Welcome back to the blog! I missed the two days following Pesach due to the extreme heat and tying up some loose ends in Jerusalem, so Bradley will have to add some thoughts about his time on the trail.
It was great to be back in Jerusalem for Pesach. As mentioned in the previous post, Pesach is one of the three main pilgrimage holidays in Judaism along with Sukkot and Shavuot, so it was amazing to be walking the path into Jerusalem at the same time of year as our ancestors have done for thousands of years.
I had the best prayer service of my life right before at shul Kol Rina in Nachlaot, which is a very inauspiscious location tucked away on a side street in a bombshelter. Every brand and flavor of Jew was present for the davening, making it a truly inclusive and joyous experience.
At around 8 PM I headed over to my friend and fellow ultimate frisbee player Dave's house for the meal, where we proceeded to eat, talk, and laugh until 3 AM. Each person was assigned a part of the Haggadah to read and extrapolate on, and the kids had some great skits for the four questions. The Masons are truly unique in that they eat all organic vegetarian, and the meal was absolutely amazing with charoset, spiced carrots, tabouli, quinoa, garlic spreads, and the piece de resistance: a massive lasagna with matza instead of pasta noodles. Delicious.
Recharged and ready to hit the trail, I proceeded to catch a bus to Kiryat Gat - a medium-sized city near Hebron - and hitchhike three times (including getting a ride from some police officers investigating a forest fire) to Kfar Lakhish where I waiting for Yonatan and Bradley to show up.
We didn't really have a plan on where to sleep for the night, but as fortune would have it a few friends of the original trail angels saw us by the side of the road and gave us a place to stay. We had matza brie, salads, and massive omelets. Did I mention how much I love trail angels?
The walk took us through beautiful sweeping wheat fields and through (yet again) herds of cattle and goats on our way to Kibbutz Lahav.
-Jeremy
P.S. A new karaoke Thai Songkran video is up for that day. Does anyone know how to flip the video in Youtube so it's facing the right way?
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