Hey Everybody,
Last time I checked in was on Sunday, when I had just finished my first of two tests and was mentally preparing for the fact that I was going to be leaving Jerusalem on Thursday. Well, now it's Thursday.
Over the last few days, I've finished all of my tests, written all of my papers, and lastly, I packed up my whole room. It's kind of cool to be flying to Europe exactly four months after I got on a plane to take me to Israel to begin what will undoubtedly be one of the most meaningful adventures of my life. In the last four months, I've seen a lot of things, met a lot of people, learned a lot about myself, learned a lot about Judaism and the Jewish people, and completely fallen head over heels in love with Israel. Jerusalem has been an amazing backdrop for this adventure of personal and religious discovery, and it saddens me greatly to think of not living here anymore, but I am confident to say that with Jerusalem, I never really say goodbye--more of a "see you soon."
I'll outline you guys on my travel plans just so you have a vague idea of what I'll be up to. I have no idea what kind of internet access I'll have while in Europe, so I make no promises as far as how much (if at all) I'll be able to post, but I promise a really epic post when I get back.
In just a few hours, I will be stepping on a bus to take me to the Airport in Tel Aviv, and from there, I'll be flying to Madrid. I'm going to spend three nights in Madrid, including New Years (which happens to be falling on Shabbat). My friends and I will be giving the Chabad in Madrid a visit, and I'm pretty excited for that as I'm very interested to see what Judaism looks like in a very not Jewish country. We will then be spending two nights in Seville, two nights in Cordoba, and one night in Barcelona.
On the morning of the 7th, I'm getting on a plane at the crack of dawn in Barcelona and flying to Rome (!!!!!!!!!!) to meet a different group of people. I was in no way involved with creating the itinerary, and consequently, I know what we're going to be doing there. What I do know, however, is that we'll be going to Chabad over Shabbat there, so I'll get to compare that with the Chabad in Madrid.
I fly back home on the 11th, adn will be in Jerusalem for a week or so before going down to the south for a seminar with my program, and starting February 2, I will officially be a Kibutznik!
That's what I'm up to for the next month, and I will do my best to check in as often as I can (hopefully with a lot of picture). Until next time, have a good (and safe) New Years, and I can't wait to talk to you all in 2011.
Becca
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Sunday, December 26, 2010
West Bank Weekend, Finals Week and An Anti-Climactic Christmas
Hi Everybody,
Last time I checked in was more than a week and a half ago, making this the longest time I've gone without posting. It's been absolutely insane here because of finals and the fact that the internet at my building has died, so I'm writing this post from the library at Hebrew U. This post is going to be long, I don't have any pictures, so do with it what you will. I'm not going to shorten it because I have more to talk about, so skim around if you want to save yourself time.
I'll start with last Thursday (the 16th). After school, I hung out with some friends for a while, but Thursday night was very cool. I went to the Science Museum and the Israel Museum FOR FREE with one of my staff members and a friend. I had already been to the science museum, so I won't talk about it, but the Israel museum was insane. First off, it's massive. When I say massive, I truly mean massive. In roughly an hour and a half there, we saw about two thousand exhibits, ranging from art, to photography, to a super slow motion video of a bullet going through and exploding a hanging pomegranate. While large portions of the Museum were closed (since it was open late and they weren't charging anything), I still feel like I saw some incredible things. If you're ever in Jerusalem, go.
As I mentioned in my last post, I was going to spend the weekend with Yehuda Katz, a longtime student of the late Shlomo Carlebach (for those of you who don't know who he is, he is the guy who wrote the melodies for a HUGE amount of prayers Jews sing during services). I was very, very excited for it, and to say the least, it was not what I expected it to be.
On Friday, my friend and I got to the central bus station knowing which bus number we needed to catch, but when we asked where that stop was, we were misinformed. By the time we figured out where we needed to be, we were stuck waiting in a long line to get into the central bus station building, and we got the gate right as the bus was pulling away--without us. I called up Yehuda, and he told us which bus to take to get to the point where people going into his town get off the bus and hitchhike into town. His son was going to meet us there. We took the bus he said and got off at the stop we were specified to go to. While we both assumed that hitchhiking to that town was a realyl sketchy operation that would be virtually impossible for two Americans to pull off, we were shocked to find that as we were sitting on a bench on the sidewalk, car after car rolled down their windows and asked if we wanted a ride to Takoa. I asked Yehuda's son (who of course named 'Shalom') if that was a normal thing to do, and he responded that its how everybody gets from Jerusalem to Takoa. I assume now is as good of a time as any to mention that Takoa is a settlement in the West Bank. For those of you who haven't heard about the controversy of the settlements, I highly recommend you do a little bit of research after reading this post, since it's a very interesting controversy.
When we got to his home, we were instantly awed by his view. Through his window, we could see both the Herodian (one of Herod's fortresses from roughly 2000 years ago) and the view of the gorgeous barren desert. The house itself was stylistically Middle Eastern plus Santa Fe and was stunning.
Upon entering the house, we met his wife, who is your classic spiritual hippy who was among the most interesting women I've ever had the privilege to meet. We also learned that the two of them have 6 children and got to meet 4 of them. Since both of the parents are Americans who made Aliyah 17 years ago, at home they speak English while the children all speak Hebrew at school and amongst themselves. It was interesting to note the bilingual atmosphere of the household.
When Yehuda came down the stairs, he looked exhausted, and we remembered that the day we were there was a minor fast day. He was well mannered, but not quite as peppy and talkative as he had been when he did a program for Nativ. After services that night, we partook in a 5 course feast--and found out that they eat like that every Shabbat. It was fascinating for us to see that this guy who plays gigs all over the world with his band and is now promoting his solo music (which I've shamelessly plugged continually for the last two weeks) is just 'Dad' at hom, the guy who has to clean up the dog pee when it goes in the house. After dinner, we played games, read books, and my friend and I had a total blast making up a story out of their 10-year-old daughter's silly band collection. It was absolutely hysterical. The highlight of the night happened when Yehudah's wife was reading a newspaper, and she came across an ad for one of his upcoming performances. She showed him the ad, he smiled, and that was it. The kids didn't react, he wasn't surprised, and no one (except for my friend and I) was even remotely starstruck. It was interesting.
