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!

Busy, Busy, Busy

It's been a VERY busy 2 weeks since I've last had a moment to sit down and write. I do not have a moment right now, but I wanted to let all you lovely readers know that I promise to make time this week to catch the blog up on everything that's happened here. 


In short, I've had lots of readings and have written 2 quizzes and a Hebrew essay. All is well.


Shabbat Shalom!

The Future Rabbis, Cantors, and Educators of America cry a lot!

Ok maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but seriously who knew going to seminary would be such an emotional experience?


Since last Monday we have been in orientation week and as of today we are officially students - having begun our Hebrew Ulpan and the summer class schedule.  Orientation was comprised of a number of sessions aimed at helping us get to know each other, expectations, and a bit more about the Year In Israel (YII) program. Basically we talked and talked and then talked some more. It was wonderful - I mean that. Over the past week I've had some high quality conversations and bonded with my classmates. There are 37 of us in Israel this year and we each bring something unique to the table. There are people who have just finished their undergraduate degrees, people like me who have been working for a few years, people who have left successful careers to pursue a new path, people with Masters degrees - we've been referring to my new friend Adam as a rocket scientist a lot lately, because he is! 

Adam, Myself, Jeremy, and Lenette at our Israeli Dinner on Day 1. *

A lot happened this week, but there are some moments that stand out. At the end of our first day, we walked over to Har Zion (Mount Zion) for a view of Jerusalem as the sun set. Once there we sang some relevant songs accompanied on guitar by Rabbi Yoshi Zweibeck, the Director of the YII program, on guitar - turns out he's a bit of a big deal in Jewish music circles, check out his band Mah Tovu. We also were given some history of the location and a description of what we could see. As our day came to a close and we finished singing, off in the distance we could hear a group singing HaTikvah - the national anthem of the State of Israel - it was a beautiful moment. We sat on a hill with our backs to the old city, in reflective silence, and had a collective moment. When the silence broke, tear stains could be seen on many faces. Personally, I wanted to jump up and down with excitement when I heard the anthem being sung in the distance - acknowledging how perfect the timing was - instead I curled into a ball trying to resist the urge. 


This was just one of many moments resulting in tears throughout the week. I do not know if students beginning other Masters or PhD programs have this experience, but it seems that the journey to becoming a Jewish professional is an extremely emotional one. No matter what we did this week, it was always interesting to see how it affected us. There were moments in our group discussions about why we are here and moments in prayer services, moments in Havdallah and moments with new friends. It is clear, whenever I look around me, that I am surrounded by people who are deeply passionate about the Jewish people, religion, and their career. We are thrilled, to the point of being overwhelmed, to be starting our programs at HUC. 


Another highlight this week was a program called Yerushalayim Sheli. On Thursday night we signed up for activities being hosted by Israelis not necessarily connected to HUC and got to explore the city through their lens. This program was brilliantly coordinated by our amazing interns - Leslie, Amy, and Daniel - and was definitely a great experience for everyone. At 7:30 I met 7 of my classmates and 2 new Israeli friends - Aviad and Shevy - at HUC. We went for dinner at Moshav 54, a reasonably priced restaurant nearby, and then to the Israel Museum for a special program that included a Wi Party. What's a Wi Party? It's a party where you get a headphone set, put it on, and the music only plays in the headphones. If you take the headphones off, all you see is people dancing and you don't hear any music. This was so much fun and absolutely hilarious. I highly recommend participating in a party like this if you ever get a chance. 
Side note about this trip - the enjoyment that our group took in seeing ancient biblical texts and imported synagogue decorations from all over the world was quite amusing. Of course the Rabbis, Cantor, and Jewish Educator in training visiting the Israel museum are going gaga for this stuff!

The Group at Dinner at Moshav 54 *

Ready to get our dance on! (L-R: Shevy, Daniel A, Me, Elle, Rachel S, Jeremy, and Kenny) *

The final highlight of this week that I'd like to share with you took place on Shabbat. This week I was able to celebrate Shabbat as a settled in want-to-be Yerushalmi (Jerusalemite) as opposed to a half asleep tourist from Toronto. It started with our outdoor Kabbalat Shabbat service from the Feinstein Garden which overlooks the Old City. This was one of those "wow" moments for many of us in the group. Then Saturday followed as a great day of contemplation and discussion. Saturday morning I, along with all my classmates, attended services at HUC. This was the first time that I participated in a formal Reform service as a congregant and not a visitor. On a whole this was a very positive experience for me. However, one part left me with a lot of questions. Many Reform congregations say the Mourner's Kaddish as a Kehillah (community), however I have been raised with the custom of only saying Kaddish if you are a mourner or have lost one of the 7 people that qualify you as a mourner. I have never discussed this custom with my parents, but, as their custom is that which I was raised with, I sometimes feel as though it may be disrespectful to them to say this prayer while they are alive. Seeing as I have always been sent out during Yizkor on my father's insistence that "Your parents are still alive, get out"(said with love) I think this is a safe assumption. Although, I see the beauty in the Kehillah saying Kaddish together, I am not comfortable doing so at this point - with or without my parents' approval. In my experience, the instructions at the time of Kaddish will be to "rise if it is your custom," at this service these words were not said and I was left feeling awkward about whether to stand or remain seated. This moment opened up some good conversations for me throughout the rest of the day and kick started some of my grappling with prayer that I hope to do this year. In case you're wondering, I have decided it will be best to stand in silence the next time that happens. 
Shabbat was closed with a great Seudah Shlishit and Havdallah back on campus. After our own Havdallah ceremony in the Spanish Garden, which may be one of the best hideaways on this campus, I stayed back with Rachel S (Rabbinic student and Havdallah leader extraordinaire), Elle (pronounced Ellie, Rabbinic student) and Jessie (Rabbinic student) to help lead Havdallah for a Kesher Birthright Trip. As someone who is crazy about informal education, Meaningful Jewish Experiences (MJEs), and Havdallah, this moment was wonderful and very exciting. It was a great way for the 4 of us to enhance our evening, but it left us pondering, are you allowed to say Havdallah twice? Did we just separate ourselves even further from Shabbat? (Joking of course) However, if you know the answer to the first question, please share. 


Ok, I can feel this blog getting long - I mean really long - so I will condense my last few thoughts. 


Today we started ulpan - I am in Kitah Gimel - there are only 3 classes, so I am in the highest. This makes sense and my parents might wonder where all there tuition went if I was not at this level. My class is great and I am very excited to challenge myself to reach fluency by the end of this year. This evening I went to a nearby cafe and ate dinner while doing my homework - it was a great.


After class today, I went with a few friends to see Harry Potter 7.2. This was not only a great HP experience, it was a great adventure in Israeli cinema. We saw the film in 3D, which is the best offering in the area, Jeremy and I agree that we don't understand why there is not greater IMAX availability in this country. For all their technological achievements, why do I have to go to Eilat to see a film in IMAX?! To sum up the experience of watching a film with Israeli children and teenagers I will say: if you enjoy the quiet, often beautiful moments in a film, don't go to the movies. There were also tears throughout this movie, not just for me, but I will not share the names of the others who cried in order to protect their pride. That is the moment I decided we cry a lot and decided that would be the best title for this particular blog. 


*Photo Credits to Jeremy and Sarah Gimbel.

A Shuk Cart

For those of you who don't know, this is a Shuk Cart:

More specifically, my shuk cart.