Toledo and Shabbat

bridge entering Toledo

Me and Clare

On Friday the 16th IES took us to Toledo. It is only about a 45 minute drive from Madrid! It was a beautiful pueblo with great historic buildings and a big bridge separating the pueblo from the outside world. We saw the famous El Greco painting: El Entierro del Conde de Orgaz. Papa Bill actually told me to be on the lookout for it. When we went into a few other churches, there were even more Greco and Carvaggio paintings. (El Greco lived in Toledo for a significant part of his life.) Our tour guide took us to three main sites: at the first two, which were both churches, she talk and talked about the buildings and the history of the catholics and the Muslim influences. They were beautiful buildings--very intricate architecture. We then walked through tiny cobblestone streets to the famous synagogue of Toledo. She pointed out that when the Jews were explused they changed the synagogue into a church, and the steeple is actually still on top of the building. When we got inside the building she asked if anyone in our group is Jewish. I raised my hand, and she said maybe I can explain some of the Jewish history to the group because she didn't know much. It was cool to walk around inside the synagogue, but I hope to return back someday with family or with friends when I have more time to read about the Jewish influence on the town at the time.



Sinagoga El Transito

The Ark in the Synagogue

Calle Shmuel Levi

After the tours, I went to an Italian restaurant with Taylor, Clare, Lauren, Megan, and Ceci. The food was delicious and we had a really interesting conversation. Afterwards, we made an essential pitstop at a chocolatería where I bought chocolate covered almonds and Ceci bought what looked like dog biscuits. It was a beautiful town and a very cool place to visit.


Me and Deidre

Group of IES kids



We returned to Madrid just in time for me and Deena to make it to La Comunidad Judía Madrid (CJM) for shabbat dinner. We later found out that it was the first of the year, and they offer it every shabbat! In the basement of the shul, Deena and I sat near Rob, from London, and Sophie, from Scotland. I don't remember the girl's name who sat on my other side, but she was from Perú. Farther down the table there were Israelis. The food wasn't so good--all we were served were cucumbers and small pieces of a steak-like substance with olives. (Rob and I discussed how all Spaniards think we are so weird because neither of us like olives.) It didn't matter really that the food wasn't so good, because I met so many awesome people. After dinner and birkat hamazon, the rabbi whipped out bottles of tequila, rum, and various drinks to mix with! While I had a drink, I met Brianna from California, Jean-David from Paris, May from Israel, and Ilay and Bahar from Turkey. After a few drinks, we all went out to a live music bar called Honkey Tonk! On Sunday, I had a picnic at Retiro park with all of these new friends. The Turks cooked amaaazing Turkish food, and we also had cheese and crackers and wine and chocolate. Yum!