Saving the Best for Last: Our Last Two Days in Israel

Our last two days in Israel continued in the North, first in the Golan and then in Hof HaCarmel (between Haifa and Tel Aviv).  We left Tzfat bright and early (notice a theme?) to climb into the Golan Heights.  We started at Mitzpeh Gadot, where I had gone with my Arab-Israeli Conflict class on our Golan Heights field trip, but it was cool hearing another tour guide's perspective of the site.  Basically, the site was an old Syrian outpost, later captured by the Israelis, which overlooked Israel pre-1967.  We learned about the Israeli spy later captured and killed by Syria who had helped Israel and its efforts in capturing the Golan Heights from Syria.  It was really interesting and the memorial there for the fallen soldiers from those battles is really well-built and thought-provoking.

We continued on to Mount Bental, which apparently is some place that all the birthright groups go to, but I've never been.  It's an old Israeli army bunker left for tourists to see, and it was really interesting, especially after seeing Beufort a few days earlier (in fact, some of the scenes in the movie were filmed there).  The views were also really gorgeous.  We looked around the bunker for a little while, and took lots of pictures.

Then we stopped at a town called Katzerin, where Yael had done part of her national service.  We had lunch there at a cute restaurant called Blue Berry (despite not serving anything with blueberries in them...) and shopped around for a little bit.  I also had Krembo #2 (and final) of the trip.

After Katzerin, we headed to an unplanned stop at the Arbel, a gorgeous overlook on the Kinneret.  We sat there and did some meditation led by one of our American staff, certified yoga instructor, Melissa.  We journaled and reflected, and enjoyed the view, and at least I tried to forget that we were leaving in less than 2 days.

After that we headed off to Kibbutz Nachsholim, where we would be spending our last night and a half.  The Guest House there was really awesome, especially compared to Tzfat. After settling in, we had a lecture by the famous Israeli author, A.B. Yehoshua.  He gave a rather controversial talk on the role of Israel in Judaism and Zionism and basically said that you can't be a "full Jew" unless you live in Israel, where Judaism is lived to its fullest.  He basically said that a secular Jew in Israel is more Jewish than a religious Jew in the Diaspora.  Personally, I didn't really like what he had to say or agree with it, but since I had been hearing about him since at least my high school Hebrew classes, it was pretty cool getting to meet him, and he did spark some interesting debates amongst myself and the rest of the ATID fellows.

After A.B. Yehoshua, we had a fabulous dinner at the Kibbutz, and then covered some important business regarding our activity for the next day, our trip t-shirt design, and various other last minute administrative things.

The next day, we started by preparing for our activity for the rest of the afternoon.  We would be going to Neve Michael, a government sponsored youth village for children at risk (abuse victims, witnesses of violent crimes in their home, etc.).  Our madrich Michael told us that we would be splitting up into four different groups to run four different stations for the kids to do different activities, in addition to touring the facility and eating lunch with the kids.  We spent the morning getting our stations ready.  I was in a group that would be making foam wallets and decorating them, so for us, preparing meant cutting out the foam squares, marking where to fold them, cutting out the velcro strips to close the wallet with, making a sample, and making a sign for our station.  Myself and the other four members of my group vigorously worked to get enough supplies together for 60 kids (it turned out to be way less, but oh well, at least it wasn't way more!).  After a quick walk down to the Kibbutz's beach (did I forget to mention the Kibbutz was right on the beach of the Mediterranean?) we boarded the bus to Neve Michael. 

When we got there, one of the women who works there told us about all the services they provide (which are quite impressive) and some examples of the horrible things the children who lived there had suffered through.  I felt so bad for all of them for having to go through that, and it made me really excited to work with them.  After the introduction, we were given time to get our station together (which included helping the people who work there normally clean off the table we would be using - apparently they weren't nearly as prepared as we had hoped).  Then, we went to the dining hall to eat lunch with the kids.  I was with a group of crazy wild boys, but it was fun talking to them.

Then it was time for our stations.  When the director explained to the kids what we would be doing, they were all really excited, so it was nice to know how much it meant to them.  Our first two groups were really quiet and super cute - they really enjoyed decorating their wallets, and were really well-behaved.  The next two groups, which included more older boys (and who we had been warned by our staff had been crazy at the other stations as well), were a little difficult and out-of-hand, making us ready to be done - 2 hours working with kids is a long time!!

