Succos...... and the Chamtzin

Wanna start out by wishing a Chag Sameach to all my dutiful readers out there!

I've actually had a cold for the past couple of days so that was a really fun part of my chag... [cough cough, hack wheez] Um... for the first days of Succos I stayed in Kiryat Belz so i could be close to the Chaimowitz faimly. I went with my friend to her great aunt's house for the first seuda of yom tov. Which was really nice since I up until Wednesday morning I didn't have anywhere to eat for that night. i felt really at home among the bustling family and constant noise of children playing. She seriously had like 25 grandchildren under the age of 10... so anyways, i really like it.

Then for the first day meal i went to the Chaimowitzes. Mrs. Chaimowitz really took care of me, like my own mother would. And it was really nice to get to know all the kids and meet some of the new recruits (Chozer BeTshuva people).

Then for the second day meals I walked to Har Nof..... an hour and 20 minute walk in the heat. Crazy.

Oh- right, did i mention the Chamtzin yet? So there was a heat wave here. Its the hottest Succos anyone can remember. like 90 or 100 degrees. Cool right.

So Thursday night I ate at the Yarmishes.... who are an amazing family that are always doing chesed, together with 50 other seminary girls who needed the american meals. During the each seminary needed to have a girl present a Dvar Torah and also each girl individually needed to answer a bunch of questions such as: What is your name and where do you live? What seminary are you attending? Do you get along with your parents? Tell us one thing nobody in the room knows about you... There were some really interesting responses like "I crashed the car during my road test" and "I built a hydrogen generator" lol- okay that was me.

Unexpectedly during the meal I was tapped on the shoulder by a very good friend of mine that I haven't seen in a few years but used to speak to often. We went to camp Agudah together after 8th grade and saw each other twice in NY since. I was very excited to see her and we spent the whole meal catching up. Afterwards I went to see her dorm and meet the Rav of her sem.

Thursday night I stayed at Rabbi Meisels house (the principle of P'ninim). When I walked in that night I had another amazing surprise. In the Rav's living room sat an old and true friend also from Camp Agudah, who just happened to be my Rav's neice who was also staying there for yomtov. We talked long into the night and finally retired in the early hours of the morning for it had been a very long day.

I had the Friday day meal there with some of the other girls from the P'ninim in the Meisels succah on the roof and then walked back to Belz for shabbos.

I got slightly lost on the way and ended up near the old city but I quickly figured out where I had erred and made it to Belz about 20 minutes from Shkiah.

Friday night I went with the same friend from Wednesday night to her sisters house which was beautiful on account of cool weather and wonderful company. Shabbos day I went back to the Chaimowitz's and stayed till the end of shabbos.

I then caught a bus back to Kiryat Moshe.

All in all, I really enjoyed First days Succot in Yerushalym.

Dirty Details ;-)

This cat we met and fed in Netanya.

These 2 pictures were taken in Maboa.

lol. It seems this past week was characterized by all the dirty little details.

On Sunday my Israelli roommate taught me how to do Sponja!! (it was my clean up job)
So for all you Americans who don't know what this entails I am going to give you a play by play of the job.
Step Number One: Pour buckets of soapy water on the NOT swept floor.
Step Number Two: Take a squeagy and PUSH AROUND THE DIRT.
Step Number Three: Once all the corners have been thouroghly dirtified, pull the dirt and water to the middle of the floor with the squeagy.
Step Number Four: Push all the gunky water into the drain.
Step Number Five: OOOOOOO, My favorite part! TAKE THE GUNK OUT OF THE DRAIN WITH YOUR HANDS!!! (okay i didn't do this step :D)
Step Number Six: Put a shmata over the squeagy and use it to dry the floor. (genious!)
Step Number Seven: Pour fabric Softner on the Shmata and go over the floor one more time to make the room smell as if you ACTUALLY cleaned it :)

And there you have it folks- SPONJA! [stay tuned for pics... they r on my friends cam]

On Monday we went to a place called MaBoa... i think. it was at the bottom of these beautiful mountains (again- i'll post pics as soon as i can). We hiked through water and rocks, under this canapy of palm tree's bamboo and other plants for about 2 hours. It was a great first major trip because as it seems, when you and everyone around you keep slipping on rocks and getting pulled into strange currents- you tend to bond in order to stay alive. ;-D At some places we had to hold hands and make a chain so that nobody got hurt. I did the hike with two girls from London. lol- love the accent!
Not to mention at the end we got to go into this giant natual pool where everyone was pushing everyone else in. So basically we all ended up soaked and caked in dirt (from the hike back- which we did on the mountain side). It was the most fun that I think i've ever had!!!

Tuesday I went to Natanya to catch some sun... but to our luck we got there when it was already dark. :} woops. And since we had spent all out money on the ticket, we basically just hung out with my friends friend and walked around seeing the sights. We even ended up spending the night there..... a long sleepless night.
In the end, even though it was dark, we went to the beach and got all gross and sandy before going home at 6:00 am. Where we fell into bed and slept until we had to get up to get ready for Succot.... which brings me to my next entry.

