As Friday morning approached and my alarm woke me up, I jumped out of bed excited to spend the weekend with my brother. The smell of the delicious breakfast filled my nose while the conversations of everyone asking about where they are for the weekend filled my ears. With our bellies full from the incredible hotel breakfast we all rushed to say our goodbyes before heading our separate ways.
I was fortunate enough to be on the Jerusalem bus with all of the Sydney madrichim. The bus was filled with excitement as we approached our stop.
As I got off the bus I was greeted by my brother and our host Miriam Tekuziner. I was lucky enough to spend my weekend with both of them as well as my best friend Tali. My brother, Ben has been living in Israel the whole year on the Bnei Akiva Limmud program. Miriam is his Israeli “mother” and both Tali and I were a bit apprehensive to meet her as we didn’t know what to expect. She immediately greeted us with a warm smile and made us feel so welcome.
After we dropped our suitcases in her home, we made our way to Ben Yehuda Street. As a so-called local, my brother showed Tali and I around and showed us all his favourite places in Jerusalem. We bought challahs for Shabbas and had lunch at his favourite, our new favourite place, pasta basta and then made our way back to Miriam’s home. We got ready for Shabbat and helped her set up the tables. For Shabbat my brother invited all 25 of the Limmud boys to meet us. We were both excited and nervous to meet the boys. We went to shul, which is conveniently right opposite Miriam’s home. After Shul we walked back to Miriam and were greeted by all the Limmud boys. They were just as happy to meet us as we were to meet them and they warmly welcomed us into their conversation. Shabbat dinner surpassed my expectations. The home-cooked meal was delicious and it was wonderful to spend time with everyone who my brother has spent the past year with. After all the boys left, Tali and I went to bed. We were so exhausted and had a sleep-in, waking up on Shabbas morning just in time for Kiddish which was at Miriam’s house with some of the boys from dinner the night before as well as some of the girls from his program.
Lunch was another highlight of my weekend as I was able to spend some quality time with my brother. It was very special to be able to share a Shabbat with him, where he has spent so many this past year and now I can visualise it all.
After Havdallah we got ready to hit the streets of Jerusalem. As we arrived at Ben Yehuda we walked to craft pizza, this pizza was one of the best I’ve ever had. We walked around and did some shopping before stopping for ice cream at Katzefet. We made our way back to Miriam’s home where Tali and I spent the rest of the night packing up our suitcases and organising our stuff for the next few days.
On Sunday morning I said my goodbyes to my brother. Then Miriam took Tali and me to get the best hot chocolate and croissants in Jerusalem. What a great way to end such a fabulous free weekend. Arriving at the bus stop was sad as we had so much fun over the weekend but we were also very excited to start the last half of our incredible trip.
Abby Potash