Jerusalem - Wow

The past 3 days, our trip has brought us to Jerusalem, which is one of, if not the most fascinating places I've ever been. It would literally take me hours upon hours to capture everything I've experienced and felt here, and I really need some sleep, but I'm going to try to capture as much as possible until I pass out.

Where do I even begin? Let's start with the people on this trip. I absolutely love my trip mates. I have met some of the most incredibly intelligent, complicated, and fun people over the past week. We have all bonded tremendously over the past 6 days, and have undoubtedly made some lifelong friends. The late night conversations about life that have taken place over the past week will probably be the one thing I cherish most about this trip. 

Israel just kind of does something to you that I can't explain. It really makes your reexamine your priorities, what you've been doing with your life, and what you want to do with your life. Everyone has been extremely open to talking about these topics, and we've all grown together. Joe - you would absolutely love this trip - besides the fact that you know next to nothing about Judaism, you would kill it here. I've never really felt this sense of community before, but it's exciting and I can't wait to see the next step.

I could write 10,000 words about the deep thoughts I've personally had, but I don't want to bore 99% of you to death. To give the Cliffsnotes version, I'll just say that the biggest impact of this trip is the connection it gives you to Judaism and Jewish people. I can't believe I'm saying this either, but it's true. There's no brainwashing or religion being rammed down your throat. You're simply given a wide variety of experiences that allow you to decide for yourself how much your heritage means to you. That part of this trip has impacted me deeply, and I'll really need to do some soul-searching when I get home to see how it impacts my life on a daily basis. Who am I?!

Already quite a bit and I haven't even gotten into what I did yet.  Let's continue with the CliffsNotes highlights before I wind up not sleeping tonight.

The Machane Yehuda Market - I had the best hummus I've ever tasted here. Well worth the 35 minute wait for lunch, especially since it cost $4. I'm going to be totally spoiled when I come to the states and go back to my normal hummus staples. The market was absolutely crazy since we were there a few hours before Shabbat. People everywhere buying challahs, fruit, and anything else you can think of. I got some dried fruit from one of the stands which was incredible and cost like $3/lb. And I like dates! (the fruit, not the act of spending a few hours of awkward conversation with a new person) 

Shabbat at the Western Wall - let me first start out by saying that the entire city shuts down on Shabbat. You literally can't go anywhere since EVERYTHING is closed except for synagogues. It's an eerie quiet but very peaceful at the same time. We walked from the hotel to the Jewish Quarter to the Old City (just a bit different than Philly's) to the wall. I wish I could describe to you all the scene at the wall. It's pure mayhem. There are people in all kinds of religious garb, including Russian Hasidic Jews in crazy hats that apparently cost $13,000. Also, it wasn't nearly as serious and somber as I thought. Yes, there were people praying hard, like H.A.M. hard. But many people were joyously celebrating the Sabbath in really interesting fashion,I participated in what I could only describe as a half-prayer circle, half-mosh pit. It was pretty awesome. I made my way up to the wall eventually and tried praying and having a spiritual moment - it didn't happen. I guess some things take time.

Saturday - most of Saturday was pretty quiet as the Sabbath goes until sundown. And like I said, nothing is open. Fun fact - the Israeli work week runs from Sunday to Thursday instead of our normal Monday-Friday work week. We took a walking tour late in the afternoon and had some small group conversations about what it means to be Jewish and other hot topics as well. Really interesting seeing how my trip mates feel about a variety of issues. At night, we went to downtown Jerusalem, which looks like most other downtowns, except you see people from every single walk of life which is pretty cool. I met up with my new friend Lauren for dinner (thank you Aubrey for the introduction!) and we had some really incredible conversations about life and religion over tapas and a bottle of wine. It was pretty amazing to be able to meet up with someone who has a connection to you from home when you're 6,000 miles away.

City of David - This was a really cool archaeological ruins type of city that you can only find in the Middle East. The highlight of the city (besides the 5 billion pictures I took) was the walk through Hezekiah's Tunnel. The tunnel was used by the ancient people to transport water from the reservoir into the city. The tunnel is still filled with water, so some of the group who had some chutzpah (balls) took the 25 minute walk through the tunnel that is at times no more than 5 feet high and wouldn't fit someone with broad shoulders. The water level varies at times and actually reaches close to your waist. We took some really cool pictures and video in there and I will post when I get home. Best part was, I had to change down to my underwear in front of the entire group since no one told me we wouldn't have a changing room. I felt a little bad until I saw that one of my trip mates was rolling in nothing but boxer shorts. Good times.

