Aviv: The Penultimate Post (Sderot, Raphsodia, ATVs and final Shabbat)

As I stared up at the kotel for a final time, I received a sudden burst of reality, an epiphany-style realisation that I would be departing the amazing country that is Israel on Monday following an unforgettable 5 months. It has been one unbelievable journey which has passed ridiculously quickly – most can still remember stepping off the plane! However, as a group, this final week has been about each other and been dedicated to the memories and friendships and more which have been realised and nurtured in a 5 months where we learnt just as much if not more about ourselves as anything else. A gap year is a special occurrence, one which most do not have the privilege of undertaking, and I believe it is important for each and every one of us to not take this experience for granted and use it as an opportunity to better ourselves, others and the world.

This week saw us visit Sderot, a town which has been ravaged by rocket fire from nearby Gaza for over a decade. It is a town where local playgrounds, schools and almost any other building you can think of also functions as a bomb shelter, a sad reality, and one which we learnt has hugely psychologically damaging effects on the population. We were guided through the area by an organisation known as ‘Kol Voice’ who work to ensure that both sides of the conflict are heard by groups and individuals both in Israel and all over the world. We were afforded the perspectives of both sides before and after viewing what like is like in Sderot, at one point we stood just a few kilometres from Gaza itself, a somewhat worrying thought. A large amount of discussion came from this, as all attempted to ingest the politics and reality of the situation with which Israel is faced, something which I found hugely positive. Sderot really gave me the reality of the situation on the ground, and that is the fact that people are being injured and for some bombs, death and destruction are the reality. Something that is unacceptable and must be stopped by any means – short of mutual death and destruction.

That night we watched the Socceroos be comprehensively beaten by Spain as Australia tumbled out of another world cup, however I wanted to document my pride in them on the internet… well done boys, you did your country proud, keep your heads high and come back stronger in 2018!

The following day we headed up north to the Kinneret where we met up with the other Australian gap year programs for the ZFA’s first annual Raphsodia, an event where we were to build a raft and sail across the Kinneret. Aviv one managed to build their raft and get it in the water with a few indiviudals doing the bulk of the work… I shan’t name names. Nevertheless, we eventually got our raft together and she was more than seaworthy, we boarded and sailed three hours across the Kinneret before arriving at Golan Beach! Raphsodia was a great opportunity for team building during the construction process as well as an amazing chance to say a final farewell to our friends, new and old, from other programs some who we won’t be seeing for a number of months if not years.

Leaving raphsodia we headed to Jerusalem, our final accommodation of Aviv, arriving late at night and heading straight to bed. The next morning we awoke bright and early, much to the derision of my roommates Jason and Toby, and headed to the Judean Desert for a spot of ATV driving. This activity was exceedingly enjoyable as everyone harked back to five months ago, the last time we had all driven anything even resembling a car! After this we were afforded a few hours in the city centre to run our final errands.

Friday night saw our final Shabbat of Aviv and we fittingly headed to the Kotel, our first and last group Shabbat there. Of course being a group of Australian teenagers, a flurry of photography ensued, but following this we headed off into the wall itself where the boys conducted our own little kabbalat Shabbat service. It was an incredibly fitting symbolic end to the program as we all sang and linked arms for a final time at the amazingly spiritual place that is the Western Wall.

That night we gathered and voiced our first memories of Aviv as well as our concerns for the future, knowing our time together is now running out. Our final three days will no doubt yield more amazing memories and nostalgia from the past five months.

\This is my second last blog post Israel, it has come to the point now where almost everything I undertaken is the last time I do so. This is a scary thought, one which seemed millennia away months ago, but it has now arrived and it is incredibly bittersweet. A summary of my feelings on the entirety of Aviv shall feature in my final Israel blog post.

Another awesome few days down, 3 days to look forward to!

Shabbat Shalom,

Jake

Aviv Community Program: Last Week in Ra'anana

The final week of community program could not have gone quick enough for some as the most frequently used terms in the Ra’anana camp somehow managed to be “anxiety” and “I’m done” by a long haul thanks exclusively to the females residing there. As the countdown to our final volunteering session at Leket pushed into overdrive the excitement to move on to an exciting new chapter of the program peaked, for some, Ra’anana had transformed from the world’ greatest location into a never-ending hellhole. Sunday was Yom Hashoah, the day in which Israel nationally recognises and mourns the 6 million Jews who perished in the holocaust, Ra’anana’s commemoration was nothing short of remarkable as almost the entire population turned out in Yad Levanim, the town centre, for a moving service. Despite it being conducted entirely in Hebrew it was still unbelievably relatable and emotional.

