My free Shabbat was quite unexciting at most times. I was up really late the first night because my shampoo exploded in my bag and I had to wash everything in the sink and hang them all over the place to dry. Them I slept until about 11 or so the next couple of days. I went to the shook with 4 people and helped make Shabbat dinner. I watched a lot of Netflix over the past couple days and Have developed an addiction to Ice Coffee. I also read a good portion of Me Before You on Shabbat. My iPod Touch crashed and Will be completely useless until I get back to America unless I use it as a paper weight. And that is pretty much it. Yay.

Before I begin, you may wonder why I was prompted to write an ncsy blog post. Now I could lie and say that I wrote the post by my own want, but this would be very untrue.  Around 5 minutes ago I was woken up by the sound my my director blabbering on the bus’s sound system.  He claimed with absolute certainty that anyone who fails to write a blog post will not be participating in the next activity, which he claimed to be camel riding and Jeeping (I assume that two activities are separate, although it would be cool to race jeeps and camels.) Anyway, fear of calling my directors bluff led me to this point in the so called “blog”.  I spent my free weekend at my cousins house in Yerushalim.  I have four cousins all under the age of 7, and another one on the way (yes, they are religious.)  So I had to prep for when they asked if I had any games on my phone, candy, and NyQuil (dont worry the nyquil was mostly  for me.)  In addition to my cousins, their cousins decided to come – also my aunts apartment became a makeshift Chucky Cheeses, and I was in the middle of all the chaos. As the shabbos progressed I consumed enormous amounts of Sephardi food.  It was my Ashkenaz stomach against 3 meals a day of Moroccan food.  As you may have guessed my Ashkenaz stomach lost.  Besides that my weekend gave me perspective on how calm Ice Israel actually is.  It also gave me perspective on how easy Ashkenazi davening is.  At the end of the day (or weekend) I had an amazing weekend with my family, and their family, and their family.  It was good to experience Shabbat from a different point of view, even if it means sacrificing my ears, privacy, and abdomen.

Akiva Levy and I spent our free weekend in a small Jewish community near Kfar Adumim. We slept through most of Shabbat, but we would make sure to wake up for shul whenever services were beginning. The shul itself was beautiful, but the A.C. was broken so the experience was obviously not as great as it could have been. Also, the walk to shul was really cool because there was an incredible view of the desert. After Shabbat, we took the bus to Ben Yehuda street and met up with some friends from the program. A couple hours later, we headed to the bus station and waited for twenty minutes just to see our bus speed by the bus stop without hesitation. We spent 150 shekel to take a cab back to the house at 1:00am. As you can see, my free weekend had its ups and downs but overall I had a great time.

My weekend was interesting to say the least. I was with people I never met before Which was pretty awkward. They ended up being pretty nice though and cooked great food. The people I stayed With did not speak much English but I made it work. Overall it was an interesting experience and maybe I can see them again.

On my free weekend i went to my aunts and uncles house – before we got to their house we had to take the bus then a light rail train and then another bus. Once we got to the house we had spaghetti with meat sauce then i went up to my room to watch netflix, went to bed, got back up on Friday and watched more netflix and for saturday this is the exciting part – i read for the next twelve hours then went back to sleep woke up at 7 to get to the ou center on time. So thats what i did this weekend hopefully you’re all happy with this masterpiece.

After a fun packed week of climbing masada, touring the old city, and water hiking i was fortunate enough to spend my weekend in Jerusalem. On Thursday night i traveled to ben yehuda street where i was introduced to my friend’s school friends. We ate at a delicious cafe and spoke about our similarities and differences as teenagers growing up in different countries. However, the highlight of my weekend was definitely kabbalat shabbat at the Kotel. Seeing jewish people from around the world come together to welcome in the shabbat queen is an experience i will never forget.

Over my free Shabbat, I had the privilege to stay by my close friend from America named Achi. We spent Thursday night and Friday on Ben Yehuda street buying souvenirs for family and friends. On Shabbat, we went to the park by the Leonardo along with Shternie and her friend, Rikki. It was an amazing experience spending Shabbat with her family and their Israeli traditions. Although it was not what I am used to, it was an amazing spiritual journey.

Hello all,

This weekend Gabe and I stayed with very old family friends of mine in Neve Daniel. Though it took us a bit of time, and quite a bit of help to get there safe and sound, when we did we were met by amazing food and amazing people (not to mention amazing beds). The shuls were awesome, and the view absolutely gorgeous. Overall, it was a well spent weekend, regardless of the fact that I missed my new friends dearly. Shoutout to Aharon Akiva for getting us everywhere on time and in one piece!

My off Shabbat was a very Israeli experience. The total amount of people I talked to who had an American accent was 4. It started with a shopping trip to an artisan art fair, followed by lunch with my sisters’ future in-laws. Next was a beach trip with my hosts’ family and then we made shabbos. Shabbat afternoon, we went to the pool and I read an 124-page Sports Illustrated from cover to cover. Saturday night we went to the mall and went shopping. The end.