The Third Day!

Today was an early morning for some of us by choosing an option to take a walk to the Kotel in the early morning, others went to see different types of Shabbat saturday mornings. Another option was to take a stroll to see a variety of diverse sabbath rituals throughout villages in Jerusalem. Others slept in! After everyone returned from their walk, we rejoined for a Shabbat lunch, the third meal. Following lunch a Rutgers Alumni who now lives in Israel, came to speak to us about an important topic in Jerusalem. Sarah's friend Shira spoke to us about her job at the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transexual Open House which helps bring together the LGBT community within the Old City. This talk was very interesting and opened our eyes to a whole new problem within this country. Later that day all the birthright groups met up outside for a Havdallah candle lighting to end shabbat, celebrate the new week and recognize the members who received their bar/bat mitzvahs today! We then traveled to the Ben Yehuda market to shop for souvenirs and experience delicious Israeli dinner. Gilad then took us to a the Mamilla Mall outside the walls of the Old City to hear a humourous speech from Avraham Infeld, an old President of Hillel. His speech taught us what it means to be jewish, and explored new ways of considering this religion and culture. Immediately after the speech a local band, Marsh Dondurma performed with their unique sound. Everyone danced and enjoyed their sounds of the many instruments and drums. Today started off very relaxing, but then sped up as we traveled through Ben Yehuda searching for souvenirs and then danced together for the rest of the night!

-Julie Britton, 2011
-Sharon Tompa, 2011
-Madelyn Witchel, 2011
-Jesse Adler, 2010