it all comes together and a sense of accomplishment!

      This past week was yet another exciting session unfortunately was the last session of BUILDING FUTURE LEADERS CONFERENCE! the first day was a interesting one on thurs. We had the honor of hearing the great and interesting speaker Neil Lazerus talk about public speaking. It was interesting, he talked about how to give a good presentation. he basicaly said take the rule book of public speaking and throw it out the window! hehe! he had some of us including myself come up and give everyone a brief preview of what we had interms of our presentations, and he critiqued us as we went along. We found it quite hilarious and yet useful, it definitely took a big weight off our sholders and gave us a different view of how to present and what not!

      Friday was even more interesting in the morning we woke up nice and early to go to Neot Kedumim ( nature preserve)  in the morning to work on our team work skills! yes team work!!! So we started out by doing a hula-hoop activity that was fun and "hava nagila" like! hehe ( long story). We then took a tram a bit ways down and we saw sheep and goats! now you're probably wondering what's sheep and goats have to do with team work and team building!?!? Well I'm glad you asked! well if one watchs a pack of sheep and goats the goats basicaly lead and the sheep follow. How ever as for us our challenge was to herd the sheep and goats  from one point to another in groups of 7-8 people in under 10 min. I must say for people who have never herded sheep before, we did a hellava job!  we did it in 9 min even though another group did it in 5 but hey it was fun it was an experience. Then we did this thing where theres one person was in the middle and there was ahook that had 4 ropes that were on pullies in 4 different sides and a sistern, and a bucket  theres 4 pullers who couldnt talk and the person in the middle is giving directions however he cant talk either. it was a interesting experience it taught me that not one person is more important than the other in a job. in the end we felt pretty self accomplished.  \Friday night we had a little program in review! who's line is it any way style! hehe! it was fun and entertaining.

     saturday there was mostly small little break out sessions talking about last minute things for our project ( thoughts, feelings, concerns) and fundraising and what not. that evening we had a nice little graduation ceremony of sort from the program. it was nice some people presented their projects and we got certificates of completion. it was sad to see it end it was tough to part for the family that was built in 3 months time! they are awesome! and i would like to thank the organizors of the program for one bringing us together like you did and also for giving us such a great oppertunity of a life time!

     In other excitement I had the chance to see David one last time before I go home! I also got to see his parents who were in town this week! unfortunately I believe i'm jinxed! see when ever i've been around his parents something has always happened. last time i saw them in cleveland they were held up and had their jewlery stolen. now this time around both david forgot his wallet on the bus and his dad got his stolen all in the same day! luckily a religious jew found it and hopefully will be smart enough to get it back to him at the university!  also I had the chance to see former Cleveland shalichah Tovit! today for a nice little meet up and talk just to quickly catch up and what not. it was great seeing them all the last few days! well thats it for now please stay tuned for a very special NEW YEARS EDITION OF MY BLOG! AND I KNOW YOU GUYS BACK IN THE STATES IT'S NOT THE NEW YEAR YET BUT STILL. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Till next time all Peace from this middle east !and also wanted to wish you all a happy new years too!!!

Zac m.!

THE REAL SPIRIT OF SHABBAS/ AND DON'T WORRY I'M SAFE

So this past weekend I wound up going to a shabbaton, and the theme of the shabbaton was Judaism and judaism in Israel. on friday we had mostly introductions. but that was nothing compared to what we had friday night. Jerusalem one of the most holiest cities in the world / Israel especially for the Jews. As I said before there's just a totally different feel to the city when you are there especially on shabbas. So friday night they offered us our choice of places for shabbat services, and I honestly couldn't have thought more of a appropriate choice than going to the kottel. hehe yes I know I've pretty much been to the kottel god knows how many times in the past 2 weeks but seriously it's only fitting. it was an amazing sight to see! a swarm of well mostly orthodox jews, and some birthright participants tossed in. it was a sight that is just breath taking! to hear hundreds of Jews Wailing in prayer and dovaning in unison almost was amazing to hear the different tunes and different sounds of prayer is just a beautiful sound.

        I myself found my way to the back corner where a group of soldiers were singing and dancing and what not! so i decided to join them! I started dancing and the energy exuming from these soldiers in prayer and well just nigunim ( jewish songs) is just amazing! I've never been so moved in prayer and in the spirituality of shabbat than I did that night at that moment. its something i've been searching for in my life for a long time. just being there with the soldiers dovaning was special and an honor. and i look around and to see more jews singing and dancing and praying its like non-other. the spirit of the jewish religion and tradition of shabbat was every where and was strong that night. it's amazing and hard to explain.

      Later that night was even more interesting of a experience. through out the weekend they introduced us to the various sects of the religion minus the secular and Charedi side of it but thats ok. Friday night they invited a orthodox man to come in and lead us and teach us about what is a "Tish" ( or singing around a table) again nigunim. whats a tish you may ask? well a tish is a hassidic event where they gather around a table and sing nigunim, tell stories and drink. soo thats what we did. granted people mostly had a just shot (dont worry i didnt drink) hehe! but it was deffinitley an experience that i'll never forget.

        So a few little things. As you all know I was in Jerusalem for most of the week and chag the last two weeks. During that time I have seen the bomb squad called in and take care of business almost every time i went this past week. But don't worry people everything is fine they did what they had to do, and i would like to thank the Israeli bomb squad for dealing with things efficiantly and keeping us safe. however something that hit more close to home and i'm sorry for making a certian someone nervous when this event happened. a few nights ago there was a couple of events that happened. one was there was an attack in the gaza strip where israeli airforce went in and blew up the houses of a few terrorists. also there was an assasination in near by (neighboring city) Lod of two people in the underground. I was up at the time of the attack along with one of my house mates and well we could hear the explosion from our house. please do not worry we are completely fine and safe! absolutely no one in our group was hurt we were all home and in the house.. does these events make me nervous as i'm sure hearing it here makes you nervous. yes it does but you can't let these things affect you at all, and you move on as much as possible as if nothing happened. but again do not worry I am perfectly fine! along with everyone else is here. aside from that we are now at the two week and counting mark. shocking i know how time is flying. and i'm slowly starting mentally preping to come home is it tough to do so especially after all i've gone through and done?!? yes. but i'll be ok.. I might be flipping out next week or so trying to get things done and ready buy i'm fighting through it all and hopefully do ok. well that's it for right now. hope everyone is doing well! and if i do not post a new post before next weekend I would like to wish everyone a happy and healthy new year!  psst mom 2 weeks! hehe oh shoot mom you didnt read that ( ok i'm just trying to get out of shoveling and dishes hehe). Love you all! till next time PEACE FROM THE MIDDLE EAST!

capturing the essence and spirit of a chag

  

 I've been celebrating chanukah for 24 years now, and I honestly can say that this year definitely felt different. it's true what a lot of israeli's say especially the secular.See in American Judaism and Israeli Judaism is two total different things. how things are observed and the spirits of things in both worlds. and now i can see what they both are like.

