Guest blogger!

This message is brought to you by a special guest blogger (and the letter “C” for Chanukah). (And by Jessica as usual, in blue.) Chanukah in Israel has been a wonderful and delicious treat, except for one slightly ironic feature: exams. As much as we like to claim that Hanukkah is not the Jewish Christmas, it really seems to function that way here. All the decorations in stores and on the street are for Hanukkah; the restaurants and shuks have abundant platters of sufganiyot; and Israelis take their winter vacations during Hanukkah—except for HUC students. This seems to be the one time of the year that the HUC-Jerusalem program reverts to American practices for scheduling and instead of having HUC students go on a Chanukah vacation like the rest of the country, they stress over final exams, so many of them can travel home or abroad on (cough) Christmas vacation. (Or have visitors come to us! About half the class is around this break, with lots of visitors.) I only spent about 2 and a half hours at the airport waiting for my visitor's late plane, but I brought a paper to edit, and ended up talking to an Israeli grandfather for a good half an hour, all in Hebrew! Visitor and bags arrived, fully intact!

Notwithstanding the studying, reviews, and exams, this week has been a great chance to hear everyone’s exciting plans for break (and having just finished my own exams, to laugh at those still seeking the light at the end of the tunnel). And of course, finishing exams was a huge relief for everyone until they realized they are now a whopping 10% finished with school. Oh, to be in law school…but I digress… Exams were...well, they're over. I got both my 10-page papers turned in a day early, a take-home exam (hand written, 5 sides-of-page, in Hebrew), and three exams allllll finished. And help carrying more than a dozen books back to the library. You're welcome. Keyboard thief! A couple of people in the last exam, Thursday afternoon, even brought some wine to open when we finished. And then we realized we have to do this nine more times. Except that most of them will be in English.

On night 6, Wednesday night, HUC had a Chanukkah gathering, with "significant others" (SOs) invited. They got to experience what we're getting used to: every occasion is reason to study some ancient text at least tangentially related to the topic. This time it was camels, flax, and responsibility. With rabbinic mentions (incorrectly) of torts and class action lawsuits. (Oy!) They also gave us sufganiyot and we sang songs. The life of a rabbinic student is never dull. And I'm the editor, so it's hard to disagree:) We did wonder a little about the scheduling on a night when most of us had at least one exam to study (cram) for the next day. On the seventh night of Hanukkah, one of the HUC rabbis led an oversized group of SOs and a few HUCers through Mea Sharim, an ultra-orthodox community, to see all of the Hanukkiyot in the windows and in front of the gates to their homes. The ultra-orthodox community is less a single group of religious Jews and much more a conglomeration of groups of mostly immigrant Jews whose clans collectively form a patchwork of ultra-Orthodox styles somewhat identifiable by variations in dress or custom. While it was interesting to learn about their community, to see their homes, and observe families together for the holiday, it was also a little surprising to see how unwelcome a probably-too-large group of 20 students was while wandering through their streets. Whether they all constantly feel like a tourist attraction or just a few outliers chose to express their annoyance (to understate it), it was not quite the “welcome a stranger to your home” attitude that I expected from the ultra-Orthodox. We were asked by one man to move on or leave, and we walked away, further into the neighborhood. We were asked by another one, less nicely, to please leave. We continued walking. The third person made no effort to be nice. He told us to leave, and then when our professor wished him a happy holiday, he started screaming. He pointed and started yelling "rasha, rasha, rasha!" (Evil one, evil one, evil one.) Many of the people who lived right there came out, but they neither joined him or stopped him. It was a frightening and somewhat depressing experience. We did leave after that, stopping on the way back to the twenty-first century to have a debriefing (in a church courtyard, actually). We debated whether we have more in common with these people or with non-Jews in our communities at home, and with whom our futures are more attached. Somehow, it all makes it back to rabbinic questions.

On a lighter note, yesterday was a much more appropriate way to conclude one holiday and immediately begin another one. It started with an early morning trip to the shuk to stock up for a big dinner. (Yes mom, I was out the door at 7:15am). (Jessica’s mom, I’m always an early riser and out the door early). (Jessica, OK, I’ll stop pretending). I was up first. But not by too much. The shuk was surprisingly empty, and some of the vendors were even closed, possibly due to Hanukkah vacations. Those that were open were stocked with Sufganiyot and Hanukkiyot in addition to the endless mountains of produce and other foods for sale. I was happy and grateful to have the help and company! We got more than a shuk-cart-full, and it was far heavier than usual. Potatoes, chicken, and veggies for 11 are not light. And obviously some treats: challah for french toast, chocolate-filled sufganiyot...

As soon as we returned home it was time to start the mad preparations for dinner in a race against the clock. I had to do some convincing that we really had to start right away. We did. The menu for the night included the traditional latkes, Israeli salad, chicken, veggies, pasta, and challah in addition to other things our guests contributed. And even if you recall Jessica “politely dissenting” (i.e., whining) from her lack of a food processor, don’t think for a minute that she caved and grated our ten potatoes by hand—I had to earn my accommodations! It's true. He did the potatoes and one of the onions, while I cleaned the living room around him. But I did the other onion after watching him cry like a baby through the first one. I cried too. Plus, considering neither of us had ever actually had to make latkes before that night, it was a mini-miracle of Chanukah that they came out just fine and a bigger miracle the apartment didn’t smell like latkes for the rest of the weekend. Grandma, we used your recipe, thanks! We finished making dinner just in time to meet up with our guests to walk to Shabbat services.

Unlike some other holidays, the Friday evening service does not change much for Hanukkah. However, the number of people in attendance certainly does. With an influx of visitors for the holidays, Shirah Chadasha was pretty packed with standing room only available shortly after we arrived. After another wonderful Kabbalat Shabbat and the rest of the service, we ran (not true) back to the apartment to heat up the food for dinner.

Our guests for dinner included both friends and their family, including a rabbi and his wife from Birmingham, Alabama. My friend Aaron's parents, not a random rabbi. We started the night by lighting a few Hanukkiyot (yes, that’s right—we went to Shabbat services, then lit the Hanukkiyot, then lit Shabbat candles. shhhhh.) , but I was mighty disappointed that this cadre of a rabbi and almost-close-to-being-almost-rabbis (10% rabbis?) didn’t break into a round of Chanukah songs, though I didn’t exactly volunteer to lead either. The conversation was a lively discussion of changes in reform Judaism, ways of keeping Jewish youths engaged with their religion, and the perks and hidden challenges of being a rabbi. Trivia for the night included the significantly growing number of women pursuing the rabbinate and becoming engaged in temple leadership and the benefits of tax breaks for clergy. Among the key pieces of advice we received for surviving as a rabbi was this: when entertaining a large group for Shabbat dinner, always hire help. Thanks for telling us that after the meal!

Good company, good weather (it's cloudy and gross looking today), and of course, great food (and tons of leftovers!) —a perfect conclusion to Hanukkah and a perfect start to Shabbat. Chag Samayach, Shabbat Shalom, chodesh tov (a good month) from the clerk at the supermarket, and Happy Holidays! From me too:)