On Saturday morning, instead of waking up to go to services (which we intended to do), we woke up at about 11, just in time for Kiddush and then lunch. Again, we ate a massive feast that was completely delicious in every way shape and form. In the afternoon, we played some more games with the very peppy 10 year old while the rest of the family napped. One of the highlights of the afternoon was getting the chance to study a bit of Torah with Yehuda. He is so knowledgeable about different Jewish texts that hearing him connect various lines to various laws and stories was a fascinating thing to watch and listen to. His perspective is so grounded in Jewish tradition that hearing him talk about it is fascinating.
After Shabbat ended, we did Havdallah, and then we spent a good hour and a half just sitting and talking to Yehuda's wife. Her life story was so interesting as almost everything she did was based on her following her gut feeling and doing whatever felt right to her at the time in which she made her various decisions. Hearing her talk about how she came from New York and found her way to LA and then to Jerusalem was completely fascinating.
When it was time for Yehuda to go to his gig in Jerusalem, my friend and I piled into his car, and we had a really interesting conversation about life in the West Bank, which I'm going to try to tell you about now. The conversation began as we drove downhill a steep road with no street lights. When I asked him why there were no lights, he explained that the Palestinian Government didn't see the need to build street lights, and the Israeli government doesn't worry about it since Palestine has control over the area (even though the Israeli government still rules). While there are areas in the West Bank that are not particularly safe for Jews, within his settlement, there is not any aspect of danger to be seen. Every family leaves its door unlocked since it is a gated community and no one who doesn't live there will be able to come in. As I asked him questions about his interactions with Arabs in surrounding villages, he explains that contact is very minimal as it mostly takes place at supermarkets, and that there is an attitude of live and let live amongst the people who live in the West Bank. The settlements themselves, while controversial, are being built since large plots of land in the West Bank are dirt cheap and building projects cost far less than they do in the major (more expensive) cities. As our car sat in the line to go through the military checkpoint from the West Bank into Jerusalem proper, Yehuda spoke a bit about his experiences at these checkpoints. We watched a truck driver have to get out of his truck, open the back, and watch soldiers go in and search, yet our car was waved right through since we had an Israeli license plate (which is different from the Palestinian plate). The moral of this paragraph is to tell everyone who reads the news about what life is like in Israel, especially as it regards safety and security, that nothing is as the media explains it to be. ESPECIALLY in a place as controversial as Israel. Like with previous things, I'm happy to answer questions if you want to ask them.
He dropped us off at the bus stop and continued on his way to the gig he was playing that night. Before we got out of the car though, he extended a sincere invitation to join him for another Shabbat at some point, so we will MOST DEFINITELY be taking him up on that offer.
This post is just beginning...so keep going everyone.
The last school week was not all that exciting as lots of time was spent in class and in the library, and very little exciting things happened. Sunday (the 19th) was among the most exhausting days ever. I had class from 10:30-2:30, I spent nearly 5 hours in teh library doing research for one of my papers, and then I went to one of my teachers' house to have a makeup class session. I left his house at 10:15 and crashed upon getting home. Monday was a pretty normal day. I had class for a while, came home, wrote a REALLY epic song about Jerusalem (I'll record it as soon as I can and try to get it up on iTunes soon), then went back to class. Tuesday was the same routine of going to class, spending a lot of time in the library, and coming home exhausted.
For our Tuesday night program, we talked about the right of Jews in the Diaspora to influence Israeli life and politics. It was interesting to see how differently people in my group view diaspora-Israel relations. It was also interesting to notice how my own personal views have pretty much flip flopped since getting to Israel 4 months ago.
Wednesday and Thursday had literally only one exciting thing between teh two days: on Wednesday afternoon, I came back from school only to find a girl who was on my bus on an Israel summer program two years ago and went on Nativ last year sitting in the lobby at Beit Nativ. We had a lot of fun catching up and I thoroughly enjoyed hearing about her experience from Nativ last year as she has already done so many of the things that we are preparing to do now. It was also interesting to note that just as our experience is completely shaped by the people who are on the program with us, hers was totally different than ours just by virtue of the people.
Now I'm getting sick of writing, so I'll talk about this weekend in a more quick manner.
I spent this past weekend with my staff member's family in Ramot, a neighborhood in Northwest Jerusalem with 3 boys from the kibbutz track. It was a blast to see how he interacted with his family, and to see the general environment he came from. On Friday, we went to services at a very Carlebach style Shul, and I LOVED the service. I was sitting by myself since I was the only girl from our group going to services at the orthodox shul, so I got to have a completely different experience than I'm normally used to, which was a lot of fun. After services, we came back to his house and enjoyed dinner with his family, the four of us, two of his mothers closest friends, and his family friends from Chicago. There were two languages flying around the table at all times, and I was proud to understand a lot of it. After dinner, we played a really funny game of the Jewish Version of Apples to Apples, and had a really funny time trying to translate some of the cards into Hebrew. Shabbat day was vary low key. We went to shul in the morning, and were amazed at the brisk pace of the service. It is no doubt that services in the states (at conservative congregations at least) are too long, so going to a service that gets everything done in literally an hour and a half is quite refreshing. We got back to my staff member's house and helped prepare some of the appetizers for lunch. After eating yet another incredible meal, we enjoyed some very much needed afternoon naps. Upon doing havdallah that night, we left to head to the bus stop to go back home with a container of his mothers leftover cholent in hand. To say the least, we'll be eating well this next week.
I should probably mention that this past Shabbat was Christmas, and literally, all of us forgot. We remembered to say Merry Christmas at the table in the morning, but we all laughed as we realized how irrelevant Christmas is here. Some of my friends went to Midnight Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, but I was out for the weekend so I didn't.
Today, I woke up, took a final (which was embarrassingly easy for the amount I studied), and am now sitting in the library trying to motivate myself to finish my paper. I'm blogging instead.
This week marks the last week of my stay in Jerusalem as on Thursday, I get on a flight to Spain and then a week later I'm off to Rome. By the beginning of February, I'll be on a Kibbutz.
I'll check in before I go to Europe, and until then, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!
Becca
Last time I checked in was more than a week and a half ago, making this the longest time I've gone without posting. It's been absolutely insane here because of finals and the fact that the internet at my building has died, so I'm writing this post from the library at Hebrew U. This post is going to be long, I don't have any pictures, so do with it what you will. I'm not going to shorten it because I have more to talk about, so skim around if you want to save yourself time.
I'll start with last Thursday (the 16th). After school, I hung out with some friends for a while, but Thursday night was very cool. I went to the Science Museum and the Israel Museum FOR FREE with one of my staff members and a friend. I had already been to the science museum, so I won't talk about it, but the Israel museum was insane. First off, it's massive. When I say massive, I truly mean massive. In roughly an hour and a half there, we saw about two thousand exhibits, ranging from art, to photography, to a super slow motion video of a bullet going through and exploding a hanging pomegranate. While large portions of the Museum were closed (since it was open late and they weren't charging anything), I still feel like I saw some incredible things. If you're ever in Jerusalem, go.
