Siyur to an Italian Synagogue in Jerusalem!

On Thursdays, I take an Anthropology class about Jewish culture. This is a really interesting class because we get to learn about different Jewish communities all over the world! We have this class all day and it's always separated into parts. So this past Thursday we learned about German Jews pre-World War II and then after lunch we learned about the Italians!!!! We went to an Italian synagogue/museum and we met there an Italian Chef named Gionathan who taught us all about the Jewish community in Italy through food. He was such a funny man because he has this thing where he just bursts out in Opera at random moments (aka mid-sentence). He also brought us delicious food such as pizza and two different kinds of pesto: basil and dried tomatoes. YUMMMMM

After, we went to the Museum part of the synagogue and saw their still functioning synagogue which is BEAUTIFUL (all real gold) and we saw different artifacts that the Italians brought to Jerusalem with them. According to our teacher, they were very rich and had no problem showing it off! My kind of people... hehehe just kidding

Found this posted outside a jewelry store on Ben Yehuda St. Made my day!!!

Political Debate!

On Wednesday night a bunch of my friends and I went to the the Great Synagogue in Jerusalem (the biggest synagogue in Israel!) to watch a political debate!!! For those of you who don't know, this upcoming Tuesday     is the election day in Israel for new members of the Israeli Parliament (The Knesset). This debate was specifically for Olim (people that have made Aliyah) so it was all in English!

The debate began with each party member stating their party's platform in 5 minutes. The parties participating were Likud/Beiteinu, Hatnua, Yesh Atid, Labor, The Bayit Yehudi, Shas, and Meretz. This debate was very interesting because I got to hear about all the parties ideas. For example some are religious, some secular. Some are for the two state solution, some aren't and etc. I'm really happy that I went and got information. Also this is a really unique experience. Next Tuesday is going to be a national holiday for elections. I wonder who's gonna win!

Siyur to the Jewish Quarter!

This Monday we went to visit the Jewish Quarter of the Old City for my "History of Jerusalem" class. This was really interesting because we didn't just go to the Kotel and that's it. We went to the other side of the wall and learned all about King Harrod and his reign over the Jewish people. We saw a lot of cool things like mikvehs and shops that were from the time of the Second Temple. Our whole siyur was all about learning about the history of the second temple and additionally about the supposed building of the third temple!

After that we went to the Davidson Museum and got a virtual of what the Second Temple would have looked like and the city around it. So for example when we saw the actual places where the mikveh was we saw it in the virtual tour as well! Super cool!

Lastly, we went to a place called the Temple Institute. This is a place that believes in the reconstruction of the Third Temple and they have researched what needs to be in the temple. This means that they have a whole exhibit of items that they have built which are ready for use when the temple is built.... WEIRD.

SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For any of you Californians out there reading my blog, I don't have to tell you how exciting it is to see snow fall!!!! Now its not like I've never seen snow... my family lived in Maryland for a year in 2000-2001. It's now 2013 and the first time I have seen real snow since.
It all started on Wednesday afternoon. We all got out of our classes for the day and we walk outside the classrooms and it begins to snow!!! Everyone runs out side and immediately starts throwing snowballs (this includes our wonderful madrichot as well obviously). Most people weren't that excited due to the large amount of people on my section from the Northeast :p We were told that if it continues to snow the next day, school would be cancelled due to the closed roads (teachers can't arrive). So we were all totally praying for a snow day (my first one!!).

And what do you know? We woke up to a text from our madricha telling us that classes were cancelled!!!!!! MY FIRST SNOW DAY!!! so exciting :)

As I was getting ready to go out and play with the snow which was EVERYWHERE, a bunch of boys from my section stormed into my apartment waking everyone up and throwing snow in our faces..... NOT OKAY. Well I had to retaliate so I went outside and about 20 of us had a snowball fight for like an hour outside. Honestly I was on cloud nine it was so fun! I love snow!!!! (I was a huge target because everyone knows that I'm from California)

After that, my friends and I decided to revisit the tayelet (lookout point) close to our apartment and check out Jerusalem covered with snow!!! Although I don't have snow shoes and my feet were soaking wet the beautiful view was so worth it!! (The stupid male teenagers pelting me with snowballs weren't though....

I LOVE SNOW!!!!

Siyur to the City of David

Today, my siyur class and I went to continue our learning of the history of Jerusalem at the city of King David! The western wall is in the "old city" so this is known as the antique city. Our teacher spent the whole time telling us the story of King David and his son Solomon. I've never had a real education on the stories of the Bible so even if it isn't the most exciting thing in the world, I think it's great that I'm learning it now.

We even went to the Gihon Spring which is supposedly the place where Solomon was appointed King! 

The city of David is known for its water tunnels that show how the people of the time period got their water and beat their aggressors. Because today was raining and absolutely FREEZING we didn't go in but we went into a dry tunnel which was a little to claustrophobic for me...

The tomb of King David

Such a great siyur!!!! :)

Second Half of Winter Break

My whole last weekend of winter break was spent in Tel Aviv with friends and family. I woke up early Friday morning to meet up with two of my camp friends from this summer for brunch. These two girls, Ziv and Shemesh were two of my favorites so it's safe to say that I was pretty stoked! We ate at a breakfast restaurant named Benedict and I've been told to go there since my year course orientation (checked that off the bucket list!)
After that I went over to a family friend's house in Tel Aviv for Shabbat dinner. The last Shabbat of 2012!! I had so much fun because I've known this family since I was born so it's always really nice to stay there for a night or two.
The next night was my friend Lauren's birthday!! Her parents took a few friends and I to a really nice dinner at a restaurant called Herbert Samuel which is right across from the beach in Tel Aviv. We all enjoyed a classy dinner with cocktails and wine and steak. Yumm!!!!

NYE was such an amazing night! My friend's and I stayed at an apartment right next to the shuk (such an amazing location). We went out and had a great time!!! People definitely celebrate New Years here... It's just called Sylvester!