Molly and Bess on Moshe Hess

It’s mid-March, which means it’s time to frantically try to cross things off our “Year-in-Israel bucket list”. That’s why Molly, Bess, Keara, and Lauren spent this Thursday evening in Tel Aviv at the Nalaga’at Center, home of the Deaf-Blind Acting Ensemble.

Here is our Top 5 of the evening:

1. We tried to get reservations for BlackOut, the pitch-black restaurant with its staff of blind waiters, but we were unsuccessful. Instead, we ended up eating at Cafe Kapish, their other dining area which has deaf waiters. You can see from the photos that we learned some really important words in sign language. 

2. After a lovely dinner at Cafe Kapish, we saw their show, “Not by Bread Alone”, which was made up of eleven deaf-blind actors, and guided us through a series of dream-sequences, which play out the dreams of each of the actors. The story also revolved around the process of making bread. Each of the actors began with a ball of dough, and by the end of the show we had eleven loafs of bread! And it was tasty indeed. 

3. We thought Bess was going to have a panic attack when the show started with all eleven actors wearing these creepy white masks that covered their entire face. It was a close call, but luckily the masks came off. 

4. New favorite store: Bauhaus!

5. While we were waiting to meet up with our amazing host, Rachel, we stopped in at a little cafe called “My Pie” that specializes in….pie! You would probably expect a menu similar to what we expected - a toned down version of the Cheesecake Factory, but with pie. Boy were we shocked when we received the menus and there was NO pie on the menu! Leave it to the Israelis…Apparently you have to ask which pies are available, and rest assured, we enjoyed a delicious strawberry pie. 

SPECIAL EDITION! Tel Aviv Cat Photo of the Day!

Today we had an official Israel Seminar Tiyul to Tel Aviv. Here’s our Top 5:

1. Paul inviting random Israelis to join our conversation about Amos Oz

2. Learning in Rabin Square

3. Visiting the Trumpeldor Cemetery, full of famous people that helped create Israel (Dizengoff, Bialik, etc.), and imagining the realtor’s pitch for selling the apartments that overlook the cemetery.

4. The video we watched about Meir Dizengoff and the establishment of Tel Aviv. Most likely produced in 1985 (maybe 1974)

5. Spending class time on the beach

Top 5 Highlights of Kabbalat Shabbat on the pier in Tel Aviv:

1. Dave being called up to help lead the singing as the future cantor in the group

2. Yoni being passed a microphone during לכה דודי (Lecha Dodi) to sing a verse

3. Watching the sun set during the Shema as the community uttered the word שמע

4. Seeing parents and kids dancing on the pier during the service

5. Hearing familiar tunes sang to different words (ex: singing the ברכו [Bar’chu] to Debbie Friedman’s Havdallah melody)

Top 5 photos from our beach trip to Tel Aviv.