   American Judaism is based more on a symbolic observancy. In America we as Jews need to do actually observe the holidays and go services, and do everything to the end. (i.e. light candles, go to services, spin the dreidal, build a sukkah, shake the lulav and etrog.) in order to bring us closer religiously. to make us feel like we are really Jews. If we don't, some lose that jewish identity and the spirit.

   Israeli Judaism is a bit more spiritual than anything. When it comes to Israeli Jews they have been said to not really need to observe or actualy symobolicly observe the holidays or shabbas to make them feel jewish. there is a certian essence a certian spirit in the air in this country that the jews draw from they are so surrounded by holy sites and also surrounded by observant jews that there is more of a feeling of being jewish than anything.

     I can honestly say that i can now see what they mean. over the last few days on the second as mentioned in my last blog the 6th and the 8th night of chanukah i took advantage and wound up going to Jerusalem for the day and go to the kottel for candle lighting. It was amazing just to be there. there is a total different atmosphere that can be sensed in the air in jerusalem on any chag. and over the eight days there was a definite build up of the holiday. second night there wasn't that many people at the kottel granted the navy officers were there for their graduation but on the last night there was a bunch of people there the mens side had a lot of people the womans side was packed and the rotunda.. there were soldiers and scouts, and tourists galore. but there was a spirit surrounding the Kottel as they lit the menorah and itwas amazing and beautiful.

 

    

Its interesting going around the country you can sense a change in the atmosphere when it comes to the essense of the area the spirit. for instance i've been in ramla or most of the holidays and a bit in tel-aviv and Hod hasharon and I can say it feels like it is kind of your average city plus there is a definite presense of the other religions. like if you were in Tel-aviv for shabbas or holidays everything is mostly still going on te city and people are still on the move. but you go to Jerusalem and there is the religious spirit surrounding the area on shabbas everything stops, the entire city becomes a ghost town its amazing. I was moved by the feeling of just being in the kottel on the last night. just being there on the last night i see every thing around me just being surrounded by so many jews . it left me kind of speechless like none other. we always hear next year in jerusalem! well guess what!?! I was there! I'm here! it definitely gave me the greatest feeling to realize that for once i've made a dream come true in being jerusalem for a holiday being in israel in general for all these great holidays. I love it! thank you mom and to both my grandparents for helping me get here. and allowing me to have this experience. and thank you laura for having the strength to let me go for these 5 mnths i know its been hard but we're doing great! i love you all you dont know how much this meant to me. well till next time y'all PEACE FROM THE MIDDLE EAST AND HAPPY BELATED HANUKAH.

ps. I was in ben yehudah and I got myself a new talit! it's amazing its one of those big square ones and it has black and gold stripes its amazing! WOOO HOOO!!!

LOOKING INSIDE OUT! AND THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN

     So today was a nice and relaxing day and nicely needed! Today I decided to venture off on my own and meet up with my life long friend David for a day just to chill in Jerusalem. and boy what a interesting and eventful day it was! so lets start out from the beginning shall we? So I arrived to Jerusalem and he told me to take #1 bus and take it to the kottel thinking ok easy and fair enough. So imagine this if you will; you're on a bus, you are the only secular jew on the bus surrounded by oh 25 or so dati/charedi  jews to say the least, going through ortho. charedi country ( maya sharim... and we all know what happened there before) yeeeaaahhh.. if that wasn't scary enough as it was I dont know what is...

   So I got to the kottel and met up with David and we wound up walking into the old city through the arab quarter and grabed a shwarma and a drink. then we went to the christian quarter where we went to the austrian hospic where we climbed to the top of the building to the roof where he showed me probably the most breath taking view of the the old city that not many people see. it was a view looking inside out! had a hellava view of the alaksa musque and evry other part of the old city. So as we were sitting on the roof we noticed there was some kind of track set up and some people looming around aparently they were some palestinian actors and they were going around the country and filming like a promosional film that will be sent to europe promote the better side of palestine. or at least thats what i understood.it was interesting to watch them film. very professional and aparently the male person in the shot was a well known palestinian actor cause David recognized him. so that was cool.

   After that thrilling site we pushed on through on to the jewish quarter and looked and went back through the kottel and asked when they were going to light the candles. we had time.. as we were there we heard 3 major booms near by. which kinda didnt sound anything like a gun fire, or a sonic boom. it sounded like something was being blown up! and it kinda made me concerned so we checked it out! low and behold just inside the enterance to the kottle was the bomb squad who had blown up aparently some binders, and a tot bag or something! it was kinda cool to see but basically put everything at a stand still while that was all being cleared up. great to know that i'm living in the safest city in israel hehe! from there we walked along the was on the wall of the old city and kinda looped around just to pass some time. We went into some shops and I found a nice gift for certian someone! (they will find out who they are when i get home! hehe suspence builds duh duh dum!) from there we walked into the kottel a third time for one to see that they were setting up for a ceremony for the last day of officer training of soldiers in the navy which was nice to see. it was a beautiful candle lighting ceremony! there was a big menorah on the ground on the mens side that they lit and then a huge one on the ledge on top of a thing over looking the wall that was a big oil torch menorah! that was awesome sight.

    from there we walked out and we tried to catch a cab to the HU campus.... yeah that was interesting! so well... We tried to catch a cab and they were trying to rip us off. anyway we got into this one it happened to be of a palestinian arab. this was to be a night to remember! at first the guy was giving us a hard time b/c he thought well knew i was a jewish american and he had a major issue with that. but david wound up talking to him in some pretty good arabic and kinda got him to open up QUITE A BIT! by lying to him saying he's a christian american. so with that aside the guy opened up pretty nicely and was definitely blunt and straight forward about his feelings about jews and the situation between the people in the country and his views of american jews! yeah he hid nothing! it was interesting to hear the other side of the coin! granted it's an extremist point of view it's actually the view of palestinian not all though but a lot of them hold back their true feelings and put on an act for all. that come through. 

We got out at HU and went to a pizza and sufganiyot (jelly doughnut) torah study the topic of chanukah. it was very interesting and thought provoking.. I was amazed that some how there's some kind of undertone message in the torah eluding to chanukah and what not. it was like a secret code in the torah it was pretty impreesive at what the rabbi was talking about. all in all it was a successful day. i got to see a side of jerusalem i've never seen, let alone not many people see on average..and got a taste of the reality of the conflict in israel. i love you all and i'm almost home.and also want to wish all the jewcrew!! HAPPY CHANUKAH DAY 2! TILL NEXT TIME PEACE FROM THE MIDDLE EAST!!!

WHEN A DREAM BECOMES A REALITY! AND EVERYTHING COMES TOGETHER!

      Caf Tet b'November (29th of November). A day in history where a dream became a reality. For those who don't know what I'm talking about and most Israeli's don't about it either which is a surprise considering it was a big moment in the creation of this country. November 29th 1947 was the day the UN voted and approved the partition of Israel. Yes Israel didn't officially get its independence till May of 1948 but this day was where the reality and beginning of the 6 month journey to independence.

