Holidays in Israel: A Recap

Hello everyone!! In less than a week I will be starting finals!! It has been a whirlwind. Once again I am very behind on posting, so I hope you are ready for a lot of catch-up stories after December 22, when I finish finals.

This is another post I wrote for the MSIH school blog! I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving and that everyone is as excited for Christmas as I am!!!! <3

Since coming to Israel in July, I have had the opportunity to experience many Jewish holidays. I don’t have any Jewish heritage, so it has been an exciting adventure to learn about each holiday and discover the beauty of their traditions. Shabbat is a weekly occurrence that has resulted in many shared meals and new friends. Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, was at the beginning of September. We celebrated with the traditional delicious pomegranate. This was followed by Yom Kippur in mid-September. There are so many things I could say about Yom Kippur, but I will keep it short and sweet. It’s the Day of the Bicycle and it was beautiful. Immediately after Yom Kippur, the Harvest Festival began, Sukkot. We had about 2 weeks off from school for this holiday. It was a treat to see all the Sukkahs (temporary tent-like structures) around Israel as everyone celebrated. Currently we are in the midst of Hanukkah. I am thoroughly enjoying being encouraged to eat doughnuts and seeing all the festive decorations. Although there is much more to each of these holidays and my experiences, those are the Cliff notes.

As an American, a holiday that is very near and dear to my heart just passed. They don’t celebrate Thanksgiving in Israel (and many other places) so it looks very different for me. I heard rumors of expensive turkeys that had to be ordered in advance (I didn’t even attempt such a feat). There was only one place in town we successfully found canned pumpkin, and it was in short supply. Cranberries were even more rare. We also had class on Thanksgiving. It felt very weird knowing my family was all gathering and spending the day together preparing a feast.

However, all was not lost. It never is. Some wonderful MSIH students organized a Thanksgiving potluck. There were a few necessary modifications. Since many of my colleagues are Jewish, it was decided it would be a meat night, as opposed to dairy. I had originally planned to bring a fruit salad, but by the time Thanksgiving rolled around the fruit selection was very limited. After reevaluating, I decided to use my obnoxious oversupply of couscous to make a Thanksgiving themed salad. The simple recipe included couscous, squash, spinach, nuts, and homemade dressing. The added complication was the execution. As someone who doesn’t follow Jewish Law, I couldn’t cook the salad in my kitchen if I wanted everyone to be able to enjoy it. Some of my classmates graciously offered their kosher kitchen. It was comical to pack my backpack full of cooking ingredients and cross my fingers that no liquids would spill on my bike ride over.

We each successfully prepared our contributions (each were quite delicious in my humble opinion) and arrived at the hosting apartment fashionably late. In Israel, late normally ends up being right on time. We couldn’t have timed it better. As soon as we set out our food, the feasting began. And boy was it a party. The apartment was packed, there were countless desserts, and more than enough food for everyone. It was a grand time, but it was also chaotic. While all the ingredients were there, I never got quite comfortable enough for it to truly embody Thanksgiving.

(also I tried to get photos of all my classmates who were at the party haha. I failed, but here are some of my attempts)

Luckily our thanksgiving celebration attempts weren’t over yet. Any holiday in Israel should last more than a single day anyway. My roommates and a few of our classmates ended up having a much smaller celebration the following evening. We all cooked together, sat around the table together, and just hung out. It was a nice balance to the previous night’s social event. We talked about silly things, serious things, topics we unanimously agreed on, and issues we were able to share our different perspective on. This felt like Thanksgiving. My heart was as full as my stomach.

I’m thankful for the new experiences Be’er Sheva and Israel have given me. I’m thankful for the people I can now call friends and the new people I continue to meet. But I’m also thankful for the moments that are reminiscent of home and for the people who continue to love me from across the world. I am blessed and I have much to be thankful for, today and every day.