Day 18: Shabbat 29th July 2017

First and foremost I must note that we woke up at 11 today. By far the best / only good nights sleep we have gotten so far. Following Shacharit, we did an activity  where we had to place different Jewish values in order of priorities. This caused a lot of debate and excitement and was very thought provoking.  

It was then time for lunch followed by an hour of free time. This was in preparation for a 2 hour "stroll" through the old city that Noam, our wonderful tour guide, took us on. No one really wanted to go as we were still half asleep, but he then surprised us by taking us to visit his mum's house. Food and drinks had been prepared for us and she told us funny stories about Noam's childhood. She inspired us all with her hospitality and kindness to others. After a quick toilet break we continued on our "stroll". 

As soon as we got back we had the opportunity to have a Q&A with Rabbi Shaw, our guest for Shabbat. We discussed important issues such as suicide, life after death and marrying out. This was an amazing experience as we were able to ask any questions we wanted without any judgment. One of the reasons that Tribe is such an amazing youth movement is due to the difference of opinions of it's chanichim (participants). Everyone had a different view on the topic and we all respected each other's thoughts. 

After a quick dinner we had our final Havdallah. We heard stories of Russian Jews who had never had the opportunity to practice Shabbat and who dreamed of seeing the kotel.  It was an emotional time as everyone knew that this was our last Shabbat together on tour. We have all grown so close during the past three weeks. 

Once Havdalla was over we got ready to go to Ben yehuda. It was fun to see so many other youth groups from all over the world. We even managed to meet people that we had previously shared hostels with. There was an amazing atmosphere and everyone could just hang out with friends. 

Today showed the polarity of tribe. We went from discussing serious topics to dancing in the streets.

by Ellie Turner