I went for a walk yesterday around Jerusalem and realized as I walked past many of the apartment buildings that I was getting very hungry. Because I hadn't eaten yet? No. Because people were cooking in preparation for Erev Rosh Hashanah and all the smells were wafting out of the building. It was a very delicious smelling walk to say the least.
The holidays in Israel are really quite spectacular. I ran around like a crazy woman the day of trying to clean the apartment, cook, and get ready for services. When they finally arrive it was all the more beautiful. Services were held at HUC in the Blaustein Synagogue. The synagogue faces the Old City and there are all glass windows so everyone can see out during the service. It's spectacular, particularly when the sun setting. I had the honor of starting the service and lit the yom tov candles. I must say that it was one of the must out of body experiences of my life. I felt so relaxed as I struck the match to light the candle. I closed my eyes and began the blessing. Everything about it felt so right. By saying the blessing I felt that I truly began the new year.
I've been thinking a bunch of the past few days about the past, present, and future. More so than most years, my life has changed a very significant amount. I graduated Brandeis and left a wonderful community of friends, I found that I love working with the elderly, I moved to a new country, I began cantorial school, I've watched my friends begin new jobs and new schools, I've made new friends. It's a lot to take in. But through out all of the crazy changes and chaos, I've somehow finally reached a sense of calm with this new year. A fresh page to begin writing on as I live in Jerusalem for the year. I look forward to continuing to develop my life as a cantorial student in Israel as well as to maintaing my connections to friends and family at home.
Shanah tova! May this be a year of sweet blessings for you all!
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
I've been remiss...but I also lack a hard drive
I'm very sorry that I haven't updated in awhile. I actually have a good excuse though. The hard drive of my computer died. Yes, died. Therefore, I do not have a functioning lap top at the moment. I have been depending on the library and the kindness of my roommate to let me borrow the computer.
Despite this snafoo, life here has been incredibly busy, but very good. We just got back from a trip to the North to visit the Golan Heights and the Galilee. It was absolutely gorgeous and I relearned tons about the area. I forgot how much I love the north and all the scenery. One our last night there we had maariv (evening) services by the Kinneret. The way the sun hit the mountains made it look like the ground was covered with skin. The way the light played of the shapes of the mountains were just unbelievable. I loved it.
Now I'm back at school and trying as hard as I can to keep up with my massive amounts of work. First and foremost is preparation for the High Holidays. I will be singing with the choir and have a few solos as well. I'm also going to be singing a duet with another cantorial student. Of all my solos I think I'm most excited to say the candle blessings at the beginning of the service on Erev Rosh Hashanah. I find the candle blessings to always be very meaningful and I'm so honored and excited to be singing. The other big preparation right now is for a service I'm leading on October 6th. During the year, services are held on Saturday mornings and are all student led. The two rabbis that bravely signed up for the first service of the year didn't have a cantor and asked me if I would be interested. Being a person that finds it hard to say no, I said yes. So I've been very busy learning the weekday nusach (melodies) and preparing music. It feels like a lot of pressure, but I'm very excited. I think it's going to be a beautiful service.
So now I'm home, trying to relax, and beat my cold before the holidays officially start up. I'm well on my way and have stayed home during a bunch of classes to sleep. But soon the weekend will be here and I'll be able to just sit and relax.
I hope you're doing well at home! The best way to stay in contact with me till my computer is fixed is via email. Miss you!
So now I'm home, trying to relax, and beat my cold before the holidays officially start up. I'm well on my way and have stayed home during a bunch of classes to sleep. But soon the weekend will be here and I'll be able to just sit and relax.
I hope you're doing well at home! The best way to stay in contact with me till my computer is fixed is via email. Miss you!
Thursday, September 11, 2008
My first week of classes
I did it! I finished my first official week of classes in cantorial school. I have to say, I'm exhausted. I'm not used to classes starting every day at 8:30. How did I do this in high school? And without coffee?
Here is what my week looked like:
Sunday Yom Rishon (yes, my week starts on Sunday. My weekend is Friday/Saturday. It's been very weird to get used to):
8:30 - Biblical Hebrew: Unlike Brandeis, this class is taught entirely in modern Hebrew about biblical Hebrew grammar. It's a lot to all keep straight at 8:30 in the morning, but my teacher is wonderful. She's a little m'shugenah in true Israeli teacher style. Sima is very excited about what she teaches. So excited in fact that she occasionally would start screaming in class in order to make a point about something. Really. Screaming. It was a bit disconcerting at first and she must have realized that because she switched to English and said, "I'm not screaming at you, I'm just screaming." She'll be great though. And I'm very glad that I've had the class in English before to help me more now.
