Ulpan is over, and as of Thursday afternoon, I have been academically oriented for the year. And what a year it looks like it will be! I’m going to be pretty busy. We’re in class from 8:30 in the morning until 4:10 or 5:30 in the afternoon, depending on the day. We get 20 minute breaks between classes and just over an hour for lunch. I’ll be taking lots and lots of Hebrew (8 hours a week), plus Rabbinics, Liturgy, Biblical Grammar, Modern Jewish history, Rabbinic professional forum, and hopefully a class on Reform Judaism. Those classes are Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. All of those classes, except for History and one Rabbinics lecture, including the two other rabbinics classes, are conducted almost entirely in Hebrew. It should be interesting! Wednesdays we have an Israel seminar, which looks at Israeli society, I think through lots of trips and things, but I’ll let you know. It’s a good thing I have a week off before the year starts for real!
Earlier in the week, I got a special treat. A family friend was in town from London, and even though I had never met him before, Nigel wanted to meet me and take me and a friend to dinner! Mara and I were incredibly excited to visit this steakhouse that we had heard was amazing, but had yet visited. It was really fun to finally meet someone I have heard so much about, and we all had a really good time sitting and talking for a couple of hours, and eating some of the best food I have had since arriving in Jerusalem.
This was the last week of Hebrew. I had to do a presentation last week, and I talked about what my family does on snow days at home. My parents had sent me some pictures of Becky and Debbie and I playing in the snow lots of years ago, and I made chocolate chip cookies for the class, since after (or instead of) playing in the snow, we also always bake on snow days. The cookies were much appreciated, and hopefully they blocked out any bad memories of my Hebrew skills! I am starting to learn my Hebrew limitations, and I am trying to figure out ways to really work on it. Back in middle school, I did a science project on learning styles, and I learned that while most people have a preference for visual or auditory learning, they are fairly balanced between the two. I am almost completely visual. This means that while I can take a test and do very well on it, when I have to listen to a radio program in Hebrew or listen and respond to a supermarket clerk, I have a lot of trouble. So my friends assume that my Hebrew is really good, and the truth is that I have a lot of work to do. I am trying to find good ways to work on it, aside from being immersed in classes conducted in Hebrew for a lot of hours a day, without overwhelming myself too much. But first, I have a week in Spain!
For the last day of ulpan, HUC took us all to dinner. Rather than going somewhere in Jerusalem, we went to a restaurant about a half hour away (on private buses) that was attached to a spice farm. Yes, you read that right. Spice farms exist! Which is a weird concept, but it makes for some really delicious and (shockingly) flavorful food. Dinner was outstanding: they kept bringing out plates of food for the table, so we got to taste something like a dozen different dishes, just a few bites of each. Wow. I ate well this week!
I also led the optional morning services with a friend this week. We led Monday morning, which meant that there was also a full Torah service. It was really fun to be able to lead an entire Torah service, and feel like I knew what I was doing! (Yes, it was fun. And this is why I’m in rabbinic school.)
We are now in the middle of Rosh Chodesh, a celebration of the new month. I love that on the Hebrew calendar, there is a celebration for every single week (Shabbat) and every single month. It’s a great reminder that every single day is really special, and that all time can really be holy. (This rabbinic school moment brought to you by….) Because the Hebrew calendar goes on a lunar cycle, Rosh Chodesh is traditionally accompanied by women’s celebrations. A couple of girls in my class decided to organize one last night, and I am so glad that I went. We did actually talk about the holiday itself for a while, but we ended up just talking. About 10 of us were there, and it was not a group where everyone was really good friends with one another. Somehow, though, we ended up having some very personal, very open conversations for several hours. It was sort of amazing, and it felt so good to connect with people I had not talked to very much before.
A few hours after Shabbat, I am getting on an airport shuttle! I will be in Barcelona from Sunday until Friday morning, and I can’t wait! It does mean I won’t be updating for a week, but rest assured that when I return, there will be lots and lots of pictures and some fun stories to share. I’m posting some new and random pictures this afternoon as well. Should you feel the urge, even though I’m on email, it’s sort of like camp in at least one way: it’s really fun to get real-mail here. It’s easiest to get at HUC: 13 King David Street, 94101 Jerusalem, ISRAEL. Write Israel nice and big. I’ll try to write snail mail back, but ask Michael: I’m not very good at it. I’m a little slow, but I’ll get back to you eventually.
Have a wonderful week, and I’ll talk to you soon!
Friday, August 25, 2006
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Somehow, another long one
Another few days, and since it’s Shabbat today, I have some time to write another update. Last night was yet another somewhat different, but fun Shabbat experience. Someone in the class with an amazingly huge porch decided to host a big group for Shabbat, and also that instead of going to one of the zillions of synagogues around Jerusalem, we would have our own services. We all brought blankets and sat on the porch in a circle and had our own Shabbat service. It was so comforting and comfortable to have a service in the style many of us grew up with or went to camp with and is often hard to find in Jerusalem. After services, we stayed for dinner, picnic style on the porch. It was a really nice, laid back Shabbat evening.
