Holiday update

Israel is in the midst of its Holiday season. Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the Jewish High Holy days, ended last week and tonight begins the festival of Succot followed next week by Simchat Torah and Shimeni Atzeret.

It was such a surreal experience to get to spend Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur in Israel. All the busses would flash "Lshana Tovah" (To a good year, the Hebrew equivalent of Happy New Year) and you could just tell in the air that something special was happening. It was awesome getting to spend the New Year in Israel, but celebrating Yom Kippur in Jerusalem is an experience unlike any other.

Most importantly, no one drives on Yom Kippur. And I mean no one. The streets are completely empty except for the occasional police car or ambulance. Everyone kept telling me how awesome it was, but its something I could not have understood without being there. As erev (evening) Rosh Hashanah services ended, my classmates and I left Blaustein Synagogue at HUC and filed into the streets. Everyone in Jerusalem walks in the middle of the road on Yom Kippur since there are no cars. Also since there were was no traffic you could hear the city. As I walked to a friends home, I heard the sounds of people praying and singing from synagogues on every block. (yes, synagogues in Jerusalem are like Starbucks in the US, they are on every corner).

As my classmates and I continued to walk in the streets, we came across the most incredible site. In the middle of the intersection of Agron, Rambam, Azza, Keren Hayesod and King George (hopefully listing all these streets will help you realize what a major intersection this is) a large group of students were sitting and singing and praying. As people walked out of synagogue and passed them, they would join their circle and sing with them. Israelis, Americans, visitors, Olim (those who have made Aliyah and moved to Israel), secular, modern orthodox, there were Jews from all over coming to the middle of this intersection and praying together. It was by far the most spiritual moment I have had in Israel yet and the first time I connected spiritually to the land.

The children in Israel love Yom Kippur because they can ride their bikes, scooters, roller blades, etc all over town without any fears of cars. Families come out together just to be in the streets. It really is an experience unlike any other.

As soon as Yom Kippur ended, Sukkahs began going up all around Jerusalem. Its amazing seeing them at every restaurant, and in every open crack between homes. I will not be in Jerusalem for Succot (I am actually in Belgium as I write this post on my way to Italy), but it was great getting to see them all go up. Its just so awesome getting to live and experience the Jewish life that I had only ever read about or seen in movies.

That being said, I am very very excited for my Europe trip. First off, Europe has two big things I have missed dearly since moving to Israel: Starbucks and toilet seat covers. More importantly, I get to spend my first trip to Europe with Nate, which I could not be more excited about. Seriously, yesterday two classmates had to hold me down because I couldn't stop bouncing with excitement during class.

One last important piece of news regarding the Holy Land. In 2006, an Israeli soldier named Gilad Shalit was kidnapped by Hamas militants and has been held ever since. They have not allowed the Red Cross to come visit him and check on his conditions and have released very little communication from him since his kidnapping. Last night, the Israeli government reached a deal with Hamas to exchange Gilad for 1,000 Palestinian terrorists currently being held in Israel. The exchange should happen in the next couple of days. I received this news while in the Tel Aviv airport and there has been much mixed reaction. Everyone is happy for Gilad to finally be coming home, but many are worried about the impact of releasing 1000 terrorists from jail. I am choosing to focus on the positive and want to say, Gilad, we are happy you will be home soon.