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Vera Task 4: This photo shows the kids at my host family! They were really sweet and gave me told me about what was going on around them in Israel and how it affected them!

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This is a photo I took at the beach in Tel Aviv after Havdalah. It was a beautiful experience and I learned about the people that go to the temple that the host family goes too and got to see this beautiful view of the beach.

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There practices provided me a mirror into my own life because it showed me how American practices were different than Israelis practices. There were different prayers and different tunes to songs. I learned a lot about how Judaism is different in Israel.

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Their practices were different than ours but not by very much. They kept kosher which I don’t do at home and the services were longer. These differences gave me a window into their life because they showed me what a reform Jewish family is like in Israel. It was very relaxed and fun.

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I was hosted by my rabbis cousin along with Kurt. The family spoke both Hebrew and English and were reform. The first thing I noticed was how similar their customs were to mine in America. They had a beautiful house and they were very nice. One of the first thing I noticed was that they had a bomb shelter which was very different from my house. They had a dog who was super cute and it was a super amazing experience.

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Vera task 2: I found many similarities in how I and my host family practice Judaism. My host family was reform, so the services I went to were very similar apart from the fact that the entire service was in Hebrew. The children in My host family lived in Canada for a while, so the children’s English was really good and I could speak to them about their personal opinions on Judaism. One of the children said that their Jewish identity is something that they didn’t choose and it isn’t something that they would choose, but because they are Jewish, they wouldn’t choose a different religion. I thought that this was an interesting perspective and made me think about how I should actively choose Judaism and being a part of Jewish life. Talking to the father, who helps manage campaigns of political figures, I could tell that the family had many left wing views. Left wing means something different in Israel than it does in the United States, but I feel that the left party in both places wants equality.

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This is a picture of Jerusalem that I took. We went out to dinner and ice cream on Saturday night and before we went back to their apartment, they took us to this beautiful spot to see all of Jerusalem at night.

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Spending the weekend with my host family made me really grateful that I am able to spend the high holidays here. At home, everyone is usually so busy with work or school that my family doesn't take as much time as I think we should for the high holidays, so having the opportunity to truly celebrate Rosh Hashanah meant a lot to me.

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My family that I stayed with is conservative and the services were a bit different from the reform service. It was all in Hebrew and although I knew some of the prayers, most of them had melodies that I didn't know. Additionally, we had a sort of Rosh Hashanah Haggadah that we went through before we ate dinner on Friday night which I though was really interesting. My host family was very social and we went to other places, such as restaurants, parks, and other people's homes for meals often.

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I was hosted by an old friend of my mom who now lives in Jerusalem. They were conservative so we went to shul on Friday and Saturday, although we didn't stay for the whole time. We always had meals with other people, whether it was a picnic with the community or dinner with my host dad's family. My family doesn't do very much for Rosh Hashanah, so it was very interesting to see what foods they had and prayers they said over dinner.

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The family I stayed with for Rosh Hashanah was distant family of May. They were reformed just like us. We stayed in Jerusalem with them and got to meet almost 30 of the family members at Rosh Hashanah dinner. They were very kinda and did the same things that I would have done back at home, like doing the family dinner.

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My extended family invited me to their house for Rosh Hashanah. Specifically it was my Second cousins twice removed. I have met them once or twice while they were visiting Los Angeles, where our family lives, but never in this intimate of a setting. I got to their house and immediately started prepping food for the holiday because the keep Kosher. I was nervous about putting the wrong dishes in the wrong side of the sink. I enjoyed being able to spend times with my younger cousins especially the oldest daughter, Hila. She is 9 and really looked up to me. As I was reading a book, playing a game with another sibling, or even putting on my makeup she was starting at me watching in awe. I realized that I am a role model, whether I choose to be or not. I am a leader in my home, temple, school, and friendships so making choices that hold others in regard is important.

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This is a picture of the setting Sun from their apartment. Showing the beautiful and welcome change their lifestyle brought to me.

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This encounter really changed my view on Judaism. Prior I had never really been to orthodox services and I thought they weren’t very different from my usual more conservative services. However I felt like each prayer was going through the motions rather than actually having covanah, intention. It made me reflect on how different the different sects of Judaism are and how isolated mine was growing up.

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This family is very much a part of their community which as I mentioned consists of English speaking, mostly American, Orthodox Jews who have made Aliyah in the past ten years. I was lucky enough to hear a speech from their rabbi talking about their growth at their synagogue which has been massive in the past year. Prior they were lucky to have a full minyon while now they had around two hundred people for Rosh Hashana services.

