma'chitza" and men are the only ones to lead the service. At Shira Ha'dasha there is a Ma'chitza, but women lead as well. Not only is that aspect great, the singing in the services was powerful and uplifting as well, which I have found a rarity in many othodox services. Everyone was poring all their might into each prayer. It was really great to take part in. Also, at the end of the service they pulled back the Ma'chitza to make annoucements. One generous lady even offered shabbat dinner to anyone who needed a places. An amazing atmosphere, and once again, my apartment is really close. Can't wait to go back.

We got back from shul and cooked dinner. I made some shintzel (fried chicken breast) breaded with bissle (a tastey snack) instead of the traditional mix. It worked out well and added a good flavor. Sarelle made a vegitarian dish of noodles, tofu, and various vegetables. Check out the eggs we cooked with, every single one was a double yoke. Hope I don't grow a second head out of the side of my neck.

We ate, shmoozed and had a relaxing shabbat. Saturday morning we inteaded to get up and hike the Jerusalem Trail, but we slept in unstead. Good thing too, becasue I later found out that it is closed druing the shabbat. Another time.

After my friends left Saturday I got ready for the second concert of the weekend. Guess who? That's right, COOLOOLOOSH! They were just as good the second time. The played at this venue called "The Lab", which is....REALLY CLOSE TO MY APARTMENT! Did I mention I love where I am located? I went with a good handful of people that live here in the apartments. Ok, so Coolooloosh played with Asaf Avidan and the Mojos. Two bands on one stage. Its too bad my batteries on my camera pooped out. So I stole a picuture from Hannah.


I don't really have a solid game plan for this weekend, but I'm sure it will be great. I'm thinking about going back to Holon Thursday night to see some friends and go visit the gan. Friday night I am going with Seth and Feldman to a dinner with a tour that is going to be here from Kansas City. It will be great to see some familiar faces.

Winter break is coming up. I am really excited. A lot of people are going home or to another country for break. I personally, find that silly. What a perfect opportunity to do something really cool in Israel. The people that are going home are more excited about going home than being in Israel, which seems so backwards to me. My friend David and I are in the process of planning an epic hiking trip. I'm so pumped. Also, my friends Keren and Pam are coming in around that time too. I am excited to see them as well.

Last night we hosted a Jam Session at my apartment with my new madrich Dan. I played a set of spoons :)


I will leave you with the pictures of my adventures from the old city to my apartment. Click them for full resolution.

A picture of the wall dividing Palestine and Israel

No Shave November

I recently participated in the event of "No Shave November". It really didn't go too well for me . See for yourself.

Just look at the awful amount of patchiness. I can't believe I walked around like that for so long.

So I trimmed it down to just the goatee, its still rather pathetic looking. I contemplating what I should do with the rest. Maybe a fo-man-choo. Possibly a silly mustache. Maybe like this guy:
juuuuuust kidding....

Goodbye Holon...Hello Jerusalem!

Sunday morning I said goodbye to the city of Holon. It was time to change sections and move to Jerusalem.

This is the room I slept in for the last 3 months.

Here are a couple of panoramics of the old apartment.
I left this for the next group of guys. Hope they like it.

Look at all the extra money I got from the stipend!

Bye Aviel! Hope to see you in Jerusalem, or when I visit Holon. Good luck with the new roommates.

Jared and Daniel <3 style="text-align: left;">I'm gonna miss the city of Holon. In particular I am going to miss my volunteering. The last day I was the I took a few pictures. Also on my last day I spent an extra hour or two cleaning the over hangings in the playground. They were full of dead leafs and branches from the trees above, all of which was rotting and weighing down the over hangings. The people of the community center were very impressed. It felt good to leave something small for them. On Sunday I was talking to Ines, the volunteer coordinator, while waiting for the bus to take us to Jerusalem. She said told me that I had done a great job working at the community center and Kol Ha'kavod (good job) for staying in the same place the whole time because they needed the help. It felt really good to hear that.

After shuffling my stuff out of Holon, I made it to Jerusalem. I am one of the forty or so YCers selected to live in an apartment instead of in the Judaean Youth Hostel. All of the apartments are on a common stairwell, so people are walking in and out of each others apartments a lot. Similar to a college dorm. The location is prime. Check it out!

View Larger Map

I'm not sure if the map is all that great, but if you turn it to satellite view you might be able to see that we are in the center of Jerusalem. My apartment is about a twenty minute walk from downtown. It sits on the border of Talpiot and Bakah, for those of you who know Jerusalem neighborhoods. There are a few downsides to living in the apartments. For one the commute is at least half an hour each direction. I also have to fix myself two meals a day instead of just waiting in line at the hostel. Also, all of the YC events take place at the hostel, so I might have to crash there every now and then. No big deal.

I am excited to discover all that Jerusalem has to offer and all the education I will receive while attending classes here in Jerusalem.

Coolooloosh!

Thursday night. THE night to go out. Last Thursday night living in Holon/Tel Aviv. Options: 1) Go to a YC party at a rented out club with drama and other not so fun things.....or...2) go to a sweet concert at a sweet location.

I took the second choice. With great pleasure. I was joined by Aaron and our friend Noa who staffed camp this last summer with us. The concert was for a band called Coolooloosh. I had heard of these guys from A-ron and had few tracks on my computer that I really like. The concert was AWESOME! I took some picutures with my new camera! They also featured some really cool artist such as, Asaf Avidan, Mira Awad, and some comedian who's name has slipped my mind.

Tel Aviv Siyur

A tour around a city that I have spent a lot of time in, but never got an educational guide.

We started the siyur in the neighborhood the Tel Aviv started in: Nevet Tzedek.
Nevet Tzedek was the first neighborhood in Tel Aviv. I had not realized it until I got there, but I had been there with my cousins over Rosh Hashana. The siyur was very interesting. There is so much history in such a small area. Most of the streets in that neighborhood are named after influential people who started the city of Tel Aviv. People like Aharon Shulsh. The funnest part was the guides were running around dressed up and acting as if they were those famous people. It was a way of educating similar to the wax museum peulot of YJ, but much much funnier.


The neighborhood is still occupied. Matter of fact, its one of the most favorable places to live in Tel Aviv. This area of the city is very artsy, relaxed, and beautiful. It is also the cultural center of Tel Aviv with many art galleries, book stores, museums, and the Israeli Dance Center. A small house in Nevet Tsedek cost at least a million dollars, not shekel.