Break
11:15 - Coaching: My vocal coaching is with a cantor named Mikhal. She's wonderful. The point of the session is to work on liturgical music both for services and in general. It's a good way to work on repetoir. Mikhal is also my voice teacher.
Break/Lunch
2:00 - History of the 2nd Temple Period: This is a lecture for only the first half of the semester and it's exactly what it sounds like. My professor is good, although he's no Sarna.
4:30 - Nursing home: Every student this year is required to do a community service project. What better for me than to volunteer at a nursing home? I'm going to visit with a woman named Audrey who is originally from the United States. Her daughter made aliyah about 30 years ago. When Audrey's health began to fail, she moved to Israel so that she could be closer to her daughter. Unfortunately, Audrey doesn't speak Hebrew so she is bored a lot of the time at the nursing home. So I'll be going a few times a month to chat with her. Another cantorial student (Nancy) and rabbinical student (Sara) are also coming for this project. I think Nancy and I are going to be doing some musical stuff as well.
Monday Yom Sheini:
8:30 - Tefillah: Tefillah will eventually (in November I think) be lead entirely by students. It consists of P'zukei D'zimrah, Bircot Hashachar, the Torah service, Aleinu, and mourner's kaddish. I will be leading a service with my friend Rachel in December on a Monday and later in February I'll be leading a Kabbalat Shabbat service with my friend Meredith.
10:15 - Liturgy: This class will be studying the liturgy of Shabbat, weekday, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Passover. My teacher is the rabbi at Kol Haneshama, a Reform synagogue in Jerusalem. He's wonderful. I"m incredibly excited to study with him. However, he is no Reuven Kimmelman. I really wish I had taken that class...Oh well.
12:00 pm - Modern Hebrew: This class moved very fast the first day. I was so excited to be in a Hebrew class where I really felt as though I had to work to keep up. It was great! My teacher is fantastic and I think will really help me to improve my Hebrew. It felt exactly like being in a Brandeis Hebrew classroom. Very, very good.
Break
4:15 pm - History of Jewish Music: Cantor Eli Schleiffer teaches this class. He is the cantorial Papa of HUC in Israel. He has been here for many many years (ask almost any cantor in the Reform movement and they will have studied with Eli). He is a musicologist as well as a cantor. It is really an honor to study with him. It was a fantastic first class. I know that I'm going to learn so much from him.
7:00 pm - High Holiday choir rehearsal: We're getting closer and closer to the High Holidays! We ran through Kol Nidrei with Eli as well as a few other pieces. It sounds beautious!
Tuesday Yom Shlishi (This is my ridiculously long day):
8:30 - Modern Hebrew
10:15 - Modern Hebrew
12:00 pm - Music Theory/Ear training: This class I've been taking since the summer. It's kind of hard to describe how exactly our teacher runs the course. We do a series of exercises for about 20 minutes that help us with perfect pitch. I can now hear middle C in my head. It's incredible. It's kind of crazy what Bat-Sheva does with us, but it seems to be working. Then we run through a few sight-singing exercises from a book. By the end of the class I'm always exhausted from the amount of concentration that I've put into the class. I'm very excited to see how much I've improved though in just a few short weeks.
Lunch
2:45 pm - Cantillation of the Bible: I know how to read from the Torah, so I'm going to mostly likely place out of this class. A few things I'll need to come back to learn, but every once in a while I'll have a free hour and a half to relax/do work!
4:30 - 6pm Cantorial Workshop: Last class of the day! This is where we work on the daily service. We're learning how to chat a traditional weekday service. A lot of it sounds familiar to me, but I don't know the theory behind it at all. I'm very excited to take this class.
Wednesday Yom R'vi'i:
Israel Seminar: This is a day to purely learn about the state of Israel. Israel is our classroom. We will be taking many field trips, watching movies, reading the newspaper, learning about the culture of Israel. It will be a great resource if I'm someday in the position to lead a congregational trip to Israel (or if family and friends want to come visit me...)
The rest of my day was filled with music. We had another High Holiday rehearsal and I did some practicing on my own. It's a relatively low key day.
Thursday Yom Hamishi:
8:30 Hebrew
Break
11:30 Voice lesson
Lunch
1:15 Hebrew
3:30 Israeli Folk and Popular Music - I actually ahven't gotten to this class yet. I'll tell you more about it later!
