Where has the time gone?

It seems like yesterday I got back to Jerusalem from Winter Break in Toronto. I opened my blog, created 4 posts with titles so that I would not forget what I wanted to write about, and then closed my computer and went back to fighting jetlag.

Now it's been almost 2 months since then and this will be the first blog I've posted since December. I guess that's just life. Blogging is serving as a great way to share my happenings with friends and family, record memories for the future, and serves as a great outlet for voicing opinions and thoughts. However, it is more important that I live - so that there's something to write about - then it is that I write. So I am not going to apologize to myself or you, the reader, for my long absences.

The first bit of this semester has been very busy and lacking in routine. I'm beginning to realize that the routine I've been waiting for this semester might not actually be coming. Within 2 weeks of returning to class, we had a week long colloquium on the topic of Jewish Peoplehood. It was a break in our routine and the first indication that our Year In Israel would be ending soon and we would be returning to North America. During that week we met with key faculty reps from the US campuses and had meetings to discuss next year. Discussing the future is the best way to make it sink in that it does exist and will happen.

Immediately following the colloquium, my parents arrived in Israel for a 17 day journey through the aretz. I will tell you more about this in another post, but simply it was wonderful to have them here and it only contributed to the lack of regular routine started the week before.

Now it's been a week and a half of trying to get back into a routine, but even that was not uneventful and it has ended with a 3 day break for Purim. Looking forward, we have a tiyul (trip) next week, then we have 3 weeks of class. Then a week and a bit break for Pesach, then Yom Ha'Shoah, Yom Ha'Zikaron, and Yom Ha'Atzmaut and Jessie & Aviv's wedding, within the 2 weeks following our return to class. Then the following week is our last week of class. We have a reading week, then an exam week, and then I go home. So how do I find routine in a schedule that is constantly being interrupted?

I'm going to stop searching for it. I bring order to the things that need it and leave the rest to fate. This semester, I've acknowledged that not scheduling time to talk with my friends overseas was equating to not talking. I have created routine in regularly scheduled skype calls. Likewise, not scheduling a time to write has resulted in not blogging. I decided back in December that I was going to have a blog day, now I'm going to put that in to action. It may not be the same day each week, but I am going to schedule a time to write once a week in order to give myself the time and opportunity to reflect.

The next few weeks are going to go fast, be jam packed, and probably a little scary as they all lead to a lot of change. Who's excited? Me!

My motto for the rest of my time in Israel is to take the path less travelled. I am making deliberate decisions to go where the most authentic experiences will be and always choosing to meet new people when a choice exists. It's working pretty well. Look forward to my post on Purim to learn more about what I mean.

The Most Useful Word I've Learned So Far

מתוסכל (metuskal) is probably one of the most useful vocabulary words I have learned since I arrived here. It means frustration. Frustrating is a great way to describe elements of the past few months. However, I don't simply mean this in the negative way that frustration is often associated. I've learned that frustration can also be a positive description. It can describe a challenge or the emotion experienced before accomplishing a goal.

Not being able to keep up to date with this blog has been frustrating. However, I have decided there is no use in backing up, I will simply keep moving forward and tell back story when necessary. Adjusting to life in Jerusalem with 2 roommates I did not know before coming here has been frustrating. Negotiating my expectations of myself, this year, and this program has been frustrating. However, it's been a practice in setting realistic expectations, learning about questions that should and need to be asked, and being flexible to your environment without giving up on things that matter. Balancing class and life has been frustrating. Although, I know that this is just part of the adjustment - I hope. Midterms were frustrating because, well they're midterms, and because it felt like there weren't enough hours in the week to stay on top of everything. Exams do not feel as frustrating, because I've learned to breathe and plan ahead.

Yesterday, I complained that yoga was frustrating - I've hit a wall and no matter how much I want to keep going the pain and plateau make me feel like I can't. I know that just by refusing to give up, by continuing to go to classes, by doing the motions despite the pain, I am breaking through that wall - slowly but surely. The important part is acknowledging the frustration but working past it. I have my reasons for doing yoga - it makes me feel good and I know it's good for me - o all I have to do is keep reminding myself of this fact and channeling my strength into breaking through that wall - because I can.

Today, I encountered two more examples of frustration. Not new examples - I've been discussing these frustration for a while - but I spoke the words "Ani metuskelet" - I am frustrated - twice. First in Hebrew, where I feel like I can't remember the many ways to conjugate verbs. I feel like I keep reviewing and practicing and it's not sticking and then the ones I know and am sure of get jumbled with the ones I'm not sure of and I get mixed up. However, I do know these binyanim better than I give myself credit for and I need to have more confidence in my knowledge. Second, I excused a slightly emotional moment in my Biblical Grammar class with this comment. Bibilical Grammar and Bible class are the best examples I have for frustration in a positive sense. These classes are very frustrating because there are so many parts to remember and so many parts still to be learned, however both classes are fascinating and I look forward to the days when I have them. I enjoy them so much, that I even enjoy my frustration over knowing an answer and not being able to explain it properly or knowing the meaning of a sentence and not being able to translate it word for word. These classes are not allowing me to simply know the answer, they are challenging and requiring me to know how to explain the answer.

We are almost at the midway mark of December. In a week and a half I will begin exams. In two and a half weeks I will be finished my first semester of my Masters', half way through my Year-In-Israel, and headed to Toronto for a much needed break. I am positive that these weeks will hold a lot more frustration. I am also sure they hold a lot of accomplishment, relief, laughter, and fun. Hopefully I won't be too exhausted when this is done.