From the old neighborhood we walked up to Herzl street. To get there we walked on bridge that passes over what used to be the only rail line from Yafo(the main port at the time) to Jerusalem. Once at the beginning of Herzl we stopped inside of the large building called the Shalom Tower. Inside, the whole ground floor has walls cover in mosaic. The mosaic was made by Nahum Gutman. The mosaic visually describes the founding and development of Tel Aviv. Grandpa, you would be in heaven if you saw this.

From the Shalom town we took a good 20-30 minute walk to Rabin Square. We talked a brief bit about who he was and why the location was so important, but that is for the next post. This day was actually the anniversary of Rabin's murder. To see how Israelis think about it, we were given a few questions to go ask people we saw walking on the street. Questions like "Where were you when it happened?" and "Did you agree with his actions?". It was really interesting to talk to people. A few people we talked to were actually right there when the assassination took place. This Saturday is the national memorial service, I plan on attending.

Ride for Fighters

I was joined by thousands of people in an event called Ride for Fighters. The event was sponsored by the JNF and took place in the Golan. The program's purpose was to ride bicycles along the area of Israel's soldiers have fought for for so long and to ride in memory of them. Read more about it.

The first stop we made was at an old battle post. The bunkers were still intact and everything. It was a very controversial place, its too bad I can't remember the name. From there we were bussed to nature reserve/hiking area. There waiting for us was a stage and several speakers. These included: the chairman of the JNF and Gilad Schalit's father. At the end of this opening ceremony each participant released a balloon. Just about every Year Courser and Masa participant was there. It was great to see people I haven't gotten a chance to see yet. I saw my friend Sara who I met at Sde Boker in 2006.

From the opening ceremony we got on bikes and rode the designated course. It was about 5 kilometers on a rough dirt road. Not long enough at all.

At the closing ceremony there were a "carnival" of many of the different units in the IDF. It was really cool to see things close up and to see so many soldiers in one place.

The closing ceremony was great. It was very patriotic and brought everyone to their feet. This ceremony included a live demonstration of the tank unit. We are talking live ammo! It was so loud and you could feel the percussions.

The whole experience was a great insight into the IDF and showed some of the nation's pride.

Tiyul to the North with the Tzofim

The weekend to the north was great! There was about 70 of us that went. A very large group.

I packed all of my stuff and brought it with me to Ulpan. Following class we loaded the bus and headed out, which took much longer than expected, but we got there anyways. By there, I mean some kind of camping ground outside of an Arab village in the North. After setting up camp and hanging out for a while, we began to cook what is called "Poiykah". Basically, poiykah is a stew consisting of: chicken, lentils, rice, beans, cola, water, spices, and whatever else sounds good. All of which is cooked inside of a cast iron dutch oven. It taste much better than it sounds. I ate more than enough. After hanging out for a few more ours Aviel and I decided to make use of the extra meet by cooking some kabobs over the fire.

Friday morning we woke up and did a hike called Nahal Yagor. It follows a dried river bed until it hits Kibbutz Yagor. The hike was a little more intense than most of the YC hikes I have been on. It was refreshing to be a little challenged. Once we reached the kibbutz a druze lady meet us there and cooked fresh pita with all of the fixings. More great food!

From the kibbutz we were bused to one of the Tzofim tribes in Haifa. I took a nap on the floor while we waited for the other bus to get there. A few of us went to shul that night, but made it just in time for Yigdal, of course. Back at the tribe we had some amazing cholent cooked by Hila's dad. More amazing food!

Later that night we took a walk to the top of Haifa to get an over view of the city. It looked something like this:

Saturday morning we packed up and started out on a hike that literally starts in the middle of the city. Before we hit the trail we stopped by the Bahai Gardens. The Bahai religion is really interesting, feel free to read up on it, because I'm too lazy to type it all out.

The hike ended at the beach where we hung and out and ate ( I opened about twenty cans) for a while and played an great game of Lap Tag. From there we walked to the bus, did Havdallah and headed on a way back to Holon. A great weekend in a great location with some great food.

I'm a huge slacker...

"UPDATE YOUR BLOG YOU SLACKER!!!! Seriously, people are asking." -Lisa Siegel, My Lovely Mother.

Seriously, she's right. I can explain the absence, really, I can. The simple fact is that by the time I am done with my daily activities I am so tired that I hardly want to write. I attempted to a couple times, but feel asleep in the process. So here goes another post that will drag on for far too long. Enjoy!

From the 13th to the 22nd I was on break for another group of holidays. This included: Sukkot, Simchats Torah, and Shmini Atzeret. I am going to try to remember most things and reiterate them to you, with some pictures, as accurately as possible.

Monday and Tuesday: 13-14
This was the first night of Sukkot and when the actually celebration takes place. I was invited by Aviel to join him at his home in Giviat Zev, a town out side of Jerusalem. I accepted with great pleasure! We got a bus with Shelley and Ayelet to Jerusaelm. Ayelet is another one of the Tzofim living in Holon with the other YC. She also lives in Giviat Zev and brought Shelley with her for the holiday. The bus to Jerusalem was crowded, so we had to sit on the floor. That would never fly in America. I was sitting next to a soldier who is in the Givati unit. He had the new Tavor gun. An amazing Israeli development.
When we finally arrived in Giviat Zev. I meet Aviel's family. Wonderful people. Aviel is the oldest of six kids. So the house was all busseling with noise, which is not a bad as it might seem.

The meal that Aviel's mother and grandmother's prepared was excellent. It was a lot of tradtional sephardic dishes. Something that I never grew up having. I ate myself past the point of fullness.

Later that night things turned a little sour. I didn't feel so well because I ate so much, but it turns out it was something way worse. I spent pretty much all night hunched over a toliet. Wonderful I know. In the morning Aviel had to drive me to a hospital in Modi'in because it was the only open due to the holiday. I ended up getting an IV to rehydrate and an anti-vomiting agent. It worked and I felt much better after eating a little and sleeping all day at Aviel's.

That night we drove to the Judaean Youth Hostel in Jerusalem and hung out for a couple of hours before we caught a bus back to Holon. I saw Hiesler there and we talked for a while. It was good to see people from another section that I haven't seen yet.

Wednesday 10/15

Bright and early I woke up to meet a group for a mandatory hike in the North. I know I'm crazy for even getting out of bed that day after being in the hospital on the previous morning, but what can I say? I like to hike! It turns our the "hike" was more of a three hour bus ride each way and an hour walk. It was beautiful though. We walked a small trail on Mt. Meron. From this vantage point you can see Lebanon and only some of Tsfat because of the clouds. Adina, one of the counselors from Bat Yam, explained to us that one of the outlook points we were standing on was dedicated to a soldier killed in Lebanon. From where we were looking you could actually see the bunker where he was killed during the Second Lebanon War. A very powerful moment.

