I suppose nobody would be surprised if I said that Rosh Hashanah in Israel is a unique experience. I'm not sure it was all that unique though. The first day of the holiday fell on Shabbat this year though, and so the environment in Jerusalem was really not very different from any other Saturday. It continued an extra day though. Most of Israel does celebrate two days of Rosh Hashanah, contrary to popular belief. There are some people who do not, but it is still a holiday here, with schools (including HUC), stores, and businesses closed on the second day.
My experience was interesting, to use a fairly neutral word. HUC encouraged us to attend at least some of the High Holiday services there, in support of the student choir, among other reasons. The choir, made up of the 7 cantorial students in my class and about 7 or 8 rabbinic students with amazing voicesl, sang beautifully. I went to services at HUC on Friday evening and Saturday morning. Rosh Hashanah services at HUC were an experience. Unfortunately, they were more of an observing and listening experience than a participatory experience. The cantor is very classically Reform, enjoying a good solo (or a dozen good solos) more than congregational (audience?) participation. It was frustrating, to say the least. The cantor has a fabulous voice, and the choir was a beautiful addition. I just wish they could have found a better balance between vocal performance and congregational involvement.
Highlight: the shofar service. I have been craving a great shofar service. There were two shofar blowers, my classmate Josh and one of the professors. They each did one section, and they did the last section in unison. Except, it was really in unison. It sounded like they had practiced together, and when one of them finished, the other finished. Rather than elephant-like, it was beautiful and impressive!
On the second day, I wanted to try a different synagogue, hopefully somewhere with more congregational participation. Some friends and I went to Kol Haneshamah, a local Progressive (Israeli Reform) congregation. When the service started, 10 minutes late, there were about 25 people in the room. Over the next hour or two, the other hundreds showed up. It was a nice service. It was out of the Israeli Reform Machzor, of which they have not yet made an edition with English translations, so the whole book was in Hebrew. It was a little intense and intimidating at first, but as the service went on, it was encouraging how easily I could follow and how much I understood! There was no sermon, but two different people spoke about various Torah portions. In Hebrew. When I was trying hard to pay attention (which was hard, since I was really tired and there were so many people to watch!), I could understand, which is always exciting. If only they spoke so slowly and clearly on the radio. The service was almost an hour shorter than HUC’s service the morning before…but we did more. As in, there was an entire extra (fairly long) section that is not even in Gates of Repentance, and we finished all of that in 25 percent less time than it took the cantor and the choir to get through a more abbreviated (but more chorally choreographed) service. Kol Haneshamah does not have a cantor, but instead had this service led in sections by different congregants and the rabbi. I enjoyed it, and I am planning to return there for at least part of Yom Kippur.
Highlight: the shofar service. I have never seen a shofar service with so much joy! After each section, there was joyous singing, and parents dancing with their kids. It was so much fun! I also liked watching the shofar blower, who did the whole thing very quietly and modestly. He had a small shofar, rather than a big long curly one. He did not stay on the bima to receive any glory, but stepped up at the appropriate time and then immediately returned to his seat. I was impressed. Also, there were two shofar services, which I have never seen before. Remember that section of the service that is missing from Gates of Repentance? It includes a second shofar service apparently, which was a fun bonus.
I most definitely was missing the Beth Ami services all weekend. As one friend not-so-kindly pointed out though, chances are that none of us will be at our home congregations for the High Holidays again for a VERY long time. I find that very sad. I was thinking of you, and I will be again on Yom Kippur. (When, of course, I will be fasting!)
Also, the Redskins won this weekend. YAY! I got to see a little piece of the game, including one touchdown. It was beautiful:)
Now it’s back to the grind, at least for a few days: we get a four-day weekend this weekend, because we’re off on the day of Kol Nidre and for Yom Kippur. Then we return to school for three days, and then it’s vacation! It’s all so close. Time flies!
Shanah tovah, a good new year!
Monday, September 25, 2006
Friday, September 22, 2006
L'shanah Tovah!
A happy and sweet and healthy new year! I miss Temple Beth Ami. If you're there, enjoy it for me:)
Random Thoughts, part 2
So my last set of random thoughts were well received, even though I thought I was writing it that way mainly because I hadn’t done anything of a lot of substance for a few days. I still haven’t done so much that’s interesting. So, again:
Seasons in Israel don’t really show up in the weather. Apparently we’re in the season called “fall” right now. This means that sometimes it’s hot out, and sometimes it’s a few degrees less hot out. It gets cooler at night. There are a few clouds in the sky. I’m pretty sure that’s fall here. Once it starts raining, that’s considered winter. Apparently Israel gets rain only three months or so of the year, but as much rain falls as in England in the course of a whole year. Awesome.
Seasons in Israel do show up in the shuk. It was actually cool walking through there this morning (really, really early this morning, before it was crowded. As in, left my apartment before 7 am early), and noticing the changing produce. There are fewer peaches and plums, which is sad because I just learned that I like them. There are no more mangoes or pineapples. And now there are pomegranates (I may try one this weekend) and dates and apples and some other fruits and vegetables I have yet to learn the names of. So holidays and traditions make a lot more sense here. Why is it the new year? Because the rain is about to start. Why do we dip apples in honey? Yes, for a sweet new year. But why apples? Probably because at this time of year, they’re just ripening, and there is an abundance of them! It’s fun to see the changing fruits and vegetables, although it means a new round of trying new things. And that’s HARD for me!
I expected to see seasons in the shuk. I did not expect to see them in the supermarket. More specifically, in the canned goods section of the supermarket. I went in looking for some canned beans to make a bean salad. I’ve bought canned beans several times, in the same place every time. I knew exactly where to go, which I was excited about. I went to the right section of the right aisle. And I found…canned peas, canned corn, and canned green beans. No white beans, black beans, or kidney beans. Huh? I thought the point of cans was to not have seasons. Apparently I was wrong.
Sometimes I love this country. Leaving the café I went to for dessert last night on girls night, the waitress, the host, and the security guard all wished us Shanah Tovah. It’s like all the clerks everywhere wishing you a Merry Christmas, except it’s relevant! It’s fun:)
I picked up another project yesterday. A large group from HUC in Israel every year spreads out over parts of the former Soviet Union during Passover. We go to a bunch of different communities and lead seders and bring lots of Jewish and Passover things to Jewish communities in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. It’s an amazing project, and entirely student-run and planned. I’m now co-chairing the programming committee, which means my committee is planning almost all of the activities that our classmates will be doing with their communities for a week in the FSU. Without a common language. No pressure. But it is supposed to be an absolutely amazing experience to be there and participating in this project over Passover, and I’m excited to be able to take this kind of a role in planning it.
School is going well. I had my first Hebrew test/quiz of the year yesterday, and I don’t think it was too bad, although I haven’t gotten it back yet. The teacher is not so good at context clues in her fill-in-the-blank sentences, so there are usually several words that could fit. She says she’ll give credit as long as it makes sense, so it has yet to be seen how liberal she is on whether it makes sense!
It’s not 11 in the morning yet, and I’ve been awake for almost 5 hours. I’m really tired. I’m going to head to the gym, hoping it wakes me up, but more than likely I’ll be back here afterwards for a pre-holiday nap. For everyone celebrating, L’shanah tovah u’metukah, a sweet and happy and healthy new year!
Seasons in Israel don’t really show up in the weather. Apparently we’re in the season called “fall” right now. This means that sometimes it’s hot out, and sometimes it’s a few degrees less hot out. It gets cooler at night. There are a few clouds in the sky. I’m pretty sure that’s fall here. Once it starts raining, that’s considered winter. Apparently Israel gets rain only three months or so of the year, but as much rain falls as in England in the course of a whole year. Awesome.
Seasons in Israel do show up in the shuk. It was actually cool walking through there this morning (really, really early this morning, before it was crowded. As in, left my apartment before 7 am early), and noticing the changing produce. There are fewer peaches and plums, which is sad because I just learned that I like them. There are no more mangoes or pineapples. And now there are pomegranates (I may try one this weekend) and dates and apples and some other fruits and vegetables I have yet to learn the names of. So holidays and traditions make a lot more sense here. Why is it the new year? Because the rain is about to start. Why do we dip apples in honey? Yes, for a sweet new year. But why apples? Probably because at this time of year, they’re just ripening, and there is an abundance of them! It’s fun to see the changing fruits and vegetables, although it means a new round of trying new things. And that’s HARD for me!
I expected to see seasons in the shuk. I did not expect to see them in the supermarket. More specifically, in the canned goods section of the supermarket. I went in looking for some canned beans to make a bean salad. I’ve bought canned beans several times, in the same place every time. I knew exactly where to go, which I was excited about. I went to the right section of the right aisle. And I found…canned peas, canned corn, and canned green beans. No white beans, black beans, or kidney beans. Huh? I thought the point of cans was to not have seasons. Apparently I was wrong.
Sometimes I love this country. Leaving the café I went to for dessert last night on girls night, the waitress, the host, and the security guard all wished us Shanah Tovah. It’s like all the clerks everywhere wishing you a Merry Christmas, except it’s relevant! It’s fun:)
I picked up another project yesterday. A large group from HUC in Israel every year spreads out over parts of the former Soviet Union during Passover. We go to a bunch of different communities and lead seders and bring lots of Jewish and Passover things to Jewish communities in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. It’s an amazing project, and entirely student-run and planned. I’m now co-chairing the programming committee, which means my committee is planning almost all of the activities that our classmates will be doing with their communities for a week in the FSU. Without a common language. No pressure. But it is supposed to be an absolutely amazing experience to be there and participating in this project over Passover, and I’m excited to be able to take this kind of a role in planning it.