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I was staying with a family of American Orthodox Jews. They have a very niche community that’s mostly just their apartment building. Their synagogue consists of English speaking Jews most of whom have mad Aliyah recently and mostly live in the same apartment building.

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I, along with Josh and Danit went to the house of my former counselor on Chalutzim B’Aretz last summer. They live in a secular Jewish household and were not super religious. They were super nice and we didn’t even go to services, which was so awesome. I had a fantastic weekend.

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Having a new perspective on rosh hashana as well as Shabbat made me really connect more with my judaism. Being with a family that connected with the Torah more made me feel at home. Although I most likely won’t be as strict at home when it comes to Shabbat , I still now obligated to now go to synagogue more often. I feel that spending this rosh hashana in Israel really made me open up to different ideas and customs that I will take home.

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the family hosting me took erin and i to a nice resteraunt for rosh hashanah! this is meaningful to me because i got to learn more about them and what they enjoy, and i got to get to know them better!

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My hosts, without knowing me or bradley welcomed us with open arms. They were very laid back, and let us do as we wish because they trusted us. This trust meant a lot to me. They brought us to the beach not once but twice with a lot of freedom. They had two sons and a daughter. I connected to itai, the eldest son, the most. Him and his friends, who i was lucky enough to meet. Treated me with so much kindness and love.

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spending the weekend with my host family made me realize that my family is bigger than i thought. i never knew they were existed until this, and it’s nice to know there are people here for me. being there made me think about being hospitable to the people around you.

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my family is not very religious and neither was the family that was hosting me. their family was quite large and got alone well, mine isn’t really like that. the family hosting me was secular, they expressed it the same way as secular people do in the states.

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the family hosting me was my step grandmother’s cousins. they were not religious at all, we did not go to any services or anything. they live in petah tikvah around their other family. i notice they are all very close and they seemed very happy to be all together for the holiday!

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I stayed with my cousins and they are secular and it was interesting seeing how they celebrated the high holidays. We didn’t go to services but we had a big dinner/celebration with all of their family too. They lived in a  agricultural community, and we got to go fruit picking.

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This photo was taken at Port Tel Aviv. On our second day, we took a trip to the beach and I chose this picture because it was a time that I felt immense peace and joy. Walking along the beach picking up shells with the Mediterranean at my feat was surreal. My host family brought the game sesh besh, which they taught us and I instantly loved. Later that day, I played the game with a few Israeli friends that Shaillee had introduced us to. One of which did not know very good English, but the game was like a unifier, or a common language. So it was meaningful to all play it together and laugh together and do something enjoyable to start off the new year.

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What become apparent with my host family was that their interpretation of the holiday was much different to the yearly norm for me. They are secular and reform, and as a reform Jewish teen, this was probably the first time I didn't go to services on Rosh Hashanah for as long as I could remember. Instead, we took a walk to my hosts grandmas house just down the street. Where her more orthodox leaning grandma and uncle were preparing a 'seder-like' meal. We were seated with plates with biblically symbolic foods sort of like a passover dinner. On my plate was dates, pomegranate seeds, apples & honey, greens, zucchini, and while everyone else had meat, I had tofu (to be inclusive of the one vegetarian). They would say a prayer over each, and then Will, Shailee's dad, would translate the meaning to us in English and explain. After the symbolism began the amazing meal and abundant conversation which reminded me of holiday meals at home.

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This experience made me think more about what it means to be a Jew in an American community that's predominately not Jewish, vs. a Jewish state with a plentiful amount of Jewish identifying people and communities. At home, sharing a Jewish identity with another person in the community seems to set them out from the rest. Whereas here, I felt more connected to the Jewish community on a broader more international level. To know that 6000 miles away, my family was attending Rosh Hashanah services as we were having a Rosh Hashanah meal made me really contemplate the shared experience of Jews across the world.

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My host family was through a longtime family friend and counselor of two summers, Shailee Bayer. We stayed at her families home in Petah Tikvah, with her siblings Ella and Daniel, and parents Will and Gali. The whole experience immediately felt like home. Shailee brought us to the local coffee place and when we arrived her family was eagerly waiting  to meet and talk with us. We met their dog, Boobon, and as we sat to watch netflix in the casual environment, they brought us snacks and we talked for hours. Ella spoke about being in the IDF, Shailee talked about travel and going to college, her Mom told us about her work and wanted to know our interests/hobbies.

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This is my view outside of my window overlooking the Mediterranean. It was a beautiful sight and I was so lucky to wake up and see this view everyday I was there.

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Jacob again!
This is a photo I took of the sunset over the water while doing tashlich on the beach in Tel Aviv. It was a relaxing experience, and I hope to do it again at some point.

