Pre-Weaving Arrival

Israel Blog: Day "-2" (Feb 3rd 2017): The nine-hour, baby-kvetching, coach-seat-squirming, sporadically-turbulent flight behind me, the pilgrimage begins Friday morning at 6AM as we land and deplane in Tel Aviv, the sound of hundreds of people wishing one another Shabbat Shalom echoing in my ears all the way to baggage claim. A thirty minute cab ride and I'm in Old Jaffa, and the hotel lobby where the hotel clerk tells me it'll only be six hours (!) until my room is ready. It's different here without my family and fellow congregants. I knew it would be, but still, as I begin a very long walk along the Mediterranean, I feel a bit lonely - but far from alone. Shabbat is coming and you can feel it all around you. I struggle here to find the words to describe it. It's not a true work day and the walking path is full of people exercising, kibitzing and from my vantage point... anticipating.  Seven words. That's all I really need to get by here for the day: Shabbat Shalom! Todah Rabah. Cain, Lo and Bivakasha. Everything else is hand gestures and body language. Men are fishing, women are doing yoga on the beach and all manner of bikers, skaters, scooters and skateboards pass me by.  I meet up with Gary and we....walk some more. We're together now so it's decidedly less lonely. Some hours and many miles later we finally check in and I get a brief nap. Dinner comes after a failed attempt to find a Kabbalat Shabbat service in Tel Aviv, but the food and service are incredible and I get to bed early enough to reset my body clock to Israel time. That's my dessert pictured below. I hope my dreams are as sweet as the cheesecake that was underneath that chocolate and olive flake coating! Zzzzzz.