School is going well. I had my first Hebrew test/quiz of the year yesterday, and I don’t think it was too bad, although I haven’t gotten it back yet. The teacher is not so good at context clues in her fill-in-the-blank sentences, so there are usually several words that could fit. She says she’ll give credit as long as it makes sense, so it has yet to be seen how liberal she is on whether it makes sense!
It’s not 11 in the morning yet, and I’ve been awake for almost 5 hours. I’m really tired. I’m going to head to the gym, hoping it wakes me up, but more than likely I’ll be back here afterwards for a pre-holiday nap. For everyone celebrating, L’shanah tovah u’metukah, a sweet and happy and healthy new year!
Monday, September 18, 2006
Random thoughts. Seriously.
Random thoughts, as I put off reading for history class:
- What Torah trope do I know? I fulfilled my Torah-reading obligation for the year this morning. (Yes, you read that correctly. We are required to read-and-translate one time this year.) I did it on the first week of official Reform Liturgy Workshop student-led services. I’m done now. But the required and incredibly structured RLW services are only once a week, and I’ve been going to optional morning services the rest of the school week, so I’ll probably get lots more Torah reading in this year. In any case, I chanted Torah, and then translated my verses (with only the Hebrew in front of me) in front of my class today. Afterwards, I had lots of people coming up to tell me I did a nice job, which is always nice to hear, but I also got some questions. Mainly about where I learned my trope. Apparently the trope I use, which as far as I know is the one I learned from the Beth Ami tutor before my Bat Mitzvah, is not the traditional Reform trope. One of my friends thought it might be some sort of Israeli trope, and a couple of other people thought it might be the Conservative trope. I didn’t know every group had their own, but now I’m throwing this question out there. (Dad: I expect an answer from you. All others are welcome to throw out their guesses.) Why/how is it that I grew up at a Reform synagogue, have only chanted Torah in a Reform synagogue (and once in the living room at an Orthodox women’s minyan, but that’s beside the point), and I apparently do not use Reform trope? Please enlighten me.
- I don’t know where Israeli radio finds its headlines. I read an Israeli newspaper online an hour before class, and right around the time the teacher is taping the morning headlines. They differ a huge amount from what’s on the radio.
- Rosh Hashanah is really, really soon. How is it that when I’m living in Jerusalem, where every instant of Jewish time is marked, when I went to a ceremony to mark the beginning of the month before Rosh Hashanah, when we have heard the shofar blown not every day, but a lot of days in the last few weeks, reminding us all that the High Holidays are approaching, do they still manage to sneak up on me?! As always, I want more time to think and reflect, and I want more time before the holidays.
- I don’t want more time before the holidays. I get a visitor two days after Yom Kippur! That’s coming up soon and I can’t wait:)
- This week is the second full week of school. The first week was full, the second week was short because of our tiyul. This is our last full week for another month. I’m pretty sure that this is the last year for a very long time that I will consider the next few weeks to be vacation or time off. I’m looking forward to it. We are off on Sunday next week for Rosh Hashanah, since that’s a weekday for us. We are off Sunday and Monday the week after for Yom Kippur. We have vacation the whole week of Sukkot!
- Israel is a funny place. Rather than a fixed daylight savings time on the third Sunday of October, or something like that, it is fixed to the Hebrew calendar. It falls on the Saturday night (I think Saturday night) between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. I’m pretty sure that’s just so that the fast is over earlier in the day, since it will be dark out earlier, but I’m not sure about that. It also means my pre-fast meal will have to be done by 4 or 4:30 in the afternoon. Wheeeeeee. I’ll call home, all done fasting, and you’ll still be in “morning” second session services! Actually, now that I think about it, your services might not have started yet. Heehee.
- I take notes in some of my classes in Hebrew. This is incredibly logical when the professor is talking in Hebrew and going over a Hebrew concept, but it makes studying take longer, since my notes are much harder to understand when I return to them days later. A dilemma I’ll have to work on.
- My walls are bare. I didn’t bring nearly enough pictures with me. If you have one or two or three pictures of us or various friends or family or something you think I’d like, feel free to get it to my parents or Michael by the end of September, and I can promise it a place of honor on my wall and a smile on my face. An odd request, I know. But I don’t have a printer, so I can’t print anything out, and I want more pictures on my walls!
- Saroj is coming to visit in January! I love Birthright.
- I have worn flip-flops with my skirts to almost every Shabbat service I have attended since being here. It’s a fairly casual country. I think I have to wear nicer shoes than that on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and that makes me a little sad. I like flip-flops. (Michael: They ALL get a lot of use. It’s a good thing I have so many pairs.)
- I find it a little sad that my last blog was so incredibly long, but there are no comments on it. Boooo.
- My Sundays have gotten better in the last two weeks. It’s football season! I think a group of us will be getting together at 8:00 Sunday evenings to watch, regardless of which game is on TV here. It’s better than no football! (That’s the 1:00 game at home. The others are a little late for me on a school night.) They replay night games the next day. I got a piece of last night’s disaster while I was at the gym today. I got the good part! As soon as I turned it on, I saw the 100 yard kickoff return. My friend Mara and I were on side-by-side arc trainers and both started cheering out loud. We got funny looks from the Israeli men. We cheered again after the replay. Mara is a Giants fan. I don’t hold that against her. Especially because she likes the Redskins better than the Cowboys. I’m happy that it’s football season.
I suppose that’s enough random thoughts for now. And also, I still haven’t started my history class reading for tomorrow. Talk to you soon!
Saturday, September 16, 2006
Tiyul up North
I’m back from the north! I actually got back Thursday evening, but I don’t think I was caught up on sleep until today. Which is good, since tomorrow it is back to the grind. It was a great trip. Read this one when you have some time; it’s a long one. Pictures will be posted soon, so keep checking back!
Tuesday
We met at HUC at 7 am, which is a very early time to meet. This was morning one that I was up before the sun. I know I should get used to it before the winter, but I’m not so excited about that. We all piled onto the two buses and headed out of Jerusalem. Right as I drifted off to sleep (I’m a champion bus/car sleeper!), the tour guide started talking. This was a theme. He was great and had a million interesting things to tell us, but it did infringe on my bus sleeping tendencies. We drove north, along the border fence with the West Bank. He told us a lot about that fence. The big ugly wall you see on TV on the time is only what about 4 percent of the fence looks like. The little part where it runs right next to a road and people used to occasionally in ugly times shoot at passing cars, they made that fence solid to stop that sport. The rest of the fence is hard to see. It’s all wire, with electric sensors that tell the guards when someone touches it. Our guide was very adamant about telling us several times that the ugly wall is all they show on CNN because it photographs better and it makes better news. The wire fence is what they have on Israel’s other borders as well.
We drove up to Zichron Yaacov, one of the first Jewish Zionist settlements in Israel, and walked around and learned about the first Aliyah, the movement in the late 1800s when Jews started moving in larger numbers to this area. We were talked to by an Israeli Reform rabbi and learned about their synagogue. We got to walk around the town on our own (it’s cute!) and find lunch. They did show us the apparently somewhat famous ice cream place. It was delicious! I like ice cream. We made another stop to learn about the founder of the Shomer movement, basically the first person who pushed to have Jews guarding Jews. It was the first time in the region that Jews were allowed to bear arms, and therefore a big step forward.
Then we got to Kfar Blum, where we changed into bathing suits for an adventure in the Jordan River. (Aside: much of the Jordan River is not so large. It trickles in places, especially in late summer, the driest time of the year.) We were given the choice between “kayaks” for two people and rafts for 4-6 people. The kayaks were basically smaller rafts. I decided on kayak, which turned out to be a great choice. The rafters were given two paddles, one for the front and one for the back. The kayakers were also given two paddles. This left the middle of the rafts unarmed, and easy targets. That’s correct, we had splashing fights all the way down the river. Sometimes a few rafts/kayaks would team up, create a river blockade, and splash at anyone who tried to pass through. Sometimes we spotted someone in front of us and paddled fast to catch up and soak them. Sometimes they were moving so slowly that it didn’t require so much work to catch up. My Valley Mill kayaking days served me well; I was a competent paddler. I was also soaked by the time we were done, as was most of our group. It was so much fun!
After that, it was back to the buses to go to the Kibbutz where we were staying to check in and have dinner. I was rooming with Emily, Laura, and Jessica. Emily and I roomed together in Barcelona as well, but Laura and Jessica I had not spent much time with until this week. We had a great time! I love that we’ve been here for almost three months (!) and I’m still making new friends. Yay. I think Kibbutz Gadot accommodations were nicer than any of us expected them to be. Especially the showers, which had impressive water pressure, which is always a nice find when you least expect it! Even their food was decent, which is always a nice surprise. After dinner and evening services, I stayed up for a while hanging out with friends and playing cards, and then headed back to the room exhausted to collapse into bed.
Wednesday
Morning two of up before dawn. Early morning Shacharit and breakfast, and then to the buses to head out for the day. We went first to Kiriat Shmona, a border town that was originally settled by many of the Northern African Jews. It was also one of the towns hit hardest by this summer’s war. As we were driving there, our tour guide pointed out that along the hills bordering the town, there were a lot of black patches. These were places where Katyushas hit the hills and burned the land. We were also looking for signs of the destruction in the town. It turns out, Israelis usually fix these things very quickly. We did see a few buildings with severe damage, or in once case completely destroyed, but most places had already been repaired. We were also supposed to help rehabilitate a park this day, but it turned out that they had already fixed it up by the time we got there! In Kiryat Shmona, we met with a psychologist who works in the local emergency room. She was busy during the war, when more than 100 rockets were falling on this town every day, and people would wander into the emergency room because they didn’t know what else to do. They also handled some of the soldiers who were serving on the border.