Mt Herzl - This is the Israeli National Cemetery and is named after Theodore Herzl who was the founder of the modern Zionist movement. The cemetery is pristine and is a very peaceful place. Instead of being filled mostly with grass like Arlington, it's actually made mostly of stone, which gave it a unique feel which I really liked. Eventually we came across a stone that was literally filled with Philadelphia sports hats, shirts, etc. It belongs to Michael Levin who grew up in the suburbs of Philly, emigrated to Israel shortly after high school and joined the Israeli Defense Forces. He tragically lost his life in the Israel-Lebanon conflict in 2006. He apparently was a HUGE Philly sports fan, and everyone from the area who visits his grave from the area leaves something related to Philly sports at his resting place. We then moved on to the newest section of the cemetery where the most recent heroes have been buried, some as recently as October, and many were 19-22 years old. Between the local guy and all of the young people, I really had a hard time taking it all in, especially when another group began singing a beautiful version of "Let It Be." This was by far the most moving part of the trip thus far.

Well, I've covered about 50% of the details of the past 3 days, but sleep beckons. I've having the most incredible trip of my life, and can't believe there are only 4 days left. Tomorrow will be a day filled with widely varying emotions as we will visit Yad Veshem (the Israeli Holocaust Museum) in the morning and will party in Tel Aviv to ring in the New Year. It should be another memorable day. Good night everyone.

- Kaps

Song of the Day - Jay-Z - Song Cry

What I've Learned so Far

I'm going to change up the structure for this post since I did enough recapping in the last one. Over the first 3 days of the trip - here's what I learned.

1. I need to be more open-minded - I've met some incredible people on this trip who I never would have talked to or associated with prior to this trip. So happy to be able to share this experience with them.

2. Orthodox Jews are not as different as I thought - the 2 chaperones and the tour guide are all Orthodox Jews. Besides the yarmulke the one guy wears and some subtle differences, you would never know these guys were Orthodox. They hang out, watch sports, and drink just like everyone else. The major difference is that they put religion and God before everything else in their lives (multiple daily prayers, Shabbat, kosher, etc) but the rest is mostly fringe.

3. If You're Jewish and you don't go on this trip you are wasting a golden opportunity.

4. I need to try more new things - similar to #1, but really talking about food here.

5. The people on Birthright are not your typical youth group kids - I am getting along really well with the people here and it is because we have common interests and backgrounds. They are not "super Jews" and no one pushes anything down your throat here related to religion.

6. I need to take an hour a week for reflection and to slow down - nothing specific to religion but I move way to fast and need to take time every week to relax and reflect. Doing this 3 times a year on vacation isn't enough.

7. A little bit of Hebrew - not much, but a few words!

More to come later in the trip.

- Kaps

Song of the Day: The Killers - Runaways

Day Two and Three: Time of My Life

Have you ever been so happy you literally can't stop smiling? That's where I got today. This trip has been absolutely incredible and I couldn't be happier. Let's start with a recap before I get deep.

Yesterday we started with an hour long bus ride to Mt. Arbel near the Sea of Galilee. There we checked out the view with was absolutely breathtaking. The top of the mountain overlooks an Arab settlement and you can see the top of the mosque from the peak. Beyond that, you can see beautiful mountains and valleys. It looks totally different than anything I've ever seen before. Pictures will follow as soon as I can get the Wi-Fi on my phone working. We descended down the mountain which was much  more difficult than I anticipated. There was actually a climbing portion over an exposed section of the mountain and the rocks were extremely slippery. We all got down safely (with quite a bit of mud on our clothes). Luckily, no one stepped in the ridiculous amount of cow/horse/alien shit that lined the mountain. Seriously, droppings everywhere.

After the mountain we visited the spiritual capital of Israel, Tzfat. When we first arrived, we visited with a Kabbalah guru and artist, Avraham Levinthal who actually was born in Michigan as Robert Levinthal. Dude was a total hippie and was definitely high on life (and many other questionable substances) but provided a really interesting perspective on life and Judaism that I've never experienced before. For those of you who don't know, Kaballah is the mystical, spiritual form of Judaism. It has become a bit of a Hollywood trend over the past 15 years but really goes a lot deeper than that. It's really big on connecting spiritually to yourself and the religion and experiencing as much "goodness" as possible during one's lifetime. While I'm a bit skeptical of the premise of all of it, the one interesting aspect is the meaning of one's name, and how that determines the type of person you are. Every Jewish person is assigned a Hebrew name, and that is the name that is analyzed. Will definitely need to do some research when I return home.