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Jacob again!
I was able to reflect on myself during this because I was able to look at my own behaviors and how I act towards others and especially myself. Even just doing a couple hours of no phones was relaxing, and it made me realize that I should force myself to relax more. It reminds me of a quote from a Jewish author that really resounded with me regarding Rosh Hashanah. It is:

"Return home

To yourself

Even if you've never been there, Even if you've never met you, Even if you feel like a stranger

To yourself."

-Alden Solovy, These Words

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Spending a weekend at a host family's house or Rosh Hashanah opened my eyes to the many different kinds of Judaic practices and how it varies from house to house. It's interesting to experience a difference sect of religion outside of your own traditions.

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Jacob again! My experience with an Israeli family was really cool because is allowed me to see how Israelis live. Going to services exposed me to a lot of different people and traditions, and doing tashlich on the beaches of Tel Aviv helped me to go into this year with a completely different perspective compared to any other year. We also had lunch with a modern orthodox family on Sunday, and it was really eye-opening to experience that.

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My name is Jacob and I stayed with a reform Rabbi and her family in Holon for Rosh Hashanah. She worked at my temple in Sacramento for a year 2 years ago as our educator, and has run a congregation in Holon for the past 13 years. It was really fun to go to services and see how different reform in Israel is compared to reform in the US. I was able to experience some good home style Israeli cooking, and the meals I had with my host’s extended family was really cool and yummy.

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Some differences between my Jewish practices and my host family's was the absence of speaking between washing our hands and saying the Hamotzi, I usually do not do this and it was interesting to experience as they are connected prayers. They also sat in services three times, which was a different change in pace for me as I only go once during Rosh Hashanah. It was interesting to experience a modern orthodox way of living as compared to my normal Reform life.

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Ben Oronsky's family friend hosted me and they were very kind and welcoming. They are modern orthodox, so spending Rosh Hashanah with them was interesting as I don't celebrate Rosh Hashanah at home like I did there. They live right outside of Netanya and they live in an apartment complex that is like a mini neighborhood as a lot of people from the same congregation live there and are friends. I noticed the magnificent views of the Mediterranean sea from my room and their balcony. It was beautiful.

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When I walked into my host family’s house for rosh hashana I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Unlike other people I was put with a random family that I had no connection to.  I immediately noticed that they were modern orthodox.  Being reform it was different, but I was excited to learn their modern orthodox-yemminite ways. They lived in modiin which  is a community  that is very tight knit and many family’s know each other.   However it was interesting because I quickly realized people spoke amazing English.  To my surprise there was a whole portion of this community that was American as well as Israeli which fascinated me greatly.

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These are some pomegranates that we picked together. They are super tasty and we learned a lot about Israeli agriculture while we picked them. It was super interesting to see what keeps this community running and how they take care of their crops.

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This experience was very interesting to me, I had never been in a place where Jewish holidays were celebrated even by secular people. It was super cool to see how Judaism was ingrained in everyone's lives here religious or not. It really made me feel like I was a part of bigger people rather than just a few families back home.

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I went on a walk with them and we walked around this park seeing people doing all sorts of different things. Some people were having a catch others were playing music. It was so nice, I don't think my picture encapsulates much of anything that was happening.

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Spending time with people who live such a different life while celebrating the same as me. It was a cool experience, it felt a bit surreal being able to celebrate in the way i'm used to but with a different group of people and not being able to know what people were talking about. I got to learn about just how similar my family is to many others around the world.

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My experience with my host family showed a window by showing me how others, about the same amount of religious celebrate in a different country, there were about the same amount of people that had showed up to what I normally have. One difference was I was not able to know what was being said for most of the conversations. Although people did not talk much English I had plenty of conversations with people that were not part of the group. People were interested in the program and reason for me being in Israel.

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The first thing had seen were the hills of Jerusalem, once i had been at the house I had met the both of the people that were hosting me. Shortly after meeting them they gave me a tour and a room more people started to show up I had ended up meeting twelve more people, I don't remember most of their names but one person translated portions of the conversation during dinner. Dinner was composed of many different foods that had been prepared in ways that I had never had before with a short few prayers.

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The big difference in our Jewish practices is that they were secular and celebrated the holidays for a more cultural reason than religious. They used the Holiday to have fun with family. Even though they were secular, celebrating in such a tight nit group made me feel like a part of their community.

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I was being hosted by a family who was secular, It was very interesting to see how a secular family would celebrate Rosh Hashana in Israel. They lived in an agricultural community but it wasn't a kibbutz. The community seemed very connected and we got to go out and picked some of the fruit. I noticed that their house was very orientated to the outdoors, they had a lot of furnature outside and large part of their property was covered with trees.

