Shabbat in Tzfat

The four holiest cities in Israel are Jerusalem, Chevron, Teveria, and Tzfat.  We left at 6:45 in the morning  to take the three hour drive up to Tzfat.  We made a random pit stop at a gas station where we ate breakfast and had a cake for my friend Alona (pronounced Alana) whose birthday was the next day. We got back on the bus and arrived in Tzfat a little while later.  Our first stop was at a mikveh.  The two woman who gave tours there showed us around and explained to us what happened.  They were very kabbalistic and spiritual and very much into meditation.  One of the coolest parts was that it was handicap accessible.  Next we went to the famous Tzfat cemetary where we saw the grave of Rav Yosef Cairo, the author of the Shulchan Aruch. It was pouring outside and we had to walk down a set of stairs.  It was raining so hard that there was a waterfall coming down the stairs.
We got to our hotel rooms at around 2:00 in the afternoon where we got ready for Shabbat.  We had our own minyan and then went to dinner.  It was a pretty good dinner and then afterwards we all sat together singing and listening to stories.
The next morning we woke up very early to pray with the sunrise.  As we were walking to the shul, an orange cat began to follow us.  We finally found the shul after quite a few minutes of walking around.  We all sat down and in walks the cat.  Some girls are really afraid of cats so they kind of ran away as I just sat there.  The cat eventually jumped onto the chair next to me and climbed on my lap.  I calmly picked it up, brought it outside and then went back inside and I made sure the door was closed this time.
Afterwards, we walked back to the hotel and just hung out.  For a while, I was helping my roommate, Hadassa, with her Hebrew.  Then we had a speaker come talk to us about... something.  It's not my fault, I was sitting in a really comfy chair snuggled up in my jacket...so I kinda fell asleep for the whole thing. After that we had lunch and then went out for a tour of the old city of Tzfat.  It was really cool to learn about all the famous people who lived there and how the city became the spiritual city it is today.
Tzfat is also famous for its art galleries.  We went to meet one of the artists who is a cousin of one of our teachers.  He paints using kabbalist ideas that have to do with colors and letters and the things he comes up with are really cool and a bit creepy at the same time.  After that we had a bit of chill time at the hotel and then we went back home.  The bus ride home was pretty chill, except for when we made a pit stop and one of the girls started going crazy about how she wanted to go back already to meet up with her friend.  I sat next to my friend Sarah (one of the six at Harova) and we listened to these really cool songs that the choir she was in had sung.

A lot of my friends from America have been coming to visit Israel because they have a month long break, so tonight I spent the whole night with Yvette and Sabina.  I was so happy to see them and it made me miss everybody else in New York.  Come visit me! Shalom V'lehitraot!