     Yesterday we went to Atlit where we visited a interment camp where they brought illegal immigrants who tried to come into the country mostly by sea, who didn't have the appropriate papers, and the British only allowed so many people in at one time. so they either were turned back and sent else where or put into the camp. We saw the disinfecting area, some of the living quarters, and what not. it was interesting because we saw items from the original camp form 47.  and they showed us some videos of some of the people were in the camp and at the same time we saw someone that was there that was visiting and she was actually a person who was in that camp 61-62 years ago. So that was interesting even though she wasn't really comfortable to talk to use about it. This location for me summed up a lot from my first trip here in israel. in 2000 I came here on a program called through NFTY called Exodus. The exodus was one of the ships that was commisioned in attempt to bring jews from europe to israel illegally. it was a long venture but they made it. however like everyone else those who were on that ship was brought to Atlit to the camp.

      After that we took a short hike up along the Carmel mountains along a path that was walked along when the people in the camp broke out and made their way to a near by kibbutzim to safety.  there it was a tough hike up, and even hard when we got to the finger hold caves. where they were pitch black and all we had were dinky tea candles that we used to light the way it was sad. they hike down too wasn't any better. but a hell of a work out yet kind of painful. i strained my alkalis tendon while going up the mountain. from there we went to akko where we went to the arce fort. where it really had been used by the turks as a prison. It at one point held 9 men men who were apart of the yirgun a radical freedom fighting group. these men were imprisoned for fighting for something they believed in, a dream, a dream they would never get a chance to see come true.

      Yesturday was a day that dreams were realized. six years ago another dream was realized... my dream of coming to Israel the same way these immagrants came over 60 years ago. I came over 6 years ago on the Exodus experience re-enacting the Exodus voyage, and landing in the port of Haifa as they did years before. what a feeling and what a experience it was, to be able to hear first hand accounts from people on the ship was just heart felt experience.   it was a day that for me summed up a lot of what I have learned and experienced over the years. not only did their dreams of coming to the promised land get realized but mine have too. for years I dreamed about coming to israel and to have come over the way I did 6 years ago after really seeing what I did yesturday and with my background and beliefs, I couldn't really see a more fitting way of doing it! :-) well thats if for now.. till next time peace from the middle east!

 

ISRAELI WINTER, THE START OF A NEW ADVENTURE, AND MAKING A DIFFERENCE

     Israeli winters... The rainy season... When they say it rains here in Israel during the winters, they sure as hell dont lie! but i find it interesting... I can kind of compare it to Cleveland weather at times... you won't know when its coming. you wont know how much you'll get! and as we say in Cleveland if there's bad weather wait five minutes it will change! but it really comes down! the last week or so it rained a decent amount and has cooled down pretty nicely! it was very refreshing! just being to stand out side however wed there was RAIN, SNOW! AND A TORNADO!.. Also in the excitement of israel when it comes to nature! there have been few earthquakes the last 2 weeks apparently and i haven't felt them both but they were pretty big around the 4.2 range or so... they have said it could be leading to a bigger one in the near future.. this should be interesting!

     So I went to Beit Shean again this past weds/thurs. to be there to see the new prespective delegates. Thursday I met the 40 possible delegates and watched them as they did various group building challenges as they were being evaluated by professionals. I had the chance to speak to some of them it was very interesting to talk to them tell them about cleveland and asked them about things kinda seeing how their english was. I got to know a lot of them and they got to know me too. It was funny Tzvia and director of the program who was the leader when i did the program 6 yrs ago. It was interesting when I heard some of the names listed something clicked in my head. Could they be sibling of kids from my group? and yes they were. Noga shemesh a potential delegate is the younger sis of Maya who was apart of my group and looks just like her too. then there was a boy david levy. David is the brother of a Racheli Levy. Now here's the interesting thing that I will tell you all about Racheli and my memories of her. the biggest one is one that to this day still touches my heart and means a lot to me. It was our last day in Beit Shean and we were saying our goodbyes to everyone it was very hard for all of us we didn't want to leave cause we got so close to one another we were practically like family in that short amount of time thats how close we got and how effective this program was. So as I was saying we were saying our goodbyes and most of us in tears, including Racheli. she is a very bright and openminded person she was great to get to know back then. and I wish I hadnt lost touch with her. I came up to her and she just gave me this big warm embrace as she was crying. Now for me what she did meant way more than anything in this world at the time. You might be asking me why is that? well Racheli is a shomer negiah orthodox woman. They don't normally touch another man if they aren't married to them. Thus why it meant so much. This was something that never really happens normally. She is a great woman and I miss her to death. How Ever from what I heard she is due to be married in the next year or so so Racheli Mazel tov! So in all it was interesting experience to meet  them all, and I can't wait to work with the 16 that have been chosen as delegates!

      So this weekend was another Building future leaders (BFL) conference. this friday we went to be'er sheva and learned about a program where people live in a struggling shithole of a area that was basically renovated and preserved by the people that live there. So we went there learned about the program and wound up doing some hard labor of our own there. some of us laid new bricks on a path, others painted a shack. I painted the shack and i have the green suvinior on my jacket to remind me of it too... But that's besides the point! but as i was telling people afterwards. that i have been hear for three months volunteering in ramla and during that time i really haven't felt like i have done much here let alone felt like i've really done anything meaningful until that day! I figured that sometimes its not the big things that mean a lot is the small things that mean the most in life. And i am greatful to have been able to do that for that community, let alone the country! we also found out that the project that we are working on we have to write up a legitimate business plan for this and it will be submited to  a network of people around the world.. which we really didn't expect, and kind of put some pressure on us to make this look good. and who knows what could come of these it could be something huge! so this should be a crazy 5 weeks a head of me! OY! Well thats pretty much it for me here. till next time y'all Peace from the middle east!

P.S. if i forgot HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO EVERYONE!

BREAKING IT DOWN, SERVING MY COUNTRY, AND GOING TO A FAMILIAR PLACE

So where to start? well how about the beginning hehe! So Tuesday as a big group we all took the ever so exciting 6 am trip via train to Tel-Aviv where we met up with other masa people to go to a kibbutz in the Carmel, where  a professional dance troupe/ballet troupe is based. We had the opportunity to watch them rehearse along with a kinda more modern dance troupe perform. just prior to the performance we had the honorable chance to meet the director/ choreographer Rami be'er for those who do not know who that is and I'm sure you haven't... Rami is a reknown choreographer who take his troupe around the world and also is the choreographer for the israel version of so you think you can dance! t.v. show. afterwords we had the oppertunity to learn some hip hop moves from a different choreographer. Yes i got down i got funky! hehe! after all that excitement and work out we went to a music institute just out side of naharia it was very nice. it was a place where jews and arabs co-exist and are able to perform as one. it was very nice and interesting to see.

     after that i wound up going back to tiberias with that group and stayed there a couple evenings. however weds. I had the honor of doing my service for the country and volunteered on a army base in the golan heights area. I had the fun duty of stuffing padding in the soft shell of the combat helmets of the tank crew. it was a major and tough challenge but i prevailed, and with that done they are a bit closer to real protection!