After we finished our stations, we attempted to clean up the glue that was stuck all over the table we were working on, but eventually gave up.  I was reminded of and frustrated by Israel's total inability to recognize the usefulness of paper towel, as toilet paper doesn't really work well to get dried glue off of a table, but whatever.  We did a short wrap-up as a group, and talked and talked about the activity, which seemed to be successful overall with all four groups, though there were some snags, and it was very exhausting.

Before going back to the Kibbutz, we stopped in the town of Zichron Yaakov, which, among other things, is known for having the best ice cream.  We did some last minute shopping around, I went to a candy store (only to find, to my extreme disappointment, that they were out of vanilla Krembos), and then to the ice cream shop, where I got belgiun waffle ice cream, which was surprisingly delicious.  At Zichron Yaakov, Eliyahu, our medic/guard, left us, which was very sad, and we sang him a rounding farewell rendition of "Eliyahu HaNavi". 

Once we got back to the Kibbutz, we had some free time to pack, shower, rest, and prepare for the banquet.  I somehow thought it would be a good idea to take on the responsibility of making a slideshow for our final banquet, which I for some reason forgot would stress me out.  Me, in my perfectionist montage zone, was on hyper-tension mode, trying to cut down 2000 pictures and put them into a slideshow, all in an hour and a half.  Well, I managed to finish it just in time, though I didn't look over it, so there were some kinks - like the fact that the auto-movie maker decided to stop making the movie halfway through the pics.  But whatever, people seemed to really like it.
Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself.  After free time, we went to the banquet, which was a special private dinner in a private room of the dining room of the Kibbutz, served to us rather than buffet.  There were multiple courses, some of which were delicious (who knew I liked sweet potato soup?) and others were lacking (honey glaze is not the cure all of food).  We had fun hanging out and being treated though, reminiscing and sad that our trip was almost over.  There were some toasts, and then the boys sang "Here's to you Rabbi Hirsch Chin" (to the tune of "Mrs. Robinson"), which was hilarious to say the least.  After that, we did the slideshow, which everyone loved despite my totally screwing it up as I am cursed to do, but ce la vie.  After that, we got in a circle, and each of us was individually spoken to and then given a wooden camel figurine from the staff, which was cute, and everything they said about each of us was really nice.  After that, we had our gifts for the Israeli staff, who were really wonderful.  We sang one last round of Lecha Dodi, and finished up some last minute talks and business before having a few hours to rest.  Then we said our goodbyes to those extending their trip, and headed off to the airport.

And so, another amazing journey to Israel came to an end.  I miss it so much already, and am kicking myself daily for only having Aroma once while I was there (what could I have possibly been thinking??).  Anyone know of other ways I can get back to Israel for free???  Suggestion box open!  I am hoping to staff a birthright trip this semester, so if anyone has connections with Israel Outdoors, hook me up!

Love for Israel, and praying for the safe return of all the members of the IDF fighting in Gaza for the safety of Israel,

Leah

Kol HaKavod L'Tzahal

Tzfat - Cold, but AAAAAAWESOME

Back again for another update.  I have to admit though, I'm cheating a bit.  I'm currently sitting in Reagan National Airport, trying to pretend I'm not horribly jet lag and miserable to no longer be in DC and waiting for my flight to Detroit.  In case you can't tell by my entries thus far, our trip was pretty packed, leaving precious little free time to keep myself up to date on this thing.  Take out the additional time of other people using my computer to check email/facebook/grades, and that leaves me with one very behind blog.  However, since I left the journal they gave us for personal reflections and lecture notes, finish this blog I must (I promise, I won't do what I did with Megiddo!).

Anyway, 2009 started with an early wake up (as I mentioned before), followed by a long drive up north to the Lebanon border (which meant lots of bus sleeping).  We stopped on the way for a bathroom break, where we were asked to buy chocolate or other candy for the Israeli soldiers we would be meeting later.  They said it would really lighten up their day and we would appreciate.  I don't think any of us realized that we were actually meeting on-duty soldiers on their patrol of the border, rather than some of the many soldiers wandering around doing other things.  More about this later.

