Day 4 in Israel- Jerusalem

Hi, this is Cat! For our first Shabbat, we had the luxury of sleeping in. We had the opportunity to join an Orthodox service and then enjoy a nice late breakfast. Leah Mass, the Diller International Director of Coordinators, came to our hotel Ramat Rachel to lead us in an alternative Shabbat service.

We then began our journey to the Western Wall. We started at Ramat Rachel with plenty of stops along the way. The stops included the beautiful campus of Hebrew Union College. We had a lively discussion about religious pluralism in Israel with Rabbi Chaim Shalom. Then, we stopped at a park and had an intense discussion about how we can better the state of Israel.  Then we had Seudah Shlishit in the Old City where we met up with several other cohorts like Pittsburgh, Boston, Montreal, and Toronto.

As the sun began to set we made our way to the Kotel. Our awesome tour guide Ori gave us a tour of the Old City, which included a little history lesson. We moved on through the city passing multiple historic sites. When we finally arrived to the Western Wall a shiver ran through my body. It was incredible how much of a variety there was between all of our emotions; some of us cried, some of us were speechless and in awe, and some of us did not feel anything. We made our way to pray and put our notes in the wall.

When we gathered back together we concluded the night with Havdalah. The 21 of us huddled while Ali held the Havdalah candle and led the group prayers. We sang at the top of our lungs and made sure that everyone could hear us. All of a sudden, Andrew started to run around our circle screaming, "SHAVUAH TOV SHAVUAH TOV, SHAVUAH TOV TO LINDSY!" and then Lindsy continued, "SHAVUAH TOV, SHAVUAH TOV, SHVUAH TOV TO ALI!" the Shavuah Tovs went on as we went across the every person in our group. Everyone at the Kotel thought we were crazy but it was an awesome experience that I will never forget.

Then we went for dinner and a little bit of shopping on Ben Yehudah Street.  Walking around today with our entire cohort was really amazing. Going to the Western Wall and praying was such an exhilarating experience.  I cannot wait for tomorrow which will bring a new experience.