Istanbul (Not Constantinople)!

Time for my long-awaited post about our big trip to Turkey (unless, of course, you didn't know about my trip since I've waited two weeks to write about it)! The Israeli parts of my nice, long Sukkot break were spent: at services at Har-El where I took a shot of whiskey with the American cantor, at a VERY strange parade up and down the biggest street in the city that consisted of Israeli kids, bank workers, musicians, and veterans, as well as evangelical Christians form all over the world, and Simchat Torah (the holiday where we finish reading the last part of Deuteronomy and start the beginning of Genesis) where I got to play in the HUC "band" for the hakafot (7 circles danced with the Torah).

















Israel Defense Force Band















The start of the Evangelical Christian Groups















A very awesome group














BRASIL!

Joel, Ari, and I headed off for Istanbul on Thursday night... after a delayed flight on a charter airline and a bus ride full of Israelis also vacationing in Turkey, we arrived at the (not so) amazing Hotel Klas. We went out exploring that first night to find a) dinner and b) the big sites we were interested in seeing the next day. Dinner was at the (fake) authentic Ottoman restaurant Safran where we ate gozelemes (crepes made with potatoes, spinach, etc), kabobs, rice, and all kinds of other "authentic" foods. After dinner, we found our way to the heart of Sultanahmet, the old city of Istanbul, where we took pictures of the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia, the main old city attractions that happen to be BEAUTIFUL at night.















The Blue Mosque at night














Hagia Sophia at night


Friday, our first day, started with an interesting (read: yucky- hard boiled eggs, toast and butter, some weird hot dog looking things, and cheese) breakfast at Hotel Klas, followed by a visit to the Blue Mosque. The Blue Mosque was built in 1616 by Sultan Ahmed, is the national mosque of Turkey, and is known as the Blue Mosque because of the blue iznik tiles adorning the inside of the mosque. The Blue Mosque the very first tourist attraction I've ever visited in my socks! After the Blue Mosque, we hit our next big site- Hagia Sophia. Hagia Sophia (Aya Sophia in Turkish) is a church turned mosque turned museum that was built by Emperor Justinian in 537- it is still standing and looking amazingly beautiful after almost 1500 years! Hagia Sophia's most impressive feature (besides it's age) is the presence of famous, beautiful mosaics all over the church. Our next stop after Hagia Sophia was... (drumroll please)... STARBUCKS! We hadn't seen a Starbucks (or drip coffee- we mostly have instant here in Israel) in four months, so we figured we should visit! We then went to Topkapi Palace, which was the official residence of Ottoman sultans from 1465-1853. The Palace boasts 4 courtyards and an amazing number of rooms- we saw the kitchens, treasury (home to some amazingly huge diamonds and the Topkapi dagger), and most impressively, the Harem (residence of the Sultan and his mother, wives, concubines, and children). We even saw/heard a performance of a Mehter Band- the Ottoman military band! Before we left, we saw a temporary exhibit of Turkish synagogues at the palace- talk about surprises!














Blue Mosque




















I'm at the Blue Mosque!
















Inside of the Blue Mosque















Hagia Sophia















Inside of Hagia Sophia















Mosaic inside Hagia Sophia Hagia Sophia















Kicking back with a Starbucks drink















Topkapi Palace















the Mehter band

After our crazy day of siteseeing, we finally grabbed lunch at 4pm! After "lunch," we decided to quickly check out the Grand Bazaar, built in 1461- this covered market is the largest of its kind in the world, covering over 58 streets! The bazaar includes 6,000 stores...leather stores, jewelry stores, clothing stores, souvenir shops, dish stores, and more! After a quick break at the fabulous Hotel Klas, we took the street car through the old city and across the bridge straddling the Golden Horn (water between the old city and new city) to the new city of Istanbul, called Beyoğlu. We walked through Istiklal Caddessi, the main drag of the new city, and checked out all the hopping bars and clubs, cool restaurants, and designer shops. We ate dinner at a very Turkish restaurant- "Fast Wok"! We clearly needed another taste of America! After dinner, we checked out a famous bar called 360 that had gorgeous views of the entire city AND $14 drinks... oops!














