It has been a crazy,
jam packed few weeks since leaving Tel Aviv and embarking on the next stages of
our journey here in Israel. Though shlepping our suitcases on public busses
from location to location can become tedious, it is certainly worth the hassle
for the amazing opportunities we have experienced on a weekly basis!
To finish off our time in Tel Aviv, we had an amazing day learning circus skills from real performers! We tried our skills on the tightrope, stilts and trapeze! It is easy to say that we had an enjoyable time. However, sadly, our time in Tel Aviv needed to come to an end. Saying goodbye to our apartments in Tel Aviv wasn’t easy (mainly because we had to clean), and none of us knew what to expect from the MASA leadership summit in Jerusalem…
When we rocked up and our first impressions were fluffy
hotel beds, spacious showers and a Michelin star quality lunch, I think we were
all willing to embrace whatever it was we were going to experience that week.
Turns out, it happened to be one of the greatest weeks we will experience here
in Israel. We interacted with 400 young leaders from all over the diaspora,
engaging in discussions and programs all aimed to build future Jewish leaders
around the globe. My personal favourite part of the experience was conversing with
some of the representatives from the Russian community, learning about their Jewish
upbringing (or sometimes lack thereof) and realising how fortunate we are to
grow up in the various Jewish communities of Australia and America.
Before we began our Chofesh period, we spent 3 days in
Jerusalem, which on this occasion, was anything but normal. Some guy who runs a
country south of Canada was here was a couple of days and they decided that he
shouldn’t get an authentic experience of traffic jams and honking horns.
Consequently, all the streets were shut down; bus lines didn’t run as normal; a
helicopters was circling above our hostel at all hours and generally chaos and
confusion reigned. Yet in the middle of this, we ran a very informative and enjoyable
model seder to prepare for chag.
The last day together, we all trooped to the national
stadium in Ramat Gan to watch a World Cup Qualifier between the underdogs, Israel;
and a Ronaldo led Portugal. Our predictions ranged Portugal winning by between
four to 6 goals. A capacity crowd created an electric atmosphere with a spine
tingling rendition of Hatikvah.
As the game started, an enormous roar reverberated
around the ground. Then in only the first minute, Portugal scored a soft goal
with their first corner. The crowd was silenced and we all thought about how
bad this might get. But amazingly, Israel rallied and by half time were up 2 –
1. The crowd were dancing in their seats as the home team scored again to make
it 3 – 1. No one dared say it, but everyone was thinking the same thing: could Israel
actually win? Could they beat Portugal and take one step closer to Brazil? But
Portugal pulled one back to make it 3 – 2.
As Israel defended desperately and
the clock ticked over 90 minutes, it looked like a historic win was in the
making. But alas, three minutes into added time and a scramble in the box let
to a mix up and Portugal equalised in the most disheartening of fashions. The
final whistle was blown and Israel walked away with a draw, a very good result
in the overall scheme of things, but despondent in the knowledge that 3 points
were snatched away in the dying seconds.
With that, we all headed off in our own directions, getting
ready to celebrate Pesach, the festival of freedom, in the Land of Israel. We
have had an incredible time together for the first 2 months, and now was a
chance to revitalise and refresh ourselves for a huge 3 months ahead.
We all miss home like crazy, but being here on this excellent
program with such great people makes it all worthwhile!!!
Shabbat Shalom :)
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