You've got to pay for your dinner

I've been a wanderer as of late, been roaming around Israel taking it all in loving every minute, serving god with joy and not wasting a moment. I took a trip to Tel Aviv last weekend before stopping off in Jerusalem for the night and then heading up to Zefat the next day. Now I'm back in Jerusalem likely headed back to Tel Aviv. In Tel Aviv I had a relaxing long weekend, it mostly consisted of sitting on the beach, listening to the waves crash against the shore. We went out and I remembered how much I hate that scene, how ridiculous it is and how happy I am that I've found something so much better to do with my time. It was a good few days and it helped me reorganize my priorities. I also got to watch some March Madness which was a big deal for me, there are a lot of things that I don't mind being away from while I'm here, a lot of sacrifices I've made. And I'm okay with that but I like sports and won't give it up, don't see why I would ever need to. I was talking with one of my closest friends back home, the baseball season is starting, they're all going to a Met's game soon, and I feel that pang of loss it might sound dumb and certainly I miss my family more, miss being with them on holidays and just hanging out but its something like that that really brings the distance home to me. So it was nice for me to hangout with some friends and watch basketball. When I got back to Jerusalem I was actually happy to be back and went to a few classes the next day before getting on a bus and heading up to Zefat, I went up there to check out a different yeshiva named Shalom Rav. Its this crazy little place, the Rosh Yeshiva there is an amazing guy and my talks with me over the course of the day were inspiring. So the yeshiva was great its definitely right up my alley and one of the few places I've looked at that I could imagine myself at, I also had a chance to check out Livnot it's a volunteer organization, and I'm thinking I might go help them out for a week during the break, all you have to do is walk into their office and tell them you want to help and they give you a bed. In Zefat they're doing excavations of buildings covered in the last earthquake. So its pure manual labor but I think it could be a lot of fun. Not to mention its important to me to do something to help physically change the Land of Israel, its given me so much that I feel like I should return the favor and this could be a great opportunity to do so. What constantly amazes me about these trips I take is how, when you start looking for it, and praying for it god's hand becomes truly real and obvious in the world. For instance my friend and I went to eat dinner, we got delicious chicken sub sandwiches and walked out without paying. Neither of us even realized this until the next morning when we were eating breakfast, after paying for it we had two shekel's change which we threw into the charity box. After having a debate about what to do about last nights dinner we but decided we needed to pay, as we reasoned it out, one way or the other we we're bound to and so we walked down the road and paid. The owner was in shock that we would come down and when we came up two shekel's short he waved us off. Now thats not much and it's also not a mind blowing experience, but when you begin to train your mind to see these things, its amazing how easy god allows us to see his works. I can point to many bigger crazier things happening that are for me have been pivotal in my return to god. But its important to appreciate the little moments, god is in the details after all. Shalom Aleichem.