Time to catch up! I finally had my first "holiday season" in Israel, otherwise known as the Chagim. Due to being in school my whole life, I had only been in Israel on summer and winter breaks. So, unless it was Chanukah or Shavuot, I haven't been here.
Rosh HaShanah (Jewish New Year) was incredible. I prayed with a Carlebach minyan at sunrise on both days. Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, as you can read about in the link, he believed in connecting to G-d through singing prayer. He composed many original melodies for traditional jewish prayers, and inspired many disillusioned jews to return to their Jewish roots. I very much enjoy his philosophy, and also feel very connected through song. My mom came the following week, and we traveled all over Israel. We rented a car so we were able to do everything! We literally drove from the Golan hights to Eilat. We spent Yom Kippur (The day of atonement) on my kibbutz, which was a really fulfilling experience. They have a custom here after the fast to eat a piece of cake, have a cup of coffee, and immediately build they sukkot (which can seem daunting after not eating or drinking for 25 hours)! After they're done they sit down for a proper meal. It was really fun to participate. There must have been dozens of sukkot just on the kibbutz, including a central one which could easily sit more than 300 people (usually they sit ~10 max). It was really cool to see sukkot all over Israel! Literally you could be anywhere and there would be multiple sukkot. Simchat Torah on the kibbutz was so fun! All the young guys were back from yeshiva or the army, so we just danced and danced. It was great! In Israel we only keep one day of Yom Tov instead of two everywhere else. I can tell you, it's much more intense! They say you need two days outside of Israel because it takes twice as much simcha for your soul to be fulfilled with the chag.
(Cut to two weeks later, I am now finishing the post 28/10)
I finished working in the Refet, and was fully expecting to go to the army this sunday! I received a call yesterday from the army telling me that I won't be going in until december.... That's right 5 days before my enlistment! However, I also found out some amazing news. I will be going to a unit called Pikud HaOref, the home front command, to be an academic officer in the "Dangerous Chemicals" department. That means I'll be a chemist in the IDF! I worked so hard in the last 10 months to try to find something like this, without luck. In the end it all came down to who you know, and of course a little help from G-d... (sarcasm, it's all from hashem!) I probably won't know more details until I enlist in december, but this is really such an amazing opportunity for me, not to mention an amazing career move! So now I have two months on my hands to do whatever, which is what I'm trying to figure out.
I've also decided to take this time to take a hiatus from my blog. I encourage you all to keep up with me via emails or Facebook, but I don't think I'll be writing for a while. However, if something big comes up, I'll update here. Be well my friends!
Yours,
יחיאל
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