Thursday we started to get slightly more of a feel for what the year will bring. Our actual academic orientation is next Thursday, before vacation, but this week we had some workshops. All morning we had a Reform Practices workshop. We were split into five groups and rotated around five stations. Unfortunately, each of the stations could have merited hours of study, and we got a very rushed 20 minutes. My group started with tallit, and while it had promise, including the ability to tie some tzitzit, we ran out of time very quickly, dwelling instead on how to put on a tallit, when to say the blessing, and interactions people have with their tallit during prayer service…all of which is printed in the bottom margin of the prayer book we use daily. The next station was about Aliyah, being called to the Torah. We learned the traditional phrasing used to call people to the Torah, and another version of the post-Torah-reading blessing. This one was possibly the only station where I thought they tried to give us the right amount of material for the amount of time we had. Our next stop was movement: standing, sitting, bowing during services. Again, there was not enough time to begin touching on the issues, so we discussed everything in a very superficial way: we were presented with the “correct” way to stand/sit/bow for about the first half of the service. We ran out of time before we got to the rest of the service, and there was no time to talk about alternative traditions or reasons behind anything. That was not exactly my favorite station. After that one, we moved to the tefillin room. I put on tefillin for the first time, which was an interesting experience, except that we did not have time to do anything more than put them on. We had no time to pray while wearing them, no time to discuss why they are worn, what’s inside the boxes, different traditions surrounding them, or anything else. It was interesting to wear them, if only for 3 or 4 minutes, but I have so many questions, and I really hope we return to the issue during the year. My final station was in the sanctuary, lifting and moving the Torah. Everyone in the group had to take a turn doing Hagbah, the lifting of the Torah scroll while it’s open. People who do it well make it look effortless, and have it open so that 3-5 columns of text are visible. I do not do it so well. Torahs are heavy. They are awkward when open. And when they are in Deuteronomy, as we are right now, they are very heavily weighted to the right arm, which is somewhat unfortunate for lefties like myself. But I did it! I had about a column in the middle and fractions of columns on both sides, I did a full circle, and I didn’t drop it. I’ll work on that. We also had to each take the Torah out of the ark, hold it, and put it back in. The challenge here is that the HUC ark is really high up. The ledge where the Torah scrolls sit is probably at or just above my shoulder height, which is not the easiest height at which to lift a heavy, awkwardly shaped object. The rabbi leading this station told us we had to lift and hold and return the Torah in a very particular, somewhat awkward manner, but it’s apparently what works for her. Many people struggled with her method. When it was my turn, I told her I was going to do it differently, because I’m left-handed and her method just was not going to work for me. I did it well! This is exciting.
After a lunch break, we had our Introduction to Reform Liturgy Workshop. Apparently during the year, we each have to lead one (1) service. A weekday morning Torah service. (Like the one I’m leading on Monday, except with more restrictions and a larger audience.) We lead with another rabbinic student and a cantorial student. (The cantorial students have to lead 3-4 times.) We also have to do one D’var Torah, giving an interpretation of the week’s portion. We have to chant or read Torah one time (over the summer and in optional services doesn’t count). We have to do Hagbah, lifting the Torah, one time. Many of us are a little surprised that these requirements are for only one time in the entire year, but we only have required weekday morning services once a week, which is when we all take turns doing these things. I plan to continue going to the optional services, which have an amazing community of people who are some of my closest friends here, are much looser about required melodies and things, and where I get many, many more opportunities to practice leading, chanting Torah, and participating with the community. I do plan to sign up for my Torah-lifting week though for sometime in February or March, when we should be right in the middle of the Torah and therefore have a more evenly weighted Torah. It also gives me a long time to make sure I can do it more effectively than I did on Thursday! In spite of my many complaints though, it was a very interesting day and I am looking forward to learning a lot this year.
Thursday night, I ended up hanging out with a great group of people, just walking around stores and going out for dessert. It was all people who I have spent fairly limited time with, and would love to hang out with more, because they’re all really fun and just great people. It was a very laidback night, but exactly what I needed and so much fun.
Friday’s lunch was another experience. A member of the Board of Directors from the LA campus was in Israel, and first said she was taking any LA-bound students to lunch, but then she amended that and said any interested students were welcome. Lunch was at the David Citadel hotel, probably the nicest hotel in Jerusalem. (Also, it’s where Condoleezza Rice stays when she’s here.) It’s next door to our campus. I think about two-thirds of the class showed up for lunch. It was amazing. Tables and tables of delicious buffets, with lots and lots of different options. So much delicious food. All greatly appreciated by 40 students.
Tomorrow I enter the final stretch of Ulpan: I have one week left, and then a week of vacation! In the last few weeks, many of us have gone to various student travel agencies and found package-deal vacations, where the price includes airfare and hotel and several hotel meals. There are groups going to Turkey, Cos (Greece), Rhodes (Greece), and I’m going with a group of friends to Barcelona. I’m very excited to see the city, lay on the beach, sleep a lot, and spend some time outside of Jerusalem. Because while it’s a great place, I’m ready for a vacation. One more week to go!
On a personal note…
Lisa: I am the tallest in the apartment, but I was wearing little (one-inch) heels in that picture. We’re not a tall bunch. We are a curly bunch. Good company for me.
NFTY MAR Crew: Have so much fun at Summer Kallah! I’ll miss you guys a ton and I’ll be thinking of you. Hugs to my Beasty kids for me, and feel free to call my Skype number and leave messages:)
Grandma: I hope you had a great trip to New York. I’m looking forward to hearing about Becky’s new place!
Becky, Debbie, Lev: Thanks for the article (twice) and voicemail. Did you think of anything? Keep trying, eventually I'll be here when you call:)
Michael: The flowers are gorgeous. Thank you thank you thank you! October isn’t so far away.
Mom: HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Have an extra piece of cake for me.