As I mentioned in my last post, I was going to spend the weekend with Yehuda Katz, a longtime student of the late Shlomo Carlebach (for those of you who don't know who he is, he is the guy who wrote the melodies for a HUGE amount of prayers Jews sing during services). I was very, very excited for it, and to say the least, it was not what I expected it to be.
On Friday, my friend and I got to the central bus station knowing which bus number we needed to catch, but when we asked where that stop was, we were misinformed. By the time we figured out where we needed to be, we were stuck waiting in a long line to get into the central bus station building, and we got the gate right as the bus was pulling away--without us. I called up Yehuda, and he told us which bus to take to get to the point where people going into his town get off the bus and hitchhike into town. His son was going to meet us there. We took the bus he said and got off at the stop we were specified to go to. While we both assumed that hitchhiking to that town was a realyl sketchy operation that would be virtually impossible for two Americans to pull off, we were shocked to find that as we were sitting on a bench on the sidewalk, car after car rolled down their windows and asked if we wanted a ride to Takoa. I asked Yehuda's son (who of course named 'Shalom') if that was a normal thing to do, and he responded that its how everybody gets from Jerusalem to Takoa. I assume now is as good of a time as any to mention that Takoa is a settlement in the West Bank. For those of you who haven't heard about the controversy of the settlements, I highly recommend you do a little bit of research after reading this post, since it's a very interesting controversy.
When we got to his home, we were instantly awed by his view. Through his window, we could see both the Herodian (one of Herod's fortresses from roughly 2000 years ago) and the view of the gorgeous barren desert. The house itself was stylistically Middle Eastern plus Santa Fe and was stunning.
Upon entering the house, we met his wife, who is your classic spiritual hippy who was among the most interesting women I've ever had the privilege to meet. We also learned that the two of them have 6 children and got to meet 4 of them. Since both of the parents are Americans who made Aliyah 17 years ago, at home they speak English while the children all speak Hebrew at school and amongst themselves. It was interesting to note the bilingual atmosphere of the household.
When Yehuda came down the stairs, he looked exhausted, and we remembered that the day we were there was a minor fast day. He was well mannered, but not quite as peppy and talkative as he had been when he did a program for Nativ. After services that night, we partook in a 5 course feast--and found out that they eat like that every Shabbat. It was fascinating for us to see that this guy who plays gigs all over the world with his band and is now promoting his solo music (which I've shamelessly plugged continually for the last two weeks) is just 'Dad' at hom, the guy who has to clean up the dog pee when it goes in the house. After dinner, we played games, read books, and my friend and I had a total blast making up a story out of their 10-year-old daughter's silly band collection. It was absolutely hysterical. The highlight of the night happened when Yehudah's wife was reading a newspaper, and she came across an ad for one of his upcoming performances. She showed him the ad, he smiled, and that was it. The kids didn't react, he wasn't surprised, and no one (except for my friend and I) was even remotely starstruck. It was interesting.
On Saturday morning, instead of waking up to go to services (which we intended to do), we woke up at about 11, just in time for Kiddush and then lunch. Again, we ate a massive feast that was completely delicious in every way shape and form. In the afternoon, we played some more games with the very peppy 10 year old while the rest of the family napped. One of the highlights of the afternoon was getting the chance to study a bit of Torah with Yehuda. He is so knowledgeable about different Jewish texts that hearing him connect various lines to various laws and stories was a fascinating thing to watch and listen to. His perspective is so grounded in Jewish tradition that hearing him talk about it is fascinating.
After Shabbat ended, we did Havdallah, and then we spent a good hour and a half just sitting and talking to Yehuda's wife. Her life story was so interesting as almost everything she did was based on her following her gut feeling and doing whatever felt right to her at the time in which she made her various decisions. Hearing her talk about how she came from New York and found her way to LA and then to Jerusalem was completely fascinating.
When it was time for Yehuda to go to his gig in Jerusalem, my friend and I piled into his car, and we had a really interesting conversation about life in the West Bank, which I'm going to try to tell you about now. The conversation began as we drove downhill a steep road with no street lights. When I asked him why there were no lights, he explained that the Palestinian Government didn't see the need to build street lights, and the Israeli government doesn't worry about it since Palestine has control over the area (even though the Israeli government still rules). While there are areas in the West Bank that are not particularly safe for Jews, within his settlement, there is not any aspect of danger to be seen. Every family leaves its door unlocked since it is a gated community and no one who doesn't live there will be able to come in. As I asked him questions about his interactions with Arabs in surrounding villages, he explains that contact is very minimal as it mostly takes place at supermarkets, and that there is an attitude of live and let live amongst the people who live in the West Bank. The settlements themselves, while controversial, are being built since large plots of land in the West Bank are dirt cheap and building projects cost far less than they do in the major (more expensive) cities. As our car sat in the line to go through the military checkpoint from the West Bank into Jerusalem proper, Yehuda spoke a bit about his experiences at these checkpoints. We watched a truck driver have to get out of his truck, open the back, and watch soldiers go in and search, yet our car was waved right through since we had an Israeli license plate (which is different from the Palestinian plate). The moral of this paragraph is to tell everyone who reads the news about what life is like in Israel, especially as it regards safety and security, that nothing is as the media explains it to be. ESPECIALLY in a place as controversial as Israel. Like with previous things, I'm happy to answer questions if you want to ask them.
He dropped us off at the bus stop and continued on his way to the gig he was playing that night. Before we got out of the car though, he extended a sincere invitation to join him for another Shabbat at some point, so we will MOST DEFINITELY be taking him up on that offer.
This post is just beginning...so keep going everyone.
The last school week was not all that exciting as lots of time was spent in class and in the library, and very little exciting things happened. Sunday (the 19th) was among the most exhausting days ever. I had class from 10:30-2:30, I spent nearly 5 hours in teh library doing research for one of my papers, and then I went to one of my teachers' house to have a makeup class session. I left his house at 10:15 and crashed upon getting home. Monday was a pretty normal day. I had class for a while, came home, wrote a REALLY epic song about Jerusalem (I'll record it as soon as I can and try to get it up on iTunes soon), then went back to class. Tuesday was the same routine of going to class, spending a lot of time in the library, and coming home exhausted.
