Annoynaces of Shabbat

On Shabbat, the country shuts down. No stores, no shops, no businesses are opened. You can spy the religious walking to synagogue with their eight kids. All is quiet on the streets of Jerusalem during Shabbat. It is very peaceful. The only thing that can be heard from my apartment is the occasional bark from the dogs and a maybe a few startling meows. Shabbat gives people a chance to just relax. To see family. To enjoy the day. With no responsibilities until sundown, it gives Jews a 24 hour period to just enjoy life.

However.

If you need medication you have to wait until sundown. If you need to see a doctor, but it's not an emergency, you need to wait until the next day. I recently got an infection in my eye. I knew exactly what it was and I knew exactly what I needed. But I had to wait over 36 hours to see a doctor and get medication and because of this, I had to miss work and the eye became more irritated. If the doctor's office had been opened on Shabbat, I could have gotten the medication that day and not missed work the next day thus pleasing my boss and putting her on my good side.

Because Shabbat is a day off, people like to enjoy themselves by going places around the city. However because most stores and tourist places are closed, it is not possible to do this unless you know specific places. Like the Hermon.

I went to the (Mt.) Hermon a few weeks ago. Because it is a National Reserve, it is opened everyday. Here, I learned to ski. Not in Massachusetts. Not in the Alps. Or the Rockies. Or in any of the ski resorts that I have been to for hiking. Nope. I learned to ski in the desert. I think if I had learned to ski when I was younger it would have been more enjoyable, but because it was my first time skiing, I fell down a lot. Plus it was a long drive there so we were all tired and it took a lot of energy to balance and stay up right. I've also been to and seen better, more exciting mountains. I'm sure it's exciting to speed down a mountain, but I'd rather stick to the hiking and watch the view at a normal place. The Hermon is a mountain that you have to see. Just like you have to see the Kotel. However, the Hermon is one of those places that is good to go to every ten years.