Our First Shabbat In Israel

We were all excited to sleep in and have a late breakfast after a long night of living in the moment. In observation of Shabbat, we had the Kibbutz at our disposal to rest and rejuvenate. At noon, we met to review this week's parsha (Torah portion). The parsha told the story of scouting out Israel as a potential promised land of milk and honey. Curiosity and conversation lead to stories of more recent Jewish triumphs. We were also assigned three committees: the t-shirt committee, news committee, and the blogging committee.

In the afternoon, our creative staff put together a series of relay races and team building activities. Everyone's favorite part was bobbing for Israeli taffy in a bowl of flour.

Given that it was still Shabbat, the remainder of the afternoon and early evening was free. Most of us enjoyed the Kibbutz community pool, or a light yoga session.

The blogging team, made up of Katie, Allie, Mark, and Evan, used this free time to catch up on the past two busy days.

Before dinner, we concluded Shabbat with Havdallah. This beautiful ceremony included a braided candle, incense, and an Israeli Jonathan, serenading us with his guitar as we sang along. For dinner, we drove to Tzemach, which was a modern strip mall full of many restaurant options including a burger bar, gelato, and a sushi restaurant. We had a wild bus ride home, full of crazy, loops alongside cliffs. Don't worry, you Jewish mothers, we all made it and cheered our bus driver along. We would spend the rest of the evening talking and staying up much later than we should have, despite having to be at breakfast at 7am.