After this meeting we went to “help the Israeli economy” by visiting the Naot Shoe factory store. They make great shoes! Unfortunately for me, the other bus had been there first, so the sale rack was picked over and there was nothing I felt like I needed…that they had in my size or the color I wanted. I was ok with that. We then traveled to the border town Metulla, which is really (REALLY) on the border of Lebanon. We went up a big hill to a lookout point, where we met with the mayor of Metulla who talked to us about life on a border. For a long time the border was much friendlier, with people from Lebanon coming into Israel daily to work on farms, and going back to Lebanon each night. That doesn’t really happen anymore. Looking at the border from above it is fascinating. The fence is wire, so you can’t see it from far away. You can see the road, but more obvious is the contrast. Especially because Israel has a town and farmland right up to the border, there is a huge color difference. We were standing there and our guide told us that where it turns from green to brown, that’s the border. It was amazing. Also, while Israel uses the land right up to the border, there was nothing in Lebanon in the land anywhere near the border. (Well, except for a base that has been occupied by Hezbollah until recently.) It was all unpopulated desert, with towns a bit farther away.
After our border experience, we went to the Kiryat Shmona mall to grab lunch, and then headed up to the Golan. Our first stop was a winery. They make a lot of wine in the Golan Heights! As we drove around this area, our guide pointed out several times that now we were entering land that used to be Syria. The life of a young country is amazing. The winery tour was of course a lot of fun. We saw a brief movie on winemaking, which we mostly laughed at for the English dubbing that was so incredibly obvious. We saw the barrels where they make wine and talked about the process for a little while, and then we got our very own wine tasting. We tasted three different wines, before they let us loose in their store, and it was interesting. I enjoyed it, and like all three wines we tasted, including a red one! (The last one was my favorite. Mmmmm, dessert wine.)
After the winery we went to a lookout point on the Golan Heights. We talked more about Israeli history, and how it was so important to keep the heights because previously, Syria would shoot at the towns below fairly frequently, and there was nothing that could be done about it. We walked through some old bunkers (that are now tourist sites) and looked at the view. From this point we could see into both Lebanon and Syria. Again, the border was marked mainly by a color change from green to brown. Our guide told us some stories of his army days. So did one of our professors who was with us. He had been in a unit laying mines. It’s easy to forget here, at least as an American, that all Israelis serve in the army, so everyone we meet, from tour guides to professors to rabbis, has been in the army for a few years and has amazing stories to tell. It was also interesting to be so close to the borders that were so ugly and unsafe and scary only a few weeks ago. I guess it’s a great sign that things are under control and peaceful for now!
We headed back to Kibbutz Gadot again for dinner, and also to make breakfast. We were planning to leave so early the next morning that we were packing breakfast the night before. Uh-oh. After dinner we met with a member of the Kibbutz, who talked to us about how it had changed in the more than fifty years he had lived there. For example, everyone has always received the same salary, regardless of whether they were managing a factory or doing gardening work, because that is the original kibbutz model. However, he told us they were trying to change that. He was not happy about it. Also, children used to all be raised in a communal children’s house, where they lived mainly with the other kids. Now they live with their individual families. He said he thought the children’s house model worked really well, and he would do it again if he could. It was really interesting, but I also wish we could have heard from someone who embraced the changes, to hear a different perspective. After the talk, we had a wine and cheese party! People brought some of the wine we had bought at the winery, and the kibbutz provided cheese that they made on site. The cheeses were AMAZING! I was a very happy person, even without the wine. It was a really fun night of just hanging out and eating cheese and drinking a little wine…we had a really early morning coming up.
Thursday
We had to be completely packed and out of our rooms and at the buses at 5:45 in the morning. Needless to say, it was still dark out, and mighty early. We were going hiking! They warned us at the beginning of the hike (in one of those “this used to be Syria” areas) to stay on the path, and to ask before wandering off to pee. We looked around and saw areas nearby fenced off with barbed wire and labeled “Danger: Mine Field.” Awesome. Except that as far as we could tell from other ones that we had passed, there are probably few mines left, and it’s a precaution. We definitely saw cattle grazing in a couple of the mine fields the day before. In any case, we stayed on the path and the hike was gorgeous. We saw some beautiful parts of the country and a great waterfall. We were a little disappointed when the hike was over after about two hours, since they had originally told us we were going on a four hour hike. Oh well. We then headed to the Kinneret, where we got time to swim! It was so nice. The water was warm, so it didn’t take me the whole hour to get in. We were all swimming in the roped off, fairly shallow swimming area, but a few people decided to swim out of the area, to the floating platform a ways off. I eventually decided this was a good idea, so I swam over there also. It felt so good to swim! At the platform, there was the expected diving off, boys pushing each other off, and just playing in the water. It was definitely a good break, but it was hard to go back to the learning part of the trip afterwards.
We met with someone from another Kibbutz who told us about his life and kibbutz life and Judaism on many of the fairly secular Kibbutzim. Once we got the air conditioning working so we could sit and breathe and not melt, he was a very interesting speaker. After the speaker, we went to discuss the Zionist settlement of the Galil, and visited what is best described as a Zionist cemetery. Buried there are people who were influential to the Zionist movement and people who were associated with one or two specific Kibbutzim, including basically a women’s kibbutz nearby. Many tourists visit this cemetery; among others buried there are the poet Rachel and the songwriter Naomi Shemer. Both were associated with the women’s kibbutz. We had a short service overlooking the Kinneret, piled back on the buses, had a short snack/bathroom/early dinner stop at a local mall, and then we were finally headed back to Jerusalem.
I somehow stayed awake on the drive, looking out the windows and watching the beautiful scenery. But all of us were startled when the tour guide announced, “we’re slowing down because we are going through the checkpoint to enter the West Bank.” What?! He assured us that it was a safe road, or else his wife would not let him go this way. It is definitely the most direct route back to Jerusalem, but I don’t think any of us expected to go that way. We drove mainly down the eastern side of the West Bank, along the border with Jordan, where our tour guide told us another story about his army days and tracking someone who had crossed the border. It turned out to be a cat. Driving down the West Bank we saw mainly miles (or more appropriately, kilometers) of empty desert, some Israeli settlements, and some Bedouin villages. We did not see much of Palestinian life until we were almost all the way back into Jerusalem. At times it felt like we had traveled back in time. We saw lots of shepherds with their herds of sheep. They rode on donkeys. We saw villages without electricity. It was sort of fascinating, and then I would remember that we were in the West Bank, and it was all a little nerve-wracking. We made it back to Jerusalem safely, of course, and thoroughly exhausted.
Bonus points for making it to the very end of this very long blog! The trip was as packed and exhausting as it sounds like it was, but it was a ton of fun and I learned a lot. I am looking forward to our next one in November!
Tuesday
We met at HUC at 7 am, which is a very early time to meet. This was morning one that I was up before the sun. I know I should get used to it before the winter, but I’m not so excited about that. We all piled onto the two buses and headed out of Jerusalem. Right as I drifted off to sleep (I’m a champion bus/car sleeper!), the tour guide started talking. This was a theme. He was great and had a million interesting things to tell us, but it did infringe on my bus sleeping tendencies. We drove north, along the border fence with the West Bank. He told us a lot about that fence. The big ugly wall you see on TV on the time is only what about 4 percent of the fence looks like. The little part where it runs right next to a road and people used to occasionally in ugly times shoot at passing cars, they made that fence solid to stop that sport. The rest of the fence is hard to see. It’s all wire, with electric sensors that tell the guards when someone touches it. Our guide was very adamant about telling us several times that the ugly wall is all they show on CNN because it photographs better and it makes better news. The wire fence is what they have on Israel’s other borders as well.
We drove up to Zichron Yaacov, one of the first Jewish Zionist settlements in Israel, and walked around and learned about the first Aliyah, the movement in the late 1800s when Jews started moving in larger numbers to this area. We were talked to by an Israeli Reform rabbi and learned about their synagogue. We got to walk around the town on our own (it’s cute!) and find lunch. They did show us the apparently somewhat famous ice cream place. It was delicious! I like ice cream. We made another stop to learn about the founder of the Shomer movement, basically the first person who pushed to have Jews guarding Jews. It was the first time in the region that Jews were allowed to bear arms, and therefore a big step forward.
Then we got to Kfar Blum, where we changed into bathing suits for an adventure in the Jordan River. (Aside: much of the Jordan River is not so large. It trickles in places, especially in late summer, the driest time of the year.) We were given the choice between “kayaks” for two people and rafts for 4-6 people. The kayaks were basically smaller rafts. I decided on kayak, which turned out to be a great choice. The rafters were given two paddles, one for the front and one for the back. The kayakers were also given two paddles. This left the middle of the rafts unarmed, and easy targets. That’s correct, we had splashing fights all the way down the river. Sometimes a few rafts/kayaks would team up, create a river blockade, and splash at anyone who tried to pass through. Sometimes we spotted someone in front of us and paddled fast to catch up and soak them. Sometimes they were moving so slowly that it didn’t require so much work to catch up. My Valley Mill kayaking days served me well; I was a competent paddler. I was also soaked by the time we were done, as was most of our group. It was so much fun!
After that, it was back to the buses to go to the Kibbutz where we were staying to check in and have dinner. I was rooming with Emily, Laura, and Jessica. Emily and I roomed together in Barcelona as well, but Laura and Jessica I had not spent much time with until this week. We had a great time! I love that we’ve been here for almost three months (!) and I’m still making new friends. Yay. I think Kibbutz Gadot accommodations were nicer than any of us expected them to be. Especially the showers, which had impressive water pressure, which is always a nice find when you least expect it! Even their food was decent, which is always a nice surprise. After dinner and evening services, I stayed up for a while hanging out with friends and playing cards, and then headed back to the room exhausted to collapse into bed.