For our Tuesday night program, we talked about the right of Jews in the Diaspora to influence Israeli life and politics. It was interesting to see how differently people in my group view diaspora-Israel relations. It was also interesting to notice how my own personal views have pretty much flip flopped since getting to Israel 4 months ago.
Wednesday and Thursday had literally only one exciting thing between teh two days: on Wednesday afternoon, I came back from school only to find a girl who was on my bus on an Israel summer program two years ago and went on Nativ last year sitting in the lobby at Beit Nativ. We had a lot of fun catching up and I thoroughly enjoyed hearing about her experience from Nativ last year as she has already done so many of the things that we are preparing to do now. It was also interesting to note that just as our experience is completely shaped by the people who are on the program with us, hers was totally different than ours just by virtue of the people.
Now I'm getting sick of writing, so I'll talk about this weekend in a more quick manner.
I spent this past weekend with my staff member's family in Ramot, a neighborhood in Northwest Jerusalem with 3 boys from the kibbutz track. It was a blast to see how he interacted with his family, and to see the general environment he came from. On Friday, we went to services at a very Carlebach style Shul, and I LOVED the service. I was sitting by myself since I was the only girl from our group going to services at the orthodox shul, so I got to have a completely different experience than I'm normally used to, which was a lot of fun. After services, we came back to his house and enjoyed dinner with his family, the four of us, two of his mothers closest friends, and his family friends from Chicago. There were two languages flying around the table at all times, and I was proud to understand a lot of it. After dinner, we played a really funny game of the Jewish Version of Apples to Apples, and had a really funny time trying to translate some of the cards into Hebrew. Shabbat day was vary low key. We went to shul in the morning, and were amazed at the brisk pace of the service. It is no doubt that services in the states (at conservative congregations at least) are too long, so going to a service that gets everything done in literally an hour and a half is quite refreshing. We got back to my staff member's house and helped prepare some of the appetizers for lunch. After eating yet another incredible meal, we enjoyed some very much needed afternoon naps. Upon doing havdallah that night, we left to head to the bus stop to go back home with a container of his mothers leftover cholent in hand. To say the least, we'll be eating well this next week.
I should probably mention that this past Shabbat was Christmas, and literally, all of us forgot. We remembered to say Merry Christmas at the table in the morning, but we all laughed as we realized how irrelevant Christmas is here. Some of my friends went to Midnight Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, but I was out for the weekend so I didn't.
Today, I woke up, took a final (which was embarrassingly easy for the amount I studied), and am now sitting in the library trying to motivate myself to finish my paper. I'm blogging instead.
This week marks the last week of my stay in Jerusalem as on Thursday, I get on a flight to Spain and then a week later I'm off to Rome. By the beginning of February, I'll be on a Kibbutz.
I'll check in before I go to Europe, and until then, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!
Becca
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
A Frum New World?
Hi Everybody,
Last time I checked in, I was attempting to explain a really hectic week. I got tired half way through the post and I said that I would continue it within the next few days. I need to stop making commitments about this blog, because the fact of the matter is that I was way to busy/tired to work on finishing that post. Having said that, I will continue it now. Thanks everyone for being patient.
Before I go on and talk about Thursday, I want to reflect a little bit about (C)han(n)uka(h) in Israel. In the states, from Thanksgiving through New Years, all you hear about is Christmas. It's all over the radio, all over the streets, in every store window, and in everybody's greetings ('Merry Christmas' [or for us P.C. folks, 'Happy Holidays']). Every young Jew has at some point looked at his or her parents and asked why there aren't (C)han(n)uka(h) decorations everywhere only to hear some inadequate response that leaves the child wondering why she still doesn't know all the words to 'Jingle Bell Rock.' In Israel, I wonder if the Christian kids ask their parents the same thing about Christmas. While the radios don't play (C)han(n)uka(h) carols (as they don't really exist in the same way), the streets are covered in decorations, every storekeeper has a Chanukiah in her window, and cars with giant Chanukiot attached to the roofs drive around the streets with chipper (C)han(n)uka(h) music blasting. I'm going to attach a few pictures of some of these decorations in addition to some pictures of candle lighting and other festivities that happened during the holiday here. I'll mention that I realize that the pictures aren't showing up in the emails that some people are getting, and if that is the case again here, just click on this link so you can see the pictures: http://beccarosenthal.blogspot.com/
Last weekend was the final of three consecutive weekends in Jerusalem in which the museums and many other cites in the city decided to be open very late on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights.Thus, on Thursday night, a bunch of friends and I decided to go to the science museum in Jerusalem. While I don't tend to like museums, I found this one very cool. The coolest exhibit was one on deep sea life. I took a bunch of pictures of their pictures of things that live at very deep depths. Here are a few of my favorite pictures of strange looking deep sea creatures.
thursday - school, science museum
I spent the weekend in a community called Nof Hayalon which is a small Ultra Orthodox neighborhood about 10 minutes out of Modi'in. My friend and I were hosted by a family with two Ba'al Tshuvah (not born religious) Belgian parents and two kids (12 and 6). It was like being dropped in an Orthodox Utopia. The family left its doors unlocked since the community is made up of roughly 300 families who all know each other. On Friday night, we went to services at one of the four shuls in the village and were interested to see that all four of the synagogues were directly adjacent to one another. After services, literally the entire community was outside socializing. It was quite the sight to see.
After a delicious dinner with the family, we went to a community meeting that was talking about the effect of the outside secular world on the community, especially the kids. This meeting was really interesting for a few reasons, and as normal, I'm just going to use my handy dandy list to explain it to you.
1) It was all in Hebrew, and though I had an American woman sitting next to me to help translate, I actually didn't need her much as I understood pretty much everything. For those of you who have ever tried to learn another language and understanding it when spoken by people speaking quickly and without enunciation, you will realize that this is a big deal. I was quite proud of myself.
2) The men and the women were sitting separately. This is due to modesty principles, and while I was a bit shocked at first, I found a lot of benefits to this system. The women were all having a ball whispering comments to their closest friends who were sitting conveniently right next to them, and since both men and women were on the panel and both men and women were asking questions, there was nothing even remotely sexist about the set up. It was just how it was.
