A Firey Celebration of Lights

 Hey Everybody,

Last time I checked in was Tuesday afternoon. Channukah was on its way and it looked as though a  pretty low key week was in my future. To say the least, that didn't happen. This post is going to be quite long, but I'll have some visuals to make it more fun.

On Wednesday morning, a group of roughly 10 of us woke up my newly 18-year-old roommate to a rousing version of happy birthday. We had purchased some sparklers, and when we lit them, the sparks popped some of the balloons that we had scattered her bad as she slept (it is not as creepy as it sounds). It was really entertaining, though she looked as though she was going to kill us for waking her up before her alarm.

That day was a very long day though. I went to school and got mind-blown in my Philosophy class as our teacher explained how morality and mortality are related just as immorality and immortality (G-d) are related. It was the most mindblowing thing ever. If you want me to try to explain it to you, I'm sorry. Read Derida and see if that helps. After a long break, I had a double session of my Holocaust class since my teacher is missing a class tomorrow. While spending 3 hours of class time on issues surrounding life in the Holocaust is normally a less than exciting experience, we all got a really cool break between the two hour and a half sessions: we walked into the lobby area outside of the classroom only to see a group of roughly 15 people standing around a Chanukiah waiting for a bunch of people to show up so they could light the chanukah candles and sing songs for the holiday. After we lit the candles, we ate Sufganiot (fried jelly donuts) that they gave out for free. As a side note: if you have never eaten a sufganiah, GO TO ISRAEL DURING THIS TIME OF YEAR, GO TO ANY BAKERY ANYWHERE, AND BUY 500 OF THEM. THEY ARE TRULY THE MOST DELICIOUS (albeit fattening as hell) THINGS IN THE WORLD. After class ended, I came home, went out for sushi to celebrate my roommates birthday, and went to bed.

Thursday was a very mixed day as I had a great day, but a HUGE natural disaster began in Israel. After school, I got to see the Hillel theater's production of one of my all time favorite show: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Many Nativers were in the show, so getting to cheer them on during opening night was a lot of fun, especially since I know virtually all the words to the show. However, as soon as we turned on our phones at the end of the show, we saw a text from the director of our program telling us that a huge fire had begun in the North of Israel and 40 people had been killed while over 10,000 people were evacuated. The experience of celebrating a holiday commemorating candles burning while the north of Israel was simultaneously burning was pretty intense. For those of you who don't know about this fire, just look it up on google. Only today (77 hours after the fire began burning) did the firemen say that it was under control. International help from nearly 10 different countries were also required for the operation.

Shabbat was very uneventful. Friday during the day I didn't do anything really exciting as I just rested, learned the service that I would be leading that night, and (after dinner) took a walk around our area with a friend of mine. Saturday was equally uneventful. We spent literally all morning praying (since Hannukah services on Shabbat are REALLY long), and I spent the afternoon speaking with a representative of New Frontier USY, the region I would have been in had I not been a part of BBYO. While I expected the conversation to last all of 20 minutes, it wound up taking roughly two and a half hours. We talked about USY vs. BBYO, the conservative movement, life, and almost everything in between. It was a very cool moment.

Saturday night was absolutely amazing. After havdallah, the Kibbutz group had a latke making party. A group of four of us began prep, and it was really interesting to see how much our family traditons for cooking a very traditional Jewish food varied. Two of us believed that the potatoes and onions needed to be grated; one girl was sure that everything ahd to be blended together to remove all texture and fun from her latkes; one boy decided that the ingredients had to be chopped by hand. Thus, in our little bomb shelter kitchen, all three methods were used. Ultimately, the grater people won (pun intended).

As the whole group started showing up, everyone joined the party and helped prep food. We had people working the four different hot plate fry pans, making more batter, and providing moral support. Someone also brought down an iPod, so naturally, a dance party in the kitchen ensued. I can't possibly describe the feeling of having a dance party to awkward bar-mitzvah-party music while prepping and cooking latkes. It was among the most fun nights we've had in a very long time. Here are some pictures of the night.

The Graters and the Choppers

Part of the Kibbutz Dance Team

Before

After

A member of team grater (shown on the left) expresses his opinion on the blended latkes.

The one on the left is one of my roommates...

After that, a few friends and I went out to an area with a few bars and had an experience that can truly happen only in Israel. A man who sells grilled corn to people walking around the busy street handed us a candle and a lighter and told us to find people to light candles with to do the mitzvah right outside his stand. We looked across the way and noticed a little glass box with some oil candles set up. Naturally, we lit the candles, said the blessings, and sang Chanukkah songs for a good while. The strangest part of this story, strangely enough, is that we got very few strange looks. During the Channukah season in Israel, almost everything involving a Chanukkiah is fair game. 

This morning, I got to learn about the Channukah story in a very direct way: I learned about it from the book of Macabbees at the site of the battles. Led by our program's assistant director, a group of roughly 20 people hopped on a bus this morning to set out for an area outside the newest Israeli city of Modiin, the area where the Maccabeen revolt happened. He walked us to a viewpoint, took out a bible, and proceeded to read us accounts from the book of Joshua and the book of Macabees (which is not actually in the Hebrew bible). He supplimented his reading with phrases like "in this valley" and "by the hills over there" in a way that really gives meaning to 'Nes Gadol Haya Po" (a great miracle happened here) as opposed to "Nes Gadol Haya Sham." (a great miracle happened there). Goys, I'm sorry. We also went into remains of one of the ancient cities that a specific battle was fought in. There, I ate my first freshly picked carobs, and we continued talking about the history of the place that we were standing in. It was a pretty surreal experience, and all of us felt a stronger attachment to the story after seeing the land itself.

The city seen here is the city of Modi'in, where I spent Shabbat a few weeks ago. The valley is talked about in the book of Joshua.

The Maccabee army did a lot of its fighting in the hills on the upper right hand side of this picture.

This used to be a part of the aquiduct used in an ancient city whose name has escaped my mind at this moment. Up until roughly 20 years ago, Israel had water running through the area, but due to drought and the lack of water in the region, they stopped.

This afternoon, our group went to volenteer at an old age home to bring them some channukah cheer, but due to issues with public transportation and finding room on buses for 60 people, about 15 of us missed most of it. Afterward, I went out to dinner with a friend and his mother who treated a group of nearly 20 to some of the best food I've had since getting to Israel.

This week, there is quite a bit to look forward to (I'm going back to join the Women of the Wall on Wednesday), and I'm sure the end of Channukah will be quite cool here also. I'll keep you posted as things happen. Until then, Chag Sameach, and I'll check in soon!

Becca