Taking a few steps backwards for a moment - I won't write about the past - but here are some of the highlights not blogged about:
Tiyul to the south to Kibbutz Yahel,  the eco-village at Kibbutz Lotan, the solar field at Kibbutz Ketura, Timan Park, Yotvata, and the beach in Eilat. We were joined by Rabbinical students from JTS and Ziegler. Included a dinner under the stars in the desert.
Coming in 2nd with Noah and Manda at Pub Trivia.
Training for B'Yachad - my Trumah project.
Successfully presenting on Supplementary Education to my Ed Seminar.
Visiting Jessie and Aviv in Haifa.

Throughout this month I am posting quotes from musicals that resonate with me on my tumblr. If you want, play along by responding with a quote from the same musical. This is a form of counting down to my birthday, although I am not successfully posting every day on there either.

A Blog About Not Being Able to Write a Blog

For the past 3 weeks I have been accumulating topics that I want to write about, making notes of stories I want to share, and keeping track of thoughts that I've had. However, I have not been able to write any of them down. I am a bit back logged with school work and every moment where I could potentially write is a either a moment where I should be doing work OR a moment where I choose to read/watch a show and give myself a rest. Thus my blog gets neglected. I realize that it might be a bit of a let down to those of you that enjoy my writing to be left waiting for so long, but trust that I'm sad about it too - after all this is my log and if I don't write then I don't share or record the things that I've deemed worthy.

I am almost out of the back log, but exams are just around the corner. We also have a tiyul to the south this coming week. So I promise to write some posts soon...but most likely not for another week.

Here's hoping December is a better month for blogging and that all of you, my readers, are doing well!

Greece is the Word

Over Sukkot, we had a week and a half break from school. I took advantage of the free time and booked a cruise around the Greek Islands. My friends Daniel (fellow Ed student), Jeremy (Rebbinic student), and Sarah (Post-Doc Fellow at Hebrew U/Jeremy's wife) headed out to Athens by way of Larnaca in Cypress and took a 3 night/4 day cruise that went to Mykonos, Ephesus, Patmos, Heraklion, and Santorini. Jeremy and Sarah have packaged the experience into a multi-post blog and included links to the flickr site with all their (and some of my) pictures. So since they do such an amazing job of these things, I will simply share their blog with you.

Greece is the word - The Video

Greece is the Word - Day 1

Greece is the Word - Day 2

Greece is the Word - Day 3

Greece is the Word - Day 4

Greece is the Word - Day 5

Something that Jeremy and Sarah do not talk about is the excursion to Ephesus. They visited Turkey in August, so they sat that one out. Daniel and I woke up at 6:15am and headed off the ship at 7am for a brief tour of the famous archaeological site. There are a lot of great artifacts to be seen there, however, much of the site has been moved around and, as Daniel explained to me, when archaeological finds are moved, they lose their context and become almost meaningless. Nonetheless, it was a lot of fun to wander around taking pictures - I'm working on improving my photography skills. It was also very cold - science lesson of the day, it's not warm outside until the sun has been up for a little while. Before heading back to the ship, our tour guide took us to a Turkish Rug store for a demonstration and opportunity to purchase. It was definitely an experience to be served apple tea and watch their sales pitch.

I had a fabulous time on this trip. We saw a lot of beautiful places and ate some amazing Greek food. I will probably go back to Crete and Santorini one day, but for now Greece is no longer sitting at the top of my "must visit" list. Check!

Here are my pictures on Facebook:

Album 1

Album 2

Enjoy!

There Are No More Jews In Gaza

Last year, after a key note presentation by Benjamin Netanyahu, one of the students participating in Do The Write Thing returned to our conference room excited about an interaction he had on the way back. Upon leaving the hotel where the speech was given to cross the street back to the Sheraton, he came across a protestor holding a sign that said "Free Gaza" - specifically Gaza. He asked the man, in a sensitive manner, "What are we freeing Gaza from?" and the man replied "The occupation of the Jews." This student asked the man if he was aware that there were no Jews in Gaza, that they had been forced to leave in 2005. The man seemed confused, and asked "Really? No Jews, at all?" to which the student responded "Well there is one, his name is Gilad Shalit and he's being held as a captive and being denied his basic human rights." This was new information for the man and he claimed that he would go home and do more research. this was all the student could hope for and therefore a successful interaction. 

Now there are no Jews in Gaza.

Gilad Shalit came home this week. After five years and 4 months, a number of days that when added up equal 18 (the Jewish number for life), he returned to Israel and his family. For the first time in 5 years, we can celebrate Simchat Torah and now pray for this particular soldier's return. Just as we will take down our Sukkahs, so to can the Shalit tent outside the Prime Minister's residence be taken down. 

This is the moment we were waiting for, a moment that was hard to believe possible up until it actually happened. As I spent the day watching the live stream from BBC World News and checking updates on JPost and Haaretz's websites, I thought about the many years of campus activism and campaigns that kept the focus on Gilad. I thought about my involvement with them. The first major event I helped coordinate as a student at Hillel was a community rally in November 2006 to kick off the Missing Soldiers campaign - rallying for the return of Ehud Goldwasser, Eldad Regev, and Gilad Shalit, who had all been captured in the summer of 2006. The last event I planned for the Jewish community before leaving for Israel involved a banner of support for the Shalit Family. Now this activism can end. 

I am ecstatic that Gilad is back with his family, that he is alive, that he has the chance to regain his life has a free man. I believe that bringing him home was essential and that his safety would only have been increasingly threatened if he remained in captivity. 