I’m forgetting lots of people. Email me and I’ll give you a note next time:)
Thursday we started to get slightly more of a feel for what the year will bring. Our actual academic orientation is next Thursday, before vacation, but this week we had some workshops. All morning we had a Reform Practices workshop. We were split into five groups and rotated around five stations. Unfortunately, each of the stations could have merited hours of study, and we got a very rushed 20 minutes. My group started with tallit, and while it had promise, including the ability to tie some tzitzit, we ran out of time very quickly, dwelling instead on how to put on a tallit, when to say the blessing, and interactions people have with their tallit during prayer service…all of which is printed in the bottom margin of the prayer book we use daily. The next station was about Aliyah, being called to the Torah. We learned the traditional phrasing used to call people to the Torah, and another version of the post-Torah-reading blessing. This one was possibly the only station where I thought they tried to give us the right amount of material for the amount of time we had. Our next stop was movement: standing, sitting, bowing during services. Again, there was not enough time to begin touching on the issues, so we discussed everything in a very superficial way: we were presented with the “correct” way to stand/sit/bow for about the first half of the service. We ran out of time before we got to the rest of the service, and there was no time to talk about alternative traditions or reasons behind anything. That was not exactly my favorite station. After that one, we moved to the tefillin room. I put on tefillin for the first time, which was an interesting experience, except that we did not have time to do anything more than put them on. We had no time to pray while wearing them, no time to discuss why they are worn, what’s inside the boxes, different traditions surrounding them, or anything else. It was interesting to wear them, if only for 3 or 4 minutes, but I have so many questions, and I really hope we return to the issue during the year. My final station was in the sanctuary, lifting and moving the Torah. Everyone in the group had to take a turn doing Hagbah, the lifting of the Torah scroll while it’s open. People who do it well make it look effortless, and have it open so that 3-5 columns of text are visible. I do not do it so well. Torahs are heavy. They are awkward when open. And when they are in Deuteronomy, as we are right now, they are very heavily weighted to the right arm, which is somewhat unfortunate for lefties like myself. But I did it! I had about a column in the middle and fractions of columns on both sides, I did a full circle, and I didn’t drop it. I’ll work on that. We also had to each take the Torah out of the ark, hold it, and put it back in. The challenge here is that the HUC ark is really high up. The ledge where the Torah scrolls sit is probably at or just above my shoulder height, which is not the easiest height at which to lift a heavy, awkwardly shaped object. The rabbi leading this station told us we had to lift and hold and return the Torah in a very particular, somewhat awkward manner, but it’s apparently what works for her. Many people struggled with her method. When it was my turn, I told her I was going to do it differently, because I’m left-handed and her method just was not going to work for me. I did it well! This is exciting.
After a lunch break, we had our Introduction to Reform Liturgy Workshop. Apparently during the year, we each have to lead one (1) service. A weekday morning Torah service. (Like the one I’m leading on Monday, except with more restrictions and a larger audience.) We lead with another rabbinic student and a cantorial student. (The cantorial students have to lead 3-4 times.) We also have to do one D’var Torah, giving an interpretation of the week’s portion. We have to chant or read Torah one time (over the summer and in optional services doesn’t count). We have to do Hagbah, lifting the Torah, one time. Many of us are a little surprised that these requirements are for only one time in the entire year, but we only have required weekday morning services once a week, which is when we all take turns doing these things. I plan to continue going to the optional services, which have an amazing community of people who are some of my closest friends here, are much looser about required melodies and things, and where I get many, many more opportunities to practice leading, chanting Torah, and participating with the community. I do plan to sign up for my Torah-lifting week though for sometime in February or March, when we should be right in the middle of the Torah and therefore have a more evenly weighted Torah. It also gives me a long time to make sure I can do it more effectively than I did on Thursday! In spite of my many complaints though, it was a very interesting day and I am looking forward to learning a lot this year.
Thursday night, I ended up hanging out with a great group of people, just walking around stores and going out for dessert. It was all people who I have spent fairly limited time with, and would love to hang out with more, because they’re all really fun and just great people. It was a very laidback night, but exactly what I needed and so much fun.
Friday’s lunch was another experience. A member of the Board of Directors from the LA campus was in Israel, and first said she was taking any LA-bound students to lunch, but then she amended that and said any interested students were welcome. Lunch was at the David Citadel hotel, probably the nicest hotel in Jerusalem. (Also, it’s where Condoleezza Rice stays when she’s here.) It’s next door to our campus. I think about two-thirds of the class showed up for lunch. It was amazing. Tables and tables of delicious buffets, with lots and lots of different options. So much delicious food. All greatly appreciated by 40 students.
Tomorrow I enter the final stretch of Ulpan: I have one week left, and then a week of vacation! In the last few weeks, many of us have gone to various student travel agencies and found package-deal vacations, where the price includes airfare and hotel and several hotel meals. There are groups going to Turkey, Cos (Greece), Rhodes (Greece), and I’m going with a group of friends to Barcelona. I’m very excited to see the city, lay on the beach, sleep a lot, and spend some time outside of Jerusalem. Because while it’s a great place, I’m ready for a vacation. One more week to go!
On a personal note…
Lisa: I am the tallest in the apartment, but I was wearing little (one-inch) heels in that picture. We’re not a tall bunch. We are a curly bunch. Good company for me.
NFTY MAR Crew: Have so much fun at Summer Kallah! I’ll miss you guys a ton and I’ll be thinking of you. Hugs to my Beasty kids for me, and feel free to call my Skype number and leave messages:)
Grandma: I hope you had a great trip to New York. I’m looking forward to hearing about Becky’s new place!
Becky, Debbie, Lev: Thanks for the article (twice) and voicemail. Did you think of anything? Keep trying, eventually I'll be here when you call:)
Michael: The flowers are gorgeous. Thank you thank you thank you! October isn’t so far away.
Mom: HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Have an extra piece of cake for me.
I’m forgetting lots of people. Email me and I’ll give you a note next time:)
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Highlights
It’s been a really long time since I posted anything! See if you can understand that as a good thing, like when you didn’t get letters from camp (mom) and saw that as a sign that I was busy and having fun.
