Sukkot

Last Wednesday was the first day of the Sukkot holiday (september is really just one holiday after the next). Sukkot is an 8 day long holiday related to the harvest. People build a small 'house' called a sukkah, which is usually covered in leaves or flowers. It is meant to be like the small dwellings Jews would make as they traveled or stayed in during harvest to keep in the shade. During the week people will eat their meals in the sukkah. Some people, if they are very religious or traditional will live in their Sukkah during the week. The picture here is of Ben and Mandy building the Sukkah in LeHavim. We haven't yet seen the final Sukkah though because we left before it was done. Some of the other Sukkot (plural for Sukkah) that we have seen are made all out of wood and others even out of plastic piping and tarp (however, the roofs are always made of palm fronds)

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Next headed North to Holon (pretty much Tel Aviv) on the first day of Sukkot, which was not an easy day to travel. The train was packed with people going home for the holiday, especially a lot of soldiers. The entryway where you get on the train was PACKED with people, so we just squeezed into the mass of bags, uniforms, sweat, and guns....interesting ride.

We spent the next few days with some friends of the Morgan's (Ruthie and Yair) in Holon. They took us to Caesarea, which is North of Tel Aviv on the sea. It was a beautiful place and Ben had a great time taking pictures. It was very, very humid there. We walked around the beach area and explored Roman ruins. There was a large amphitheater and a bathing house. It always amazes me to think that I am standing in the same place where many people walked so many years ago..it's even crazier to look at the tiny tiles on the floor that were all placed individually by hand, the attention to those kinds of details is very impressive.

As you can see, we got caught by a wave!

We also spent some time with Ben's friends in Tel Aviv. We actually did quite a bit while we were staying in Holon, in addition to sleeping a lot. The only reason I was able to stay up until 4:00 am was because all I did during the day was sleep!! (It was a good strategy!).

Next stop Jerusalem.....