However, I am also quite saddened by this event. The deal that brought him home is a lousy deal. It is a deal that says "We value our children's lives more than we hate our enemies" but it also says "We are willing to negotiate with terrorists and hand over 1000 prisoners in exchange for one captive." I fear we have placed a huge price tag on the heads of our soldiers and made the business of kidnapping even more appealing to Hamas. 

I am also quite bothered by the return of the prisoners. I am bothered that people who have committed heinous crimes are being allowed to walk free - I am bothered by this more than I fear them repeating their crimes. I am bothered that there are people in the world who don't see the difference between Gilad Shalit, a captive who was captured in his own country, being returned to his family and prisoners - murderers - who were serving sentences for crimes, being returned home and thus let off the hook. What frightens me is that these terrorists were welcomed as heroes and that in rallies welcoming them, public statements were made calling for more kidnappings so that more of these monsters can be returned home. What frightens me is that they don't show any remorse - they don't understand what was wrong about their actions - they do not feel sorry or shameful. There is no part of the civilized world that would think this release makes sense. There is no part of the civilized world that shouldn't fear these people having freedom. 

As a Canadian citizen who expects that people who commit heinous crimes will receive just punishment, it is hard to accept these prisoners being freed - at home, I wouldn't sleep well knowing that people like this were living amongst the public. Yet, the rules seem to be different here and in this case. As bothered as I am, it would be more bothersome to have watched Noam and Aviva and the rest of the Shalit Family told repeatedly that the deal is not good enough or, worse, that we waited too long and their son had been killed. Although it seems unjust and immoral, granting freedom to 1000 terrorists seems like the lesser of two evils in this scenario. 

The joy that I witnessed on the face of Gilad's brother, and the many supporters at the tent on Tuesday night, is all the proof I need that the right thing was done. 

I pray that the security fence stands up to any attacks these terrorists may try to carry out and for the safety of the soldiers in the IDF - may we not have another kidnapped soldier in our lifetime. 

The Sound of Silence

For as long as I can remember, I have been told that there is nothing like Yom Kippur in Jerusalem. I am fairly certain this statement is true. It is hard to explain the sound of the silence that takes over the city or the site of all the traffic lights flashing yellow and next to no cars driving on the road. It is hard to explain how kids on their bikes take over the street and sidewalks become obsolete. However, this is what it is like and you'll simply have to imagine it or take my words for it. 

For services, I was expected to attend the ones held in Blaustein Hall at HUC. This hall has floor to ceiling glass windows that face the old city that serve as the background to the bimah (stage where services are lead from) - it is a spectacular site coming from traditional synagogues where you face a wall. I spent more time in synagogue this year than I recall ever doing before - Kol Nidre, Shacharit, Musaf, Mincha, and Neillah. I even attended a study session in the afternoon. I saw that sunset, rise, and set again from the same seat (approx), and when I realized I was seeing the sunset for the second time, it struck me how cool it was to be experiencing it. 

Some interesting thoughts were raised in my mind with regards to the style and effectiveness of the services, but I think I will post those in my thoughts blog when I get a chance to write. On a whole, it was a new and special experience, and I'm really happy about it. 

On Erev Yom Kippur, I took a walk to the Kotel with some friends and sat there speaking for a little while. I'll reiterate that there is definitely something magical about the Kotel at night...though I should probably try to get there during the day sometime soon. On the way home, and throughout the entire 25 hours of Yom Kippur, I made sure to take every opportunity possible to walk in the middle of the street - it was really cool. 

It is appropriate to wish each other a Gmar Chatimah Tova (may your name be sealed in the book of life) all the way through the end of Sukkot. Therefore, that is what I will leave you and this blog post with. 

I'm So Liminal, I Don't Know Where I Am!

Definition of LIMINAL

1

: of or relating to a sensory threshold

2

: barely perceptible

3

: of, relating to, or being an intermediate state, phase, or condition : in-between, transitional <in the liminal state between life and death — Deborah Jowitt>

In this blog, I am mostly referring to definition #3. Liminal is a bit of a key word at HUC - it keeps coming up, it's used to refer to every stage of the program. From day one, we have been told that we are in a liminal state. After a bit of a break, the word resurfaced at Erev Rosh HaShana services - where we were informed that being in the time between Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur was being in a liminal state. This is when it clicked that I am SO liminal! I was in the time period described, I am in the liminal state between Jewish Community Member and Jewish Educator, AND I am in a liminal state between Torontonian and who-knows-what-ian. Building on my previous note about the realization that I don't live in Toronto....now I've realized that I'm liminal in regards to it too. 

I can't decide if I love this word or hate this word. Yes, it is completely legitimate to have feelings about/towards words. All I know for sure is that it describes me really well right now. 

For Rosh HaShana I had 6 meals with friends over 4 days, went to the shuk on Wednesday before chag - not as exciting as I thought, made a salt and pepper kugel and an apple cake, attended more service than I have in the past 10 years or so, participated in a Rosh HaShana seder (minus the ram's head), and had a really lovely time.

I hope your chag (holiday), if you has one, was enjoyable too! Shana Tova!

The Fall Line Up

Moving along in this game of catch up....

I now present the line up of classes I am taking this fall and other details of the sort, so that when I reference them later, they're not coming from nowhere.

WARNING: Grad School is not like Undergrad - in the Year in Israel Program, at least - we go to school from 8:30 - 3:40/4:30/5:20...it's a bit crazy.

