Shabbat at the Rabbi's house in the old city

After spending time dancing and praying at the cotel, we finally found the Rabbi despite there being hundreds of orthodox men that all look and dress the exact same! Because he was leading a service on the men’s side, we found our way to his house. The door was wide open and when we walked in, we saw five other American girls sitting on the couch who he also had invited over. Every minute, more and more people trickled in and soon enough, there was barely enough room to move. I looked at the table and didn’t know how in the hell all 20 people would possible be able to fit. When the Rabbi walked in, he saw the apprehension in all of our faces and told us a story. In the ancient temple, he said, everyone was packed like sardines and there was barely enough room to move. A prayer came where everyone was supposed to bow down together and everyone was nervous that they wouldn’t have space to do so. Miraculously, he said, everyone bowed in motion and the prayer was successful. So we all grabbed chairs and squished ourselves in, fighting for a bit of elbow room or space to put our plate down.

 Despite it being overcrowded, it was one of the most enlightening dinners I’ve ever had. He brought out all different types of wine and said, “Throughout the dinner, if you every get shy to ask me a question about god, Kabbalah, Judaism, or life in general,  take more glasses of wine until you feel comfortable.” After a dinner of potato coogle, shnitzel, pita, hummus and salad, hours and hours went by with the Rabbi telling us stories, singing songs and teaching us about Jewish theologies and ideas of god. The rabbi’s three little girls were also really active in the discussion and excitedly pounded on the table in rhythm as we benched after the meal. At about 10.30, most people started leaving but the Rabbi invited everyone to stay as late as they wanted if they had more questions. Because my curiosity level had skyrocketed in the last couple of hours, four our other girls and I girls ended up staying until about 2.00 in the morning drinking whiskey and debating about god. There’s nothing like getting drunk with a Rabbi! The whole night, yeshiva boys would stroll into his house, sit for a little bit drinking wine and arguing about torah, and then leave and find another Rabbi. I guess instead of going “party hopping” for fun, the religious go “Rabbi hopping”.  I could tell at about 1.30 that the Rabbi and his wife were getting exhausted and although my interest and curiosity were not completely satisfied, we left his house and went to the Cotel for a couple of hours and then walked forty five minutes back to our apartments.