Far away in Israel...: Day 1 in Tsfat

I'm realizing now that lack of wifi is not a problem for learning or journaling (and yes, we have journaling parties at seminary), but it is for updating a blog. The past few days have been intense, but a great experience in realizing both my physical and spiritual limitations.

Starting off -- I have a new appreciation for onions.

On a bus at 7:30am, we were off to a farm to go pick onions. The organization we were picking onions with helps give food to the poor - by running their own farms, picking the leftover fruits and veggies from existing farms, and working with other organizations and restaurants to get their leftover food.

Interestingly, I always imagined onions to grow in the ground, but in fact, they're not really. They live above ground and are relatively easy to pick, unless they're stuck under a thorny bush. It was a very meaningful experience as you got the real feeling that every extra onion you picked would go to someone who needed it.

After the onions, we went on a hike to Mount Arbel. I thought that it would be challenging, but I did not expect to hold onto little metal ropes and have my friends tell me where to put my feet. I guess it was what you could call a trust building exercise. It was definitely terrifying, but the views were amazing and it was a real accomplishment to get through it. I had a well deserved ice cream at the bottom.

Next on the list was the kever of Rabbi Akiva. I find it difficult to connect to the graves of our tzaddikim. They're very holy places and have great meaning, but it's hard for me to get the 'divine inspiration' that others encounter. Maybe that's a normal thing, but I do wonder about it.

We finally visited a synagogue that was being built stone by stone based on a computer algorithm. It was destroyed many years ago, but all the original stones were kept. Thanks to that, they've been able to computerize what the synagogue used to look like.

Unlike every other day, this day was the most physically demanding a long time. I wish I could truly capture that moment of holding onto a rope and looking down. Similar to life, there was no other option than to go forward. It was scary and terrifying and I probably wouldn't go through the experience again, but it pushed me past anything that I thought that I could do. It made me challenge myself and for that I'm thankful.

Stay tuned for more.