Finally: The Almond Tree Forest

I apologize for how long it's taken me to put this post up. In all truth, it was the attack in the Merkaz Harav Yeshivah that threw me off. I wanted to write inspiring words full of hope, about how everything will work out for the best. Including the idea that G-d is everywhere - in everything, even in this. But I can't seem to come up with straight thoughts and ideas that really express how I feel.

So we're just going to go back to the original plan. 

Enjoy the pictures.

The Almond Tree Forest.

Tzfat [Tsfat, Zefat, Safed], Israel

Hope you enjoyed!
Here's a sneak peak to my next post - The Olive Tree Forest

Appreciate What You Have...

  Going down to the "almond forest" today with a few friends. I'm not even sure if the place has an official name. We discovered the blossoming almond trees other day on our ritual walk to Shefa Shuk and decided it would be fun to go down there and take pictures. 

So we're going on an adventure.

In the mean time, here are more pictures from my trip to Jerusalem. 

Israel Experience #314

I just got back from my weekend off in Jerusalem. After spending the past month in Tsfat, I forgot how normal Israel can actually be.

Ok that was just a side note, here's what I really wanted to write about...

Incase you didn't know, Israeli's push. When standing in line at the grocery story, that split second you space out and forget where you are, someone will cut in front of you.
Getting onto buses is a whole other story..I'm teaching myself how to push back, I mean.. It's basic survival instincts here. If you don't push, you don't get anywhere.

Sunday morning I was in the Western Wall Tunnel. I wandered through the tunnels alone and at one point encountered a group of American tourists. The group was big and the tunnel is narrow so I had to move slowly with them... When suddenly a man notices me trying to pass and he shouts to the rest of the group "MAKE WAY FOR THE YOUNG LADY TO PASS! MOVE TO THE SIDE! LET HER PASS"...I honestly did not expect that.. Its definitely not an Israeli thing to do, I would of had to either push or wait... But with Americans?

Completely different society.

Sleepy Time in Tsfat

Shake N' Bake

This past week we experienced two earthquakes in Tsfat ranging on the richter scale from 4.5 - 5.0.



I grew up in California where it happens all the time, so its not something new to me. Yet every time I do experience one, it freaks me out. It's the unexpectedness that gets to me the most.. Not knowing when it will happen again.... That really drives me nuts.


So, we had this earthquake on friday, 12:30 in the afternoon. I was standing in my room talking to a few other girls there when the ground moves beneath, I trip and manage to fall onto my bed immediately grabbing our floppy bookshelf so it wouldn't fall over. I understand that not everybody grew up with the idea of "earthquake safety" like I have and the whole "drop under a table and take cover" idea isn't their second nature.... But everyone should have a sense of logic, something you would NOT do...

For example, you should definitely not start jumping up and down excitedly and then run to the window to see the cars swaying all while the earth is shaking.

3 Simple Rules

Israeli Bash

I visited two weddings this week.

The first one, in Haifa, we [Machon Altie girls] were invited to...



The second, in Tsfat, I casually walked in to. [We were only there for maybe 30 minutes though..no biggy]

The Old Man

I've been thinking on what my next post should be for a while now and this is what finally hit me.

On the midrachov [the main street] in Tsfat stands this one old man, every day, selling cheap jewelery. Every time a person passes him he throws out his offer, holding up one of his items "chamesh shekel, chamesh shekel..." [5 shekel, 5 shekel]. That also includes me. I've been here for almost 4 months now, and every time I pass him he asks me to buy something...

At first I was thinking "honestly, doesn't he ever get tired of asking people? Doesn't he see me ignore him, every day? Why does he bother trying?"
Ok, maybe because he's so old his memory is going a little..understandable..

But the conclusion I took out of it for myself, is that this guy doesn't give up. Every day he stands out there selling junk, asking mostly the same people...every time they turn him down..And yet he just keeps at it... Thats really something we should all do, to learn not to give up when you want something...to keep trying..stay strong..

Huh?

There's nothing else in the world like Israeli fashion..... and I think it should stay that way.

Continuation of Israeli Snow Fest

Snow? In...Israel?

Just when I thought I escaped the cold bitter canadian winters....

 In 2007 I completed what some people call a "real" winter...Snow, sleet, ice, below freezing weather..I got sick of the snow..ugh..once spring came around I was like "ok, i'm over it..go away" 

its been 8 months of separation since then [ yes 8 months because the last time was in may...MAY!!!]..and now it snowed in tsfat and i'm psyched!! Its all melted away since then, but here are some nice pictures to enjoy.

p.s. when it snows in Israel, everything shuts down...Kinda funny since its only like 3 inches too...

The adoption agency

Kinda like how L.A. is the place for "homeless" people to migrate to, Israel is the place for all the stray cats and dogs in the middle east. [ I don't really blame them for their choice either.. ]

My friends and I recently discovered one dog (out of the many) and have grown attached to him.. He found us one day while we were roaming the old city and he followed us around until we made it back to our apartments.

Since then, whenever we see him we give him a treat... He's a real special dog.... (but not to replace the one at home who's probably sleeping on the coach at this very moment..)

Oh yeah, we named him Benny...

The Real vs. The Surreal

My mind is in jumbles and its hard for me to come up with words to describe the impact that my stay in Chevron left on me.

One thought of mine is how different reality of the Jew's in Chevron is compared to America. In Amerca a person will turn on the 10 o' clock news, hear about wars in the middle east - think about how horrible it is - then go to sleep with an easy conscious. I cant blame them, I've done the same thing myself and when I go home I might even continue to do so.

In Chevron, Jews are living under the threat of the Palestinians every day. They walk down the street and are neighbors to people who hate the very essence of their being.

This sounds extreme, maybe I'm being extreme...But thats just what it is.

I saw things that I've always heard about, but never put together as a reality...

For instance I saw soldiers posted at every corner for our protection.







Palestinians stop what they are doing and stare at you, most of the time with hatred


Fences, Walls and Barbed wire to prevent chaos..





Bullet holes in household objects...


Children living their life as they would anywhere else without fear...



I saw one of the Holiest sites in the world for Jews, Christians and Moslem's... and when I peaked through bars to see the place where Abraham's tombstone is, on the other side I saw Moslims bowing down and praying, even some gazing though the window at us...What did I think of them and what did they think of me at that moment?


I saw a building stopped in the middle of production. 12 single rooms, open windows with a plastic covering, one bathroom, one washer and one drier... and I heard that 12 families live in one room each [one per family] and they share the one bathroom and one washer and drier...

I heard a story of a building that was once an Arab market, but after a shooting in 1994 they vacated the building. It was left empty for 6 years, then fixed by Jews who moved in and lived there for maybe 6. I heard that this past August they were expelled by the government for living there illegally. But it wasn't so easy to take out the people who so very much wanted to stay. The doors were fired down and blocked with settlers locked inside..


Three of them even locked themselves inside a concrete box, for standoff, that took the soldiers hours to open up.


And I saw a small city, that is unable to build up because it upsets the people who hate them.





I saw and heard all this and I now know it as a reality. In America we live a luxury life and so many people take that for granted.

I dont know where I'm going with this.. my mind is in jumbles...