Israel for Passover

Last week I was in Jerusalem for Passover. The flight there was very long and I made two connections in Heathrow and Athens. The layover in Athens was long enough that I was able to go into town for about an hour. On the train ride back I bumped into two people who used to work on Ramah staff (Audrey Kudis and her husband), on their way back to Israel.

When I landed in Israel I took a sheirut to my family’s new apartment and explored the premises. My parents installed video cameras so they were able to see me when I called them, and I told them they had to turn the cameras off because it was creepy. The floors are still partly covered with cardboard, the kitchen is not done and there is no furniture except a pullout couch on which I slept, but the apartment is great. The backyard is mostly finished and it’s awesome. 

I had pretty bad jetlag and fell asleep around 5:00 AM.

I was planning on waking up the next morning at 10, because Jacob Goldstein was getting to my apartment at 11. I woke up to him banging on an outside window. When I opened the door he was relieved. I asked him the time and he said it was 2:00. He had waited in the neighbor’s apartment for 3 hours because I wouldn’t wake up. They were all banging on the windows periodically over the last three hours but I never woke up. I hadn’t met the neighbors before so this was an awkward first impression, but they’re very nice people and invited us over for lunch.

We then got ready for seder. That night we were going to the Warshawsky’s apartment, who were doing seder with the Flink family. It was really great, and though it was the first time I wasn’t with my own family, it was very cool to be in Jerusalem for the holiday and very cool to see another family’s traditions. Jacob and I then walked home, which took almost two hours because we got lost multiple times, and the walk itself takes one hour directly on foot.

The next day Joel Pachefsky came to stay with me (I was turning the apartment into a hostel) and the three of us went to my family friends, the Rosenberg’s, house for lunch. It was lovely, especially because the man of the house, Gilad, is a gourmet cook. We stayed for a few hours and talked with the family. We went back to the apartment and hung out for the rest of the day and I went on a run through the neighborhood. On the run I bumped into another Ramah person, Jon Bubis.

At night we pregamed with dusty wine I found in a cabinet and then went to Ben Yehuda street to meet up with some friends. We hung out for a while and then got some pizza. I feel like Passover in Israel is sort of a joke. They replace leavened bread with potato flour bread, which is still bread, leavened as well, but is somehow kosher for Passover. Kosher for Passover food was everywhere, and tasted nothing like American Passover food, and it was great.

The next day Jacob met up with his cousin Shira and they went to the Old City. I woke up later and went to the Old City as well and explored. It was Easter so I visited the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. After the church I bought some orange juice from an Arab guy who told me to come back the next day, and I promised him I would as we gave each other smiles that indicated on my part I wasn’t coming back and his indicating that he knew I was bullshitting him. Then I headed for the Western Wall.

That night my friend Danna Koren came down from Haifa to see me. She stayed over and we spent the next day and a half together.

Other events in Israel included hanging out at Hebrew U dorms, hanging out with camp friends and old school friends, and going out to dinner with my former camper Avinoam Kahn. Knowing that I was about to go to Greece solo, I spent the last two days trying to plan my trip and failing. Whatever plans I made for Greece I fairly quickly abandoned once I got there, and that leads me to my next series of posts. I had a great time in Israel and definitely needed all of that chill time before Greece.