Greetings from Israel. Seren and I both had things to say, so we're both writing. I'll start from Thursday night and elaborate on my short, concise posts about my leg odor.
So we got to Tel Aviv on Thursday afternoon and met our friend Rachel at her hotel. We then camped out on the beach and watched the sunset over the Mediterranean as we put our feet in. It was a fast day (the 17th day of Tammuz), so we were chill for a few hours until the time for dinner came.
We walked down the street from Rachel's hotel and found a small hotel with a clean room with water pressure and best of all, a view of the beach. Bargained for a price, and voila, we had a room. The room was perfectly fine and comfortable and life was settled. Did I already mention that we had a view of the beach? Pictures will eventually follow. By the way, did I mention the beach thing?
After sunset, we had the deodorant catastrophe and then went to the hippie Indian restaurant where Benjy, Rachel and Adena were waiting (see previous post). We each had similar veggie dishes and sat on the floor on cushions. Was tres cool.
From there, we took a cab to central social Tel Aviv where there was a champagne bar. Basically, there are no open container laws in Israel. You go into the bar, order a bottle of champagne, get the bottle and glasses and stand on the street drinking. For numerous reasons, we left the champagne bar and found a wine/meat bar where we enjoyed a bottle of wine. When we got there, we asked for a kosher bottle of wine, which is harder in Israel than you would think because of the nature of the disagreements between the religious and secular Israelis. Nonetheless, we shared a very good, kosher bottle of Merlot on the street.
From there, it was time to go home. We dropped Rachel off at her hotel from a cab, then shared a Magnum ice cream (actually, Seren and Rachel each had a magnum, I had a sandwich - Magnum is the Israeli title/descriptor for the standard Nestle/Good Humor ice cream in every bodega) and then to bed. It was 1ish or so and the old folks were tired.
We woke up the next morning around 9 and headed for the beach. We lotioned up, Seren got hit on (a theme in TA) and swam in the Mediterranean for an hour. The sun was warm, the sand soft as silk and the water delightful. Good time had by both of us. We each got a full compliment of Vitamin D and a very safe SPF-good tan.
After showering, we ventured over to a crafts fair and the Tel Aviv shouk. The TA shouk is a zoo and there's not much to say about it, except we only saw the merchandise half (rather than the food half) and it is very reminiscent of an Arab shouk (which, come to think of it, so is the Jerusalem shouk. You have to remember that in certain regards, the cultures are very similar). From there, we went to the crafts market, which is open twice a week. We walked around a bit, looking at each menorah and mezuzah and thinking about how it would fit in the apartment. From there, we ventured to a bakery that Benjy recommended. I had a chocolate mousse frozen pop. Deliciousness in 1000 calories. And worth each one. Seren had a lick.
Lunch was at Burger King. The first Double Whopper I had ever had. And my first BK experience in, well, a really long time. Seren had a chicken sandwich. I must say, we're not missing so much. Compared to Burgers Bar (which is tonight's dinner), it was well, fast foody, and I don't mean that in the good way.
From there, we met Rachel and Adena to go back to J'salem. Annie from Cornell and a med student in TA also showed up to see us off. I'm just giving Annie mention because she biked to us even if our meeting lasted for a whole 15 seconds.
We got to J'salem via Ramat Bet Shemesh, a suburban (?) town outside of TA where we left Adena. We got back to our apartment around 530 with a plan to meet our classmate Dave at the Kotel (Western Wall) around 645. Not much time to shower, but we managed to meet Dave at 647. On our way back, we calculated that gas in Israel costs about $7/gallon. And you thought White Plains had high gas prices!
The Kotel for Kabbalat Shabbat is a zoo of the best kind. Towards the front, nearest to the wall, are the more hasidic minyans (services) that do very quintessential composed, quiet praying (davening is the word I'm going to use here on out). Towards the back are the louder, singing and dancing minyans. The late 20th century saw the rise of a Carlebachian davening (named after R' Shlomo Carlebach who lived in NYC and sought to introduce more passionate, hippie singing into davening). These minyans towards the back used many of his songs. Next to Dave and my minyan was one that seemed to be for a special needs Birthright trip. The davening was led by a Chabad (black hatter dedicated to outreach. This will come up for later stops on our voyage) rabbi. Watching that minyan was a moving experience as they danced and celebrated, even if the minyan took forever. Basically, the whole kotel plaza was a series of minyans, separated by mere inches and nothing else, of people welcoming in Shabbat.
Friday night, we went to dinner at our teacher's apartment. Seren spoke about it; I won't.
Saturday morning, I went to shul in the first village built for Jews outside the Jerusalem city walls. It was built in the 1850s or '60s. The shul I went to was built for Jews from Turkey in the 1890s and was modeled after the Touro Synagogue of Newport, Rhode Island (the old continuously used synagogue in the USA). The community stills speaks Hebrew and some Spanish. After davening, there was a kiddush (light snacks before lunch) of bourekas (almost calzone-y but not quite) and Arak (like Pastis or other fennel-flavored liquor). Was nice. I should also mention that the synagogue faced the old city with a great view. Also, services started at 8 or 830, I got there at 9 as the last latecomer and they were done by 1030. Sephardi Jews (those under Arab rule during the last hundreds of year) show up on time; Ashkenazi Jews (under European rule) don't. I only thought there was one shul in the community - Yemim Moshe - but it turns out that there are 3 or 4. But I enjoyed myself.
I assume Seren wrote about our later Saturday and Saturday night. If she didn't say this, it bears mentioning (and if she did say it, it bears repeating). We played Scrabble Saturday night with some friends. I won.
Yadda yadda yadda. Now it's Monday afternoon.
See you all next time,
Love,
Craig
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