Luckily, I did not have to go back to school after the weekend since I had an extended break due to Yom hazikaron and Yom ha’atzmaut being on Monday and Tuesday. However the days were not vacations where I could relax since they were jam packed with stuff that I was doing. On erev Yom hazikaron I had dinner with shoshie which was great since she was leaving 2 days later and I was worried I would not get to see her before she left. We then went to the MASA remembrance event where we sat with Benji and Arya. We took part in a somber tekes that remembered the lives of 7 fallen lone soldiers (one of them being Michael Levin z’’l). It was a very powerful night that had the entire country commemorating together. Then in the morning my spring in Jerusalem program had our own event. We traveled around Jerusalem to sights of important battles during the Independence war. We learned about the people that fell in order to keep the state alive. We saw a military tekes in Givat Ananim which not many people go to but is powerful. There was a 7 gun salute at the end along with wreaths placed as memorials. It was a very moving day that drained me both physically and emotionally but when the evening came I had to 180 how I felt since it was then yom ha’atzmaut right away. The whole city light up in moments as the celebration of Israel’s 62nd year of existence was marked. The parties were ubiquitous. I went downtown with all my friends and ran into everyone I know that is in Jerusalem. Sari Roy, Brett and Aderet, Yael, Joel, Joey Heyman, Nativ kids, Shoshana, and more. It was the time to celebrate and have fun with the rest of the country. I went from live music on ben yehuda, to the shuk which was transformed into a student party, to kikar safra where Israeli dancing was going on until 3 in the morning. Everywhere you went; kids were playing with sill string and shaving cream, adults were singing and dancing, teenagers were drinking, and everyone was having fun. Fireworks went off numerous amounts of time throughout the evening and they were spectacular. I met up with David Helfand and we walked around and caught up on life. He loves Nativ and ready to go home for a little before having to start his first summer as staff on USY on Wheels. Most likely he will then be in LA at the AJU studying his little tush off. The night lasted way to long and I did not get back to the cfar until the wee hours of the night. I did get to sleep in a little since my friend’s BBQ was not until 1. It happened to be at Gan Ha’atzmaut where the Nativ BBQ is also held. I made sure to stop by and say hi to Yossi and Elkana, I even ran into Katja for a split second and we said hello. I then ate with my friends and played a little baseball. As exhausted as I was I went back to the cfar and called it a day.
The tail end of the week was just as eventful since it was the time of family. First one up was Michal Kogen’s mother and brother were here and I was dying to meet them. We all went out to dinner and had the best time ever. I can see why that family is so close and all love each other to death. The next on the list was Sharon Grob was back in Jerusalem and wanted to take us out for dinner as well. This was also so much fun since we went to a meat place and she freaked out that I would not have enough to eat and there ended up being too much food on the table. It was so much fun to be with them and it made me miss the good old days of high school when every Shabbat, me and the gang would go over to the grobs for sports and lunch. That night did not end there since I got to hang out with Tamar Rohatiner for the whole evening talking about our lives and our futures. It was one of those talks that really makes you put your life into perspective and see how many blessings you truly have. I can tell you that in my life there are countless blessings and I don’t take a single one of you for granted.
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