SUCCOS BREAK

Succos Break

Fist day of Chag :(yes keeping one day of yom tov was awesome in eretz Israel), my roommate Hadas and I went to the yeshuv Neve Tzuf. It was really beautiful there and the family was awesome. They only spoke hebrew so it was good practice for me to speak it and good practice for Hadas to be a translator =) It was really cool how everyone in the yeshuv knew eachother. All the kids even go succa to succa and tell a dvar torah and get candy. It was adorable. 

Thursday Night: Simchas Beis hashuava- Chaya took us all around Gaula and Measharim to see all the dancing

photo credit: Yossi Levinger

Shabbos: Hadassa S and I went to Ma'ale Adumim and stayed by Ze'ev- our teacher for David Project. Thank you so much for hosting us! Ma'ale Adumim is a  big yeshuv (settlement) that is more like a city than a yeshuv. It was beautiful and the people there are really friendly and nice. We davened at the carlebach shul and had dinner by Tehilla. She only let us speak hebrew there (since she's our ulpan teacher), but by the end of the meal her parents were talking to us in english =)

Sunday: Birkas Kohanim- 3 times a year everyone would come to Jerusalem to offer sacrificing in the Beis Hamikdash (aliyah haregel), and one of those times was for Succos

stunning succa in the old city

Succa Party at Pearl Bloch's (talmud teacher) in Har Nof

Monday: Hevron- kevarim tzedikim

The room of Yitzhak's kever was opened!

My roommate and me

Moshav Festival in Moshav Modi'in. Such a cool concert and hippie atmosphere. 

Nora and me

Tuesday: Had chasidus with Rabbi Levinger in the morning. At night we had "Pizza in the Hut" at their succa and listened to one of the girls play guitar. Then a friend and I went to the Moshav Band concert on Emec. Soul Farm opened for them, but Moshav was really awesome live.

Wednesday: Erev Yom Tov so we all prepared and had a longer davening and we did Hoshanas with the 5 willow leaves that you strike on the floor. When you hit them on the floor you get rid of all your bitterness for the rest of the year so you can have a sweet year.

At night I went to the Mayanot Shul and danced so much! It was super crowded so it had a rave-like vibe but only with kedusha. We did hakafos for a few hours and it ended at 9 which was pretty early. Then we tried to go to the old city to dance and went to the Tzamech Tzedek shul.

Simchas Torah: 

Had a relaxing morning and learned Chisidus before we went back to Mayanot Shul. At Mayanot the dancing started right after the beginning of Shachris (I think) because by the time I got there they already started! It was a lot of fun to dance and be b'simcha (happy) and sing niggunim and the day wasnt as crowded as the night before. It went really late- we left the shul at 4 to get to our meal at Shlomit's. The meal was beautiful and her family is awesome- she's one of 11 siblings all with red hair. 

Tonight (Friday) is shabbos Bereshis were we start reading the first parsha of the Torah. Succos is over and we are going back to our regular routine, but we should continue to feel the excitement and happiness of succos over the whole year.