Thursday Morning 10/16

In the morning was another part of mandatory attendance during the Chofesh (break). Our group was required to meet at the community center around the corner from my apartment and paint the bleachers around the back side. I was all for it and getting my hands dirty, but some other people weren't. It took much longer than it should of because of people messing around and just straight up complaining. Eventually it did get done though.

After volunteering I went to my friend Fluffy's apartment. He owns a pair of hair clippers. Guess who go a mowhawk?!

Thursday Night-Saturday Night: BERESHEET MUSIC FESTIVAL!

I mentioned a couple of post back that I would be going to the Beresheet Music Festival on the Kneret. I went, and It was an amazing time. There were tons of Year Coursers, so it was kind of a YC weekend, but it was great to see people from different section, as always. The camping equipement that I borrowed from Lior worked out very well. I split food with with Daniella and Jon. It ended up being much cheaper and much tastier than the food at available for purchase at the festival.

The music at the festival great. Some of the bands were only ok. I saw this crazy metal band that had a song where they screamed the ten plagues and the shema. It was intense. I managed to miss a great concert by Abaraham Tal, the ex-lead singer of Shotei Ha'Nevua. I will forever kick myself for that. I did, however, see one of my favorite bands: Hatikva 6. They threw an amazing show. Besides just the bands, there was tons of other music. There was constant trance and dance music at one stage. We are talking 24/7 thumping bass. I somehow manged to sleep through it. There was a constant drum circle. I hopped in a couple times. There were also really cool workshops. I learned to play didgeridoo!

There were lots of fun things to do at the festival, especially since it was on a beach. Here are some pictures of the weekend.

Only in Israel do a large group of religious Jews show up to a hippy music festival.

A couple sunsets of the on the Kneret. Can't wait to go back.

There was a mud pit at the festival. It was tempting....

Good music, good company, and good coffee. These things make a great weekend

Sunday-Monday 19-20

CHILLED! I needed to catch up on sleep and hang around on my butt for a couple of days.

Tuesday 21st

This was the end of Sukkot, celebrated by the holiday of Simchats Torah. The original plan was to go to Tsfat via a Sherut with a few guys. After that was tossed out the door, the next plan was to go to Jerusalem....which also didn't happen. It really just ended up being a fun Tel Aviv night.


Thursday 23rd
Volunteering in the went really well that day. I know the kids really well now and I feel like I am a valuable member of the staff there.

Here is me with a couple of the girls in the gan. Hila on the left and Keshet on the right.

That night was a foam party in Jerusalem. A ton of YCers went, and I didn't. It ended up being a great choice. I heard from a lot of people that the party wasn't that fun. Aaron, Allon, and I instead went to Kibbutz Ha'polim where our friend Noa lives. All of us staffed camp together. We went to the kibbutz to see Noa preform her first concert! It was really cool and the atmosphere was very kibbutz. I liked it. I need to spend more time in on a kibbutz.

Friday and Saturday 24-25
Caught a bus straight from Holon to Jerusalem! From the central bus station I walked to the Shuk and met up with the Choikhit twins and their mom. We walked around for a bit and ate some food. From there we walked to Ben Yehuda street and meet up with some more KC people. This included: Hiesler, Feldman, Tali, Joey, and Molly. After chatting a bit I left with Hiesler, Feldman, and Tali.
We spent the rest of the weekend hanging out in Hiesler's apartment. It was really relaxing and fun. The five of us boys cleaned up Hiesler's messy apartment. I know! What would inspire five 18 year old boys to clean a whole apartment? Well I am telling you, it was that gross. Following our cleaning fiasco, the five of us sat down and had a wonderful, testotarone filled, shabbous meal. The rest of shabbat we slept, made some amazing brownies, and hung out with other YCers.
Hiesler lives in the set of apartments owned by YC instead of living in the hostel like the rest of their section does. Its a really cool deal. All of the 12 apartments are on the same staircase. Everyone leaves their doors unlocked when they are home and people just hop between apartments. As an added bonus, all the YC that live in the apartments get a bus pass for all of Jerusalem. Something you wouldn't get living in the youth hostel. I am really hoping I get to live in the apartments when I move there.

Sunday-Today 26-31
The Chagim (Holidays) are over and I can finally get back into a routine! Volunteering this week has been great! We have a new director at the gan because the old one is going into labor any minute now (Mazel Tov Avital). The new directors name is Maggie. Nice lady, but a much different style then the last one.
I had my first Ulpan exam. I passed with flying colors!.....but it was only oral. I am worried about the one tomorrow. It's all written.
Tuesday we had a siyur to the towns of Sderot and Nitzan. There will be a separate post on this becasue it is such a large and important subject.
I haven't gone into Tel Aviv at all this week. It's kinda weird. Every night there has been a YC activity or I have been to tired to go out. Last night was the Section 2 basketball. I was on a team that knew we were loosing coming into it, but we still had fun.
Tonight we watched the movie Beufort. Its an amazing story about a group of soldiers who were stationed on a mountain inside of Lebanon. A very intense and impressive story. The film is based on a book, I will read it soon. Both are defiantly worth checking out.

This Weekend
I am attending a trip planned by the scouts to the North. We are going to be in the Haifa area. The trip is costing me 200 shekel, about $50, but this includes transportation and food. A pretty good deal. We will be doing some hiking and sightseeing. I am pretty excited.

I know I say this every time, but next post will not be put off so long.

CrAzY WeEkEnD!

AHHH SO MUCH MORE TO SAY! I will keep it short.

This weekend was crazy. Friday I got back from Kfar Saba my friend Julie came to our apartment. We were dead out of food so we ran to the store before it closed. Aviel and I cooked a delicious shabbous meal of pasta with chicken meat sauce for our apartment and a couple of guest. Then we went to all of our neighbors in our building said, "shabbat shalom" and offered them some cake, I think it will help settle some issues they have had in the past with the people living in our current apartment. Following this we left to make coffee in the park. For there we hung out with my friend Jesse at his place. I told Jesse about my friend Itamar's finishing of the army party. I told him he could tag along, and my other friend Or came as well. At 10 Itamar came and picked up all of us to go to his party. The party was in Ben Shemen forest. It went all night. I finally went to sleep back at my apartment (sorry mom) at 6 A.M. Saturday morning. Oh, wait, I'm not done. At 1 P.M. Aviel and I, along with some other YC, went to a birthday party of one of the other Tsofim living in Holon with us, her name is Ziv. Her party was a ton of fun and we meet so many people. THEN, we got home and sat for literally less then 20 minutes and left to go see the Holon Tsofim's opening event. The caravan was there! And lots of really cool firesigns. We were actually impressed. While we were there we ran into the scout that lived in our very apartment last year. So she came back to our apartment with us for 10 minutes while we got ready for salsa night! Which turned to be good, but I suck at dancing. I came home from salsa night and COLLAPSED! PHEEEEEEEEEEEEEW! That was a weekend. And it just keeps coming. I love it.

