Questions from our viewers

1. The "really cool minyan which is basically full of really religious hippies that dance around the whole time" on the first day of Rosh Hoshanah - Is this a conservative congregation? or Lubavitch? What makes them different?----- It was an orthodox minyan. It was only different because that is the personalities of the people there, and the Rabbi there. There is nothing specifically different that they do religiously other than more dancing. Not a huge difference, just really cool.
2. You talked about a neighborhood that I love going through where the buildings all have some blue in it. How were they all blue? Were they painted blue? Did they have blue stones or tiles? Why do you think they look like this?------ It was mostly trim on the houses. Just asked my roommate who knows a lot more about colors and what not. In Kabbalistic tradition, the color blue protects you from the evil eye.
3. On the first day of Rosh Hoshana, for the afternoon and evening services, you went with a friend his grandparents' shul and then to their house for dinner. Are the grandparents Israeli? or did they emigrate to Israel? How long have they been living there? Do they or did they work there? What made them choose to live in Jerusalem?------ His grandparents are from the states, but have been living in Israel for about 30 years now. I can't remember what his grandmother does, but his grandfather is a real estate agent. I don't know, but I would assume they chose Jerusalem because it is the religious center.
4. On the Second day, you to Baaka Shyvuni. "It had a mechitza, but was still egalitarian." What is a mechitza? Is it a curtain or wall down the middle? How can you have this and still be egalitarian? Did women participate in leading the service? Did they read torah? How big was this group? Why do you call it a minyan and not a shul?------A mechitza is a separation of men and woman. There it was just a curtain, but in other places it can be different. A minyan can have a mechitza but still be egalitarian, simply by allowing woman participation, but still separating the genders. There was a lot of woman leading and I believe only women read torah. It was a group of about 100 people including kids. I call it a minyan because a minyan and a shul are not the same thing. A shul is another name for a synagogue which is simply the religious building for prayer, whereas a minyan is simply the name for the group praying. For example, this service was in a school gym.
5. Your host's husband "runs a winery in Golan Heights, so obviously we had AMAZING wine for lunch." What kind of wine? Red or white or both? Sweet or dry? Why do you think you enjoyed it so much? Where is Golan Heights? Is it near Jerusalem? Can you visit the winery?-----For Rosh Hashanah he gave us both red and white wine. I don't know enough about wine to say why we enjoyed it as much as we did, but we have had enough wine while here to be able to recognize wine we do and do not like. Golan Heights is in the north. We probably could visit the winery, but I don't foresee us doing so.
6. After was a quiche, carrot cake muffin kugel type food, and 3 different types of salad. Were they vegetarian? or was it a dairy meal for a specific reason?-----They were not vegetarian, but it was a dairy meal partially because one of the people I went with is a vegetarian, but also because they were having a meat meal for dinner with other friends and wanted to only have one that day.
7. On the second night, you went to Scott's friends for another great dinner. Who is Scott? Where is he from? How does he know people in Israel?----- Scott is one of my friends on Nativ. He is from a suburb of Boston. He knows some people from having spent sophomore year here. Also, from staffing a program during part of his senior year. He knew this person because they were staff at one of the Ramah camps, and this person is at school in Israel. 
8. What was it like to be in Jerusalem for Yom Kippur?-----Amazing. Seeing so many people in white, and having the city literally shut down for an entire day was one of the coolest experiences ever.

Future note. If people have questions, don't wait for my mom to send me a million (there were some I didn't answer). Feel free to e-mail me or contact me some other way and feel free to ask.