I have had a lot of opportunities to travel to amazing places, and being a “foodie”, I always want to try local specialities and new things. In Greece I ate calamari, fresh feta cheese, freshly caught and grilled fish and authentic Greek salad (no lettuce). In New Orleans I tried gumbo, etitoufee, jambalaya and of course beignets and cafe Au lait. In Hawaii….I named it my “Hawaiian seafood fiesta” (you can read about that in my travel blog).

And now…dining in Israel. What can you say about the food in Israel? Once again, full of amazing dining experiences and tastes, flavours and options. Being in Israel, when you have to choose your food options you have to choose milk or meat because the restaurants are separate (we ate a lot of dairy options) and they were GOOD!

On the first day in Tiberias we walked to a very nice dairy restaurant close to the beach. They had a lot of very nice salad options. I chose one that had haloumi cheese. it is very similar to Saginaki in Greek restaurants, but they don’t set it on fire with ouzo. It is salty, and tests best when served right from the oven. Here are pictures of the salad with the haloumi.

The opening program of the trip was dinner at Decks Restaurant. It is an open air restaurant overlooking the Galilee (the Kinneret). We sat in long tables by our city. The food is served family style across the table.

The opening was of course falafel balls, hummus and tahini, following up by an amazing fried onion loaf, salad, shoe string potatoes, and then the most amazing salmon you have ever tried. It came out on these ‘hot plates’ that had bbq’d sweet potato, grilled mushrooms and grilled lemons.

Here is what it looked like: (Pictures do not do the meal justice)

After the meal they started to play music and the party really started. It was the first night, and the coming together of 170 amazing women for the next 9 days of growth, self discovery and touring of our beautiful Eretz Israel. (the land of Israel)

As I was clapping, singing and dancing, the music changed and a song I have heard hundreds of times came on. I was standing there, and tears were streaming down my face. I realized that I was in Israel. We had already been there a full day, but it wasn’t until that moment that I had really arrived, and my feet were planted firmly on the ground. A lot of people were emotional.

Here is that song:

It is going to be hard to put into words what the Shabbat at the Kotel experience was like. It was like nothing I have ever experienced before and until I go back and do it again, never again.

Before we brought in Shabbat (with candle lighting) we were treated to an amazing pre-Shabbat concert from Rabbi Yom Tov Glaser. He is a rockin’ Rabbi living in Israel transplanted from the surfing beaches of California. On the outside he looks like any Rabbi – black hat, full beard, pais and black coat – but on the inside a true surfing beach bum at heart.

He started with a song Shabbat Shalom (surprised?) but it was more a song ‘in the round’ where the left side of the room had one part of the song and the right side another part. Very participatory. A lot of fun. He moved into a few more songs, and introduced a song that was new and available on Itunes (modern times). It is called Letter in the Torah, and it is quite an emotional song about where you may going, what is your purpose – what is YOUR letter in the Torah. I remember the words really hit me, because being on this trip, everyone has a reason to be there.

After the concert was over, we all had the chance to light Shabbat Candles and say prayers for our loved ones, and then it was time….to go to Kotel and really ‘bring in Shabbat”. It really something you have to see and experience for yourself.

We all went down to the Kotel and as a group tried to move into the centre of the women’s section. It was hard because it was wall to wall women, teens on birthright, soliders, and other groups. But there we were – creating our own prayer and song circle, with so many other prayer and song circles. Hundreds of women, singing, dancing, praying and bringing in the Shabbat.

The men on the other side of the separation wall were doing the same thing, praying on Shabbat eve, also chanting, and dancing and connecting all Jewish people around the world welcoming in the Shabbat. I couldn’t see them, but I could hear them, and I wanted to see, so I left our area to go out see the men in prayer.

You can see again, hundreds, standing shoulder to shoulder praying for Shabbat – older men, younger men, soliders. It was something to see. Of course it was Shabbat so I have no photos or video, but the memory will be in my memory forever.

I had to take a step back away from the Kotel to take it all in. The Kotel is the last remnant of the Holy Temple, and the holiest site on earth, and there I was, able to share it’s glory on Shabbat. If you ever have the chance to experience what I had the chance to experience – you cannot let it pass you by. If you have experienced it in your lifetime, then you know what I mean.