My days generally end around 6. They're long days. I'm always exhausted by the end, but I think I'll eventually get into the rhythm of things. I like my classes for the most part though and I'm getting more and more excited (and less and less overwhelmed) as I realize more that I'm really going to be a cantor!!!!
Here is what my week looked like:
Sunday Yom Rishon (yes, my week starts on Sunday. My weekend is Friday/Saturday. It's been very weird to get used to):
8:30 - Biblical Hebrew: Unlike Brandeis, this class is taught entirely in modern Hebrew about biblical Hebrew grammar. It's a lot to all keep straight at 8:30 in the morning, but my teacher is wonderful. She's a little m'shugenah in true Israeli teacher style. Sima is very excited about what she teaches. So excited in fact that she occasionally would start screaming in class in order to make a point about something. Really. Screaming. It was a bit disconcerting at first and she must have realized that because she switched to English and said, "I'm not screaming at you, I'm just screaming." She'll be great though. And I'm very glad that I've had the class in English before to help me more now.
Break
11:15 - Coaching: My vocal coaching is with a cantor named Mikhal. She's wonderful. The point of the session is to work on liturgical music both for services and in general. It's a good way to work on repetoir. Mikhal is also my voice teacher.
Break/Lunch
2:00 - History of the 2nd Temple Period: This is a lecture for only the first half of the semester and it's exactly what it sounds like. My professor is good, although he's no Sarna.
4:30 - Nursing home: Every student this year is required to do a community service project. What better for me than to volunteer at a nursing home? I'm going to visit with a woman named Audrey who is originally from the United States. Her daughter made aliyah about 30 years ago. When Audrey's health began to fail, she moved to Israel so that she could be closer to her daughter. Unfortunately, Audrey doesn't speak Hebrew so she is bored a lot of the time at the nursing home. So I'll be going a few times a month to chat with her. Another cantorial student (Nancy) and rabbinical student (Sara) are also coming for this project. I think Nancy and I are going to be doing some musical stuff as well.
Monday Yom Sheini:
8:30 - Tefillah: Tefillah will eventually (in November I think) be lead entirely by students. It consists of P'zukei D'zimrah, Bircot Hashachar, the Torah service, Aleinu, and mourner's kaddish. I will be leading a service with my friend Rachel in December on a Monday and later in February I'll be leading a Kabbalat Shabbat service with my friend Meredith.
10:15 - Liturgy: This class will be studying the liturgy of Shabbat, weekday, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Passover. My teacher is the rabbi at Kol Haneshama, a Reform synagogue in Jerusalem. He's wonderful. I"m incredibly excited to study with him. However, he is no Reuven Kimmelman. I really wish I had taken that class...Oh well.
12:00 pm - Modern Hebrew: This class moved very fast the first day. I was so excited to be in a Hebrew class where I really felt as though I had to work to keep up. It was great! My teacher is fantastic and I think will really help me to improve my Hebrew. It felt exactly like being in a Brandeis Hebrew classroom. Very, very good.
Break
4:15 pm - History of Jewish Music: Cantor Eli Schleiffer teaches this class. He is the cantorial Papa of HUC in Israel. He has been here for many many years (ask almost any cantor in the Reform movement and they will have studied with Eli). He is a musicologist as well as a cantor. It is really an honor to study with him. It was a fantastic first class. I know that I'm going to learn so much from him.
7:00 pm - High Holiday choir rehearsal: We're getting closer and closer to the High Holidays! We ran through Kol Nidrei with Eli as well as a few other pieces. It sounds beautious!
Tuesday Yom Shlishi (This is my ridiculously long day):
8:30 - Modern Hebrew
10:15 - Modern Hebrew
12:00 pm - Music Theory/Ear training: This class I've been taking since the summer. It's kind of hard to describe how exactly our teacher runs the course. We do a series of exercises for about 20 minutes that help us with perfect pitch. I can now hear middle C in my head. It's incredible. It's kind of crazy what Bat-Sheva does with us, but it seems to be working. Then we run through a few sight-singing exercises from a book. By the end of the class I'm always exhausted from the amount of concentration that I've put into the class. I'm very excited to see how much I've improved though in just a few short weeks.
Lunch
2:45 pm - Cantillation of the Bible: I know how to read from the Torah, so I'm going to mostly likely place out of this class. A few things I'll need to come back to learn, but every once in a while I'll have a free hour and a half to relax/do work!