Wednesday
Morning two of up before dawn. Early morning Shacharit and breakfast, and then to the buses to head out for the day. We went first to Kiriat Shmona, a border town that was originally settled by many of the Northern African Jews. It was also one of the towns hit hardest by this summer’s war. As we were driving there, our tour guide pointed out that along the hills bordering the town, there were a lot of black patches. These were places where Katyushas hit the hills and burned the land. We were also looking for signs of the destruction in the town. It turns out, Israelis usually fix these things very quickly. We did see a few buildings with severe damage, or in once case completely destroyed, but most places had already been repaired. We were also supposed to help rehabilitate a park this day, but it turned out that they had already fixed it up by the time we got there! In Kiryat Shmona, we met with a psychologist who works in the local emergency room. She was busy during the war, when more than 100 rockets were falling on this town every day, and people would wander into the emergency room because they didn’t know what else to do. They also handled some of the soldiers who were serving on the border.
After this meeting we went to “help the Israeli economy” by visiting the Naot Shoe factory store. They make great shoes! Unfortunately for me, the other bus had been there first, so the sale rack was picked over and there was nothing I felt like I needed…that they had in my size or the color I wanted. I was ok with that. We then traveled to the border town Metulla, which is really (REALLY) on the border of Lebanon. We went up a big hill to a lookout point, where we met with the mayor of Metulla who talked to us about life on a border. For a long time the border was much friendlier, with people from Lebanon coming into Israel daily to work on farms, and going back to Lebanon each night. That doesn’t really happen anymore. Looking at the border from above it is fascinating. The fence is wire, so you can’t see it from far away. You can see the road, but more obvious is the contrast. Especially because Israel has a town and farmland right up to the border, there is a huge color difference. We were standing there and our guide told us that where it turns from green to brown, that’s the border. It was amazing. Also, while Israel uses the land right up to the border, there was nothing in Lebanon in the land anywhere near the border. (Well, except for a base that has been occupied by Hezbollah until recently.) It was all unpopulated desert, with towns a bit farther away.
After our border experience, we went to the Kiryat Shmona mall to grab lunch, and then headed up to the Golan. Our first stop was a winery. They make a lot of wine in the Golan Heights! As we drove around this area, our guide pointed out several times that now we were entering land that used to be Syria. The life of a young country is amazing. The winery tour was of course a lot of fun. We saw a brief movie on winemaking, which we mostly laughed at for the English dubbing that was so incredibly obvious. We saw the barrels where they make wine and talked about the process for a little while, and then we got our very own wine tasting. We tasted three different wines, before they let us loose in their store, and it was interesting. I enjoyed it, and like all three wines we tasted, including a red one! (The last one was my favorite. Mmmmm, dessert wine.)
After the winery we went to a lookout point on the Golan Heights. We talked more about Israeli history, and how it was so important to keep the heights because previously, Syria would shoot at the towns below fairly frequently, and there was nothing that could be done about it. We walked through some old bunkers (that are now tourist sites) and looked at the view. From this point we could see into both Lebanon and Syria. Again, the border was marked mainly by a color change from green to brown. Our guide told us some stories of his army days. So did one of our professors who was with us. He had been in a unit laying mines. It’s easy to forget here, at least as an American, that all Israelis serve in the army, so everyone we meet, from tour guides to professors to rabbis, has been in the army for a few years and has amazing stories to tell. It was also interesting to be so close to the borders that were so ugly and unsafe and scary only a few weeks ago. I guess it’s a great sign that things are under control and peaceful for now!
We headed back to Kibbutz Gadot again for dinner, and also to make breakfast. We were planning to leave so early the next morning that we were packing breakfast the night before. Uh-oh. After dinner we met with a member of the Kibbutz, who talked to us about how it had changed in the more than fifty years he had lived there. For example, everyone has always received the same salary, regardless of whether they were managing a factory or doing gardening work, because that is the original kibbutz model. However, he told us they were trying to change that. He was not happy about it. Also, children used to all be raised in a communal children’s house, where they lived mainly with the other kids. Now they live with their individual families. He said he thought the children’s house model worked really well, and he would do it again if he could. It was really interesting, but I also wish we could have heard from someone who embraced the changes, to hear a different perspective. After the talk, we had a wine and cheese party! People brought some of the wine we had bought at the winery, and the kibbutz provided cheese that they made on site. The cheeses were AMAZING! I was a very happy person, even without the wine. It was a really fun night of just hanging out and eating cheese and drinking a little wine…we had a really early morning coming up.
Thursday
We had to be completely packed and out of our rooms and at the buses at 5:45 in the morning. Needless to say, it was still dark out, and mighty early. We were going hiking! They warned us at the beginning of the hike (in one of those “this used to be Syria” areas) to stay on the path, and to ask before wandering off to pee. We looked around and saw areas nearby fenced off with barbed wire and labeled “Danger: Mine Field.” Awesome. Except that as far as we could tell from other ones that we had passed, there are probably few mines left, and it’s a precaution. We definitely saw cattle grazing in a couple of the mine fields the day before. In any case, we stayed on the path and the hike was gorgeous. We saw some beautiful parts of the country and a great waterfall. We were a little disappointed when the hike was over after about two hours, since they had originally told us we were going on a four hour hike. Oh well. We then headed to the Kinneret, where we got time to swim! It was so nice. The water was warm, so it didn’t take me the whole hour to get in. We were all swimming in the roped off, fairly shallow swimming area, but a few people decided to swim out of the area, to the floating platform a ways off. I eventually decided this was a good idea, so I swam over there also. It felt so good to swim! At the platform, there was the expected diving off, boys pushing each other off, and just playing in the water. It was definitely a good break, but it was hard to go back to the learning part of the trip afterwards.
We met with someone from another Kibbutz who told us about his life and kibbutz life and Judaism on many of the fairly secular Kibbutzim. Once we got the air conditioning working so we could sit and breathe and not melt, he was a very interesting speaker. After the speaker, we went to discuss the Zionist settlement of the Galil, and visited what is best described as a Zionist cemetery. Buried there are people who were influential to the Zionist movement and people who were associated with one or two specific Kibbutzim, including basically a women’s kibbutz nearby. Many tourists visit this cemetery; among others buried there are the poet Rachel and the songwriter Naomi Shemer. Both were associated with the women’s kibbutz. We had a short service overlooking the Kinneret, piled back on the buses, had a short snack/bathroom/early dinner stop at a local mall, and then we were finally headed back to Jerusalem.
I somehow stayed awake on the drive, looking out the windows and watching the beautiful scenery. But all of us were startled when the tour guide announced, “we’re slowing down because we are going through the checkpoint to enter the West Bank.” What?! He assured us that it was a safe road, or else his wife would not let him go this way. It is definitely the most direct route back to Jerusalem, but I don’t think any of us expected to go that way. We drove mainly down the eastern side of the West Bank, along the border with Jordan, where our tour guide told us another story about his army days and tracking someone who had crossed the border. It turned out to be a cat. Driving down the West Bank we saw mainly miles (or more appropriately, kilometers) of empty desert, some Israeli settlements, and some Bedouin villages. We did not see much of Palestinian life until we were almost all the way back into Jerusalem. At times it felt like we had traveled back in time. We saw lots of shepherds with their herds of sheep. They rode on donkeys. We saw villages without electricity. It was sort of fascinating, and then I would remember that we were in the West Bank, and it was all a little nerve-wracking. We made it back to Jerusalem safely, of course, and thoroughly exhausted.
Bonus points for making it to the very end of this very long blog! The trip was as packed and exhausting as it sounds like it was, but it was a ton of fun and I learned a lot. I am looking forward to our next one in November!
Monday, September 11, 2006
Creative Title Ideas? I'm out.
And I’m done with a second week of classes! I know it’s only Monday, but here that’s already Yom Sheini, the second day of the (work) week. And tomorrow morning we leave for tiyul! So I thought I’d write once again before I disappear for a few more days.
This very short week at school, things were somewhat common, both because it was the second week instead of the first, and because we only had two days! But I worked far more effectively in radio/newspaper day in Hebrew this morning, so I consider it a week of progress! I also realized that Sunday’s 1:00 football games are 8:00 in the evening here, and Sunday night seems to be a lighter homework night for me, so I should be able to watch at least some football weekly, even if I’m at the mercy of whatever FOX Sports decides to show internationally…plus whatever game we choose to watch on Colby’s NFL-subscribed computer! Last night was Eagles-Texans (on the computer, with the sound on) and Falcons-Panthers (on TV, muted). I decided I needed sleep more than another six hours of football, so I passed on the rest of the night of football. The 4:00 game isn’t on until 11 here, and that’s a little late to get in the habit of watching. (No, I think I’m passing on tonight’s Redskins game as well. It won’t start until 2am, and I have a feeling I’ll enjoy our Tiyul much more if I’m awake for it. But don’t think I won’t be getting up a few minutes early to catch myself up on it.)
Shabbat was great this week. Friday night, much of the class was going to a Kibbutz for a program and dinner. I decided that after the first week of classes, I’d prefer a quieter night in, so I rounded up whoever I could find who wasn’t going to the Kibbutz, and I made dinner here. First we went to services, at Shira Chadasha. I have now been to this congregation twice for services, and really enjoyed it both times. The part that surprises me so much is how much I do like it. It is an Orthodox community, but stretches to be as egalitarian as “halachically possible.” This means that there is a mechitza separating the men and the women. However, they have a woman leading services during kabbalat Shabbat, and then a man leads from about the Barechu forward. The mechitza is more of a gauze-y material than anything else, so you can still see the other side if you want to. The two sides are about equal in size, although the women’s section might be slightly larger…and also more crowded. And while I am sure it exists elsewhere, it is the first place I can remember going with a mechitza where the women’s side was actually praying. My usual complaint about separated services is that when there is a mechitza, the women by definition don’t count, so there are often many, many people talking or otherwise not praying. In this congregation I have not gotten that impression at all, and instead, the women sing loud and clear, and the service sounds beautiful. It is full of singing and harmony. While I definitely do not agree with the presence of the mechitza, in this particular congregation, I do not find that it hinders my own praying, as I have at other divided congregations in the past, and I even enjoy praying there. The traditional services are a nice contrast from the very classically Reform HUC, and I prefer something in between, so it is nice to be able to go back and forth.