My big apple tea and Ari's little apple tea














360 bar and the view!

We began Saturday with a trip to another part of Istanbul- the Asian side! Yes, the city not only has a new side and an old side, but it also has a side on another continent! We took the ferry to the Asian side for only a dollar, and then went about exploring the neighborhoods. Since the Asian side is mostly residential, we decided to take a risk by searching for a famous Jewish neighborhood and synagogue in an area called Kuzguncuk. Good news- we found the synagogue! Bad news- we were immediately stopped by the Turkish "polis" who checked Ari's passport, tried to decided if we were Jewish, and had us VERY scared. They didn't speak English, we didn't speak Turkish, and since we weren't sure what they were thinking about us, we decided to just get out of there! We took the ferry back to the European side of the city to check out the Spice Bazaar, where we bought apple tea and baklava, and tried a disgusting candy called "Turkish Delight"! After the Spice Bazaar, we had lunch in a bazaar restaurant, and then went shopping the Grand Bazaar. We did some serious bargaining to buy pashminas for me and the guys' moms/sisters, and I even had a 50 year old store owner chase after me and offer me free stuff if I would go on a date with him! I got out of it by pretending that Ari was my boyfriend and getting him to tell the guy that he wouldn't want me going out with someone else!











On the ferry with Joel












Joel and me eating baklava

After this long, tiring, and cold (who knew it was cold in Istanbul this time of year?) day, we went back to the hotel to rest before our night out. Due to the fact that we were tired, cold, dirty, and all had to pee, we clearly got stuck in the elevator. For at least ten (very long) minutes. When the elevator got to what we thought was our floor, it opened up to a cement wall- clearly not our floor! We closed the door and tried another floor- same thing! As we tried every floor, we started getting nervous... so, we hit the alarm button- and nothing happened. We start trying to decide how we're ever going to get out, if anyone knows we're stuck, how we're going to "hold it" for several hours, and think "well, it's good that we have pretzels to eat and cards to play with!" We tried one more time at the top floor- this time, we managed to get about a foot of room at the top of the open elevator that was actually on a floor- so Ari jams his arm in the door, rips it halfway open, and yells (in English, which nobody understood) that we are stuck. Some guys are on this floor (they know the elevator is broken), tell us something in Turkish, and pretty soon free us from our prison. After a few hours playing cards to recoup from this event, we headed out for our big night on the town.

We spent our last night in Istanbul in the quaint, beautiful village of Ortaköy... even though it took about an hour to get there in the crazy traffic, we really enjoyed this neighborhood. We ate dinner overlooking the Bosphorus Strait, next to the Mecidiye Mosque, found the Eitz HaHayim synagogue (which made up for our sad adventure on the Asian side), and had a decidedly Turkish evening drinking tea, eating dessert, playing cards, and smoking nargile (water pipe) at a restaurant with the same beautiful view.












Eitz HaHayim Synagogue




















Our evening relaxation spot

Our last day, Sunday, started with a trip to the Galata Tower on the new side of the city. The Galata Tower was built by the Genoese in 1348, survived fires and earthquakes, and even served as a prison at some point! For us, it was a great way to overlook the whole city and take some great pictures. Afterwards, we found the Pera Palas Hotel, the hotel where all the Orient Express passengers stayed and where Agatha Christie supposedly wrote Murder on the Orient Express... unfortunately, we just saw the outside since it's closed for renovations.