4:30 - 6pm Cantorial Workshop: Last class of the day! This is where we work on the daily service. We're learning how to chat a traditional weekday service. A lot of it sounds familiar to me, but I don't know the theory behind it at all. I'm very excited to take this class.
Wednesday Yom R'vi'i:
Israel Seminar: This is a day to purely learn about the state of Israel. Israel is our classroom. We will be taking many field trips, watching movies, reading the newspaper, learning about the culture of Israel. It will be a great resource if I'm someday in the position to lead a congregational trip to Israel (or if family and friends want to come visit me...)
The rest of my day was filled with music. We had another High Holiday rehearsal and I did some practicing on my own. It's a relatively low key day.
Thursday Yom Hamishi:
8:30 Hebrew
Break
11:30 Voice lesson
Lunch
1:15 Hebrew
3:30 Israeli Folk and Popular Music - I actually ahven't gotten to this class yet. I'll tell you more about it later!
My days generally end around 6. They're long days. I'm always exhausted by the end, but I think I'll eventually get into the rhythm of things. I like my classes for the most part though and I'm getting more and more excited (and less and less overwhelmed) as I realize more that I'm really going to be a cantor!!!!
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Chofesh b'Haifa v'Tzfat!
I just got back from my Haifa/Tzfat vacation. Why a vacation you may ask? I just completed summer ulpan and they decided to give our brains a rest between ulpan and regular classes. Therefore, I decided it was time to explore the country and bit more. My friend Lauren (also a cantorial student) and I decided to travel together to Haifa and Tzfat for vacation. We found hostels, made vague plans, and off we went!
*This is long...feel free to skim*
We got on a bus which was a little crazy, but fine once we were actually on the bus. It was about a 2 hour drive - a good nap. We got off the bus, waited for a taxi, got ripped off by said taxi, and arrived at the hostel "Port Inn." It's a really nice, clean, and fairly inexpensive hostel w/breakfast included. We got ready for Shabbat and took a cab to meet Rabbi Edgar Nof (more about him in a sec). The cab driver was great! We talked in Hebrew the entire time. It was such good practice and he was incredibly helpful and nice. I don't always find that is the case in Jerusalem. It is much more frequent that I'll start a conversation in Hebrew, but the Israeli at some point will switch back to English. It's frustrating and was nice to only have a Hebrew option in Haifa.
Boston and Haifa are sister cities. When I realized that I would be in Haifa, I emailed my rabbi in Boston to ask for a connection and he gave me Rabbi Nof's name. Rabbi Nof picked us up and brought us to his synagogue, Or Hadash. The synagogue is beautiful and very big for a Progressive synagogue in Israel. The synaoggue has been in existence since the 1960s, but hte building was built in the 1990s. They have a huge focus on social action/tikkun olam. Among their many projects, they help immigrants/refugees from Darfur who have escaped. They have a support group for mothers who have lost children in suicide bombings. They building is handicapped accessible. They run a beautiful preschoo, they have a youth lounge. Most striking was their bomb shelter which they were forced to use a lot during the second Lebanon war. At first I didn't realize that it was a bomb shelter - it looked like a very nicely decorated gym or auditorium area. Rabbi Nof explained that they often had to hold B'nai Mitzvah services in the bomb shelter. The Conservative congregation in Haifa didn't have an appropriate shelter so they needed to come as well and it became the first Reform/Conservative congregation.
Rabbi Nof is a spectacular rabbi. He acts as the rabbi, cantor, and educator at the synagogue. He is originally from Argentina, but made aliyah many years ago. He started at JTS, but left when they decided that women can not be rabbis and started studying at the rabbinical program at HUC in Jerusalem. he got his doctorate as well and is now in his 18th year of being a rabbi. He is one of the most humble people I have ever met. He is a just spectacular.
Rabbi Nof invited me and Lauren to sing in the services, which we agreed to right away. I had brought along B'Yado by Craig Taubman and was able to play on guitar. He also invited us to sing the candle blessings and Ahavat Olam. About 2 minutes before the service began he said, my daughter who usually sings is not here tonight - so sing with me the entire service! So we did :) It felt so wonderful to be on a bimah singing again. It was wonderful.
The next morning was our first full day in Haifa. We got up and had a delicious Israeli breakfast with two girls from Holland and then we were off to the beach! It felt a little early (10, 10:30ish) but we decided to go anyway. The beach was gorgeous. We found a good spot in the shade, laid down our blankets and read. Glorious. We took turns going into the water. It was a lovely blueish green color and was just cool enough to be incredibly refreshing. I even had a beer on the beach! Sooooo relaxing. It was great. After a lovely tuna salad lunch, we continued our reading and going in the water cycle.
