Yom Kippur in Jerusalem

Wow... I'm going to try my best to remember and write about every single detail, because this truly was an amazing Yom Kippur.

It started yesterday. I spent the day carrying around a 2 liter water bottle to make sure I was very hydrated. I woke up late, went to lunch at 11:30, mincha at 12:30, dinner at 3:00, and then left for services at 4:15. For Kol Nidre I went to a small shul called Yakar. I had high expectations for Yom Kippur in Jerusalem because of the way our director Yossi described it: no cars in the streets, masses of people walking around all dressed in white, all stores closed, a real sense of community and unity, etc. I was skeptical on my walk to Yakar because there were still lots of cars around and I wasn't really feeling the sense of awe Yossi had described. Yakar was a great service and really got me into the mood of Yom Kippur. Although it was hard to follow at times because the chazzan was kind of quiet and raspy, there were a lot of great tunes and when the whole congregation was singing it sounded really amazing.

The walk back from Yakar was unbelievable. Yossi was right: there were no cars in the streets at all except a few police cars driving around very infrequently. There were hoards of people all dressed in white leaving different shuls. I was truly awestruck. It got even more incredible when I got back to Beit Nativ; all of the Nativers sat together in the middle of the street, in a big intersection outside of our building, and we all sang ruach songs (pretty much every one we know). Tons of people walking by crowded around us, some sang with us and some just watched, but it was so special and amazing, I can't even really explain. There was this one old man standing all alone crying, and it made me really sad and I wanted to talk to him and hear his life story, but he walked away before I got a chance. There was such a diverse crowd there, from the very religious to people in jeans and t-shirts. It was a truly moving and life-changing experience.

After singing, a few friends and I walked into the Old City to the Kotel. That was really special too. It wasn't very crowded so I got to stand at the wall for a while and just think.

I went to bed right after I got back from the Kotel. I woke up this morning at 7, and we left for Kedem at 7:15. Kedem was an amazing service. They used so many familiar tunes for the different prayers; from Broadway show tunes to Hebrew songs. It was fantastic. I felt so involved because it is a pretty small group (I went there for the second day of Rosh Hashana so you can read more details about Kedem in that post), which felt really good and made services bearable, and maybe even enjoyable.

Shacharit and musaf at Kedem went from 8-1:45, and then I walked back to Beit Nativ where I relaxed for 20 minutes and then left for mincha which started at 3:10 at a shul called Chovevei Tzion. I should mention that all day I walked right in the middle of the street, because I could. Chovevei was so great. Seats are assigned there, but my friend Misha and I got really lucky because this woman who had three seats reserved didn't bring her two kids, so she gave us her two extra seats. Mincha and Neilah at Chovevei were relatively quick. The moment at the end when they blew the shofar and everyone yelled "L'shana ha ba'ah b'Yirushaliyim" was amazing. Even though most of the people there were on the older side and were all strangers, I really felt like it was one close community where I belonged.

I walked back from Chovevei and broke the fast on cake and chocolate milk. Then I went out to dinner with a few friends to New Deli where I got chicken nuggets.

Hope you all had an easy fast!!

-Sarah