Day 6- Monday, July 13th - Part 2

Tonight were the Opening Ceremonies. These are held in Ramat Gan Stadium which is the national stadium in Israel. It was a sold out event (about 30,000 or so in the stands) and is similiar to what happens with the Olympics. It's shown live on TV with performances by all sorts of Israeli performers. Each country has a marching in uniform just like the Olympics. Ours were a khaki shorts, a blue bowling type of shirt with a fedora type hat.All of the athletes gather together in a big fenced in area about 4 hours or so before the Ceremonies begin. It's pretty neat so see all these Jewish athletes from all these countries from our the world. You have the big countries, USA, England, France, Australia, but then also athletes from Estonia, Peru, Romania, and even Palau. The different delegations are dancing and singing and just having a great time with each other.

About 8pm we marched into the packed stadium.

There was a big stage set up in the middle of the stadium for the performances. And then there is the lighting of the torch.

The big activity at Opening Ceremonies is the starting of the trading of clothes. Everyone looks to trade whatever they're wearing with athletes from other countries. Hats, t-shirts, pants, shorts, jackets, whatever. There are no limits. This activity continues throughout the Games. Whenever you may be walking around town and see another athlete, you look them up and down to see what they're wearing and whether it's worth trading for.