"This Year In Jerusalem...!"

Needless to say, being able to spend one of my favorite Jewish holidays in Israel is something I never thought I would get to experience. While it is difficult to be so far from home on what is traditionally a family holiday, experiencing a Passover in Israel is like nothing else.
Last Tuesday I went food shopping in Mercaz HaCarmel to get ready for the holiday, and found the supermarket like the Natick Mall on the day before Christmas. I managed to make my way through the aisles to do my Passover shopping, all the while marveling at the fact that all things Hametz (bread or other things forbidden on Passover) were covered with plastic sheets and taped off. Later that evening, I headed to Ra'anana, a town north of Tel Aviv, where I would be having seder (literally means order, figuratively refers to the big dinners held on Passover) with some family friends.
On Wednesday night, the official start of Passover, I had my first seder in Israel, and even read from the Hagaddah (prayer book) in Hebrew, with vowels of course...!! The rest of the evening was fairly similar to my usual family seders at home, with a meal that resembled a Thanksgiving feast, complete with four cups of wine. Since the holiday didn't begin until after sunset on Wednesday night, our seder lasted until after 1 in the morning, at which point we all went to sleep to prepare for shul early the next morning!
After the end of the holiday on Thursday night, I met up with Abraham, a friend of mine studying in Italy for the semester who came to Israel for Passover. Together we took the bus from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and met up with Miriam at Hebrew University, where we stayed for the night. It was so nice to see so many friends! Friday morning we all woke up and took a bus to Emek Refaim, a street near the Old City in Jerusalem, where we were able to eat a meal in a Kosher for Passover restaurant - definitely one of the highlights of spending the holiday in Israel! Abraham and I said goodbye to Miriam, and headed to the home of another friend's family, where we were being hosted for the night. We walked along Emek Refaim before getting ready for Shabbat, and then had a nice hot meal after Friday night shul.
Saturday morning we woke early and walked to the Kotel to observe Shabbat Chol HaMoed (the Shabbat after a holiday) in the holiest site in the world. We stayed at the Western Wall for a little while, and then headed back to Emek Refaim for a more traditional Shabbat morning service at Shira Hadashah, a synagogue which is known for its beautiful singing, and then walked back to our hosts for lunch and relaxing for the rest of Shabbat.
After Shabbat ended, we hopped on a bus and came back up to Haifa, and then spent Sunday on the Haifa beach and shopping in Mercaz HaCarmel before Abraham's flight back to Italy early Monday morning. It was great to spend the first half of Passover in the company of such good friends!
Much more to come on the rest of my spring break! Happy Passover to all!

Lots of love,
Elyse