This past Friday and Saturday, I kept Shabbat for the first time in my life! Because of this, I have a long update for all of you:
On Friday, we started off our day with a fantastic hike in the North. The pictures of the view do not do it justice whatsoever. After our hike,we traveled to Jerusalem, which we were all extremely excited for! The soldiers, meshed really well with our group and they told us stories about their experienced in the army as well as the best places to shop in Jerusalem. After the two-hour drive from the North, the trip staff had us put our Mayanot bandanas on as blindfolds before we entered Jerusalem. They and the soldiers led us to an area that overlooked the Old City--being blindfolded heightened out anticipation and expectations, which were far exceeded once we removed our blindfolds! After that, we went to the market in Jerusalem, also known as a shukh, where we ate lunch and shopped. Prior to arriving at the Shukh, we agreed to participating in the Jewish version of Secret Santa--Secret Moses. This entailed drawing a name from a hat and buying a small gift for the person, which we would exchange the next day. The chaos and authenticity of the market was really refreshing after being in the North, which didn't have the same liveliness as Jerusalem. As sunset approached, we prepared ourselves for a visit to the Western Wall, or Kotel, for Shabbat. The moment we saw the Wall, I and many others got the chills. There were thousands of people there for Shabbat from all backgrounds: secular to hasidim. I personally felt such overwhelming emotion, as did many other people, that I cried during services. After our visit to the Wall, we walked back to our hotel, which took approximately an hour and a half--needless to say, we worked up an appetite! Finally, we had Shabbat dinner at the hotel and afterward, some of us went to Rabbi Levi's program about love and intimacy in Judaism; this was the perfect way to wind down from the chaos of the week.
On Saturday, a day for relaxation thanks to Shabbos, we exchanged gifts for the Secret Moses program, which was super fun! Then, we all spent hours outside relaxing by our hotel's outdoor pool. A handful of us kept Shabbos for the first time ever, so lounging in the sun was a beautiful way to experience it! After eating dinner in the hotel, we all participated in the Havdallah ceremony led by Rabbi Levi; we all sang and had a beautiful time together before experiencing Jerusalem's nightlife, which I might add, was fantastic! We had a couple hours to shop and go to clubs in Jerusalem--personally, this was the most fun out we've had yet.
Sunday morning started at 6:45 am with a wake up call and breakfast before our trip back to the Kotel. This time, we went up the wall--we put notes and prayers in it, some of us kissed it, some cried, others rejoiced. After a time to ourselves for thought at the wall, I had my Bat Mitzvah ceremony, which was beautiful and I'm truly thankful for having had friends--now family--there to celebrate with me. After my Bat Mitzvah, we continued on to do a little shopping in the city. We then walked to the City of David where we journeyed through the tunnels that are 3,000 years old! As a group, we traveled through the underground tunnels--they were pitch black, narrow at times, and had about 3 feet of water in them--and eventually broke out in song! As you can imagine, we've all grown extremely close over this last week.
Today we had an emotionally exhausting day: we visited Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum, and Mount Hertzel, the military cemetery where we heard personal stories from students on the trip, our staff, and the soldiers. These personal accounts are what affected me the most because the stories came to life. After these visits, we had to say goodbye to the soldiers, which was emotionally draining because we all had just started getting closer to them--we all became mispacha. During these goodbyes, we all made affirmations to each other to see each other soon, which I know I will uphold!
Overall, these last four days have been fun-filled, emotional, happy, and sad, but I can easily say that I'm having the time of my life!
ב"ה