SH-26-226's blog

A Skeptic's Account of His Religious Experience
by Alex Seedman
Religion always seemed like a bad thing to me. It causes wars. It establishes rules that seem silly (no pig skin on Saturday?) And until Birthright, it bored the gifelta fish out of me. But if it meant a free trip to the Middle East with a bunch of college kids for a week and a half, then slap some pais on me and call me Rabbi Goldsteinbergman.

Sunday...
We said goodbye this morning to our beautiful kibbutz in the Golan. Sad as we were, we were delighted to continue on our journey to Mitzpe Gadot , is a JNF site which monument for the Israeli soldiers who fought in the Six Day war. We then made our way to the mystical city of Tzfat. There we learned about the history and people of this mystical city and had a meditation session in a beautiful ancient synagogue. We had lunch in Tzfat and then made our way to Tel-Aviv...

Hello this is Bus 226 checking in!! Shabbat in Kibbutz Afik was beautiful, we brought in the shabbat by lighting the candles. We then sat in a circle while people shared what their shabbat at home looks like. We got to hear how different people practice shabbat in their homes or at school. After, we had a choice between taking part in a service outside in nature or a discussion centered around Judaism and identity. We then had dinner where the blessing on the wine and bread were recited. After dinner we played two fun games and got to know one another better.

Dear Diary,
Our flight from JFK to Kiev was exciting. Being in another country for an hour was an interesting experience. There were many nationalities represented in the airport. The flight from Kiev to Israel took about 4 hours. Once we landed at Ben Gurion airport we were met by the Israeli staff and 10 Israeli soldiers. We stood in a circle, danced and ate sandwiches and then drove two hours to the Golan Heights to Kibbutz Afik where we will be for the weekend.