Chatima Tova

While I have been in Israel I am constantly comparing society and life here to life back in the states. Nothing could be more different than the day of Yom Kippur. It was such an amazing experience. In the states most of the population is not Jewish, therefore the holiday of Yom Kippur is not noticed by the general population. On the contrary, here in Israel the population is about eighty percent Jewish. During Yom Kippur the country literally stops. Every store, even 24/7 markets, are closed. No one drives a car. Its as if someone turned off a giant light switch. Instead of cars on the street, they become flooded with people walking and children on thousands of bicycles. Like any other holiday, it is also used as a massive social gathering. I walked out of the synagogue after services Wednesday night. It was a breath taking sight. People were walking up to everyone and saying "Chatima Tova" (May your name be written in the good book as having lived a good year) and wishing a happy new year. Most people were dressed in the traditional white. Yom Kippur seemed like such a somber holiday back in the US, but here it was hard to find a person without a smile.

Here it seems that everyone had their own individual way of celebrating. The amount of people attending a synagogue literally triples, but some people go the whole time and some go when they choose. Other people choose to do things that would seem totally irrelevant to the holiday. There are a large group of people that spend it hanging out on the beach. Others stay up talking all night so that they can sleep through the fast easier. Some people just stay in all day and watch movies. However it is done, the day is something special.

Most of the children in Israel ride there bikes everywhere for the day. My cousins May and Guy rode their bikes about 24 km. The day before Yom Kippur, the bicycle stores make their earnings for the year. It made me a little jealous. Me being such a bike nerd and not riding one :(

It's not to say that my Yom Kippur was not amazing. It clearly was the most memorable Yom Kippur I have had so far. I initally wanted to try and spend the day in Jerusalem in the old city, but plans didn't work out. Maybe it was for the best. Instead I went back to Kfar Saba with the cousins. They were thrilled to have me and I was happy to be where it feels just like home. First thing I did when I got there: ATE! mmmmmm I love a full tummy! Then I went to their local Synagogue. The inside of that building is painted with various different scences of the bible, Judaism in general, and each month has its own section. The ark is large and painted beatifully and sits in a dome the height of the building. The dome itself is painted in waves different shades of blue. Haim's father had his own chair there that is now Hiam's. The services themselves were very recognizable because it was an Ashkenazi, which is what I am used to. The difference is that everyone there speaks Hebrew and is comfortable with the service, so things moved along at a much quicker pace.

Besides going to services, and taking my own little walk, all I did was sleep. It was much needed. Wednesday night I was asleep by 9:30 and woke up at 10 the next morning. The two days I was there I managed to get in more sleep than I do in four nights back in Holon. It was much needed.

After the holiday was over on Friday I had some logistics to figure out. This coming week is Sukkot, yes, another holiday! Sukkot is immediately followed by, guess what? Another holiday! Simchat Torah (which I hope to go to Tsfat for)! For these two holidays I have about two weeks for free time. I have to find something to do! I had heard from a friend about a music festival on the Kneret called "Bereshet". Seemed like a cool idea. The only problem is that I have some mandatory things to attend during the middle of Sukkot. Well after sitting on the phone for about an hour, I had a plan. A counselor in another section of YC was getting buses figured out, so I had a way to get there. She was also getting a discounted rate for all of YC. Great! Now I needed at tent. I called the office in Bat Yam, there are out of tents to lend. Then I remembered my cousins have camping equipment. I gave Lior a call and within an hour I in my hands a six person tent, a stove and accouterments to make coffee (I LOVE TURKISH COFFEE!), and some equipment to repair some parts of the tent. I am so lucky I have such wonderful family. Once I got back to Holon I found out that about half of YC is going to the festival. So now people are fighting for spots in my tent. That should be interesting. As far as cost goes, it is a little of the expensive side.

Here is how it breaks down:
-130 NIS (New Israeli Shekel) for the ticket at a discounted rate (normally 180 NIS)
-120 NIS for transportation there and back, but on private bus. So no getting lost, darn.
- Roughly 50 shekel for food
Right now the exchange us about 3.6 shekel to the dollar. So the whole deal will cost about $85. Actually not so unreasonable for a three day festival. In the states those are usually about $150.

I think I might spend a little money to make some. I will go buy about 50 pitas, some peanut butter, and some chocolate spread. I can then heat them up on a stove or fire and sell them for 3 shekel a piece at the festival. It could potentially pay for my ticket in. I would only have to sell 44 of them. (130/3=43.33333)

Tomorrow I am going to start the celebration of Sukkot in Jerusalem with my roommate Aviel's family. I am so excited to meet his family and eat more food! I have heard wonderful things about his grandmother's cooking. Great news on top of this: we are bringing back bikes from Aviel's house! YES!

Wednesday I have a mandatory hike followed by a day of volunteering on Thursday. Then Thursday night I will be off to the festival. So you won't hear from me for a while. Chag Samaech everyone!

Slichot

Photo courtesy of Jacob Greenberg

Slichot in Jerusalem is an amazing thing to witness and participate in. I was fortunate enough to do both. Slichot is a process were one repents for sins done in the past year. As part of this process their is a service consisting of a set of prayers and poems. Many of these "Slichot" have stories behind them. Our tour guide (NIR COHEN! My counselor from when I was in Israel in 2006) took us to a very special area in the Old City just a few steps away from the enterance into the Jewish Quarter. Within this small area consisting of a courtyard no larger than a two car garage and several cramped buildings, some very improtant history lies. In one of the buildings is believed to be the tomb of King David. The tomb is not open to the public because of work going on inside. Above the tomb is the room in which the last supper took place. Most of the other buildings around this area are currently being occupied by several Yeshivot (religous schools).

After walking through the Jewish Quarter we were given an hour of free time to see the Kotel and walk around the old city on our own. The place was packed, as you can tell by the picture. I walked down to the Wall by myself and witnessed dozens of different groups saying Slichot. Every group was unique. Some were more religously dressed, some looked like your everyday arsim, some were american, etc. One group that I noticed was a group of about six guys in their twenties. From what I could tell by their t-shirts, they were all in the same unit in the army. What was so unique about them was they way in which they were chanting the Slichot. They were standing in a line with their arms wrapped around each other, chatting energetically, and swaying back and forth. It was moving to just sit their and watch them.