Enjoying the view from the Galata Tower












Ari at the Pera Palas Hotel

After a stop for some Turkish coffee, we headed back to the old city side to see the Sirkeci Station, the terminus of the Orient Express and the current last stop for all trains coming through Europe. As we walked around eating all the different kinds of corn sold on the street (this was clearly my idea), we fond the Book Bazaar, another great outdoor market in the Grand Bazaar area. We then saw the Süleymaniye Mosque complex, built in 1557, which includes the mosque (most of which is unfortunately under renovation), Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent's tomb, the tomb of his favorite wife Roxelana, and the tomb of the famous architect Sinan. We visited the Hippodrome, which used to be a Byzantine stadium and racetrack, but is now a park marked with three monuments (dating back 500, 1000, and 1500 years respectively). We had lunch on the main street of Sultanahmet, did a little souvenir shopping, and then played cards FOREVER in the lobby of the hotel since our airport transfer bus was over an hour late!! We took one last picture of the ridiculous but well-located Hotel Klas, boarded our charter plan again at the Istanbul airport, arrived in Israel, and took a sherut back to our apartments.












Orient Express train at Sirkeci Station












Goodbye Hotel Klas!

• For more (and definitely easier to read) details on our trip, check out Joel's blog at http://sandsandcliffs.blogspot.com/

• For more pictures of the trip, check out my Picassa website at http://picasaweb.google.com/meredith.kahan

And update on life post-Sukkot break coming soon!

Meredith

Chag Sameach!

Chag Sameach (Happy Holiday)! Last night started Sukkot, another of the fall holidays of the Jewish calendar. Over the last few weeks, I have celebrated Rosh HaShanah (the Jewish New Year), Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), and Sukkot (Festival of Booths). Sukkot will continue through next week (the holiday is a week long), ending in Shmini Atzeret (the 8th Day of Assembly, the 8th day after the 7 days of Sukkot) and Simchat Torah (the day celebrating the Torah and the reading of the last part of the Bible and then the first part). While these holidays are important in the US, especially Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur, this season of holidays are of the utmost important and are the center of attention here in Israel. Think Christmas... but instead of pictures of Santa and "Merry Christmas" on the Coke bottles, here there are streamers and "Chag Sameach" written on my 1.75 (usually 1.5 L, but apparently there is a 1/4 L "bonus" for the holiday!) Liter bottle of Diet Coke! Now for a run-down of my holiday experience thus far...

Israel's version of Santa Claus Coke bottles!

Rosh HaShanah

I just have to mention, before I talk about Rosh HaShanah, that I held a 5am football watching party at my apartment for the OSU vs. Wisconsin game… needless to say, we had some rivalries going on, especially between Ari (Wisconsin alum) and me. As the picture shows, we handled this extremely maturely!

I spent Erev (evening) Rosh HaShanah services at HUC. Services were led by our rockstar Dean, Rabbi Dr. Michael Marmur, Cantor Dr. Eliyahu Schleifer (a 70 year old cantor who is one of the foremost experts of European chazzanut (Jewish liturgical music), especially the music of the old Reform European communities), and the HUC student choir, composed of our all-female cantorial class and several of the rabbinic student men. Services at HUC were familiar as far as music goes, but there was very little congregational participation and there were very few people there, even as compared to my smaller congregation in Cincinnati. After services, the majority of the HUC class gathered for a catered Rosh HaShanah seder (festival meal and service where we blessed the seven species of Israel- pomogranates, dates, grapes, figs, wheat, barley, and olives) and dinner. After dinner, Harrison (another rabbinic student with whom I intern at the Kibbutz) led a song session for all of the students.