Our last day in Haifa was spent sight-seeing. We took the subway (Carmelite...because it goes to Carmel!). I'm pretty sure it's the only subway in Israel. When we got there we first went to the Mane Katz museum. Mane Katz was an artist and sculptor. He did a lot of work in France. Particularly in the 1940s he made sculptures of Jewish musicians. He also had a huge collection of Judaica from antique shops in Paris. He eventually bought a house in Haifa which is now the site of the Museum. In the museum are the artifacts he collected (rugs, chests, other Judaica) as well as his artwork. After lunch we went to the Ba'hai Gardens! The Bahai faith is a bit complicated. It's a relatively new religion (our guide stressed that it is not a cult). They believe that there is only one god, but many messengers of God (Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, etc). They belive above all things in equality and justice. Their founded Bab, is said to be buried in the mosque at the gardens which is why it's a holy site. The gardens surrounding it are not as important or significant as the mosque. The actual gardens are beautiful. They are very symmetrical which again represents equality and justice. All the workers are volunteers and of the Bahai faith. There are 7 million people of the Bahai faith in 250 countries around the world. Interestingly, they only accept monetary donations from people who are Bahai. The guide said they don't want someone (like Bill Gates, for example) to donate $1 billion and then turn it into something else. Also, our guide was Israeli, not Bahai. She said they don't want it to feel like they proselytize and try to convert people. It was all very interesting -- and the pictures are gorgeous!
For the first time since arriving in Israel, I really felt like I was IN Israel. I used my Hebrew more in the two days I was in Haifa that I have in the 2 months I've been in Israel. It's was fantastic! It's also a much cleaner city than Jerusalem...hardly any trash at all. And I loved being so close to the water. I'm very much looking forward to returning to Haifa this year!
After Haifa, Lauren and I traveled to Tzfat together. We dropped our stuff at the hotel and went for lunch at California Falafel (supposedly the best in Tzfat...it was really good!). We decided after lunch to go sigh seeing. It turns out that Tzfat is fairly difficult to navigate. The streets are not laid out well at all. Eventually we found the artists' colony which was lots of fun and walked through. I found a necklace there. It's beautiful. I forgot to haggle though...oops. After shopping we went to find Safed Canles and Eliezer's books. It took us about 1 hour to find it. It was ridiculous, but eventually we got there and I got a few sets of beautiful Shabbat candles. We also found Haari Synaogue in the area. The colors were beautiful. It's apparently still in use today as well. At dinner overlooking the Mts and sunset, I found that I had mixed feelings about Tzfat. it's a beautiful city, but rather frustrating to get around and not nearly as fun/interesting without a guide. I also didn't feel like I could be myself. It was like there was judgement constantly about how I practice Judaism. I felt it more than I ever had in Jerusalem. It was a little disappointing, but I still had a great time with Lauren.
*This is long...feel free to skim*
We got on a bus which was a little crazy, but fine once we were actually on the bus. It was about a 2 hour drive - a good nap. We got off the bus, waited for a taxi, got ripped off by said taxi, and arrived at the hostel "Port Inn." It's a really nice, clean, and fairly inexpensive hostel w/breakfast included. We got ready for Shabbat and took a cab to meet Rabbi Edgar Nof (more about him in a sec). The cab driver was great! We talked in Hebrew the entire time. It was such good practice and he was incredibly helpful and nice. I don't always find that is the case in Jerusalem. It is much more frequent that I'll start a conversation in Hebrew, but the Israeli at some point will switch back to English. It's frustrating and was nice to only have a Hebrew option in Haifa.
Boston and Haifa are sister cities. When I realized that I would be in Haifa, I emailed my rabbi in Boston to ask for a connection and he gave me Rabbi Nof's name. Rabbi Nof picked us up and brought us to his synagogue, Or Hadash. The synagogue is beautiful and very big for a Progressive synagogue in Israel. The synaoggue has been in existence since the 1960s, but hte building was built in the 1990s. They have a huge focus on social action/tikkun olam. Among their many projects, they help immigrants/refugees from Darfur who have escaped. They have a support group for mothers who have lost children in suicide bombings. They building is handicapped accessible. They run a beautiful preschoo, they have a youth lounge. Most striking was their bomb shelter which they were forced to use a lot during the second Lebanon war. At first I didn't realize that it was a bomb shelter - it looked like a very nicely decorated gym or auditorium area. Rabbi Nof explained that they often had to hold B'nai Mitzvah services in the bomb shelter. The Conservative congregation in Haifa didn't have an appropriate shelter so they needed to come as well and it became the first Reform/Conservative congregation.