I’ve been busy and having fun! I don’t think I could even remember everything that’s gone on the last week and a half, nor would you want to read about it. Some highlights:
1. Our “Jerusalem Days” program last Thursday was in the Old City. We were right next to the Kotel, at the southern retaining wall excavations for much of the day. (The Kotel is the western retaining wall, more of a prayer site simply because it was closer to the Holy of Holies in the Temple.) Some of my recently posted pictures are from this day. The new (long) skirt I bought the day before was great and I love it, but the dye is less than permanent, and my legs were very blue by the end of the day. It was impressive. In the late afternoon, we also walked through the Western Wall tunnels, which are currently under the Arab quarter, but run next to currently-buried parts of the Western Wall that have been excavated. In spite of my not-love for tunnels, it was an interesting place to be. There were even people sitting and reciting psalms at the place believed to be the closest point to the Holy of Holies. When we emerged from the tunnel and made it back to the Kotel, we were surprised to see a very interesting sight: approximately zillions of Chasidic Jews, in their black suits and black hats, praying very loudly at the wall. It was war-related, but our professor couldn’t enlighten us more than that. It was a very long, but looking back, very interesting day.
2. I was chopping vegetables all day Friday, and couldn’t possibly be ready in time for services at HUC where most of my friends were going. So I called my friend Rebecca and asked her to let me know when services were over, and I’d head to dinner then. Instead, I got a call from her about 45 minutes into services, telling me that she hadn’t gone either. She came over with her guitar, and the two of us had a service in my bedroom. It was beautiful. We enjoyed each other’s company and voices, picked our melodies, prayed at our own pace, and really welcomed Shabbat. (Also: our service ran about a half hour, with some singing afterwards. The HUC service went about 2 hours.) Her roommate called us after the other service, and we went to meet the group. Someone in the class had decided that a progressive dinner would be fun, so we went over to house number one. Somewhere between 40 and 50 people participated, and we stopped at 6 different houses. The apartments in Jerusalem mostly don’t have elevators. It was a LOT of stairs by the end of the night! My house was stop number 3, salads. (Before were the Kiddush/Hamotzi house and the appetizer house. After us were the main course house, dessert house, and hang out house.) My roommates and I put together about 7 different salads. I made a delicious bean salad and an Israeli salad—hence the chopping. The food all night was great, and while many of us were nervous about the logistics of moving that many people so many times, it went really smoothly. We sang Shabbat songs as we walked from house to house and had a wonderful time.
3. I am a fan of cease-fire, and I hope it holds. War is no fun. Even though I am not near it.
4. I led (optional) Shacharit services with Rebecca. I’ve been going to the optional services most mornings, mostly because I love them. It’s a great community of about 15 regulars plus some people who come sometimes, and I have really been enjoying it at the beginning of my day. It’s all student led, at least for the summer, so I decided I should take a turn, and we led one. On Monday another friend and I are in charge, and that one has a Torah service as well, which is a part of a service I have never led. Now seems like a good time to start!
5. I got a Hebrew test back on Sunday and did really well on it. That was exciting! I tend to get frustrated a lot during class, because the oral part of Hebrew is really difficult for me, but I do very well with homework, reading, and writing. My teacher promises me it all balances out, and it does seem to, so I just have to keep reminding myself that I’m doing fine, and go over things again at home. I love that I am capable of reading stories (ok, page-long stories) in Hebrew and discussing them!
6. I crashed boys-night yesterday afternoon. (It was a boys’ night, but given our schedule, it was late afternoon so we could get to an evening program.) A couple of my friends found a (kosher!) restaurant with an all-you-can-eat meat special. The lunch special is fairly reasonable (although the dinner one, less so). Basically, you get six different courses of meat: chicken wings, chorizo sausage (except, kosher), turkey, empanadas, entrecote steak, and roast beef. They bring out small amounts of each one, one at a time, to ensure that you get to taste everything. (Also, the pace makes sure you fill up, because there’s a good amount of waiting time.) After you’ve had some of everything, they’ll bring more of anything and everything that you want. A group of guys decided it would be a lot of fun, but I was sitting there at the time, and I was invited as well. It eventually became a boys’ night activity, but I was already invited, so I crashed the party. I kept pace with them pretty well! Apparently they were impressed with my meat-eating abilities. It was a lot of fun, and then we all more or less rolled into our program. I’m working on finding a group of girls who would go back with me eventually.
7. Herb and Karen: Mazel Tov!! He’s adorable:)
That’s about all I can think of right now. It’s been a long week! I will update again soon, for real this time! There are also some new-ish pictures on my Flicker site, which will probably make more sense now that I’ve told you where I’ve been. Most of them are from the night of the progressive dinner. (Mom, Dad, Debbie, Michael: I know you’ve seen them already. I’ll work on taking more!)
I’ve been busy and having fun! I don’t think I could even remember everything that’s gone on the last week and a half, nor would you want to read about it. Some highlights:
1. Our “Jerusalem Days” program last Thursday was in the Old City. We were right next to the Kotel, at the southern retaining wall excavations for much of the day. (The Kotel is the western retaining wall, more of a prayer site simply because it was closer to the Holy of Holies in the Temple.) Some of my recently posted pictures are from this day. The new (long) skirt I bought the day before was great and I love it, but the dye is less than permanent, and my legs were very blue by the end of the day. It was impressive. In the late afternoon, we also walked through the Western Wall tunnels, which are currently under the Arab quarter, but run next to currently-buried parts of the Western Wall that have been excavated. In spite of my not-love for tunnels, it was an interesting place to be. There were even people sitting and reciting psalms at the place believed to be the closest point to the Holy of Holies. When we emerged from the tunnel and made it back to the Kotel, we were surprised to see a very interesting sight: approximately zillions of Chasidic Jews, in their black suits and black hats, praying very loudly at the wall. It was war-related, but our professor couldn’t enlighten us more than that. It was a very long, but looking back, very interesting day.
