Shabbat in Jerusalem

Shabbat morning we woke at 6:45 AM!  You’d think I thought I was running the shul! J  We walked back to Shira Chadasha and were just about 5 minutes late.  Nice davening – very, very long.  This week came the sad news that two of Israel’s soldiers, Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, were dead, and their bodies were laid to rest.  So tefilot reflected this – very sad, very slow.  I noted how Israel really changed with this news.  All of the radio stations played sad songs on the day of the funerals.  In shul, we still prayed for the soldiers who are still missing, and two girls had aliyot because they are entering the army (we sang Oseh Shalom for them).  News is reality in Israel, and reality is felt in every element of society.  Very difficult.  After shul, Adam and I had a picnic lunch in our room and then went up to the pool for a bit.  It was hot up there so we only lasted a few hours.  We took an evening walk in Yemin Moshe, strolling through the neighborhoods.  We found the shul but didn’t go in because it was Mincha time.  We watched a group of Reform Jews (probably) sing Havdalah, Deb Friedman style, while a bunch of black hats stood nearby.  Very funny.  It is apparently the thing to do to have fireworks at a Muslim wedding, and we watched at least 10 different displays from East Jerusalem and beyond.  Saturday night, after we packed, we walked to the Machaneh Yehudah area.  Adam was convinced everything was closed, and it was a bit scary, but then we found Stekiat Hatzot and had one of the best dinners ever.  We ran into Etan W there.  We really enjoyed, then walked home very slowly, bellies full and happy, breathing in the sweet air of Jerusalem.  Funny story that Adam loves to tell.  On the way to Stekiat, a woman approached us on King George and asked if she could interview us.  I explained that we are Americans, so we probably shouldn’t be on her Israeli radio show, but asked what she was interviewing about.  She told us something that the government is saying you should stay a distance back from anything plugged in.  I said, ok, whatever, that’s ridiculous.  She then put the microphone at my face and said in Hebrew, “so now what are you going to do?” and I said, “we’re going to eat at Stekiat Hatzot!”  she said, “no, about this issue!”  I answered but not well and will probably just end up on the gag reel, but Adam thought it was very funny that I thought she wanted to know what we were doing that night!  Note my new necklace (thanks, Adam) in the picture.