בוא, תן לי יד ונלך אל תשאל אותי

Come, give me your hand and we'll go, don't ask where... (although it doesn't translate quite as poetically...) is a lyric from an Idan Reichal song. Idan Reichal is one of the biggest names in Israeli music. Last week as part of a MASA event (MASA is a giant organization that sponsors thousands of high school students, university students, post university young adults and volunteers to come participate in long-term programs in Israel) I went with a few of my friends to his concert. We had a blast singing and dancing and ran into random people that we knew from different walks of our lives (including campers, youth groupers, high school friends, siblings' friends and the list goes on...)

Me and Bec dancing the night away...

That night we stayed over in Jerusalem with friends before our OTZMA education day, Jerusalem: City of God. Please excuse the fact that I'm extraordinarily lazy and that my internship has me writing tons, but here's a piece about that day and the education day yesterday:

Over the course of two weeks OTZMA has spent two separate days in Jerusalem. One day was dedicated to discovering Jerusalem as the holy center of the three largest religions in the western world. The second day was dedicated to learning fundamentals about Israeli politics and the current political battles that challenge the broad political spectrum in Jerusalem as well as Israel as a whole.
Often in trips to Israel Jews frequent the Kotel which more than a holy site has come to represent Israel as a national symbol. Less frequently however do Jews visit the sites that are holy to Muslims and Christians. All three of which combined make the city such a center of controversy, importance and historical significance.

With our guide Ariel we began unraveling the layers of history at the Temple Mount in the courtyard of the Dome of the Rock. As we moved through the Arab Quarter towards the Kotel we noticed the similarities between the neighboring streets. "It's amazing", said Jenn Perchonok (Houston, TX), "Two worlds, two histories so closely intertwined and at war over so many years over their differences seem so fundamentally similar".

We spent the middle of our day at the Kotel, our own holy site, a place familiar and enchanting and continued our tour after lunch in the Jewish Quarter.

The Church of the Holy Seplechur is believed by Christians to be the site when Jesus was crucified and where 40 days later he was resurrected. There were hundreds of people lined up to see the various sites within the Church, hundreds waiting in the courtyard, and never a moment that there weren't people lined up to place their belongings on the holy stone.

We finished our day overlooking the place we had spent all day exploring from the top of Har Ha'zeitim, the Mountain of Olives.

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Upon our second visit to Jerusalem we had speakers from various fields within Israeli Politics: We began by learning about the policies and important issues of all of the various political parties currently active in Israel's multi-party system.

After Rabbi Michael Malchior an Israeli politician and activist spoke with us about the problems facing the current Israeli education system and ways in which he was trying to revise the system by bringing Judaism, not as a religion, but as a set of morals, back into politics by way of "thinking Jewishly, and leading Jewishly".

The editor in chief of the Jerusalem Post David Horowitz followed, in speaking about the dilemmas facing Israel and the best ways to speak to those who are unfamiliar about the current political situation. He addressed the problems Israel faces in the media as well as the dangers of a nuclear Iran.

Next we met with Rachel Canar, the Director of Development and Overseas Communications for I.R.A.C. the Israel Religious Action Center. Rachel spoke to us about the work of the Religious Action Center, which helps Olim (new Israeli immigrants) and those in need with Legal help and lobbies as a voice for Progressive Judaism in Israel (which encompasses what Americans know as the Reform and Conservative movements).

Tied into ALL of this was my friend Krissy's visit! Krissy is one of my best friends from college and my roommate from my sophomore year. She is currently traveling the world, en route to Kenya where she will be working as a yoga teacher in Nairobi as part of the Africa Yoga Project, a non-profit that brings Yoga to slums in Nairobi, empowering the community and bringing safe and constructive jobs to the region. Feel free to donate to this cause and to her fundraising efforts at: https://www.z2systems.com/np/clients/ayoga/campaign.jsp?campaign=7.

Anyways, Krissy joined us for our first day in Jerusalem and then came back to Ashkelon to experience a little bit of life chez OTZMA in Beit Canada. She had all of the typical experiences: Taking walks to the beach, eating Yoko (sushi) for dinner, climbing the eight floors to my room, making coffee in a giant pot, getting attacked by Ethiopian children because of silly bandz...YOU KNOW...the NORMAL STUFF..and of course...a night of American debauchery at the Marina, because what would having your roommate from college in Israel even mean if we didn't reminisce a little...(sorry Ma).

We spent the weekend in Tel Aviv with Becca showing her the sites and introducing her to my family (which as per usual we just ran into on the streets...)

There's something quite amazing about long lasting friendships, the ease in which they pick up where they left off is astounding.


And now...I'm back in Tel Aviv and tomorrow I'll take her to the airport :( BUT...with every incredible adventure comes an end and the beginning of a new one.

Here we are...

Here we are...achrai hachim and life is certainly in full swing as everyone promised! Here's what I'm doing:

• On Sunday mornings I work at the local Conservative Synagogue "Netzach Yisrael". The Rabbi and I lead a short service for their Kindergarteners
• On Sundays and Wednesdays I'm teaching community yoga classes in the park
• On Mondays we have OTZMA education days in various regions of the country (read on to hear about this week's Negev seminar)
• The rest of the week I spend working for the Ashkelon-Baltimore Partnership writing articles about what Otzma is doing within the Ashkelon community, which usually includes a site visit or two to see some friends in their own volunteer work.

Here's one of this week's articles about the Ashkelon Sports Department, a non-profit organization within the municipality that provides year-round after school sports programs for children of all ages.

Otzmanikim Michael Schwartz, Jeremy Zola and Whitney Frost volunteer twice a week with the Ashkelon Sports Department. The department is host to a variety of sports clubs and activities for kids of all ages living in Ashkelon.

Michael and Jeremy work together with Sergio, the team's head coach to run drills and practices for the players ages seven to nine. Both having played soccer recreationally for most of their lives it didn't take long for the two of them to feel comfortable and have fun with the boys.

"We help the coaches out. When we're around they can give more individualized attention to the kids, we hand out soccer balls, we keep the kids focused" says Michael.

But aside from helping to keep the thirty energetic boys in check, Michael and Jeremy are there to be positive role models for the children. "We are thrilled to have them here, it means a lot that they take time to help our kids", says Adi, the father of one of the boys. Adi also told me that the Ashkelon Sports Department provides equally sufficient programs for a third of the cost compared to the other Private Sports Departments in Ashkelon. Soccer is offered two times a week for up to ten months a year.

Whitney works with two separate girls basketball teams. A team for 5th and 6th graders and a team for 8th-10th graders. Similar to the work the Jeremy and Michael do she runs drills and practices with the girls making sure to use a very "hands-on" approach. "They really look up to me, not only because I'm American or because I am a good [basketball] player, they really respect that I'm there to volunteer with them. They like that I want to be a part of their community"

For Whitney and both Michael and Jeremy the language barrier is not an issue. Although both their Hebrew and the children's English are certainly limited, it is apparent that movement is a universal language.

On Monday as I said before we had an incredible education day in the Negev. We were able to explore many facets of Negev communities, realize the potential an importance and speak with some incredible people doing inspiring things, once I'm finished the article for the partnership about the education day I'll post it here to give you some more details.

Other than working and Ulpan Israel is great. The sun is still strong here and life is still exhilarating.

Me and fellow participant Alex Kadis swinging on the zip line in a Yerucham Park