Simchat Torah/ Shabbat

Stayed by Sylvia Faham for Simchat Torah. It was nice to be in another Syrian home. Her kids were so cute! They were all raised in Israel and you could tell. They're soooo Israeli.

This is Sylvia's son יחיאל . Cutest mush ever. We bonded over Mr. Potato head and toy cars. 

 I put one of her daughters, Naomi to sleep. I read some Parasha to her in bed. Cutest thing. The holiday was pretty chill. I kinda missed Shaare Shalom. I missed dancing in the women section slash watching the men drunkenly do hakafot. We really have the best shul in Brooklyn ברוךה׳. 

I went to Frieda's room mates apartment for Shabbat. Her family temporarily lives in Israel. It's pretty cool. They lived in a lot of places like Hong Kong, Indonesia, and then NY/NJ. We were like seven girls. Friday night was great we stayed up until 3am. Saturday after lunch we chilled at the Inbal. I felt like such a seminary girl there hahaha. 

So yeah pretty chilled end of vacation. Except for the whole wallet got stolen thing. 

Is this real life?

So I'm in Machane Yehuda with a couple of friends on a really busy Friday afternoon. I buy a plum k cool. I walk another 3 minutes to buy some ground cinnamon. Why isn't my wallet in my bag?! (I actually yelled out at the chashier in Hebrew which was a pretty natural thing so that's a cool side note) 

I retraced my steps maybe 9 times up and down the few stores that I passed. I asked the shopkeepers if they saw anything but no of course not. I started to get worried so I immediately called to cancel my credit card. This was right after I had refilled my Israeli metro card (using my bank card) with a ton of rides to last a month. So ברוךה׳ I was able to cancel that transaction as well. So now I'm missing a few hundred shekel, my metro, my Drivers license, school ID, health Israeli insurance card, and other items. Frieda Benun called me while I was retracing my steps and I told her what happened and that I needed money to get around. She said she'd come right away. I sat down to calm down and read the following.

I didn't have tzedaka to give but I did give like 37 cents that morning because I wanted to get rid of my American coins. 

I went to go meet Frieda. Phone rings. "Hi this is John I found your wallet" Oh my Hashem whattttttt

I ran around to go get it. He was an Israeli religious man with kids. I opened t up right away with the intentions of giving him 20 shek for everything he had done. However, all of my money was gone and so was my transportation card.

 He found my wallet in a bathroom. (So I guess I was pick-pocketed) Whoever stole it took it there and took all of my money and my card. See? Good thing I cancelled it. I didn't even care about the money. I just wanted my ID and everything. How did this man find my phone number? I was certain that it wasn't anywhere in my wallet.

He saw my school ID, called and got my phone # from the secretary. He actually put effort into returning what was mine. 

He and his wife asked me how I was gonna get around for the rest of the day, and they stumped me. (I told Frieda to go without me) They forced me to take some money from them. I have their phone # so I'll mail it back eventually.

The reason I shared this story is because I think a lot can be learned from it.

First of all we can appreciate Israel and it's people. It's really not likely that someone would go through all of that and then wait for me to come pick it up. 

Second, the power of prayer. I prayed that I would find it and I did. Isn't that enough said already? It's a little bit more intense than that for me. See I bought this book called Praying With Fire and you're supposed to read a page a day before tefillah. (I highly recommend it). For the past week or so I got a little bit lazy since I'm on vacation and I skipped a few days. Today taught me not to underestimate the power of prayer. I swear by it. 

Third is friends. Just appreciate. Frieda paused her day for me to come and give me money and help me get around. Sometimes we take Friends for granted and we don't realize how much they do or care about us. Love you Frieda hahah

 It's not the wallet that was driving me nuts. It was the fact that I had it two seconds ago and then it was just gone in a snap. I took this as a small hint from Hashem that things in your life can change within seconds.

I hope you took something away from this 

Peace y'all 

Michmoret? Where's that?

So Chol Hamoed. Reb Frieda and I spent it by my distant cousins that live on a moshav near Netanya. They speak mostly Hebrew so this was a great opportunity for me to practice. A lot of our convos were in ivrit and I picked up on some new words and terms. Woohoo me.

They were really so hospitable. They treated us to lunch and dinner (after arguing in two different languages) which was totally unnecessary. They barbecued on my birthday which was a nice treat and they got me a balloon and cake and sweaters. Sweaters are actually the best thing anyone can buy me right now. Syked for the winter. 