After services, I had a small group here for dinner, and I was quite proud of the evening! I spent much of Friday preparing: I got up really early Friday morning to get to the shuk before it was crowded, and went to the supermarket on the way home. Then I had breakfast again. I spent most of the afternoon in the kitchen, realizing that the first time I cook anything it takes me much longer than it takes my mother. She also gets the convenience of pre-chopped mushrooms and a food processor. I not only have to chop the mushrooms and BE the food processor, but since I don’t much trust shuk cleanliness, everything also gets washed quite thoroughly before I even start the chopping. I also had to fight with our anti-lefty, anti-speed can opener, which took more time and effort than I can explain. Happily, there will be a new American one tucked into the bag o’ goodies that Michael’s bringing me in just over 3 weeks! I also had a new experience while cooking. The chicken called for some wine, and I had just bought some, but I was in the apartment all by myself. And then I realized that while I have watched a million times, I have never opened a bottle of wine myself. Luckily, our corkscrew here is about a thousand times better than our can opener, and I got it open without a problem. I felt so accomplished. Yes, opening three cans and a bottle of wine all in one afternoon is a huge accomplishment for me. Go with it. Dinner was delicious and fun!
Saturday was just what it should be: lazy, relaxing, and quiet. I didn’t do a whole lot, but I enjoyed that immensely.
I’m off to the Galil first thing in the morning, and I’ll be back before Shabbat, hopefully with lots of fun stories and pictures!
This very short week at school, things were somewhat common, both because it was the second week instead of the first, and because we only had two days! But I worked far more effectively in radio/newspaper day in Hebrew this morning, so I consider it a week of progress! I also realized that Sunday’s 1:00 football games are 8:00 in the evening here, and Sunday night seems to be a lighter homework night for me, so I should be able to watch at least some football weekly, even if I’m at the mercy of whatever FOX Sports decides to show internationally…plus whatever game we choose to watch on Colby’s NFL-subscribed computer! Last night was Eagles-Texans (on the computer, with the sound on) and Falcons-Panthers (on TV, muted). I decided I needed sleep more than another six hours of football, so I passed on the rest of the night of football. The 4:00 game isn’t on until 11 here, and that’s a little late to get in the habit of watching. (No, I think I’m passing on tonight’s Redskins game as well. It won’t start until 2am, and I have a feeling I’ll enjoy our Tiyul much more if I’m awake for it. But don’t think I won’t be getting up a few minutes early to catch myself up on it.)
Shabbat was great this week. Friday night, much of the class was going to a Kibbutz for a program and dinner. I decided that after the first week of classes, I’d prefer a quieter night in, so I rounded up whoever I could find who wasn’t going to the Kibbutz, and I made dinner here. First we went to services, at Shira Chadasha. I have now been to this congregation twice for services, and really enjoyed it both times. The part that surprises me so much is how much I do like it. It is an Orthodox community, but stretches to be as egalitarian as “halachically possible.” This means that there is a mechitza separating the men and the women. However, they have a woman leading services during kabbalat Shabbat, and then a man leads from about the Barechu forward. The mechitza is more of a gauze-y material than anything else, so you can still see the other side if you want to. The two sides are about equal in size, although the women’s section might be slightly larger…and also more crowded. And while I am sure it exists elsewhere, it is the first place I can remember going with a mechitza where the women’s side was actually praying. My usual complaint about separated services is that when there is a mechitza, the women by definition don’t count, so there are often many, many people talking or otherwise not praying. In this congregation I have not gotten that impression at all, and instead, the women sing loud and clear, and the service sounds beautiful. It is full of singing and harmony. While I definitely do not agree with the presence of the mechitza, in this particular congregation, I do not find that it hinders my own praying, as I have at other divided congregations in the past, and I even enjoy praying there. The traditional services are a nice contrast from the very classically Reform HUC, and I prefer something in between, so it is nice to be able to go back and forth.
After services, I had a small group here for dinner, and I was quite proud of the evening! I spent much of Friday preparing: I got up really early Friday morning to get to the shuk before it was crowded, and went to the supermarket on the way home. Then I had breakfast again. I spent most of the afternoon in the kitchen, realizing that the first time I cook anything it takes me much longer than it takes my mother. She also gets the convenience of pre-chopped mushrooms and a food processor. I not only have to chop the mushrooms and BE the food processor, but since I don’t much trust shuk cleanliness, everything also gets washed quite thoroughly before I even start the chopping. I also had to fight with our anti-lefty, anti-speed can opener, which took more time and effort than I can explain. Happily, there will be a new American one tucked into the bag o’ goodies that Michael’s bringing me in just over 3 weeks! I also had a new experience while cooking. The chicken called for some wine, and I had just bought some, but I was in the apartment all by myself. And then I realized that while I have watched a million times, I have never opened a bottle of wine myself. Luckily, our corkscrew here is about a thousand times better than our can opener, and I got it open without a problem. I felt so accomplished. Yes, opening three cans and a bottle of wine all in one afternoon is a huge accomplishment for me. Go with it. Dinner was delicious and fun!
Saturday was just what it should be: lazy, relaxing, and quiet. I didn’t do a whole lot, but I enjoyed that immensely.
I’m off to the Galil first thing in the morning, and I’ll be back before Shabbat, hopefully with lots of fun stories and pictures!
Saturday, September 09, 2006
New Classes, part 2
I finally made it to Shabbat! The rest of my classes:
Tuesday
Hebrew, again.
Rabbinics (class twice a week): We’ll see how this one goes. We all got a very official, holy looking book, Avot d’Ravi Natan, basically the Fathers According to Rabbi Natan. I don’t think there’s an English letter to be found in the book! But we read and translated the first part in class Tuesday and Thursday, which was a pretty cool thing to be able to do. I’m thinking it will be interesting, as long as I can ignore how easily distracted the professor sometimes can be. He gets sidetracked by little irrelevant things, so we don’t get nearly as much accomplished in class as we should. I’m trying hard to ignore it. Oh, it’s also all in Hebrew. Except when we’re translating text, in which case it’s a mix. We directly translate into English, but when we’re discussing the translation, it’s in Hebrew. (As in, “does that suffix refer to the mountain, to Moses, or to God?” That discussion was all in Hebrew.)
Modern Jewish History (once a week): I’ve been referring to this class as remedial history, because we all have to take a history class, either this one or “Zionist Idea to Israeli State,” and that one is only open to people who have taken college-level European Jewish history, which I have not taken. But we have a great professor, and a great, small class, so it should be a good one! We do have three expensive, slightly hard to find books though, which did not start it on such a positive note, but I have all my books now, so I’m ready to go.
After history, there is the 80 minute lunch break, followed by a period when I don’t have class, plus the 20 minute break after that class, so I had 3 hours off. I went on a much-needed school supply shopping trip and then to the gym, and I was showered and 5 minutes early for the last class of the day. I like the breaks!
Jewish Thought (once a week): This is an optional “enrichment class,” meaning that it is not for a grade, just for our own knowledge. But this particular enrichment class is taught by the Dean of the Israel program, and is entitled “Why I am a Reform Jew.” About 90 percent of the class is currently signed up for this one. (In contrast, the other enrichment class this semester, Parshat HaShavuah, discussing the weekly Torah portion, has 10-15 people in it right now.) Rabbi Marmur is a great speaker, and especially while living in Israel where Reform Judaism is an anomaly and often criticized and misunderstood, it is a great and appropriate class for them to offer.
Wednesday: Israel Seminar.
Every Wednesday for the year we have Israel seminar, which is a class designed to learn about “the changing nature of Israeli society.” They divided us into three classes, so we finally get out of our Hebrew class groups for the whole day, and they divided us based on past Israel experience. So my class is made up of people who have never been to Israel and people who have been on a short, touristy trip, mainly Birthright, NFTY, or a family trip. The other classes are people who have spent more time here, one of the classes is mostly summer study program graduates, and the last class is people with extended stays here, either with family, on semester- or year-long programs, and other real living-in-Israel experiences. It is an interesting way to have divided us for this seminar, and I like it. I think it’s good that people who have lived here for a year before will not have to have the same discussions or go on the same trips as people who have not been here ever. Some days we will be in the classroom, discussing readings and articles and learning about Israeli society. On most days, however, we get out of the classroom and go experience life. We have scheduled day-trips to Tel Aviv, Yad Vashem, Mount Herzl, and lots of other places. We watch movies, we have speakers, we visit schools. Three times during the year we go on overnight trips to different parts of the country. This coming week is our first tiyul. We’re leaving early (EARLY) Tuesday morning to head north, to the Galilee and the Golan. I’m psyched that we’re going, because this tiyul has been scheduled for a long time, and for a while during the war it looked like we weren’t going to be able to go. But the bombs have stopped and the trip is on! We’ll get back Thursday night. I’m excited! This should be a very cool seminar, and I look forward to learning and experiencing a lot of different things about Israel.
Thursday
Hebrew, yet again.
Rabbinics, again. I already told you about this one. Same as Tuesday.
Hebrew, but with a different teacher. At least, that is how it is listed on our schedules. It turns out, it’s not just a different teacher, but a somewhat different topic. We’re basically learning about ancient Hebrew and the development of the Alef-Bet. At least that’s what we did on Thursday and what it looks like we’ll be doing for the immediate future. It felt a little bit like arts and crafts, since we were writing in ancient script and learning rules for vowels and things from then. We were deciphering things written in ancient script and translating them into Modern Hebrew. Yes, this class is all in Hebrew too. I’m going to learn a lot of Hebrew this year, which I am very excited about, frustrating though it may be at times.
