Thanksgiving in Jerusalem, Pesach in Russia

That title sounds pretty weird to me, too, but that’s my reality these days! Starting with the present, Thanksgiving in Jerusalem. A friend of mine decided that she wanted to host a bunch of people for thanksgiving, but realized several problems in that plan early on. It’s hard to find big, whole turkeys in Israel. (The eating kind; the political kind is as easy to find here as they are in the US.) She only has a toaster oven, not a full sized oven, as would be necessary to cook a hard-to-come-by turkey, even in the event that she found one. A lot of people have this problem. We have a real oven, but it’s smaller than a normal one at home. Some of her favorite side dishes were dairy, and a lot of the class keeps kosher, not mixing meat and dairy. She actually prefers the side dishes, and realized that most people held the same opinion as her; the turkey itself is not the draw of Thanksgiving for most people. Her roommate is Canadian. He has never celebrated Thanksgiving. Thus, sides-only, dairy Thanksgiving was born. Thanksgiving night, between 35 and 40 people crammed into an apartment where most of the living room furniture had been moved to the bedrooms, to better squeeze people in. We sat on the floor, the plastic porch chairs, the couch, or we stood. It was potluck. The food was delicious! And I bet you’ve never seen so many different kinds of potatoes on one table before. Just like any other Thanksgiving, we were all stuffed, and there were tons of leftovers. It was a lot of fun.

I had a little trouble with Thanksgiving this year. I have never been away from home and my family for Thanksgiving, and this was both of those with a vengeance. I got lots of voicemails, emails, and IMs though from family and friends, making it feel like I am a little less far away. Thank you!!

There is one other holiday for which I have never been away from my family. I have done seders with family every single year, which will make this Passover difficult as well. However, I may be so busy that I won’t even notice! Every year, a group of HUC students travels to the Former Soviet Union, specifically communities in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, to help run Passover seders for underserved communities. These are communities in these places which have Jewish populations, generally toward the less religious end of the spectrum, which for one reason or another do not have a rabbi or other real Jewish leadership. So we descend in groups of two or three, equipped with a Russian-Hebrew haggadah and a translator, and we apparently run 4-6-more seders and other Passover activities over about 5 days. Then we get transported back to the closest major city to wherever we are, and we get another couple of days to tour and enjoy the completely new surroundings. The whole trip is student-planned and student-run. I am chairing the committee in charge of, basically, the seder. We make sure we know the Russian-Hebrew haggadah that we all use backwards and forwards, we teach our classmates how to run a seder (which means we all have to know), and we come up with lots of ideas for adapting a seder to all different sizes and types of groups. I’m really excited about the project, and thrilled that I’m working with a great committee on something I really enjoy. The project’s website is now up and running, at http://www.pesachproject.com/. Check it out! It's beautifully designed by my friend Kate, who is here this year with her fiancé. In her real life, she's a graphics designer. Don't bother looking for me in the various pictures. They're from last year's trip. You also might be receiving a slightly-less-personal letter from me and HUC about the project soon. I can promise a note on the bottom. Look forward to it!

It’s now about a half hour before Shabbat starts this week, and I haven’t talked to anyone from the US yet today. I think you’re all still in food comas and sleeping. I find it a little sad (and far away) that I’m preparing for sunset, and you’re still asleep. It’s also a little funny that I can go to the shuk and have a conversation with a grocer all in Hebrew, go to the supermarket and help some confused Americans decipher the Hebrew on their purchase (“magic tea box”), do four loads of laundry (it’s a small washer), go out for hot chocolate and homework with a friend, meet up with a friend from home for a little while, start outlining a midterm, and get ready for Shabbat…all before you wake up. It does make my day feel slightly more productive.

There should be more pictures of my Ethiopian family and of Thanksgiving night soon, but so as to not drive everyone crazy with millions of cameras, I didn't bring mine. I'll get pictures from friends once they post them.

Shabbat shalom, and I hope I get to talk to all of you soon!