Banana beach. This was literally down the block from where they live. Such paradise. 

The gate to the moshav. We didn't know it was a settlement until a couple of days in. 

The water you see used to be one of those places where the drains to your toilets lead to...if you catch my drift. It was such a shame because all of the animals started to die. After some time a project was started and it was cleaned up in order to bring the wildlife back. Now this area attracts many families. The water is FILLED with catfish and turtles. 

They were the cutest things ever. I was thinking about Finding Nemo the whole time. 

 

Did I forget to mention that the family has 2 dogs, over 20 cats and chickens!?

Sorry about that. Yeah so they have a stunning Labrador which is my dream dog. Rachel's mom Dalia who lives next door eats the chickens eggs. Guess what I just added to my life bucket list? OWN A CHICKEN SO I DONT HAVE TO PUT EGGS ON THE BOTTOM OF THE GROCERY BAG CUZ THEY BREAK EVERY TIME. 

I'm such a tourist but c'mon. This was was taken on the beach down the block. We always have to appreciate the beauty Hashem puts into nature. Day turning into night is really something to see. 

Sponge bob in Hebrew. Nuff said. Shoutout to Emily!! Btw this cat meows like Gary

We went to a Netanya beach for a day. I felt like I was on an Island. Horseback riding was top notch. Since Israelis are super chill they let us gallop. I swear it was such a thrill. That's something they don't let you do in America. 

Classic us running. 

Birthday girl weeee

We got some city bikes and rode around Tel Aviv on my bday. Loved it. We got to see so much

This was Beautiful. Felt like Aventura Florida. 

This is Dror, Rachel's cool husband who took us alllll over. Classic Israeli. He's a runner and works with computers.

He took us to the Old Tachana at night which was so up my alley. There were art galleries and boutiques. We spent hours there. Really loved it. 

Great vacation, fantastic birthday, couldn't of asked for more 

Ra'Ananananananna

Shabbat in Ra'Anana was definataly top. I stayed by the Freuds. Stephanie was my moms room mate in Bar Ilan which is cool. They're from London but they hadvr an apartment in Israel for chagim and the summer. I'm friends with her daughter Saskia and then there are three boys. One is my age, one is about 13 and one is 9. Suchhhhh a funny family. They're soooooo British. Loved it. Friday night after shul was such a social scene wow there were hundreds of kids outside after. Dinner was delicious! They had a three wall succah which was cool. First time I've ever eaten in one. So much less claustrophobic. 

After dinner Saskia and I went out to her friends house which was more socializing. The people there were so chill. They were all a bit older than me and either in the army or in sherut leumi. It's crazy how different our lives are. They're faced with serious situations right and left everyday while I'm shteiging in the beit Midrash and drinking coffee at Aroma.  Think about that. They're defending my country while I'm enjoying it. There's a reason why I got my phone case 

Saturday was chill. We ate by the Freud's family friends who made Aliyah from London a few years ago. The food was crazy!!!!! Loved that family. 

After lunch Saskia and I walked around for over an hour all throughout Ra'Anana. 

Such a beautiful city. The houses were stunning. 

I really loved my stay there. They really wanted me to feel at home and I did! 

Saskia and I. She went back to London today for college. 

Peace out 

Chag by the Tawils

We spent Chag by Miriam Tawil who runs Midreshet Eshel. It's funny because we're friends with her son whoes entering the army soon, since they come to Deal in the summer. 

The family was so happy to have us. I really spent a lot of time with the kids- cutest ever!. I taught the twin girls a ton of games. They're eight years old so they reminded me of David. (Hey Dave) I told Miriam I'd take them to the park one Friday! That's gonna be fun. They're such a handful so I'm hoping I can give Miriam a break lol. Ligit funniest girls. 

Totally bonded with Miriam's husband Saul since he's a runner as well. Always lots of conversation over there. 

I also played settlers with her sons who are 10 and 11 years old. Israelis love that game.

Oh and Lachmegene was fabulous wowwwwwe

Before mincha I went to the Tayelet with Reb and Norma. Here's a picture off of google.

Obviously the beauty of this cannot be captured in a photo

This place is said to be where Avraham Avinu stood when he saw הר הבית for the first time. Chills. 