2. I was chopping vegetables all day Friday, and couldn’t possibly be ready in time for services at HUC where most of my friends were going. So I called my friend Rebecca and asked her to let me know when services were over, and I’d head to dinner then. Instead, I got a call from her about 45 minutes into services, telling me that she hadn’t gone either. She came over with her guitar, and the two of us had a service in my bedroom. It was beautiful. We enjoyed each other’s company and voices, picked our melodies, prayed at our own pace, and really welcomed Shabbat. (Also: our service ran about a half hour, with some singing afterwards. The HUC service went about 2 hours.) Her roommate called us after the other service, and we went to meet the group. Someone in the class had decided that a progressive dinner would be fun, so we went over to house number one. Somewhere between 40 and 50 people participated, and we stopped at 6 different houses. The apartments in Jerusalem mostly don’t have elevators. It was a LOT of stairs by the end of the night! My house was stop number 3, salads. (Before were the Kiddush/Hamotzi house and the appetizer house. After us were the main course house, dessert house, and hang out house.) My roommates and I put together about 7 different salads. I made a delicious bean salad and an Israeli salad—hence the chopping. The food all night was great, and while many of us were nervous about the logistics of moving that many people so many times, it went really smoothly. We sang Shabbat songs as we walked from house to house and had a wonderful time.
3. I am a fan of cease-fire, and I hope it holds. War is no fun. Even though I am not near it.
4. I led (optional) Shacharit services with Rebecca. I’ve been going to the optional services most mornings, mostly because I love them. It’s a great community of about 15 regulars plus some people who come sometimes, and I have really been enjoying it at the beginning of my day. It’s all student led, at least for the summer, so I decided I should take a turn, and we led one. On Monday another friend and I are in charge, and that one has a Torah service as well, which is a part of a service I have never led. Now seems like a good time to start!
5. I got a Hebrew test back on Sunday and did really well on it. That was exciting! I tend to get frustrated a lot during class, because the oral part of Hebrew is really difficult for me, but I do very well with homework, reading, and writing. My teacher promises me it all balances out, and it does seem to, so I just have to keep reminding myself that I’m doing fine, and go over things again at home. I love that I am capable of reading stories (ok, page-long stories) in Hebrew and discussing them!
6. I crashed boys-night yesterday afternoon. (It was a boys’ night, but given our schedule, it was late afternoon so we could get to an evening program.) A couple of my friends found a (kosher!) restaurant with an all-you-can-eat meat special. The lunch special is fairly reasonable (although the dinner one, less so). Basically, you get six different courses of meat: chicken wings, chorizo sausage (except, kosher), turkey, empanadas, entrecote steak, and roast beef. They bring out small amounts of each one, one at a time, to ensure that you get to taste everything. (Also, the pace makes sure you fill up, because there’s a good amount of waiting time.) After you’ve had some of everything, they’ll bring more of anything and everything that you want. A group of guys decided it would be a lot of fun, but I was sitting there at the time, and I was invited as well. It eventually became a boys’ night activity, but I was already invited, so I crashed the party. I kept pace with them pretty well! Apparently they were impressed with my meat-eating abilities. It was a lot of fun, and then we all more or less rolled into our program. I’m working on finding a group of girls who would go back with me eventually.
7. Herb and Karen: Mazel Tov!! He’s adorable:)
That’s about all I can think of right now. It’s been a long week! I will update again soon, for real this time! There are also some new-ish pictures on my Flicker site, which will probably make more sense now that I’ve told you where I’ve been. Most of them are from the night of the progressive dinner. (Mom, Dad, Debbie, Michael: I know you’ve seen them already. I’ll work on taking more!)
Saturday, August 05, 2006
at the Kotel
It’s been a busy few days, but I guess I should be used to that by now.
Wednesday night started Tisha B’Av. I decided I would get more out of the day if I didn’t fast, so I ate less, and more boring food than usual, but I did eat. The class met in a garden behind HUC for a service by candlelight (and later in the service, by flashlight light). It was a beautiful service, with some nice, sad melodies, some chanting of Eicha, the book of Lamentations, traditionally read on Tisha B’Av. Possibly the most amazing part of the service was that from our seats on the grass, we could see, all lit up, the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem. So during our service commemorating the destruction of the Temple and the city of Jerusalem, we could see its walls, alive and well.
After the service, we screened a movie put together locally about a family member of hers who is a Holocaust survivor. The movie was about his story and the family’s trip back to his hometown. It was a fascinating story, as they all tend to be, and then we had a long discussion about whether commemoration of the Holocaust belongs with Tisha B’Av or where it is, on its own separate holiday.
By this point in the night, it was about 11:00, and the most moving part of the night was still to come. This was the end of the required portion of the evening, but an HUC professor was going to walk into the Old City, to the Kotel, with whoever wanted to come. A good half the class went along, myself included. When we got near the gates to the Old City, traffic increased. It was crowded. We sat down on benches just outside a gate and learned a beautiful tune to the Hebrew words of “On the shores of Babylon.” We just sat there singing for a few minutes, with lots of people streaming past us into the walls. Eventually we went within the walls, but rather than take the direct route to the Kotel, he walked us around a much emptier route, along the walls, past some modern day playgrounds and basketball courts, to show us how alive and vibrant the city is right now.
