Wild Geese

There is a great exodus taking place all around me on the farm. Every morning that I am in the field I hear them, the wild geese flying south for the winter. They are passing through by the thousands, over head and to the side. I hear them in the distance and always take a moment from my harvesting to look up and observe them as they fly by me. So many of them the sound of their wings can be frightening.

When I was in Israel a good friend gave me a wonderful present, a beautiful poem she inscribed on a treasured rock. The poem was Mary Oliver's "Wild Geese"
In dedication to my new field companions and their journey I am posting it here.

Wild Geese
by Mary Oliver

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting —
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

Sunrises

How many sunrises have I seen since I began at Brook Farm? 8 weeks worth...And they have been some of the most beautiful I have seen in my life.

Rooting

Harvesting storage turnips

The first frost has come with all its frigged rain, and now we begin the great root harvest. We've begun collecting everything from carrots, beets, and turnips for storage in the cooler. And we'll distribute them over the next month to members. Something I learned today in my nutrition studies, when you eat roots they help ground and stabilize you. If you're filled with nervous energy, there's nothing better than to eat a sweet potato. In cold weather roast your roots, this helps to add heat and density to your veggies.

Flower Arranging

One of the tasks I've been given on harvest days (Tuesday and Saturday) now is to lead a group of volunteers into our zinnia and cosmo flower beds and demonstrate the art of flower arranging. I find it very enjoyable teaching the adult volunteers a new skill they have never had. Basically I lead them into the fields give them a short set of instructions on cutting flowers, let them gather as many as they can, and then more instructions on how to arrange a bouquet. It does get tedious on the days that we need 50+ bouquets. I'm no flower specialist but I do have a fair bit of experience in the area and what is always surprising to me is floral design does not come naturally to everyone. During our small workshop as I watch over the final arrangement of the bouquets, I am always surprised at who is talented at design and who is not. And the best part is that most of the time not all the members pick up a bouquet at distribution so there are always leftover flowers that I go crazy with in decorating the house.


An extra floral bonus at distribution


A lovely bouquet of cosmos, zinnias, and sunflowers

Autumn

Indian Summer is here. I’m not sure how long it will last but the leaves on the trees are already changing to their yellows, oranges, and reds. It is an absolutely gorgeous site to see the mountain of Mohonk with its lush forests go through this ancient autumn passage. The summer plants, tomatoes, squashes, and peppers are finishing up and it is now time for the brasicas to mature. We’ve already got tons of kale, collards, bok choy, and broccoli on the way. Everyday I try and incorporate as much as I can into my daily diet from this harvest of plenty. You could say I am nourishing my body and spirit by being here.

Another Adventure

The fields at sunrise



I’ve decided to continue this blog as it seemed silly to me to stop with just including Israel since I am continuing to journey further into my own personal wonderland.

After some intense traveling the last 2 months, all around Israel, Turkey, Upstate New York, Houston, and San Antonio, I’ve finally unpacked my suitcase for a 3 month stay at Brook Farm. I will be completing a work/study there as an agriculture intern. I’ve completed two weeks so far, which I must say was not easy. I am putting some intense hours in each day, as I’ve been starting work at 7am to finish at 6pm, but my body is finally starting to toughen up to these new harsher conditions. And just in one week I’ve already started getting a handle and education in late summer/fall plantings. Brook Farm is a completely different type of farm compared to Hava V’Adam (the place I spent 5 months in Israel). Hava V’Adam is a small educational farm where we grew food basically for our own consumption and Brook Farm is a 5 acre, tractor plowed, CSA farm. On a CSA farm you really feel as if you are the keepers of the vegetables. CSA members prepay you before the season begins to grow and care for their food, so this is a very different practice and thought process being done here.

As an intern in exchange for my labor I receive lodging in the old farm house (my own bedroom and bathroom), all the fresh veggies, eggs, and meat I can eat, and a stipend. It’s a pretty great deal as I’m actually getting to further my education doubly while I am here. I will be listening on an ipod to lectures in my slow hours weeding because I’ve recently enrolled in a distance learning program through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. With this course work (which will be completed in 10 to 15 months) I will be become a certified (by the American Association of Drugless Practioners) holistic health counselor. Where by the end of my course I hope to work on or at CSA farm teaching workshops on healthy holistic lifestyles that will focus on an organic diet and nutrition.

