Sorry about the scarceness of writing, I have not had the chance to sit down for a long period of time and write. Today I am in Jerusalem, it is 70 degrees and sunny, and life is pretty sweet. We have been here for almost a week, and I really like the kids in the program- it is a group of 50 Jews and Israelis, which gets overwhelming, and you have everyone under the sun, from PHD history students to law students to California girls to funny New Yorkers. It is a good mix. I will write about things that have happened so far:

Yesterday, we visited Vad Hashem, the Israeli Holocaust museum. It is 100 times better than the one in DC. They had an actual part of the train track from the Warsaw ghetto. The way the museum worked was you walk in to this extremely gray and dark building with a triangular shaped ceiling. You start out by seeing rare videos of the Jews in Europe before the war: alleyways of Jewish musicians, little kids in schul being taught by a rabbi, and people dancing the hora in a circle. This was extremely powerful because, as the guide said, all of these communities were exterminated and destroyed by the war. Seeing these joyous, happy people and their rich communities before the war gave the whole museum a dark forboding for what would come next. They showed Nazi propaganda of the Jews. They showed the Jews as ugly parasites who were dragging the German people down. I didn't realize that for Hitler, being Jewish was an ethnicity- it was the blood of the Jews that needed to be wiped out. So in that respect, you, Codie, and I would have all been arrested and deported to a concentration camp.

They showed the uniforms the people war, the conditions of what life was like in the camps, and they showed footage that American soldiers took of these horrible sad skeletons that had just been liberated. All are mournful because they have learned that everyone they knew had died. I just thought of how I would feel if I saw you in that uniform every day and I was with Codie, who ALWAYS gets sick, and how horrible the experience would have been. We listened to an actual survivor give his testimony, and that was really cool, because I've never hear a living person talk about the Holocaust.

Besides that, we saw the famous market in Jerusalem yesterday, which was bursting with energy. Everyone was getting ready for the Shabbos, so you had Hasidic women (who were my age or younger) with their little kids, running around, and you had tourists everywhere, and less religious Jews and even secular people, all rushing to get the best deals before Sabbath. They sold everything: meat, fruit, spices, desserts. I got strawberries for 10 shekels (about 3 bucks) and they were AMAZING, way way way better than any strawberry I have tasted in America, because they aren't genetically modified and they are grown locally.

Two days ago I had a very powerful experience at the Western Wall. We spent the day in Jerusalem, and saw the Old City in the day. They say Jerusalem glows- that since all the buildings are built with this light-colored Jerusalem stone, the light hits the buildings in a special way and the city glows. There is a different energy that you feel in Jerusalem- and to know that the city is thousands and thousands of years old only adds to the revering quality that the city commends. We saw the Western Wall, or the kotel, at night. I saw it at first in the distance and thought that it didn't seem that different than any other old wall. However, when I was physcially near it, everything changed. Women all around me were reciting the Torah, bowing, crying, and praying. I wrote prayers on a piece of paper, and when I was finally at the wall I put it in there so God would here. When I touched the wall, an incredibly powerful energy hit me. I started praying for everyone I knew, for the suffering in the world to end and for Dad and Mom to retire and live happily and for Cal and for everyone. It was this beautiful release- and I really felt God. It's interesting that every single temple faces towards Jerusalem, and in Jerusalem they all face towards the wall, so you have the spiritual energy of millions of people praying for the very spot you are standing on. Absolutely incredible.

I will write whenever I get the chance. When this program ends on Thursday, I will be able to write a great deal more. Until then, I will fill you in whenever we get an opportunity to use a computer.

I feel like I'm uncovering this side of me I have never known. To be in Israel, a place that my grandmother's grandmother's grandmother prayed about seeing, that people for thousands of years in my bloodline have prayed for, to finally be here, in a country that the Jews have only had for 60 years, after thousands of years of oppression and getting kicked out of countries and persecuted against, is a really empowering feeling.

Anyways I miss you all but need to let other people use the computer. Shabbat Shalom!!!!