If there's one thing I can say about this program, it's that the days are FULL! Each day feels more like 2-3 days, with all the different things we're doing. We're having a blast but, as people warned me, we're also tired most of the time. That's ok though, we're definitely getting the full experience!
Yesterday, we loaded up the bus and drove to Tzfat, one of the four holy cities in Israel. On the way, we stopped on the side of the road at a question-mark shaped bus stop (or, as Al and I say: bus stop? These are everywhere!) to pick up eight young Israelis who are joining our trip. Because we're an older group, most of our Israeli friends are out of the army and in school, though we also have a couple of soldiers. It's been interesting to hear their different attitudes toward the IDF. Some of them say, "Thank goodness I'm done with military service" after their mandatory three years. Others have chosen to extend their service because they like being soldiers. Others extended their service because they like having a steady paycheck. Most of our people were in Intelligence in the army - we have a lot of engineers and technical people. I haven't spent much time with most of them yet, but I had lunch yesterday with a woman named Michal, who is in university and is one of the bubbliest, sassiest, most fun people I've ever met. She's hilarious!
After picking up the Israelis (who will be with us for five days), we drove to Tzfat, which is up in the mountains. I love how towns are built into the sides of mountains here, it's beautiful! In Tzfat, we walked through the streets, went into an awesome candle factory, and saw a beautiful old synagogue. Tzfat is a very spiritual city connected to the mystical side of Judaism. It's also an artist colony, the streets are full of tiny art galleries and jewelry stores.
We went to the art studio of a guy named Avraham who grew up in Detroit and moved to Israel maybe 15 years ago. He makes art based on Kabbalah, so he showed us some of his pieces and talked about how they express Kabbalistic ideas. It was really interesting! He does a lot of pieces based on the patterns of shofar blowing - there was one recent one he had made that was based on a spectrograph recording of the shofar sounds, it was so cool! He was also a hilarious stoner type who loved to talk to us about how we're all connected and it's"so crazyyyyyyy." He was funny, but I also found what he said about meditation and the spiritual side of Judaism really interesting!
After we left Avraham, we had some free time to wander around Tzfat and explore. We had lunch (I ate falafel with Michal), and looked through some of the shops. It was REALLY hot today, and a lot of the walking was on steep hills, so we were all pretty tired by the time we got back to the bus.
But the day was just starting! We drove to a kibbutz with a shoe factory where one of our tour guides had spent a lot of time as a child. Most of the people in our group went in the factory to buy shoes, but I didn't need shoes, so I wandered around the kibbutz on my own. It was a really nice, solitary wander through an incredibly quiet and peaceful space. After all the craziness of Tzfat, it felt good to unwind. I met some Israelis on my walk, and they were all very friendly. One of the weirdest things about Israel is how many children there are here - SO MANY! They're everywhere, usually many to a family! Al and I saw a woman getting on the elevator in our hotel with two sets of twins AND another child in between! So many children...
We got back on the bus and were all exhausted, but we drove to the Jordan River and went kayaking! It was more like rafting than actual kayaking, but it was such a blast! We got in water fights with each other, people were jumping in and out of boats and swimming in the (very shallow) river, and there was a small waterfall that was really fun to go over! It certainly woke me up! We all got soaking wet - it was very playful and fun! As one of the women in my kayak pointed out, it was also a little surreal to be floating down the Jordan River, which we've heard about and sung songs about our whole lives. Very cool.
Once we were all thoroughly soaked (which felt amazing after the hot day), we headed back to the hotel. The staff offered us the option of going into town for a night out, but it would have been an hour of walking uphill for only an hour of time spent in town, so about half the group opted to stay back at the hotel. We bought a few bottles of wine from the dining room and drank them together on one of the hotel balconies, while getting to know each other and the Israelis. Our group is definitely divided into about three different social scenes, but we're getting to know each other better and definitely don't seem like strangers anymore. The guys in our group are pretty universally awful, but some of the women are great! It's nice that we're mostly from New York because hopefully these friendships will continue after we get back.
Okay, time for me to go finish packing! We are leaving the hotel today and driving down to Jerusalem for Shabbat. Sorry for the lack of pictures, I don't have a way to transfer them from my camera. I'm taking lots though, and will share when I get back! Hope you all are doing well! I can't believe it's already Friday!
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