Yerushalayim at Yerushanteinu
Hey guys! I'm warning you: this might be long but very important things hapenned and you can't miss it! No really! Okay stop giving me tht look....
Spent last shabbas at Vivis. I had a great time even though I was in constant state of paranoia that I might see my English teacher. Okay maybe not constant, but definitely frequent. Am now torn between Chaim Potok's 'My Name is Asher Lev' and Gaston Leroux's PotO and it's all Vivi's fault.
Actually it's completely my fault but it's so much more fun blaming Vivi... ;)
Skipped school on Tuesday (Naomi - don't give me that look!) for a very good cause - OtSBH (shehayavin yavin) shopping with my Mother. Had much succeess and lots of fun with my Savta who flew to the States for five weeks very early this morning.
Now Wednesday was very special but in order to fully understand why I have to start from the beginning:
Sometimes I feel like I would have rather lived as an Israeli decades ago instead of now. I mean that sounds silly! Now we have cities and cars and friggin paper products that we didn't used to have. But sometimes I feel as if there was something existing back in the dawn of the 'New Jew' that no longer exists. Where are the teenage farmers who lied about their ages and fought in the sad excuse for an army not even knowing how to shoot a gun? Where is the Israeli spirit that takes pride in itself instead of trying to immitate Western culture? Where are the miracles, the blatant obvious miracles that G-d gave us in every war? I feel sometimes that these things are gone, and that we've forgotten the beauty of a land that we payed for with blood, sweat, and tears.
So Wednesday morning I went to school for the first two hours. They had this Rabbi come talk to us and he was telling us about the way Israel changed after the Six Day War. He was a paratrooper that fought in Jerusalem in 1967 and his story was very interesting.
At 3:10 Abi, Yael and I were waiting at Sharona to catch a bus to Jerusalem. We didn't manage to get on because it was so stuffed. The driver literally closed to door on someone so that she was pressed up against the door of the bus when he closed it.
So we thought that if it was going to be that crazy that maybe it wasn't worth it but we started walking towards the mall anyway hoping to catch the four twenty before it filled up too much. On the way we stopped at the Bnei Akiva sniff (to check and see whether their bus, by some miracle, hadn't left yet), and the library to check the internet about other things we could do outside of Jerusalem.
My legs were tired by the time we reached the mall.
We were afraid we weren't going to make it and we weren't sure we wanted to go anyway. We made a deal that if we caught the bus we'd go and if not, we wouldn't. We got to the station and the bus was seconds from leaving.
We caught it.
I was so worried. I mean I'm the kind of person that would stay home and go davka when it wasn't crowded but I took a leap of faith and got on that bus.
I stood on my aching feet the whole way there.
But Shareen was there so at least I wasn't bored... ;)
We got off at the Main Bus Station in J-lem! The joy! We grabbed some food before setting off on the twenty minute walk to where the dancing was.
We first saw it from afar and it was amazing. Thousands of people crammed into this one street and most waving these huge flags back and forth. Music blasted from huge speakers mounted on trucks.
Abi, Yael and I wandered around for a while trying to find Ariela. It took us a while but eventually we succeeded. We then spent an hour and a half dancing down Jaffa street after which everyone started walking to the Wailing Wall. We knew we had to start back at around eight in order to make the nine thirty bus, plus we all had to pee so we never actually made it to the Kotel but we saw it from afar and it was packed! I'd never seen so many people there at one.
(we were comforted with the knowledge that when the Meshiach came, there'd be room... lol)
On our way to the Kotel we were walking through these narrow passageways and we saw a sign that said "Our dear brothers and sisters! You our joyfully invited to our house for food drink and use of our facilities!" We were in desperate need of the latter so we went up to their apartment. In the end the line was too long so we went to Ariela's cousins' house but we stopped to have a drink.
It was there, on this man's couch - someone who I'd never met before, who greeted us so warmly and who waved our thanks away with the biggest smile - that I felt that this thing that I sometimes feel we're missing, isn't really gone. It's just hidden under the surface. Kind of like Israelis who they call sabras - prickly on the outside, sweet on the inside.
I was so happy I decided to go. I felt very comforted that the Israeli feeling is still alive.
Thursday afternoon Jake finished basic training and we went to his swearing in ceremony in Latroon. I cried so much... Especially when they all stood there swearing loyalty to the State of Israel even at the price of death. I kept on thinking that as much as I get so blindingly mad at Jake, I'd never be able to be happy again without him. I'd never be able to go on with my life. So I was crying enough even before they sang Hatikva, and I cry when I hear it played at soccer games, and here were these Israeli soldiers and their commanders saluting... I think my Mother and I cried enough for everybody there.
Afterwards we went out to eat and poor Jake couldn't eat enough. The last week of basic training is called the Week of War - in Jake's case they were out in the field pretending we were at war with Syria. He was half starved. He got home had a steak, a big shnitzel, a chocolate soufle, five bowls of cereal, a big bowl of baked potatos, french fries, salads with pita and more. I always said that boy was a bottomless pit... ;)
These are our soldiers...! :)
Am yisrael chai!