There were so many Muslims there. Looking out we can see הר המוריה/הר הבית. It was mind blowing to see the Muslims there because when they look out they see their Dome of the Rock (where our בית המקדש is supposed to be- the קדש הקדשים is supposedly directly under the Dome) and appreciate the view just as much as we do. Everyone thinks this land is theirs. It was a bit weird to think about this but at the same time It was peaceful to see Jews and Muslims together side by side in harmony.

We were also able to see the Russian Christian Church in the distance.

 I had some mixed feelings here. I guess this is part of what Israel is about. 

...........

After Chag we went to a Karaoke restaurant. It was all good. Lot of good fun. 

Right now I'm actually on a bus to Ranaana for the weekend. No leg room due to my luggage 

BET YOU CAN'T GET THIS CLOSE TO A STRANGER!!!!

Peace out y'all enjoy your food.

PS one day Chag is awesome. You should come to Israel and try it! 

Brovssss

So I slept by Brovenders all week (excluding Chag) with my Flatbush friends. It was fantastic to all be together!!! Here are some glimpses of what we did on our first few days of vacation 

We went to the biblical zoo on Wed. It was amazing.

Duh. 

יז  וַיַּעַשׂ הַמֶּלֶךְ כִּסֵּא-שֵׁן, גָּדוֹל; וַיְצַפֵּהוּ, זָהָב טָהוֹר.	17 Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure gold. Each animal had a pasuk  next to it. So cool to see how everything is in Tanach! Nature is really  beautiful

Noah's ark! Totally biblical 

I wish the camera was able to capture the beautiful color of the flamingoes. If you didn't know, the more shrimp they eat the more pink they get. 

(Most of us) getting ready for Chag! 

Hope you enjoyed this post. I highly recommend you go visit your local zoo on Chol Hamoed. 

ושמחתה וחגחה!!!!!

Our Spontaneous Day

It's Succot vacation woooo

Ok so this morning some friends and I decided to go hiking. So we found a mountain and went. Like it was such a last minute thing. So glad it worked out 

It was so pretty. Pictures can't do justice

Israel invented drip irrigation!!! Go Israel! 4 for you Israel! 

The agriculture along the way was so nice to see 

We cut open a sabra fruit and ate it. Delish and some people got to make shehechiyanu on it 

Were like inside an under ground well. It was awesome.

It was cool to find stuff without a tour guide or anything. Just a small group of 18 year olds following mile markers that were painted onto rocks (I'm skilled at this thanks to ILEAD) 

I love getting to know our land. THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS DIRT IN ISRAEL. IF YOU THINK YOU'VE SEEN DIRT BEFORE YOU'RE WRONG. IT'S CALLED SOIL

It's a water slide. Just without the water. And it's made out of mountain. 

When you get to the top of a mountain all you want to do it look out and see how much you've accomplished. Such a good feeling. But then you have to hike down lol

Literally mountain climbing. We don't mess around.

(And check Facebook for the rest of the pics.)

I found these etrogim tonight and I thought it was funny. Look at the mama big one. Does it count for הידור מצוה??? Lollll

All white everything.

This is Efrat. I spent my Yom Kippur here. I stayed by one of the directors of school Bracha Krohn. She was like my mommy this weekend. Her house was so cool and so were her husband and kids. Ann dddd she's a really good cook like we ate until we couldn't move.

 To say the least, the 25 hours of Chag were really special for me. We spent weeks in school mentally preparing for this day of teshuvah and a gmar chatima in order to get the most out of it. I know I did. Obviously I can't really write about this topic in depth on my blog because it is something I should write about in a diary but what I can tell you is that I'm pretty sure I made Teshuvah shelema. My machzor was a huge help 

I put so much time and effort into this baby. 

PS Feel free to mail me post its they're so expensive here

Random items in my life

My gym- empty at 7 am

Lady fitness 

I'm soooo shaatraaaa

Chickens. Soon to die. 

One of the bravest sem girls 😉

Me symbolically transferring my sins to a chicken. 

I felt so bad for this poor fellow

Classic music on BenYehuda. 

Kk warning the next picture is gory so ligit don't scroll down if you can't handle it. 

I had to throw dust on the blood and make a Bracha. Yum

Best part is that the chickens are given to families who can't afford food. 

אחרי מות

The Parasha portion we read on Yom Kippur is אחרי מות. It describes סדר עבודה explicitly in relevance to קרבנות (we read it on מוסף) Learning about קרבן תמיד should be like participating In it. We should try and feel like we're actually there doing it. What does this mean? Let me explain. 