I am not familiar with the Slichot because its more of Sephardic tradition, but I did really enjoy listening and taking in as much of it as I could while saying my personal Slichot. This was an experiance that I struggle putting into words. It doesn't do it full justice. Its really something you need to see for yourself.

It was pretty late and I was getting tired and hungry towards the end of our Siyur. It became hard to concentrate. I ate some food that I brought with me and a bagel from Bunker Bagles. As a group we then walked about half an hour to the bus. I noticed something very peculiar and interesting while walking out of the old city. There sidewalk at the foot of the wall that surrounds the Old City. As I was walking, on my right shoulder was a wall and a city that have been standing for literally thousands of years. On my left was a modern city. Cars honking, tourists milling around. It is Jerusalem. An ancient city with modern accesories.

Yom Kippur is tomorrow. It will be different from not being in Kansas City. Everything in this country stops. People walk down the middle of the streets and all of the children ride their bikes for miles. The only automobiles to be seen are emergency vechicles. (Hopefully I don't see any of those.) I am heading back to Kfar Saba to spend the holiday with the cousins. I wish everyone a meaningful fast.

Shana Tova!

I would first like to start this post by say Shana Tova to everyone! I hope you all have a year full of happiness and health.



I spent Rosh Hashana with my cousins in the city of Kfar Saba. It was a nice relaxing three days. I enjoyed all the great hospitality and love that I recieved. I look forward to returning to Kfar Saba often to make a better connection with family here.

The holiday basically went like this:
-Eat
-Sleep
-Hang out with family
-Eat
-Eat
-Sleep
-Eat
-Hang out
-Go to a cool park in Tel Aviv
-Eat
-Hang out
-Sleep
-Eat

Clearly this is a very simplified version of what happened, but you get the gist. I spent most of the time in Haim and Rachel's place. This is where I slept and gained close to five pounds in two days. Haim and Rachel are both in their 70's, but they neither look nor act like they are a day over fifty five. They took very good care of me. Refusing to let me to lift a finger the whole time, even though I did when they weren't looking.

Haim and Rachel have three sons: Erez, Muli, and Lior. Each one of them is married with children. A very tight knit family. They all live close, the farthest of them is about twenty minutes away.

Here is all of us before dinner on Monday night.
(Out of the three pictures taken, this was the best one, and there is still someone not in the frame)

This was a picture taken when I was in Israel the summer of 2006.
Look how everyone has grown!

Tuesday night of Rosh Hashana I went over to Lior and Family's apartment. After keeping his eldest son, Roi, occupied while Lior took care of his youngest, Omer, Lior kindly let me use his WiFi and I skyped everyone back at home in Kansas City. It was about 1 or 2 in the afternoon there, so everyone was at my house in Kansas City getting ready to sit down and eat. It was good to see everybody. While I was talking to everyone I had Roi sitting on my lap. My family was happy to finally meet him. Lior was sitting next to me and he said hello to the family as well. Who ever invented skype, I owe you a big one.

Wednesday morning I went to Erez and family's house in a neighboring city of Kfar Saba. It's a small, sleepy suburb. A great place to raise children. After hanging around in their garden and eating, guess what we did? We went to an Arab village, and of course we ate. Great shwarma. Apartly there is the same one in Yafo. I will have to find it.

If you are interested in looking at some pictures of my family here and the fun we had, here is a link.

Once again, the staff here at "The Adventures of Daniel Siegel" (that's me!) wishes you a happy and healthy new year!

Weekend with Aaron

"Hey, what are you doing this weekend? I need to get out of Arad and actually do something!"

This was a text message I received from my friend Aaron Senser at 6:57 am. I was not even awake yet. Aaron is also on Year Course and is in section three. He is currently living in Arad and volunteering at the nature reserve in Ein Gedi.

As I was walking to the bus stop to get to the community center, I called Aaron. I told him I would be more than happy to have him stay and hang out. Thus was the start of an excellent weekend.

Day 1, Thusday
Volunteering went really well today. The kids have really become attached. There is a sandbox that they play in everyday. I was teaching a few of the kids how to use mold and buckets to make shapes. I would fill the mold with sand, count with the kids "Achad, Shtiym, Shalosh!" and flip over the mold. I then had the kids do it. The director of the gan was watching and said that she thinks working in the gan comes very naturally to me.

Following volunteering I headed home to hang out for a while. Aarons's bus wasn't going to get into the Tel Aviv Central Bus Station (CBS) until 10 or so.

I wanted to make sure I got there on time, so I caught the 90 bus write down the street from my house. It says it goes to the CBS. There are two CBSs, a new and an old. Well, I guess the driver of the bus decides which one he wants to go to. The one I got on likes the old one. I don't know why though! I got off at the station and thought I was in some bad movie. Everything was really run down and many buildings were stores that I won't describe. Realizing I had a lot of time to kill, and I was in the wrong bus station, I had to get out of that area. I walked about five blocks towards all of the large bank buildings. I was familiar with that area because a few clubs I have been to are there. From there I asked some policewomen where the new station is. They kindly gave me directions and I met up with Aaron and my friend Itamar who also staffed camp with us.

Walking out of CBS I spotted Hannahleah, I girl I had met on the plane to Israel, and her friend. They were walking and I yelled at them like five time and they still didn't hear me. Finally, just to be funny, I went up behind Hannahleah and put my hands firmly on her shoulders. In south Tel Aviv, anywhere really, when you don't know who is putting their hands on you, you freak out. That is just what Hannaleah did. She says she is going to get me back, I don't believe her. Hannahleah and Aaron both live in Arad, so it was funny that they were both in the same place at the same time.

From the CBS we took a bus to Allenby street. We meet up with Allon and hung out with him for a while. Itmar, Aaron, and I were beat so Allon drove us back to my apartment and the three of us crashed.

Day 2, Friday
Aaron and I slept in really late. Itamar left a cute note on the fridge for me because he left before I was up. "Danny, didn't want to wake you up! Thanks for having me over. See you soon!"

On the tenth Itamar and some friends from his army unit are having a party for finishing their service. He invited me and told me to bring a few friends. I look forward to it.

Aaron and I had to decied what to do with our day, after lazing around a bit more. At about 1 we decided to head to the shuk in Tel Aviv. We were going to go to Yafo, but because of shabbous the buses end early, that would limit our time in Yafo. The shuk was fun as always. I bought a kilo of figs that I now munch on all the time. Aaron and I both indulged in some baked goods. As we were walking around we ran into five or six different groups of people from Year Course. Including my friend Daniel, Maddie, and guess who? Hannahleah and her friend Sydney! It's like they were following us. Aaron and I barely caught the last bus back to Holon.