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This is a photo of Jerusalem from the balcony of the second family that hosted me. The view was so pretty (the photo definitely doesn't do it justice) and I just felt so grateful to be in Israel for such a special holiday. It was also here that I got to watch services virtually with my mom, so it was just a really special experience.

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This is a picture of Myself, Josh, Adam and my old counsler Shailee who hosted us. This was taken at the Tel Aviv port where we had lunch and went to the beach. This picture is very meaningful to me because over a year ago we were all in Israel together and we had such an amazing time being with her again.

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Spending Rosh Hashanah with My host family made me realize even if we have different traditions, practices and ways to show are Judaism, we are all connected. This experience also helped me think about how even though we are all reform, we are all different in our own ways.

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Spending a weekend with different host families for Rosh Hashanah helped me to realize I am much more religious practicing than I previously thought and I have lots of traditions that I would like to continue to uphold. Firstly, I felt much more religious than I previously considered myself because I felt myself missing services for the holiday and eventually ended up live-streaming my home services because my holiday didn't feel the same without them. I think at home the holidays can feel mundane because we do the same thing every holiday surrounded by the same people, so this was a nice change that helped me to appreciate the practices and traditions we uphold at home. I also really missed our typical traditions of getting dressed up for services and then going to the apple orchard for services and apple picking. I am looking forward to continuing my current traditions when I get home, but I may incorporate some of the traditions these families practiced, like eating pomegranates on Rosh Hashanah, etc., in the future.

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Some similarities between my Jewish practice and the practice of my hosts is the time we spend with family and friends for the holiday. With both families, we enjoyed big meals with their friends and family, which felt pretty similar to home. A significant difference between my practices and theirs is little or no time at temple for the holidays. Typically, my family goes to evening services, morning services, and services at an apple orchard for Rosh Hashanah, but, here, my first family went to no services and my second family barely went to any. It was definitely an interesting difference that gave a different feeling to the holiday. As far as social groups my families belonged to, my first family definitely had a more diverse friend group with people from Brazil, Canada, Israel, etc., while my second family tended to surround themselves with people more similar to them who made aliyah to Israel.

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For Friday and most of Saturday, the people that hosted me were the family of a shinshin I hosted last year in the United States. They live on Kibbutz Ramat HaShofet, which is in the north of Israel near Yokneam. I already knew a lot about their customs, but what varied wildly from my family's Rosh Hashanah traditions is the fact that we didn't go to services. For them, Rosh Hashanah is more of a time to just savor with family and friends, while it is typically much more of a religious holiday for my family. The other people in their community that we spent time with included a lone soldier and his girlfriend, both from Brazil, and many of their friends, most of which who also lived on the kibbutz. Additionally, I joined Zoey and her host parents for Saturday afternoon through Sunday evening. They live in an apartment in Jerusalem, which was a much different environment than the kibbutz I stayed on before. Their practices are slightly more similar to mine in the way that they went to services, but they also differs in the way we went out for dinner and dessert Saturday night, which I am definitely not used to on Rosh Hashanah. The other people in their community that we met were some of their friends.

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We are both reform so we have very similar traditions. The main difference is that they do not attend services when I am used to multiple hour services. We walked to her uncles house on Friday night and had an amazing big family dinner, which I do at home. At dinner we had a plate with different types of foods and we said a prayer before eating each one, which was new to me and very cool.

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When I arrived at my host family's house I felt very comfortable and welcomed. I went to my old counselors house in petah tikvah. We stayed at her house with her parents and her two siblings who were all very nice. They are reform so it was very similar to what it is at home for me. I noticed that they are very close with each other, and that family is very important to them.

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We did tashlich at the beach sunday evening, this was very different from what I normally do at home. We had a nice little service and then a pot luck  thing afterwords which was very different then at home. It was very meaningful to me to see the difference and be apart of it.

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Spending the weekend with my host family allowed me to realize that even though we are both reformed our practices and customs are different. It allowed me to think about being jewish in Israel is much easier than in the US. If you are secular here you still feel very jewish but if you were seculare in the US you wouldn't feel very jewish at all. It's cool to me to see that and not have to think about that part of my identity here as much than at home.

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We are both reformed, their service was shorter and a lot more casual then mine at home. They also had one service on saturday and did tashlich sunday evening, normally I have services all day saturday. They had a big family dinner friday night and a nice lunch on saturday with their family friends, which is different than from what I'm used to. On saturday and sunday we did a lot of resting and playing board games. They had a lot of the same games that I do, but in hebrew which was cool to see.

