חג פורים שמח

For the holiday of Purim, Nativ came together and went to Ma’ale Chamisha, right outside of Jerusalem. We spent Shabbas there with Jules Gutin and Rabbi Elise Wineck, head of Koach. We had discussion groups with our staff and with our guests. The first session I chose was with Maya. This discussion was about having a small Jewish population on campus and how to deal with the challenges we may face next year. The second session I attended was with Adir. His discussion group dealt with the topic of drinking on Purim and what it has become today. When dinner and the discussion groups were over, I went to bed. Saturday morning we davened shacharit. After shacharit, we made Kiddush and went to our third discussion group. This time I chose Elkana’s group. This dealt with empathy and compassion towards other and how it helps you become a good leader. After the discussion groups ended, we had lunch, then free time. Because Purim began on Motze Shabbat, ma’ariv and megillah reading had to be tied together. We all got changed into our costumes to end Shabbas and start Purim. I, of course, dressed up as none other than the fabulous Tinker Bell. Little did I know that the American staff members were all being characters from Peter Pan. Adir naturally was Peter Pan, Sherman was the evil Captain Hook, and Maya was Tinker Bell. I challenged her to a Tinker Bell duel. When we saw each other, I knew I immediately won. Maya looked nothing like Tinker Bell. I even did my hair correctly. We ended ma’ariv and went straight into Megillah reading. During this time, we were all admiring each other’s costumes. After Megillah reading, we had dinner then a dance/karaoke party. It was a lot of fun. Gill and I signed up to do karaoke together. We chose Rotze Banot. (It’s a Hebrew song which means “want girls”.

After the last song was sung, we all went to bed. Sunday was the Purim Parade in Holon. We were also delivering our Mishloach Manot to each other. It was a lot of fun. After the parade, we went to Tel-Aviv for lunch. After lunch, we headed back to the hotel for our final session on Conservative Judaism with Jules. After Jules we had dinner, then we had a theater group come in and improv for us based on stories we told. Monday, we had free time in Jerusalem. I was going to buy a new talis for my mom, but she didn’t give me the money to buy it, so I didn’t. Instead, I went to Ben Yehuda Street to hang out. I bought some poppers for the fun of it. Then a couple of us had a picnic in the park. Then the girls of the picnic decided to go to Tattoo so one girl and I could go get our cartilage pierced. She got a first piercing, I got a second. It actually looks quite nice. I didn’t notice this until much later, but I got a silver ring and the first ring is a purple ring. For all of you USYers reading this, those are the ZOHAR colors. After getting my cartilage pierced, I met up with my friend Yasmin, who I met at the MASA BFL (Building Future Leadership) conference. We walked to the NU store (check it out) and I bought a T-shirt. Every t-shirt purchased goes to a cause of some sort. I bought the shirt donating money to technology in Africa. The story is on the inside of the shirt in both English and Hebrew. After shopping, Yasmin, Ben, Yedidya, and I were sitting at a table on Ben Yehuda just chatting. Later on, I was on my way back to Karmiel. It was a fun experience to see Purim in Israel and Shushan Purim in Jerusalem. Everybody dresses up in an assortment of costumes and have a lot of fun. I am glad I got to be in Israel for Purim.

MASA Leadership Week

This past week I was in Jerusalem for MASA's Leadership Week. It was a lot of fun. My program was the only full program that attended. Other programs in attendance were Young Judea Year Course, Aardvark, Bar-Ilan Israel Experience, Israel By Choice, Neve Yerushalayim, Ofek, Otzma, Real Life Israel, and others. At MASA Leadership Week, I met kids from USA, Canada, Argentina, Australia, Holland, Belgium, France, Germany, Lithuania and other countries. I was in Group 3 (aka BUELLER) and it was a bunch of kids who are going to Maryland next year and some other schools (like me...I'm going to Hofstra University). I went to a discussion group called Personal Communication which helps people with speaking skills and public speaking. I found it very useful. There was a special interest day one of the days. I chose Jewish Peoplehood which I found very useless because it taught me nothing about Jewish Peoplehood. Tuesday, we had 3 hours of free time in Jerusalem. I went to Ben Yehuda Street and met up with my friend, Yisrael. We went shopping for Purim costumes/accessories. Then we went to the shuk, and we met up with our friends Miriam and David. I bought a pair of fuzzy handcuffs, olives, dried avatiach (watermelon), strawberries (6 NIS for a kilo...good price). Candy, Dr. Pepper. I also got my package later that day (I LOVE YOU MOMMY AND DADDY). This package had my Purim costume (Tinker Bell), 3 boxes of Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies, 1 box of Tag-a-Long Girl Scout Cookies, Dr. Pepper flavored chapstick, a pair of Toms shoes, Kosher Kitchen stickers, a new camera (for some much needed pictures), 2 boxes of Cheezits (Did you hear that Robert? My mom sent 2. You're supposed to send me 1), and a couple other things. This weekend is Purim and I'm really excited.
I'll let you know what happens next week