At what was supposed to be 6 and was actually 7, Allon picked us up. He brought us to he apartment in Yehud to have shabbat dinner with his family. Allon has a sister who was the adult staff member for the Tzofim Caravan two years ago. I had actually met her before I had worked with Allon this summer. Anyways, we gave Allon's parents a bottle of wine and a couple pomegranates as a gift for the upcoming holidays. They returned the gift in the form of a delicious meal. Its not that I don't eat in my apartment, but meat and copious amounts of food are rare. It was refreshing to be able to eat past the point of fullness.

We sat and digested for an hour or so. From there Allon dropped me and Aaron off at the beach in Tel Aviv, close to downtown. This was a very very good choice. That night there was another one of those YC parties. They happen like every weekend. Sure they were fun at first, but now its just the same thing over and over. You pay way too much to get into some over crowded, over priced club. Needless to say, Aaron and I wanted to do our own thing. Which we did very successfully.

Day 3, Saturday
Slept really late. It was Shabbous. Its mandatory.

I sleepily stumbled out of my room in my usual sleeping attire (underwear) to acquire sustenance. I open my eyes and see a stranger chilling at my kitchen table eating a bowl of cornflakes. OUR CORNFLAKES! I say "Hello, who are you?" At that moment my roommate Jordan came downstairs from his layer and told me the story. This guy, Ezra, is on YC in Section 1 (currently in Jerusalem) and needed a place to crash for the night. I had no problem with that, but I have a problem with a couple of other thing. First, Jordan didn't ask call us to ask if this guy could come. Second, HE WAS EATING OUR FOOD! It would have been different if we had known he was coming or if Jordan had known him before that night, but whatever its over now.

At around 2 or so, Aaron and I decieded that we were not going to wait for my friends to call us back and we were just going to go where we had planned to without them. My friends, Abby and Lisa, ended up sleeping until like five that night. Our plan was to hit up the coolest park in Holon. We got there, and I am pretty sure that it was the coolest park I have ever seen. Neither of us had a camera, so sorry no pictures. I know I will be back at some point with a camera. This park is crazy! I have never done any kind of drug, but I am pretty sure some of this stuff is straight out of an acid trip. Besides the three story slide (which of course I went down) there are five or six small parks that are all themed after a children's books. I don't even want do write it in detail because words will not do it justice.

We came back to my apartment and just hung out for a while. Abby met us at the bus station and we took Aaron to his bus.

It was great to spend a weekend with someone out side the section, particularly Aaron. Next time we hang out I will go to Arad and do some hiking.

Abby and I really didn't feel like wandering around Tel Aviv, so we got the next bus back to Holon. We went to the square and bought a large container of ice cream and went back to my apartment and split it. It was a sweet end to a great weekend.

Today, Sunday
Volunteering went well. We had a little Shana Tova party consisting of apples, honey, and cake. It was really fun and the kids loved it. The matnas gave me and Hannah gifts! It was very nice of them. It had a note on the inside and three small jars, one had honey in it, the other was pomegranate jam, and the last was an olive oil, honey, and lemon cooking sauce.

Straight from volunteering I head for a mandatory volunteer training program. It was not so bad. Good ideas were thrown around and experiences were shared.

I checked our online bank account for our apartment today. We ended up having $350 dollars left over! It ended up being 200 shekel a person between the 6 of us. That is really good considering the fact that a couple of the apartments of other YCers ran out of money almost two weeks ago.

Around 5 today I took Jared to the doctor. His tonsils are huge. I knew for sure he needed antibiotics, which is exactly what the doctor gave him. He should be getting better in a couple days. I feel bad for him having this over the holiday.

Tonight Aviel and I made a great dinner consisting of animal shaped shnizel (that's right it was on sale), some cucumber and tomato salad, sauteed zucchini, bread, and hummus. It was affordable and delicious. For dessert I thought we could mix it up a little bit. I have heard figs taste really good cook, and we still had a bunch in the fridge from when I bought them at the shuk.
This is how we prepared them:
1) Wash Figs, remove stems, and slice in half
2) In a non-stick frying pan, heat 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil to a medium high heat
3) Place figs cut side down and allow to caramelize, about 2-4 minutes
4) EAT!

(Excuse the poor image quality. My camera is out of batteries and my webcam is not the greatest.)

Daniella came over after dinner and the three of us walked to the park that I went with Aaron on Shabbat. It was much different at night. Still really cool. When Daniella puts pictures up on facebook I will steal them and put them up.

Tomorrow
Heading to Kfar Saba to spend Rosh Hashana with the family!

Super Post!

It has been almost two weeks and I have managed to not write until now. Its a little more difficult to keep up with this than I thought it would be. Between volunteering, taking care of basic human needs (laundry, food, cleaning, etc.), ulpan, activities, and a social life my days are pretty packed. In the entry I will attempt to go day by day, like the last one, and describe what happened each day. It has been a while, so I am sure I will miss some information. Since this is such a long post I have titled it "Super Post!" It will most likely take you a couple of sittings to read it, but please enjoy!

Sunday 9/14
A fairly uneventful day. Aviel and I cleaned a lot to get ready for the Mifgash Dira the next day. It was difficult to get the rest of the roommates to help. I'm pretty sure I stayed in that night.

Monday 9/15
Volunteered at the matnas in the morning and went to ulpan in the afternoon. At around six our madricha Yaara came to our apartment to do the weekly check (Mifgash Dira). She said it wasn't clean enough. I'm not going to get into how I disagree with that, anyways, she gave us an hour to clean and she would be back. Realizing we had no food at all, the six of us in the apartment split into two groups: three of us would stay and clean, the other three would go to the store and get food. I am in charge of the debit card for the apartment, so I went shopping. We ended up getting about 550 skekel worth of food ($157). Yaara came back to check again and was a little upset when she came back and only found half of us in the apartment.

We got back from shopping and I had about fourty-five minutes to shove food in my mouth and head out the door for the a siyur.

This siyur was really cool. We left Holon at about nine and drove south into the Negev. We spent a few hours of the night hiking under the full moon. The location of the hike was Nachal Havarim. The Negev is grorgous, but even more intense under a full moon. At one point we got to a dried river bed, more of a slim canyon, and we each hiked through it individually. It was almost errie how the rocks were smooth with all kinds of curves. It was unbelivable. We finished the hike around 3:30 A.M. and got back to holon around 5.

Tuesday 9/16
Since we got back so late/early last night, I slept in until about 11. It was nice and refreshing. I spent most of the day hanging out and getting some much needed relaxtion.