    today thursday was a day i have been waiting for, for a long time, it was my great return to the small city of Beit Shean after a 6 year absence, I returned. there I met up with Zvia Shelly probably one of the coolest women I've met while in israel. She was in charge of ambassadors for unity when I did it 6 years ago. it was awesome! we talked a bit about the project i'll be working on for my program i'll be working with Ambassadors in the early stages of the process here, and then in cleveland i'd be helping them on their end of things. after we talked about that she took me on a brief run around of the city and took me to see the memorial of Art Neparstek who was a major contributor and reason why we have such a strong connection to beit shean. after that we went to this resteraunt that has become apparently a tradition for them to take the clevelanders to at least once for a meal. i was no exception. we had a wonderful mean along with another person who is taken on the task of putting together the delegation of the israeli ambassadors. after that she wanted to show me a different side of beit shean it was between either archiological or nature. i chose nature. she wound up taking me to places that no one would normaly know about let alone see in beit shean. the first place we went was to the mouth of the stream that turns in to the sachne it was amazing to see the water was so crystal clear and clean you could see all the fish in the water including a little crab crawling around, it was just simply amazing! i couldnt have asked for a more beautiful site! then she took me to this litte park/ water fall which was like in the most unexpected place that is tucked in the back of some fields it was contaminated so wasnt as pretty but nice either way. then it was time for me to make my long trek home! its true what they say if you want anything or want to get anywhere you have to be able to throw your weight around! meaning in order to get through a line dont be affraid to throw some elbow! and bot did i ever have to! dont worry no one was hurt! lol! other than that nothing really else to report for now! hope everyone is happy and healthy and i will see you in a couple mnths!  till next time all. PEACE FROM THE MIDDLE EAST!

 

fun in jerusalem

     So last we pretty uneventful to say the least at least until thursday. a thursday to remember. thursday we and when i say we i mean most of the tiberias and the ramla group went to jerusalem for a HADAG NACHASH (snake fish) concert. it was awesome!!! prior to the event there was a arts festival there was drummers, fire twirlers, and dudes in wierd costumes out side of the venue inside there was more! there was break dances and a mural that everyone contributed to!  after a while of the fun we all flowed into the theater when they all started to play a song. and it got everyone up and dancing it was kinda amazing everyone just dancing in the isles and what not! they played the same song over and over again! once they got settled they had a few speakers wellcome the roughly 700-800 masa participants to the event. then the fun part! THE CONCERT!

    it was a awesome everyone was up singing, dancing just completely getting into it!  they sang some of their more popular songs hi'ne ani ba! and the sticker song! i couldn't asked for a better night. what made it even better i saw a friend from home which definitely made my day. it was great seeing her!

      

ps: coming to israel my peak weight was 313 and now i'm down to a woping 273 i havnt been this low since my senior year in high school!! :-)

A PATH TO LEADERSHIP AND THEN SOME

shalom chevreh! Well where to start? first off i finally started my volunteering here in ramla. not exactly what i wanted to do but ok. so mondays and weds i'm presently working at the elderly center teaching them how to use the computer. its pretty fun and interesting to talk to some of them. sun and tues i work in a after school program doing what ever i can. and then monday and thursday evening i'm tutoring kids in english. which should be interesting!

    last week was my first week at the after school program. on tuesday they had a small ceremony comemorating the hebrew date of former prime minister Yitzhak Rabins death. they sang , read poems, and did a dance it was pretty nice... however on next monday the 4th of Nov. I will be traveling to Tel-aviv for his camemoration of his english date. which should be interesting and nice.

   Weds. was my last day working at oranim...:-( it was ok kind of a slow day but whatever... thursday i left for a three day conference in Jerusalem on leadership specially for masa! there was about 47 or so people there. thursday night and during this day we were in seminars and in the evening we went to downtown jerusalem, for a scavenger hunt it was pretty fun. learned some new hebrew words, and went up and down ben yahudah it was pretty lively there. there was a group of people doing some kapa rara the brazilian martial arts. which was pretty cool. 

   friday we took a feild trip of the leaders! meaning we went to mount herzel, there we saw herzel,Rabin, jibatinski, and golda meirs graves. and then went through the museum dedicated to herzel and his cause it was pretty interesting.and then we went to the Menachem Begin center and learned about his legacy and how he was a leader. friday night we had a great dinner and a more seminars. saturday again a bunch of seminars. and then came home... it was interesting the key speakers on thursday and friday some how had a connection to me. the one man on thursday he was a former shaliach in tulsa.. i gave a little wooohoo! he wound up figuring i was from there and joked i have a lot of tulsa jokes i could tell. Itold him im sure i've heard them all...friday we heard from a guy who went to case western in cleveland i'm thinking geez what next? someone who's from balitmore and knows my mom?lol but it was nice.

   Sunday really didnt do much until the evening where Anat and I wound up going to Mikes place!! now for those who don't know what mikes place is which is all of you! Mikes is a american owned bar in tel-aviv and also jerusalem. so the menu is your typical american bar style menu. and they had the pats. and skins game woohooo!!! it was nice and regreshing.and the one in tel-aviv is right next to the american embassy! so i felt right at home!

   this week to look forward to is tomarrow a housemate and i are going to be judging a talent contest at the after school program.. and then weds we are having a halloween party here at the house and have no clue what i will be if anything. and then finally thurs i will be going to see hadag nachash a israeli band. I'm excited! i'm seriously looking forward to it!! well thats pretty much it from here! till next time people Peace from the middle east!

WHAT I'M DOING HERE,TRIP TO RISHON, CARMEL, THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING EVER!

 

 

Well ladies and gentleman I'm sorry its been a while but let me catch you up a little bit on my life here in Ramla.lets start with the new beginnings. So I finally found things that I will be doing for volunteering in a elderly center helping with various activities however my main goal is to document a few of them some who were here in the beginning of the country and those who survived the holocaust and came over. which should be interesting to here their life stories. the other thing I am doing, is over seeing the English tutoring courses at a after school program for kids. it should be interesting this will for sure be a first. but I'm looking forward to it. Also erez put me with partnership 2000 and they want me to write some free lance articles on interesting happenings in ramla. and also translate articles from the papers here and then they will be sent to Kansas city to give them a taste of what's really going on here.

   last week I took a interesting trip to rishon letzion where I met up with Anat. in the morning and we walked around rishon a bit. first to a little out door market, along a <SPANCLASS=CORRECTION id="">strip mall, then to a actual mall for lunch, then she showed me a few historical sights in the area one was the FIRST Hebrew school in all of Israel. it was a nice experience things you don't see everyday. a few days later as a group we went to the Carmel region. we first went to the ayalon aqua ducts got a little wet but it was fun. then we went to a dru's market in a city near by. yeeaaaahh that was interesting. so we get off the bus to only be met by this one guy who approach's us he's like come see my store my family my glass the jewelry my girls makes them selves in the mean time the girls are taking necklaces out of their packets. and the glass was not made by him and was already packaged. then i walked along and found a place with soccer stuff. i saw a beitar Jerusalem jersey i asked if he had a jersey my size. he brings me a jersey a 2 xl ( it was a kids 2xl.) he said try it on i said no its ok. he persisted so i tried it on THE DAMN THING WAS SKIN TIGHT! he insisted it fit i told him it might fit my sister but sure as hell not me!! then we went to Baron de' Rothchilds park/grave it was amazing there we also met some elderly people and heard their life stories a bit as they passed by.

    after that we went to this park were we to a little hike through the hills. saw some cows and some trees very pretty. we got to the top and there was a balcony overlook and the view of the Carmel mountains werejust amazing. right behind the over look was a camp site where we wound up staying in the hostel there we cooked a mean bbq meal and made a fire for some smores. mmmmmmmmmmmm mallow's and chocolate... the next day we made our way to the chai bar (a animal preserve) there we helped dig ditch's for make shift ponds for salamanders what fun that was not!!!

