Shana Tova from Jerusalem:
Friday September 18,2009
Today we had the opportunity to sleep in late for the first time all of Nativ. Davening was set for 8:30; however I was up at the regular hour of 7am so I could Skype my parents who were spending the Chag in New York with my Aunt and cousins. It was certainly worth waking up early considering it was the first time I had seen them since I left for Israel. After Davening at 8:30 we had a bunch of different sessions about Rosh Hashanah led by our Madrichim/Staff. I went to a session about the Torah Readings for Rosh Hashanah, the Minhagim/Customs of Rosh Hashanah, and a Advanaced Machzor session. They were all very interesting and I got something out of each of them. After the sessions were over, we had the rest of the afternoon open for Rosh Hashanah prep, sleep, and other fun activities that were all up to us. I decided that it would be fun to go with some people to lunch and then go do something that we hadn't done yet since getting to Jerusalem. We decided that we would go to the Mikvah before Rosh Hashanah and purify ourselves. So 6 of us went to the near by Mikvah for a little swim in the pit. It was a great bonding experience as well as a spiritual rejuvination before the Chagim. I am glad we went and I am pretty sure that we will be heading back their on Sunday before Yom Kippur.
After the Mikvah we all came back to Beit Nativ and just relaxed and got ready for Rosh Hashanah. I took a little nap and did some work before I had to shower and shave. We were all meeting in -3 of Beit Nativ at 6:00pm for Mincha and Ma'ariv. We all Davened together to welcome in the New Year. After a great davening to start the New Year we all headed upstairs to eat dinner as Nativ. We had the traditional Rosh Hashanah Seder with the new fruits and new food for the year. Something new this year that they added to the seder was the Rosh Dag/The Head of the Fish, which after all of the years I have been doing a Seder for Rosh Hashanah, I have never had before. A bunch of us dug right into the Fish Head and tackled it like it was our jobs. I was one of the ones who went right for it and I must say it really wasn't that unbearable. After a nice dinner their were a few groups of people going to different places. One group was going to walk to the Kotel and just hangout there for a bit. I didn't feel like going to the Kotel because you can't really hangout at the Kotel and besides which it was probably a zoo. So I roped a group of about 15-20 people into going on a walk to Yemin Moshe which is the giant windmill in Jerusalem. It has a beautiful look out of the golden walls of Jerusalem. We were at Yemin Moshe for about 45 minutes. We sang, heard words of Torah, but most importantly took in the amazing surroundings of the Jewish Capital, Jerusalem. After singing and gazing we headed back to Beit Nativ where I then called it a night cause I was needing to be up at 6:30 the next morning for davening.
Saturday September 19,2009
Wow... 6:30am is way too early to wake up for anything, especially for going to Shul on Rosh Hashanah where services are over much before the American services start. However, I was willing to wake up early because it was Rosh Hashanah. For both of the days of Rosh Hashanha, each group would be hosted on one of the days by one of two Masorti shuls in Talpiyot, about a 45 minute walk from Beit Nativ. The first day of Rosh Hashanah, the Kehilla Group was hosted. The two different shuls were, Mayaanot and Moreshet Avraham. I went to Mayaanot for davening the first day. It was an ok davening, nothing special. For lunch, my friend Seth and I were hosted by a British family who had made Aliyah to Israel about 15 or so years ago. It was a very nice lunch with very nice people. We headed back to the shul around 4:00pm so we could meet back up with the entire group to daven Mincha. We davened Mincha and started to make our way back to Jerusalem to Beit Nativ. On the way back to Beit Nativ we had a special guest meet us while we were walking. The guest was none other then RAIN!!! It only rained on us for a few minutes and it wasn't very heavy, but it was still a very nice surprise. We finally got back to Beit Nativ around 6:15-6:30ish just in time to change clothes and sit down for a few minutes before we went to get ready for Ma'ariv and candle lighting for the second day. We all davened together at Moreshet Yisrael, next door to Beit Nativ. After Ma'ariv, I went to dinner at some people who go to the Yeshiva with my friend Ariella. It was a great dinner and we had many different new fruits to add on to the theme of new things on Rosh Hashanah. Ariella and I left around 11:30 and headed back to base and I headed straight to bed cause I didn’t nap all day and I was sleepy.
Sunday September 20,2009
Day 2 of Rosh Hashanah.
Today I got to sleep in a bit later but not a whole lot. Today I went with about 10 people to a Shul called Kedem, which is an egalitarian shul that is lay led on Emek Refaim. It was a much better davening then the day before. The davening at Kedem reminded me of the davening that I remember back home when my brother and father do. I felt much more connected today then I did yesterday. After davening I went with a rabbinical student to lunch at our Tanach teachers house. On our way to lunch we had another guest give us a visit. This time it was HEAVY RAIN!!!! It poured on us for the entire 15 minute walk. It was a beautiful rain and a much needed one. I asked my Tanach teacher about the rain and she said as long as she can remember that she had never seen a rain this heavy before and never seen rain on Rosh Hashanah before so it was a good sign. I guess God was listening to our prayers. After a solid lunch and great company, I headed back to base for the rest of the afternoon. When I got back to base I went with my friend Josh to the Wilf Park across the street to do a short Tashlich service. It turns out that we were doing Talshlich all together as Nativ later in the day. Oh well! After we all do Tashlich we did Mincha and then waited about 15 minutes after Mincha to end Rosh Hashanah all together as Nativ in the outdoor amphitheater outside of Beit Nativ. That was really all that took part today. After we finished doing Ma’ariv I ate dinner and just stayed in for the night and caught up on my sleep. What a great end to such an inspirational and memorable Rosh Hashanah.
Thoughts on Rosh Hashanah in Israel
Coming into this Rosh Hashanah I was nervous about being away from home. Rosh Hashanah is one of my most personal and spiritual times for me. This year was going to be tough because I would be without my family for the first time and it would be a completely different environment. I think for the first of the Chagim away from home I was still connected. I think the reason for being so connected to my daevning and Chag was because I was in Jerusalem. This Rosh Hashanah brought new thoughts to my mind about how I will act as a person in the year to come. I don’t want to say that I have New Years resolutions in the traditional sense of the phrase, however I have goals for the upcoming year. This coming year is going to be a true challenge for me. I am away from home for a full year, I will be entering college in the fall, and I will start leading more of an independent lifestyle. It will be challenging at first however I am fairly confident that I will have enough will power to get my way through.
Gmar Chatimah Tova
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