The first day of Rosh HaShanah was spent at HUC services again- they were a bit better than the first day, but still disappointing in the lack of participation and the small number of attendees. After services, I brought tuna salad to a lovely brunch held by Amy and Sarah. A Rosh HaShanah nap was followed by dinner at Adena's, to which I brought my first ever homemade fried rice.
As I don't usually attend 2nd day Rosh HaShanah services in the States, I wasn't sure that I wanted to go to HUC services again. Jaclyn, Joel, and I decided that we would "shul hop" for the 2nd day instead of going back to HUC for the whole morning. We visited (in this order) Masoret Yisrael (the congregation affiliated with the American Conservative movement), the Great Synagogue (the official Orthodox congregation of Jerusalem), the Italian Synagogue (a historical synagogue that was essentially disassembled in Italy and rebuilt here in Israel), and Har-El (the oldest Progressive congregation in Jerusalem, with whom HUC held services that day). Masoret Yisrael was a perfectly lovely and familiar if not boring experience- my classmates and I brought the average age of the congregation down about forty years, and most of the congregants were clearly native North Americans. The Great Synagogue was certainly busier than Masoret Yisrael- there were a few hundred people there at least, with men and women praying in their respective parts of the synagogue and children running all around with their snacks and toys. I truly enoyed the spirited singing of the Cantor and (all-male) choir, but because I a) was not too familiar with the tunes and b) was given a Siddur that was Hebrew/Russian, I had a hard time following along. I felt very much on the outside because I was sitting in the women's section (a HUGE balcony) but I enjoyed observing this unique experience. The Italian Synagogue was the most physically beautiful of the synagogues we visited. There was an intense feeling of prayerfulness in the shul, both in the women’s section (which had room for about 20 and was packed with at least 40 people plus their children) and the men’s section (which women freely stood on the edge of and peeked in to). I had a hard time participating here due to my lack of seat/space to pray and prayerbook, but it was very cool to see this close-knit of a community (in fact, my roommate Deana's aunt married an Italian guy and this is their congregation). Our last stop was at Har-El, though unfortunately we only caught the sermon (given in Hebrew!), shofar blowing, and closing prayers.

Rosh HaShanah was concluded with a GREAT dinner at Leslie's, which featured about 20 guests, my regular AND sweet potatoes, lots of other great food, and at least 15 bottles of wine... OY. We had a practical seminar day after Rosh HaShanah ended, and then had another two days off for Shabbat! I got to spend a great Friday in Tel Aviv with Leslie and Jaclyn that was full of all kinds of crazy adventures, including a Sherut car accident, cab drivers predicting Armageddon, and better food than can be found anywhere in Jerusalem. We then had three regular days of school before Yom Kippur started.

OSU v. Wisconsin pillow fight prior to the game

songleading at the HUC dinner

dinner at Leslie's... see my potatoes?

Yom Kippur
In preparation for the break fast meal that my roommates and I held on Thursday night, I spent my day on Wednesday running around the city to various Holy Bagel locations attempting to pick up our bagel order- clearly not as easy as it is in the States! Because Yom Kippur evening services start much earlier here than at home (daylight savings time starts on the weekend between Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur here, meaning that the sun now goes down around 5pm!), Joel and I, along with classmates Benji and Leah and a friend of Leah's from home, went to classmate Daniel and his girlfriend Jessica's apartment for a pre-fast meal at 2:30pm! Dinner was GREAT, but it was weird to be eating this big festival meal in the middle of the day. Kol Nidre (Yom Kippur evening services, named for the important prayer found at the beginning of the service) services were the best of all of the HUC services, in my opinion. There were TONS of people there, every sang along, and services were held in a room that has a huge picture window overlooking the Old City (this was also the case for Rosh HaShanah). The cantorial students sang many of the major pieces (they also did this for Rosh HaShanah) during services, including Sh'ma Koleinu, Avinue Malkeinu, and Unetaneh Tokef- they were SO impressive! After services, a bunch of us walked together down to the German Colony neighborhood to see one of Jerusalem's most amazing sights of the year. Yom Kippur is the one day of the year in Israel where truly NOBODY drives (this is not necessarily the case on Shabbat, even in Jerusalem)... as a result, you can literally just walk around in the middle of huge streets- and everyone does! I walked down the middle of some of the largest, busiest streets in the city during Yom Kippur- totally crazy! That night, we went to see the Jerusalem phenomenon that everyone's been talking about- after services, people come out onto the streets of their neighborhoods to make in-person apologies to their friends, neighbors, and family (as required in Judaism in order to be forgiven for the offenses against other people). It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

