The free Shabbat was really awesome!  At my house, we had a big Friday night dinner with eight fellows at my house.  We then spent the evening playing some board games and card games.  Then all of the guys went to one house and spent the night together, while some of the girls did the same at another house.  Then during the day on Saturday, since we were keeping Shomer Shabbat, we spent the morning together and rested.  Then in the afternoon, we decided to walk to lake Michigan.  On our way to the lake, we had to walk through Fort Sheridan and it was really fun to show the Israelis the different architecture and the history behind the old fort.  Finally we got to the lake, skipped some rocks on the water, and just had some real human conversation.  I think the best part about the Shabbat was the bonding that came out of it.  Since we (the Americans) don’t normally keep Shomer Shabbat, we found it extremely nice to not have any electricity and especially our phones.  By not having any of these distractions we were able to learn more about each other and just spent time breaking the barriers that we may of had when we first met.  I want to end with a quote that I feel describes the Shabbat and the whole week, “Truly great friends are hard to find, difficult to leave, and impossible to forget.” - Unknown"

-- Ben Zavell