Shabbat in Jerusalem!

The first Shabbat in Jerusalem was amazing. The company, the food, the prayer, the rest, and the general ambiance of the city combined to create an incredibly powerful experience – it’ll be a lot to live up to for the rest of my weeks here!

Shabbat prep really started on Friday morning, when Madison and I ventured out to Machne Yehuda, aka “the shuk.” This is Jerusalem’s huge open-air market. It’s open six days a week, but Friday is certainly busiest with everyone coming to get their Shabbat groceries – fruits, cheeses, wines, challot (challah loaves), meats, and yummy pastries. It’s also cheapest on Friday, because all of the vendors are trying to get rid of their merchandise before Shabbat. We took the bus there, which was pretty easy – lots of people were around to show us where to get off, but it was hard to miss, with swarms of people flooding in and out of the street. Vendors are hawking their wares – “Eser shekalim! Perot! Ugot!” (Ten shekels! Fruits! Cakes!). We picked up some delicious but HEAVY melons for fruit salad, rugalach from Marzipan (the ONLY bakery to go to!), and Asian sauces for Madison’s famous sesame noodles. By that point the shuk had become VERY crowded, so we made our way out and back to the buses. Young girls were passing out Shabbat candles with little sheets telling you the different candle lighting times in the major Israeli cities, and men and women were lugging full carts of food back onto the bus. There was a hurried air to the city – so much to do, and so little time before Shabbat!

A couple of us went to the early Shabbat service at a nearby Orthodox shul (synagogue), which was an interesting experience. I’m not really used to being in a shul with a mechitza (curtain divider between the men’s and women’s section, and this place had an even more drastic setup – the women’s section was entirely closed-in, making us feel like we were in quarantine. There were only 12 seats in the tiny box, so it was hard to maneuver and made for a very unspiritual Shabbat service for the others and me. Oh well – you can’t win them all. The director of the June program, Michael Hattin, was there as well with his three sons, and we were having dinner with him afterwards, so we all walked back together to the house he was staying at. The dinner was amazing – fresh vegetables, creamy scalloped potatoes, fish with a pesto sauce, coffee cake and ice cream…. it was just what I needed – a real home-cooked meal. I met some great people and had very interesting conversations, learning a lot about different people’s Jewish journeys. As always, everyone’s coming from a slightly different place, but there are always common elements that tie us all together.

The next morning, I woke up with the sun and quickly got ready for shul – I was really excited about the community that I was going to this morning, Shira Hadasha. They’re well known for being progressive in the Orthodox world, pushing the envelope to create opportunities for women to become fully engaged in leading prayer. When I arrived, they were at the Amidah (standing central prayer of the service), almost ready to begin the Torah service. The first thing I noticed was the beauty of the singing – both men and women were singing with full voices, in stark contrast to the timid raucous davening (praying) of the night before. It was an intensely spiritual atmosphere, augmented by the fact that their was a bat mitzvah that morning. The bat mitzvah girl chanted the first three aliyot (sections of the Torah reading) beautifully, and the table for the Torah was placed in the center of the room, directly between the men’s and women’s sections. Women would come up to the left side of the table to receive their aliyah or chant Torah, and men would come to the left. When the Torah was lifted and carried, the women would carry it around their side and then pass it to the men, who would carry it to theirs. It was a beautifully planned choreography, almost like a dance, that made the service that much more beautiful. I watched the mother of the bat mitzvah squeeze her daughter’s shoulders as she came up to receive her bat mitzvah aliyah, and the glee in the eyes of her friends and family as they gathered candy to throw at its conclusion. It was a simple moment, yet very profound.

Afterwards, I met up with my friends who had arrived. I had also run into a couple that I knew from Houston at the beginning of the service! They had been living here for the year, and were getting to shul at the exact same time I arrived. The woman said that she had been going to services here all year, and I have a feeling it’ll be the same for me all summer.

Later, a bunch of us from Pardes met up and had a huge Shabbat afternoon picnic in a nearby park. There was so much amazing food, good company, and great conversation. We stayed there from 1 to almost 7, each of us taking turns napping and swinging in my camping hammock. The weather was BEAUTIFUL, and it even drizzled a bit, which is so unheard of in Israel in the summer. At one point, Arab bareback horse riders rode right by us! Later, we ate the rest of our leftovers and made havdalah at Matt’s house, bringing an end to a lovely, peaceful, and restful Shabbat. I felt absolutely in the moment for those 25 hours, which is often something that I struggle with. Let’s hope all the rest of my Israel Shabbatot are just as wonderful!