And now - a message from the shnatties themselves!

Hey Habo Dror you’re a real cool cat!

Finke and Hodar here with Shnat’s very late very first update! We’re currently sat on the walls of the old city of Akko, looking over the sun-drenched port of Haifa, the sparkling Mediterranean and the hustle and bustle of erev Shabbat in the holy land. (Jealous?)

After a wild night to mark the erection of our new XXXL Union Jack, the early morning wake up wasn’t embraced by the entire kvutzah. Nevertheless seven brave shnatties embarked on the long and arduous (15 minute) journey to the world (Israel) renowned Hummus Said (pronounced Sayeed not said). We joined the mile long queue to be seated, which moved remarkably quickly as the welcoming waiter was of course eager to meet his new friends from Habo. The group was divided over whether Hummus Said was the best Hummus in the world of in fact oily cement.

We then had a shmy around the market where we bought a variety of shuk-ey stuff including incense, sahleb cham, freshly squeezed juices and fake flowerbomb perfume. Hodar’s new necklace was ripped to shreds when he foolishly asked a camel-mounted jeweller to repair it. On a meander down a cobbled Akko street we saw a cool hippy-looking shop called The Shop for Meaning. We walked in and in the broadest Leeds accent the woman behind the till chirped ‘’iya!’ Turns out she knew all our ex-habo parents which was just great.

Bananas are my favourite fruit,
but they don’t make banana juice,
so we got fresh squeezed orange juice - from a juice cart.
(poem courtesy of Hod)

The reason why we passed said (pronounced said not Sayeed) cart was because we decided to walk the 4km to the Baha’i gardens. Of course, as a group of British Jews, it was our duty to fail and instead get taxis, which we did with unparalleled success!

Finally we made it to the Baha’i gardens where we slowly wandered through the tranquil gardens. Finke and I also stopped to chat with two Bahai’im of our age, who were doing their year of service in Akko and we found out all sorts about their religion, which I recommend you should Wikipedia when you get the chance. We could go on with elaborate descriptions but we think you’re probably getting bored now and the sun is beginning to set so…


Shabbat Shalom,
Lots of love,
Aleh Ve’Hagshem,

Shnat 10/11