On Yom Kippur, I attended services ALL day, except for a quick hour break during which I took a nice nap. I had two favorite parts of the services that day. First was the addition of a Sephardic (Jews originating from Spain- including Morrocan, Yemenite, Spanish, Italian, etc. Jews today) Slichot (service asking for forgiveness) service- this was very new to me but very easy to participate in. The other moment was when the congregation sang Hatikvah ("The Hope" the national anthem of Israel) while overlooking the Old City at night- it was SO powerful and the first true moment of this year that I felt completely content being here in Israel. After services, about 60 people gathered at our apartment for a break fast!!! It was so great to get the entire class together, but it was very smushed and definitely crazy!

sampling some of the break fast food

Josh, Jason, me, Jimmy, Lisa, Joel, and Jaclyn enjoying the food

Sukkot
The three and a half days leading up to Sukkot after Yom Kippur were fairly eventful. On Friday, a bunch of my classmates gathered to decorate the Sukkah (festival booth) at school- it kind of looking likes it was decorated by 8-year-olds, but we're proud of it! Afterwards, I went on an excursion with some classmates to see the temporary shuk (market) set up for the selling of the Arba Minim (the four species- the three kinds of branches that make up the Lulav (myrtle, palm, and willow), and the Etrog, which sort of looks like a lemon- you hold these four together and shake them during Sukkot services and while in your Sukkah). This was a very unique experience, and I even got to buy three Etrogim with which I will eventually make jam or liqueur, whichever I decide sounds like more fun later on- for now, they're just smelling up my room! That evening, after a trip to the regular Shuk to buy food, Joel made a great Shabbat dinner at his apartment. Shabbat was spent, for the fourth weekend now, with Joel and Ari- our thing is to have a completely relaxing day… SO, we make breakfast for lunch (it’s been French toast, this week was cottage cheese pancakes- very good!) and then watch two movies, usually at least one of which I have never seen.

Joel and me in the Sukkah at HUC

Dean Marmur joined in on the fun

an Orthodox man inspecting palm branches for his Lulav

Saturday evening was Jason’s 25^th birthday dinner, followed by my first ever experience at Babette’s, this amazing waffle place (see the pictures to catch my drift). On Sunday, our class took a field trip for our Israel seminar class to Tel Aviv to learn about the founding of the country, the Palmach army that fought for Israel’s independence, and Tel Aviv’s unique identity. Sukkot started yesterday evening not with any Sukkot celebrations, but with a lovely dinner with friends. I spent the day getting work done, running errands, having a nice lunch and relaxing afternoon with Sarah, and making brownies. I brought my brownies (as did Joel and Leslie) to Jaclyn’s house to have dinner with her mom who is visiting from the States! This morning, I attended Sukkot services at Har-El- I got to shake the Lulav and Etrog, act as the golelet (the person who dresses the Torah after it’s read), and take a shot of brandy with the cantor in the Sukkah- it was quite a day! The city has been gearing up for Sukkot, and rumor has it that all kinds of awesome things (an Evangelical Christian parade for their celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles, live music and concerts, dancing in the parks, and Sukkahs EVERYWHERE at every apartment building, hotel, restaurant, and synagogue) will be going on here- I’ll keep you posted. After Sukkot will be Shmini Atzeret and Simchat Torah- the evening of this day will be spent at Kibbutz Gezer, the kibbutz where I am the intern. They have invited our entire class to the Kibbutz for the holiday, so Harrison and I are taking 25 classmates there to visit. The next morning, I, along with many of my classmates, will be playing music at Har-El for the hakafot (dancing with the Torah).

waffle eating is clearly a skill that I do not possess

I’m sorry that this has been the longest post EVER… however, I am spending the rest of my Sukkot break (that’s right, I’m on break for 10 days, not that I’ve been to more than 6 days of school in the last month!) in ISTANBUL!! Joel, Ari, and I are traveling to Istanbul for four days at the end of this week. My next blog entry will be all about our trip.

