Reunited and it feels so good!

This is a big tourist time in Israel, mainly because of Taglit Birthright Israel, a program that allows Jewish young adults who have never been on a peer trip to Israel to come to the holy land for 10 days for free.  I had been counting down the days until Julia, one of my closest friends, was coming to Israel as she was staffing the Cornell Hillel Birthright trip joined with the University of Wisconsin.  She wasn't going to have much free time so I asked about joining her for Shabbat when she and her group would be at a hotel in Jerusalem.  My dear friend Ruth on my program also had a friend who would be staffing a Hillel Birthright.  Ruth had the same idea as me and wanted to stay at the hotel.  Ruth sent some emails to the higher ups (she used to work for Hillel), and got it approved for us to join the group.  Turns out Julia and Ruth's friend Lisa were rooming together.  Shall we say slumber party?


Earlier in the week I noticed on facebook that another friend of mine, Adam, was going to be in Israel on a Birthright trip.  Adam and I go way back to high school (he went to camp with one of my best friends Becky) and he was even my prom date!  We exchanged numbers and planned to meet up when he got to Jerusalem.  Friday afternoon I ventured to the shuk (market) where all the Birthright groups would be visiting.  Normally, I avoid the shuk on Friday as it is very crowded with everyone doing last minute shopping before Shabbat.  However I wanted to see Adam and Julia so I braved it.  First I met up with Adam.  It was great to see him (it had been a few years I think).  We caught up quickly, I met a few other people on his trip, and then I led him to Aroma Cafe so he could grab something to eat quickly.  He had to be back with his group so we decided to meet up Saturday night if possible.  


Then I met up with Julia!  It was so awesome to see her!  Julia and I wanted burekas so I said "Here hold my backpack, I'm going in!"  I pushed my way through this narrow area filled to the brim with people and got us some burekas (not without getting hit in the head with warm tongs by a man who was being a typical pushy Israeli- he did apologize though).  After making it out alive, I helped Julia pick out lots of junk food for her group's Oneg Shabbat that night at this awesome discount shop in the shuk.  We parted and I met up with Ruth and Lisa.  Ruth and I made it to the hotel and settled in.  Luckily Julia and Lisa had a suite!  I caught up with Julia a bit.  While she was telling me about an event that she and my other close friends Robin, Danielle, and Joanna attended a few weeks ago, I began to cry.  Picturing them all having fun, amusing experiences together in NYC without me made me really sad.  I kind of wished I could go home sooner rather than be without them for almost 2 more months...

Julia & I in our Shabbat best

I went to Reform services because Julia was helping to lead.  At Shabbat dinner, I met the Cornell students and had fun hearing about their majors and such.  We discussed Dr. Maas's Psych 101, Clara Dickson Hall, & and lots of other Cornell topics. After dinner I sat in on the group's conversation about their visit to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum, and their overall reflections on their trip so far.  A lot of thoughts were going through my head during this discussion.  Some of you may or may not know that I haven't been having the best time here.  Unfortunately many aspects of time here are not living up to the high expectations I may have set.  I have had struggles within my internship(s) and haven't felt like I've had many opportunities to use my skills as much as I'd like to which has led to me being worried about getting a good job when I come back to NYC.  Some things in my program are a bit disorganized and therefore add to my stress and my Hebrew classes have not really helped me progress to where I want to be.  Also, I love the people on my program, but I didn't expect it to be made up of so many people who are in relationships.  I haven't had much success in dating over the years and told myself I would not stress out about that during my time in Israel.  I was finally doing something I had wanted to do for a long time and this was going to be a time to focus on ME.  However it's very difficult not to think about this when as I said I am surrounded by people in relationships.  Lastly, I did not expect to miss my friends and family and life in NYC as much as I do...  So here I am sitting with a bunch of college students who for many this was their first time in Israel.  Julia asked them each to share what memory they will take away from the trip so far.  Many of them said they will always remember the moment they first arrived in Jerusalem.  Then it hit me.  I'm in JERUSALEM!  JERUSALEM!  People wait their entires lives and do not get the chance to come to Jerusalem and here I am living here, in the holiest city in the world for the Jewish people, a beautiful place full of history, life, memories, etc.   This is an opportunity of a lifetime and I've been taking it for granted.  So I told myself to stop being so bitter and enjoy the rest of my experience here, despite the struggles.  Wow, thanks Cornell (and U of Wisc.) birthright for knocking some sense into me.

The next day, Adam Daum and Alex Shapero, Cornellians I haven't seen in ages, came to join us.  Adam has made aliyah and is serving in the Israeli Defense Force.  Alex was staffing another birthright group.

Cornell Hillel Alumni: Adam, Alex, Julia, & Me

Later, Dan Yagudin, who used to work for Cornell Hillel when I was a student, came to visit.  Dan now lives in Haifa and works for the University of Haifa Hillel.  Coincidentally, Dan and Ruth staffed a birthright trip together a few years ago and Ruth has been trying to see him since we've been in Israel.  Yay for Hillel to bring everyone together! 

Me, Dan Yagudin, & Julia!

After hanging out for the day with everyone and then joining a lovely Havdallah ceremony  to end Shabbat on the roof of the hotel, Ruth, Dan, & I cabbed back to our apartment to get ready to go out to Ben Yehudah Street.  Ben Yehudah Street is the main drag in center city Jerusalem and all the birthright groups get set loose there for a few hours.  I joined Julia who was meeting up with her friend Megan for dinner.  Previously I met Megan, a rabbinical student at the Jewish Theological Seminary here for her year in Israel, through Ruth and even attended Megan's New Year's Eve party.  As it turns out, Julia knows Megan because Megan was the rabbinic intern at Cornell Hillel for the year's High Holidays.  Gotta love these small world Jewish geography discoveries!  We had dinner at Cafe Rimon which I hadn't been to before.  Julia and I shared two delicious dishes.  

Hanging out on Ben Yehudah Street

As we were finishing up, Adam called to tell me that he was here with his group. 

Me & Adam on Ben Yehudah Street (we pondered doing a prom pose but stuck with this one)

I met up with him and his friends on their way to find some food.  I suggested some places and we decided on Cafe Rimon!  This time we sat on the meat side (yes this restaurant serves both meat and dairy but has separate seating and menus) but I didn't have a second meal in case you were wondering.  I enjoyed telling Adam and his fellow birthright-ers about my time in Israel and some of the things I've learned about the way of life here-both good and not so good.  Julia stopped by to say goodbye.  I of course started crying again because I really do miss life in NYC and tried to convince her to extend her trip after the birthright program is over.  Ruth joined us when she was done meeting up with the bazillion people she knew here on birthright.  Adam and his friends went to meet their group, and Ruth and I went home thoroughly satisfied with our reunion of sorts.