Israel: Thurs, Part 2 - Simchat Torah in Kiryat Ekron

After the birthday party, we walked to the neighborhood synagogue for Simchat Torah, another Jewish holiday. On the way there, we were told that the celebrations wouldn't start for another hour. While we were waiting, we went with Ilana's family to see her new apartment in Rehovot (slightly larger town 10 minutes away.) Aviva got in some snuggle time with Ilana.
After touring the apartment, we walked a few blocks away to another synagogue, only to find out that there would be no celebrations there. Strike two.

Since we really wanted to see the celebration in Israel, we piled into two taxis and went back toward Kiryat Ekron, and stopped at a big synagogue. Success!

Even though we didn't get there until about 7:30 pm, it was like a carnival! There was dance music pumping through loudspeakers and children running everywhere with handfuls of popcorn and cotton candy. One father was helping his daughter climb the pole in the middle of the plaza.


This clip is a bit long, but you can see first a pan over the whole outdoor plaza, then a group of teenage boys starting to dance, and then the Torahs being carried into the plaza. The first group of dancers was all men and boys, and there was a group of girls and women dancing inside, but you can see a woman and some kids touching the Torah in the clip.



Aviva did look up at the music a bit, but she was having a terrific time playing in the dirt. It might be difficult to tell in this photo, but she is still wearing her poofy party dress.