Our spiritual journey of Midrisha commenced at 8am on Tuesday morning, with our radiant excitement visible from miles away as we waited for these next three days of Midrasha learning to begin.
Jobes enlightened us on some logistical information and enlightened us with the knowledge that 18 girls are participating in this program! Coincidentally, the meaning in the Hebrew of 18=life. And from this we were ready as ever to expand our knowledge on Judaism and all it has to offer us.
After a 2 hour bus trip (and a very much needed stop at Aroma along the way) we arrived at the Yitzchak Rabin hostel. We immediately began our Midrasha program with a discussion/ talk with a lovely conservative woman by the name of Avital who spoke to us about confidence within one’s own religious practices. She gave us insight into her ongoing growth and connection to G-D and her obstacles as an orthodox Jewish woman in the business world. She provided us with empowerment and self-belief. After hearing the talk I think it is fair to say that all of us came out of the talk with a stronger sense of power within ourselves.
Avital explained to us the importance of one’s decision making and the tremendous effect our decisions have on our lives. Using a personal story she was able to allow us to connect to our personalJewish stories and backgrounds.
Following lunch, we had a celebratory pink party to join in on the festivities the 18th of Kislev brought upon our surroundings here in Jerusalem. The mads and students came together to discuss book recommendations about various topics relating to Torah and Jewish learning, preparing us to select our books on our trip to the apparently famous book store on Ben Yehudah street.
Our main night time entertainment consisted of interacting with the three schools which shared a lobby space with us. The music taste was definitely something different.
The first night was spent at Rav Avichai and his wife’s apartment where we all got to know each other better and feasted upon bagels and soup. He joyfully recited his iconic “demerit song” giving us a throwback to year 7 Jewish Studies. As Chanukah is approaching, Avichai decided to speak about the Chanukah candles and it’s integral role in the Chanukah story.
Our first day was packed with Jewish learning, thanks to Nina and Jobes. We had a break when they surprised us with a girl pamper night where we listened to music, painted our nails and wore face masks!. Later in the evening the girls and boys watched the World Cup.
Day 2, we woke up bright an early, and to kick off the day we went to the Shule and completed Tefilla, with two of our very own acting as chazonim in our Shule environment.
To further our religious studies we headed to Neve Midrasha, where we had three separate speakers who left us all feeling inspired and empowered. The campus included a lovely buffet of snack foods which was attended at every break we received.
To our surprise chickens were also housed in this Midrasha, and we got the opportunity to hold the chicks! After our Midrasha experience we headed off to the Pomeranz bookstore, where we all sought advice from the madrachim, debating which books to pick.
Straight after, we walked to the Machana Yehuda Shuk, full of delicious food and jewellery stores.
Later that night we eagerly made our way to Miriam, and her cooking skills absolutely blew us away. We sat eating a delicious dinner whilst discussing gratitude and what being a Jew entails. Later that night, back at the hotel, we watched the World Cup game, glad to have the French staying in our hotel, to really show us how they celebrate.
Despite the sadness on Thursday of leaving our hostel, meaning our Midrasha journey is coming to an end, we were excited to learn that we are still spending a whole day ahead with our Midrasha girls. We started off the day with an early start, got our suitcases onto the bus and off we went to Midrasha Harova where we listened to a series of 4 speakers. We also got to spend time learning sources of Torah with the MTA students studying at the Midrasha. Our first speaker Rav Bailey spoke to us about the wisdom of Mishie and about our consequences reflecting on our actions conveying to us to ensure we are aware of the actions we perform so we don’t receive negative reactions. The second speaker Rabbi Yoni Sack spoke to us about Torah wisdom, on the power of our thoughts and how our thoughts affect us. We spoke about switching our mindsets from why to what. For example, what can we do to make this better? Which Sack referred to as a ‘mission mentality’. He also spoke to us about the importance of judging yourself favourably; meaning looking for the good in oneself. He introduced us to a concept called ‘Kinneset Yisrael’ which defines as “One soul shines down to unique individuals.” Rabbi Sack’s lesson truly stuck with both of us and we feel more able to look for the positives rather than the negatives in life.
After two very inspirational speakers we went off to the Old City for lunch where we feasted on traditional Israeli foods and shopped for some beautiful jewellery (as well as drew money for laundry which didn’t end up happening). After a delicious lunch we were back in the classroom and learnt from two other speakers. Rachel Praise spoke to us about being Jewish and being “normal” as Rachel spoke about her experience of keeping Halacha whilst in uni as well as about stereotypes about Jewish people being ‘abnormal’. Rabbi Shames spoke about Shabbat being the centre of time and time evolving around Shabbat. As well as the disputes about creation vs mankind, whether Shabbat is the beginning or end of the week. He ended off his speech by saying ‘Shabbat is the Kotel of our time’. This saying really stuck with us as it allowed us to connect to Shabbas in a different and spiritual way.
The Midrasha program was truly an unforgettable experience and most certainly our highlight of IST. The program has enlightened us all and allowed us to gain a more understanding perspective on Jewish practices and the culture overall. We hope that in some shape or form along everyone’s life they get to hear and learn the lessons that we did, and we know that this is just the beginning!
Kiera Eliakim and Talia Carr