And that’s it! Our schedule is set up so that all of us (except Cantorial students, who have a ridiculous number of extra classes) are done with classes at lunch time on Thursday, which is really nice.
Thursday afternoon Sara and I decided to go on a quest for books, since some of our books are not available at the bookstore where we buy most things, and HUC could not tell us where to get them. And Amazon does not ship to Israel. Awesome. So Sara and I walked around the city for a good two and a half hours, going into every bookstore we found. There are a lot of bookstores in this city, and we were mainly in one area. Eventually I got everything I needed, although a couple of them were from the main bookstore, where we went last. She is still lacking a couple.
And now it's Shabbat! It's been a good one so far, but I'll talk about it in a different post, since this one is long enough.
Tuesday
Hebrew, again.
Rabbinics (class twice a week): We’ll see how this one goes. We all got a very official, holy looking book, Avot d’Ravi Natan, basically the Fathers According to Rabbi Natan. I don’t think there’s an English letter to be found in the book! But we read and translated the first part in class Tuesday and Thursday, which was a pretty cool thing to be able to do. I’m thinking it will be interesting, as long as I can ignore how easily distracted the professor sometimes can be. He gets sidetracked by little irrelevant things, so we don’t get nearly as much accomplished in class as we should. I’m trying hard to ignore it. Oh, it’s also all in Hebrew. Except when we’re translating text, in which case it’s a mix. We directly translate into English, but when we’re discussing the translation, it’s in Hebrew. (As in, “does that suffix refer to the mountain, to Moses, or to God?” That discussion was all in Hebrew.)
Modern Jewish History (once a week): I’ve been referring to this class as remedial history, because we all have to take a history class, either this one or “Zionist Idea to Israeli State,” and that one is only open to people who have taken college-level European Jewish history, which I have not taken. But we have a great professor, and a great, small class, so it should be a good one! We do have three expensive, slightly hard to find books though, which did not start it on such a positive note, but I have all my books now, so I’m ready to go.
After history, there is the 80 minute lunch break, followed by a period when I don’t have class, plus the 20 minute break after that class, so I had 3 hours off. I went on a much-needed school supply shopping trip and then to the gym, and I was showered and 5 minutes early for the last class of the day. I like the breaks!
Jewish Thought (once a week): This is an optional “enrichment class,” meaning that it is not for a grade, just for our own knowledge. But this particular enrichment class is taught by the Dean of the Israel program, and is entitled “Why I am a Reform Jew.” About 90 percent of the class is currently signed up for this one. (In contrast, the other enrichment class this semester, Parshat HaShavuah, discussing the weekly Torah portion, has 10-15 people in it right now.) Rabbi Marmur is a great speaker, and especially while living in Israel where Reform Judaism is an anomaly and often criticized and misunderstood, it is a great and appropriate class for them to offer.
Wednesday: Israel Seminar.
Every Wednesday for the year we have Israel seminar, which is a class designed to learn about “the changing nature of Israeli society.” They divided us into three classes, so we finally get out of our Hebrew class groups for the whole day, and they divided us based on past Israel experience. So my class is made up of people who have never been to Israel and people who have been on a short, touristy trip, mainly Birthright, NFTY, or a family trip. The other classes are people who have spent more time here, one of the classes is mostly summer study program graduates, and the last class is people with extended stays here, either with family, on semester- or year-long programs, and other real living-in-Israel experiences. It is an interesting way to have divided us for this seminar, and I like it. I think it’s good that people who have lived here for a year before will not have to have the same discussions or go on the same trips as people who have not been here ever. Some days we will be in the classroom, discussing readings and articles and learning about Israeli society. On most days, however, we get out of the classroom and go experience life. We have scheduled day-trips to Tel Aviv, Yad Vashem, Mount Herzl, and lots of other places. We watch movies, we have speakers, we visit schools. Three times during the year we go on overnight trips to different parts of the country. This coming week is our first tiyul. We’re leaving early (EARLY) Tuesday morning to head north, to the Galilee and the Golan. I’m psyched that we’re going, because this tiyul has been scheduled for a long time, and for a while during the war it looked like we weren’t going to be able to go. But the bombs have stopped and the trip is on! We’ll get back Thursday night. I’m excited! This should be a very cool seminar, and I look forward to learning and experiencing a lot of different things about Israel.
Thursday
Hebrew, yet again.
Rabbinics, again. I already told you about this one. Same as Tuesday.
Hebrew, but with a different teacher. At least, that is how it is listed on our schedules. It turns out, it’s not just a different teacher, but a somewhat different topic. We’re basically learning about ancient Hebrew and the development of the Alef-Bet. At least that’s what we did on Thursday and what it looks like we’ll be doing for the immediate future. It felt a little bit like arts and crafts, since we were writing in ancient script and learning rules for vowels and things from then. We were deciphering things written in ancient script and translating them into Modern Hebrew. Yes, this class is all in Hebrew too. I’m going to learn a lot of Hebrew this year, which I am very excited about, frustrating though it may be at times.
And that’s it! Our schedule is set up so that all of us (except Cantorial students, who have a ridiculous number of extra classes) are done with classes at lunch time on Thursday, which is really nice.
Thursday afternoon Sara and I decided to go on a quest for books, since some of our books are not available at the bookstore where we buy most things, and HUC could not tell us where to get them. And Amazon does not ship to Israel. Awesome. So Sara and I walked around the city for a good two and a half hours, going into every bookstore we found. There are a lot of bookstores in this city, and we were mainly in one area. Eventually I got everything I needed, although a couple of them were from the main bookstore, where we went last. She is still lacking a couple.
And now it's Shabbat! It's been a good one so far, but I'll talk about it in a different post, since this one is long enough.
Monday, September 04, 2006
New Classes, part 1
While everyone at home has been enjoying a holiday weekend, I went back to school. Classes started this week! I was going to save this blog to post at the end of the week when I’ve had all my classes, but I’ve written a lot and I don’t want it to get way too long, so I guess I’ll post tonight and again soon, with impressions of the rest of my classes. It’s not like college where you have similar schedules Monday/Wednesday and Tuesday/Thursday. My schedule is different every day. Some of my classes I have once a week, some I have twice, and some I have five or six times a week. (Yes, there are two days when I have Hebrew twice.) Wednesdays I have Israel seminar, and I will let you know exactly what that entails when I find out. My overall impression of classes so far is that my greatest challenge will be Hebrew. Of course, most of my classes are conducted in Hebrew, so this is not a surprise. A rundown of the classes I have had so far follows.
Sunday:
Hebrew (twice on Sundays, for a total of 2:40, and 5 times during the week): I have a new teacher this semester. She’s not nearly as smiley as my ulpan teacher, but I think I’m going to learn a ton of Hebrew this year. I had heard that she was more of a tough love kind of teacher, and I think that’s an accurate description. She spends much less time joking around with people in the class and is very difficult to get off topic. I’m excited to learn a lot from her, and I am hoping she will soften up at least a little, since I will be spending a LOT of time in her class this year.
Liturgy (once a week): It’s hard to tell so far. It’s surprising how little you can tell from an hour and twenty minute class, but the first one is always hard, because nobody has done any reading, so it’s all introductory stuff. The class is all in Hebrew, but we write tests and papers in English, happily. I didn’t have much trouble understanding the teacher, which is also nice. It looks like we’ll be spending a week or two on each prayer/section of the service. I’ll let you know more as I figure out exactly what we’re doing in this class.
Rabbinics Lecture (once a week): Again, it’s hard to tell from the first week. It’s a lecture class, and in English. We will be talking rabbinics, but right now the professor is setting it up for us, so we talked about the Second Temple Period. This class looks like it will be the closest thing I have to a straight-up lecture class this year. I’m not used to taking so many notes! We have break-out classes (precepts/labs/discussion) twice a week with a different professor and in Hebrew, but apparently they’re only related in that they’re both called rabbinics. There will be different readings and everything. I hope that means we’ll learn a lot more, but I’ll keep you posted.
I forgot how much I dislike course packets. I have a zillion already: three for Hebrew, one for each of the other classes, with plenty more to come.
I also ordered a new gorgeous tallit yesterday, which will hopefully come in before Rosh Hashanah, but they don’t promise that. There will of course be a picture when it arrives! I went to the Gabrielli store with Ilana after classes on Sunday and spent a long time trying on different tallitot and deciding what I wanted. I ultimately picked one that they didn’t have there, the design they had in dark blues, but in purples instead. It should be beautiful!
Monday
Reform Liturgy Workshop (once a week, usually): We each have to lead one service during the year, give one D’var Torah, read and translate Torah, and have several other service roles. These sessions usually take place on Monday mornings. This morning was another service led by faculty, followed by discussion of the service.
Hebrew (again): Our Hebrew teacher has declared Mondays (yom sheini) to be radio/newspaper days. So we spend the entire hour and twenty minutes listening to radio news (a tape of it, over and over until we get it) and reading a newspaper article or two. As I have previously mentioned, I’m not such an auditory learner. Listening to the radio in Hebrew is really difficult for me, and it gets incredibly frustrating when we listen to it over and over and I still pick up very little of what’s being said. I left class pretty unhappy today, and I just hope I can get better at this, or there will be a lot of unhappy Mondays ahead.
Biblical Grammar (once a week): I was surprised to enjoy this class today. I really like the professor, he explains things thoroughly and well, and I find his Hebrew quite understandable. Today we learned about when to use which vowels, how to accent words, and various other related things. They all (ok, mostly) apply to modern grammar as well, but I am pretty sure they are more important biblically and that we will be building on today’s lesson. It was also encouraging after a frustrating Hebrew class, because I do pick up grammar concepts faster than some of my classmates, so I felt good at the end of this class.
Break! With the long lunch they give us, and an off period after lunch, I had enough time between classes to have lunch and hang out with friends for a little while, get to the gym and shower, and get back to school and check email and do some things around school before my last class of the day. I like that.
