Shabbat Shalom!

July 8, 2017

By: Ilana Moffet

Today we had a great day at international shabbaton!! The day started with breakfast for some of us while others were in a traditional shabbat service and had breakfast later in the morning. For those that had breakfast first thing in the morning, different services followed after breakfast. There were services varying from discussions about god to yoga and prayer.  After services we all reconvened as a Baltimore cohort and teamed up with the Melbourne cohort to discuss the torah portion of the week. We did activities to discuss the torah portion while also meeting people from the other cohort. As a group we got a long really well and we're very compatible to the Melbourne cohort. After torah discussion we had a shabbat lunch date where the Baltimore cohort was paired with the Melbourne cohort again and we got the chance to really get to know them. We had about two hours of downtime after lunch which was nice because it gave us opportunities to meet new people. Some people chilled under a canopy and talked to new people while others played basketball with new friends. Following our break we gathered for a snack before our walk to the old city. The walk to the old city was about an hour and then we had time to relax as a group and finishing blessing each other from the night before. We all gathered for havdallah at the kotel and time for personal prayer at the wall as well. It was so powerful to see everyone at the kotel to celebrate the end of shabbat. Once havdallah was over we walked to ben yehuda street for a late dinner and shopping. We did not get back to the campus until midnight and went to bed late. Overall it was a great day filled with a lot of opportunity to meet and talk to new people.