3) As far as the content goes, it was fascinating. The village is strictly Ultra-Orthodox, so everyone dresses according to religious modesty laws, everybody keeps Shabbat, and everybody keeps strict Halacha (Jewish law). Having said that, people work in the non Religious world, and thus people are exposed to things that aren't in accordance with their religious principles all the time. The questions raised mostly had to do with kids, in terms of what movies they could watch, what games they should play, and where they should be able to spend free time. Though it seemed like paranoid banter, when I thought about the fact that in this culture boys and girls don't physically touch anyone of the opposite gender except for their immediate family members, the kids don't see people wearing low cut shirts or skirts, women don't wear pants (they only wear skirts), and violence/drugs/other things movies expose kids to are going to be totally shell shocking to these kids, it becomes more apparent why this type of exposure is feared. It was fascinating for me to try to view the world in which I live through a totally different lens.
4) Israelis love to yell at each other even when they aren't fighting. I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but Israelis are not known for their manners. Consequently, it's no surprise that when they are having a heated discussion, they aren't exactly mildly mannered. Having said that, after a long yelling battle between two fully grown men, there is no tension, no feelings hurt, and no change in their relationship. It is completely perplexing.
On Saturday morning, my friend and I expected to be woken up to go to Shul in the morning, but when we looked at the clock upon waking up and saw that it was 11:30, we had a feeling that Shul probably wouldn't happen. We got ourselves dressed right in time for lunch. After finishing eating, the family decided that they wanted to sing some shabbat songs, and one of the funniest song sessions I've ever participated in began. It started off with the 12 year old daughter deciding that she wanted to sing "Mi Yimallel", the Channukah song, in a round. Unfortunately, 2/3 of the family is totally tone deaf and can't keep a rhythem. She decided that the parents would start the round, followed by my friend and me, and then she and her friend would join in. She and her friend never started singing, though, since they were too busy laughing at her poor father who couldn't figure out the round to save his life. For those of you who don't spend large portions of your lives singing in rounds, I'm sorry, since you are really missing out. It's quite entertaining. We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out, shmoozing with the family, and watching in awe as this 12-year-old girl had friends running in and out of the house all afternoon. After Havdallah that night, we were driven back to Modi'in, and we hopped on a bus back to Jerusalem. The weekend got me thinking in a really interesting way.
While I can't honestly say that I could picture myself becoming Frum (Ultra Orthodox), I can say that there are a lot of aspects of Frum life that I could really see myself being a part of. Firstly, the amount of love and support that the whole community has for everyone else in the community is so apparent. Everyone knows everyone else; one person's simcha (joyous occasion) is everyone's simcha. Furthermore, the feeling of a real quiet shabbat is magical. Imagine an entire day without a sound of a car going by--once a week every single week. It sounds like heaven. The weekend definitely got me thinking about the kind of community I want to live in when I'm older.
Sunday and Monday were both non-eventful, and since this post is long, I'm only going to mention one crazy thing: THE WIND IN JERUSALEM WENT CRAZY! For nearly the entire day on Sunday, winds were ranging from 30-45 mph. Street signs were blowing everywhere, trees were horizontal, and people were getting blown off course left and right. I did a wall sit into the wind at one point. It was absolutely nuts.
Tuesday was an average day, but on Tuesday night, our program watched a very interesting movie called 'Trembling Before G-d'. It has to do with the issue of homosexuality in the Orthodox tradition. The documentary interviewed many gays and lesbians who are attempting to live according to a tradition that tells them that being gay is a sin punishable by death. It is a fascinating Documentary, and I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in the conflict between Religion and morality.
Today (Wednesday) was a very productive day as I went to class, worked for a few hours between classes, and then went to another class. After school, I had dinner with Rachel Heinstein in Talpiyot.
As this post is very long and I'm sure you are all as tired of reading as I am of writing, I'll just say that the next post is going to be an interesting one as well (I hope) as I am spending my weekend with the guy in this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1F0dqkRC6g8&feature=youtube_gdata_player
I'm so excited!
Becca
Last time I checked in, I was attempting to explain a really hectic week. I got tired half way through the post and I said that I would continue it within the next few days. I need to stop making commitments about this blog, because the fact of the matter is that I was way to busy/tired to work on finishing that post. Having said that, I will continue it now. Thanks everyone for being patient.
Before I go on and talk about Thursday, I want to reflect a little bit about (C)han(n)uka(h) in Israel. In the states, from Thanksgiving through New Years, all you hear about is Christmas. It's all over the radio, all over the streets, in every store window, and in everybody's greetings ('Merry Christmas' [or for us P.C. folks, 'Happy Holidays']). Every young Jew has at some point looked at his or her parents and asked why there aren't (C)han(n)uka(h) decorations everywhere only to hear some inadequate response that leaves the child wondering why she still doesn't know all the words to 'Jingle Bell Rock.' In Israel, I wonder if the Christian kids ask their parents the same thing about Christmas. While the radios don't play (C)han(n)uka(h) carols (as they don't really exist in the same way), the streets are covered in decorations, every storekeeper has a Chanukiah in her window, and cars with giant Chanukiot attached to the roofs drive around the streets with chipper (C)han(n)uka(h) music blasting. I'm going to attach a few pictures of some of these decorations in addition to some pictures of candle lighting and other festivities that happened during the holiday here. I'll mention that I realize that the pictures aren't showing up in the emails that some people are getting, and if that is the case again here, just click on this link so you can see the pictures: http://beccarosenthal.blogspot.com/
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| This is the Channukiah I made and lit during the holiday |
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| Two of my friends lighting their candles. I don't know what made the camera do this, but I thought it was cool. |
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| This is on most every street pole in the streets surrounding where I live |
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| One of our staff members. I found this picture too funny to not show everyone |
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| This is the only picture I got of one of the cars with a Chanukiah on top of it. I'm sorry that you can't really see what's going on. |
Last weekend was the final of three consecutive weekends in Jerusalem in which the museums and many other cites in the city decided to be open very late on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights.Thus, on Thursday night, a bunch of friends and I decided to go to the science museum in Jerusalem. While I don't tend to like museums, I found this one very cool. The coolest exhibit was one on deep sea life. I took a bunch of pictures of their pictures of things that live at very deep depths. Here are a few of my favorite pictures of strange looking deep sea creatures.
thursday - school, science museum
I spent the weekend in a community called Nof Hayalon which is a small Ultra Orthodox neighborhood about 10 minutes out of Modi'in. My friend and I were hosted by a family with two Ba'al Tshuvah (not born religious) Belgian parents and two kids (12 and 6). It was like being dropped in an Orthodox Utopia. The family left its doors unlocked since the community is made up of roughly 300 families who all know each other. On Friday night, we went to services at one of the four shuls in the village and were interested to see that all four of the synagogues were directly adjacent to one another. After services, literally the entire community was outside socializing. It was quite the sight to see.
