First Shabbat in the Village

Shabbat was really nice in the Student Village. It started raining really hard right as we were all getting ready to walk to shul for Kabbalat Shabbat. Great for the desert but not so great for desert-dwellers! We went to a Moroccan Shul which was really nice, despite the fact that there wasn't as much singing as I would have liked and instead of being behind a mechitza, the women were really in a separate room with an adjoining window.

Dinner was great. We all ate together in the moadon (community center) and everyone had made a different dish (I brought wine, I think that worked out much better). Before we made the blessings, we read from a sheet detailing different points in Zionist history and sang parts of Zionist songs (Lu Yehi...) and some of the other students were surprised that I was able to sing along. I didn't go to 12 years of Jew school and camp for nothing. I got a chance to meet a lot more of the students here and got into a heated debate about Israeli politics, so my Hebrew must be improving.

After dinner, everyone stayed in the moadon and hung out. Some sang songs (zmirot for Shabbat, Israeli songs and some more traditional Zionist songs) some played games and some just sat around talking. I played shesh-besh (backgammon) with Chen and then a bunch of us got together and played Mafia (apparently it's very popular in Israel!) and I finally got a chance to be the killer. It was lots of fun.

The next day we all got together for lunch. We were going to have it in the moadon, but since it was so nice out, we brought all the table and chairs outside.

After lunch, I was going to go on a hike with Boaz and Omer, but then I found out they were planning a really serious 4-hour hike. I decided to sit it out and instead go on a shorter hike with a few of the other students in our backyard (i.e. the Negev). We walked out over some dunes and saw an amazing view of the wadi (which actually had some water in it due to the rain). On the way back, we saw some Bedouin shepherds on horseback driving their sheep along the hillside with their dogs. That was cool.

When we got back we hung out for a while and then did havdalah all together. I had never heard a Sephardi havdalah before. It was interesting, but I still think havdalah at Bronfman is the best.

Now that Shabbat is over I have to get back to work.