Some Pics... for now

Okay, so one pic is of the basically the whole sem at Tashlich... and the other one is a bit of a sneak peak for next week (since it was taken today) of me and my 2 roommates :)

Yom Kippur in the Old City

I had a dream of spending the holiest day of the year in the old city where I could go down to the kotel and pray where the Beit Hamikdash once stood. Luckily for me there are people like the Gershaw family in this world!! Mrs Gershaw invited me to stay with her and her family in the old city to spend Yom Kippur with them!
The bus ride up to the old city on Friday was pretty long and rough because traffic was insane. I think there was even some accident on the road but I don't know for sure because the bus driver told the lady who was telling me about it to shut up :} ...Israel. I took some funny pictures because I was really bored. (o btw, i'm going to upload some pics soon)
Anyways, I met Rochel Gershaw, age 12, by the Beit Cneset HaChorba and she took me to the home we stayed at. It was beautifully designed (of course...) courtesy of Mrs. Leora Gershaw :D and staying there was B"H very comfortable. The veiw from the roof is also really amazing.
I accompanied the Gershaw family to friends of theirs for the Seudat Hamafseket, and I daresay we left a few pounds heavier than we came. :P
I wore all white when we went to Kol Nidrei and Maariv at Birchat HaTorah (the aish Hatorah shul) down the block... stoney road... alley way??? lol- wtvr. The davening there is very serious but I the strongest adjective that comes to mind is inspirational. The chazan really had a power to move people with his beautiful voice. That made the whole thing really wonderful for me.
Michal Gershaw and I woke up at 4:00 am to catch the Netz Minyan at the kotel. It was chilly but that was good since I'm not sure how else we would have stayed awake. :) It was my dream fulfilled to be there... and I'm so grateful for the opportunity to have done it.
The rest of the day passed by quickly, between sleeping and davening, and ended with a dramatic crescendo of Neila. After which I proceeded with the Gershaw family to Rav Green's house for Havdala and the break-fast. Which was also a wonderful opportunity since the Green's will be moving to Pheonix, Arizona in only a few short weeks.
A huge Thank you to the Gershaw family and every other person who was involved in hosting me and helping me acheive my dream Yom Kippur.

As an afterthought, I wanted to share something with everyone that I found really interesting but true. It was something Rabbi Wallerstein said at the shiur he gave to the sem on Motzei Yom Kippur...
He mentioned that this Yom Kippur felt very different to him... that it wasn't as scary. Not as serious or sad. He said that it worried him a little how unemotional he was during the tefillos compared to past years. And interestingly enough, most everyone else in the shiur felt the same way.
Rav Wallerstein was quick to reassure us with his theory about why that might have been. He said that since this year, Yom Kippur fell out on a Shabbos, there was an extra measure of Rachamim Min Hashamaiim and therefore the Yom Kippur judgement itself was not as scary.
And I thought that was cool and reassuring so I wanted to share it with anyone else just in case they felt the same way and were nervous about it too.

Aseret Yimei Teshuvah

The week started out as inconspicuously as possible but it soon became apparent that this week was anything but ordinary.
Monday afternoon tiyul began with a trip to a fountain to do Tashlich.... I'm not sure the girls found 'throwing away your Aveiros' in the fish-free-fountain as entertaining as the water fight that ensued. After snapping the same painfully posed group picture with 45 cameras, we reloaded the buses on our way to Kever Rochel.... no we did not take a bullet proof bus :)
We did Mincha there and beseeched our Mother in heaven to cry... to raise her voice and cry for her children who are so far from home. Her children who live in an invisible hell, the extent of which we do not know or understand.

On my own time I went twice to Geula. The first time I went to just watch. Watch the people, the throngs of jewish people, rushing about trying to buy everything for the Chaggim. And though it wasn't even Yom Kippur yet, you could smell Succot in the air- Tzedaka stands and succos decorations every 5 feet that we walked.
The second time in Geula we did Caparos... okay I'll rephrase that, my 2 friends did Caparos and I took a video being as #1 it smelled #2 i really wasn't interested in the little boys, who by the way were running the stand, waving a sqauking chicken over my head. :D So I took the easy way out and kindly offered to take the video. As it was, we were all on the floor laughing. (lol- I'm giggling just thinking about it.)
But never you fear! I did do Caparos with a real live chicken on Erev Yom Kippur with my school. :} Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of that one.

Another Highlight of the week leading up to Yom Kippur was that I learned how to make a french braid on myself!! I plan to upload pictures as soon as I'm able.

and a Happy New Year to YOU too!

For Rosh Hashana I went to Maalei Amos to spend the high holy days with Leora Gershaw and her family, who so graciously welcomed me into their home, with open arms and open hearts!! Leora and Aryeh Gershaw were friends with my parents when they were living in Yerushalym nearly 19 years ago.

