I last checked in with you fine folks a week ago Thursday, when Operation Protective Edge was just a seedling.  Since it has become a full fledged operation, but that hasn’t stopped our ability to see Israel and enjoy the land.

Last Friday was the first Friday of Ramadan, and as such, there were many protests and at times physical riots in the East Jerusalem neighborhood.  As safety is our primary concern, we changed what was supposed to be an day exploring the First Temple period in Jerusalem to a hike and exploration of the terrace farming system that dated back to the time of First Temple in the surrounding Jerusalem area.  We also explored a few water caves in that area.

We had a wonderful lunch, and headed back to Jerusalem to give the USY’ers some time to explore Machane Yehuda, and to buy gifts for their Shabbuddy (Shabbat Buddy).  I went and found my coke in a glass bottle (my favorite), and bought some fresh chocolate rugelach.

We welcomed Shabbat as a group by davening at Yemin Moshe, overlooking the old city of Jerusalem.  We had a very nice Kabbalat Shabbat and Ma’ariv, and headed back to our hostel for Shabbos dinner.  As was my tradition when I was a madrich at Herzl, I told those sitting around me a story on Shabbos evening, this time the story of Yossele the Holy Miser (a Carlebach story, of course).  After dinner, we sang a spirited ruach session, and went to bed for the night.

The next morning I took a group of kids to daven at the Great Synagogue.  Not sure who the Hazan was, but from what I could understand it was a different one than usual, and there was no choir, which I understand they also usually have, but it was still a nice service, and the shul is absolutely beautiful.  Their ark alone had something like 20 Torahs in it, from what I could count.

Services ended very early, so instead of free time, I told our group to grab any food they might have, and meet up on the balcony, where we had a nice oneg and traded off telling our favorite Jewish stories.  We also sang some, and as other groups returned from davening, they joined us as well.

We had kiddush at Rabbi Paul Friedman’s apartment, and both he and his lovely wife welcomed our group into their home with food, stories, and a kiss on the cheek for each of us.  We returned for lunch, ruach, and some much need Minuha (rest time).  During the afternoon free time, I took a group of kids to throw a disc around the near by park.  It was nice to have a Frisbee back in my hands again.  We concluded the night with Pirkei Avot study, mincha, dinner, more ruach, and havdallah.

Sunday, we visited Yad L’Kashish, where elderly people are given food and housing to make a variety of wonderful Judaic products.  While touring the factory, our kids interacted with the elderly, making conversation in Hebrew, English, and even Spanish.  They took pictures with some of the workers, and to see the smiles on both the USY’ers faces and the elderly’s faces was truly heartwarming.

We spent the afternoon touring Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust Museum.  While the museum is always meaningful, I, and many of the USY’ers, found it hard to concentrate and find meaning in it, especially when we had experienced and learned about many of the sites in person the previous week.  While it would have been a great way to summarize our experience when we first arrived in Israel, doing at the end of the first week lost some of its power and meaning.

We then spent Sunday afternoon heading south.

While I have so much more to catch up on, alas, I’m running out of time before Shabbat, so I’ll have to finish updating you all another time!

Have a quiet and peaceful Shabbat!