Havdalah

For me, the North American Seminar was a whirlwind week that grew more thrilling as each day passed. As our ties strengthened with the Tel Aviv Cohort, so did the relationships within our own cohort. Those ten days of Judaism, circling up, intense discussions, and every icebreaker imaginable left me thoroughly satisfied, but still hungry for more. I cannot wait for the amazing times ahead of us. But first, a reflection:

One of the most revealing moments of the NAS is the comparison and contrast of our two Havdalahs together. The first Havdalah, the Israeli-American-Israeli rule still had to be enforced and neither group was whole. We swayed in a circle, spread out across our dining-hall/center base, enclosed between plastic tables and chairs. Chelsea played her uke phenomenally well in the circle, while two fellows walked around with homemade spice bags. We sang and stomped together to the Havdalah prayers, sharing a beautiful moment at the beginning of a long week.

Fast forward one week and the picture was different. After being booted out of the Griffith Observatory and told we couldn’t “have an open flame in the park,” we began Havdalah for a second time, now as one complete group. We fell into a maagal between whoever we happened to be in conversation with at the moment, arms happily around each other. It was drizzling when we began, with fog so thick we could hardly see past the other side of the circle. This time the stomping and singing was loud, comfortable, familiar. Two fellows ran around the circle with the spice bags, we illegally raised the braided Havdalah candle high, and it started to pour.

I couldn’t have asked for a better Havdalah. Already one of my favorite parts of being Jewish, I’ve had some pretty memorable Havdalahs in my day. I will keep this Havdalah forever, though. It is one of a kind and reveals the strength of our friendships. The fact that we were willing to sing around in the rain together at ten o’clock on a freezing Saturday in March proves our invincible ability to find joy in the most dismal situations. I love our Diller group and can’t wait for more Havdalahs together in Israel!

-Sam