So this year I have:
Hebrew
Bible
Biblical Grammar
Liturgy
Education Seminar
Israel Seminar

This semester I also have:
History of the 2nd Temple Period
Modern Zionist History
Advanced Hebrew Texts

We also gather for Mincha (The Afternoon Service) on Saundays and Shacharit (The morning Service) on Tuesday and Thursday.

I will probably discuss these more at length as I get into them, but in the meantime if you ask a question I will respond. :)

This year I also have to chant Torah twice, give a 5 minute D'var Torah, and lead a service. I will chanting on November 26th as it is Parshat Toldot and will be the 13th anniversary of my Bat Mitzvah. Everything else will be happening in second semester.

Classes are going quite well so far, I have really great Professors and I'm enjoying the content.

HUC presents The Truman - errr - Trumah Project!

As part of our year in Israel, every student must have a Trumah project. Trumah means donation, these are volunteer projects to which, we are donating ourselves.

The title of this blog includes Truman because that is what Apple auto-corrects for Trumah. This of course happened in our first email about the projects and we've joked about it since.

After a bit of a drawn out process for interviewing, because the project I wanted had a lot of interest and we needed to be "weeded out," I was assigned my first choice project!

This year, I am volunteering with the Avi Chai Foundation. The Avi Chai Foundation recruits and trains many of the Israelis who go on Shlichut (messenger) to camps in North America. They also offer a program, called B'Yachad, to North Americans in Israel for a year who are returning to camps, in order to help them best communicate their experience and make it a tool in their toolbox of useful knowledge. My role is evolving and offers a lot of opportunity for accommodating my interested, but the main purpose is to help in developing their leadership training program as part of the B'Yachad program.

I am really excited to get to work with this foundation this year. Not only do I think it will be a lot of fun; I expect it will be a great experience for the future and I'm all about multi-tasking in this way!

That Time I DROVE In Israel...

My attempts to find time to write long wordy blogs are failing and more ideas keep popping into my head, but I don't want to write about them until I've caught up on what I meant to write about. So the next two blogs might be short and simple, but here they are with the details they need.

At the end of August we had a week of vacation before the start of our Fall semester. I decided that, as I  hadn't explored much of the country yet on this vacation, I would stay here and go to Haifa and try to visit a winery or two.

I found 5 friends, rented a car, and drove to Haifa for a night. We pampered ourselves and stayed at the Dan Panorama as opposed to a hostel. We visited the Ba'hai Gardens, accidentally walked all the way down the mountain in search of a museum of sorts, rode the Carmelit (only subway in Israel) back to the top and enjoyed a morning by the pool. I got to see my friend Lior, who was a member of the Israeli shlichoot at Camp George last summer, and Jessie came to have breakfast with me.

On the way back to Jerusalem, we went to Zichron Yaakov and visited the Tishbi and Carmel wineries. Good food, good wine, good chocolate too.

I did all the driving on this trip - it was great to be able to drive for the first time in over a month, I missed it, and it also was not as scary as it seemed it would be. I will definitely not hesitate to rent a car again.

Taking a step backward, before journeying to Haifa, I went sailing on the Mediterranean. My friend Natan has his Captain's license and thus can rent a boat and take people out for a ride. It was awesome!

Every once in a while...

...You see something remarkable.

Tonight as we finished Havdallah at Yemin Moshe, the  big windmill overlook of the Old City in Jerusalem, we looked to the sky and notice a huge flock of birds flying in a V. It was hard to believe our eyes, we'd never seen birds flying so clearly in the night sky, let alone a V this big.

Shabbat is a special time, I like to argue that Havdallah and the time following it is special too (although a different kind of special as not to make say "hamavdil" - the blessing differentiating from the special and the normal - irrelevant), it's moments like this, in that setting, that further support my claim.

Shavua Tov! A Good Week - may gladness reign and joy increase! Une bonne semaine!

A Break from Our Regularly Scheduled Programming...

I realize that next in the line up is a blog about my end of summer break, but that ones not ready to publish and this pressing thought has invaded my brain.

It's sinking in that I don't live in Toronto anymore. I realisze that right now I live in Jerusalem, but at the end of the year I won't be returning to live in Toronto. I'll be home for a very short visit and then I'll be in Los Angeles for a few weeks and then I'll live in New York City. Now, as exciting as being able to call my self a resident of NYC makes me, this is absolutely one of the weirdest feelings I've ever experienced. I was tempted to write terrifying, but it's not, it's just a big deal. Even when I lived in Albany for a year, I still considered myself to be living in Toronto, just on a brief departure to another place - I realize this was not the most logical thought, but the point is that I don't think I actually thought of myself as not living in Toronto in some sense of the word at that time. So that makes this the first time that I have ever not been a resident of Toronto...well sort of...I still pay a phone bill and I still have a bank account, so I suppose there are things that give me some sort of resident status.

Not the point. The point is that this feels like a very big deal to me and the enormity of it is sinking in. I'm excited about all of this, but along with this realization it has sunk in that, as I don't live there, I do have to prioritize and save and plan out when I visit Toronto. It should not surprise many of you reading to know that I'm a bit of a homebody - I really like my family and friends and spending time with them - I am not much for LONG periods of separation and distance. I like to feel connected and detachment scares me. I need to consider when I need to come home versus when I want to come home versus when I can come home. I need to save money appropriately. I also need to live my life and explore the rest of the world and take a vacation every once in a while.  I'm realizing that there is a very fine balance to all of this.