Maalei Amos is a Yishuv on the West Banks. Around the Yishuv were barbed wire fences and soldiers keeping guard from their arab neighbors. The scenery in and around the yishuv is beautiful. Flowers, fruit trees, and exotic plants grown in abundance in the middle of what seems like a total dessert.

The community is small but very warm and welcoming. Indeed I felt at home there. They have a beautiful shul, both a boys and girls elementary school, and several parks. In summary, I would say that the community is thriving, and the families seem to be very close.

I got the opportunity to join the yom tov meals of some of the other families in the yishuv in addition to the Gershaws (thanx to Leora) and met some really wonderful people. Some of whom knew my parents and some of the most important people in my life... like the Hochstadt, and Stern families.

I had an amazing time with Michal and Rochel Gershaw and some of the other warm and accepting girls on the yishuv.

I hope I will get the opportunity to go back many times and create lasting friendships there. All in all, it was a wonderful Chag and a beautiful experience.

A very warm and special thank you to the Gershaw family for having me and taking care of me in every possible way!!!!!

Messengers...

How spectacular is Your holy land, Hashem... that even the birds openly do your bidding???

Monday night I had been so exhausted from having class from 8:20 am until 10:30 pm that passed out cold in my cloths without even setting my alarm on my phone to wake me up in time for class the next morning. But to my surprise and utter delight, At exactly 7:35 the next morning (the time I need to wake up) I woke up to a most peculiar sound. Its not one that I am completely unfamiliar with but not one I expected either. There, in the window next to my bed (which is basically a hole in the wall with a shade covering it), was a silhouette of two pigeons perched on the sill- calling me to wake up. As soon as I said Modeh Ani they flew away... mission accomplished.

...and A New One Begins

Chaim Esptien was there to meet me at the airport. Of course, he recognized me right away :) and how happy I was that he did. He helped me out of Ben-Gurian- pushing all 4 suitcases and loading them into the car and drove me all the way to Kiryat Moshe in Jerusalem. Then he helped me bring in all of my things and even took the time to program my cell phone with some important phone numbers! He took care of me like my own grandfather might... Thank You Chaim!!

The first day I set up my room and that night the school took us to visit the kotel. Unfortunately I had not slept in about 30 hours and was not able to properly appreciate it.

My Dira (apartment) is on the 4th floor and the view from my window is beautiful. Thank G-d, I am only sharing a room with 2 other girls. One is Israeli and one Spanish. The three of us have much in common and I look forward to a long and prosperous friendship.

The Classes that I have been to have all been positively amazing!! Every one of the teachers has a real ability to move and inspire. Each one of them has their own style of teaching but at the same time they always agree with each other. Very often I find that the underlying message the teacher chooses to bring out from the lesson is something the last teacher mentioned in a totally different context.

This Shabbos we stayed in the dorm together and participated in many group activities that allowed us to get to know each other even more. From silly things like having to sit at a certain table and then trying to figure out what everyone at the table had in common (all the girls at my table had an interest in medicine), to a really fun game called marsh mellow... which incidentally, had nothing to do with marsh mellows :) For Shalosh Seudot we walked to the kotel (an hour walk in the heat... carrying salads, rolls, and water bottles) and we ate on the roof of the Heritage House overlooking the old city.

All in all, I am really am beginning to feel at home here and know that I will have a truly amazing year. I only pray that I have the courage to face every moment of it with an open heart.

Miss you all!! <3

Love,

Shayna

A Chapter Closes...

August 29th

9:45 pm: I am now leaving America. the place i have called home for the past 17 years. Oh how the city sparkles beneath the wings of the plane. From the sky, Philidalphia is 1000 brilliantly gleaming jewels in its night glory. In all my life I've never seen anything quite like it. My head is heavy with exhaustion but I'm too wound up to sleep. America, I will not return to you for some time.

G-d please send angels to keep me safe in Your holy land.

Israel- here i come.

August 30th

2:00 am: It is now 2:00 am, but we have already crossed the time barrier... traveling toward the sun. Outside my windown I can see the beatiful sun rising over the horizon and I simply can't tear my eyes away from it... breathtaking.

3:30 am: Sleep is a seductive temptress who takes great pride in her teasing.

4:45 am: Wakefulness is relentless in its pursuit. It simply will not be dismissed. The passengers are restless and upon braving a peak out my window I can see that the sun is easily in a noon position. Soon BeEzrat Hashem we will arrive in the holyest land on earth. But for now- All i can do is wait.

7:00 am: I just saw Israel from my window under the wing of the plane. Its looks just like i've seen it one hundred times on the maps in Tanach class. Looking down upon it I had the feeling of looking upon a farmiliar face... one that you memorized a long time ago. One that you haven't seen in a while. It feels like coming home.

It is now 3:30 pm... I have crossed over to Israel time.

Haven't slept since 8:00 am yesterday. But I have arrived, and that is all that matters.