   Israel... a beautiful yet very dry, humid, and HOT LAND! tonight was the night that i along with everyone else was waiting for. and night that will live on the greatest night yet.... THE FIRST RAIN!!!! It was amazing it  got cloudy and pretty quick tonight. and it finally happened at 11:30 and the sound of pattering on the window sill was music to my ears. I opened the window and sure enough rain! I wound up going outside basking in it letting it fall on me. you know living in a dry country like this you learn to never take rain for granted. rain here is something we look forward to or at least i do!! it was the greatest feeling ever just letting it drop on my face and hands..mmmm... glorious rain!!! other than that nothing else has gone on. hope all is well everyone is happy and healthy. mom dad and Laura i love you all i miss you! Jacob i hope you are staying out of trouble... Shira how's things in nature? to the grandma skonlik and mom tzemach said hi he had some kind of surgery the other week on his throat i want to say but he is on the road to recovering. till next time all peace from the middle east!!!

 

 

   

SIMCHAT TORAH AND OTHER REFLECTIONS

    Simchat torah such a joyous occation it is the end and the begining of a new cycle of the torah. even though I didn't have the chance to do what I had dreamed of doing by going to Jerusalem, I went to Pinat shorashim (mentioned in a previous blog) for simchat torah. It was a fun experience there. there was students from HUC (jerusalem campus) and high school students from NFTY EIE, and monks (yes i said monks) from a local monestary! and they all were there for the celibration. we were also graced with the presence of the first and third ordained female rabbi's in israel for our service. it was a great time. lots of singing and dancing. there was also a nice celebration here in ramla at the park with was huge. about 100+ jews food from neighboring business, and a dj. it was fun and intense.

     Yesturday I had my first movie experience here in israel. now that was interesting. i went to see chuck and larry with anat, so one the seats were asigned which was different, two there was a 5-10 minute intermission inthe middle of the movie which was a little odd yet kinda smart. it was a time for the people to go buy more food and treats. it was kinda messed up though. there was a bunch of arsim ( hoolagans) they were causing a rukus and were messing with the girls there, and throwing stuff, and two got into a little scuffle. yeah thats something to remember other wise it was calm and a good movie. good times good times. 

Well its shabbas right now in israel only for a few more hours. and thankfully the holidays are over. but i must say its been a experience, as i knew it would be. i can tell you that the holidays and shabbas here are completely different then what it is in america. i honestly you can sense things in the country is completely different. think about it. life in america during the holidays... lets start with rosh hashanah and yom kippur. on both holidays in israel everything shuts down. nothing is moving. everyone goes to services and then on rosh hashanah rest or visit friends and fam. and relax. no one is driving nothing, and yom kippur you're in either services or sleeping all day. in america we are going to services going and visiting friends and fam. but it seem like we are always on the go. sukkot is a festive time here. there's festivals of all kinds allover the country. people are traveling around and also camp out a lot. in the states ok yeah, they are having sukkahs built and they have meals and little parties there. but thats mostly it. and shabbas... wow there's a huge difference here in israel they get the true meaning of the day of rest. its this feeling in the atmosphere. everything stops, nothing is going on. it is a day were people are mostly home relaxing reading reflecting, taking walks, sleeping, its a peaceful and serene day. you can feel it you can sence it. in the states you can't sence it on shabbas its as if life goes on, everyone is on the move, in a rush, doing things, theres no rest in the u.s.  I'm feeling pretty relaxed and at peace here. well thats it for now i hope all is well.  also what the hell is with the indians rolling through the yanks when i'm gone!?!? oh well! GO TRIBE!! STAY SAFE STAY HAPPY AND STAY HEALTHY!!! TILL NEXT TIME PEACE FROM THE MIDDLE EAST!!!

 

SUKKOT AND THEN SOME pt. # 2

So when I left you last I'm sure getting hungry hehe just kidding. So lets start from where I had left off. which was I was leaving tel-aviv and after a bit of Relaxation at the house I met up with Merav and the fam. to go to a art's like festival in a place called Shoham which is a nice little city between Tel-aviv and Jerusalem. there was a kids story teller, a acrobatic group, a couple of musicians, and a miming interprutive dance troup (which was cheese). but that wasn't why i went. I went for once reason and one reason only... A FREE IDAN RAICHAL CONCERT!!! Ok so most of you are wondering who the hell Idan raichal is... well he is a well know israeli ethiopean folk singer and songer writer. he has taken some no name singers who wouldnt have gotten the time of day, and made them famous.

     HIs concerts are entertaining in them selves. It's interesting how he went from being popular with mostly the young crowd to also no the more middle aged  crowd ( i think its a hippie thing) his sound is kinda trancic. and people are dancing on the side all (i dont know how you would describe it) kinda tripped out hippie tracic like (if you catch my drift). its interesting to watch to say the least its like they are like on this tripped out seizure like dance i dont know how to describe it. but it was cool it was my second time seeing him in israel and def. not my last. Well thats mostly it from here for now.. I'm trying to figure out how to go to Jerusalem for simchat torah tomarrow but it doesnt seem like it'll happen. :-( sigh oh well... well till next time all everyone stay healthy happy and have a joyous holiday. till next time peace out from the middle east!!!!

  

SUKKOT AND THEN SOME pt. #1

   It is time now for the next thrilling edition of what the hell is going on in my life here in Israel hehe! well as you all know it is sukkot just another break for us but a pretty good and fun one at that! well to start out as per-usual I went to shuki's carmela's family's sukkah for the first night which as always in israel is a crazy feast in the least. there was like 20 peopel in the sukkah it was pretty good. Thursday was great I wound up traveling to rishon lezion to meet up with my friend hadar for lunch with her fam. ok yes i'm being spoiled while here hehe! it was great seeing her again i missed her a lot as i do everything else in cleveland (love you laura). I really didn't do much saturday however sunday i wound up going to tel-aviv to visit an old friend from my last trip here. her and I wound up going to burger bar mmmmmmm yum! it was kinda funny how that was what we got b/c it was the last place i went to and ate in israel on my last trip. god the memories. we had a nice lunch and she actually told me that one of the other guys from the trip trip is coming in a couple weeks. I told her we have to have a mini reunion!!! it was nice catching up with her.

