I'm still here

I bet you thought I forgot this blog existed (unless you are my mother or Sami who remind me almost weekly to give an update). Well, I'm still here in Israel and already in full swing of my second semester.

Most of my classes from first semester are still the same: Hebrew, Bible, Grammar, and Liturgy. The history classes have changed and I'm now taking History after the destruction of the 2nd Temple and history of the Arab-Israeli conflict from 1948 to today. Of course I am also still in the education seminar each week. The classes are really great and Grammar is still my favorite class. It is just like a puzzle and all one has to do is follow the rules to get to the answer.

During break, my parents, Beth, and Sami were all here visiting. Sami came in right before finals (so I had to do all my studying before that), my parents arrived the morning after I finished finals, and Beth came a few days later but was leading a birthright group, so we didn't get much time to see her. We spent a lot of time touring around Jerusalem and a few days in other parts of the country. I took my mom to Ein Gedi one day for a hike and I made her climb a mountain. She will also probably never let me take her on a hike again after what we did, because it was a scary hike at times. We were a few hundred feet up with no railings and a narrow ledge to walk on.

Another day, my mom and Sami and I rented a car early in the morning and had an extremely long and fun day. We started by driving up to Har Hatzofim (Mount Scopus) to visit Sami's old stomping grounds from her semester in Israel during college. Then to the border with Jordan and north to the Kinneret. On the way, we were able to see the Dead Sea from the road. We arrived in Tiberias and had lunch on the shore of the Kinneret on a beautiful day. From there, we drove up to Tzfat, a town famous for mysticism and candles. The candle factory in Tzfat makes some of the most beautiful Havdalah and Shabbat candles. We left there late in the afternoon heading to Acco to see the sunset. We arrived at the Mediterranean literally 2 minutes before the sunset. We were able to get fantastic pictures of us at sunset on the shore. That meant we saw all three main bodies of water in Israel in the same day. While trying to leave Acco, we ended up almost getting stuck in the old city there, and I was forced to drive through alleyways just a few inches wider than the width of the car. We continued south to Haifa for dinner and a great overlook from the Tayellet (promenade) atop the Baha'i Gardens. On the way back to Jerusalem, we dropped off my mom in Kfar Saba with her friend Sharon and then finally made it home by about 11 pm.

Right now I am in training for Riding4Reform, a 5 day bike ride through Israel to raise money for the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism. I'm riding a few days a week for up to 2 hours at a time. On Shabbat, I rode to Gilo, a city next to the security fence between East and West Jerusalem. I am still looking for donations for the ride, and if you would like to donate, I would love you forever. Let me know if you would like to donate and I can let you know how.

That's all from this update, but keep posted for more common updates, including the return of "the coolest thing I learned this week" on Thursday

L'hitraot from Jerusalem