The day before my friend Or had given me a call with an offer I couldn't resist. Or is one of the seven Tzofim (Israeli Scouts) living with us in the Holon. Normally, since they are 18, they would be going into the IDF. Or and the seven other Tzofim, Aviel my roommate is one as well, are doing what is called Shnat Sherut (Service Year). Back to the offer Or made me. Or and I had spent a good part of the hike the night before talking about the difference between Boy Scouts in America and the Tzofim. He said I would really have to experiance it to understand the Tzofim. Thus, he invited me to the first Peulah (program) of his Shevet (tribe) in Tel Aviv.

It was like nothing I had every seen!

The name of the Shevet is Horesh. They are one of the oldest Shevetim in all of Israel. They are located in the central park of Tel Aviv. I had actually seen their building two years ago when I stayed across the street at the Munich Youth Hostel. I had no clue what that strange fenced off green building was then.


There were a total of 610 scouts there! That is more than the amount of people that go to national YJ conventions. The ages go from 4th-12th grade. In the Tzofim, as you enter into High School you start to become the leaders of the Shevet. Just like Young Judaea, Tzofim is peer lead. My friend Or was director of Horesh his senior year of High School. He was discribing to me how it was his entire life last year.

This was one of the many paintings on the buildings in the Horesh complex. Ten points to anyone who knows why I think this one is so funny.

This is me and my friend Or standing in front a large structure built by the shevet.

I thought I would get a picture with one of the scouts there.

After visting the tribe I discussed with Or why the Tzofim is so sucessful in Israel. I have come up with a few reasons:
1) CO-ED: The only scouting left in the world to not be both boys and girls in one group is the American scouts. Co-ed scouting is a great way of getting people to keep coming back. I know its primative, but it also creates a very good social life. Most of Or's closest friends are those from his Shevet. I believe his last girlfriend was even from his shevet. When we were at the peulah what seemed like hundreds of people came up to Or to say hello and give him a hug.
2) Regularity: Most shevetim meet twice a week. This creates a constant vibe of Scouting and also goes along with the previous point.
3) Facilities and Funding: Most tribes have the one facilities. This way they are selfsustaining. They raise money with a snack bar they keep open before and after every peulah, they also collect cans and bottles to earn money through recycling, and the goverment of Israel provides some funding.
4) Pride: Each shevet has unique name (not number), mascot, and logo. Along with all of this they have crazy cheers. Dozens of them. When all of the tribes gather once a year in the summer a little competition begins. All of the things mentioned go right in to the pride each member has for his or her tribe. At the gathering each shevet builds ridiculous structures made out lumber that has been lashed together. Each shevet has a different theme. Horesh has been known to be one of the best builders in the nation.

The ideals behind the Tzofim are very similar to those of YJ. Peer Leadership, Zionism, Democracy, just to name a few. I really wished I had been a part of the Tzofim. It is the perfect mix of the outdoor scouting and Israel. Two things I care deeply about.

At around 7 Or and I left with his friend from the tribe to get some dinner. Or's friend works at and ice cream place. Guess what I had for dinner? About a half liter of FREE ICE CREAM!

We then some how manged to get out of our chairs and meet a the group from YC at a jazz club. I was really excited to see some jazz, turns out it was a rock band that just covered a bunch of american music. It was fun, but I could have done that in the states. I was a tad dissapointed.
One of the YC boys got up on stage and sang along.


Wednesday 9/17
Volunteering went as usual. The kids are cute and entertaining, my hebrew improves, and I get fed :)

That night I went to Young Judaea was given 1000 free tickets to the Israel vs. Chek Republic basketball game. It was fun to cheer them on and get into it. I actually went down at the last quarter and sat with the hardcore fans. I also met up with my friends Allon, who I have mentioned earlier in this blog, and Nir. They both are madrichim for Year Course and all of us were madrichim at camp this summer.


The usual large group of us left the game and headed for the harbor in Tel Aviv. The harbor sits in the norther part of the city, and for some reason, things are way overpriced. I was looking around for an hour and half trying to find a cheap place to eat. Never found one. I dropped way too much money on dinner that night.

Allon called me a little after dinner. He picked me up and we went and hung out in Tel Aviv for a little bit.


Thursday 9/18
Volunteering and Ulpan. In ulpan we are basically learning vocab. Its tiring, but I'm getting it.

Aviel's birthday was actually on Friday, but since I was leaving and the party was that night we through him a little surprise. The other Tzofim told him to be ready to leave at 8:30. As he got in the shower I ran down the street and bought a couple of cakes. Scott and Jordan kept him distracted once he was out of the shower. As I was walking up the stairs to the apartment Aviel called me and I hung up. I busted open that door and we all sang Yom Huledetz. About ten minutes later all of the Tzofim came with another cake. It was good timing.

Besides Aviel, there were a few other birthdays in our section. Naturally we had to celebrate. Tel Aviv (that is her name, she is one of the Tzofim) has hook ups all over the city of Tel Aviv. She had a deal worked out with this club called Stella's. We got there and the place was PACKED. Myself and about 50 other Year Course boys had to wait about an hour before we were let in. Girls always get in, and for free.

I cheated this system and got in free...

My friend Jesse had just came out of the club to say hello to the suckers, like me, out there waiting. He had just gotten his arm marked so he could get let back into the club. I quickly grabbed that very arm and pressed my arm against it. This left a perfect mark on my arm allowing me to enter into the club without having to pay. Yes, in a way it is kind of like stealing, but that place made more than their share of money that night and I didn't feel like contributing.

Friday-Saturday 9/19-20
Best weekend so far. Hands down.

A group of fourteen of us went to Nachalat Yehudia.

We left from Holon about noon on Friday and caught a bus to the trainstation in Tel Aviv. From there we just barely caught the train to the north. We got off the train and Ithai's father and sister met us at the station, Ithai's father had done us the favor of going to the market and getting our food for the weekend. It ended up being pretty cheap and we each payed him 35 shekel ($10). Ithai's sister was on break for the weekend from her service in the army, so she was still in her uniform when we met her. Threeteen eighteen year-old boys meet an attractive Israeli woman in an army uniform. I'm sure you can imagine much of the conversation that weekend,

To get from the train station to the reservation Ithai had a really good hook up with an Arab cab driver. His name was Jackie and his fourteen passanger van was perfect for squeezing us in with all of our gear. The stereo in the van was also perfect for blasting Mizrachi and club music. It made the couple hours drive very interesting.

We arrived at the campsite a little later than planned. So for the remander of the day we had a campfire, eat some food, and just had general male bonding time. We met a group of brits who were there in Israel for a couple of weeks. We talked to them for a while and when their ride didn't show up on time we scraped together some food for them. That night we slept under these giant tent structures set up by the reservation. The moon that night was a gaint orange wonder. I stared at it for a good half hour.

