Final Wrap Up...Thanks for Reading!

As of two weeks ago I am now back in the States. I enjoyed my last few days in Israel since I last posted an entry. As I mentioned before, we went to Calanitte's parent's home for Shabbos. They live in the Katamon neighborhood of Jerusalem, a kind of hippie progressive area with cute cafes scattered at random street corners and lots of flowering street trees. It was a pretty crowded Shabbos dinner as one of Calanitte's brothers, Uri, had just returned home from a year in Boston, so family friends, aunts and uncles, and cousins were also visiting. On Shabbos morning I walked with Calanitte's father Raphi, her sister Keren, and Aaron to the Great Synagogue. The last time (and first time) I had been to the Great Synagogue was 15 years ago this summer when our family first visited Israel. Along the half-hour walk there we passed by a couple residences with large walls and fences that reminded me of home security measures used around ordinary South African homes. At first not knowing what we were passing I pointed this out. Raphi informed me that this was the Prime Minister's home and that I was currently on camera--so maybe the security is higher than around middle class homes in SA. I then stopped pointing at things and tried to act nonchalant as we walked the length of the block. The other residence a couple blocks away happened to be that of the President. During the service I had trouble at times keeping up with the 100% Hebrew service, but then Keren would help me find the right spot, and I enjoyed the singing of the chazzan and choir. The second and third Shabbos meals were much less hectic than the first and I even squeezed in a nice Shabbos schluf (nap) in the afternoon.

That evening Raphi helped Aaron and I map out our trip to Tzfat for the next day. Since we had a couple free seats in the rental car, we invited to Uri to join us. He excitedly accepted our invitation as he had been thinking of going up there for a while. So the next morning we departed on our mini road trip. Tzfat, the home of Kabbalah, and a main spiritual/artistic/hippie center of Israel is located about 300km north of Jerusalem in the mountains above Lake Kinneret (aka the Sea of Galilee). Besides stops for Coca-Cola (Uri's passion in life--I kid you not) and lunch (falafel in Tiberias...mmm), we made a number of stops at the tombs of Tzaddikim (big holy rabbis). We first stopped at the tomb of Rabbi Meir Baal Ha'Nes, who is buried close to Lake Kinneret. The reason that people pray at the tombs of Tzaddikim is not to pray to the person (that would be idol worship), but to ask the Tzaddik to pray for you since they are closer to G-d. After lunch in Tiberias we had trouble finding route 90, so we wound up driving through Tiberias a few times. It was encouraging to see so many tourists around (Tiberias is one of Israel's vacation playgrounds due to its location on the lake) because there were almost no tourists around the last time I was there about three years ago, and this time last summer Tiberias was within range of rockets flying down from Lebanon. After our inadvertent driving tour of Tiberias it was only another half an hour up the road to Tzfat. We stopped at a large cemetery built into a hillside where dozens of tzaddikim are buried. This is also the location of a very holy and notoriously very cold groundwater mikve (ritual bath). Many of the tombs are painted light blue which I learned on this day is supposed to confuse evil spirits so that they cannot tell the difference between the earth and the sky. From there we continued up the hill to the main part of town. Tzfat has lots of high-quality art shops as well as lower quality touristy shops and overpriced food stalls. There were so many American tourists in one stretch (mostly Birthright kids) that the shopkeepers were yelling out prices in dollars. I just window shopped since I didn't want to spend $100 on a necklace. Uri picked up one of those Coca-Cola in Hebrew t-shirts to further profess his love to his favorite soft drink. Earlier at lunch I was surprised to hear that he didn't already have one since I see them allover the States (probably because they're only bought by Americans). Just as we had driven a few circles around Tiberias earlier that day, we drove up and down Tzfat a couple times trying to find the tomb of Nemucha (sp?) where you supposedly go and pray to get married. As it was starting to get later we gave up on Nemucha and decided to go to Rabbi Tarphon instead since Aaron knew how to get there. His tomb is just down the road from one of the numerous hippie communes around Tzfat. From there we headed back towards Jerusalem, stopping along the way at Rabbi Meir Baal Ha'Nes again to daven mincha. Since this trip was during the three weeks leading up to the destruction of the Temple, the Ninth of Av, you are not supposed to listen to musical instruments (although you can listen to a cappela). With no a cappela music for the road, Uri provided us with a live soundtrack on the way back.

By the time we got back Avital was already asleep, and apparently she was upset earlier that day because she didn't get to spend more time with me (awww...such a sweetie), so the next morning I went with her to kaitanah--a sort of summer camp run by one of the moms upstairs for neighborhood girls. To say it was hectic would be an understatement. Of the dozen or so girls there ages 3-6, Avital was the only who spoke English. The mom running it spoke some English but soon after I got there she left me with another older girl about age 10 to do a craft project with the girls. After leaving Avital at kaitanah, Aaron and I went to run some errands around town. Upon returning to his place, I had a few hours to coo at Feige and pack my stuff up before leaving for the airport. The nesher came early, leaving me the most rushed I have ever been right before a big trip. I even had a scare in my last few minutes that I had lost my passport. My passport had gotten wedged within some CDs that I had thrown into my purse when we returned the rental car. I put the CDs on the table, not knowing my passport was mixed into the stack. Luckily I saw the CDs on the table and thought to look through them. Had they been put away earlier I might still be in Israel. A few hours at the airport and a 15-hour flight later I was home in Los Angeles. Amazingly, I had no jet lag despite the 10-hour time difference.

I am now slowly getting back into the swing of things here. Last Monday I started working at the Job Placement Center at LA Harbor College where I have worked for the past couple summers. I am happy to have a routine because I think I would feel a bit lost without it. In the first couple days after I got home (before I knew I would have this job) I woke up in a bit of a panic wondering what to do with myself and eager to find something new to consume my time. Being home has been strangely familiar and yet distant all at the same time. In many ways, it feels that my life here has simply been on pause for a few months. Same people, same places, same food, same traffic, same bad television. However, I now have another place to be homesick for. So far, more than anything else I miss my friends and everything we had the time to do together there. I miss communal dinners, group walks to the Lan and Scottsville, cramped cab rides around town, weekend adventures, costume parties, rewatching old TV shows, shopping for curios, and frequenting Bread Ahead among countless other experiences. Right now my consolation is that I will be living in International House next year and will hopefuly have the opportunity to bond with a new set of international students. Until then I am just trying to adjust to the small things day-by-day and evaluate my options for what to do next. Any suggestions?

Sala Kahle