Shabbat

We spent our Shabbat at Kibbutz Almog. We had five participants come to the Torah as B'nai Mitzvah. They studied the weekly Torah portion (Korach - a wonderfully fascinating one!), explained and analyzed it, and told us about their Jewish experience and why this trip and other events in their life made them want to come to the Torah for a Bar or Bat Mitzvah. With Brandi and Mike smiling proudly as surrogate parents, we had an oofruf at the end of the ceremony; we all threw candies at the B'nai Mitzvah.

We then spent the afternoon catching up on sleep and playing around the pool, before meeting up again in the evening to prepare for our visit to Yad Vashem in the morning. We talked about how the Holocaust (or "Shoah" in Hebrew) makes us feel. Responses varied from helpless to confused to vengeful to determined, and we got ourselves prepared for what would be a very emotional trip to Yad Vashem, Jerusalem's Holocaust memorial and museum.

We then gathered for Havdallah, the ceremony marking the end of Shabbat. Many of us unplugged for the day, celebrating Shabbat and enjoying a restful day without any hikes! We're quite glad that Shabbat was in the middle of our stay here, so we were able to catch up on sleep a little bit. Celebrating Shabbat together was a wonderful treat, and one that Bobby says was maybe the highlight of the trip. We bid farewell to the Sabbath bride in a circle, with songs, prayers, and some dancing.

Mazal Tov to Greg, both Ashleys, Rachel, and Doug - and their families - on their B'nai Mitzvah ceremonies!

Shavua Tov (may you have a good week)
- Mike and Brandi, the proud surrogate parents of the B'nai Mitzvah