Working Shabbat

First on my mind right now (although not in my usual chronological order) is the idea of doing homework and other work on Shabbat. In the materials they sent us before coming to Israel, I laughed at the juxtaposition of ideas in the HUC Year-In-Israel book. In one paragraph, it tells us how much time we will be spending in class (a lot), on homework (a good chunk) and on other required activities (a significant amount). Soon after, they mention that especially in Israel, we should try keeping Shabbat to some degree, at least by not doing homework. I tried that for much of the summer. Over the summer, I was in ulpan, and while I had Hebrew for five hours a day, I only had Hebrew. There just wasn’t all that much homework. I did have to think about it and plan ahead, because Shabbat ended late over the summer. And I really enjoyed my Shabbats! I had all day to read things for fun, catch up on sleep, hang out with friends, and talk to people from home. I really did enjoy the day of rest. But then the school year hit for real. During the year, I’m in class all day, getting out sometimes around 4 and sometimes later. Add in other required programs and activities and my self-imposed requirements (i.e., going to the gym and enough time to talk to people from home), and there just aren’t enough hours in the day. Friday hits, the first day of the weekend, and post-daylight savings time, Shabbat starts really early. It’s my “free day” to run errands, since stores aren’t open on Saturdays, and usually cook something for Shabbat dinner. Even on my most productive of days recently, I can get some homework done, but not enough. Shabbat has become a heavy work day, and I hate it, but I don’t know how to get around it. It is the only day of the week without any obligations, which means I should be able to get a lot done. But it’s hard to reconcile doing homework all day when so much of the city is enjoying the holiday. I would love to go back to the days from the summer of enjoying the holiday, and maybe I just need to find a way to compromise, like enjoying part of the day and working hard for part of the day, but it’s a hard balance to find. I guess that’s what the rest of the year (and the next four, and probably beyond) is for.

Our Israel seminar this week was on secular Judaism in Israel, which led to a lot of really interesting discussion and information. As Americans, when we think of secular Jews, we think about people who are Jewish in name, but really do almost nothing Jewish. Secular Jews in Israel are generally contrasted with the Orthodox. As in, Jews who do not follow the commandments and live an almost entirely Jewish lifestyle are considered secular. However, the majority of these secular Jews attend a seder on Passover, hang a mezuzah at home, keep some level of kashrut, light Chanukah candles, and so on. And of course, they all speak Hebrew, so they could (in theory) study Torah and follow a prayer service at will. These secular Jews aren’t really sure what to do with the Reform Jews in Israel. Some of them lump us with them, as not-Orthodox and therefore secular. Some of them see us as a separate movement. Some of them just see us as some level of religious, and therefore while we agree about many, many things, and in Jewish lifestyle we are not far apart, they are not willing to classify themselves with us. It’s an interesting phenomenon. We also talked about different secular groups who are trying to get these secular Jews more active and more educated in Jewish life, through secular but Jewish schools, adult education, social action, and some other projects that sounded very similar to Reform Judaism at home. We also had a very brief discussion, cut short by time restraints, about a list of Israeli dilemmas presented to us. For example, a café next door to a yeshiva (religious school) wants to be open seven days a week, but the neighborhood feels that it will violate their feeling of Shabbat. Does it stay open? Pork is hard to find in Israel, so a kibbutz begins raising pigs and making a great profit. Some people see this as a horrible development, and propose banning the production of pork in Israel. Should the ban go through? And on and on and on. We discussed the difference between separation of church and state in Israel and in the US. A major difference is in the language. Their translation of the phrase translates back to English as a separation of religion and state. The US doesn’t separate religion and state! Religion is definitely tied to the state; the separation is in religious administration and requirement. Israel could never separate religion from the state, but separating the religious administration from the government could do wonders. It’s fascinating and sometimes frustrating to live in a religious democracy.

Thursday afternoon I went with some classmates to Museum on the Seam, a museum on the border of East Jerusalem and West Jerusalem, and also more or less on a border between religious and secular neighborhoods, and just barely out of the Old City into the New City. Their famous exhibition is now a traveling exhibit on tolerance and coexistence. (Ever seen the t-shirts that say “Coexistence,” where the C is a crescent, the X is a Jewish star, and the T is a cross? They’re from this museum.) The current exhibit, however, is about fair labor and exploited laborers. They do a great job of making it a multi-media presentation, with photos, paintings, videos, sound, and more. It talked about day laborers, prostitution, modern day slave labor, and more. It was really well done and really interesting, but we were all somewhat struck by how much it wasn’t Israel-centric. A good portion of the exhibit (although not all of it) was about Israeli labor, but the museum could have been appropriate anywhere in the world.

Thursday evening was HUC Casino Night, with all proceeds going to the Former Soviet Union seder project. (Summary: about half of the class is heading to the FSU during Passover to lead seders in all sorts of different communities. We do all the planning, organizing, and fundraising. More information coming soon, I promise.) Our whole moadon (lounge/café) was decorated and looked great. There was an auction for items donated by places in the city we all use, from a cup of coffee to large gift certificates to great restaurants. There were poker tables and blackjack tables. There were beverages and desserts. Our admission fee gave us a bunch of play money to participate in the games. I didn’t do any gambling, but had a great time hanging out with my friends and giggling at a professor and the director of the Year-In-Israel program bartending, and laughing over the money that had different HUC personalities printed on them. (Drinks, for example, cost a Mendelsson.) Pictures of Casino night (and some friends hanging out afterwards) are being posted shortly.

Clearly, I am really not looking forward to finishing my homework. Again.