On Yom Kippur we bow on the floor 4 times. Why? Well this is why we don't. Jews don't generally kneel because (1) it's like other religions (even though they copied us) (2) ״מפני חטאנו״ - we sinned and now were no longer able to go bow in the בית המקדש בירושלים. Bowing was normal there- since it was destroyed were no longer able to do what was essential. There's no בית המקדש I go to. 

So why on Yom Kippur? Because on this day were virtually in the בית המקדש. So when we get to the words of when the כהן גדול said השם המפורש (Hashem's real name that we don't know) we bowed on the floor. 

When the חזן says השם המפורש we prostrate. This is what kept us alive for 2000 years. We never left the בית המקדש. It's very important to be a part of מוסף. The idea of Yom Kippur is prominent we do a lot of things rooted In this principle.

Side note: We don't bow down on ראש השנה because of this, it's because we're crowning Hashem with כתר המלוכה. There's a difference between Hashem being king because he just is and Hashem being king because we accept him and were pledging allegiance.

ויקרא, פרק טז פסוק ז

ז  וְלָקַח, אֶת-שְׁנֵי הַשְּׂעִירִם; וְהֶעֱמִיד אֹתָם לִפְנֵי יְהוָה, פֶּתַח אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד.

The two goats have to be identical. You put them both on the altar. One goes up to Hashem and one gets thrown off a mountain to die. What does this represent?

In life there are always choices. A million a day. Sometimes you don't even realize you're making a choice. Lets say you go down a road and get to a fork. At the moment you're in that spot, you can go either way. Think carefully with every choice you take. The two animals look the same. There's no objective, logical, rational, reason why each goes its way. But look at the difference! Ones קדש בבית המקדש ביום כיפור and one is destroyed! We can end up קדש or destroying our entire life. The little turn to the way you go can lead to crazy different roads. (Animals don't have a choice but we do)

We need to get people to take their lives more seriously. We can kill an animal בידי צער בעלי חיים once a year for this reason. 

פסוק יז 

יז  וְכָל-אָדָם לֹא-יִהְיֶה בְּאֹהֶל מוֹעֵד, בְּבֹאוֹ לְכַפֵּר בַּקֹּדֶשׁ--עַד-צֵאתוֹ; וְכִפֶּר בַּעֲדוֹ וּבְעַד בֵּיתוֹ, וּבְעַד כָּל-קְהַל יִשְׂרָאֵל 

No one could be in אוהל מועד when the כהן גדול does his עבודה. Why does it say "וְכָל-אָדָם לֹא-יִהְיֶה בְּאֹהֶל מוֹעֵד״ ??

"במקום שאין איש, השתדל להיות איש-

Be a "mentch." The pasuk is (i might want to say-vaguely) alluding to this is too. When no one is around being good- be a man!!! 

פסוק כג

כג  וּבָא אַהֲרֹן, אֶל-אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד, וּפָשַׁט אֶת-בִּגְדֵי הַבָּד, אֲשֶׁר לָבַשׁ בְּבֹאוֹ אֶל-הַקֹּדֶשׁ; וְהִנִּיחָם, שָׁם.

After עבודה the כהן wears regular every day clothing but they also have special clothes for Yom Kippur. At the end of the עבודה he has to remove the בגדי בד and go back to regular clothing. Where does it go? He just leaves them there. --> "והניחם שם״- 

רשי Comments on this

We learn that it was required to bury them in גניזה because they're holy. You don't use them ever again for any other Yom Kippurs. Does this make sense?

This emphasizes how every עבודה has to be new and vibrant. It's not a repeat performance. 

Everything we do in our lives has to be done with meaning.

We pray the same words every day but we have to keep it fresh and spice it up. Put your life and heart into it. It needs vibrance. It was put away and never used again. 

פסוק ל

ל  כִּי-בַיּוֹם הַזֶּה יְכַפֵּר עֲלֵיכֶם, לְטַהֵר אֶתְכֶם:  מִכֹּל, חַטֹּאתֵיכֶם, לִפְנֵי יְהוָה, תִּטְהָרוּ.

Unique sanctity of Yom Kippur. We repeat this line so much. On this day Hashem will forgive us and we'll become pure. "לפני ה׳ תטהרו״ --> 3 words!!