Rabbinic Forum (once a week): This class changes weekly, doing various things related to professional development. This week we had our “reflection groups,” which are groups of 5 or 6 students and two faculty members who meet about 6 times during the year to discuss issues we are facing. I was very excited about my group, as it is all people I like and/or want to get to know better, and all people I am comfortable talking openly in front of, which is great, because I feel like I could get a lot out of this group. We had great conversation today about our expectations and impressions so far…but that’s all I’m allowed to share!
I’m exhausted (and I have a huge stack of flashcards calling my name), and I haven’t had any other classes to summarize! More soon…
Sunday:
Hebrew (twice on Sundays, for a total of 2:40, and 5 times during the week): I have a new teacher this semester. She’s not nearly as smiley as my ulpan teacher, but I think I’m going to learn a ton of Hebrew this year. I had heard that she was more of a tough love kind of teacher, and I think that’s an accurate description. She spends much less time joking around with people in the class and is very difficult to get off topic. I’m excited to learn a lot from her, and I am hoping she will soften up at least a little, since I will be spending a LOT of time in her class this year.
Liturgy (once a week): It’s hard to tell so far. It’s surprising how little you can tell from an hour and twenty minute class, but the first one is always hard, because nobody has done any reading, so it’s all introductory stuff. The class is all in Hebrew, but we write tests and papers in English, happily. I didn’t have much trouble understanding the teacher, which is also nice. It looks like we’ll be spending a week or two on each prayer/section of the service. I’ll let you know more as I figure out exactly what we’re doing in this class.
Rabbinics Lecture (once a week): Again, it’s hard to tell from the first week. It’s a lecture class, and in English. We will be talking rabbinics, but right now the professor is setting it up for us, so we talked about the Second Temple Period. This class looks like it will be the closest thing I have to a straight-up lecture class this year. I’m not used to taking so many notes! We have break-out classes (precepts/labs/discussion) twice a week with a different professor and in Hebrew, but apparently they’re only related in that they’re both called rabbinics. There will be different readings and everything. I hope that means we’ll learn a lot more, but I’ll keep you posted.
I forgot how much I dislike course packets. I have a zillion already: three for Hebrew, one for each of the other classes, with plenty more to come.
I also ordered a new gorgeous tallit yesterday, which will hopefully come in before Rosh Hashanah, but they don’t promise that. There will of course be a picture when it arrives! I went to the Gabrielli store with Ilana after classes on Sunday and spent a long time trying on different tallitot and deciding what I wanted. I ultimately picked one that they didn’t have there, the design they had in dark blues, but in purples instead. It should be beautiful!
Monday
Reform Liturgy Workshop (once a week, usually): We each have to lead one service during the year, give one D’var Torah, read and translate Torah, and have several other service roles. These sessions usually take place on Monday mornings. This morning was another service led by faculty, followed by discussion of the service.
Hebrew (again): Our Hebrew teacher has declared Mondays (yom sheini) to be radio/newspaper days. So we spend the entire hour and twenty minutes listening to radio news (a tape of it, over and over until we get it) and reading a newspaper article or two. As I have previously mentioned, I’m not such an auditory learner. Listening to the radio in Hebrew is really difficult for me, and it gets incredibly frustrating when we listen to it over and over and I still pick up very little of what’s being said. I left class pretty unhappy today, and I just hope I can get better at this, or there will be a lot of unhappy Mondays ahead.
Biblical Grammar (once a week): I was surprised to enjoy this class today. I really like the professor, he explains things thoroughly and well, and I find his Hebrew quite understandable. Today we learned about when to use which vowels, how to accent words, and various other related things. They all (ok, mostly) apply to modern grammar as well, but I am pretty sure they are more important biblically and that we will be building on today’s lesson. It was also encouraging after a frustrating Hebrew class, because I do pick up grammar concepts faster than some of my classmates, so I felt good at the end of this class.
Break! With the long lunch they give us, and an off period after lunch, I had enough time between classes to have lunch and hang out with friends for a little while, get to the gym and shower, and get back to school and check email and do some things around school before my last class of the day. I like that.
Rabbinic Forum (once a week): This class changes weekly, doing various things related to professional development. This week we had our “reflection groups,” which are groups of 5 or 6 students and two faculty members who meet about 6 times during the year to discuss issues we are facing. I was very excited about my group, as it is all people I like and/or want to get to know better, and all people I am comfortable talking openly in front of, which is great, because I feel like I could get a lot out of this group. We had great conversation today about our expectations and impressions so far…but that’s all I’m allowed to share!
I’m exhausted (and I have a huge stack of flashcards calling my name), and I haven’t had any other classes to summarize! More soon…
Sunday, September 03, 2006
Barcelona
Barcelona! It was an amazing trip. I have pictures posted on flickr, and I will add from my friends’ pictures soon, but right now I have some blog catch-up to do!
Eight of us went to Barcelona together: me, Emily, Rebecca, Mara, Josh, Phil, Jamie, and Anna. I do not have very many group pictures posted, because we agreed that we weren’t going to take the same picture with eight cameras, so we will all be trading pictures in the near future. I’ll add some soon! A summary of the trip, which explains many of the pictures…
Sunday
Our airport shuttle picked us up at 3:50 in the morning to get to the airport three hours early for our 8:15am flight to Barcelona. Needless to say, it was dark out and we were tired! The flight was happily uneventful, and we landed in Barcelona around lunch time. We found our ride to the hotel, a bus chartered by an Israeli company and filled with Israelis! We were a little surprised (and not entirely enthusiastic) to land in Spain and still have to speak Hebrew. But we made it to our hotel, and immediately changed into bathing suits and headed out in search of food and beach. We found both quickly, and felt like we had really started our vacation! The rest of the day, we did lots of relaxing, dinner at the hotel, and we hung out in our rooms before going to bed early.
Monday
Most of us got up early, had breakfast at the hotel and ventured out in search of the train station. Our hotel was in Costa Brava, an hour up the coast from Barcelona. The train station was a fun 20 minute walk across the center of town, and then there were frequent trains running into the center of the city. We got to Barcelona, and immediately started taking pictures at Placa Catalunya, a big plaza in the center of the city. I promise I’m spelling things (mostly) right; they actually speak Catalan more than Spanish in Barcelona, so spellings and whole words are somewhat different than expected. We started walking down Las Ramblas, a touristy street featuring lots of shops, restaurants, and street performers. Many of the street performers would be completely still, and then when someone gave them money, they had a prepared response or act that would follow briefly, before they went back to being statues. It was fun to walk past and watch them all! After lunch, we made our way to Barrio Gotico, the Gothic Quarter of the city. First we found the one Jewish area, a synagogue that was recently reopened to the public; it was a working synagogue in the 1300s and probably earlier, one of the oldest known ones in Europe! It was two rooms, including a sanctuary where they currently hold occasional Shabbat services. We were all touched and excited to find such an old Jewish landmark in a city that is not exactly known for its Jewish population. Barcelona’s Jews mostly disappeared one hundred years before the expulsion in 1492, from a series of pograms in the 1390s. Unfortunately, the old attitudes have not disappeared entirely. A few buildings away from the synagogue, there is a replica of a Hebrew (or Ladino, we couldn’t decide) engraved stone. We did not discover until we took pictures of it that there had previously been graffiti on the stone, both of a swastika and “free Palestine.” The graffiti had been washed off, but with a camera flash, it showed up on all of our pictures. It made for an interesting contrast. After seeing the Jewish side of the city, we went to the cathedral, although some of us were not allowed inside because we had worn shorts that day. None of us thought about clothing restrictions outside of Jerusalem! We then went in search of a street that had been noted in the guide book for having several shops which loosely translate to “chocolaterias.” Obviously, I was leading the hunt! We found the street, and we were not disappointed. With the help of some locals, most of us ordered a dessert that we were promised was very Spanish: hot chocolate and churros. Except that the hot chocolate was not the drink, but melted chocolate served with a spoon and churros (soft butter cookie sticks?) to dip in it. That was one of the highlights of the trip! We then wandered back through the city and eventually to the train station to go back to Costa Brava for dinner at the hotel. Later that night, most of the group went out, but I was very excited for a quiet night in the hotel reading and going to bed early!
Tuesday
We got a late start Tuesday, possibly because of the going out the night before. We all slept in, and did a little exploring of Costa Brava and grabbing of lunch as we made our way to the train station. We split up when we got to the city, since we all wanted to do different things. Mara, Rebecca, and I braved the subway system, and went to Parc Guell. Parc Guell is a park designed by the architect Gaudi around the beginning of the 1900s, and it’s a pretty crazy place. We were trying to decide whether it reminded us more of Alice in Wonderland or Candyland. I don’t think I can explain it any better than that, but there are lots of pictures. The whole bottom part of the park, including a couple of buildings, is decorated with brightly colored tiles and interestingly shaped structures. The upper part of the park is much more like what I expected out of a park, but mixed with creative landscaping and carved columns and other interesting features. We only had about an hour to explore, but I could have spent so much longer there. After the park, we went to Temple de la Sagrada Familia, the Church of the Sacred Family. The church was also designed by Gaudi, it was started in the 1880s, and is still under construction. The main facades of the church are mostly finished, and amazing. We sat staring up at one side of the church for over an hour, and we were continually noticing new things. There are still more spires being built, the inside is completely unfinished, and there is not yet stained glass in any of the windows. It is estimated to be completed in about 2020, but I’m not sure I believe it will be done by then. It was amazing. The whole group met up again that evening for dinner, and we found the best food we had the whole trip (aside from the chocolate, obviously). It was a small tapas bar, and their food, and their sangria, was delicious. After dinner it was back to the hotel and off to bed.
