Just One Shabbos and we'll All be Free!

Most people, after continuous exposure to one certain thing, tire of it and find it mundane.
I have been in Israel for over half-a-year, and not once have I tired from an Israeli Shabbat.

Let me narrirate to you something specail and beautiful:

Shabbat, in fact, starts early friday morning- meaning that from the moment you arise on friday, the very air is different. Shabbat is coming. You wake up and thing, " what's different? Oh yeah! Its almost shabbat." To most people "almost" refers relatively close-to in hours, but even though you have an entire day to ready yourself for it, its still " almost shabbat."

You get out of bed, and begin to ready yourself. ( organized people insert your daily morning routine here before the days preperations and activities). You make your bed, sweep the floors, do sponga ( israeli version of mopping- and super fun, too!), clean the bathroom, and any other menial cleaning task you can think of. *pause* Some of you may think, " hey wait a minute, this is how getting ready for Shabbat feels like in any other place in the world... ha! its not different in Israel"... but oh contraire! *un-pause* You take a walk outside to empty the trash, or beat your rugs, or sweep your portch, and you take a deep sniff. " Ahhhh, Shabbat...." you can smell it in the air!! (Even if your standing relatively close to the trash can ;p). You go back inside and continue the normally mundane, yet on this day, even wrapping things in tin-foil seems holy. You know that each thing you are doing is for Shabbat, not only a Shabbat, a Shabbat in Israel!
Cooking is especially delightful as the tastes of delicious home-cooked Shabbat foods waft through the air. Through Israeli air. You turn on the radio to break the silence ( or lack of, if your vacuum is going, or your kids are running around cleaning), and not only do the soundwaves of jewish music pulse your environment, but announcements on when the Shabbat is commencing, and what hours to light the candles at ( not something you generally get in America, we'll unless you live in N.Y. or something. But even then, I bet the announcement is'nt in Hebrew!)

Time speeds along, and before you know it your fulfilling the mitzvah of lighting Shabbat candles. Now most teenage girls here ( unlike in chutz la'aretz) attend friday night serivces at their respective shuls, ( and obviously boys,too). If you are part of a youth group, sometimes your sneif ( the branch, or clubhouse for your youthgroup) will have a friday night davening together. As you walk back from shul, you look around at the view and take a deep sigh, " siiiiiiigh, its finally Shabbat."

The meal is filled with laughter and Torah as the conversations vary from the Torah portion to politics, from happenings during the week to plans for Shabbat. The air is filled with shabbat zemiros, and some more laughter.

Benching on Shabbat is especially meaningful- you read what's written abotu the land, and thanking G-d for His eternal giving, and His production of mircales from the Land, and how He has always been with us, and always will be- with us here, in Israel. You know, i sadly admit, that benching never gained meanning until I moved here and actually felt the connection between what i was saying, and where I was intended to say it.

I go to B'nei Akiva, a youth group, and we have a sneif here in the neighborhood, so every friday night i go to an activity at the sneif at around a quarter to 11. Its usually about some controverial topic, and afterwards I get to see all my friends that I may not have seen in a while.

At around 1 in the morning I return home, feeling completely safe. It's Shabbat, and you can feel it in the air. I can walk in the street ( because my neighborhood is religious) because no cars are driving around. Its so peaceful. You can feel the Shabbos Queen has really settled on the Land.

Saturday comes, and most shuls begin at 8 o'clock. ( my shul in Dallas began at 9, so its a little bit of an adjustment to be able to get there on time). I usually try to go to shul at the beginning with my father, and wait until my friends and family join me. The exciting part is when the person comes to say a d'var Torah- in the language of the Torah! It took a while to actually understand what they were saying, but now that I do, i enjoy it tremendously!

Lunch, rests, seudat shlishit, learning, being with friends... saturday commences like a dream.

When it comes to havdalah you feel so sad because it feels like something tangible is being taken away from you, to be hidden until the next week. You end shabbat with the feeling like you have to build up, and earn the next Shabbat in order for it to come.

Now I understand the song " just one shabbat and we'll all be free." If we could all celebrate a true shabbat, a shabbat in Israel, observing all of It's mitzvot, it would set our souls free! We would be so elevated and on-high that Moshiach would have nothing to do but come!

well, off to do some more of that Shabbat prep.!

just thought I'd give all y'all a taste of what I'm eating- delicious Shabbatot in Israel!

Shabbat Shalom!