As I’m at Brook Farm I will continue to update my blog to let everyone know how the vegetables are growing and hopefully share some new found wisdoms.


Jimmy Cricket in the bean patch

So the Time has come....

Well my program is officially over and I've been traveling around with EE. I'm obviously way behind in pics and posts but I will be trying to post mad crazy in the following days. So stay tuned!


Harvest time with the Ecos

Aliyah Ba’Regel

One new backpack, 25 kilometers, and 3 days later we completed one more field trip to Jerusalem but this time in the ancient tradition of aliyah ba’regel, which means to “go up by foot”. Two thousand years ago this was the tradition for the 3 major holidays Shavuot, Passover, and Sukkot, for all Jews to walk and arrive in Jerusalem and give a sacrifice to the temple on the day of the holiday. And this is just what we did. We started in Modi’in hiking through national parks, stopping by natural springs and having many mikvahs to arrive at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.



This was my first major hiking experience. Before this I had lots of experience in day hikes and camping but not a long trip where you carry all your food and water you need. I finally took the plunge and bought myself a brand new Gregory backpack. It is beautiful and fits me like a glove, def worth the money because it made the hike so much easier. I had a lot of weight on me carrying so much but I was able to accomplish the trip without any blisters and very minimal chaffage.





We hiked through some gorgeous parts of Israel; ancient trails that have been in use for thousands of years. We passed the oldest natural forest in Israel, mountains filled with deep dark caves, Arab towns, and many natural springs. One of the nights we slept by this natural spring under a mulberry tree that must have been 500 years old. It was a stunning location.



The most amazing part of this journey was the satisfaction I felt arriving in Jerusalem. Knowing now how capable my body is and the endurance I have makes me feel so alive. We hiked all the way into Jerusalem to the cotel. There we did a ceremony and a sacrifice in the ancient tradition. Our ceremony consisted of a meditation circle and blessing. Before the trip we harvested wheat from the field by our farm and ground it by hand. We made pita from it and offered it as our sacrifice as well as the remainder wheat we harvested. Having a beer and some watermelon finished off the ceremony. It was all so beautiful and magical. I really felt connected to old ways. I have been on this course since my arrival in Israel but I no longer feel like I am a Jew but I feel as though I am a Hebrew. Going back to the original laws and traditions our ancestors practiced here. I’ve wanted to write an entire blog entry about this transition and will do at some point soon.

Sorry

Hey everyone sorry for the delay in posts but many are to come shortly...they are all written I'm just waiting on the photos. Hope everyone is well. I just got back from an amazing field trip up north..details to come. Love ya, Flo


Me hoeing some weeds...lol

Paige and I's Dome Garden

My tomato bed just as baby seedlings

My roommate Paige and I prepared a massive garden around our dome about a month ago. It is broken into 4 sections, the largest being specifically for tomatoes and basil. In fact half of the tomatoes in that bed were volunteers from the compost pile (we need to work on our composting skills as all seeds should be dead before the compost is used) and the other half came from transplants that we found in the greenhouse. Now none of the tomatoes were labeled properly so the entire bed is a mystery. We know they are tomatoes but we have no idea what variety they are. They could be anything from yellow pears to big beefsteak tomatoes but soon we shall find out as the first of the tomatoes are producing fruit.

The other half of the garden is a mixture of flowers, tomatoes, and basil. There are sunflowers, cosmos, carnations, and basically anything we could find a seed for that would grow this time of the year.

J-Town

Last week we had our field trip to Jerusalem. Now you would think this would be a fun experience but ultimately it was depressing as hell. We covered the entire gamut of Jerusalem’s history…From 2,000 years ago to the present, and it is filled with sorrow, sadness and fighting. It's easy to forget all this when you go into the city and are just walking around the shouk, which I do frequently…I’m not in direct contact with the remnants of these wars. But even though this entire trip was depressing its still def worth sharing.