Rabbi Nof is a spectacular rabbi. He acts as the rabbi, cantor, and educator at the synagogue. He is originally from Argentina, but made aliyah many years ago. He started at JTS, but left when they decided that women can not be rabbis and started studying at the rabbinical program at HUC in Jerusalem. he got his doctorate as well and is now in his 18th year of being a rabbi. He is one of the most humble people I have ever met. He is a just spectacular.
Rabbi Nof invited me and Lauren to sing in the services, which we agreed to right away. I had brought along B'Yado by Craig Taubman and was able to play on guitar. He also invited us to sing the candle blessings and Ahavat Olam. About 2 minutes before the service began he said, my daughter who usually sings is not here tonight - so sing with me the entire service! So we did :) It felt so wonderful to be on a bimah singing again. It was wonderful.
The next morning was our first full day in Haifa. We got up and had a delicious Israeli breakfast with two girls from Holland and then we were off to the beach! It felt a little early (10, 10:30ish) but we decided to go anyway. The beach was gorgeous. We found a good spot in the shade, laid down our blankets and read. Glorious. We took turns going into the water. It was a lovely blueish green color and was just cool enough to be incredibly refreshing. I even had a beer on the beach! Sooooo relaxing. It was great. After a lovely tuna salad lunch, we continued our reading and going in the water cycle.
Our last day in Haifa was spent sight-seeing. We took the subway (Carmelite...because it goes to Carmel!). I'm pretty sure it's the only subway in Israel. When we got there we first went to the Mane Katz museum. Mane Katz was an artist and sculptor. He did a lot of work in France. Particularly in the 1940s he made sculptures of Jewish musicians. He also had a huge collection of Judaica from antique shops in Paris. He eventually bought a house in Haifa which is now the site of the Museum. In the museum are the artifacts he collected (rugs, chests, other Judaica) as well as his artwork. After lunch we went to the Ba'hai Gardens! The Bahai faith is a bit complicated. It's a relatively new religion (our guide stressed that it is not a cult). They believe that there is only one god, but many messengers of God (Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, etc). They belive above all things in equality and justice. Their founded Bab, is said to be buried in the mosque at the gardens which is why it's a holy site. The gardens surrounding it are not as important or significant as the mosque. The actual gardens are beautiful. They are very symmetrical which again represents equality and justice. All the workers are volunteers and of the Bahai faith. There are 7 million people of the Bahai faith in 250 countries around the world. Interestingly, they only accept monetary donations from people who are Bahai. The guide said they don't want someone (like Bill Gates, for example) to donate $1 billion and then turn it into something else. Also, our guide was Israeli, not Bahai. She said they don't want it to feel like they proselytize and try to convert people. It was all very interesting -- and the pictures are gorgeous!
For the first time since arriving in Israel, I really felt like I was IN Israel. I used my Hebrew more in the two days I was in Haifa that I have in the 2 months I've been in Israel. It's was fantastic! It's also a much cleaner city than Jerusalem...hardly any trash at all. And I loved being so close to the water. I'm very much looking forward to returning to Haifa this year!
After Haifa, Lauren and I traveled to Tzfat together. We dropped our stuff at the hotel and went for lunch at California Falafel (supposedly the best in Tzfat...it was really good!). We decided after lunch to go sigh seeing. It turns out that Tzfat is fairly difficult to navigate. The streets are not laid out well at all. Eventually we found the artists' colony which was lots of fun and walked through. I found a necklace there. It's beautiful. I forgot to haggle though...oops. After shopping we went to find Safed Canles and Eliezer's books. It took us about 1 hour to find it. It was ridiculous, but eventually we got there and I got a few sets of beautiful Shabbat candles. We also found Haari Synaogue in the area. The colors were beautiful. It's apparently still in use today as well. At dinner overlooking the Mts and sunset, I found that I had mixed feelings about Tzfat. it's a beautiful city, but rather frustrating to get around and not nearly as fun/interesting without a guide. I also didn't feel like I could be myself. It was like there was judgement constantly about how I practice Judaism. I felt it more than I ever had in Jerusalem. It was a little disappointing, but I still had a great time with Lauren.
I miss you all very much!
My love,
Sarah
My love,
Sarah
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