7/10/08 Har Nof, Jerusalem, Israel

Ok so I'm gonna keep it chronological... haha that could be some new slang thingy... keep it chronological. Or not... maybe I'm just super lame. Anyway, after that, I'm going to go out of order anyway.

So I ended last blog right before Shabbat on July 4th. So before we talk about Friday night I have to talk about the rest of the week... because Fri led up to some awesome dopeness that I bet you can't wait to hear about!

Saturday didn't sound like it was going to be fun at first. Kate and I woke up very early, well at least we were supposed to, to walk all the way to Rechaviya(the opposite corner of Jerusalem... very very far). So I woke up and got ready and when it came time for Kate to meet me she wasn't there. So I thought, o I'll suprise her... and walk toward her to meet her! I start walking... get halfway to the supermarket which is near her... pass the supermarket... head down the stairs and through the park(At this point I am pretty worried that I passed her and may be wasting time by going the wrong way... and by the way Kate didn't have her phone yet and it was Shabbat anyway so it wouldn't have mattered). So I get to Kate's building, walk up to her apartment and knock on the door... No answer... I knock again really loud... and out peaks Kate's sleepy face confused about what's going on... cute enough to make me forget how annoyed I was.

So she got ready and we headed over to the Great Synagogue. It was gorgeous. We attended the main minyan where there was a full out choir basically performing the service. It was like a concert... really cool! It was nice to go there too because the walk to Rechaviya was a long long walk... at least 2 hours if we had done it straight. And you have to remember that we were walking around noon in the summer in Israel.

So we head towards my uncle in law's mother's place and it's not the straightest path. So we are getting a little lost and a really nice guy comes up to us to offer advice but is speaking Hebrew... so I get out my "Lo Medaber Ivrit" which means I don't speak Hebrew in Hebrew...(haha that got me in trouble with someone once because he thought I was making fun of him... I guess that means my accent is getting better!) The guy then laughed and started speaking in French, English and something else I think to see what we did speak. Then he showed us how to get to where we were going and also invited us in for Kiddish. Now I would usually worry about a guy that was this nice but that's the great thing about being Jewish... he was actually being genuine! So we go in to his house and meet his daughter who speaks French and Hebrew but can't speak English very well so he forces her to speak to us in English. Then he tells us about how he used to fly planes, went to business school, did all kinds of cool things, just passed the bar... and so on. He was a pretty amazing dude and he fed us and sent us on our way.

We got to my G-ma-in law or whatever you call that relationship. Her place was on a hill that overlooked the Western Wall and the city of David. It was awesome. We had an amazing Shabbat lunch with some of her really cool friends, one of which knew Kate's Aunt who is a famous Yiddish singer (crazy connection). And we spent some quality time with Mark(the Uncle in law) and his mother. I can't wait to do that again because it was really nice. I also miss my cousins, his kids, so hopefully I'll see them all soon!

So Sunday we went to the Discovery seminar at Aish Hatorah... It tries to proof that man could not have written the Torah... Honestly one of the most amazing things I've gone to and I was definitely convinced much more than before... even though I really didn't think that was possible. Basically they are either insanely smart and really fooled me or it's true... I just don't see why there would be such a crazy conspiracy when they really have nothing to gain from it, unless they believe it themselves because then they get points with the holy dude himself. O and shout out to Rob Schlissel and his friend for coming out with me and Kate.

Monday and Tuesday were amazing. We had our Yeshiva hiking trip. First of all we did so much hiking... I like hiking... I was so exhausted by the end of it! We stayed at this guy's house that was surrounded by just about every fruit you could imagine. I mean from fig to pomegranate... he even had grapes growing on vines lining a gazebo. Now this usually would just be visually appealing... however, it is the Shmita year in Israel. This happens once every 7 years and for an entire year a farmer cannot touch his/her land. They can't eat or sell the fruit. On top of this, anyone can come by and take fruit as long as they eat it themselves! So we had a lot of fun. He also had a mini basketball court, ping pong, an awesome yard and garden, fooseball and an awesome place for us to stay. I wish I knew his name cuz he deserves some serious recognition so hopefully I can post it all over this blog sometime soon.

Tuesday next day we went on a seriously illegal hike... I have pictures of the Rabbi holding up a barbed wire fence for us to crawl underneath... yes they will be up online asap. We also went to the Kineret which was so much fun to swim in and attack the waves. Izaac and myself spent the entire time trying to ride waves and also reverse their flow... in honor of Hancock(new Will Smith movie... watch the trailer if you felt left out by that joke...or maybe it just wasn't funny in which case maybe you are too good for this blog).

One thing I did notice for sure is that Rabbis don't sleep. I don't know if I can become too observant cuz I like to sleep. Like right now its almost 1 and I gotta be up round 6:30. I'll make due...

SOOOOOO Friday night Kate and I went to a Rabbi's house. His name is Rabbi Abramov. This man is behind the biggest Kiruv(outreach) program Judaism has ever seen. His wife is also a published writer of women's books on different topics... I believe about observance and being dope. Rabbi Abramov, who Kate and I just met again tonight, has invited us to head up some changes across the world(25,000 students are in these programs currently). We mentioned some of our ideas and he liked them so much he is basically giving us the ability to make a plan that would enhance programs like Maimonides and G2G across the world! I won't say much more but it is really really huge. Hopefully we'll be making a big difference.

Anyway it's late... hope all is well homiez!

Love,
Omri