Our first day was spent having class over looking the Old City, going over the ancient history. This was all in preparation for our tour to the Wall. Now something I didn’t realize, this is why its important before visiting any art or artifacts to have some background info on it, because I have walked past the Southern temple wall half a dozen times never really fully understanding what its significance was. I knew it was ancient but that’s about it. Everyone knows the Western Wall. It has become an iconic symbol of Israel but it turns out the Southern and Eastern Walls are just as significant. All were the original walls surrounding the temple. The reason why so much press is given to the Western Wall is because it is a few meters closer to the actual temple mount. But after visiting both I think the Southern Wall and Eastern Wall are much more significant. These were the walls in ancient times that you would take your ritual bath, purchase your sacrifice, and enter the temple from. The great ancient staircases and mikvahs are still there. You can touch the same stones that our Hebrew ancestors touched. Feel the warmth and smoothness of the marble. It’s an absolutely beautiful thing. One that I felt a real connection with. You can just feel the energy pulsing from these spots. It’s still a sad energy like all the walls give off, but there is something more, something absolutely sacred. Unfortunately during the crusades the crusaders blocked off the entrances to the temple mount but today there is a different route to get to the temple mount.


The Southern Wall


Original stairs to the entrance of the temple

Now something else that I was completely unfamiliar with before this trip but the temple mount, the original location were Isaac was going to be sacrificed before God sent an angel down to stop it….That same spot is now covered by the Dome of the Rock, the location where Mohammed was launched into heaven on a white horse. After the second destruction of the temple, on Tish'a B'Av, the temple was not rebuilt, the spot was still sacred but Jerusalem went through many different ownerships as well as the Hebrews getting kicked out of Jerusalem by the Romans. During one of these various stints the Muslims built a sacred temple to Mohammed that stands today on top of the original spot of the Hebrew's sacred temple. Non-Muslims can still visit the Temple Mount/Dome of the Rock only during specific hours allocated to them during the day. Hopefully soon I will be able to make one of these visits.



Dome of the Rock

The next day of the field trip was spent learning about the more recent Arab/Jew relationship. I’m not going to go into all the details and info here that I learned (it would just be way too much) but if anyone is interested I would be more than happy to share. I feel like I got a really unbiased and deeply informative session regarding the current problems facing the two groups.

We took a tour, which is offered by a politically neutral group, Irri'im. We traveled through East Jerusalem, the checkpoint gates, and the Jewish and Arab settlements. An Israel and Palestinian led this tour. The most significant part of this tour was driving through the town that the tractor terrorist lived. I feel like I have a full understanding of the animosity and hatred that has built up amongst the Jews and Arabs. Next was a meeting with a group called Combatants for Peace where we listened to stories from both an Israeli army man and a member of Fattah. We listened to their stories and were given a chance to fully pick their brains with questions.


The separation wall in Jerusalem



The wall...a few hundred meters from the Mount of Olives

The next day we went to Har Herzl, which is the military cemetery in Israel. It is one of the largest and is the burial place of many famous Israeli leaders, i.e. Golda Meir and Yitzhak Rabin. At this point in the tour I started feeling rather bad as a cold I had been trying to fight off was getting the better of me and an old bee sting was coming back to haunt me and causing my finger to swell up until it was unmovable. But I decided to put aside my physical ailments and focused on continuing the remainder of my day.

After Har Herzl and going through and listening to stories and heroic acts of dead soldiers we walked next door to Yad Vashem. This is the Holocaust museum in Israel, and like the first time I visited this place I could not contain the tears. It was a full day of sadness and death and my body gave up and I was fully sick after this.

So the next day I spent going to a natural healer, getting some clay for my finger to make a poultice to try and extract the poison built up there and slept my sickness away. I missed the remainder of my field trip and the hike in Sataf and the community gardening but I needed the rest to fully recover.

Culinary Classes

Me and Big Mamma



The couple of weeks leading up to the field trip we were having almost daily culinary classes learning to prepare and preserve the food that we are currently growing. We had a raw food class, where we learned how to make things from almond milk, flax seed crackers, fruit leathers, and raw beet salad. We had a French bread making class and a Pickle/Kraut class. I know now how to make pickles, kimchi, and sourkraut. They are pickling away in our kitchen as I type this.

Pesach Break

In Israel spring break for schools is squeezed together at the same time as Passover. These breaks can range from a week to a month for some. I got ten days.