We finally arrived at Kibbutz Malkiah, a Kibbutz right on the Lebanese border.  We first heard a lecture from Elliot Chodoff, who is the head of northern command, and has written a manual for infantry and paratroopers in the north.  His lecture (and its accompanied Q&A session, in which I was an avid participant) was really interesting, and felt very Saban/AIPAC-esqe.  He talked about the ties between Hizballah and Hamas, tied in Syria and Iran, and went through the low-down of the threats Israel faces.  He explained why a nuclear Iran is not an option Israel can live with, saying that detente won't work in this situation, and anyone who thinks it will doesn't understand the complexities in US-Soviet Cold War relations that made detente work.  He brushed off the theory that the leaders of Iran are illogical or suicidal, but rather explained that the major issue is size.  If Cold War Soviet Union used nuclear weapons against the US, it would take several thousand bombs to destroy the US.  This, therefore, made it so that there was no advantage to attacking first.  However, Iran could easily destroy Israel with one nuclear weapon, and completely obliterate it with 2-3.  Because of this, if Iran goes nuclear, Israel's best option is to start nuclear war.  And when that is your best option, you are in a really really bad situation. 

Anyway, Elliot had to leave us to go down to Gaza (since he commanded troops in Lebanon, he had to work with Gaza infantry units who didn't have infantry experience like those who fought in the north).  One of the leaders on the Kibbutz, Eitan, who was one of their head farmers, showed us around the kibbutz and talked about the security situation there.  Yael later told us that he learned English after the war with Hizballah so that he could explain to groups like us what they had to live with, but he really was just a farmer by trade.  He showed us one of the Kassam rockets that landed on the Kibbutz, and then took us out to meet soldiers on patrol.  This was an incredibly moving experience, because, while you see soldiers all over Israel, these were soldiers literally on duty patrolling the Israel-Lebanon border, who took 15 minutes on their patrol to stop and meet with us.  They showed us the packs they have to carry every day (weighing around 25 pounds), the humvees they drive, some of the weapons and technology they have, and talked to us about their daily routine and some of the drills they do.  They were called off, so we moved on to our next location - the orchards of Kibbutz Malkiah right on the border.  We stood amongst their orchards, look right across a fence at Lebanon.  We started hearing shots, and got really freaked out, but Eitan assured us that he could tell from the sound that they were blanks, being used as practice by the soldiers we had just seen.  This comforted us, and let us concentrate on what Eitan was telling us about the border and the Kibbutz's security, how all the women and children had been sent down south by him during the war, while the men stayed to work the fields.  He also told us that, even though Lebanon was just right across the fence, and therefore had the same kind of agricultural terrain as Kibbutz Malkiah, Lebanon was growing opium in the fields we were looking at across the fence, while Israel was growing apples and other fruits.  This irony was enforced when we were reminded that this is in the UN patrolled area.  As far as the UN is concerned, Eitan said, that is a criminal issue, out of their realm of interest.

He was going to show us the kibbutz bomb shelter when he was called off to reserve duty (I think) so we continued on our way to Tzfat.  When we finally arrived, we found out we had to lug our suitcases up a few flights of stairs, only to find that our rooms were FREEZING.  The hotel was really charming, but really really cold.   Unfortunately, it didn't get a whole lot better throughout the weekend, and se spent most of the time bundled in several layers.  After dinner, which was basically home cooked by the owners of the hotel and really yummy (made up for the cold I guess?) we bundled up and watched the Academy Award nominated movie Beufort, about a fortress in Lebanon that had been conquered by Israel in the First Lebanon War, in the last few days before the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon in the early 2000s.  The movie was really interesting, and had much more of an impact after having met with the soldiers.  We heard a little bit from Michael, our Israeli madrich (counselor) about what it was like for him to watch the movie, since he was the only one amongst us who had actually served in the army and felt those kind of dangers, pressures, and hopelessness.  It was really emotional, and really tough to watch right before bed!

 

Friday morning we went to Livnot U'Lehibanot, an institute that combines community service with basic Kabbalah study.  We listened there to a lecture about Kabbalah and charity and anger, and heard a little about the institution.  This was followed by a short tour of the Old City of Tzfat, with Yael taking us to two lesser-toured synagogues - Biet Yosef (Joseph Caro's synagogue) and the Abu Hav synagogue.  They were really pretty, and very Tzfat-like in their decor. 

