Day Four: Yerushalyim (Jerusalem)

Shalom and Boker Tov from Jerusalem! My name is Melanie Waldman, I will be your blogger for today and I am going to tell you all about our wonderful first day in Jerusalem. We are currently en route to Tel Aviv, but you'll hear more about that tomorrow. Anyway, early yesterday morning we packed our bags and said goodbye to our first home, Thai Village. We then drove about 2 hours to Beit Shean where we met our Mifgash (Israeli soldiers). For those who don't know, Birthright arranges for a group of soldiers (about the same age as our group) to join us for a few days. The soldiers travel with us to all of our scheduled destinations and even stay at our hotels. They get free time off from the army to meet college students their age and sometimes act as our own personal translators (especially in places like Ben Yehuda). So after we all met our new Israeli friends we all boarded the bus and drove to Jerusalem. Our first stop was at the Tower of David Museum, where we all recited the shechiyanu to commemorate our first time in Jerusalem and shared some challah and (virgin) wine. We then walked through the cobblestone streets and stopped for lunch on our way to the Western wall, where most of us noshed on fallafel and shwarma. After that we stopped under a shadded pavillion where we wrote notes to put into the wall. We also had a short ceremony for some of our group members, who did not have Hebrew names. They chose their own names and explained to the group why they chose them, after our group leader (the wonderful and fabulous Greg) recited "the blessing over the children", which was followed by a very hearty "Mazel Tov". Afterwards, we walked to the kotel together, which was incredibly crowded, however as I am speaking for an entire group of 40 people, I believe that we all had a fantastic time. The day overall was very hot but after our long day it was very nice to finally get to the hotel. Dinner was delicious and kosher and we noshed on kosher chocolate ice cream.. or sorbet. Then we had a music program with an artist from a group called "The Shuk" (who is also a Rutgers Alum!) and our very own Eric Tapper played percussion and even threw in some harmonies here and there. It was a wonderful day in Jerusalem and we will be returning there Saturday night to explore Ben Yehuda street. Shabbat Shalom and Toda Raba for reading my lovely blog =) -Melanie Waldman