בס"ד
Day 1 & 2 (erev Shabbat, Shabbat and Motsei Shabbat)
Friday
Mike arrived to Israel at 430 AM - and this was after more than 20 hours of flying (including a layover) with Air France, and the French did NOT serve him the best coffee! That said, he had a wonderful time eating dinner in Paris with Stefanie Azoulai.
Aaron arrived at TLV to pick up Mike at 400 AM, with the gracious assistance of his two good friends, Vered and Noa (many thanks to them for their help in the middle of the night!).
Mike and Aaron set out for touring immediately! They drove through Benek Brak (a very religious city today and a city of importance in the Passover Haggadah) en route to Tel Aviv where they saw the Diamond District, Independence Hall, the Rabin Memorial, the coastline, and old Yaffo. They finished the morning by having coffee and Hanukkah donuts (called "sufganiyot" in Hebrew) before beginning their ride into Jerusalem.
The ride into Jerusalem, via the historic Highway 1, was accompanied by light rain and nice views of the mountainside. They drove by the k'nesset (Israeli parliament), the Israel Museum, Jerusalem's version of Central Park, the residences of the prime minister and the president, and then finally arrived at Aaron's apartment.
They rested briefly before moving forward with Jerusalem touring. Aaron showed Mike the following Jerusalem hot - spots:
1. Emek Refaim (upscale restaurant and shopping area next to Aaron's apartment)
2. Nahlaot (historic neighborhood with Sephardi origins and nice architecture)
3. Shuk Mahane Yehuda (historic outdoor market very busy just hours ahead of Shabbat)
4. Ben Yehuda Street (famous tourist shopping area)
5. the Old City via Jaffa Gate
They returned to Aaron's apartment to prepare for Shabbat. They spent the evening of Shabbat back in the old city. To start Mike slept and Aaron prayed. Eventually Aaron & Mike met nearly another dozen friends for a very nice (and loud!) Shabbat dinner at the Sephardi Educational Center. They were joined by:
-Aaron's friends from Hebrew studies (Adam Ingalls, Brian Stein, Noa Larouche and Sarah Bergman)
-friends of Aaron who helped him get settled in Israel, Sharon Udi and Armelle & Yaniv Hayyim (and their two darling kids)
-And of course Aaron's wonderful girlfriend
The meal was very delicious and including the constant loud signing of some 60 - 70 singing young ladies who are studying in midrasha. After the meal their friends left them and Aaron and Mike went to "the Kotel", or Western Wall of that which remains from the 2nd Temple. It was late at night with just a few prayers and the silence over - powered Mike. Eventually Mike & Aaron returned to Aaron's apartment and immediately went to bed after a long but wonderfully nice day of touring.
Saturday
Mike and Aaron went to Aaron's typical synagogue of prayer for morning services, although they were quite late after a long day of sleeping. After the morning services they returned to the Sephardi Educational Center to have lunch with Aaron's girlfriend ... and again the 70ish signing young ladies! The three of them then took a nice and slow walk through ancient Jerusalem during Shabbat afternoon, including the following locations:
-Jewish quarter of the old city
-parts of the Armenian and Christian quarters in the old city
-Aaron's yeshiva (Jewish seminary)
-a very religious area of Jerusalem, called "Mea Shearim". They actually heard people speaking Yiddish. Mike had dual thoughts: (1) very ghettoish and quite dirty, but also (2) very quiet and Shabbat - structured, which he thought was nice
-Aaron's first apartment in Israel (which was literally a small studio)
-brief trip to East Jerusalem where Arab markets were open for business since it was the beginning of the Muslim week
-journey through the Arab market of the Muslim quarter of the old city
-returned to the Jewish quarter to go to afternoon prayers at the Churva synagogue (beautiful orthodox Ashkenazi synagogue)
They then returned to the Sephardi Educational Center for Seudah Shlishit (or the 3rd - and final - meal of Shabbat) and were of course accompanied by the signing young ladies who perfected the Mizmor l'David 3rd meal song. They ended the Shabbat by making Havdalah at Aaron's apartment.
As Shabbat came to a close the electronics came back on and life - as - usual resumed (unfortunately for Aaron and "thank Gd" for Mike!) from friday afternoon. Mike, Aaron and Aaron's girlfriend had a very nice meal at Luciana in the Mamila mall. It was a nice close to two intense days of touring in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
Mike and Aaron dropped off Aaron's girlfriend and then returned home to pack and organize ahead of a nice week of touring in Israel.
Shavua Tov!