Wednesday
We split up again Wednesday morning, with half the group going to Montserrat, a monastery outside the city, and half of us heading into Barcelona again. Mara and I went to the Picasso Museum when we arrived, where part of the group had gone the previous day. I never knew that Picasso could really draw! I was impressed by his earlier work, which shows that he really had a lot of traditional artistic talent, drawing and painting landscapes, portraits, and anything else. It was not until later in his career when he started with the super-abstract and somewhat odder paintings. While I definitely appreciated seeing the whole transition through his life, and the late stuff is somewhat interesting, I’m a fan of the early stuff. After Picasso, we split up and finished out Barcelona on our own. I was sort of excited to navigate the city on my own and meander wherever I wanted to go. I walked around more alleyways and narrow streets of the gothic quarter, looking at a lot of the little shops. I bought myself a lithograph of one of the streets in the gothic quarter, and I am very excited about it! I had ice cream. I went back to Las Ramblas and walked the rest of the way down it that we had not done the first day, all the way to the port, and I was rewarded with a beautiful view. It was a great afternoon! The group met up again to find dinner in the city, and then headed back out to Costa Brava. After showering and a siesta, we headed out to explore the nightlife in our town. We started with a drink outside at a local bar, and then headed to a club to dance for a couple of hours. It was a lot of fun, but check out was mighty early in the morning.
Thursday
We had to check out of our rooms by 10 am, but they let us extend one room very cheaply, so we put all of our bags in one room for the rest of the day, since our airport shuttle wasn’t until well after dinner. Once again, we pulled out the bathing suits and headed down to the beach. We all laid on the sand for a few hours, very happily reading, napping, talking, and enjoying the sun. Then we headed to lunch, and then a while down the beach to have some water-fun. Josh and Phil had scouted the beach and found where we could rent a banana boat, a long, skinny raft where we all sat one behind the other, with handles to hold onto. The raft was attached to a speed boat, and the driver’s goal was essentially to make sure we had a good time and fell off a few times. Mission accomplished! It was SO much fun. After that, we played in the Mediterranean for a while longer, and then took a long, slow, meandering walk through Costa Brava and back to the hotel. We somehow managed to have no problems rotating through 8 people’s need to shower, we had dinner at the hotel, and waited for our airport shuttle. Our flight back left Barcelona at 2 am. We landed in Tel Aviv at 7 on Friday, overtired but relaxed, excited to be back, and happy to realize that Jerusalem is feeling like home!
An amazing vacation. School started today, but I’m out of typing energy! Coming soon.
Eight of us went to Barcelona together: me, Emily, Rebecca, Mara, Josh, Phil, Jamie, and Anna. I do not have very many group pictures posted, because we agreed that we weren’t going to take the same picture with eight cameras, so we will all be trading pictures in the near future. I’ll add some soon! A summary of the trip, which explains many of the pictures…
Sunday
Our airport shuttle picked us up at 3:50 in the morning to get to the airport three hours early for our 8:15am flight to Barcelona. Needless to say, it was dark out and we were tired! The flight was happily uneventful, and we landed in Barcelona around lunch time. We found our ride to the hotel, a bus chartered by an Israeli company and filled with Israelis! We were a little surprised (and not entirely enthusiastic) to land in Spain and still have to speak Hebrew. But we made it to our hotel, and immediately changed into bathing suits and headed out in search of food and beach. We found both quickly, and felt like we had really started our vacation! The rest of the day, we did lots of relaxing, dinner at the hotel, and we hung out in our rooms before going to bed early.
Monday
Most of us got up early, had breakfast at the hotel and ventured out in search of the train station. Our hotel was in Costa Brava, an hour up the coast from Barcelona. The train station was a fun 20 minute walk across the center of town, and then there were frequent trains running into the center of the city. We got to Barcelona, and immediately started taking pictures at Placa Catalunya, a big plaza in the center of the city. I promise I’m spelling things (mostly) right; they actually speak Catalan more than Spanish in Barcelona, so spellings and whole words are somewhat different than expected. We started walking down Las Ramblas, a touristy street featuring lots of shops, restaurants, and street performers. Many of the street performers would be completely still, and then when someone gave them money, they had a prepared response or act that would follow briefly, before they went back to being statues. It was fun to walk past and watch them all! After lunch, we made our way to Barrio Gotico, the Gothic Quarter of the city. First we found the one Jewish area, a synagogue that was recently reopened to the public; it was a working synagogue in the 1300s and probably earlier, one of the oldest known ones in Europe! It was two rooms, including a sanctuary where they currently hold occasional Shabbat services. We were all touched and excited to find such an old Jewish landmark in a city that is not exactly known for its Jewish population. Barcelona’s Jews mostly disappeared one hundred years before the expulsion in 1492, from a series of pograms in the 1390s. Unfortunately, the old attitudes have not disappeared entirely. A few buildings away from the synagogue, there is a replica of a Hebrew (or Ladino, we couldn’t decide) engraved stone. We did not discover until we took pictures of it that there had previously been graffiti on the stone, both of a swastika and “free Palestine.” The graffiti had been washed off, but with a camera flash, it showed up on all of our pictures. It made for an interesting contrast. After seeing the Jewish side of the city, we went to the cathedral, although some of us were not allowed inside because we had worn shorts that day. None of us thought about clothing restrictions outside of Jerusalem! We then went in search of a street that had been noted in the guide book for having several shops which loosely translate to “chocolaterias.” Obviously, I was leading the hunt! We found the street, and we were not disappointed. With the help of some locals, most of us ordered a dessert that we were promised was very Spanish: hot chocolate and churros. Except that the hot chocolate was not the drink, but melted chocolate served with a spoon and churros (soft butter cookie sticks?) to dip in it. That was one of the highlights of the trip! We then wandered back through the city and eventually to the train station to go back to Costa Brava for dinner at the hotel. Later that night, most of the group went out, but I was very excited for a quiet night in the hotel reading and going to bed early!
Tuesday
We got a late start Tuesday, possibly because of the going out the night before. We all slept in, and did a little exploring of Costa Brava and grabbing of lunch as we made our way to the train station. We split up when we got to the city, since we all wanted to do different things. Mara, Rebecca, and I braved the subway system, and went to Parc Guell. Parc Guell is a park designed by the architect Gaudi around the beginning of the 1900s, and it’s a pretty crazy place. We were trying to decide whether it reminded us more of Alice in Wonderland or Candyland. I don’t think I can explain it any better than that, but there are lots of pictures. The whole bottom part of the park, including a couple of buildings, is decorated with brightly colored tiles and interestingly shaped structures. The upper part of the park is much more like what I expected out of a park, but mixed with creative landscaping and carved columns and other interesting features. We only had about an hour to explore, but I could have spent so much longer there. After the park, we went to Temple de la Sagrada Familia, the Church of the Sacred Family. The church was also designed by Gaudi, it was started in the 1880s, and is still under construction. The main facades of the church are mostly finished, and amazing. We sat staring up at one side of the church for over an hour, and we were continually noticing new things. There are still more spires being built, the inside is completely unfinished, and there is not yet stained glass in any of the windows. It is estimated to be completed in about 2020, but I’m not sure I believe it will be done by then. It was amazing. The whole group met up again that evening for dinner, and we found the best food we had the whole trip (aside from the chocolate, obviously). It was a small tapas bar, and their food, and their sangria, was delicious. After dinner it was back to the hotel and off to bed.
Wednesday
We split up again Wednesday morning, with half the group going to Montserrat, a monastery outside the city, and half of us heading into Barcelona again. Mara and I went to the Picasso Museum when we arrived, where part of the group had gone the previous day. I never knew that Picasso could really draw! I was impressed by his earlier work, which shows that he really had a lot of traditional artistic talent, drawing and painting landscapes, portraits, and anything else. It was not until later in his career when he started with the super-abstract and somewhat odder paintings. While I definitely appreciated seeing the whole transition through his life, and the late stuff is somewhat interesting, I’m a fan of the early stuff. After Picasso, we split up and finished out Barcelona on our own. I was sort of excited to navigate the city on my own and meander wherever I wanted to go. I walked around more alleyways and narrow streets of the gothic quarter, looking at a lot of the little shops. I bought myself a lithograph of one of the streets in the gothic quarter, and I am very excited about it! I had ice cream. I went back to Las Ramblas and walked the rest of the way down it that we had not done the first day, all the way to the port, and I was rewarded with a beautiful view. It was a great afternoon! The group met up again to find dinner in the city, and then headed back out to Costa Brava. After showering and a siesta, we headed out to explore the nightlife in our town. We started with a drink outside at a local bar, and then headed to a club to dance for a couple of hours. It was a lot of fun, but check out was mighty early in the morning.
Thursday
We had to check out of our rooms by 10 am, but they let us extend one room very cheaply, so we put all of our bags in one room for the rest of the day, since our airport shuttle wasn’t until well after dinner. Once again, we pulled out the bathing suits and headed down to the beach. We all laid on the sand for a few hours, very happily reading, napping, talking, and enjoying the sun. Then we headed to lunch, and then a while down the beach to have some water-fun. Josh and Phil had scouted the beach and found where we could rent a banana boat, a long, skinny raft where we all sat one behind the other, with handles to hold onto. The raft was attached to a speed boat, and the driver’s goal was essentially to make sure we had a good time and fell off a few times. Mission accomplished! It was SO much fun. After that, we played in the Mediterranean for a while longer, and then took a long, slow, meandering walk through Costa Brava and back to the hotel. We somehow managed to have no problems rotating through 8 people’s need to shower, we had dinner at the hotel, and waited for our airport shuttle. Our flight back left Barcelona at 2 am. We landed in Tel Aviv at 7 on Friday, overtired but relaxed, excited to be back, and happy to realize that Jerusalem is feeling like home!
An amazing vacation. School started today, but I’m out of typing energy! Coming soon.
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