After the Kaballah talk, we explored downtown Tzfat. The city consists mostly of knick-knack and Judaica shops, but also has some interesting food places as well. One place that was recommended to me (thank you again Lauren!) was a stand that made Yemenite pancakes. The best description I could give would be a pancake without the sweetness, mixed with a flatbread (cheese, tomatoes, and spices). Amazing! The first good meal I've had in Israel. Yes, this guy who never tries anything new is actually branching out and trying new things. Shocking to me too.

The rest of the day was pretty slow as we toured some of the holy sites around the city and learned a bit of history. Also, found a Phillies custom-made yarmulke (kipah or head covering for those of you who are having trouble following at home). I resisted purchasing it since I brought my own Phillies yarmulke from the Majestic Clubhouse Store at Citizens Bank Park. Yes, they sell those and yes, they're hilarious.

On Day 3 (I've blissfully lost track of days so I'm not listing calendar days) I started the day off with an early morning run with one of the guys I met on the trip around the facility where we're staying. Took a quick bus ride over to an outdoor training facility where we met up with 7 Israelis who will be joining us for the next 4 days on the trip. One of the girls just left the Air Force and is starting work in Management Consulting in a few months so we bonded pretty quickly. The outdoor activities were a blast (typical team building things that you do at corporate retreats) and I was able to apply lots of the lessons learned over my 5 years at work. Pretty cool stuff and lots of fun leading the group a bit.

We then went over to a small local town to eat lunch (the shawarma was fantastic) where I met a dude who has lived in Israel for 45 years but was originally born and raised in Philly at 31st and Huntington. What a small world, but I guess I'm hard to miss since I'm wearing my Phils cap everywhere (Philly represent!) After lunch, we went up to Mt. Bental which is on the border of Syria. You can actually see into Syria from the top of the mountain which really messes with our head when you think of all the shit that is going on there but everything looked so peaceful from our perch. Confession: we're staying 7 miles from the Syrian border and you would have no idea unless someone told you. Totally ridiculous to think how vastly different things are from a few miles away.

After Mt. Bental, we visited a winery which was super fun and I finally was able to get a bit of a buzz. We then took the bus back to the hotel and I'm currently waiting for dinner in 45 minutes as I write this.

I can't explain how amazing the last 3 days have been. I think most of the high I'm feeling comes from meeting all the incredible people on this trip. Lots of Jews who don't know much about Israel, Judaism, and were a bit apprehensive coming into this trip. We're starting to bond as a group and I think I'll remain friends with many of these people post-Israel. It's great that many of them live in the Philly/NYC area. Simply awesome people.

The other incredible aspect of this trip is the shift I've had in just a few short days towards Judaism and Israel. Judaism has been a dormant aspect of my life for 13+ years. Part of the reason I waited so long to go on this trip was because I had no interest in the religion. Not that I'm going out to buy a prayer book tomorrow, but it has been fascinating learning about the religion and my heritage a little bit. I have so many questions, and I have been given quite a few answers since I've been here. Many more to come as we travel down to Jerusalem tomorrow.

Well that's enough for now. I love sharing with you all and hope you've found the posts entertaining thus far. Plenty more (including pictures) to come!

- Kaps

Song of the Day: Matisyahu - One Day (had to throw at least 1 in there!)

Day One in the Books!

My first day in Israel is in the books and it still doesn't feel real. We didn't real do all that much today, but I think tomorrow is when the trip will really get going. Before I jump ahead of myself, let' start from where we left off. The flight in wasn't all that bad. Takeoff to touchdown was 9.5 hours and I got 3 hours of sleep in the middle of the flight. The rest of the flight was consumed by Homeland and I knocked out the entire second season that I had left. Homeland second season was amazing, much better than the first. Still not on par with Breaking Bad or Mad Men, but really good. The only bad part of the flight was the pushy Israeli woman sitting next to me who was extremely rude and had no concept of personal space. This was also compounded by me having a middle seat.  The guy sitting next to me was really nice - ex-Israeli military (every man in Israel is drafted at age 18 for 3 years and spends 1 month a year in reserves and every woman is drafted at age 18 for 2 years). It's really interesting seeing a population that is entirely military trained. There's a reason why Israel is one of the most powerful nations in the world. Also, for those of you who may fly El Al - everything is in Hebrew and you have to ask the flight attendants to speak English or they look at you like you have 2 heads. All of them speak English.

Once we landed, we went through immigration (not nearly as strict as I expected - Dublin was still the worst) and then through customs to claim our bags. The Ben Gurion airport is really nice and very modern looking, probably nicer than 90% of US airports. We were then led out back for orientation where we were again reminded of the alcohol policy for the 10th time and given really crappy sandwiches. Note: this is a theme from Day 1 - the food here (so far) is terrible. I'm also concerned about how strict the alcohol policy seems to be on this trip. Everyone I spoke to so has been on this trip prior spoke about how much fun the had and that the rules were pretty lax. This trip seems to be different - maybe it's the organizer or maybe there was a recent incident, but the outlook so far isn't great. We're also not allowed to go out to explore on our own. The trip is still going to be great, but the restrictions will probably turn it from a perfect trip into a really good/great trip.