Love ya'll and have a good Shabbas,
Rose
Spent last shabbas at Vivis. I had a great time even though I was in constant state of paranoia that I might see my English teacher. Okay maybe not constant, but definitely frequent. Am now torn between Chaim Potok's 'My Name is Asher Lev' and Gaston Leroux's PotO and it's all Vivi's fault.
Actually it's completely my fault but it's so much more fun blaming Vivi... ;)
Skipped school on Tuesday (Naomi - don't give me that look!) for a very good cause - OtSBH (shehayavin yavin) shopping with my Mother. Had much succeess and lots of fun with my Savta who flew to the States for five weeks very early this morning.
Now Wednesday was very special but in order to fully understand why I have to start from the beginning:
Sometimes I feel like I would have rather lived as an Israeli decades ago instead of now. I mean that sounds silly! Now we have cities and cars and friggin paper products that we didn't used to have. But sometimes I feel as if there was something existing back in the dawn of the 'New Jew' that no longer exists. Where are the teenage farmers who lied about their ages and fought in the sad excuse for an army not even knowing how to shoot a gun? Where is the Israeli spirit that takes pride in itself instead of trying to immitate Western culture? Where are the miracles, the blatant obvious miracles that G-d gave us in every war? I feel sometimes that these things are gone, and that we've forgotten the beauty of a land that we payed for with blood, sweat, and tears.
So Wednesday morning I went to school for the first two hours. They had this Rabbi come talk to us and he was telling us about the way Israel changed after the Six Day War. He was a paratrooper that fought in Jerusalem in 1967 and his story was very interesting.
At 3:10 Abi, Yael and I were waiting at Sharona to catch a bus to Jerusalem. We didn't manage to get on because it was so stuffed. The driver literally closed to door on someone so that she was pressed up against the door of the bus when he closed it.
So we thought that if it was going to be that crazy that maybe it wasn't worth it but we started walking towards the mall anyway hoping to catch the four twenty before it filled up too much. On the way we stopped at the Bnei Akiva sniff (to check and see whether their bus, by some miracle, hadn't left yet), and the library to check the internet about other things we could do outside of Jerusalem.
My legs were tired by the time we reached the mall.
We were afraid we weren't going to make it and we weren't sure we wanted to go anyway. We made a deal that if we caught the bus we'd go and if not, we wouldn't. We got to the station and the bus was seconds from leaving.
We caught it.
I was so worried. I mean I'm the kind of person that would stay home and go davka when it wasn't crowded but I took a leap of faith and got on that bus.
I stood on my aching feet the whole way there.
But Shareen was there so at least I wasn't bored... ;)
We got off at the Main Bus Station in J-lem! The joy! We grabbed some food before setting off on the twenty minute walk to where the dancing was.
We first saw it from afar and it was amazing. Thousands of people crammed into this one street and most waving these huge flags back and forth. Music blasted from huge speakers mounted on trucks.
Abi, Yael and I wandered around for a while trying to find Ariela. It took us a while but eventually we succeeded. We then spent an hour and a half dancing down Jaffa street after which everyone started walking to the Wailing Wall. We knew we had to start back at around eight in order to make the nine thirty bus, plus we all had to pee so we never actually made it to the Kotel but we saw it from afar and it was packed! I'd never seen so many people there at one.
(we were comforted with the knowledge that when the Meshiach came, there'd be room... lol)
On our way to the Kotel we were walking through these narrow passageways and we saw a sign that said "Our dear brothers and sisters! You our joyfully invited to our house for food drink and use of our facilities!" We were in desperate need of the latter so we went up to their apartment. In the end the line was too long so we went to Ariela's cousins' house but we stopped to have a drink.
It was there, on this man's couch - someone who I'd never met before, who greeted us so warmly and who waved our thanks away with the biggest smile - that I felt that this thing that I sometimes feel we're missing, isn't really gone. It's just hidden under the surface. Kind of like Israelis who they call sabras - prickly on the outside, sweet on the inside.
I was so happy I decided to go. I felt very comforted that the Israeli feeling is still alive.
Thursday afternoon Jake finished basic training and we went to his swearing in ceremony in Latroon. I cried so much... Especially when they all stood there swearing loyalty to the State of Israel even at the price of death. I kept on thinking that as much as I get so blindingly mad at Jake, I'd never be able to be happy again without him. I'd never be able to go on with my life. So I was crying enough even before they sang Hatikva, and I cry when I hear it played at soccer games, and here were these Israeli soldiers and their commanders saluting... I think my Mother and I cried enough for everybody there.
Afterwards we went out to eat and poor Jake couldn't eat enough. The last week of basic training is called the Week of War - in Jake's case they were out in the field pretending we were at war with Syria. He was half starved. He got home had a steak, a big shnitzel, a chocolate soufle, five bowls of cereal, a big bowl of baked potatos, french fries, salads with pita and more. I always said that boy was a bottomless pit... ;)
These are our soldiers...! :)
Am yisrael chai!
Love ya'll and have a good Shabbas,
Rose