    Monday i wound up volunteering for like this carnival that was put on at one of the community center's working a climbing bouncy thing. may i just say that kids here are f'n (sorry for cursing) nuts!! the kids one don't know the meaning of a line let alone one at a time! (rolling eyes) along with that both jon ( one of the housemates) and i both had to break up a fight each. it was a hell of a day to say the least.

    which now brings us to today. this morning i wound up meeting Anat in tel-aviv. we wound up going to sheinken street to the shuk and also looking at this street art market they had there. some of the peices were pretty impressive to say the least! we then walked to dizengoff center which was a huge mall, it was kinda over whelming but we got lunch there. ***to be continued***hehe

YOM KIPPUR/ IT WAS A BITTER SWEET DAY

   Well with Yom Kippur finally behind us may i just say that it was definitely an experience as everything else here has been. It first started out with me going to my host families house for a quick yet as usual delicious meal. then it was off to the synagogue. it was interesting, I wound up at a orthodox sephardic temple the tunes were beautiful and kol nidre was simply amazing. what made it even more interesting prior to the start of the service they wound up auctioning off various parts in the service involving the torah service. prices wound up being anywhere between 100 shek's to 1000+ shek's. it was pretty different then the states. also I noticed that it was a big day for kids to rent bikes and terrorize the streets j/k on the terrorizing part but it was kinda cute it was like swarms of kiddie biker gangs almost. sat was nice too, I wound up sleeping till 2 in the afternoon and then went to services close to the end of the evening around 530. it was  beautiful shofar blowing they had a few shofars around the room and just them sounding together was breath taking. After the service Sabrina, Jon and I went to Our neighborhood friend/ neighborhood mom had us over for break the fast. and we had blintz's sorry mom these were actually good and had potato and mushrooms... so it wound up being a nice holiday.  

    Now the bitter sweet side of things... today we were taken to Jerusalem we started at this over look of the entire city just next to Hebrew univ. It was a breath taking site. it's amazing I've been to Jerusalem a few times in my life and I always seem to be seeing new perspectives and views of the probably most gorgeous city's around in never stops amazing me what so ever. after that we probably made the biggest mistake ever. (this is the bitter part) so we were going to see the sukkot preparations going on with-in the city and where else would we go to see that but the infamous maya sharim neighborhood. so as we walked along we went into a little area where erez wanted to show an example of what the film  ushpazin was trying to portray. and we were intercepted by a woman who said some of the women were dress a bit immodestly when it came to their tops and on top of that we also got bitched at by a orthodox man. the woman was nice though she was going to invite us into her place for a bit. how ever we wound up pushing on which was our first mistake we wound up going down some and after walking a bit out of the blue someone randomly threw a egg at us and hit few of the guys of the group it pretty much didn't really sit well with us and kinda made us uneasy. See here's what I find interesting and hypocritical of the whole Jewish religion and what not. The last two days we were all standing side by side with these guys, and eating by them in some cases. and the orthodox and the Jewish religion preaches acceptance of all, righteousness, and what not. But it'svery said when you see something like this where Jews are hating upon other Jews just for the slightest difference. I'm making this stand in saying this! THIS WAR AND HATERED OF OUR FELLOW JEWS HAS TO COME TO A STOP! THIS IS BECOMING EXTREMELY RIDICULOUS! WE ARE ALL THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, WE ARE ALL HAVE THE SAME FOUR FATHERS! FOR THE LOVE OF G-D JUST BECAUSE YOU ARE A BIT MORE RELIGIOUS DOESN'T MEAN JACK SQUAT! A JEW IS A JEW! WE ARE ATTACKING OUR OWN FAMILY MEMBERS! GROW UP! A STAND HAS TO BE TAKEN AND TAKEN NOW! BUT I DIGRESS NOW!

    Now back to the sweetness :-) after that little fiasco we wound up going to the kottel and had the chance to pray at the Western wall... I got lured into doing t'fillen prayed briefly at the wall. and actually met a guy who was from the Cleveland area who made A and now lives here there is some good in the orthodox world. it was interesting too; as we were there i noticed a couple squads of troops as they took their first trip to the wall. its apparently a tradition for the troops as a group to go to the wall. it was kinda humbling to see them. you see them and you are honored to know that they are there to protect you. and then you see them at the kottel praying and its an experience for them for some it would have been the first time for them to go to the wall. but the same time you see the respect that these soldiers receive where ever they go especially at the wall. you see the people around them occasionally approaching them and shaking their hands and thanking them for their service to such a country. I wound up approaching one of them too and thanking them for what they do, and he was flattered he said it's tough to do what he's going through considering now its just training but to know that someone appreciates them for what he was doing just made things a 100% more meaningful. its interesting how in the states we see the soldiers around us and we really don't show them much respect as the deserve they do so much for us and sacrifice so much for us back home. I think people should take the initiative to take it upon themselves to reach out to at least one uniformed soldier this year and thank them. trust me it would make their day let alone life probably after all they have been through.

    After we finally got our of dodge in Jerusalem, came the biggest honor and sweetest moment of the day...DINNER AT MOMO'S!!!!!!! WOOOOHHHOOOOO!!!! ( for those who don't know who Momo is he is the president of oranim i mentioned him in past blogs) anyhow.... He wound up BBQing for us MMMMMMMMMMM schnitzel, burgers, kabob's and chicken shwarma on a stick (Drool!) hehe! OH MY GOD!!! IT WAS THE BEST FEAST WE HAVE HAD IN AGES! AND IT WAS AT HIS SECRET APARTMENT THAT HE NEVER LETS PEOPLE FROM WORK OR ANY ONE TO. SO FOR US WE WERE SPECIAL!!! it was beautiful! and it was the best view in the entire area! it seemed to be in the center of Kfar saba. He lives all the way up top and has a patio with a hot tub (NICE!!) but from there if you look to the left you see the coast like netanya and a couple other cities, and on the right the west bank and into Jordan. yes i said the west bank clear as day. It just goes to show you how small the country truly is! we wound up stuffing ourselves pretty nicely and we now have some bragging rights. He said that he doesn't let anyone up there ever not even people from his work well ok so he had a few people from work there today but that's b/c they were with us. but he said we were invited b/c we are special we are his dream coming true! So as y'all can tell its been a hell of a 48 hrs to say the least but its been interesting and fun at times to say the least... well people thats it from here for now i hope you all had a easy fast. I love you all very much and will keep you posted. Till next time Peace out from the middle east!

NOW THAT WAS INTERESTING!

   Well the past weekend was very interesting! Friday I as per usual I went to my awesome host family the Shalom's and had a wickedly awesome and filling feast! OY THE JUST DONT KNOW WHEN TO STOP PUTTING OUT FOOD! after one hellava feast we relaxed watched a decent euro-basketball game as usual. and then watched the israeli version of Cash Cab the taxi cab trivia show! it was a nice evening I love the shalom family they are awesome beyond belief!

