December 8, 2002
Israel | Hebrew Union College |
Travel | Family |
Fun | Thoughts |
Recent Photos | Home
Part 1 :)
Happy Friday to you, I hope you had a great week and, if you're on or near the East coast, I hope you're staying cozy -- looks pretty chilly these days.
This week has been nonstop. I delivered a video to a client last night, so I spent a lot of time with last minute details, corrections, etc., for that. And I also spent part of the week planning a Chanukah party for last night. Our volunteer group held a party for the Ethiopian families we spend time with on Monday evenings. From a short two hours there are many, many stories to share. Knowing this group of people is such a gift.
I'd love to share the stories and photos now, but we're up early and heading out to Tzfat again, in the North. We're going to Livnot for a Chanukah/Shabbat weekend that is held every year for alumni of the program. We're very excited, as we'll see old friends, celebrate Chanukah and Shabbat, and catch another sunset in Tzfat.
So I'll write another short note on Sunday, and catch up a little more with the Chanukah party and other things.
Take good care and have a fun weekend.
Chanukah sameach!
Love,
Rachel Ann
Part 2
There's nothing like the air in Tzfat -- it's the clearest and most rejuvenating of anywhere I know. We're back in Jerusalem now, after a too-short Shabbat in the mystical city of the North (not like coming back to Jerusalem is such a letdown). Almost 100 people gathered at Livnot, so we had a chance to meet new people, see old friends, learn some new things, and sing and dance a lot. And right on cue, the sunsets were the highlight of the weekend. They just don't get more beautiful than in the hills of the Galilee.
I left you last time with just a couple of sentences about last week's Chanukah party. The special guests were our Ethiopian families. There are 8 of us who volunteer every Monday night -- 2 for each family -- so all 4 families, HUC song leaders, and other students and faculty joined us for the celebration. Four of us went on the bus to pick the families up at the absorption center. I was a little nervous because I was without my partner, whose Hebrew is much better than mine, and I needed to gather the whole family up and bring them to the bus. Luckily, we had been talking to them about the party in weeks leading up to it, so they were mostly ready to go. When I first showed up at their apartment, though, the 10-year old boy (his name is Aboohai) suddenly put on his jacket and left. I was a little disappointed because I thought he wasn't interested in going to the party. After about 15 minutes of broken Hebrew and lots of gesturing, I finally got the family out of the apartment and toward the bus. When we got to the bus we saw Aboohai sitting in the very front seat, all ready to go. Apparently, he wanted to be sure the bus didn't leave without him. That was just the beginning of an incredible evening. Mark led us all in some Chanukah songs and we ate traditional Chanukah foods and talked (and gestured :) and played dreidel and ran around. The two hours went by way too fast and soon we were waving good-bye. Luckily, memories from experiences such as these last much longer.
We took some pictures and you can find them on our website. There are also photos from our trip to Tzfat and from another night of Chanukah with family friends.
https://millers18.tripod.com/recent.html
Take good care of yourselves. I look forward to being back in touch at the end of the week with another update from Israel.
Love,
Rachel Ann
