Jerusalem ITF Shabbat

It's the middle of January which marks the mid way point of my time here in Israel.  This is a fairly big deal so our program took us to Jerusalem for the weekend to hang out and reflect on what's happened, what's happening and what's going to happen going forward.

We began our adventure with a trip to the Israel Museum and I am ashamed to say that this was my first visit.  The Museum is incredible.  It has exhibitions on Jewish and Israeli history, culture and art including entire replicas of synagogues from all over the world and a mini replica of the city of Jerusalem from the time of the Second Temple (basically a billion years ago).

Hello Second Temple

Following our Museum visit, we hit up the shuk and the Jerusalem shuk on a Friday afternoon is a whole other experience.  Everything shuts down at about 3pm on a Friday afternoon because of Shabbat and doesn't open until sundown Saturday or Sunday morning so people sort of go mad.  Everyone is running around like headless chickens trying to buy challah, fruit and veggies, meat and other pre-prepared dishes that they can eat on Shabbat (because you aren't meant to light a fire on Shabbat).  Plus, all of the Birthright groups descend on the shuk on a Friday afternoon to witness the madness which just adds to the madness making it even more mad.  But, I love it! It's so lively and loud.

 

We got fish and chips for lunch (duhhh) ((and I did order a salad which the guy misheard as fish and chips so I at least attempted to be healthy)) and after this beelined for the best bakery in Israel - I'm ready to call it - Marzipan.  Marzipan makes the most incredible rugelach which are little twist pastries filled with hazelnut chocolate and to make them even more delicious, they coat them in a magical syrup of extreme deliciousness and sell them fresh from the oven and warm.  The bakery is located just outside the shuk bordering a fairly main road and has been known to cause traffic jams as people line up.  In fact, we had to line up for 15 minutes (which was worth it) just to get a tray but it was so worth it.

On Saturday morning I joined a small group of my program on a walk to the Western Wall.  Although I have been to the Western Wall a number of times, going on a Saturday morning is something really special.  Men congregate at the wall to pray and sing covered in prayer shawls and tefillin.  There were some woman at the wall but the women's side was much quieter and subdued.

We saw a lot of these signs on our way to the Western Wall

Women's side

We spent the rest of the day taking part in activities that were centered around relaxing and reflecting.  My favourite activity was the art and craft activity based on the works of the Israeli artist Hanoch Piven.  Piven creates caricature portraits out of unconventional materials which look super cool.  We were asked to do the same of ourselves and try to show where we have been and where we are going.  

Below is mine.  As you can see, my bangs play a prominent part (ha), my eyes are Australian flags because my time in Israel has really made me realise how much I love being Australian, my nose and earrings are love hearts because I love it here and hope I continue to love it here for my final 5 months and my mouth is an upside down pastry because that's all I eat and I also loooooove the food of Israel.

I also gave myself an ABC necklace because at the moment, I am considering become an ESL teacher and getting qualified on my return to Brisbane but, like all necklaces, you take them off and change them so I really have no idea what I am doing next.

MM x