We got to the Kotel area, and it was PACKED. It was a bit frightening how thick the crowds were to just get through the tight security—metal detectors—to get into the Kotel plaza. Even the metal detectors are separated by gender, although everyone comes back together as soon as they are through security. A friend and I stuck together to try to get up to the wall itself, which was not an easy task. Tradition teaches that both the first and second Temples were destroyed on Tisha B’Av, and the Kotel, a piece of the western retaining wall, is all that is left of the Temple. As a result, it is packed on this holiday, and many people spend all night there, so even at midnight, there were so many people, some standing, some sitting, and a few already laying down. These human obstacles made it far more complicated to get all the way up to the wall, as did another tradition, not to turn one’s back to the wall. Because of this tradition, many people back away from the wall. On Tisha B’Av, this is not a good idea. There are so many people trying to go towards it, so many people backing away from it, and so many people sitting on the ground. It makes for an interesting environment for sure. My friend Rebecca and I eventually got up through the crowd to the wall itself, but once up there, we were basically pushed against it, so I got up close and personal with the wall. It was really nice. I hadn’t been there for nine years, since I went on my NFTY trip, and I was almost surprised at how moved I was to be there and to be connected to so much history and so many people who had been there before me and would be there after me. I thoroughly enjoyed my few minutes at the wall, and I also was not looking forward to getting back out through the crowd! Once I did, we met up with a small group of friends, and chose to stay longer and study rather than heading back with the rest of the HUC group. Six of us had a copy of the Tanakh and read through all of Lamentations in English, stopping every few sentences to discuss it and comment on things and just talk about the text. It was great. We were surrounded by so many people doing more or less the same thing, and it was so wonderful to be with other people in my class who just wanted to learn for the sake of learning. I look forward to many such experiences in the future. I finally got home around 1:30 in the morning and collapsed into bed.
On Thursday, we did not have to be at school until noon, which was generous of them after the late night. We did group text study of some stories about Tisha B’Av, and had an afternoon service, and then a break before we met up at the Israel Museum that evening. Behind the Israel Museum is a model of Jerusalem in the time of the second Temple. It is a huge model put together with a combination of textual sources and archeological finds, and we studied second Temple Jerusalem while looking at the model of what it might have looked like. Some friends and I took a loooooooong walk home (it would have been shorter, but we took a “shortcut” hoping to find restaurants sooner, and instead we found ourselves very far away from home), got some falafel, and went to hang out and play cards.
Friday was a day of errands and cooking, as it usually is. The biggest challenge was baking brownies. It turns out that unsweetened chocolate is not available in Israel. So in addition to figuring out how much butter to use from my 200 gram block, I had to figure out how to convert a recipe with unsweetened chocolate to one with sweetened chocolate. I did a good job, and they were delicious! Friday evening, some friends and I went to check out a synagogue that none of us had been to yet. It is a Reform (“Progressive”) synagogue, but I was a little skeptical, since I haven’t really loved services at the other local Progressive synagogue. This one was actually great. The congregation skewed somewhat older, which was interesting, but the service itself felt very homey and very comfortable. The cantor had a guitar, many of the melodies were familiar, and the service included the very long Kabbalat Shabbat service that I have grown to love here. The cantor even stopped us on our way out to ask where we were from, since he had noticed a whole group of us sitting together. I am sure I will be returning there again!
Today (Saturday) someone in the class had volunteered to host a Shabbat potluck lunch, so I was at their apartment for a few hours enjoying that many of my classmates seem to be great cooks. I relaxed for the rest of the afternoon, alternately reading a book and dozing off on my bed. It was nice to not have to do anything else! This evening we had a group Havdalah service, which I enjoyed, and an impromptu song session in the park, which was fun and made us all feel like we were back in NFTY again. Then it was back to the grind, and home to do Hebrew homework and get ready for the week.
I haven’t taken many pictures recently, but as I take them from friends’ websites, I will post them on flikr. Talk to you soon!
Wednesday night started Tisha B’Av. I decided I would get more out of the day if I didn’t fast, so I ate less, and more boring food than usual, but I did eat. The class met in a garden behind HUC for a service by candlelight (and later in the service, by flashlight light). It was a beautiful service, with some nice, sad melodies, some chanting of Eicha, the book of Lamentations, traditionally read on Tisha B’Av. Possibly the most amazing part of the service was that from our seats on the grass, we could see, all lit up, the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem. So during our service commemorating the destruction of the Temple and the city of Jerusalem, we could see its walls, alive and well.
After the service, we screened a movie put together locally about a family member of hers who is a Holocaust survivor. The movie was about his story and the family’s trip back to his hometown. It was a fascinating story, as they all tend to be, and then we had a long discussion about whether commemoration of the Holocaust belongs with Tisha B’Av or where it is, on its own separate holiday.
By this point in the night, it was about 11:00, and the most moving part of the night was still to come. This was the end of the required portion of the evening, but an HUC professor was going to walk into the Old City, to the Kotel, with whoever wanted to come. A good half the class went along, myself included. When we got near the gates to the Old City, traffic increased. It was crowded. We sat down on benches just outside a gate and learned a beautiful tune to the Hebrew words of “On the shores of Babylon.” We just sat there singing for a few minutes, with lots of people streaming past us into the walls. Eventually we went within the walls, but rather than take the direct route to the Kotel, he walked us around a much emptier route, along the walls, past some modern day playgrounds and basketball courts, to show us how alive and vibrant the city is right now.
