​            I think Abraham hostel may be great for the students: big clean rooms and big hanging out spaces. Can walk to trendy restaurants, the Levinsky market and centrally located. Today I will check out first hand how "central" I find it.
            Last night, after a long almost 2 days of travel and one train I took the wrong way, I had the privilege of having dinner with friend and colleague Rabbi Efrat Rotem and her fiancé Ophira. They are getting married in July. They will have a big ceremony here and then will legally marry in the US where Ophira is working on her PhD in Anthropology (University of Illinois, Champagne/Urbana) and when they're back in Israel, the country will recognize them as married but only when they bring lack their legal certificate from the US. Although I will no longer be in Tel Aviv on Friday, Tel Aviv celebrates Pride this weekend. This year we can hope for legal marriage for the LGBT community in Israel. Efrat is the rabbi of a small progressive synagogue that is associated with Beit Daniel in Tel Aviv. Her congregation attracts many "secular" Jews and this coming weekend she will officiate at a Bar Mitzvah. Alas I will be singing my heart out in Jerusalem and will miss it. You can't do everything. Dinner with friends was a wonderful welcome to Israel.
            I had a wonderful sleep and am leaving soon for the Diaspora Museum and a meeting with a potential educator for our 2017 trip. I'll keep you posted....