Shabbat with Friends

Team Liz is very aware of the clock ticking down on our adventures here in Israel. We are working very hard to make the most of our final months in the Holy Land. On Friday night we shared Shabbat dinner with our dear friends LeAnne (Liz's study partner) her husband Abe and their two daughters Ella and Marion. Here are some photos from the evenings festivities. Click here if you want to see more photos.

In this photo is Ella making the blessing over the wine (grape juice).

LeAnne and Abe bless the challahs.

Saul and Ella jammed together to the Beatles as well as to some Led Zeppelin.

Marion and Liz mug for the camera.

Team Liz at a Folk Jam Session

Team Liz has a good friend, Paul Arberman, who lives with his wife and three children in a bedroom community of Jerusalem called Modi'in. Paul invited us to join him for a night of folk music. So Saul grabbed his guitar and we hopped in our friends car and headed to Modi'in. Saul played a couple songs as seen here. The jam session was held in a synagogue that is housed in a bomb shelter - needless to say the location was a bit bizarre but the music was good!

Ahhh...Paris

So half of Team Liz headed to Paris for the weekend. Liz and her Mom, Marti, spent the weekend visiting churches, museums, synagogues and of course eating really great food. They had amazing luck with the weather which was unseasonably warm and sunny every day! Here are a couple nice photos from the weekend get away. If you want to see more click here.

Liz and Marti in the gardens behind Notre Dame -
this was the ONLY picture taken of them all weekend
that someone else other than Marti or Liz took!

Liz and Marti with Beethoven in the Musee d'Orsay

Marti walking around St. Sulpice Church.

Marti in front of Notre Dame.

Purim 2007

Leave it to the Jews to have a holiday that has two possible days for celebration. But one of those days is contingent on whether the city you live in has walls - but not just any walls, walls that have been around since the time of Joshua ben Nun! Needless to say all of that can cause a people to want to drink until they can't tell the difference. So, Team Liz took advantage of this two day affair and spent Saturday night in Tel Aviv hearing the Megillah read and toasting to Esther.

Saturday night in Tel Aviv, Dan reading the Megillah and Shoshana
(aka bam bam) making sure he doesn't make any mistakes.

On Monday morning we went to the Conservative Yeshiva for some more Megillah (click here for more photos of CY) and then our friends Rafi and Devorah welcomed their son Noam into the Jewish people by having his brit milah (bris) early in the afternoon on Monday (click here for more photos from the bris). Monday evening we got ourselves dressed up and headed to our friends house for a very festive meal (click here for more of these photos). Below are just a sampling of photos from the the weekends festivities. Enjoy!

LeAnne, Abe, Ella and Marion follow along as the Megillah is read at the CY. The noise-makers are sounded every time Haman's name is mentioned.

Rafi holding 8 day old Noam.

Saul and Liz goofing around during our friends festive meal on Monday evening.
Check out that mustache - it is 100% real!

Team Liz Begins to Train

If you haven't heard the big news - Saul and Liz are participating in the Arava/Hazon Ride from Jerusalem to Eilat. The bike ride is designed to raise funds and awareness about peace, the environment and Israel. Team Liz will be riding for 6 days and approximately 300 miles! So we started training and here is a photo from our first training ride in March. You can also donate to help us raise money for this amazing organization by following this link to our team page. Many thanks to all of you who have already donated!

Liz and Saul are in the middle of this photo person 5 and 6 from the left. Hint: Liz is wearing a white bandana and Saul has got a full beard.

Beitar Yerushali'im

Liz took advantage of the opportunity to check out a "professional" soccer/football match here in Jerusalem. Beitar Yerushali'im is the home team. They were playing a team from a town near Tel Aviv. The game was played in the cold and wet weather that is particular to Jerusalem in the winter. The game ended with no score but the experience was well worth the price of admission.

Here is Liz bundled up at the game with her friend and fellow HUC Rab student Jon Prosnit.
Jon and Liz have the strange and dubious honor of both being alumni of Trinity College.
But wait there's more, Liz was Jon's RA his freshman year!

Ne'ot Kedumim

On a recent field trip to Ne'ot Kedumim - a biblical garden - Liz and her classmates at the Conservative Yeshiva enjoyed the opportunity to herd goats and sheep, grind up fresh zahtar (wild oregano) and frolic amongst the wild flowers that have begun to bloom in the lower areas of Israel. Click here for more photos.

Sheep and Goat herding. The secret is to find the goat who is the leader and get them to follow you.

Beautiful wild flowers.

Liz feeling proud of her teams herding accomplishments!

LeAnne and her dime bag of zahtar (wild oregano).