The first days I spent heading down to Rechovot with Paige, Scott, and Brett to a friend’s home to have Passover Seder. This was an unusual Seder for me for two reasons: one it was all in Hebrew and two was the fact that my friend is Yemenite so we all partook in a Yemenite Seder. The big difference between this Yemenite Seder and the traditional American Seder is the food. We didn’t have your traditional gefilte fish, chicken soup, matzo balls, choroset, and wine. Instead it was mousaka, grape juice, etc.

This was a large 34 people and multigenerational group. But they did a great job of making us feel at home and incorporating English when they could. Some of the prayers were said in Arabic. They do this because back in the day in Yemen women weren’t aloud to attend school and didn’t know Hebrew, they only spoke Arabic, and it became traditional for parts of the Seder to be in Arabic so the women could understand.
The next day after the Seder I went back to the farm so I could do my watering chore. Over the break we all signed up for specific days to water so our newly seeded beds would grow. Once watering was over which took like 3 plus hours as we don’t have drip tape for most of the beds yet. (We are trying for more but we have to wait until budget issues are taken care of. Because we do not have the drip tape (drip irrigation lines) we have to hand water everything with a hose. Normally this chore is broken up amongst three or four but it was just Renaya and I this time.) But once we were done with our chore it was off to Tel Aviv by train to meet up with Beth and then head down by a direct bus to Eilat for a couple of days in the sun.

The bus ride to Eilat is about 5 hours. It’s really long but thankfully the bus makes 10 minute stops at rest stations twice along the way. Once we were in Eilat we found our hostel put our stuff down and went out to explore the city.
Eilat is designed and laid out along the Red Sea. On the other side of the cove you can see Jordan as the Red Sea is one long inlet from the Ocean. The Shouk and most hotels huddle around the edge of the beach. Walking around it was very crowded almost NY Chinatown crowded, as Eilat is a favorite destination of Israeli’s during Pesach Break. It reminds me of Las Vegas but on the ocean.


The Red Sea

We ended up going to Giraffe, an Asian fusion restaurant in Israel, for dinner the first night and then sitting by the water’s edge talking. The next two days were spent lounging by the beach. We found a great spot, not to crowded, and located within throwing distance from the juice bar, crepe stand, and grocery store. These beach days were fabulous. It was hot but the water was crisp and immediately cooled us off when we dipped in. We spent many hours hanging out, talking, reading, and walking around browsing in the shouk along the beach. It was a great time of relaxation, surround by beautiful clear blue green water.




Working on getting rid of my Farmer's tan

Being in Eilat was a little difficult because it was Pesach break and lots of places are closed for the holiday. And even though it is Israel there weren’t that many food options since I was not eating bread. They have Pesach bread, which supposedly is ok to eat during this time but it felt like cheating to me so I stuck to my Matzo, Tzchoug, and cheese for most of my meals.

Another thing I forgot to mention about Pesach in Israel is the cleaning of the Hametz before. People go a little nuts here, wrapping things in plastic, using blowtorches to sear pots, and intense cleaning of houses and kitchens. I’ve never experienced anything like it. But watching all these different people going through these rituals of getting rid of any bread particles in their home has given me a new appreciation for bread.

By that Sunday we were ready to leave Eilat. I made a brief stop back to the farm to change out my clothes for warmer ones as my next destination was north and the weather is completely different from the Southern tip. In the north it is still very much early spring with cold rain showers. Flowers are just beginning to bloom, the irises coming up. The climate and landscape could be compared to northern California or the mountains in Colorado.

The first couple of days up north I stayed on a friend’s kibbutz as they had an extra yurt. A yurt is similar to my dome as it’s a geometric structure. But these yurts are a bit nicer than my dome because they have insulation and their own personal kitchen built on the outside. During those days when the rains would let up I did a bit of hiking up and around the mountains in the area. There are tons of pockets where there are springs, wells, and caves that have been used by people for thousands of years and I did some exploring in and around these.

That Wednesday I went down to Sfat, to break my Passover that night I had some yummy pizza. The next day walked all around, toured the Shouk there, which has lots of galleries and Judaica. Sfat is a really old city around 800 years. There is amazing architecture here. Influences of the different cultures that have lived in Israel over the years…Turks, Arab, Hebrew. It’s also a very religious city as it’s the center for Kabbalah.



A large group of us went hiking for an afternoon along the Israel trail. The same trail the Walk-About-Love is traveling on. It is such a beautiful part of Israel up in the mountains surrounded with pine forests.