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When I rang the door bell a kid came and answered the door, he took us to our room and gave us a small tour, the house was very colorful and had lots of decorations. We were then brought downstairs to meet the rest of the family. They have three kids, two teenagers and a 7 year old. They live in a small city just outside Tel Aviv, there are secular to orthodox Jews in the city. The family I was with are reformed, so they had very similar traditions that I do. They are very close with eachother and are very nice.

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This was a homemade apple dessert that they made for rosh Hashanah dinner. They make it to help bring in a sweet new year. I had never tasted anything like it and it was very good.

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This expierence helped me realized how connected we all are. Even though we are very far away we both share similar customs and similar lives. We both enjoy doing similar things, although the food is better here.

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We both are reform although their services are a lot longer. Both of the sons and I enjoy playing soccer. I also played chess and checkers with their daughter. All of us played a game of Rummikub. We also all watched one the Spider-Man movies together. It felt very similar to visiting a family back in America.

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I walked in and immediately heard a dog barking. I was greeted by one of their kids who gave me a tour of their house. There was lots of beautiful artwork everywhere along with pictures of all the kids. There was lots of soccer and tennis themed decorations around as well. They are reform and have similar customs to the ones I have at home.

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This was taken at the reform temple we went to. It was really fun because they wanted our help getting ready for services. They showed me around their temple and the art projects they did in class. Even though they may not have realized it, they had a strong connection to this place which was inspiring.

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Being with my host family for the holiday made me very grateful that I get to celebrate my holidays with my whole family. It was great to see a vibrant reform community in Israel even with everything going on in the country. I am glad that I have the ability and opportunity to be as religious as I want to be in America.

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Both my temple at home and the synagogue I went to here were reform. I liked that they had a guitar and fun melodies but it was all in Hebrew which was hard. The host family only did Saturday services and I am used to a full day of services so it was a little different. We had dinner at their aunts place and talked about the new year and our goals. This was a cool way to get to know everyone.

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When I first arrived to the house, I noticed that it was just the dad and 2 kids. They were reform/secular and very nice. The kids did not want to be connected to Judaism and complained about going to services. The dad clearly found services as a way to connect with them since the girls split their time with him. They lived in an apartment and their view of Tel Aviv was awesome. 

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When I first arrived to the house, I noticed that it was just the dad and 2 kids. They were reform/secular and very nice. The kids did not want to be connected to Judaism and complained about going to services. The dad clearly found services as a way to connect with them since the girls split their time with him. They lived in an apartment and their view of Tel Aviv was awesome. 

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This is a tashlich ceremony I went to with my host family. At home, tashlich is very important to me and my family in the start of a new year however my host family had never done it before. I asked if we could find a ceremony as this is very important to me and they found one done by an international synagogue at the Mediterranean Sea. The service was in Hebrew and English and it was very meaningful to me as I believe that this is a good way to start the year and I was able to plant a seed in my host families head of a different way to celebrate the holiday just as they had planted a seed in me.

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This weekend helped me realize that even though many people have different practices, none of them are bad or wrong, they are simply different. I also saw that the values of Judaism are the same everywhere and it helped me to understand that I have a lot of Judaism left to explore and I want to learn more about all of the different sects.

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My hosts said brachot over everything on the table individually whereas my family and I say one over the wine, one over the challah, and one over the apples and honey. They did have a large family gathering which my family does as well however, they did not go to synagogue whereas my family does. All of my hosts and their families were very social and outgoing and I feel that I am similar to that however, I did notice a cultural difference in the language they used and the games they played from the language I use and the games I play at home.

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When I entered my host families home I immediately noticed that they had two different sets of silverware and two different sets of plates. I also learned very quickly that they were Sephardi and that therefore their traditions were different than mine. They live in a town called Nofit and their town had many different people of many different nationalities. I also noticed that they were very close with their family and it was a very tight knit community.

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Task 4: Finally, take a picture. Tell us what we’re looking at and why it’s meaningful to you!

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Task 3: Explore how this mifgash (encounter) offers you a mirror, helping you reflect on your own.

How does spending a weekend at a host family for Rosh Hashanah help you think differently about your own life, your family, your Jewish identity or Jewish practice? How does this experience help you think about your own social identities in a new way?

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Task 2: Explore how this mifgash (encounter) offers you a window into the lives of others…

What are the similarities and differences between your own Jewish practice and the practices of your hosts? What are some other similarities and differences that you can perceive? What social groups do your hosts seem to belong to, and how are their identities expressed similarly or differently than how they’re expressed where you’re from?

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Task 1: Make a post about all that you notice upon first glance...

Who are the people hosting you? What interests you about their homes, customs, beliefs, identities, and/or practices? Where do they live? Who else is in their community? What else do you notice about your hosts or your environment?