We got to the Kotel area, and it was PACKED. It was a bit frightening how thick the crowds were to just get through the tight security—metal detectors—to get into the Kotel plaza. Even the metal detectors are separated by gender, although everyone comes back together as soon as they are through security. A friend and I stuck together to try to get up to the wall itself, which was not an easy task. Tradition teaches that both the first and second Temples were destroyed on Tisha B’Av, and the Kotel, a piece of the western retaining wall, is all that is left of the Temple. As a result, it is packed on this holiday, and many people spend all night there, so even at midnight, there were so many people, some standing, some sitting, and a few already laying down. These human obstacles made it far more complicated to get all the way up to the wall, as did another tradition, not to turn one’s back to the wall. Because of this tradition, many people back away from the wall. On Tisha B’Av, this is not a good idea. There are so many people trying to go towards it, so many people backing away from it, and so many people sitting on the ground. It makes for an interesting environment for sure. My friend Rebecca and I eventually got up through the crowd to the wall itself, but once up there, we were basically pushed against it, so I got up close and personal with the wall. It was really nice. I hadn’t been there for nine years, since I went on my NFTY trip, and I was almost surprised at how moved I was to be there and to be connected to so much history and so many people who had been there before me and would be there after me. I thoroughly enjoyed my few minutes at the wall, and I also was not looking forward to getting back out through the crowd! Once I did, we met up with a small group of friends, and chose to stay longer and study rather than heading back with the rest of the HUC group. Six of us had a copy of the Tanakh and read through all of Lamentations in English, stopping every few sentences to discuss it and comment on things and just talk about the text. It was great. We were surrounded by so many people doing more or less the same thing, and it was so wonderful to be with other people in my class who just wanted to learn for the sake of learning. I look forward to many such experiences in the future. I finally got home around 1:30 in the morning and collapsed into bed.
On Thursday, we did not have to be at school until noon, which was generous of them after the late night. We did group text study of some stories about Tisha B’Av, and had an afternoon service, and then a break before we met up at the Israel Museum that evening. Behind the Israel Museum is a model of Jerusalem in the time of the second Temple. It is a huge model put together with a combination of textual sources and archeological finds, and we studied second Temple Jerusalem while looking at the model of what it might have looked like. Some friends and I took a loooooooong walk home (it would have been shorter, but we took a “shortcut” hoping to find restaurants sooner, and instead we found ourselves very far away from home), got some falafel, and went to hang out and play cards.
Friday was a day of errands and cooking, as it usually is. The biggest challenge was baking brownies. It turns out that unsweetened chocolate is not available in Israel. So in addition to figuring out how much butter to use from my 200 gram block, I had to figure out how to convert a recipe with unsweetened chocolate to one with sweetened chocolate. I did a good job, and they were delicious! Friday evening, some friends and I went to check out a synagogue that none of us had been to yet. It is a Reform (“Progressive”) synagogue, but I was a little skeptical, since I haven’t really loved services at the other local Progressive synagogue. This one was actually great. The congregation skewed somewhat older, which was interesting, but the service itself felt very homey and very comfortable. The cantor had a guitar, many of the melodies were familiar, and the service included the very long Kabbalat Shabbat service that I have grown to love here. The cantor even stopped us on our way out to ask where we were from, since he had noticed a whole group of us sitting together. I am sure I will be returning there again!
Today (Saturday) someone in the class had volunteered to host a Shabbat potluck lunch, so I was at their apartment for a few hours enjoying that many of my classmates seem to be great cooks. I relaxed for the rest of the afternoon, alternately reading a book and dozing off on my bed. It was nice to not have to do anything else! This evening we had a group Havdalah service, which I enjoyed, and an impromptu song session in the park, which was fun and made us all feel like we were back in NFTY again. Then it was back to the grind, and home to do Hebrew homework and get ready for the week.
I haven’t taken many pictures recently, but as I take them from friends’ websites, I will post them on flikr. Talk to you soon!
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Mid-week update!
It's been a long night of Hebrew homework, so I need a break in English! Apologies in advance...my English grammar seems to suffer when I've been working in Hebrew for a while!
I had another great Shabbat here over the weekend. Friday night a small group of us went to Yikar, a modern Orthodox synagogue with a service using mostly Carlebach tunes. I enjoyed the singing itself, but the room was really crowded, and many of the people attending services were much younger than us, probably around 18, which made for an odd environment. Also, because it was an Orthodox synagogue, there was a mechitza separating the men and women. I don't generally like praying that way, because the women's side always feels like more of a social gathering than a place to pray. It was an interesting experience though, and I was proud of myself for being able to (mostly) keep up and follow along with the all-Hebrew service! After dinner I went to a friend's for dinner and it was delicious, and as usual, went long into the night. I slept in Saturday morning, went to a friend's for lunch with a big group, stayed there for a lot of the afternoon, and then came home for a relaxing late-afternoon and a Hebrew-homework-filled evening.
This week, in addition to Hebrew class, we had our first committee meetings on Sunday. We're all "strongly encouraged" to join one of several committees to help plan events. The committees are: sports, fun, prayer, caring (to acknowledge birthdays and help sick people), tzedakah, and something else I can't remember right now. I joined the prayer committee, in part because I really want the experience, and in part because I knew several other people who would be joining that committee, and I realize that these groups really function 95% based on who else is in them. I didn't know core groups joining any of the other committees, so I went with what I knew! I have also really been enjoying the optional morning services several times a week. They are usually attended by between 10 and 20 of us, and it's just a good group and a great way to start the day before class. I even chanted Torah on Monday morning! Many of the optional service regulars joined the prayer committee. It looks like a great group, and I'm looking forward to many debates and much learning among us.
