Jerusalem Siyur, Afula, and Weekend

On Thursday morning, all of workshop awoke very early and extremely exhausted. But my kvutza wasn't just tired because we had to wake up at 6 AM, although waking up that early will usually make anyone grumpy/tired. Flashback to high school, am I right? Anyways, most of us only got 4 or 5 hours of sleep that night because we had an asepha (meeting) on our kupa money that went until about 1:30 in the morning. I went to bed at about 1 because I could not keep my eyes open any longer. So after a breakfast of paninis made by Jacob and Chief, we boarded the bus to take us to old city Jerusalem for a day of learning in one of the holiest cities in the world. It took us about 3 hours to get there instead of the typical 2 because the bus driver got lost and we stopped for a bathroom break. I slept most of the way there so I didn't notice how late we were until we were already in Jersusalem. Once I woke up, I participated in one of my favorite past time activities to pass the time: people watching. Just observing the different kinds of people walking around Jerusalem was so interesting, but also sort of funny. There were a lot of Hasidic Jews, but I mean duh, I'm in Jerusalem. There was also a man that I saw trying to light his cigarette, but the lighter was out of lighter fluid so he threw it on the ground and it smashed into a million little pieces out of frustration. It was quite strange. Once we got off the bus, we all walked to a roof where we sat down and talked about Jerusalem's prime location and how it serves a great military defense advantage since it sits atop a hill. We then went to the supposed location of where the "Last Supper" happened and continued on our way past the Zion Gate through to a wall where we were able to see many bullets from the 1948 and 1967 wars. We also went to the Western wall where those who wanted to could go up to it and put messages into the stones. I walked up to where the split between men and women were, but didn't feel like going up much farther. Some of the people at the wall yelled at some of the workshoppers for not dressing properly, which was something that we predicted would happen, but was still very aggravating. I guess it just takes understanding that we are different people with different views on Judaism. While we waited for those who went up to the wall to come back, we learned about the history of the Jewish temples, the Dome of the Rock, and Al-Aqsa mosque.

Next, we boarded the bus again and headed to a park for lunch. I had actually been to the park before when we stayed in Jerusalem for Yom Kippur. It has a great playground, FYI. We ate lunch, and then heard a guest speaker talk about his experience working with IRAC (Israel Religious Action Committee). IRAC strives stop segregation on buses, advocate for more womens rights at the Western Wall, and change how marriage and religion coincide in Israel.

We then had a short hafsaka (break) and were allowed to walk around some of the shops around the park. I stopped by Aroma (the equivalent of Starbucks in Israel), and bought myself an iced coffee. We then went on the bus again to listen to our second and last guest speaker in Mea Shearim, an ultra-orthodox neighborhood. We had  the opportunity to listen to a Haredi man speak to us about his views on Judaism and Israel. He doesn't believe that cultural Judaism exists, and doesn't think that the LGBT community should have equal human value. As you can probably guess, his responses were not ones that I necessarily agree with, but it was still super interesting hearing alternate points of view on the subjects. It's not every day that you get the opportunity to hear someone like him speak.

At around 5:30 we boarded the bus again, where about half of workshop went back to kibbutz and the other half stayed in Jerusalem for a night. There was a Renaissance fair happening in Jerusalem that night so a lot of people went to that and then stayed in a hostel for a night. 

Lindsey and Matan being silly with the Renaissance Fair decorations. 

I decided to go back to kibbutz and I'm awfully glad I did. I was still exhausted from a long day and lack of sleep the night before. When we got back we hung out with some of the kibbutzniks and then built a bonfire.

The next morning I went to Afula with Aliyah and Liat so that we could get some knitting supplies and beads. I also stopped by a healthfood store and got myself some dates! 

We also stopped by a pet store in Afula. Craziest jellyfish I've ever seen.

We had a nice few hours out before heading back to kibbutz. It was nice spending a night and morning with a smaller group of workshoppers. When everyone got back, they took naps and showered before Shabbat and our night plans.   All week workshop pretended that it was prom night to cover for what it actually was, Aliyah and Gabe's wedding! Don't worry, it was a fake wedding to celebrate their birthdays that occurred this past week. Matan, one of my kvutza mates assigned roles to every person on Workshop. For instance, there was the jealous ex-girfriend, the extremely drunk girl, the Rabbi, the grandma, the inappropriate 10 year old cousin, the bridesmaids, the best man, and of course, their parents. I played the role of Aliyah's mom, while Michael played the role of her dad, and Jess and Rafi played the roles of Gabe's parents. Michael and I took Aliyah aside and talk to her about how proud we are of her, and how we just want to see her happy. Mind you, she still didn't know that it was her fake wedding at this point. It was awfully funny, but we couldn't tell her the truth quite yet. Soon enough however, we brought her into the house where we walked her down the aisle. Everyone played their parts so well. Chief, for example, played the part of the Rabbi and did a fantastic job. He has quite a way with words that made him perfect for the part. Dan Shahar played the role of the flower girl, and actually threw flowers down the aisle! It was such a funny night that I think everyone enjoyed.

Our lovely flower girl!

A mother and her daughter on her wedding day!

The next day, we were all exhausted (shocker). Everyone, aside from a few people just hung out and napped all day until the workshoppers from Gesher lead us in Havdallah/Musical. It was a really nice way to close the weekend in a relaxing way. The weekends that we have on workshop are always something special. During the week we  have a very packed schedule that leaves little room to hang out all together, so the weekends give us time to be creative and have fun.