  Saturday I WAS KIDNAPPED!!! ok i was fine i was only being kidnapped by my friend anat and her family who wound up taking me to jerusalem to meet some of their family friends. there one of the family friends led a personaly guided tour of jerusalem that not many people would even consider see. it was on the other side of jerusalem kinda in the outskirts of the city. It was a tour of famous houses. So we got to see what initially the british airforce head quarters and after what wound up to be the home of the one and only GOLDA MEIR (the first women prime minister) and there was a 92 y/o woman who lived there and who knew Golda and to hear the story and history of the house and what happened there was simply amazing! after that we walked some more saw a house where a lot of diplomats stay and have meeting there was a beautiful olive tree in front of the house. then we walked a bit more and saw a house that was used by the israeli and arab leaders at one point to divide the country. this was for sure your not every day tour of Israel let alone Jerusalem.
 
  Sunday didn't really do much either just hung out and relaxed and watched some good NFL FOOTBALL! YES WE GOT NFL FOOTBALL HERE WOOOHOOO! This weekend for yom kippur i am planning to stay here in ramla less of a temptation to eat but oh well. the holiday i think will be easier here considering it is falling on shabbas and nothing is really open on shabbas! So i will basically plan to have dinner with the shalom's as usual and then maybe go to kol nidre here which i think should be interesting and worth experiencing while i can. well people thats pretty much it from here i love you all and miss you all! hope everyone is happy and healthy and if i don't blog before chag I want to wish everyone a healthy and easy fast. PEACE FROM THE MIDDLE EAST!!!

IT'S THAT TIME OF THE YEAR AGAIN

Well its that time of the year again. It's the jewish new year. It is a time to think and reflect on the past year and what has gone on and also a time to ask for forgivness. the last 48 hours have been interesting. Everything started yesturday morning when the entire group went to the elderly center to go to a party there was a toast, and singing and we wound up also dancing with some of them. I was pulled aside by a couple of elderly men and they thanked me and the group fro coming over and spending time with them in their eyes it was a big mitzvah and they were very greatful for the time we took out of our busy day to spend with them .to me that means a lot and definitely touched me deeply that that was said. it was very nice and lots of fun! after that we wound up going to a nice banquet hall for a party with the people from the city. it was really nice for us to be there. and we met some of the officials of the city and so forth. later that evening we wound up hosting a party at our house. Erez and chava came over and cooked a wonderful meal for us. We had some the israeli soldiers who have been involved with the group one way or another come over and we had a nice little rosh hashanah party. late last night i was up and i was flipping through the channels and found on one of the israeli channels a salichot service being televised. it was actually a pretty nice service from the looks of it, it looked as if it were a orthodox service.

    Today was a light day and i got to sleep in for once! yay! this afternoon i wound up taking a train to hod- hasharon to stay with the family here for the holiday... I am staying with tzemach and tova may i just say the bed i am in caves in and well i feel like i'm going to fall of the bed ( i have to sleep against the wall...oy!) tonight we went to naomi's house where her and her kids were there and a couple of the other cousins came over. it was a wonderful meal there was beef, chicken steamed artichoke, soup, and a few other things. tomarrow i will be going back to naomi's for lunch and the afternoon then in the evening we will be having dinner at tzemach and tova's where tzemach and tova's kids will be here with their kids which will be nice.

   Now a time for reflection... It definitely has been a year of ups and downs which is no surpise. lets start with the positives in life from this past year. one i found a job which is prefect for me selling and talking sports who could ask for a better job! two having this great oppertunity to be in israel, it's amazing here its beautiful and the experience and everything i have done couldn't have been better and its a once in a life time thing and i am very appreciative of it. then there's my family this year has been a good year for us. shira I am so proud of you for graduating college and seeing where you are today and you being able to find your direction in life i wish you all the best of luck. jacob my little bro. I love you very much i know i dont show it much or  have my wierd ways of doing so. but i do love you, and i am also proud of you. I see you one working your ass off in school and now you are at MSU ( GO GREEN!) and i see how successful you were at fire. you should be proud of yourself for what you have accomplished. mom and dad what can i say? you're my parents one thanks for letting me live one more year hehe. two thank you for being so supportive of me and being there for me when i needed it the most and occationally giving me that little nudge or kick in the ass when i needed it. i love you both.  finally it has come to my attention that aunt harriet is in surgery at this very moment as i write this... my thoughts and prayers are with you and the rest of the family. she's a strong woman and will bounce back quickly i know. well i have rambled on for quite sometime now so i will wrap it up here. i want to wish everyone a very happy and sweet new year may you all be scribed in the book of life. i love you all. next year in jerusalem.

sincerely,

BIG ZAC

THE FUN AND EXPERIENCES

Well its been a pretty interesting 6 days to say the least. After last entery from the 3 day tiyul not much happened. We mostly were able to relax for the most part except for those who are working at the office for oranim and birthright we had training with Momo who is the programs director. He's a entertaining man he may seem gruff and intimidating but he's really a puppy dog. Friday we mostly relaxed Friday night I had the extreme pleasure of being invited to my friend Anat's house for Shabbas with her fam. I love her family I wound up meeting her brother and his girlfriend and her grandma, and chica (the dog) for the first time though. It was a wonderful meal. after that anat and her brother and girlfriend and I went to rachovot to a bar where we wound up meeting one of their friends for a drink. it was a good time. saturday I wound up going with anat to jaffa for a few hours. we wound up taking a little cruise on the meditereanean and she took me to this popular pastery shop called abulaffa it was pretty good. I had a nice pita pizza and we came back. sunday nothing really happened. 
 
  The day of experiences. It all started out first thing in the morning when we woke up for our first day of ulpan ( hebrew learning). We arrived and were put into our perspective levels I was expecting to be put in the intermediate level with a couple of the other house mates but the director asked me if I knew past and future tense and I said yes. and she wound up placing me in a bit more advanced course. WHAT A PERFECT PLACEMENT!! EVEN IN ISRAEL! well we are actually in class's with new immagrents. Which add's a a interesting dynamic to it all. So far so good. After that I was invited to a cousin's wedding in a near by kibbutz. Ended up meeting up with tzemach in Hod hasharon and went to the wedding with the family from there. now here's the catch it was a ULTRA ORTHODOX WEDDING!!! yes I said ULTRA ORTHODOX! We arrived there around 630ish, the ceremony didnt start till about 9ish. for the first 2 hrs it was mostly a socializing and had appetizers. and basically met everyone and their mother! it was a beautiful ceremony it was interesting to see how we couldn't see the brides face till the very end. I also found out that one of the cousins( Ilit one of tzmach's children) Created the application program for oranim which i will be using when i work and she apparently know's Momo and everyone there. So i guess i'm just joining somewhat the family business. kinda nice! other than that nothing much is going on. today is our first day working at oranim a nice little 7 hr shift, fun.... More on that later. well people thats pretty much it for now. till next time y'all keep it real. and I will talk to everyone soon. PEACE OUT!! 
 
 Big Z. 
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THE LIFE OF A WANDERING JEW! PT.2.

