Simchas Torah, A Memorable Shabbat, and Halloween

Hello again!

I think that last time I wrote I left off at Simchas Torah - which was an amazing holiday to experience here in Jerusalem. At all the shuls there is a part of the service where everyone leaves the sanctuary to go outside and sing and dance around with the Torah; it was a lot of fun. On Tuesday night, after the holiday ended, all the Nativers were taken to a big park where there was a continuing celebration, like a mini carnival, complete with food stands selling cotton candy and popcorn. There, the entire park went CRAZY dancing around and singing for several hours. It was really a great time.

On Friday night I decided I was sick of eating all my meals on base, so I resolved to have a meal out. There's a man named Jeff Seidel who will set anyone up for Shabbat or Holiday meals. The only catch is that he sets you up with very orthodox families in an attempt to convert you to orthodoxy. Not so worried about being converted (I enjoy bacon too much), I decided to try it out - he advertises through Facebook and HebrewU, so a few Nativ kids have used him to get meals before and I'd heard good things. If you don't call ahead of time, you can simply go to the Western Wall on Friday night, meet him by the water fountains, and be set up for dinner. So I got my friend Carmie to go with me and that's what we did.
Once at the wall, there were a lot of people standing around waiting to be set up. We introduced ourselves to Jeff, and told him we were from Nativ, and he immediately put us with a group. We then walked back to the house of Alan and Bonnie Cohen. It was me and my friend Carmie, two boys our age who were in Yeshiva, two tourists from America, and two other friends of the Cohens. Apparently the Cohens do this every Friday night, hosting anywhere from 8-15 people for a given meal.
When we arrived at the Cohens home, it was spectacular. Not only was the home itself gorgeous, but from my seat at the dinner table I had a view through the sliding glass door onto the patio - and behind that I could see the walls of the old city lit up. It was really incredible. The Cohens housekeepers served us four excellent courses, and we ate with fancy silverware. Between courses, we had shots of chocolate liquor to 'cleanse our palates.' It was a meal that was much needed and greatly appreciated considering the food I'm used to on base.
The Cohens have a tradition of going around the table and telling a little about yourself and how you were raised Jewishly. And although it was clear that they were orthodox and that their beliefs differed from my own, it was nice to have a discussion and I had gone into the dinner with the right mindset: ready to possibly be judged. Even though they were pushy at times, they were still very nice and obviously very generous. My personal feeling is if religion can inspire you to share and invite people into your homes and be hospitable, then that's what works for you - although I do believe you don't need Torah to do any of those things.
After dinner more people showed up, perhaps about 20, for oneg (snacks and singing after the meal), and snacks and wine were offered to all as songs were sung around the table. Apparently, because it had been raining very hard, that was a 'slow' night, and on some Friday nights up to 150 people enter their house for oneg.
At the end of the night we were given business cards with contact information and invited to join the facebook group "I did Shabbat with Alan & Bonnie Cohen in Jerusalem." Apparently this home is a tourist destination. Overall, it was a very memorable experience and a much-needed wonderful meal.

Normal classes at HebrewU resumed on Sunday, and I must say, I really missed it. I love being on campus and feeling like a real college kid, and I also enjoy being busy and having a routine. Between classes I get lunch and go to the gym, and I've started trying to talk to some of the kids in my classes who aren't on Nativ. I do enjoy all of my classes, and all of my professors are really nice. On Wednesday, it was pouring while I was in Mysticism class, and through the window I could see a rainbow. I excused myself from class to go look, and it was the most spectacular rainbow I've ever seen - it was a double, with one of them perfect with all the colors easily discernable, over the white stone houses and buildings of Jerusalem. I grabbed anyone who was around me and made them come look; it was incredible.

Additionally, Nativ offers activities for us at nights. There's a girls flag football league in Jerusalem, so Nativ has a team and we compete against Israeli high schools and Yeshiva girls' teams. We practice on Sundays or Thursdays, and the games are on Monday nights. This Monday will be our first scrimmage. The coaches assigned me to offense, center position (don't laugh, I'm not TERRIBLE), and last night at practice we learned some new plays for the scrimmage. On Sunday nights I also have book club where we're reading Israeli literature. Every other week we also have Disney B'Evreet, the club I started, where we watch Disney movies in Hebrew with English subtitles. Beauty and the Beast was a huge success, and I think next we might do The Jungle Book. Wednesday nights is the Beer Pong League that someone on Nativ started at a local bar, and if you want to see my standings you can view them at israelbeerpong.blogspot.com. Although my team (me, my friend Kesha, and my roommate Becky) have yet to win a game, we play really well and usually give the boys a run for their money. And we always have fun regardless.

Last night Nativ had its own Halloween party - even though no one in Israel recognizes the holiday. I dressed up as a tree, and coincedentally Adam and Eve made a guest appearance at the party and so I put on my glasses and became The Tree Of Knowledge. There were Britney Spearses, street signs, ninjas, and the Joker. We got a couple of funny looks from Israelis when we went out to get food, but it was a lot of fun anyway, although I do miss candy corn and pumpkins and trick-or-treating!

Thanks for reading, Shabbat Shalom and Happy Halloween!