After a delicious dinner with the family, we went to a community meeting that was talking about the effect of the outside secular world on the community, especially the kids. This meeting was really interesting for a few reasons, and as normal, I'm just going to use my handy dandy list to explain it to you.
1) It was all in Hebrew, and though I had an American woman sitting next to me to help translate, I actually didn't need her much as I understood pretty much everything. For those of you who have ever tried to learn another language and understanding it when spoken by people speaking quickly and without enunciation, you will realize that this is a big deal. I was quite proud of myself.
2) The men and the women were sitting separately. This is due to modesty principles, and while I was a bit shocked at first, I found a lot of benefits to this system. The women were all having a ball whispering comments to their closest friends who were sitting conveniently right next to them, and since both men and women were on the panel and both men and women were asking questions, there was nothing even remotely sexist about the set up. It was just how it was.
3) As far as the content goes, it was fascinating. The village is strictly Ultra-Orthodox, so everyone dresses according to religious modesty laws, everybody keeps Shabbat, and everybody keeps strict Halacha (Jewish law). Having said that, people work in the non Religious world, and thus people are exposed to things that aren't in accordance with their religious principles all the time. The questions raised mostly had to do with kids, in terms of what movies they could watch, what games they should play, and where they should be able to spend free time. Though it seemed like paranoid banter, when I thought about the fact that in this culture boys and girls don't physically touch anyone of the opposite gender except for their immediate family members, the kids don't see people wearing low cut shirts or skirts, women don't wear pants (they only wear skirts), and violence/drugs/other things movies expose kids to are going to be totally shell shocking to these kids, it becomes more apparent why this type of exposure is feared. It was fascinating for me to try to view the world in which I live through a totally different lens.
4) Israelis love to yell at each other even when they aren't fighting. I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but Israelis are not known for their manners. Consequently, it's no surprise that when they are having a heated discussion, they aren't exactly mildly mannered. Having said that, after a long yelling battle between two fully grown men, there is no tension, no feelings hurt, and no change in their relationship. It is completely perplexing.
On Saturday morning, my friend and I expected to be woken up to go to Shul in the morning, but when we looked at the clock upon waking up and saw that it was 11:30, we had a feeling that Shul probably wouldn't happen. We got ourselves dressed right in time for lunch. After finishing eating, the family decided that they wanted to sing some shabbat songs, and one of the funniest song sessions I've ever participated in began. It started off with the 12 year old daughter deciding that she wanted to sing "Mi Yimallel", the Channukah song, in a round. Unfortunately, 2/3 of the family is totally tone deaf and can't keep a rhythem. She decided that the parents would start the round, followed by my friend and me, and then she and her friend would join in. She and her friend never started singing, though, since they were too busy laughing at her poor father who couldn't figure out the round to save his life. For those of you who don't spend large portions of your lives singing in rounds, I'm sorry, since you are really missing out. It's quite entertaining. We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out, shmoozing with the family, and watching in awe as this 12-year-old girl had friends running in and out of the house all afternoon. After Havdallah that night, we were driven back to Modi'in, and we hopped on a bus back to Jerusalem. The weekend got me thinking in a really interesting way.
While I can't honestly say that I could picture myself becoming Frum (Ultra Orthodox), I can say that there are a lot of aspects of Frum life that I could really see myself being a part of. Firstly, the amount of love and support that the whole community has for everyone else in the community is so apparent. Everyone knows everyone else; one person's simcha (joyous occasion) is everyone's simcha. Furthermore, the feeling of a real quiet shabbat is magical. Imagine an entire day without a sound of a car going by--once a week every single week. It sounds like heaven. The weekend definitely got me thinking about the kind of community I want to live in when I'm older.
Sunday and Monday were both non-eventful, and since this post is long, I'm only going to mention one crazy thing: THE WIND IN JERUSALEM WENT CRAZY! For nearly the entire day on Sunday, winds were ranging from 30-45 mph. Street signs were blowing everywhere, trees were horizontal, and people were getting blown off course left and right. I did a wall sit into the wind at one point. It was absolutely nuts.
Tuesday was an average day, but on Tuesday night, our program watched a very interesting movie called 'Trembling Before G-d'. It has to do with the issue of homosexuality in the Orthodox tradition. The documentary interviewed many gays and lesbians who are attempting to live according to a tradition that tells them that being gay is a sin punishable by death. It is a fascinating Documentary, and I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in the conflict between Religion and morality.
Today (Wednesday) was a very productive day as I went to class, worked for a few hours between classes, and then went to another class. After school, I had dinner with Rachel Heinstein in Talpiyot.
As this post is very long and I'm sure you are all as tired of reading as I am of writing, I'll just say that the next post is going to be an interesting one as well (I hope) as I am spending my weekend with the guy in this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1F0dqkRC6g8&feature=youtube_gdata_player
I'm so excited!
Becca
Sunday, December 12, 2010
A Hectic Week in the Holy Land
Hey Everyone,
At the end of last week's post, I mentioned that there was a log to look forward to this week, and to be quite honest, the week didn't disappoint. This post is going to be really long since so much happened, but you're all used to that by now. Plus, I'll have some visual aids, so you won't be too bored.
Monday was a really low key day since my late afternoon class and football game was canceled. I had all of this free time, it was really cold (it now actually feels like winter) and I didn't quite know what to do with myself. I wound up going out to dinner with a few friends to this really cute soup place which had really nice soups made with fresh fruits and veggies. It was a really nice low key evening.
Tuesday was set to be a really productive day. I was going to go to class, work on my paper that was due the next day, and then go to our mandatory program at night. As always, it didn't go as planned. After my mid-day class, instead of going to the library and working on a paper, I met up with Hannah and Deborah Sosebee, two family friends from home. We wandered aimlessly around the old city and wound up walking through a Jewish elementary school. It was cool to see parts of the city that had no tourists anywhere to be found. I forgot my camera, though, so I couldn't get any pictures.
Tuesday night, our program took us to David's Citadel to see a light show that showed the history of Jerusalem projected onto the ancient walls. As we walked through mamilla (a very high end tourist shopping center) to get there, we got to see a really cool display of lights. It looked just like the Christmas lights at home that all of us are craving. A picture is below. While the show itself was a little bit tacky, it was cool to see the fusion of modern technology with ancient locations. That seems to be a trend here in Jerusalem.