Chag Sameach!

Meredith

Happy New Year 5769!

Well, once again, it's been too long since I've written! Such is the life of a rabbinic student, I suppose. I'll try my best to give you the run down of the first month of school!

The week that Sean left was also the first week of "real" classes at HUC. I am taking Modern Hebrew (a continuation of my summer Hebrew ulpan), Biblical Grammar (I have an amazingly hilarious teacher named Hanna Saggie for both classes), Rabbinic Literature (Mishna, Talmud, etc etc), Liturgy (learning the what, why, author, meaning, etc of prayers), History of the Zionist Movement, 2nd Temple History, and Israel Seminar (which is a little bit of class combined with all kinds of cool field trips around the country, learning about the current society of Israel). I am also taking Reform Jews Reading Sources, an elective class with the Dean of the school, and Cantillation for Cantors (chanting Torah, Haftarah, Megillot, etc, with the cantors so that I don't have to take the class with the rabbis!). On Sundays, Mondays, and Tuesdays, I have class from 8:30am until about 4:30pm, while Thursdays are a short day, with class until noon! Wednesdays are reserved specifically for Israel Seminar, so that we can go on field trips. We are also required to participate in Liturgy Workshop, which means that rabbinic and education students team up with cantorial students to plan and lead a service (nothing too new for me, but definitely a first time thing for many of the students)- in addition, rabbinic students are required to read and translate Torah and to deliver a D'var Torah (sermon).

Israel Seminar started with a three-day tiyul to the beautiful North- the Galilee and the Golan Heights. We stayed on the banks of the Kinneret- the Sea of Galilee, and travelled all over. We visited some of the first Moshavim- colonies started by immigrants to Israel in the late 1800s and early 1900s. We learned about Baron Rothschild, a weathly European Jew who financed a good portion of the building of the state of Israel. We also met with residents of the Golan Heights, a disputed area of Israel (the "Land for Peace" movement advocated giving this area to Syria- VERY controversial), and learned about the struggles of the people who live there. One day included a tour of the Tel Dan archeological dig site, directed by the head of the archeological school at HUC, David Ilan. We of course got to do some great, relaxing "North" activities, such as swimming in the natural pools and waterfall of Sachne, having an Israel song session on the banks of the Kinneret, and going to some great lookout points. The entire tiyul was great with one exception- I had an awful cold and ended up going to bed at 10:30 every night! Even so, it was good bonding opportunity for the class AND I got to buy Naot clogs (the Israeli Birkenstocks) at the Kibbutz where Naots are manufactured.

tomb of Baron Rothschild

Dr. David Ilan showwing us around Tel Dan

the view of the Kinneret from the Kinneret cemetary (burial place of LOTS of famous Israelis)

Lisa, Jimmy, Joel, and me having fun at one of the moshavot, Tel Hai

I am getting involved in several activities here at school. First of all, I'm on the Kef (fun, but really meaning social) Committee, which plans social events for the entire class to do together. We held our first event on the Saturday night following the first week of school- this was a Havdallah potluck in the park to celebrate making it through our first crazy week. I am also continuing on with the Parallel Lives program, which has some of the HUC students teamed up with Israeli soliders in one of the elite units- we recently met up with them for a tour of the Old City and a dinner at school. I am re-attempting Tae Kwon Do, since one of my classmates has agreed to teach a class- it's been about ten years since I've done it, so I'll keep you posted as to how this goes! Finally, the thing I'm MOST excited about- I've joined the community choir sponsored by HUC, called the Hallel Choir. The choir is composed of about 60 people, including ten-ish HUC students and lots of (mostly older- and I mean like 70 or 80 years old!) community members. It's been a great experience, especially meeting people from the community AND learning music completely in Hebrew (I don't mean that the lyrics are in Hebrew but rather that the conductor teaches entirely in Hebrew)! I am also singing in an octet for a special benefit dinner at HUC- very exciting!

