First Shabbat

Oh, my poor neglected blog….

When I last updated I think I was up to my first Friday and Shabbat.

I think I took care of some errands Friday morning and then ended up at the Kotel for mincha. It was REALLY hot, as it was still early in the afternoon.  Came back to the apartment and Gila had set up the most beautiful Shabbat table in honor of my first Shabbat here! 

As I lit my שבת candles overlooking the beautiful city of Yerushalayim, I shed some tears.  I am just so happy to be here.  We went to shul on Friday night and I met some new people in the neighborhood and enjoyed a beautiful תפילה .  We then went to cousins of Gila’s for dinner. They have a magnificent home in Bak’a, not far from Katamon, where I live.  They are also some of the nicest people I have met.  We had a tiny kitten start to follow us on the walk over there, was quite comical as we tried to get it away from us.

The walk back after dinner was just magnificent.  The Jerusalem nights are really quite cool even though it is so hot during the day.  The quietness of Friday night and the beautiful breezes…there is just nothing like it.

On Shabbat day we went to a different shul and I really enjoyed the תפילה and the rabbi’s speech (in English!) and meeting new people there, too. 

Gila took care of inviting friends and organizing the food for lunch, which we hosted in the apartment.  She actually let me make a quinoa salad but otherwise she took care of everything else.  It was really, really nice to meet a bunch of people who have all made aliyah between 5-10 years ago and know that I will get to that point one day too! 

After a short nap in the afternoon, I walked to the Kotel.  (Gila had a prior סעדת שלישית commitment so she couldn’t join me.) I am about a half hour walk from Mamilla, which is right outside the Old City and then from there it’s about another 15 minutes through the Jewish Quarter.  It was after 6 so it wasn’t very hot anymore and it was a really nice walk.  As it started to get dark, I walked back.  I got home just as Shabbat ended and the neighbors downstairs came up to invite me down for Havdalah.

Gila and I cleaned up from Shabbat and then I woke up early on Sunday to go register for Ulpan!

Next up…Adventures in Ulpan