History lesson

I heard the following story from one of the rabbis here who teaches a group of seminary girls at another school nearby.

Last week, their school took the girls on a trip to visit Sde Boker, a town/village in Israel, most famous for it's founder, David Ben Gurion.  He was the first prime minister of the state of Israel, and is arguably the biggest name in the history of the state of Israel (next to Theodore Herzl.)  It is safe to say that he is as famous as George Washington is to the US.  In fact, Israel's main (and only) international airport is named Ben Gurion International..

Anyway, David Ben Gurion is buried in Sde Boker, but when the tour guide brought the girls to the gravesite, one of the girls apparently asked, "Oh, is that the airport guy?"

UPDATE: David in Israel

After spending a few days in Detroit, then a few days in Boston and New York to visit friends, and then a 12-hour layover in London, I finally made it to Israel.  Woo hooo!

I landed this morning and took the express train North to Haifa, to my college friends' apartment.  Yay for reunions!  I will spend Shabbat here, and eventually make it to Jerusalem (probably Monday) for the start of my program.

I plan on updating the blog as much as I can with stories new and old.  Thanks for reading!

(I found out I might be able to send blog updates by text message, instead of typing them up on my computer first.  This means it will be easier to post updates and stories, but it also means less thinking-through my posts, which ultimately means more entertaining/embarrassing content.  Lucky you!)

Funny story from Israel

So my dad is currently in Israel visiting our extended family, and he just called me and told me a hilarious thing that happened to him yesterday.

He was trying to meet up with one of our cousins, Alon, who lives in a very religious Jewish neighborhood near Haifa, Israel.  Everyone in this neighborhood, including Alon and his family, are hasidic, which means big beard, black hat, white shirt, etc.

My cousin sort of looks like this,

but with a bigger beard.

My dad is driving into town with a car, so Alon tells him to drive up to the bus station and he'll meet him there.  Then they'll drive together back to Alon's house.  Piece of cake.  What could possibly go wrong?

When my dad gets to the bus station, he sees a guy (with a beard, black hat, etc.) waving at him.  The guy is standing at the bus stop with his wife and baby.  So my dad pulls up to them, picks them up, and asks them where to drive to to get home.

After a few minutes of conversation, though, my dad realizes that this is not Alon and his family!  It's just some random guy who needed a ride somewhere in the neighborhood.  (Hitchhiking is very common in Israel.)  I think they knew who Alon was, though, and they pointed my dad in the right direction.

Anyway, my dad eventually found Alon's house and had lunch there with his family (probably not pierogies, though.)