Right now I’m riding the bus to Tel-Aviv for the weekend, something that’s become somewhat of a habit amongst my friends and I. It takes about an hour to get to Tel-Aviv from Jerusalem, and hostels dot the city downtown and close to the beach, making the trip all too easy. We can have a night enjoying the city’s famous night life, spend the next day having a relaxing shabbat on the beach, and head home at night once the busses start running again to start classes the next day.
We aren’t the only ones who take advantage of the country’s small size and the relaxed Tel-Aviv scene- any given weekend there is a guarantee that others from our school will be doing the same. Its not uncommon for us to run into people we know, in the hostel or at a cafe on the beach. Despite the city’s size, it feels small in this way; and the same goes for the whole country. The feeling that I’ll run into someone I know, no matter where I am, is fairly constant and usually fulfilled. I can’t deny that this country feels like one big town, and as cliche as it sounds, one big family.
I feel very safe when I travel in Israel- as though I know I can always count on someone to help me out if I need it. When we leave for a night in Tel-Aviv, we bring a school bag with a pair of clothes, a toothbrush and money/ID. We leave behind laptops and homework, along with them the stresses of the week. I feel very free here- unlimited by the ease of travel, by the skill of compact packing. We are not afraid of spontaneity.
On this bus ride in particular, we are going to celebrate Purim, a holiday known for its emphasis on joy. People give small gifts to their friends, and celebrate the work of Esther and Mordechai that saved the Jewish people from persecution many years ago. Everyone is in costume, and I couldn’t help smiling this morning when I walked by a school full of dressed up children and rode a bus of adults in ridiculous disguises.
Shabbat Shalom and Purim sameach (happy Purim)!