10/9 to 10/11 | Class and Upcoming Plans

I know I have not written anything in a while, but that is because my time has been completely consumed by my classes.  There has not been anything too exciting to write about; fortunately, Sukkot break begins tomorrow and I have much planned for the coming week.  Tomorrow, Rachel, Esther, and I will be headed to another family's home (much like on Yom Kippur) to celebrate the first two days of Sukkot in a traditional Orthodox setting.  On Friday morning, we are planning on heading down to Eilat, where we will stay until Sunday evening.  I am especially excited for this because Eilat is one of the last big attractions I have yet to experience in Israel.

On Monday, I plan on participating in the Jerusalem Conference, which is an English-language meeting of some of Israel's biggest decision makers.  This year, the conference includes a number of Knesset members, as well as Avigdor Lieberman, the Minister of Foreign Affairs; Natan Sharansky, the chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel; and Meir Dagan, the former head of the Mossad.  This should be a great experience to hear from Israel's biggest names firsthand.  Israel is dealing with a large number of complicated issues right now, so I am sure every participant will bring something interesting to the table.

The Jerusalem Conference is to be held at the Jerusalem Great Synagogue.  This picture was taken last summer.

Next Tuesday, I am doing something particularly unique.  A few years back, some of the descendants of my grandfather's village reconnected via Facebook.  The town, called Trochenbrod in what was then Poland and what is today Ukraine, was completely destroyed by the Nazis during the Holocaust.  All of its residents were massacred; out of a population of some 5,000 people, only 200 survived.  This hit my family especially hard because my grandfather was the only one out of ten children to survive.  Through the miracles of social media, the descendants of Trochenbrod found each other at some point in the 2000s.  They organized themselves into a group called Beit Tal, and every year they hold an event to get the descendants together in one place.  One year, the group even went to Ukraine to visit the site of the town (there is nothing left).  This year, Beit Tal is holding a meeting here in Jerusalem.  They are planning on doing a group tour of the City of David followed by a big lunch.  Since I am here in Jerusalem, this is too good of an opportunity to pass up.  How many people can say that they have connected with the decedents of the people their grandfather grew up with?

A meeting of Trochenbrod survivors in 1947.  My grandfather is second from the right in the top row.

That is all I have planned so far.  I am sick right now, though, so I am praying that I feel better by tomorrow!  There is way too much going on to be bedridden for the week.