With a bright and early wake up call, Lehava was excited and ready for our first Shabbas experience together.
The day began with an archeological sifting project where we got to search for pottery, glass and bone remnants from the Temple period. Following this, we boarded the bus ready to take on our pre Shabbas Machane Yehuda trip. We were keen for high vibes and busy streets, and our expectations were certainly met. We got to catch up with Netzach while trying our best to order our lunch amongst the crazy crowd. After our fun and eventful trip we were sent back to the busses, where we got caught in a downpour of rain. Walking to meet the bus trying our very best to keep our hair dry and out of the rain we were finally met with the bus.
As soon as we arrived back at the hotel, the Shabbas preparation began. Ironing everything that had been crumpled after the 14 hour flight, skirts, shirts and more. After counting down the weeks since our IST Shabbaton, the excitement was tangible. Our first Lehava Shabbos in the Holy Land was better than we could have ever imagined. We commenced a special Kabbalat Shabbat service where we were all introduced to the spirit of Shabbos; the girls lit the candles and we then joined the boys for Kabbalat Shabbat. The mads shared inspiring stories with us and ideas relating to how each one sees Shabbat providing us with an insight on different perspectives. After dinner we got to experience what most had been looking forward to since Counterpoint, a tisch. Excitement levels where high going in and it’s safe to say it was certainly one of the most memorable experiences. Nearly on the verge of tears listening to our side singing together as one took me back to Counterpoint and remembered how excited I was for my first tisch on IST.
Because no one had their phones, Saturday had a late start. We ran down and missed breakfast, but headed straight to our Shabbas room for prayers. We didn’t expect nearly our entire side to be keeping Shabbat, and it was really nice to all share in the Shabbas spirit. We then played a variety of card games until it was lunch, and it was so refreshing for everyone to be off of their phones. After Shabbos lunch, all of Lehava sat in a circle, and learned how to play the game parliament. It took a while for us to get the hang of it, but we ended the complicated game with a tie. We then got ready for Havdallah, and although we have had this experience many times as a year group, being in israel surrounded by people we’ve already grown close with was extremely special. After Havdallah, we headed to meet Netzach at Ben Yehuda street, where we were immersed in the Israeli culture, with lots of singing and dancing. After a long day and lots of shopping, it was finally time to say goodbye to Netzach and head back to our hotel to end of what was an amazing couple of days.
Shira and Jess