On to better topics - once we left the airport we drove an hour to the Caesarea Aqueduct which looks to be about 1500 years old. It was built in Roman times with the classic Roman arches. One of the best parts of this trip is going to be seeing architecture that is older than anything we have in the states. The aqueduct is right on the Mediterranean Sea and we were able to watch the sun going down. Gorgeous views and I captured some great pix. After the aqueduct, we spent 2 hours driving up to the Golan Heights area to our hotel. There are 3 of us to a bedroom and the beds are smaller than twins. Certainly not the W - Union Square, but I'll be so tired every night that hopefully the beds won't matter...unless I pull a Mike Kaplan/Nick Ranieri and purposefully fall out of it.

After dinner (also terrible), we had a group icebreaker/discussion session. The session was pretty cool as I got to know most of the group. Half of the people are really interesting and will be fun to get to know. I'm really excited about that and think I will make some good friends here. After that, we all shared what we wanted to accomplish on the trip which was pretty varied. Believe it or not, and you all should be shocked by this, I know more about Judaism than probably 60-70% of the people here. I can't believe I was explaining some aspects of religion to other people. Somewhere out there I know my grandfathers and grandmother are smiling about this. 

Well, that's enough typing on my iPad for 1 night. I hope everyone out there is having a fantastic Christmas and has been spending quality time with family and friends. Tomorrow is a 2 hour hike and a day about Jewish Mysticism and Kaballah. Should be really interesting to say the least.

Lastly, for all the worriers out there - I'm safe and in good spirits.

-Kaps

Song of the Day: Kanye West - Clique

Takeoff

I just boarded the plane to Israel. Let me start out by saying El Al has the most stringent security policies I've ever experienced. You start by getting interrogated before you even check your bag. They ask you if you are Jewish, Hebrew name, how you celebrated your Bar Mitzvah, etc. If they don't like your answers you get pulled out of line (this happened to 2 of my trip mates). You then escort your bag over to what I can only guess is a bomb detector before going through normal security. While at the gate, one of our group got pulled out (no idea why). These people are seriously not fucking around. Anyway, I'm on and definitely safe. The plane is huge (777-200) and I'm in the next to last row in a middle seat. Apparently, Delta Gold status doesn't transfer over to El Al. No first class for this guy!

There are 35 of us on the trip plus the trip leaders. Most of the people I've met are really cool and I'm excited to spend the next 10 days with them. Most of them seem to be Reform Jews or pretty lax about the religion (like me). Wide mix of ages but there are a decent amount of 25-26 year olds. Also some cute Jewish girls - what up! The alcohol policy seems to be really strict but I'm hoping they loosen up once we get to Israel. Should be interesting.

Other than that, I'm really excited to get going and get the trip started. We'll land in about 11-12 hours from now, but I'll post when I can to let you all know I'm safe. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!

- Kaps

Song of the Day: Steve Aoki feat. Lil Jon - Turbulence

Welcome Back

It feels so good to be back!   It's been over 3 years since I last posted in this space, and I have to admit, I've missed it.  Writing is great catharsis for me, but with all that I've had going on the past 3 years, it has been nearly impossible to keep up with this blog on a regular basis.  Recent events have come together that led me to believe I have to write for the next few weeks.  I'll be leaving for Israel Monday afternoon and will be there through the new year.  So many of you have asked me for a recap when I get back, and since I'm anticipating there will be too much to tell from this trip, I wanted to keep everyone in the loop while I'm gone.  It also will help to keep my Mom sane since I'm pretty sure she's nearing a nervous breakdown with me traveling to the Middle East.

I also wanted to let you all know that opening up this space to everyone is a big deal for me.  When I first started this blog over 4 years ago, I kept it limited to my very close friends.  I got (and will get) very personal in this blog, and wasn't sure how well it would be received by a wider audience.  Since that time, my point of view and outlook on life has changed significantly, especially about my job.  I think it's time that I opened up to my friends and family and this is the result.  I've spent a lot of time reading old entries over the past few days.  If you do the same, I think you'll find a very different person from 3-4 years ago.  You'll also find a lot of outdated material, which is pretty hilarious when looking back.

I hope you enjoy the comeback, even if it is only for a few weeks.  Shalom!

Song of the Day: Tinie Tempah feat. Swedish House Mafia - Miami 2 Ibiza