Satell Trip: Day 3

Day 3: Saturday, June 24, 2006

(Photos posted below)

Email from Beth Margolis-Rupp: This morning we woke up and, after breakfast, we split into two groups and made our way to Saturday morning services. Half of us went to an orthodox service held in an old-age home, organized once a month, and led by Arnie Draiman, who will be speaking to the Fellows Sunday morning about the tzedakah work he does in Israel. The youthful presence of the Fellows was an extremely welcome experience for the elders involved in the service. During kiddush after the service, we were approached by a few attendees to explain our group and what we were doing in Israel. We also got a chance to ask questions of them about their lives in Israel and the service we were attended.

The other half of the group went to Kol Haneshama, a reform congregation nearby. Both an ufruf (a ceremony the Shabbat before a wedding) and a Bat-Mitzvah were being celebrated during the service - an exciting surprise for the Fellows. The Fellows really enjoyed the service, joining in and singing some familiar tunes. The Bat-Mitzvah speech was translated into english so even we could appreciate her wonderful talk. Due to the celebrations there was a wonderful kiddush lunch, of which the Fellows truly enjoyed (ask them about the chocolate truffles!).

Once the whole group was together again and fed back at the hotel, we made our way down the street to the Mount Zion Hotel's pool for an afternoon of water fun. It was very relaxing and quite refreshing to spend some downtime just playing in the pool.

We headed out again, after giving the Fellows some time to change, to the first neighborhoods outside the Old City walls, Yemin Moshe and Mishkenot Sha'ananim. Aside from the amazing views and great tour, we had the opportunity to ask questions of a chasidic man (ultra-orthodox) who was sitting nearby.

With some dinner in our bellies, the bus picked us up and drove us to a downtown area of Jerusalem where we did havdalah (ceremony separating Shabbat from the rest of the week) and then enjoyed some free time shop and eat on the Ben Yehuda Pedestrian Mall. A good time was definitely had by all!

That's all for now! We are still fighting jetlag and look forward to a lovely rest tonight and our 7:00 AM wake up call!! Laila tov!

Liberty Bell in Jerusalem

Satell Fellows in the pool at Mt. Zion hotel