So now I'm faced with a bit of a dilema. I left Toronto very confident that I would not return until May or June 2012. I reasoned that it was expensive to come home and that it was more important to spend my money on visiting places I had not seen and that are much easier to access from this side of the Atlantic. However, when I left I did not know when my classes would start in LA and I did not know when my classes would start in NYC. I still do not have official confirmation, but it seems that I will need to be in LA by June 8 (possibly even earlier to settle in to an apartment). At the end of the summer I will only have at most 3 weeks to move to New York. This means that I will probably be home for 2 weeks at the ends of May and then not again until Labour Day weekend for Margot's Wedding. I find myself torn. On one side, I think that I should stick with my original plan and go somewhere in Europe for 2 weeks on my break in January. On the other,  there's a part of me that's thinking that I need to come home. Even though my parents are coming in February, my sister may not be, my Bubbie is not, my aunts and uncles and cousins are not, and many of my friends are not.  It is my responsibility to maintain my relationships while I am far from home, is there no obligation to come home and makes sure I get some time in Toronto while I can? This lifestyle/scenario is so new to me, I don't know how I feel about this. I am confused and fixated on not making an "irresponsible" decision - although I'm not sure what that is in this case.

I'd love to hear some thoughts on this matter - any advice is welcome.

The month of Elul is a time for reflection....right now I find myself thinking about the future by reflecting on my past.

Shabbat Shalom!

For those of you wondering, I will be doing some travel this year, a trip home would not be in place of those opportunities, it would just take one away. I booked flights to Greece yesterday - yay I'm going to Greece in October! I also have time to travel for a week over Pesach.

It's Good To Be 4!

Meet Vivian.

Photo taken by Sarah Gimbel

Vivian is the younger daughter of my friend Nicole, a Rabbinical student, and she just turned 4. As I see it, it's pretty darn good to be 4.

I had the privilege of tagging along on a recent outing with Nicole's family to Kef Tsuba - a bouncy house amusement park on Kibbutz Tsuba just outside of Jerusalem. I went to see what this place was like and because I figured there was little chance this journey would not be fun. There was almost nothing for someone taller than 4ft to do at this place. It was cool and if I was 7 or 4, as these Cassie and Viv, I would have had a blast bouncing, and going in the bumper cars, and playing in the 3 story jungle gym/maze. Rather, I had a blast watching these young girls do just that and offering some adult conversation to their parents.

After lunch, Vivian, whose 4th birthday was on this very day, fell asleep in her stroller and there she stayed, asleep until it was time to get in the cab back to the city. As she slept, without a care in the world, not worried by a single movement around her or concerned for who would watch over her belongings, it was clear to me just how good it is to be 4. I sometimes long to return to the days where I can have so little to care about in the world.

However, just as Vivian is a constantly showing us why it's good to be 4, she also shows us how it's sometimes hard to be 4. Vivian is a very determined child, she refuses to accept that she might not be able to do something - everything is possible, even when it's not. I admire this attitude and the perseverance and determination with which she faces new tasks. Sometimes it's good to be grown up. To be tall enough and strong enough and stable enough to do anything I want to do. I take these abilities for granted; I have not been aware of my strength. I have spent a lot of time treating myself as weak or incapable, but, as I'm discovering in yoga, I am doing myself a disservice. For the sake of all that Viv is still too little to do, but tries anyway, I need to embrace my power and acknowledge my strength. I need to respect the 4 year olds of the world and appreciate what I can do, because they really want to and can't.

Summer Visits Come To An End

First off, there's a new post up at my other blog ariellerb.bogspot.com, which now has a title: If You Don't Have Anything Nice To Say, Maybe You Should Still Say Something Where as this blog is a log of my journey to becoming a Jewish Educator, that blog is a place for discussing issues as they arise.

Now on to this post....WARNING: The following is mostly gratitude and a little insight into some of the details of my life this summer, to expect much thought provoking content.

I need to start by publicly thanking Jesse Paikin. Jesse is in charge of staffing Birthright trips for Kesher - the Reform movement's group for college and university age youths. By pure luck, many of my friends received staff positions this summer. Thus, THANK YOU JESSE for sending me my friends!

My first visitors this summer were Aron and Jenn Katz. I went to lead Havdallah for their trip at HUC - this became a bit of a trend - and then met up with them for an evening on Ben Yehuda St. We had a lovely dinner at Burger's Bar and it was great to see familiar faces from home so soon after arriving in Jerusalem.

Next came Shayna Goldberg. Shayna was not sent to me by Jesse, but rather Canada Israel Experience - thank you Barbara Reich??? :S After spending a month, post-Birthright,  touring India, Shayna stopped by my apartment for 4 nights. She helped me to decorate it and cleaned out some drawers, which was such a great help in making me feel more settled. She was also a trooper. She came with me to not one but 4 HUC events that weekend, although one was a party. Shayna was with me for services on Friday night and Saturday morning and then came to an intimate Seudah Shlishit/ Get To Know You/ Havdallah at Rabbi Naama Kelman's (the Dean of HUC in Israel) house.

August brought lots of quality time with Dave Vaisberg and Miriam Sherman-Palmer! First off, was the usual Havdallah, except we didn't do Havdallah together, followed by dinner on Ben Yehduda. This time we went to Tmol Shilshom and got to watch from above as the protestors marched to Kikar Zarfat to demonstrate for cheaper housing. After their trip, Dave came to stay with me for a night, he came with me for yoga and then showed me one of his favourite bars in Jerusalem. Dave went to his family for Shabbat, but returned on Sunday for more yoga and to take me to IKEA! This was not only fun but essential. By means of his rental car and previous experience setting up in Jerusalem, Dave was invaluable in helping me buy what I still needed for the apartment. Dave departed the next morning to pick up Miriam from the airport and travel for a few days. The following Friday, I hosted them for a lovely Shabbat dinner, complete with Schnitzel, at my friend Nicole's with a few of my friends from HUC and on Saturday I joined them for a lovely Shabbat lunch hosted by Nanacy, the Director of Student Life for us at HUC.