R. Soloveitchik says

So what, we walk in with sin and walk out טהור?

Before Hashem you become pure - literally. If you can really feel Hashem's presence - if you figure out what that means, you ARE in Hashem's presence. 

To the degree, you can put yourself there, it's to that degree, the טהרה will take place. Whatever it is, it is.

Try and feel like you're in the בית המקדש. 

If you made it through this- I hope y'all have a meaningful Tom Kippur. MAKE it meaningful because what you put in, you get out. 

Rollin Rova

The Old City was crazy tonight. It was soooo crowded because everyone's doing selichot

Casual Kumsitz down there. I'm pretty sure that was a shuk way back when

This is THE Rova. All Yeshiva kids chill here and there are some key restaurants there like burgers bar and holy bagel (I order salad of course)

Come here to meet ze cutest boys (so many Brits)

G

Me and my brick of a machzor I lugged around all night. Woot woot thanks mommy and daddy 

Nuuutssss. They're all like little ants. It's crazy to think about how much is going on in one picture like everyone's mind is going nuts from saying סליחות . So picture your own minds inner jumbles times thousands

I hope views like this never become jaded . I always want to think the lights are so pretty

I was thinking about the kotel like one day I go for a bar miz and I'm so happy then I go on tisha beav and I'm so sad and then I come for selichot and I'm scared and nervous slash depressed.

Crazy stuff

I'm a kibbutznick

My experience on Kibbutz Yavne. Where to begin, wow. I thought my friend and I were going to Netanya to stay by her grandmother but it turned out that her program wasn't off for the holiday. So I just stuck it out and joined her program as a guest for the weekend. I'm glad I made that decision. 

Rosh Hashana went well for me. I felt spiritually connected for many reasons (one of them being my machzor filled with notes). 

Dinner was served in a huge dining room with everyone on the kibbutz. Sitting at the dinner table made me feel a bit homesick. It was an Ashkenaz kibbutz so they're minhagim are different. They don't do the simanim that my family does back home. 

The days on the kibbutz were really relaxing. I got along with the kids on the program. Such chillers. And some of the kids were just hilarious. 

We did Tashlich in the zoo that the kibbutz has. It's called Noah's Ark lol. I walked up to the goat pen afterword to find ten year old boys milking them. Living on the kibbutz comes with responsibilities. Everyone has to help out from 5th grade and up. So these kids had to numb the goats udders and attach some tube to it which extracts the milk. It was so freaken weird to watch these little boys successfully do something like this. They were in charge. There was no one supervising them to make sure that they were doing it right. It's like their regular job. 

I got my own taste of this. I guess one of the madrichim on the program though that I was a typical JAP in seminary (which I'm not, right?!) so he put me on kitchen duty. Basically I was part of the group of people thy had to clean up the entire dining room and set it up for the next meal. This was the most organized ordeals I have ever participated in. These Israeli kibbutznicks have everything figured out down pat. Even a little eight year old girl was cleaning and she knew exactly what to do and what goes where. 

Saturday I got to eat with a family that lives on the kibbutz. So basically a family adopts a kid from my friends program for the year and they invite them over for meals. Home cooked food was amazing even though it wasn't even stuff I was used to. And that's saying a lottttttt. 

The whole lunch was in Hebrew so I was tuning in and out but I was impressed with myself for catching on as much as I did. We spoke about the army a lot since the oldest children were 18-21 and currently in the army. It's crazy how much more mature Israeli kids are than us spoiled Americans. They're faced with life or death situations and are given powerful positions at such young ages. They're in the real world and truth, I don't think we are. We have everything handed to us on a silver platter and they work their butts off for hours on base. So that was an eye opening experience. 

 Happy New Year, Shavuah Tov and have a meaningful Tzom Gedaliah tomorrow (Sunday)

Ruth and I. We've been friends for the past 4 years. She's from LA. How'd we meet? Oh we met on a cruise on winter vacation yeah no big deal. The world is so small 

Oh PS on the bus ride back to jeru I reunited with kids I remember from my 3rd grade class that moved to Florida. (Yaakov and Rena Stern- remember them mom???)

THE WORLD IS SO SMALL

kk לילה טוב

Torah Reading day 2 Rosh Hashana

So as we all know, Hashem commanded Avraham to send up his child as a sacrifice. After praying so hard to have a child Avraham is told to give him up and he's happy to do it to serve Hashem.

