Yom Kippur...Back to Jerusalem

                Okay, so I feel like I should write something about Yom Kippur because it was another really good holiday for me, but I’m going to keep this one short since I really want to get up to date and write about last week and this week.

                I returned to Jerusalem with my 4 apartment mates for Yom Kippur and we stayed at the heritage House which is a free hostel in the Old City.  It isn’t luxurious by any means, but they gave me a bed (a thin mattress on a plank of wood) and there was a roof over my head.  The night before Yom Kippur started, we went to Ben Yehuda Street with the intention of having a great time, however we quickly received news about a friend back in Arad who was seriously injured and was being taken by helicopter to a nearby hospital.  We were all terrified to say the least, but thank G-d she seems to be doing better.

                 For the last meal before the fast I went to a host family in Talpiyot with my friend Eitan Morris.  Due to a misunderstanding, we showed up about two hours early, but they gave us a tour of their neighborhood and it turns out that the husband lived in Brookline and Cambridge for ten years!  After dinner, Eitan and I walked back to the old city and met up with Jacob Gilbert and Ben Leifer.  We went to the Kotel at first, but we really wanted a structured service so we went to the Churva Shul.  This is a beautiful building right in the Old City that was built over a century ago, but has since been destroyed twice in the Independence Day War and the Six Day War, and was only recently rebuilt.  Churva is a religious shul, and I felt quite out of place in my shorts and green Polo shirt (I thought I would be able to change after dinner before services).  My attire did not matter to anyone present, and several men were quick to make room and welcome us and help keep us track of page numbers when we were lost.  Eitan and I returned the next morning, and sat in the same place between the same two men who had helped us the previous night.  Following the afternoon break, we returned once more for the Ne’ila service.  When we walked into the synagogue, I was immediately greeted by my new friend who told me he had reserved the same two seats next to him and to go sit down.  I would say that this man really made my Yom Kippur what it was.  He had no reason to help me, and I probably detracted from his experience when he would look over and see that I was a little lost in the fast paced service, but he wanted me to have this experience (I know I overuse that word) simply out of the kindness of his heart.  I never found out his name, but I will certainly go back and look for him when I return to Jerusalem.  We broke fast at the Kotel, and the next day we were back to work in Arad.