Wednesday, I woke up early to go and join the Women of the Wall for their monthly Rosh Chodesh prayer. Because of how extensively I discussed it last month, I'm going to stay away from the description of the group and the basic framework of the event and instead tell you about the things that were different. If you are interested in the background info, though, I highly recommend you check out my post on the Women of the Wall from about a month ago. Here is the link: http://beccarosenthal.blogspot.com/2010/11/women-of-wall.html. I'm also going to apologize, becuase this time, I was far more focused on teh actual service and far less focused on taking pictures. While this enhanced my experience, it doesn't exactly aid yours, so I'm sorry.
Here are some of the biggest differences I saw:
1) This month, there were significantly more men at the Kotel. I don't know if the boost in numbers represent a larger counter protest or if Channukah brought out more men to the Kotel, but regardless, it was quite distinct. Furthermore, there were more women at the wall as well. Here is a picture of the most interesting protesting man. This is interesting for many reasons. firstly, I was yelled at last month because I was visible to the men while standing on a chair. It is no problem that a man is standing on the chair visible to the women. Secondly, he wasn't really yelling. He was just swaying back and forth with his hands up. Thirdly, the wall is viewed to many people as being so sacred that one should never turn his or her back to it, yet his back is turned to the wall. Finally (and having nothing to do with the man), you can see the Channukiah in the background. During the Holiday in Israel, there are channukiot EVERYWHERE, and the Kotel is no different. Every night they did a candle lighting ceremony at the wall.
2) The women were asking different questions and yelling different things. Instead of being told that I was a slut, dog, pig, goy, etc, I was asked why I didn't have a beard or a mustache or why I wasn't wrapping tfillin (see the photo above for what that is). I enjoyed answering those women that I didn't want to look like a circus freak. I found it far more amusing than they did, but having said that, both of us were laughing at the other.
3) The service felt much more genuine. Last month, I noted that the service didn't seem like a real service, but this month, I really enjoyed the davening that took place. More of the women seemed to have an idea of what was going on in the service, and thus, much more respect was given to the prayer by those davening.
4) The group was smaller. This really demonstrated to me that lack of a large core. Many people who go to join the Women of the Wall go once or twice, and that's it. There aren't that many regulars, though there are obviously a few.
5) One women walked up to the security guard and asked if the Rabbi of the Kotel approved our presence at the wall. The security guard answered her with something that I thought to be the most powerful quote of the day: "he didn't. The law did."
That's about it for Women of the Wall. I'll repeat the same thing that I said last month, which is that if anyone wants to talk to me more in depth about it, feel free to contact me at beccarosenthal@gmail.com or (assuming you are calling from somewhere outside of Israel)
011 050 407 6783.
After my Philosophy class on Wednesday, I had my first exposure to a real college library when I went to do some research for one of my four final papers due in the next 3 weeks. The library at Hebrew U is MASSIVE and has so many books in so many languages that I was more overwhelmed than I had been in a very long time. Having said that, though, I was able to go on the library computers, search for what I needed, and find everything I wanted BY MYSELF! I was really proud.
Wednesday night was one of the coolest experiences I've had since coming to Israel as a group of roughly 10 nativers took a walk through Mea Sha'arim, the biggest Chareidi (black hat) neighborhood in Jerusalem to look at the Channukiot and talk about the culture there with the assistant director of our program. Becuase of the religious nature of the neighborhood, all of us got dressed in our most frummy outfits. It was really interesting to note how people on the street looked at us when we were wearing long skirts compared to jeans. It was definitely different. I can't say better or worse, I can just say different.
I'm going to preface my discussion of Mea Sha'arim by saying that entering this neighborhood is like stepping out of the modern world and stepping onto a different planet. This community is based on the notion that change from Jewish life as it was in the shtettles in 19th century Europe is not only unnecessary, but dangerous and bad. Most homes to do not have internet, communication takes place in teh form of large posters (generally in black and white) plastered all over the neighborhood. Many people don't work as they only study torah all day, and thus, the neighborhood is very poor. There is trash all over, and there is lots of vandalism (mostly by bored Chareidi teenagers who don't want to live that lifestyle but don't really have an alternative as they can't go the army, university, or anything else that reflects non-Chareidi Israeli society). Here are some pictures. I'll explain them in the captions. That seems to be the easiest way to transmit information about this different world.
I hope you enjoyed your photo tour of Mea Sha'arim.
I have just hit Thursday morning in my post. I'm tire of writing and I'm sure you're tired of reading, so I'm going to stop here and explain the rest of the week either tonight or tomorrow, so until then, talk to you soon,
Becca,
At the end of last week's post, I mentioned that there was a log to look forward to this week, and to be quite honest, the week didn't disappoint. This post is going to be really long since so much happened, but you're all used to that by now. Plus, I'll have some visual aids, so you won't be too bored.
Monday was a really low key day since my late afternoon class and football game was canceled. I had all of this free time, it was really cold (it now actually feels like winter) and I didn't quite know what to do with myself. I wound up going out to dinner with a few friends to this really cute soup place which had really nice soups made with fresh fruits and veggies. It was a really nice low key evening.
Tuesday was set to be a really productive day. I was going to go to class, work on my paper that was due the next day, and then go to our mandatory program at night. As always, it didn't go as planned. After my mid-day class, instead of going to the library and working on a paper, I met up with Hannah and Deborah Sosebee, two family friends from home. We wandered aimlessly around the old city and wound up walking through a Jewish elementary school. It was cool to see parts of the city that had no tourists anywhere to be found. I forgot my camera, though, so I couldn't get any pictures.
Tuesday night, our program took us to David's Citadel to see a light show that showed the history of Jerusalem projected onto the ancient walls. As we walked through mamilla (a very high end tourist shopping center) to get there, we got to see a really cool display of lights. It looked just like the Christmas lights at home that all of us are craving. A picture is below. While the show itself was a little bit tacky, it was cool to see the fusion of modern technology with ancient locations. That seems to be a trend here in Jerusalem.
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| This is the Channukiah that was located at the Jaffa Gate outside of the old city. |
Wednesday, I woke up early to go and join the Women of the Wall for their monthly Rosh Chodesh prayer. Because of how extensively I discussed it last month, I'm going to stay away from the description of the group and the basic framework of the event and instead tell you about the things that were different. If you are interested in the background info, though, I highly recommend you check out my post on the Women of the Wall from about a month ago. Here is the link: http://beccarosenthal.blogspot.com/2010/11/women-of-wall.html. I'm also going to apologize, becuase this time, I was far more focused on teh actual service and far less focused on taking pictures. While this enhanced my experience, it doesn't exactly aid yours, so I'm sorry.
