July 28 - Shabbat!

It was so great to wake up Shabbat morning in Givat Haviva knowing that I was surrounded by 200 other Diller Teen Fellows from around the world. After breakfast, we started our day with a morning meeting with our cohort. Throughout the day we had multiple workshops and discussions, one of which was about the ‘family leg’ of the ‘five legged table’ that we had learned about from the speaker, Avraham Infeld. It made us miss our families very much, especially when later in the day we received the letters that you parents wrote to us. It was overwhelming for some people, but in the best way possible, as it reminded us of how much we love all of you back at home. After sharing some tears, we had break where a lot of the guys hung out together and it was a great bonding experience for us. After dinner, we had Havdallah, which was a little different than usual because of the fast day of Tisha B’av beginning. Most of us were bummed that the overall feeling wasn’t normal because we couldn’t make the blessings and we couldn’t sing them in the very much loved tune. Tisha B’av is the day we remember the destruction of the two holy temples, and we commemorate the day by fasting and an overall feeling of a somber mood.  Later during that night we had a seminar for learning things about Tisha B’av. We talked about different customs and what the sad holiday is all about. Learning all together as a community with sixteen different cities from America and Israel made the start to the holiday very meaningful and something I will always remember.  

-          Nathan Ullman

P.S. mom and dad I got your letter, it was very meaningful and made me miss you a lot. I can’t wait to see you guys when I get back. Love you!