האושר על זה המשובחים

Eventful and relaxing all rolled into one. The past week and Shabbos has been on for the books (or the blog). My tummy is still full from the amazing food I had the luxury of eating and I'm ready to write about it. 

The two lead singers of A Collective doing an amazing duet.

Last Wednesday we had been invited to a show. There is an Israeli band that sings in English, their name is A Collective (www.joinacollective.com) and they performed a super small venue right here in Netanya at a bar called Doug & Tony's. They played recently in Tel Aviv at a much bigger and packed venue, but the "scene" here in Netanya is a lagging a bit. Anna, Ben, and I went and had an amazing time. They blew my mind. In comparison to places like the UK, Israel has not produced the most amazing music scene. These guys are the definition of proving this statement wrong. A six member band, two lead singers, and all around awesome-ness. Please give them a listen or a download!! 

All four Israel Pathways programs joined together for a Shabbat Seminar up in the North by the Kinneret aka the Sea of Galilee. So beautiful. We climbed Mount Arbel for a short history lesson, did a water hike where water came up to our hips, and stayed on the gorgeous grounds of Kibbutz Ginosaur. This particular Kibbutz privatized in the 1980's and continues to produce a very successful tourism and hospitality industry as well as the countries best bananas. They also produce other agriculture such as, apricots, walnuts, and the list goes on and on. We spent our time eating, resting, and swimming in the beautiful lake. For anyone traveling to Israel - The Nof Ginosaur buffet is where it's at! And after...I can honestly say it was my BEST night of sleep racking in a total of 12 hours :) I don't have any pictures during Shabbat as we were keeping the tradition of emulating God and not creating - only resting. However, we closed the Shabbat with a gorgeous Havdalah service and welcomed the new week with an epic dancing cruise on the Kinneret.

Holy Land Sailing Company- Tiberias, Israel

And sadly, today was the last day of our official training at Seminar Hakibbutzim. I am very glad it is over, but I am also a little nervous because the real stuff is about to begin. I don't really think I can say I am now 100% confident to enter the Israeli classroom and teach them a new language - a foreign language. Our Madrich, Gail, has assured us that we DO have all the tools we need and we ARE ready for what we are about to face, but there are moments where I am still unsure. Maybe I am more unsure now than I was before even coming to Israel because I was not aware of the magnitude of how difficult it may be.

Incredible nighttime view of Tiberias from the boat.

I am truly looking forward to Rosh Hashanah, this new year will be the biggest one of my 22 years yet. This is a REAL new year. This is a new year full of growing and experiencing unlike ever before. This new year MATTERS.

Chag Sameach! May everyone have a beautiful, fruitful, and abundant year :)