As my visit with Dave and Miriam ended, my visit with Jesse started. Later on Saturday, I went to HUC to host Havdallah for Jesse Paikin and Shelly Vaisberg's bus. It was one of the best Havdallah's thus far - there was great energy and lots of presence from the leadership perspective. I then walked with them to Ben Yehuda and got to hang out with everyone for a bit. On Sunday, I took a cab ride with Jesse from HUC out to Harel Mall in Mevasseret Zion where he was reconnecting with his bus after some meetings on campus. It was brief due to timing but a quality trip none-the-less. With that my stream of regular visitors ended.

I am expecting some family and more friends in the coming months, still not positive of any of these plans. In the meantime, I am so appreciative of the fact that I've had a regular stream of friends to help ease me in to life so far away. I am forming a great social group here, but it's always nice to see a face from home.

The End of Summer (School)

Allow me to backtrack for a moment. I thought I had written about the summer semester earlier, but I may not have been clear. So best to clarify things before talking about their conclusion.

On July 11 I started Orientation. We had a week of getting to know you activities, expectations discussions, and programming to help us begin to think of ourselves in our future roles as community leaders. On July 16 I started Summer Semester. This semester is best understood as a pre-school program and was often referred to as summer camp, without a lot of the essence of camp, by me and my peers. In this session we had Ulpan for most of the day, as well as Cantilation (learning to chant Torah) once a week, and a Biblical History lecture twice a week, along with a Study Tiyul (trip) on Thursdays. I was in the highest level Hebrew class, the beginner cantillation, and the Biblical History class for those with some background in the topics.

This summer I also started my Education Seminar which will continue through the whole year. I truly look forward to this class every week and the opportunity to start delving into Education Theory and really geek out as an educator. Sally, my teacher, is wonderful....I can actually say this about all of the faculty I've interacted with so far - but Sally's had us over for dinner and movie night :)

Thursday August 25th was our last day of summer session. I have since enjoyed a week long vacation, which I'll write about soon, and will be beginning Fall Semester on Sunday.

So Summer has come to an end, I came to Israel for 11 months, I only have 9 months left. I still don't feel settled...I am under the impression this is normal. I hate when everything is a blur, but I have been told that that is exactly what this year will be, I'm going to fight against this.

It has been a productive summer and I have definitely done a lot in the last 2 months. My Hebrew Grammar has improved immensely and I feel like I have a new understanding of the language. My teacher, Osnat, was AMAZING! She truly cared about each of us. She worked very hard to help us succeed and she will definitely be missed, as she is not going to be our teacher for the year. I've learned the Teamim (notes for singing Torah) and I've toured parts of Israel as an archaeologist. I've travelled to the Israel Museum for a night of culture, a study tiyul, and a wonderful wine festival. I've gone to Tel Aviv for a free day and a day of sailing. I've wandered in and out of the old city, hung out at Ben Yehuda St., shopped at Hadar Mall in Talpiot, walked to the end of Azza, eaten in Emek Refaim, and fought my way through Machne Yehuda many a time.

I've felt very busy and I have been, I've also felt very flustered and like time was moving faster than I want it to. It never seemed like there were enough hours in the day. I think the fact that I feel like I'm still settling into my apartment has contributed to this. My second roommate, Mike, arrived today and with his help I'm sure this place will feel settled soon. It will be nice to finally set up some routines and to get the place a bit more organized. Feeling like there's work to be done and being too tired to do it at the end of the day is very exhausting - this is probably why I have not been updating as often as I would like to. That and the fact that I had 6 blog ideas in mind by the time I got off the plane and I have not been as good at staying one step ahead since then. I am also trying very hard to make this blog thought provoking and not just a log of the events in my life.

Summer session was an interesting time for us. It was a time of adjustment and it was a time that was misunderstood by many. It was clearly set up - in my opinion - to be more of an ulpan than a start of my Masters. However, many felt that it was the start of their program and were frustrated by the lack of depth with regards to those programs thus far. I think everyone is definitely excited for this program to really get going. There have been a lot of sign ups in the past few weeks and thus signs of the approaching school year. We're going on a tiyul to the North next weekend and needed to sign up for rooms. We needed to sign up to lead services - I've shown great initiative and leadership and opted to go last :) We needed to sign up to give a 5 minute D'var Torah - stay tuned for Parsha Trumah at Kabbalat Shabbat Services at HUC on February 24th - in case you're planning a trip. Finally, we've needed to sign up to chant Torah twice. I will be reading Toldot on November 26th - this year is the Bar Mitzvah of my Bat Mitzvah and I will finally read a Torah portion that is considered obligatory as opposed to the Maftir. I'll also be reading some time in March - although I don't remember what and when at the moment. Yes, there IS a lot of preparation to do.

Thus my "summer" ends. Who's excited for Fall?

Of Things to Come...

It's been pointed out to me a few times in the past few days that I am not doing a great job updating my blog - it's not easy to be consistent!

I promise to write a few blogs in the next few days and make an effort to keep you all better updated. Here are some things to look forward to:

The End of Summer (School)

The Last of the Visitors

It's Good to Be 4.

