Shabbos (Day Seven)

Well, I do apologise but for some reason the pictures from Thursday and Friday are not uploading and I really must apologise but I seem to have forgotten to take pictures of today and last night!

Moving on...
Friday night we escaped our hotel that had been overtaken by the French and went to the local French (they are ALL french) shul and davened Kabalas Shabbos and then came back to the hotel to daven Ma'ariv together. We walked in the humid, sweltering, wet night the 0.9miles to our brave hosts, the Ben-Chaim's in Kiryat Sanz.

The meal was truly an experience. For most of us it was the first time that we had been in a Chassidishe house and a few girls said that it was a bit surreal. Claire, the token Sephardi, said that it was 'eye-opening'. It was a beautiful meal and the three boys were singing throughout. Apparently, they usually go to bed after the fish course and were singing for three hours just in our honor. On our walk back, around 12am, Michelle bumped into (literally) two girls who were walking in our direction. By the time we got back to the hotel, us and Michal and Rivka, were really good friends and we stayed downstairs talking for an hour before we made them promise to come back the next day.

The next morning we got up and davened. Unfortunately, though, we didnt make it to shul because we were all shattered from the whole week of constant action. We then had a discussion about identity and some very interesting points came up about how each person can be free within boundaries and the greatest happiness and contentment is found within a person that has boundaries - ie being jewish and keeping the Mitzvos are our boundaries and that is why most people find contentment in their 'search for happiness' when they discover judaism.

Then at 2pm we arrived at our hosts from the night before for our meal. It was delicious and again, an amazing experience. The view from their living room window was breathtaking! Our walk back was surprisingly uneventful and we spent the afternoon taking walks along the beach, sleeping or in major discussion. At around 6:30, Nechama called us all upstairs for another discussion. This time just a general one and a summary about how we felt after the diverse experiences and incredible mix of people we had had and met all week. Questions about the three weeks also came up and by the end of Shabbos we all were talking about how we wanted, this year, to be more aware and careful abot how we followed the halachos of the nine days. Liora read from an article to us about what actually happened during the three weeks and personally, I felt like I truly understood and felt as if I am in mourning. More than any other year. We all took it upon ourselves to ensure that this last week of the program would be in the right spirit for the nine days. We also had a great Seudat Shlishit followed by a melodic havdalah courtesy of Abby.

After a quick discussion we realised that bowling was out of the question and decided to go for Ice Cream - it was delicious! When we got back, Michal Tshuva (great name!), from the night before was there! We all had a great time talking to her and getting to know her and she stayed until really late when we all had to go to sleep. We got her details and will definitely be keeping in touch with her and her cousin, Rivka. We really have made so many good friends on this trip!

Anyway, must get to bed...

Layla Tov!

Brocha

ps Soon I'll be writing the blog in Hebrew, we have all learnt to speak it semi fluently over the last week! Maybe by next week it will also be in French...