That Friday on our way south we stopped at this beautiful beach about 20 km north of Tel Aviv. It was so beautiful with tall cliffs bordering the ocean. We spent a few hours there enjoying the sun after spending so much time in the rain and cold up north. Then continued south toward Tel Aviv for Shabbat. I haven’t talked much about religion in my blogging because it’s such a large topic I haven’t had the energy to delve into it yet. But I want to just say a few things quickly.

In Israel the majority of the population is Jewish but not everyone is religious. In fact it’s broken up pretty evenly betwen secular and religious. But during holidays and weekly Shabbat, public transportation, shops, basically everything public shuts down. These closers forces everyone to prepare for these days whether you observe them or not. For instance you must buy food and wine before if you’re going to want them because all the stores close and the only things that are open are a few kiosks owned by Israeli Arabs. And the kiosks are very minimally stocked, no refrigerated goods. It’s funny how dependent Israeli’s have become on other cultures that aren’t observant of the religious days. The only way to travel on these days is if you have your own car, can hitchhike with someone, or take a communal taxi that is run by an Arab. If I’m trying to travel I usually take the taxis when I can.

Since I’ve come to Israel I’ve been celebrating Shabbat every week, whether it’s a big dinner with songs or a small moment with the blessing over the wine. It’s become a day for me to rest and to let the world around me rest. People get so caught up in their day-to-day lives it’s really nice to have a scheduled time every week to just step away for a moment or a day and focus on my needs and myself. To not worry about chores or work; to do things that I enjoy like cooking, reading, writing, and hanging out.

So once in Tel Aviv we went to a friend’s place to have Shabbat dinner. Then the next day went for a walk around the city and to the beach. It was really crowded but a beautiful sunny day. And then Sunday it was back to the farm for the start of work and school again.

I can finally read Hebrew!

When I fist arrived in Israel one of the immediate goals I set for myself was to learn how to read Hebrew. And so within three weeks with the help of my Hebrew class, my fellow Ecos, and the assistance of many others I learned my alphabet, script and block letters. It was def a struggle trying to memorize new letters, a style of writing, and sounds but I am now a proficient reader of Hebrew. It was so frustrating the first month here not being able to read signs and product labels. But I’ve become so comfortable with my Hebrew reading abilities now that I prefer to spell all my Hebrew specific words with Hebrew letters and not in the English phonetic version. Now my goal is to learn as much vocabulary as possible so I can not only ask questions in Hebrew but understand the answers.

Gardens are a Growin’

The Big Dome with tons of flowers

So we just finished up doing our massive summer planting in and around Domeville. From the fields to our personal beds around our domes we planted tepary beans, pigeon pea, blacked peas, green beans, Cherokee purple tomatoes, money maker tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, sweet basil, purple basil, watermelon, cantaloupe, corn, sunflowers, millet, amaranth pumpkins, winter squash, cucumber, zucchini, and many more....


The freshly planted fields


The spiral herb garden I helped plant....A very important design in Permaculture to help with watering

The Eco-Family

Field Tripin’ It to the Arava: Kibbutz Neot S'Madar and Kibbutz Lotan

So my group took a weeklong field trip to the desert. Just shy a few kilometers from where I was at the festival. But this time it was to visit a kibbutz. After being on a kibbutz for a couple of days I realize the stark difference between my farm and a working kibbutz. Kibbutzes in Israel have changed a lot over the last few years. They have been trending toward more commercialized communes. But there still are a few commercial farm kibbutzes; even this though is so different from where I am.

Neot S’Madar is a huge place with an extensive amount of acreage. They specialize in goat’s milk and dates but grow everything here. In comparison my farm is tiny just a couple of acres and we don’t grow any of our food for production.

While I was at Neot S’Madar I helped out in many different areas thinning nectarine trees, planting tomatoes, sorting olives for canning, and working in the winery for a bit. There is so much going on at this place that you feel as if it would take years to participate in everything.


Thinning Nectarines

One of the amazing things about this Kibbutz is how they promote the arts. They have a entire castle-like building devoted to creativity and the arts.


