From Ariel Rubinstein:

Upon arriving in San Francisco, we traveled to the heart of the city where we found our hotel. The Mosser Hotel was unlike anything we stayed in so far. It is a European style hotel in which most of the rooms share a bathroom with the hall and the rooms are much smaller. But the hotel does have it’s advantages. One of which is it’s location. Since Carlton dropped us off and began driving to Chicago where he would meet us on Sunday, we had to navigate the city on our own, the hotel was centrally located to much of the city. Additionally, the feel of the hotel started to grow on all of us.

We went to dinner together at the Metreon and then we followed in the footsteps of Jack Kerouac and the Beatniks by walking to City Lights Bookstore. City Lights was the first paperback bookstore in American and it is where many of the Beats wrote and sold their writings.

We began the next day by meeting with the San Francisco A.I.D.S. Foundation. They showed us a timeline of A.I.D.S. in America and we discussed the politics surrounding fighting the epidemic. We also discussed the possibility of if A.I.D.S. had originally impacted a different group of people would we have had a quicker response. This brought us back to our theme of California, power; who has it and who doesn’t.

After that meeting we caught the subway to Berkeley where we had free time to explore Telegraph Avenue, eat and shop. We then headed to the campus of UC Berkeley where we met with David Smith, the Founder and Director of Mobilize America’s Youth. We discussed the People’s Power Movement that originated on the steps we were sitting on. David also helped us explore ways in which we can become more politically active and make our voices count. Needless to say, after this meeting, many of us are inspired and eager to get involved in our communities.

After Berkeley, we went to Chinatown and explored their neighborhood as well as had dinner. We then went to what we assumed would be a typical Friday Night Service. But what many of us failed to realize was that nothing is ever typical on Etgar 36. We attended services at a neighborhood synagogue led by Rabbi Michael Lerner who is also affiliated with Tikkun Magazine. Rabbi Lerner began the service by leading a discussion on the current situation with Israel and Lebanon. Many of us were a little shocked to hear a Rabbi talk about the situation from such a left wing stance. Rabbi Lerner went back through history to talk about ways that Israelis may not have treated Palestinians so well and that has helped cause the current situation. We had a good give and take discussion and many of us agreed to disagree. We then began to pray together. We were encouraged to grab tambourines and other instruments as well as get up and dance during the prayers. Just when we were convinced that our experience could not get any more unique, we found ourselves dancing outside in the neighborhood streets with the Rabbi, a fully functioning band and a dozen of the regular congregants. Needless to say, it was the most fun I have had at a Friday Night Service.

The next day we walked from our hotel to the Public Library to meet with a man named Leon Veal. Leon learned to read at the age of 44. After hearing his moving and inspirational story, we all came to realize how extraordinary people can be. For example, the woman who devoted just one hour a week to teach Leon to read and write made such a difference in his life and in ours because now he is educating us as well as others.

After saying goodbye to Leon we went into the Castro District. The Castro is home to the largest Gay population in America. We had lunch at Pasta Pomodoro which closed down or us and then had time to look around the neighborhood. Then it was time to take a boat ride around the San Francisco Bay. We saw the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, and some beautiful views of the city. Once we got off the boat, we walked through Fisherman’s Wharf and into Ghiradelli Square where we all got our chocolate fix.

Then it was time for our final wrap up as half the group was going home the next day. We sat in Yerba Buena Gardens park and each person got to discuss their feelings about what they had seen, witnessed and learned during the first 3 weeks. In the middle of our sharing, an older gentleman walked up to our circle and asked us who we were. He introduced himself to us as Osirus and began to recite poetry for us. His free form poetry really summed up our entire Etgar 36 journey. The Etgar 36 journey is not all about what we plan, rather, its about the unexpected events and the incredible people you meet while on the road!