Here are some of the biggest differences I saw:
1) This month, there were significantly more men at the Kotel. I don't know if the boost in numbers represent a larger counter protest or if Channukah brought out more men to the Kotel, but regardless, it was quite distinct. Furthermore, there were more women at the wall as well. Here is a picture of the most interesting protesting man. This is interesting for many reasons. firstly, I was yelled at last month because I was visible to the men while standing on a chair. It is no problem that a man is standing on the chair visible to the women. Secondly, he wasn't really yelling. He was just swaying back and forth with his hands up. Thirdly, the wall is viewed to many people as being so sacred that one should never turn his or her back to it, yet his back is turned to the wall. Finally (and having nothing to do with the man), you can see the Channukiah in the background. During the Holiday in Israel, there are channukiot EVERYWHERE, and the Kotel is no different. Every night they did a candle lighting ceremony at the wall.
2) The women were asking different questions and yelling different things. Instead of being told that I was a slut, dog, pig, goy, etc, I was asked why I didn't have a beard or a mustache or why I wasn't wrapping tfillin (see the photo above for what that is). I enjoyed answering those women that I didn't want to look like a circus freak. I found it far more amusing than they did, but having said that, both of us were laughing at the other.
3) The service felt much more genuine. Last month, I noted that the service didn't seem like a real service, but this month, I really enjoyed the davening that took place. More of the women seemed to have an idea of what was going on in the service, and thus, much more respect was given to the prayer by those davening.
4) The group was smaller. This really demonstrated to me that lack of a large core. Many people who go to join the Women of the Wall go once or twice, and that's it. There aren't that many regulars, though there are obviously a few.
5) One women walked up to the security guard and asked if the Rabbi of the Kotel approved our presence at the wall. The security guard answered her with something that I thought to be the most powerful quote of the day: "he didn't. The law did."
That's about it for Women of the Wall. I'll repeat the same thing that I said last month, which is that if anyone wants to talk to me more in depth about it, feel free to contact me at beccarosenthal@gmail.com or (assuming you are calling from somewhere outside of Israel)
011 050 407 6783.
After my Philosophy class on Wednesday, I had my first exposure to a real college library when I went to do some research for one of my four final papers due in the next 3 weeks. The library at Hebrew U is MASSIVE and has so many books in so many languages that I was more overwhelmed than I had been in a very long time. Having said that, though, I was able to go on the library computers, search for what I needed, and find everything I wanted BY MYSELF! I was really proud.
Wednesday night was one of the coolest experiences I've had since coming to Israel as a group of roughly 10 nativers took a walk through Mea Sha'arim, the biggest Chareidi (black hat) neighborhood in Jerusalem to look at the Channukiot and talk about the culture there with the assistant director of our program. Becuase of the religious nature of the neighborhood, all of us got dressed in our most frummy outfits. It was really interesting to note how people on the street looked at us when we were wearing long skirts compared to jeans. It was definitely different. I can't say better or worse, I can just say different.
I'm going to preface my discussion of Mea Sha'arim by saying that entering this neighborhood is like stepping out of the modern world and stepping onto a different planet. This community is based on the notion that change from Jewish life as it was in the shtettles in 19th century Europe is not only unnecessary, but dangerous and bad. Most homes to do not have internet, communication takes place in teh form of large posters (generally in black and white) plastered all over the neighborhood. Many people don't work as they only study torah all day, and thus, the neighborhood is very poor. There is trash all over, and there is lots of vandalism (mostly by bored Chareidi teenagers who don't want to live that lifestyle but don't really have an alternative as they can't go the army, university, or anything else that reflects non-Chareidi Israeli society). Here are some pictures. I'll explain them in the captions. That seems to be the easiest way to transmit information about this different world.
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| This is an example of some of the posters that exist in the neighborhood. The one on the right is talking about a type of olive oil that is Kosher for use for a Chanukkiah but not for eating. The neon poster next to it reflects a difference in advertising methods in this neighborhood vs any neighborhood you would have seen. In the modern world, advertisements should pop off a page and be as attention grabbing as possible with pictures, witty tag lines, or anything else that will make someone focus. In Mea Sha'arim, this neon advertisement serves as that. |
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| This sign translates to something along the lines of: it is forbidden to watch movies. It is written by a person who lives in the neighborhood who the group believes is a Rabbi, but assumes is not anyone in a particularly high position of power. The fact that this sign exists in the neighborhood shows that they find movie watching to be an issue. This reflects the fear of integration into the non-chareidi world. Even modern orthodox is a scary idea for these people. |
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| I want to preface this picture by apologizing for the picture quality. The photo was taken from across the street with terrible lighting and I had to awkwardly alter the picture to make the message readable. The message reflects an extreme ideology among the ultra religious, claiming that a Jewish state should not exist until the arrival of the messiah. Since the Messia hasn't come yet, many ultra orthodox jews believe that the state of Israel shouldn't exist either. While you may ask why these people choose to live in the Jewish state, the answer is simple: they lived here far before the Jewish state existed. They weren't going to move because of a change in soveirnty, but they do make a point to not participate in teh system. They don't serve in the army, they don't pay taxes (also because they are too poor to pay them), and they are in virtually every way seperate from society. |
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| While the Chareidim are known for being mean people who throw rocks at people who aren't a part of their society, the reality is not so simple. This bookshelf is made up of donated books by people in the community. The idea is that if someone buys a new set of Jewish books (which are not cheap), they donate their old ones to a Jewish book store. Then old set is purchased by someone who can't afford a new set of books for a very low price, and thus, they can study. Similar systems exist for clothing, wedding dresses, and more. |
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| This is a display of Channukiot. The rule is that people should put their Channukiot in the most visible place in their house, so many people choose to put boxes outside of their homes to make the Channukiot most visible from the street. It was the 8th night of Channukah, so they were were quite beautiful. |
I hope you enjoyed your photo tour of Mea Sha'arim.
I have just hit Thursday morning in my post. I'm tire of writing and I'm sure you're tired of reading, so I'm going to stop here and explain the rest of the week either tonight or tomorrow, so until then, talk to you soon,
Becca,
Sunday, December 5, 2010
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.
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.
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
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.
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| The Graters and the Choppers |
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| Part of the Kibbutz Dance Team |
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| Before |
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| After |
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| A member of team grater (shown on the left) expresses his opinion on the blended latkes. |
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| The one on the left is one of my roommates... |
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.
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| 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. |
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| The Maccabee army did a lot of its fighting in the hills on the upper right hand side of this picture. |
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| 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
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