After the tour, we had free time to shop around and eat lunch.  I went with my friends Sam and Nehama to the vegetarian restaurant I had found on my last trip to Tzfat, which was absolutely delicious.  Nehama is vegetarian, so she was thrilled, but Sam and I also really enjoyed it, especially our shared dessert of a whole wheat chocolate chip muffin and apple pie.  Lunch was followed by some shopping through the various art and Judaica stores, though I managed to get away without buying anything (yay self-control!).  Then we stopped by Tzfat Candles, which we had been informed had recently burnt down, much to my sadness.  Well, when I saw it, I realized that they weren't kidding - it was completely destroyed!  It was so sad seeing such a cool place in ruins like that, though they have opened up a warehouse a few doors down (I didn't get to see it, though, because by the time I got there, it was already closed for Shabbos).  Then we went back to the hotel and got ready for Shabbos.

We did a quick learning session at the hotel, and then lit candles before heading back to Livnot, where we would be holding our services.  It was really interesting, because while we could have gone to one of the zillion synagogues in the area, our Rabbi understood that many of the people on our trip would not feel comfortable with the very religious synagogues in the area, especially given the very small women's section in many of them.  So, instead, we did our own service, modeled on using the classical tunes of the area, and reflecting on our week and the things that we had done since the last Shabbat.  It was a really cool service, and I enjoyed it a lot.  The one thing that I found really amazing was during some of the la-la-las after singing some of the prayers.  The last Shabbat I spent in Tzfat, I went to a Friday Night service that lasted about 2 hours due to all the singing.  I was in a very small women's balcony looking down at all the men, dancing as they sang.  I thought it looked like they were having a lot of fun, and that maybe the service would be more enjoyable if women were able to do that as well.  However, there was no space for us to do that.  Well, it was only appropriate, then, that my next shabbat in Tzfat, all the women danced as we sang as well.  It was really fun, and made the service really enjoyable.  At the end of the service, we sang Aleinu and Hatikvah on the balcony of Livnot, looking out at the view and the stars.  This was followed by dinner at the hotel, filled with lots more singing and some study after.  Overall, a wonderful Friday night.

Saturday morning, services weren't really mandatory, so I took advantage of the one day we had to sleep a little bit later, which felt amazing.  We had a learning session with some cookies and other snacks, followed by lunch - cholent of course!  This was followed by some more fabulous shabbos rest, and then more learning with more snacks (sense a pattern yet?).  Then we did Havdalah, and had a little time to get ready before our night program.  We went to see a pretty well known Kabbalistic artist named Avraham who was AAAAAAWESOME and SOOOOO DEEEEEEP (imitating him in case you haven't met him before).  He was really cool though, and I of course had to buy a small piece of artwork (I have my own room now, so it's worth it!).  He, also, is from Michigan, this time from Southfield...apparently there are a lot of Michiganders in Israel?  Anyway, after our time with Avraham, we had dinner at one of the many random Tzfat pizza places, followed by watching a little Hassidic dancing thing in front of a random square in front of a bank (?) and then free time hanging out at the hotel.

Off again in the morning for more long bus rides and fabulous adventures in the Golan...

Tel Aviv - the eternal contrast to Jerusalem

After our visit to the Supreme Court, we headed to Tel Aviv for our brief visit to the warmth, the secular, and modern NYC-like city.  We started at one of my favorite places in Tel Aviv - Nachalat Binyamin.  This is a main pedestrian walkway in downtown central Tel Aviv, where on Tuesdays and Fridays, local artisans come and set up a HUGE and amazing art fair.  After a stop at the amazing juice/smoothie stand, we did some shopping around the art fair (and the purchasing of a mezuzah as a gift and a Chamsa wall-hanging for myself), and then I went with my friend Sam to Roladin, one of my favorite Tel Aviv restaurants (as can be proven by the number of people I have introduced to the fabulousness of it).  We ate outside (because it was warm enough to actually do that!) and enjoyed people watching/me running after busses with election advertisements on the sides of them so that I could take pictures for my Advanced Israeli Politics class next semester. 

After lunch we met up with the rest of the group in front of the newly-kosher Burger King and walked through Shuk HaCarmel (the main Tel Aviv market), where I had random run-in #5 of Israel - a girl from my Hebrew class when I was at Hebrew U.  Then we boarded the bus to our hotel.  We all got very excited as we passed the famed Hayarkon 48 hostel (and Kink toast across the street), on the way to the Basel Hotel, which was basically right across the street from the beach.  We dropped our stuff off in our rooms, and then went to the beach to take some pictures at sunset.