That Time I DROVE in Israel!

HUC presents The Truman - errr - Trumah Project

In the meantime please enjoy my friend Kenny's picture tours of the Mamila neighbourhood and downtown:

It's Fun To Stay At  - a tour of Mamila

You Can Always Go...Downtown! - about Downtown Jerusalem

In the Wake of an Attack...

Disclaimer:

My description of my thoughts are simply that and in no way a judgement of other's decisions - I respect everyone's right to their own approach. 

I asked permission to use the statuses below, if anyone would like their status remove, please let me know and I will do so. 

In December 2009 I boarded a plane to Israel as a madricha with 25 Birthright participants for my 4th flight to Israel. This was during the time of Operation Cast Lead and many participants had cancelled their plans to come to Israel out of fear. I knew enough about being in Israel that I understand my safety was not at risk, but I wondered why my mother was not pleading with me not to go. She eventually informed me that by this time she trusted me to make my own decisions and would not question my decision. I do not regret a moment of the trip that followed, it was one of the most meaningful trips I've had to this country and the reality is that, while I was here, the only time I heard anything of the situation in Gaza was by way of the occasional news update, not the site/sounds of rockets in the distance. 

Yesterday, while on a bus with my class heading back to Jerusalem from Tel Moresha, we were informed of a 3 part terrorist attack that had just happened in Eilat - killing 7 people and leaving many wounded. Phones were immediately pulled out and phone calls made, I simply sent my parents text messages saying I was no where near Eilat. I did not think this was a necessary action, as my parents are very aware that Eilat is 5 hours south of Jerusalem, but I felt it better to reassure them as to not accidentally leave them in a panicked state. 

The next question on my mind was how to inform my friends over social media?

I have been to Israel 6 times, and during this time rockets have been fired into the country from the borders, but no incidents identified as terrorist attacks have taken place. I have never felt the need to reassure my network of my safety before. So I opened my facebook and contemplated what to write. I did not want to say "I'm safe" - that felt silly to me - Why wouldn't I be safe? I didn't want to say "there's been a terrorist attack" - my network is very on top of their Israel news, but also why alarm the people who don't know something has happened? Would that be alarming? I opted for a simple "I am far from Eilat" and a sharing of my sympathies for the loss in Eilat in "my thoughts and prayers" are there. I later looked at my newsfeed and was fascinated to see the variety of posts my classmates had made and to ponder how we and our networks relate to this news differently. Here are the screenshots of my newsfeed:

(I do not have great editing software on my laptop but I wanted to edit out pictures, last names, and comments so I apologize for all the wasted space in these images, I couldn't cut and paste.)

    

I realized that whereas I did not want to acknowledge my safety, my peers had no hesitation in doing so...perhaps my reason is not that it felt silly but that simply I couldn't bring myself to write the words. Needing to write on my facebook status that I was safe would mean admitting that I might not be and raises the questions "am I really? how do I know?" 

There are some topics that I personally struggle with writing about on facebook - most recent example would be how I was very vague in how I shared my Grandma's passing as opposed to simply saying so - there's something that feels tacky or like I'm lightening the issue when I write it on my facebook. As I believe that social networking devices are great tools and fully support using them, I don't know why I feel this way. 

More interesting than how I and my peers shared the news of these events, was to be in Jerusalem and see how life goes on. In North America, our worlds are shaken when a terrorist attack happens. Work might stop for the day, people might go home, even an attempt causes a lot of chatter. As we drove back in to Jerusalem it was like nothing happened. People were going on with their daily lives. After class, Rachel and I went for fro-yo on Yaffa Street and sat outside while empty light rail cars drove past (they're supposed to be empty, the light rail only officially opened today). As we discussed the days events and our feelings about the upcoming events at the UN in September and the political situation in the area in general, I was very aware of how normal everything around me was. I have heard that this is the way the world works here and that really we have no choice but to keep going, there's no productivity in simply shutting down every time something happens. It was soothing to know that I could keep living life normally and that there was no indication that I should change that. 

This is the second event of this nature since March and that is a lot for recent years. This is not insignificant and, as much as I am determined to continue living here and I mean living not just existing, it has definitely made me a little more aware that the situation may not be as calm here as I had hoped it would continue to be this year. I still feel safe as ever before. Just now, I feel a need to grapple with what it means to be living here a bit more. I invite your thoughts on these events and any of the topics I've mentioned in this post. I find talking to be therapeutic, I don't deal well with keeping things inside. I would like to make it known that I am willing and ready to talk about yesterday and the coming months, in circles if necessary, with anyone who wants to, for their own sake or mine. 

Oseh Shalom B'imromav, Who Ya'asseh Shalom Aleinu Ve Al Kol Yisrael V'Imru, Amen.

עושה שלום במרומיו הוא יעשה שלום עלינו ועל כל ישראל ואמרו אמן

May He who makes peace in the Heavens above, grant peace to us and all of Israel, and let us say Amen.

If you've been curious to learn about where I go to school....

My friend Kenny (a cantorial student) has added a weekly feature to his blog photo journaling the city - I am most likely going to hijack these posts to share with you. Don't worry he knows!

Here's his post about HUC:

KennyinIsrael: There She Stands in All Her Beauty...: "As promised, albeit a little late, I will be introducing to my blog a weekly feature, 'Kenny's Travels in Jerusalem' highlighting a specific..."

The Shabbat Siren (and pictures!)

