This post will be centered around pictures and video of Tishrei, the Jewish month that is chock-full of holidays.  Enjoy reading about:

1. The most diverse party ever in Haifa
2. Rosh Hashanah in Jerusalem
3. Meeting Fares' family in Deir El-Assad
4. Karmiel Running Club

Bar Gafri insists that we met when I was in eighth grade at Loggers Run Middle School in Florida while campaigning to be Band Vice President.  All I know is that by my senior year of high school, Bar and I became great friends. When I went off to WashU, she returned to her birthplace, Israel.

Bar is one of my best friends in this country, so when she invited me to a gathering of her friends in Haifa, I couldn't resist.  Bar spent a year studying at the Technion, one of the best engineering universities in the world, located in Haifa.  She warned me ahead of time, "there are going to be a lot of Anglos at this party."

I step in the door, and the place is packed with, what seems to be, every modern Orthodox non-native-Israeli in Haifa.  People were from Trinidad and Tobago, Canada, France, and of course, the US.  It was a blast meeting all of those people and getting even closer with Bar.

I traveled to Jerusalem for Rosh Hashanah with my friend from the trip Jenn Maggin.  When we arrived, one of our generous hosts, Simon Stratford, took us straight to the Shuk, the open-air market, to buy some supplies.  I couldn't help but snack on a round honey challah while we shopped (see above).

Ellie Tepper, Simon Stratford, and Scott Gellman, all first-year Rabbinical students, took us under their wings.  They were the best hosts anyone could ask for.  Services at the Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion were amazing.  It was an excellent Rosh Hashanah day, but the adventure was not over.  The next day, Scott, Jenn, and I went exploring in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Church of the Holy Sepulchre 

Roof of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre 

We explored all around the Old City, including inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where it is said Jesus was crucified and buried.  It was very exciting to go from the church to the Western Wall - visiting two major pilgrimage sites within an hour.  Jerusalem is a special city indeed.   I also took a short video giving a panorama of the Old City.

One of my biggest adventures of the past month was biking over at night to the neighboring Arab Village of Deir El-Assad to eat dinner with my friend Fares.  I met Fares when OTZMA visited his high school English class.  I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to meet him and travel there.  There are many Jews in Israel who spend their entire life without setting foot in an Arab village.  In the Galilee, the northern region where I live, Arab villages and Jewish towns coexist peacefully in close proximity.  Karmiel, where I currently live, really offers some unique opportunities.

When I arrived on my bike, Fares' family was waiting outside.  I talked politics with Fares' father who is a big Obama fan like me. His mother insisted that I speak as much English as possible with Fares and his younger sister Sarah (on the left in the picture) so that they can improve their English. After a delicious dinner of liver, I raced Fares' brothers on my bike around their street.


The first meeting of the Karmiel Running Club is a week from today.  I can't wait.  I have been distributing flyers around town and working with Karmiel's government to promote it.  I look forward to giving you updates!  It will be hard to pull people away from the Real Madrid vs. Barcelona, but I still believe there will be good attendance.  Remember, tell all your friends, Ofira Park, Karmiel, 19:30.

As always, feel free to email me any questions, and thank you for reading!

Marc Hendel - Hendel.Marc@gmail.com