Sunday September 27,2009
This morning we woke up at a little bit of a later time for davening and then we had Yom Kippur classes that our staff lead. I went to a session led by Elkana, who is the Nativ corridnator in the office, who spoke about the Yom Kippur War in 1973, and the second session I went to was lead by Yossi was about the Machzor and the services for Yom Kippur.
After the sessions, we had a twenty minute break before we had to meet again and Daven Mincha as Nativ. After Mincha was lunch and then we went to the Mikvah once again to ritually purify ourselves before Yom Kippur. After getting back from the Mikvah we had about an hour and a half before we had to be at dinner. Dinner was at 3:30pm. I felt like an old couple from Florida eating at that time, but I did it nonetheless. After dinner I finished getting dressed, I met Josh, Seth, Tyler, Seffi, Gabe, and Michael, and we all walked in the middle of the street to Kol Rina for Kol Nedrei.
Kol Rina was a very nice Kol Nedrei. The chazzan had a great voice and usem some very pretty tunes. It was a good service to welcome in Yom Kippur. After we finished at Kol Rina we headed back to base. As we were walking, we took a short detour and went through Ben Yehuda Street as well as the side streets near it just to see how dead it was. We were the only people on the streets. It is incredible to walk through such a busy and populated city and have no cars on the road and no people in the streets. It was a brand new experience. As we were walking up Agron street we saw at the top of the hill at the junction of Keren Hayasod and King George all of Nativ sitting in a circle in the middle of the street singing songs. This has been a Nativ tradition for many years and I was glad that I was able to do it also.
My night ended as we all sang Hatikvah facing the Prima Kings hotel. I was excited for what tomorrow would bring me. I went to bed early cause I was going to be getting up at 6am to make sure that I could get a seat at Shira Chadasha the next morning.
Monday September 28,2009
This morning I woke up at 6am and started waking up other people who had asked for a wake up call so we could get to Shira Chadasha on time to try to get seats. Judah and I got seats no problem, as did the girls who went with us early. Their were about 10 open seats on the mens side and about 4-6 open seats on the female side. Services started at 7:30am and we finally broke for a break at 2:15pm. It was a lot of davening and stand up sit down. It was probably the most inspirtational and moving davenings I have ever experiences on Yom Kippur. The person who davened Musaf is a professor of a bunch of the Nativers at Hebrew U and the man seriously knew how to daven. It was a beautiful and ruach filled Musaf, but I felt bad for him because he was on his feet and singing at the top of his lungs for a long time without breaking. The man deserved an award for nicest Musaf on Yom Kippur.
After a beautifully long morning, I went with Asaf and Cookie to Yemin Moshe for Mincha and the end of the fast. I was physically and spiritually drained by the time we started Mincha that I thought I was going to pass out. Luckily, I pulled through it and made it all the way to the end of Neeilah and the Shofar Blowing. As we finished saying Havadalah, the three of us rushed outside to what we thought would be a break fast, but there was nothing at all. We were so dissapointed. I did't think I was going to make it back to base with out falling on my face. We quickly made it back to base and we ran straight for the cake and chocolate milk in the bag and I quickly crashed on the chair in the lobby of Beit Nativ. What a relief.
We broke the fast with the rest of Nativ and just had dinner back at base a hour or so after the fast ended. I went to bed at a good hour cause I was so dead from such an amazing Yom Kippur in Jerusalem.
Reflections of Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur in Israel was one of the most inspirtationally filled 25 hours I have ever experience. The entire city is dead; no cars, no noise, no nothing. Just people walking to and from shul who pass you in the street and exchange greetings of Shanna Tova or Gmar Tov. One of the most memorable experiences will certainly be sitting in the middle of the street and singing with the rest of Nativ as we offically welcome in Yom Kippur. I believe that Yom Kippur is a happy day and is one of if not the happiest days of the year and it was certainly proved by us singing. I am not sure I would come back to Israel again for Yom Kippur because it was probably to inspirationally moving for me, but I certainly enjoyed it regardless.
L'Shana Habah B'Yeushalyim!!!
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