First Kef Committee Program- Havdallah Sababa lead by Ari and me

One of the best parts of the last few weeks was my cousin Melissa's visit to Israel! She had been several times as a kid, but was last here in high school ten years ago! She came for a week with her friend Brian, who is Catholic, which meant that they got to see all kinds of interesting sites that she (and/or me) wouldn't have gotten to see otherwise. The first two days of their visit were in Jerusalem, so I met them right after they arrived and took them for lunch at Ben Yehuda Street... what we didn't know was that this would start a VERY interesting day! While we were eating our falafel on Ben Yehuda in a HUGE Friday afternoon crowd (and I was 10 feet away throwing away our garbage), someone walked away with my purse... OY! After a quick trip to the Shuk (we were almost there, we just had to keep going!), we had to return to my apartment so that I could spend the next few hours on the phone with the credit card companies! After the Great Purse Snatching of 2008 (this event's official name), Melissa, Brian, and I explored the Jewish Quarter and Christian Quarter of the Old City. I hosted Shabbat dinner at my apartment that night so that Melissa could meet my friends, and then slept a few hours before my exciting Saturday with the travelers! On Saturday, we went to the Israel Museum to see the Shrine of the Book, where the Dead Sea Scrolls are housed. Afterward, we headed back to the Old City to explore the Church of the Holy Sepulcher- a truly unique and amazing experience for me. The Church is said to be the site of Jesus' crucifixion, burial, and resurrection. We made a return trip to the wall, and Melissa and Brian walked the ramparts of the Old City while I went to the Kef Committee Havdallah party! We went out to dinner together in the German Colony, and then I took them to a bar with hookah/nargila (water pipes with tobacco) for the Israeli bar experience! They continued on with their tour of Israel while I went on my three day tiyul, and then I met them for a final day together in Tel Aviv on Friday to explore the Nachalat Binyamin craft fair and Old Jaffa (the oldest city in Israel outside of the Old City in Jerusalem). It was wonderful to see Melissa and definitely cool to be in Israel with Brian as he saw it for the very first time.

Site of the Crucifixion, Church of the Holy Sepulcher

Brian touching the stone where Jesus was laid out and cleansed prior to burial, Church of the Holy Sepulcher

Melissa and me at the overlook by the Kotel

Out to dinner in the German Colony

Melissa, Brian, and me on the beach in Tel Aviv (Old Jaffa is in the background)

That's all for now... I wish everyone a Shanah Tovah U'Metukah (A Good and Sweet Year) for 5769!! I will write again this week telling you all about my crazy Rosh HaShanah in the Holy Land!!

Happy New Year 5769!
Love, Meredith

"Eilat" of fun in Eilat

It has certainly been awhile since my last entry… and I really thought I was on a roll there for awhile! The few weeks since “chili night” have been pretty eventful. First was the last week of our summer session which included ulpan and bible history. We had our last few days of classes, took a final exam (which apparently I passed, since I’m still here!!), and had an end of the summer party with our teachers. Ulpan ended a day early so that the class could go on an all-day tiyul to the northern part of Israel on Wednesday, but I skipped the tiyul because…

Sean finished his Taglit-Birthright trip on Wednesday morning, and arrived at my apartment at 10am! Sean and I spent Wednesday hanging out, exploring my neighborhood, eating in some great Jerusalem restaurants, and of course, doing all of his laundry! On Thursday, after getting ourselves VERY lost in the Arab Quarter of the Old City (my fault!), Sean got the chance to meet all of my friends at one of the student’s (Jon) surprise birthday parties. Afterwards, we went with a few friends to the Jerusalem Beer Festival where we (obviously) tasted beer and (not so obviously) watched some crazy bike trick exhibition… clearly, the Beer Festival is an exciting event. We had a great Shabbat dinner at Leslie’s, and spent Saturday relaxing and watching the first Buckeye game on the computer (not only do I have Slingbox, I now also have access to all of the shows that Sean is recording and storing on a computer built especially for recording TV)!

