Shabbat Shalom!

We had a very relaxing Shabbat for our last day at the Kibbutz in Golan Heights. After the morning Kiddush, we went for a beautiful hike on a trail that our tour guide had never been to before. A few of us tried olives straight from the tree and immediately shared our best sour face. We also had a wonderful canine companion named Rocky who earned his name by constantly begging us to play fetch with him with rocks. Wendy strongly believes that there are no tennis balls in Israel. After the hike we played a great game of ultimate frisbee. A few of us are now quite sore. We were quite tired from all the physical activity, which was perfect for our next activity, which was to discuss what aspects of Judaism or our Jewish identity are most important to us. We subsequently held a Havdallah service overlooking the Sea of Galilee as the stars were emerging (have I mentioned how many stars there are in Golan Heights?). It was beautiful, and David, our resident musician, played the guitar for us. We then visited the city of Tiberias for a nice walk on the boardwalk, observations of the local residents, and dinner.
On Sunday we made our way to Tel Aviv. We visited the open air market, which is filled with the most delicious looking fruit. I have never seen pomegranites that look so delicious. This was also a great place to buy chotski t-shirts. We then visited the Yitzhak Rabin square where Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated in 1995. We took the opportunity to talk with the Israelis in the area about how they felt about the assassination, where they were at the time, what it was like to live through it, etc. The memorial by the municipal building truly communicated the impact the assassination had on the country. Now we have just arrived at our hotel and are awaiting a concert by an Israeli musician. Can't wait!