Eating Sushi with BB

August vacation has come and gone, and it was a very nice break! The highlights included:

- Lounging on the beach in Tel Aviv,
- The artists' village of Ein Hod,
- Exploring Israeli wine country, and
- Eating sushi with BB Netanyahu.

Well... that last one is sort of a misnomer; we didn't so much eat together, more like in the same restaurant. (So, yes, totally eating together). But I digress.

Vacation started off on a Friday morning with a sheirut (think mini-van-cab) ride to Tel Aviv with four classmates (and Harry Potter #7). As is our luck, a nasty heat wave hit Israel just as our vacation started. (Heat waves and HUC students-travels tend to go hand-in-hand). Tel Aviv heat gave me a new appreciation of Jerusalem heat - namely, Tel Aviv heat comes with humidity. Southers don't really do humidity - so I essentially spent two days melting. But I soon discovered that there's no better place to melt than on the beach in Tel Aviv. Having grown up spending time on the Oregon Coast, with the uber-cold Pacific Ocean, I've never spent much time playing in the surf sans wet-suit, so it was quite a treat to float in the warm Mediterranean (much like that school trip to Ashkelon), and then lay out on the warm beach. And then there was the Artik (popscicle) guy, who just might be the Messiah. We also ate very well in Tel Aviv, we ate pretty well all over the country for that matter. (Like any good Jewish-tourists we had planned our dinner by the time lunch was over). Oh, and breakfast at the hotel in Tel Aviv... mmm...

Sunday in Tel Aviv we rented a car, and hit the open road - almost. We first stopped at the Palmach (the pre-state elite fighting force that preceeded the IDF) museum - which was by far and away the best museum I've been to in a long time. THEN we hit the open road. Our second leg of the trip was the shortest but, by far, my favorite. We spent the night in Zichron Ya'akov, a small winery-village near Caesaria. Our hotel overlooked the sea, which provided for a beautiful sunset photo op. (See?).

The main street of Zichron Ya'akov is a quaint little restaurant and shop lined pedestrian area, which reminded me a little bit of Cannon Beach in it's quaint-lovliness. Just down the road is my favorite Israeli-gem (to date), the artists' village of Ein Hod. The entire village is comprised of Artists, and lousy with art! It's everywhere - peeping out from between the trees and practically littering the roads. I've decided that if the whole Rabbi-thing doesn't work out, I'll move there, grow my hair long, and wear flowy dresses while re-learning how to use a potter's wheel. Sounds like a good plan, no?

The Galil wine country was an experience in-and-of itself. As we didn't quite make a game plan before leaving, we wound up on an Israeli-winery-scavenger-hunt. And it was grand! We started at one winery, which turned out being closed, but the very nice guy at the front counter pointed us just down the road to the Bazelet and Assaf wineries. Then, at the Assaf winery we met a very sweet man from Tiberias who told us we had to visit the Chateau Golan winery. Assaf called and told the owner to wait for us (as it was already 3:30 in the afternoon). So, long story short, we drank lots of good wine, met some interesting people... and then wound up buying lots of good wine. Including Madonna's favorite wine from the Dalton winery. Good times.

Tasting at the Assaf Winery

The car ride home on Wednesday was... well... long. As there were five of us in the car, I was very happy to get back to Jerusalem and out of the car. On the ride back down we stopped in Tzfat for about an hour to buy some candles and check out the artists' quarter. (How cool is it that we were just able to "stop by" Tzfat?!?!). Two winters ago I was in Israel on a Taglit Birthright trip with Livnot U'Lehibanot, and spent a week on their Tzfat campus. I've not been back to Tzfat since, but my memory took over in directing us towards the Artist's quarter - funny how there's that feeling-center of the brain which can sometimes tell the thinking-part of the brain to sit back and relax, its doing the driving.

We got back to Jerusalem Wednesday night, leaving me with three full days of freedom left. I don't think I got out of bed Thursday except to doll up a little and meet my friend Jen for sushi at "Sushi Rechavia" - my favorite sushi place in Jerusalem - and, apparently, Benjamin Netanyahu's favorite place too! He was sitting right behind us with his "entourage" and many body guards. Darn good sushi... mm... must plan my next trip back.

So, vacation is over, and tomorrow marks the opening of a new chapter: the first day of Rabbinical school! What have I been doing all summer, if not attending Rabbinical school, you might ask? And that would be a good question - Ulpan is most definitely an integral part of Rabbinical school, but it's also something I've done before. I was prepared for what was in store... Rabbinical school though - not something I've experienced yet, and I'm excited, and more than a little nervous. It's been four years since I've had the back-to-school jitters, and it's a little weird. I'll let you know how it goes...

Until we meet again - L'hitraot (see ya later!)