      We wound up sleeping at the tent for the evening. it was ok a bit uncomfortable but it was ok. The next morning (Weds.) we woke up to a wonderful yemenite breakfast. With authentic yeminite bread and salad dishes. From there we as a group wound up doing what israeli's and jews do best. WANDER THROUGH THE WILDERNESS! We had 3 maps spread amongst us! and we had to navigate from the kibbutz where the tent was, to acco! OY! WE WALKED FOR ABOUT 4.5 HRS 7 + MILES we wound up stopping at a couple kibbutzim to rest we also wound up escaping from one of the kibbutz's and recorded isc's first B&E (ok not really but hey) then wound up being so tired that we wound up taking a bus the rest of the way (surprisingly enough after all that walking in those last 48 hrs I survived!!!!). once in acco we wound up hiking to the shuk where we found seid's humus and had had humus and pita and a humus and tahini mix dish. it was supposed to be the best humus in the area. i wasnt really thrilled with it all but pita was nice. after eating we had a chance to wander around the shuk and shop if we wanted. it was really nice how ever the shops were closing early for prayer time.

       After all that we wound up taking the train back home and getting home to a nice cool house. we were all hot sweaty, and STINKY!! YES I SAID IT! STINKY!! today has been a pretty relaxed day for once. the only really going on is some of us is going to kfar sabah for training for oranim. Oh and we get a new guy to the house. which should be intersting i'm excited we are planing to mess with him a bit. whether we'll go through with it or not who knows! We all have our mixed feelings about it all b/c he is coming in two weeks in and the group dinamic is already pretty tight. we've bonded and we're practically family! well thats it for now! nothing else to really report. tomarrow i'm going to anat's ( for those who don't know who that isit is a friend of mine from rishon latzion she was the israel fellow @ Cleveland's hillel) for shabbas dinner with her  fam. and then Mon. going to a family wedding (it's orthodox) so in the next posting I'll tell all!! Till next time though people! stay healthy! and stay happy! PEACE!!!

THE LIFE OF THE WANDERING JEW! PT.1!

   Well its been a interesting few days to say the least! lets start back to friday friday was nice. Friday was we went to a kind of elderly day care center of sorts, and wound up playing some bingo with them it was pretty interesting especially considering they didn't really know any english so my hebrew skills had to somewhat come into play. the women i was with were very entertaining and might I say the elderly here have it pretty nice at the center... hell they have a tv room with a huge flat screen tv and massage reclining chairs gallore! after that we had some free time to our selves and wound up just relaxing.  later that evening I was envited to Bella's house. Bella is the pres. of the rotery club here in Ramla a nice woman. it was her and most of her fam minus a child and their kids. The grand kids were so adorable. there was one she must have been 7-8, and she was trying to play a game of astronaut it was adorable even though it was all in hebrewk and i barely understood her. it was entertaining to see her imagination. saturday we really didnt do much. mostly hung out and relaxed. sunday pretty much did the same but in the evening we wound up going to tel-aviv to chill.

       Now the title doesn't lie I was a wandering jew for the past few days. starting monday. we started out in taking a train early morning to benyamina to meet up with the tiberias group. From there we went to cesarea! to the ancient ruins there and we did some group building activities. from there we went to the kinneret cemetery and learned about the first aliyah the pioneers of the country. there we saw the graves of Naomi Shemer who wrote the famous song and technically the second national anthem of israel 'Yerushelaim shel zahav' 'jerusalem of gold', and the grave of Rachel a amazing poet of her time! she wrote a lot of peoms of love and the love of the land. apparently theres a special box inattached to the grave and in the box there's a book of her poems. And it is known that on nights of a full moon couples have been known sit there at the grave side and recite poems to one another. after that we went to tiberias where we settled into the tiberias's groups house it was pretty decent. in the evening we went to dinner and then to a bar/club and met up with a canadian birthright trip nothing really exciting there. tues we wound up on a 4 hr hikethrough the north, and in a cave and might I say i had a winnie the pooh moment. ok so i was able to fit through the tight and small tunnel out. but having to pike down and basically millitary crawl out of the tunnel. it was a good laugh. after the hike we went to naharia and wound up going shopping for food for dinner later that night.... TO BE CONTINUED

Is it just me? or is it hot as hell out here!

Shalom from israel! I've been here for 3 days now and OY is it crazy! I arrived here Monday afternoon and boy did they not waiste time... I arrived here only to be rushed to the house in Ramla (which for those who don't know is about 20 min south east of Tel-Aviv) only to be greeted by the rest of the group from ramla and tiberious! at which point Erez who is a awesome guy and momo also a cool yet semi intimidating guy, oriented us to the program and welcomed us properly.

    The fun didn't stop there though that night we ( the ramla group) went to tel-aviv to a bar with one of the groups associates todd called Cafe Noga. It was a nice pool hall, and the bartender erez was also cool. that night we didn't get home till about 2 or 3 but i didn't fall asleep till ohh... 5-530 am. only to wake up at 830 to the sounds of bob marely. which was kinda funny. That morning (tuesday) We were graced by our city coordinater Chava (who is really awesome) and a few other women from the area. and they cooked us a wonderful breakfast for us. afterward we all went on a city wide scavenger hunt and each place pertained to things that we can and will be doing around town. which was really cool and interesting.  after that in the evening the house mates had some people over but i wound up meeting with a ole' friend of mine Anat who I haven't seen in a few months it was like old times! she took me to a different part of tel-aviv and we grabed a bite to eat and caught up on eachothers lives. I miss her it was great seeing her though.

       this morning though I got to finally sleep in till 11:30 WOOOHOOOO!!! it felt great at which point we had a city person come over with chava. and they talked about our volunteer oppertunities! and then they left and we had our first house meeting talking about rules and necessaties shopping wise. after the meeting a few of us took a nice 3 hr walk. YES I SAID it 3 HRS! TODAY AND DURING THE SCAVENGER HUNT! HELL THATS ALL I HAVE BEEN DOING AND YES I HAVE LIVED TO TALK ABOUT IT! HAHAHAHA!!!! to do some shopping and went to get some pretty good falafel. in the evening we went and met up with tthe cities rottery club and went to kfar bi'lu which is a moshav that harvest some amazing passion friut. it was really really good! and then we came back and here i am.

It's been a really great experience thus far.. I am really enjoying myself and my house mates are really cool! I'm really looking forward to the next few months there definitely seems to be a lot of promise for what we are doing! well people thats it for now! i have to be up in a few hours for another crazy day at the office but till then everyone stay cool! and keep it real! Peace out till next time! B'shalom,

Zac,

oy what a week!

Well its definitely been a crazy week to say the least! to start off the wedding on sunday was beautiful!! My friend beth looked beautiful in her dress... it was a nice simple ceremony, they had a live band and everything. i must say though it was wonderful to have my laura there!  we danced and had a great time together! and might i say WE LOOKED PRETTY DAMN GOOD!

    This week is almost over and my departure draws closer! oy! I know some people and i don't even want to think about that but its the reality of the time... i feel like everything isn't fully ready for my trip i feel like i am missing things, granted i know i can get things when i am there but even so. Time is going by way to fast. i'm ready for this adventure and this experience. i'm going to have to savor the experience. i'm going to miss everyone here and they know who they are. but they know that i will be returning to them soon!!! I love you all and I will see y'all soon.

till next time which will be from the wonderful land of israel!!

B'SHALOM,

ZAC