On Friday night we had the privilege of spending the holiest night of the week in the holiest city in the world: Jerusalem.
When we got to the wall I was surprised by the festive atmosphere. A few Mayanot groups formed a circle and sang and danced to upbeat renditions of traditional songs. The energy of the crowd was electric, and it had an effect on everyone in it. After meeting up with a couple of friends from home, I left the Wall and began the walk back to the hotel.
While the idea of a two hour walk initially scared the group, I think everyone had a great time walking through the city on such a beautiful night. The long walk was perfect for sight seeing and for socializing with our new birthright family. After all, the best way to see a city is by walking through it.
Our long walk made us hungry for our Shabbat dinner which was definitely worth the wait. Later that night we exchanged the gifts for our mystery Moses activity. I really liked this activity because it forced us to think about what our recipient would like and gave us something to talk about. Everyone took the activity seriously and bought great gifts which made for a great time.
The next day we had a (relatively) late wake up as our first activity wasn't until late in the morning. We broke into groups and ranked what was most important to us about Judaism. Later we went on a walk around the city and saw it from a beautiful viewpoint.
Shabbat in Jerusalem was a great experience that taught me a lot about Israel, Judaism and myself.