The Arts Center

Shouk Makhane Yehuda

So one of my favorite things about Jerusalem is the Shouk Makhane Yehuda. It’s the local market and on a Friday before Shabbat this place gets crazy. It is jam packed with people buying food for the weekend and trying to get last minute chores done before the week ends. I’ve discovered so many treasures in this place. Like Azura this amazing hole-in-the-wall Iraqi restaurant with delicious meatballs and this small juice stand where you can get a plethora of varieties including fresh squeezed passiflora juice. I’ve already learned who has the best dried fruit and the best halvah. Halvah is incredibly delicious. It’s made from toasted sesame seeds and I don’t know what else. But my favorite flavors are coffee and chocolate. Basically you can get everything here fruit, veggies, cheeses, olives, challah…But the most beautiful thing about the Shouk is going early in the morning and buying a fresh hot pita dripping with olive oil and zatar and eating it right then and there….It’s so delicious.

Purim

So I’m very late posting this but I wanted to share my Israeli Purim experience. For those that don’t know what Purim is, it is similar to Halloween and Mardi Gras where the main goal, even though it is a religious holiday, is to dress up in costumes and get as drunk and crazy as possible. Basically the idea is to get so sloshed you can’t tell the difference between Haman and Mordechai. For a more extensive explanation Wiki it…lol.

Israelis love to party. There are always holidays and new moons to celebrate. And Purim is just another way for them to express this interest. Purim is really only a couple of days long but here in Israel it is celebrated all week with festivities. To being our Purim week a couple of my fellow ecos (Beth, Paige, and myself) started off by traveling down to the Negev desert to go to the opening of the Walk About Love Festival. The Walk about Love is a group of people promoting peace and love by traveling/hiking up the famous Israel Trail. This process takes a few months as they start in Eilat and work their way North. In a couple of weeks they will be visiting my farm since we are next to the trail. We’ll host them for the afternoon before they move on to their next spot and give tours of our Eco Village.

But back to my travels, as we made our way down to the opening festival in the desert we stopped for the night at Mitzpe Ramon at an Alpaca farm. There we tagged along with the Shin-shins from the south to their Purim party. In the early morning we traveled the rest of the way to Shitim Ashram, which was hosting the opening festival.


The Alpaca Farm


Beth and I Hiking though the Desert

Shitrim Ashram is this tiny oasis in the middle of the dessert. It is literally surrounded on all sides by at least 80 kilometers of desert. It is the type of desert that is flat and rocky, where literally nothing grows. No trees, no plants, no bushes…You don’t see tumble weeds here. All you hear is the dry wind blowing across the earth. But the desert is magical. Because there are so few distractions it really gives you the chance to open up and look at yourself; to contemplate life and deep internal thoughts and struggles.

I was here sitting and having lunch with my friends in this oasis in the desert when I was awakened to a realization of a past life experience here…that I have lived somewhere very similar to this place. Somewhere in the Middle East in the desert surrounded by willow trees.

The desert is an emotional place to say the least. There is no hiding from yourself here. They say it opens a window to your soul and that is exactly what it did to me.



This was my first festival and being pretty unfamiliar with gatherings like this I wasn’t completely sure what to expect. But it ended up being a wonderful convergence of spiritual growth, laid-back good times, live music, and informative workshops, and a Kabbalah Shabbat service.



After returning to the farm for a couple of days it was on to the next set of Purim parties, which where in Tel Aviv on Floretine St, at the farm, and then Jerusalem. If anybody knows what Halloween is like in Santa Barbara, these parties in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem are comparable. Thousands of people converge on to one main street. There is music everywhere. Drinking and partying with everyone in costume. I was an 80’s aerobic instructor and def pulled it off well.


Paige and I dancing in the Street

When most of the world is done celebrating Purim there are a couple of cities here that are still going strong. They are the walled cities. So of course we spent our last day of Purim partying in Jerusalem, which is one of these cities with a wall. Once in Jerusalem it was off to the neighborhood Naclaote. This was the most random street party yet. As the street wasn’t technically blocked off and there would be the random car trying to drive through the masses of people spontaneously converging on to this street. Drinking on the street is legal in Israel so as you can imagine street parties are a lot of fun.
Israeli’s are so creative with their Purim costumes. I’ve never seen anything like it. It puts our premade costumes from the States to shame. They glue and tape together the most amazing things. My favorite of the week was friend Ben the lobster.


Jerusalem


Yigal and I in Jerusalem