Monday Tuesday and Wednesday all began in the same way, featuring volunteering at Leket dividing various fruits into their places and divvying up orders, following this we headed back to the Mircaz Klita (absorption centre). Monday night saw our first peula in the lead-up to our impending trip to Poland in which we addressed some harrowing statistics about the holocaust and discussed our thoughts and feelings about Poland and the holocaust itself. We were also assigned the biography of a real person whom we could relate to throughout our emotional journey. Tuesday was a special day in which the madrichim treated us to a lavish lunch at Bleecker Bakery at the Raanana Mall, food which plainly and simply made the food which we had been making ourselves seem like complete and utter tasteless filth; later that night we were further treated to a movie. Wednesday night, our last in Ra’anana featured a peula run by Amir about the Israel’s history focusing mainly on its many wars and their effects on Israeli society.

When Thursday finally arrived the girls could hardly contain their excitement, our final session of Leket was over before we knew it and the excruciating task of packing up our apartments came and went; until finally we were allowed our final leave of absence. Some headed to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem whilst others dispersed to various other destinations across the country, as the curtain closed on a great month in Ra’anana on community program.

I don’t usually share the nuisances of my own personal free weekend however I have chosen to make an exception this weekend due to the unbelievably amazing surroundings which I found myself in. Myself and three school friends (Sam, Eli and Haim) from Sydney managed to find accommodation smack bang in the centre of the old city of Jerusalem, a 5 minute walk to the Kotel, which I found myself attending at each and every opportunity including in the middle of the night. Friday night was particularly special as we found ourselves joining in dancing and singing with soldiers at the Kotel before participating in a kabbalat Shabbat service with many other Australian gap-yearers, Shnat people, IBC and many others; as we looked around at where we were I was absolutely struck by the amazingness of my surroundings, the kotel, a place of ground-breaking spiritual gravity. We had arranged to be sent to a Shabbat meal at a family following our visit to the kotel, and soon found ourselves at a dinner in the middle of Mea Shearim (Jerusalem’s most religious neighbourhood) alongside a rabbi, his family and roughly 20 yeshiva students. At first, I was quite uncomfortable in such a foreign environment but quickly enough we got into the conversation and soon found out these were just people like anyone else. It was an amazing experience and an awesome weekend, one which I simply felt I had to put into writing and share.

Another awesome week down, 56 days to look forward to!

Thanks for reading!

Jake

Aviv Day 6!

Jerusalem is exceedingly important to a wide variety of religious groups, notably Muslims, Christians and Jews, their importance is largely derived from the plethora of holy sites which can be found within its borders. During day 6 we visited a number of these places, some more significant to us than others, but each and every one remarkably beautiful and spiritual. Another rather early start saw group members seated at the breakfast table as early as 7AM, indulging in flavourless scrambled eggs as well as the occasional bowl of all bran. Following the breakfast rush we donned our most respectable clothing, many of the girls looking as though they were regulars at a Friday night Bnei service, and headed for our first stop of the morning, the tomb of the biblical King David.

The tomb is reasonably controversial and sparked a debate over religiosity and factuality, as some question the location of the tomb as well as whether or not King David even existed. At the tomb was a small synagogue-y type establishment in which we stopped for a quick daven, led by a rabbi who was apparently a bigwig in Jerusalem however who sounded as though he could dearly use a throat lozenge. As we completed our prayer, a chant of ‘David Melech Yisrael’ broke out, a song which brought back to home where in fact we were and its significance to the Jewish people. This was just the start in an unbelievably hectic day which tired all and made me rue Chuck Taylor for even inventing the unbelievably poor walking shoes known as ‘Converse.’

Next up on the agenda was the kotel, a huge deal for the Israel virgins of the group, Jason Kroser and myself. I was blindfolded on the way to the wall itself, just further increasing my anticipation for a moment which I had pictured for an exceptionally long time. As I touched the wall for the first time, the blindfold was removed allowing me to catch my first glance of the unbelievably spiritual sight known commonly as the western wall. It was a lot to handle, and I became rather emotional, I was able to hold back tears but the sheer spiritual force felt at this, the most holy of places, was relatively overwhelming. After a few prayers and the depositing of a few personal messages into the cracks of the wall we departed but not before Sarah realised she had forgotten her bag in kotel security, luckily it was yet to be deemed a bomb threat…

We proceeded onto lunch, a spot of falafel which we consumed outside the entrance to the Temple Mount, the site of our next holy site, the dome of the rock. However, as we neared the boys spotted some men in football tracksuits who we quickly realised were members of the Shakhtar Donetsk first team (for those who don’t know, they are the best team in the Ukrainian Premier League and are currently plying their trade in the Champions League), pictures and selfies ensued. After recovering from being starstruck by some members of the squad, we consumed our lunch and headed in to see the Dome of the Rock. It was breathtakingly beautiful, the gold dome surrounded by blue tiling was as stunning as any other architectural feature I have ever seen. Next we moved swiftly through the Arab shuk and headed over to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the resting place of one Jesus Christ. The church was filled with beautiful relics and stunned all with its beauty.

We soon headed out for our first free night of the program… but the details of that shall remain well and truly unpublished.

One more awesome day down, 144 days to look forward to.

Jake