Nov 28, 2010

Israel Adventures: Take One

Kotel tunnels ... yummy. 
Greetings from Eretz Yisrael, which, by the way, is known as Medinat Yisrael when you're in the country (Eretz = land and Medinat = state, and thus it makes sense).

I have a million things to blog about, which I'll aggregate for you here (and hopefully expand on -- when necessary -- when I return in a week). Among these things are:

  • The lack of self-awareness of a certain couple of super frum guys in front of us on the plane. I think there should be a rule about getting up from your seat for extended periods of time to daven and putting your SEATBACK in the upright position. You leave for an hour. I should get a break, right? 
  • There was some big macher rebbe on the plane. No clue who he was or what his chassidus was, but he was really important. Really. First-class and first-on-the-plane important.
  • My Hebrew sucks. My accent sucks. I'm angry at myself. I'll expand later. 
  • I don't care who you are, or where you come from, or where you're going, or what you're doing ... bringing a box cutter in your backpack through security to the Kotel is ... sigh ... the most idiotic thing. EVER. 
  • There was this kid that chased us down in the cardo (the market/shuk in the old Jewish quarter in Jerusalem) because he was haggling with us obnoxiously and we turned him down. I gave in, in the end, but for my price. I regret this. 
  • We had the same tour guide for the Kotel Tunnels and the Hurva Synagogue. He was awesome. You want a charismatic leader? I've got one for you. Oh, and the sites were amazing, too.
  • Why is it that when you ride a plane with some people or go on a tour with some people, you end up seeing them EVERYWHERE the entire time you're on vacation? Is Israel really that small? 
And, for now, lastly, Tuvia and I just returned home from the #BStweetup. For those of you not completely immersed in the Twitterverse (aka www.twitter.com), this was an event for Twitterers who follow one another and like to get together and geek out and actually meet one another in real life (IRL). I've met some of my best friends this way, so it was the perfect way to meet my Israeli mishpacha (family) during our stay. It was really nice to sit down to a huge meal in Bet Shemesh (hence the BS in #BSTweetup) with a bunch of Americans who've made their way to Israel for one reason or another. If anything, it's made the desire to move to Israel stronger. Knowing we have friends and a mishpacha here? It's a confidence booster. So, I give you, the Israeli Twitter Mishpacha: A Sampling



4 comments:

Suburban Sweetheart said...

Glad you're enjoying the land! <3

Shoshanna said...

Was great seeing you! Come back soon- the mishpacha will be waiting :)

Anonymous said...

The guy on the plane was most probably R' Yaakov Yitzchak Horowitz, the Ostiller rebbe.

I would guess he's on his way to Tibet, on a secret spiritual mission...

Chaviva Gordon-Bennett said...

@Anonymous How *ever* do you know this!? I googled him. Totally looks right.

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