Kabbalat Shabbat

January 21st:

With everything we have seen and done, it's hard to believe we are only 4 days into our excursion. Today was my first day in Jerusalem which was an amazing experience. However, what I am going to share occured yesterday in Zfat.

After exploring the city and learning about its history, I stopped in a local shop for lunch. The food looked like a pizza, but the the "crust" was more like a pancake and it was rolled up like a burrito. It was delicious, but what I discovered was much more than a new food.

The shop owner sat down and ate with us. He asked "what separates Judaism from every other religion?" After I gave a vague response, he let us in on an extremely insightful and modern perspective. I will do my best to paraphrase:
Western culture is focused on materiality. What you can get and what you can do is held above all else. Eastern culture is focused on philosophy. Spirituality/religion and what you believe is held above all else.

Being at either extreme isn't healthy; acting solely with the Western ideology will lead to an earth stripped of its resources or engulfed in war, and being completely of the eastern viewpoint, nothing would get done. But Israel is in the middle...

Judaism is the search for the balance. We eat and drink for enjoyment but do not overindulge. We work to sustain our lives but do not let the work consume us. Experience in life should lead to being more spiritual and being more spiritual should lead to a greater experience.

Seeing the sights and having an awesome time with my group is amazing, and has easily met all my expectations. However, I did not expect to walk away from lunch with an entirely new perspective.

All I can say is that this trip has been pretty unbelievable and we're not even halfway through. I miss everyone from home but I am in no rush to come back.

-Steven

[Pictures: The group at the Western Wall - the Kotel - and at the Machane Yehudah market.]