Our evening program was at the Reform Temple of Beit Daniel.  We met with their rabbi, who explained to us the differences between Reform Judaism in the US and Israel, and how the Reform movement was an important alternative to secular Judaism in Israel.  Then some Israeli students (who were mostly actually Americans who made aliyah) who belonged to Beit Daniel came to meet with us and talk to us about the community, life in Tel Aviv, security dilemmas faced by people our age in the IDF, etc.  2 of them happened to be GW alumni, so that was pretty cool.  We had super-Israeli pizza with them for dinner as we continued our discussion.  Then, together with the students, we listened to a speaker from an organization called Mishpachot Shakulot (Bereaved Families).  This is an organization of Israeli and Palestinians who have lost a family member in the Conflict.  We were suppose to hear from an Israeli woman and a Palestinian man, but due to the security situation in Israel right now, the Palestinian was unable to make it passed the checkpoints to Tel Aviv, so we only heard from the woman.  Still, it was very fascinating, and she told us how her son, who preached reconciliation and social action rather than violence, was killed while working at a checkpoint by a sniper.  She preached reconciliation and understanding, saying that we need to be able to relate to each other as bereaving people who share loss and who share grief when there is loss.  It was very interesting, but a little too eutopian for me to buy into - I wish the world worked like that, but terrorists will never be able to understand us as human beings.

After the program, I went back to the hotel, where Guy (my roommate from Hebrew U) and Marissa (one of the girls on my program from the US, who is Guy's girlfriend in and Israel visiting him for winter break) came to meet me at the hotel.  I wanted to be able to go out with them, but we had to stay in the hotel, so we hung out in the lobby and caught up for a while.  It was really great seeing them both again and hearing what they are both up to.  Guy is in Tel Aviv now studying computer science, and Marissa is applying to social work grad school, and is hoping to do her program in Israel. 

The next day, Wednesday (aka New Years Eve 2009) we had to do some rearranging to our schedule once again to ensure that we stayed as safe as possible in the security situation.  We were supposed to take a tour of Jaffa, the old port city, which is also a mostly Arab area.  Because of supposed riots that day before, we decided not to do that, but instead went to a place called the Jaffa Institute (similar name, so similar thing, right?).  The Jaffa Institute is a program that helps underprivileged children and their families.  They run an after-school program to ensure that kids from the poorer neighborhoods of Jaffa and the surrounding areas have at least one hot meal a day, do their homework, take their school seriously, and are hopefully able to remain in school and join the army to continue to be part of Israeli society.  Apparently, many people from poorer areas tend to end up in jail for drug convictions and other minor crimes, and anyone with any sort of criminal record will not be accepted to the army.  Because of this, it makes it difficult for them to get a job later, because most employers look to army experience and training as important job experience for later work, especially when the applicant did not go to college, let alone graduate high school.  The Jaffa Institute works to fix these problems, and put the kids in their program on the right track.  They also realized through their services that giving these kids a hot lunch (schools in poorer areas of Israel end at 1 because that's all the national government funds for, so lunch is after school) is not enough to ensure they are well fed, so they started a sort of food bank program, in which they bring families twice a month a box of many of the staples that are important for daily living (oil, rice, cereal, chickpeas - this is Israel after all, pasta, other canned food, etc.).  We assisted with this program, assembling (very quickly I might add - we finally had good team work even if IDC didn't work out well) 25 boxes filled with food to be delivered to these families.  I think we all really enjoyed learning about the Institute, and then helping them out, even just a little bit.

