Over the weekend, I stayed with Ori Bar-Shalom and her family. Going into the mifgash, I was expecting the family to know perfect English and to eat falafel and hummus every night. None of this was true the moment I stepped into her house. Ori, her mother, and one of her sisters know English very well, and her other sister and father didn’t speak any English. The language barrier really got the way as I was trying to get to know Ori’s family. However, during the week, I managed to pick up a lot of Hebrew and I tried to communicate with her father to try to get to know him as much as possible. I continuously thought about how useful it is to know Hebrew especially in this setting. As the language barrier came down, I was able to learned what their daily life was like. We ate food, played games, told stories, went swimming, etc. I came to realize how much Ori and I have in common. One thing that we didn’t have in common was the way we spend Shabbat. I myself am a reform Jew, lighting candles and eating challah is a huge part of my Jewish identity. Ori is orthodox and carries those same traditions, however, also doesn’t use technology, and says Kiddush three times over Shabbat, and sleeps a ton during the day. At home, during my Saturday, I’musually driving to my friends house, using my phone for music, and not sleeping during the day. Her way of life every Shabbat is far from my reality. In the end, I learned that although we have some differences, it’s our similarities that tie us together. Maybe if everyone were open minded towards other communities that aren’t their own like the secular and the orthodox, or the Jews and the Arabs, they would see that they aren’t so different after all.