We woke up bright and early and packed up camp. We started to eat our cereal......cereal? What happened to the cereal?! Some how it went missing. A large group camping next to us had plenty of left over food and offered it to us. Very nice of them.

Now the best part, the hike. It was purely amazing. It's not a very long hike, but it took us all day because we messed around at every avaliable point. I think I will stop writing, and let the pictures speak for themselves.


For more pictures check out the online album.
(WARNING! Many many shirtless men in the nature! Do not enjoy too much.)

Sunday 9/21
I went to volunteering and spent of the rest of the day relaxing. That night we went to a bowling alley. On the way back we saw a bakery with its fresh bread cooling. They offered it to us for 2 shekel a small loaf. SO CHEAP! and it was amazing fresh bread.

Monday 9/22
This day was a little crazy. Masa, an organization that provides many resources to programs like Year Course, had its delegation visit our program. I was chosen to represent the Young Judaeans of the program. My friend Oliver represented FZY, Tamara represented the Tzofim, and Shira represented the speciatly arts track. I had to leave volunteering early so I could meet everyone. We spent about an hour talking about our program. Then I went with the whole group to visit a few different sites where people in our section volunteer. Afterwards a few members of the delegation came to my apartment and feed us pizza while talking to us about our different backgrounds and experiances we are having in Israel.

Once the delgation left my roommates and I had about thirty seconds to grab our stuff and catch the bus to Ulpan. Following ulpan I stayed for my first class of service learning. Its a college class where we spend the first half talking about volunteering, the problems we encounter with it, and the rewards we are seeing. The second half of the class we talk philosophy. This weeks topic was a quote by Plato something like "Is what the gods do good because they are gods, or is good already defined and they are mearly following it." The debate was not what the instructer had planned. It turned into this whole battle about the torah being the word of G-d or not. I wished some of the other kids in the class would have been a little more open minded. Because of the class I missed my apartment check with Yaara, but it was ok cause I was in a class.

I didn't do anything that night. I was way too exhausted from the whole day.

Tuesday 9/23 SIYUR DAY!
This weeks Siyur was at Mizpeh Nisoa. A short hike of about 3 kilometers. At the end was a system of caves carved out around the time of the second temple. They were used as hideout shelters against the roman army. Very cool and very fun.

The night Masa had it opening event for us in Bat Yam. They talked to the whole group of participants about what Masa is and why it was established.

I was one of about twenty five people who stayed afterwards to see Tal Brody. I honestly didn't know too much about him before he talked to us. It was a once in a lifetime experiance. Brody was your regular All American high school basketball player from New Jersey and attended University of Illinois. After a crazy chain of events that makes for a great story, Brody became the captain of Macabi Tel Aviv and lead them, and the rest of the country, to Israel's first European Basketball championship.

I walked back to Holon from Bat Yam with a few people. We went to the square and hung out for a couple of hours. I left early to get some sleep. I had been feeling a little under the weather.

Wednesday 9/25
Today was pretty good day. I woke up feeling not the best. I made it through volunteering. From there I went to a lunch and learn. I was a good twenty minutes late because the bus didn't come for a significant amount of time, but there was still pizza left for me. I ended up eating five pieces even though I get fed quite a bit at my volunteering. Enough about the food, more about the learning. The speaker was Michael Freeman. He is some big wig in FZY. I'm not sure of his title because I missed hearing it. Michael spoke about many subjects. The first, and largest, was the workings of the Israeli goverment and the current situation. I will try and explain.

Basically:
-The Knesset (Israeli Parilment) consist of 116 seats
-Each political party is given so many seats depending on the size of the party
-When enough parties join together to form a clear majority, only then can a goverment function and begin process. For this reason, small parties have a large about of power. There is a perfect example of this going on currently. The Kadima party only has 29 seats (I hope my information is correct, I am doing this all from memory) in order to form a clear majority Kadima will try to convince other parties to join them. This means that when smaller parties want to join they will make demands, and the larger parties will meet them so that they can acquire enought seats.

The topic of how the working of the Knesst brought Michael to his next topic. Currently the leader of the Likud party(another large political party), Benjamin Netanyahu, made a very very bold statement regarding Israel's greatest threat: Iran, in particular the president of Iran, the wonderful Mahomoud Ahmadinejad (look he has a blog! Maybe we can be blog buddies! Although I doubt he really writes this crap.) Netanyahu said this: "Hitler went out on global campaign first, and then tried to get nuclear weapons. Iran is trying to get nuclear arms first - therefore it is much more dangerous"

If you were unaware, Mr. Ahmadinejad has said several times that he plans on wiping Israel of the map. He also has said that Holocast never happned.

Iran will have nuclear weapons avaliable in a year to a year and half.

Michael put forth a charge to all of us: DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! Israel is our home for the next year, and for many of us will always be home. There is no way we can let a 21st century Hitler happen. We said "Never Again" let's say it like we mean it. Matter of fact, don't just say it: live it.

Netanyahu has also suggested that Israel form an emergency unity goverment. This is for a different reason than Iran, this is because of Hamas. Hamas controls the Gaza Strip. Right now, until November or so, there is a calm between Hamas and the IDF. Meaning that the IDF is not pushing into the stip and Hamas is not firing rockets. We all know that Hamas is just using this time to resupply and grow stornger. Netanyahu wants to set up this goverment so that when November comes around and tensions flare we will be prepared. I happen to agree with him.

Michael finished the talk lecture saying that we should really enjoy and take in the next couple weeks as we enter the holidays of Rosh HaShana, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot. They are celebrated so much differently in Israel. Look for future posts on that.

After the really intense lecture, and scrouging all the pizza I could, I came back to the apartment and slept for a good three hours. Much needed. I felt 100% better. Yali came over to our aparment to cook something for the Tzofim dinner that night. I made a dinner for me and Aaron consisting of potatos and some jungle animal shaped shnizle. Gotta love sales and living on a budget! After dinner I met with my friend Daniella and we had some ice cream. It turned out to be a very long and intresting conversation covering all kinds of subjects.

In the next week....
This weekend I am just hanging out in Holon. I really feel like just relaxing and hanging around. Maybe go to the beach. I really want to go find a cheap bike. I miss my bike the most of anything at home. I hope you are treating her well Andrew. Make sure to lube the chain, she needs it every 30-40 miles.

Next post I won't wait for it to pile up on me like this. I apologize for making it so long, but I really do want to keep you all updated on what is going on here in the wonderful land of the Israel. Please don't be shy about leaving comments or writing me emails. I really enjoy reading them. thesiegeld@yahoo.com