It has been very difficult for me to find the right words to describe Yom Kippur in Israel. We heard many people telling us how quiet everything will be, no cars will drive, everyone is respectful. We were also told to walk to Herzl (the main street in Rehovot), walk to the highway, stay in the house and relax. During the day of Erev Yom Kippur, I noticed that for me it didn't feel like Yom Kippur. If I was at home, there would be stress to get everything ready for the holiday. A nice bustling atmosphere in the house. Everyone in the house would be doing things to get ready for the dinner together.
That was not the case here in Rehovot. We had a pretty relaxing day. Most of my roommates were just relaxing around the house doing their own thing. One of the Israelis graciously invited us over to his parents house for dinner. Two of my roommates decided to join him for the dinner. Another two went to one of their teachers that invited them over for dinner. One roommate decided to spend the holiday in Tel Aviv with some friends from ITF. In the end it was me and one roommate at home for dinner. It's very rare that I find time to spend quiet uninterrupted time with one roommate. It was really nice that we had the chance to just sit and really talk. We had found a conservative synagogue nearby to check out for services. Once we finished our lovely dinner we left to find our synagogue for the evening.
There were still some cars on the roads when we left the house. Some people had begun walking in the streets. We were a little hesitant to walk in the road so we decided to stay on the side walk. It was amazing to see how many people were outside on the sidewalks and just moving around the city. We found the synagogue and waited for one of our roommates to join us. A young girl came over to me and asked if I am from my school I am working in. It was pretty cool to be noticed by one of the kids. I have only been in the school two days so far. We waited for a bit and couldn't find our roommate and decided to enter the synagogue. We stood at the back. There was a section of the synagogue that was open with added chairs. But of course for Erev Yom Kippur all of the seats were taken. Quickly we were both wrapped into the services and really happy. I can describe the calm feeling of belonging that quickly overwhelmed me. After several minutes of standing in the back I convinced my roommate to go get us some machzorim. It was such a nice service, because it was so familiar. We edged closer to the light after each prayer as it became darker outside. At the end of the service the sun had fully set. We began our walk back to our house on the street :). On our way we found the roommate we had been waiting for before the service. The three of us walked back home in the middle of the street.
We heard a lot of talk about kids riding bikes on Yom Kippur. This was no joke! There were swarms of kids on their bikes. You could feel the anticipation that had been building to just ride their bikes all over the city.
When we got home one roommate stayed home and the other one, plus two more decided to walk toward the moshav. Not to May's house (she was in Jerusalem), but just toward the highway. It was so nice to be together, walk slowly, speak quietly, and just take in the feeling in the air. We approached the highway and decided to walk the opposite direction of the moshav. After quite a while we decided to turn around and head home. It was really an amazing evening together.
The next day the majority of us slept quite late. We had discussed going to services but instead decided to just spend the day relaxing at home. It was a beautiful day.
I have never had such a calm, introspective, relaxing Yom Kippur.
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