Today was our first Shabbat in Israel. In observance of that fact we were able to sleep in and make our own morning schedule. Our first group activity was an 11am torah study. We broke off into pairs and dissected the text that we were given, finding meaning in the words and reasons for the repetitiveness of certain phrases.
After we finished up our torah study we were once again on our own to observe Shabbat as we saw fit. For most of the group this meant swimming in the Kibbutz pool - the rest of us sat in groups and talked for a few hours.
That evening we all had dinner together and then gathered outside for a Havdalah service. The Havdalah service is held when three stars are visable in the night sky, usually around 40 minutes after sunset. This is one of my favorite services. While it is a service that is often forgotten, it is a beautifully symbolic service that separates Shabbat from the rest of the week, and promises that Shabbat will come around again.
Now that Shabbat was over we all loaded back onto the bus to head into Jerusalem for some fun. The first place we visited was a birthday rally for Gilad Shalit. Today is Gilad's 24th birthday, and he has been held captive for the last 4 years by Hamas - that is 1/6th of his life! Gilad's parents have move from their home in northern Israel to a tent in Jerusalem, parked in front of the Prime Minister's house, in an attempt to pressure the government to get their son back. We were happy to be at the rally, but only stayed for about half an hour, lending our support, but unfortunately not our understanding of the speakers. (We all really wished we had started Ulpan classes!) Once we left the rally we walked around Jerusalem a little bit, found a bar to spend some time at, and eventually headed back to the bus to return to the Kibbutz for the night.
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