Shabbat in Efrat

This week we had Shabbat Kehilla (Shabbat with a community). We went to Efrat for our Shabbat Kehilla. We were matched up with different host families in Efrat and one person from our program. 

I was with Zmira for the Shabbat. We were matched with a family of 7 in Efrat. The Mother was American and the father, Moroccan Israeli. They told us all about how his father came on Aliyah at the age of 10 from Morocco by himself. 

We went to synagogue for Kabbalat Shabbat at 1 of 30 synagogues in Efrat. 

We had Shabbat dinner with their family (a full Moroccan meal)!  It was a really nice meal. After dinner we walked to where the Tsofim (scouts) meet. We had oneg Shabbat there. We sang songs and did ice breakers with the tsofim.  

After oneg Shabbat, we walked back to their house and went to sleep. 

We had a very relaxing Saturday; walking, sleeping and eating. Later on, we had a program at the Tsofim clubhouse. They had Seudat shlishit (falafel) ready for us and sloach (slow ruach). We had a speaker named Sharon Katz from Efrat who spoke to us about the history of Efrat. 

Efrat is a 'settlement' past the green line, a few minutes from Jerusalem. A rabbi from New York wanted to start a new community outside of Jerusalem in the mid 1980's. 

We participated in havdalah with the scouts in Efrat. It was a really great experience meeting people our age in scouts. Most of the people in scouts spoke English and had American parents. 

We left for Jerusalem right after Havdalah.