Every week at the start of Shabbat a siren blasts through Jerusalem. It is a long and consistent blast. I did not notice it my first week here. On my second Shabbat, it sounded at the exact perfect moment in our Kabbalat Shabbat service at HUC - it was a beautiful moment that we were able to adopt into our service while facing the old city. The following week I did not notice it - the trend at this point was if I was inside I didn't seem to hear it. Last week it blasted while I was at a service at the Tent City in Independence Park. On this my 5th Shabbat in Jerusalem, I have finally deciphered the siren from other noises. I have opted not to go to services this evening in exchange for a little more "me time" and I despite the traffic still rushing past my apartment and the sounds of "The Book of Mormon" soundtrack on my computer, my ears perked up to the sound of the siren.

The siren itself is not particularly pleasant, but it fills me with calmness. I hear it and acknowledge that Shabbat has come in, in Jerusalem, and the next 25 hours will be special. In Canada, in my family, Shabbat starts whenever we're ready to sit down to dinner. Here Shabbat starts for everyone at the same time, because the city tells us so. There's no requirement to start service or meals before or after the siren, but there will always be a siren to correct you.

Shabbat is special in this city and this country - it is special everywhere - it's different here. I will reflect more on Shabbat as I form more thoughts but for now think about the siren and the sense of everyone beginning their day at the same time, the feelings evoked from one monotonous sound can be so surprising.

Shabbat Shalom!

I finally took and uploaded some pictures of my neighbourhood and room, here they are:

Kikar Sarfat or Paris. At the intersection I cross everyday to get to school.

A view looking up my street from just beyond Kikar Paris.

Another pretty view walking up my street.

The walkway to my entrance.

The view of our balcony/apartment from the walkway.

My room.

From the other side.

My cupboards.

The wall beside my bed with the pretty tapestry Shayna bought me in India.

My window/exit to my balcony.

The mirror that faces my bed and the pretty lights I strung on it.

Israel: The Smells, The Joys, The Social Activist Rallies...

Finally an update from me! The title for this post is based on a discussion had a few weeks ago with my friend Adam about great titles for blog posts - I have taken the liberty of changing the last items in this list to apply to something relevant.


This post is mostly about my life recently in the context of the many rallies happening around me, however for the sake of the title. Did you know that this country smells? Sometimes it smells good, like the  bushes of rosemary growing all over the place, but often it just smells plain bad, like the cloud of garbage I had to walk through as I passed a garbage truck this morning. It's quite funny when you're walking and suddenly the air just stinks, at this point I laugh and sigh: oh Israel.


There is also a lot of joy here, and hopefully the joyous things will surface throughout this post as opposed to me singling them out in a tiny paragraph.


Now that that's clear on to the happenings of the past 2 weeks since I posted something of substance. A running joke here is that you will always be told that you've come to Jerusalem at a very interesting time. Well, I HAVE come to Jerusalem at a very interesting time. In the past 2 weeks I have seen the Jerusalem Pride Parade, multiple tent cities sprout in the middle of the city, and 2 HUGE demonstrations.


As school has become a regular part of my schedule, I have become very busy with homework and reading. We take three courses over the summer - Hebrew, Biblical History, and Cantilation - I also have my Education Seminar, which runs through the entire year. I will probably discuss these classes in future blogs, but all you need to know right now is that they are all interesting and I am enjoying attending them and adjusting back to a studious routine. However, it is definitely difficult. 


Amidst all this work, there has been some time for fun along with exciting happenings in the area. Last weekend my friend Shayna came to stay with me for four nights before returning back to Toronto. On the day Shayna arrived, I walked out my front door to find rainbow flags lining the street lamps as far as I could see. Apparently my street is a great parade route. By 5pm my street was closed to traffic and Shayna and I stepped outside to watch the Pride Parade. This parade was nothing like what you might expect, there is a parade in Tel Aviv that is more like that of Toronto's, but this was something unique and very special. Jerusalem is a holy city and, as such, there are a lot of feelings with regards to respect of the population and the place. This was more of a march than a parade. It was joyous and colourful and carried a message. Naturally there were religious protestors, with disgusting signs of opposition, but they were kept a safe distance away and out of sight. It was really cool to stand in the middle of Jerusalem and watch an event like this, that could not take place in any other country of this region, go past. 


In Hebrew class, we've been reading a lot of news about the protests revolving around the fight for affordable housing. As we're reading about this, literally 5 minutes away a tent city is being built. In many locations around this city and the country as a whole there are now tent cities filled with people who want the government to provide more affordable housing. The cost of rent and ownership in the cities is far more than what a student can afford and this is leading to major problems. The tent cities expanded to nightly protests - marches to the PM's house that I could hear from the window as I cooked dinner and grew in to full blown rallies. This past Saturday and last Saturday there have been huge demonstrations in the major cities, this week drawing crowds of 350,000 people - the biggest demonstrations Israel has ever seen. In Jerusalem, they start at Kikar Soos at the top of Ben Yehuda, and where do they go? To Kikar Sarfat and Azza St., less than 2 minutes away from my apartment. It's been fascinating to discover just how amazing my location is, I'm just around the corner from Bibi (Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu) and thus in a very exciting place. 


I'm definitely enjoying seeking out more information about these events as they unfold around me, I encourage all of you to search for and read articles about it too. So often we spend time focussing on the peace process and defending Israel, we rarely look at what else is affecting this country and discuss our opinions about domestic issues. What do you think the Israeli Government should do?


I'll try to get back in the routine of updating more regularly, I apologize for leaving you waiting so long, I hope it was worth it.

Lylah Tov!