After we left the Jaffa Institute, we headed over to Rabin Square.  I think I mentioned this the last time I went to Rabin Square (when I went to meet up with GW Birthright in June), but I have recently gained a new appreciation for this site, as I wrote a 40-page final paper for my Arab-Israeli Conflict class in Israel about the effects on foreign policy and domestic attitude following Rabin's assassination.  This really gave me a nuanced understanding with which to approach this visit, because, unlike the last Birthright visit, the explanation given by our tour guide was much more in-depth than just a simple relaying of the facts (then again, our tour guide, Yael, never simply told us the basic facts...in case I haven't mentioned this yet, Yael was AAAAAAAWESOME).  She told us about how, right before Rabin's assassination, she had been very involved in the anti-Rabin movement, as she was a member of the "Greater Israel" school of thought that she had been brought up with in her religious family (Greater Israel is the idea that Israel should exist in all of Israel that was promised by God to the Jews - aka against the giving up of Gaza and the West Bank, for example).  However, as soon as she saw that the movement against Rabin was getting more violent and out of hand (like pictures of Rabin dressed in Palestinian head gear, etc.) she realized she no longer wanted to be actively involved in the movement, because Rabin was still her Prime Minister and the 1948, 1967, and 1973 military hero she had heard so much about.  However, as soon as word spread that Rabin was assassinated by a religious Jew, she immediately felt like she was being judged, because she wore skirts which labeled her as religious as well.  Yael told us about how this event meant more to Israeli society than simply the murder of their Prime Minister, but it brought about an age of increased pluralism and understanding in Israel, something that we as American Jews, and Jews participating in the ATID program which taught us to appreciate all forms of religious and political perspectives, could truly appreciate.  It was really interesting hearing her story, and shed a more personal light on the information I had learned while writing my paper last spring.  Before we left, instead of listening to Shir L'Shalom (the Song of Peace - the song sung at the rally right before Rabin was assassinated), we went to the Rabin memorial and listened to Shir L'ahavah (Song of Love) as a reminder that Rabin's assassination taught us that it is time to love and appreciate one another instead of fighting over different views of what peace and security meant.

After this, we had a little bit of free time around Rabin Square to have lunch.  Some of us found a place called Magic Burgers Bar.  What is Magic Burgers Bar, you ask?  Well, it is basically a poser for Burgers Bar, but definitely equally as good, right down to the Burgers fries.  It was pretty fantastic, I have to say.  Also, while waiting for my usual grilled chicken sandwich (wow that sounds awesome right now...) one of the soldiers waiting for Israel as well saw that we were wearing our super shnazy green ATID jackets, and asked us about our program.  After explaining, I noticed he had a very American accent and asked if he had made aliyah or was just volunteering in the army.  Turns out he was Israeli but had lived in the US for a few years growing up, hence the American English accent.  Where in the US?  Ann Arbor! Such a small Jewish world. 

Anyway, after lunch (and the purchasing at a small grocery store of some individual bottles of what turned out to be very dry champagne for our New Years pre-party celebrating later) we headed over to Alma College, a pluralist, secular Yeshiva in Tel Aviv.  We talked about the Shabbat Kiddush and what you should do if there is a prayer that you just don't agree with.  It was interesting to see this kind of text study in an environment that was open to the possibility of change from tradition, though I don't necessarily buy into that school of thought.

We went back to the hotel for dinner and some free time to get ready for our New Years Party.  After realizing that the champagne I bought was never in a million years going to make it down my throat beyond a few sips, we finished getting ready for the party, took some pictures, and headed off coatless to Hangar 11, a warehouse type building on the pier that is apparently use usually as a concert hall.  Well, we assumed that we were going to be able to go right in, so our lack of coats would just be more convenient due to the lack of coat checks, but we had to wait for our counselor to get the tickets from will call, and basically froze.  In the mean time, Sonya, one of the girls from American, got her foot run over by a cab as she was getting out (police report later filed, though her foot turned out to be fine, luckily).  Anyway, we finally got into the party after a few minutes of penguin-style snuggling to keep warm.  The party was, well, interesting.  We had been told we were going to an Israeli party with a performer and a DJ, but it was nothing like what we expected.  The room was HUUUUGE, and the bar's selection of juice mixers was sadly minimal, especially considering Israel's huge supply of awesome juices, but whatever.  But anyway, there were cirque del sole style performers all over the room, which seemed kind of bizarre, but the best was yet to come.  At around 11:15, this band came on with...how do I best describe this?  Another band of very crude muppets.  Yup, muppets.  They talked a lot about some very crude, sexual, and inappropriate things (made super awkward by the fact that the Hassidic Rabbi running our program was there...awwwwwkward!)  Anyway, we were hoping they would leave in time to start the new year in a non-ridiculous way, but the count down included the crazy muppets as well.  Oh well.  Otherwise, it was fun though, dancing to awesomely Israeli techno music.  I don't think it was exactly what any of us expected, but I had a pretty decent time.  Certainly better than last New Year's.

And of course, after a crazy New Year's, we had to wake up BRIGHT and early to leave Tel Aviv for our adventures in the North....