The home stretch...

Phyllis has been visiting for the last couple of weeks and will be heading back to the U.S. tonight and I, of course, will be sad to see her leave. We've been having a great time and it has been wonderful to finally spend some time with her here. We were in Tel Aviv for the first few days when she arrived, had the chance to visit with friends Udi and Ari and Phyllis's cousin Lisa and her sweet baby son Shallie, and then we spent the bulk of her stay here in Jerusalem. I also had the chance to attend kabbalat Shabbat (welcoming the Sabbath) services at the port in Tel Aviv with the progressive Beit Tefillah Yisraeli, which was beautiful and moving. Phyllis has somewhat limited mobility because of a tear in her right knee's radial meniscus but nevertheless did a lot of walking, often in the hot sun and always seemingly uphill, with hardly any complaint! We got to eat in a variety of good restaurants, visited the Israel Museum, including a very brief visit to the Shrine of the Book (where the Dead Sea scrolls can be seen) and went traipsing around the sculpture garden in the harsh midday sun, naive American tourists that we are. Phyllis visited Yad v'Shem (the Holocaust museum and memorial), the Biblical Zoo, and the 99 bus tour on her own while I was in class, and even had the chance to visit a dialysis center and was given a guided tour of Hadassah Hospital. Together, we with friend Renee, whom we know through our mutual friends the Rosens, attended one night of the Jerusalem Arts and Crafts festival, which included an excellent concert by Ehud Banai. We also reconnected with old friends and not such old friends, and saw the Kotel (the Western Wall), the Night Spectacular near the Jaffa Gate, shopped at the shuk in Mahane Yehuda, rode the new light rail on Jaffa Road, and shopped (and, of course, ate falafel) up and down Ben Yehuda Street. We spent some beautiful Shabbat times at services at Nava Tehila and Kol Haneshamah on Asher Street, and with our friends in Talpiyot, including a walk on the tayelet (the walkway from which incredible northward-looking views of Jerusalem can be seen). Not bad for a less than two week stay! We didn't get to do as much as we might have together since I was still in class for the first week, but are both happy with what we had the chance to do. We certainly hope that we can return together here some day, perhaps with some or all of our family. Well, we can dream!

I will be staying with friends in Talpiot until I leave on the 26th and need to accomplish a lot before I return home, such as finishing up planning two weddings at which I will officiate, planning for and writing sermons for the High Holidays, and even finishing up a Hebrew paper to be rid of my last incomplete! I also need to do some more interviews for my independent study project on the Jewish renewal that is taking root here. More to come!