Today after Ulpan we had a tzedakah presentation by Danny Siegel, who is somewhat well known (and from Rockville) for running an enormous conglomeration of social action projects. I wasn't so excited about the presentation going in, but he turned out to be fairly inspiring, and I'm looking forward to choosing a project to get involved with! (We are actually required to do social action projects, several hours per week, for the year. I'll keep you posted on what I choose.)
After the presentation, the school had, at students' requests, organized a blood drive with Magen David Adom, the Israeli Red Cross. They came to the school to run the drive. Between being terrified of needles and having had trouble in the past with people finding my veins in my arms, I decided it was a bad idea to donate blood today, but I really wanted to help. I ended up staying for the whole three hours of the drive and just walking around, holding hands when needles went in, talking to people as they squeezed the little ball to make the blood flow, and getting juice and cookies when they finished. I was really upset with myself at the beginning for not being able to actually donate, but by the end, I felt like I had really taken part in the drive.
Tonight's other accomplishment was getting through a very long Hebrew story that we had to read for homework. I looked up a rather embarrassingly large number of words in the dictionary, but I'm feeling good that I understand the story! It's a good feeling, and I'm almost looking forward to going over it in class tomorrow.
I'm currently having a debate with myself. Wednesday night and Thursday this week are Tisha B'Av, a commemeration of a multitude of bad things that have happened to the Jews, theoretically all on this day, including the destructions of the Temples. Traditionally, it is a fast day. But I'm living in a desert, there is an optional walk to the Kotel Wednesday night (which I won't do if I fast), and there is a day of services and studying, followed by a trip to the Israel museum on Thursday. I'm trying to decide whether I should fast. (I know, I have to decide...fast.) Right now I'm leaning toward not fasting, because I may have a more meaningful day if I can pay attention to it and be alert all day, but I also feel like I'm in a city where a huge portion of the city will be fasting, so I might feel weird by not doing so. Although I'm in a smaller community where fasting would probably put me in the minority. Clearly, I'm not sure. Thoughts?
Off to make some flashcards and then to bed... I hope everyone is having a good week!
I had another great Shabbat here over the weekend. Friday night a small group of us went to Yikar, a modern Orthodox synagogue with a service using mostly Carlebach tunes. I enjoyed the singing itself, but the room was really crowded, and many of the people attending services were much younger than us, probably around 18, which made for an odd environment. Also, because it was an Orthodox synagogue, there was a mechitza separating the men and women. I don't generally like praying that way, because the women's side always feels like more of a social gathering than a place to pray. It was an interesting experience though, and I was proud of myself for being able to (mostly) keep up and follow along with the all-Hebrew service! After dinner I went to a friend's for dinner and it was delicious, and as usual, went long into the night. I slept in Saturday morning, went to a friend's for lunch with a big group, stayed there for a lot of the afternoon, and then came home for a relaxing late-afternoon and a Hebrew-homework-filled evening.
This week, in addition to Hebrew class, we had our first committee meetings on Sunday. We're all "strongly encouraged" to join one of several committees to help plan events. The committees are: sports, fun, prayer, caring (to acknowledge birthdays and help sick people), tzedakah, and something else I can't remember right now. I joined the prayer committee, in part because I really want the experience, and in part because I knew several other people who would be joining that committee, and I realize that these groups really function 95% based on who else is in them. I didn't know core groups joining any of the other committees, so I went with what I knew! I have also really been enjoying the optional morning services several times a week. They are usually attended by between 10 and 20 of us, and it's just a good group and a great way to start the day before class. I even chanted Torah on Monday morning! Many of the optional service regulars joined the prayer committee. It looks like a great group, and I'm looking forward to many debates and much learning among us.
Today after Ulpan we had a tzedakah presentation by Danny Siegel, who is somewhat well known (and from Rockville) for running an enormous conglomeration of social action projects. I wasn't so excited about the presentation going in, but he turned out to be fairly inspiring, and I'm looking forward to choosing a project to get involved with! (We are actually required to do social action projects, several hours per week, for the year. I'll keep you posted on what I choose.)
After the presentation, the school had, at students' requests, organized a blood drive with Magen David Adom, the Israeli Red Cross. They came to the school to run the drive. Between being terrified of needles and having had trouble in the past with people finding my veins in my arms, I decided it was a bad idea to donate blood today, but I really wanted to help. I ended up staying for the whole three hours of the drive and just walking around, holding hands when needles went in, talking to people as they squeezed the little ball to make the blood flow, and getting juice and cookies when they finished. I was really upset with myself at the beginning for not being able to actually donate, but by the end, I felt like I had really taken part in the drive.
Tonight's other accomplishment was getting through a very long Hebrew story that we had to read for homework. I looked up a rather embarrassingly large number of words in the dictionary, but I'm feeling good that I understand the story! It's a good feeling, and I'm almost looking forward to going over it in class tomorrow.
I'm currently having a debate with myself. Wednesday night and Thursday this week are Tisha B'Av, a commemeration of a multitude of bad things that have happened to the Jews, theoretically all on this day, including the destructions of the Temples. Traditionally, it is a fast day. But I'm living in a desert, there is an optional walk to the Kotel Wednesday night (which I won't do if I fast), and there is a day of services and studying, followed by a trip to the Israel museum on Thursday. I'm trying to decide whether I should fast. (I know, I have to decide...fast.) Right now I'm leaning toward not fasting, because I may have a more meaningful day if I can pay attention to it and be alert all day, but I also feel like I'm in a city where a huge portion of the city will be fasting, so I might feel weird by not doing so. Although I'm in a smaller community where fasting would probably put me in the minority. Clearly, I'm not sure. Thoughts?
Off to make some flashcards and then to bed... I hope everyone is having a good week!
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