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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