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It's been a while since I wrote due to my trip back to the US. But I'm back now! Quickly, I'll just finish telling you about the museums we visited right before I left, and then I'll update you with recent news.

The last two days of Tiyulim (trips or tours) ranged from Har Hertzl (an honored soldiers' cemetery) to the Palmach Museum (about one of the underground organizations that helped fight for the establishment and growth of the state). Har Hertzl was unlike any cemetery I've ever seen. It was clearly a place of honor and celebration of life, not a place of mourning. Flowers and evergreen trees everywhere, beautiful monuments, pictures of the soldiers and their stories, and stones placed on many of the graves (as is the Jewish custom - a token that lasts much longer than flowers). It doesn't matter whether someone was a commander or not, if he dedicated himself fully and was honorable in a significant way, he'll be honored on Har Herzl (if his family wishes).

We moved on to the Herzl Museum to learn about the man who began much of the Zionist progress in the early 1900s. It was a very high-tech, interactive museum. Then we went to the Begin Center to learn about Menachem Begin who was the 6th Prime Minister of Israel, and who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his negotiations over land.

The next day we went to Latrun, which is a museum of tanks; it was interesting, but not as educational as the other museums. Lastly, we visited the Palmach Museum, also extremely high-tech and interactive, where we learned about the efforts of the Palmach to defend the settlements during the British Mandate and gaining land during the War of Independence, even when the British tried to dismantle it.

So that's your history lesson for the day! Next, I went home...

To summarize, I got to spend much needed time with my family, some hectic time trying to catch up with friends on vacation from college, and relaxing time in Florida. Then I returned!
So far, I'm still a little jet-lagged, but I'm working on it. Everyone welcomed me back so enthusiastically, I felt missed and appreciated in the best way! Over Shabbat I stayed with my friend at a different seminary in Beit Shemesh. It was nice and relaxing, since she and our mutual friend who joined us both understood that I needed good rest.

Today, I went to a choir leader meeting an hour away, only to find out that it was cancelled (you miss these details when you're 6,000 miles away). But I was with my co-director, Tova, so we enjoyed getting out of the Old City on this beautiful day and catching up for a bit anyway. And it has been gorgeous out - now that I lugged all of my winter clothes from America. The only thing that detracted from the amazing weather was the construction they've begun down the main entrance to the Old City. Now, everyone leaving and entering is herded like cattle up and down the narrow pathway left unscathed by jackhammers. I still love the Old City, though, it's just a pain to go in and out.

In other news, I've decided to arrange for piano and/or vocal lessons on Tuesday afternoons, because I am beginning to feel something missing from my week without them. (If anyone has any contacts in Jerusalem regarding music lessons, please let me know, the search is more difficult than I expected.) After having taken a step back from classes for a couple of weeks, I will also be switching those which I now realize have bored me all along. There are so many classes that I'm actually enthusiastic about - why not have my whole week excited me?

That's all for news from Ellie in the Holy Land! Choir performance coming up in three weeks, and a three day trip to Eilat next week...lots of excitement! 'Till next time!

Gabriella