But what was the purpose of the test? For Hashem to see what Abraham is going to do? That doesn't make sense. 

Hashem tested Avraham like this so that Avraham can grow from it. He wants him to realize what he can do. As a result of Hashem's test, Avraham was able to perform an action which he didn't know he was capable of. 

The word נסיון can either be translated as test or miracle. 

If a miracle takes place, it shows us that Hashem exists. By seeing these things we realize what we can and should do. Avraham is now held up because it shows us an example of בתחון ואמונה with Hashem. So Hashem tested or held up Avraham as a banner to show us how to serve Him. 

On Rosh Hashana we should feel ready willing and able to accept Hashem in as king and in a sense sacrifice ourselves. 

Torah Reading Day 1 Rosh Hashana

The first Torah reading on Rosh Hashana is about the birth of יצחק. 

Abraham was praying for all of the women in his community who weren't able to have babies. They were all healed. Including Sarah. 

What do we learn from this?

Anyone who prays for mercy for someone else, and for themselves as well will have their prayers answered first. (Of course this cant be done with ulterior motives- it has to come from sincere emotion) It's a מידה כנגד מידה. This means that Hashem relates to us individually in the same manor we relate to other people. (For example, if you give people the benefit of the doubt, Hashem will do the same for you)

When יצחק was finally born Sarah said "וַתֹּאמֶר שָׂרָה--צְחֹק, עָשָׂה לִי אֱלֹהִים:  כָּל-הַשֹּׁמֵעַ, יִצְחַק-לִי."

At first, I thought this meant that Sarah was thinking that people were going to make fun of her for having a baby at such an old age.          Wow look at Sarah an old lady walking down the street with a baby carriage.

 Later on I came to realize that the word צחק here means to rejoice. בני ישראל is going to be happy for her and share in her simcha. Why? Not just because that's how it should be. The day Sarah gave birth was so busy. Every woman was in labor, people were sick and many people's תפילות were answered that day. Everyone was full of rejoice because everyone had their own simcha in their own homes. 

When Sarah was praying, she was praying for everyone. Us as a nation are responsible for praying for each other. It's not that you're a nice guy if you pray for someone else, it's actually bad if you don't. We have to be the people who do those things. On Rosh Hashana, not only are we welcoming Hashem in as the מלך but we are also praying for our nation as a whole. 

Tryin things

So I tried out Selichot the other night even though I'm not Ashkenaz (cuz like, I'm sketch). Sephardim are supposed to do it early in the morning but I went for the experience (at one in the morning) and it was nothing like I expected. And yes, I did gain from it. 

Not to get into too much detail here but I was happy I randomly signed up for something I've never done before just for the experience. Doing things like these is what is going to help me live my year here to the fullest. I'm so excited to look back at all of the new things I've tried over the year.

Another new idea is being sentimental with my Sepharim. For example, today I bought a ton of books I need for my classes. I'm going to be learning from these books all year. They are some of my tools to grow. 

So basically I bought Hebrew/English Machzorim for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur and I decided to take it to the next level in order to have the most meaningful holidays I can have. I started to take notes on post it's so I can have more כוונה and understanding when I read things I only see once a year. It's good to go over it from before so that your intentions are sincere.

Obvs my friends made fun of me for being super shtark and chillin in the Beit (not BEIS!) Midrash during lunch break. Hahaa 

But honestly I am really looking forward to start off the New Year with this new comprehension of what these days are actually about.

To be continued...

Shabbos by the Princes

Shabbat by the Princes was great. I'm literally obsessed with their family. The best part about spending Shabbat at a different house is the great opportunity to take notes on what kind of atmosphere I want to create when I בעזרת-ה׳ raise my own family. So obviously I took a lot of notes but here's one I'd like to share. 

The back of their house is a dining room. It's just for Shabbat and that's it. During the rest of the week the doors are closed. But when I think about it, I have the same thing. We only eat in there on Shabbat. So what made this room different than mine? There was just some sort of רוח coming from inside and I really felt the presence of שבת קודש there as we lit candles and made the Beracha. 

I'm not saying that I don't have a dining room in my house that we do Shabbat meals in, I'm just trying to emphasize how important Shabbat is. We leave out one day a week to rest and its really beautiful. The idea of separation. Separate silver wear, special candles, special foods, and a special room. It's really a big part of what makes Shabbat so enjoyable.