Sean and me at Jon's birthday party

On Sunday morning, Sean and I got on a 7am bus bound for EILAT!! For those that don’t know, Eilat is the southernmost city in Israel, situated on the Red Sea (it’s real name is the Sea of Reeds, but it became the Red Sea due to a typo in an English printing of a Bible… also called Suf Yam in Hebrew). It is now mainly a vacation spot, but does have some industry located in the area. Of course, with a name like Eilat, the city invites a bunch of "alot" jokes! We stayed at a great hotel near the beach and the promenade, and had access to the VIP lounge, which we maybe visited too much to get the free snacks and diet coke! We did all kinds of great activities in Eilat, including LOTS of eating and trying out fun restaurants. Sunday was spent exploring the city, eating (of course), and resting after a VERY long bus ride. Monday was our scuba diving day in the Red Sea, which arguably has some of the best diving in the world (Sean thinks Bonnaire is better, but what does he know!). Unfortunately, my ears clogged up during our first dive, so I had to surface while the rest of the group continued the diving… this wouldn’t have been so bad, since I got to dive in the Red Sea last summer, except that a bunch of “Medusa” fish bit me all over my legs. Sean did a second dive that day so that he could experience the diving in Eilat, while I watched the awesome windsurfers that were doing cool tricks in the water off of the dive shop beach.

On Tuesday, Sean and I went to Petra, Jordan. I visited Petra last summer while I was in Eilat, but Sean and I thought he should see it, so off we went! The pictures of Petra below are from last summer’s trip, since Sean took the pictures of this trip and they’re with him in the States! Don’t worry; since the city dates back to the 1^st century BCE, it looks exactly the same! Petra is an ancient Nabotean city, located near Aaron’s burial place, carved almost entirely into sandstone mountains. Though Naboteans (Aramaic-speaking Semite traders) who lived in Petra dwelled in free-standing homes that are no longer in existence, EVERYTHING else from the ancient city, including carvings of gods and idols, the Treasury building (originally built as a tomb for someone important, but rumored to have stored treasure- thus it’s name), burial tombs, the aqua-duct and water pipe systems, and a large amphitheatre similar to the coliseum in Rome. We entered through the eastern side of the city, walking through a dark, narrow passageway called the Siq (shaft), which leads first to the Treasury, and then on to the more open part of the city, which includes the amphitheatre and more tombs and monuments. We ended our tour with a big buffet meal, and then took the long, steep, 4 kilometer walk up to the entrance of the city. The tour was wonderful, and definitely worth a second trip. Enjoy the pictures!

the view of the Petra mountains from a hillside in Jordan

the Siq

a monument for one of the many Nabotean gods

remnants of the ancient water system

the view of the Treasury as seen from the Siq

the beautiful Treasury

the amphitheater

We spent the last two days of our trip enjoying the beach and pool in Eilat, checking out more fun restaurants and bars, and just relaxing on the balcony of the hotel. We hosted a big Shabbat dinner at our apartment last Friday, which was spent recapping all of our great trips during break (the guys and Amy went hiking in the Golan and Galilee, Lisa and Leslie went to Crete, and Deana and Jason traveled to Rhodes). Saturday was spend getting ready for the start of the actual school year, and of course, watching the Buckeye game! While the game was pretty ridiculous, we actually go to watch it on TV… yes, I have ESPN here in Israel!!

I’ll write another entry soon to tell you all about my first week of school, since I think this is enough to read. Sean left Israel last night, Monday the 8^th, after 10 days touring with his friend on Birthright, and another 13 days with me in Jerusalem and Eilat. It was hard to see him go, but I’m looking forward to going home in January, when I can see him again, and finally see my family and friends!

I’ll be back soon with the back to school edition of the blog! Happy Fall (it’s still unbearably hot here, but that’s another story)!!!