Even More Visitors

I'm back to writing in Italics! That means someone else has elected to do my dirty work, again. This time: Israel from my parents' point of view. They left on Tuesday night, and I left Wednesday morning for an HUC trip to the Negev. I'll collect my thoughts and write about that in a day or two. Thanks, parents, for buying me a little more time! My interruptions of my mother's words are in italics.

Another guest blog….from Jessica’s most recent visitors. Arrival at Ben Gurion was emotional. The long walk from the plane, through baggage claim and customs to Jessica who was waiting just beyond the restricted area, only increased my anticipation. I was finally in Israel and equally important, I was finally going to be able to hug and kiss my wandering Jew. Of course, I cried. Jessica thoughtfully brought a bottle of water and guided us to the waiting shuttle.

Jerusalem was more than we imagined. Our first impressions were of the Jerusalem stone and seeing the old city, even from a distance, took our breath away. Our first morning in Jerusalem began very early, with a trip to the shuk. We met at 7 a.m. and we knew right from the beginning that we had a great tour guide (that's me!) as we began our day tasting the delights of Israel. (I already miss the rugelah, cinnamon rolls and the cashews and pistachios as well as the fruits and vegetables. Going shopping in the US is just not the same.) It is at normal hours of the day, however.

I can’t describe everything we saw and did, so I’ll try to cover some of the highlights.

Friday night, we walked to Shira Chadasha and enjoyed the quieting of Jerusalem. The service was wonderful. The music, the patchwork on the ark (yes I noticed) and praying in Israel were very special. The dinner and company that followed were terrific too. On Saturday, we walked around the Old City and went to the Western Wall.

On Sunday, we rented a car and drove out of the city. Jessica had warned us that Israeli drivers are offensive rather than defensive, and we were all glad that Jessica sat next to Buzz to give directions and read road signs and I could cower in the back of the car. I tried to ignore the drivers and concentrate on the amazing flowers that were already blooming everywhere. Before we really left Jerusalem, we were serenaded with honking horns and we encountered a woman driving the wrong way down a major street. (She did manage to turn around without being hurt.) We drove first to Old Jaffo. Driving in Israel is tricky because in addition to the drivers who Jessica described as frustrated fighter pilots, the road signs often don’t correspond to what is written on the map and streets appear out of nowhere. I can't take credit for that all-too-accurate description. One of the guide books said that. I simply confirmed. We did find our way to Old Jaffo, eventually. We somehow navigated numerous one way streets and were only stopped once when a truck with a trailer was blocking the road. After the trailer was moved to the side (by hand) and the truck pulled over, we continued on. We had a great time, exploring the old Mediterranean Port, visiting some crafts shops (including Gabrielli), and enjoying the park. I was amazed that 45 minutes west-and-a-little-north, it was warm enough to take off my jacket and be warm in long sleeves! We continued north to Caesaria, which we all loved. Jessica had been there before, with school but Buzz and I loved walking around the Herodian amphitheater and exploring the walls of the Crusader city. We were all impressed with the acoustics of the amphitheater especially when we stood in the right place, not further back as most of the other people were doing including my school trip a couple of months ago. From Caesaria, we headed toward Haifa, and with Jessica’s excellent support (pffffffffffff. "Haifa is a hill. Go up."), we found our hotel. Haifa is a beautiful hilly city overlooking the Mediterranean.

On Monday, we went to the Baha’i Gardens for a tour. The tour was in Hebrew but the gardens were beautiful, if a bit formal for our liking. I wasn't trying very hard, but understood bits and pieces. I take my small victories happily. The views of the Mediterranean were amazing! We walked down steps and more steps, each with beautiful terraced gardens until we reached the shrine. After exploring a while, we were shown the exit, which was of course, way below where we had come in. The tours, with buses, hopped on their buses and left. Buzz, Jessica and I took a good half an hour steep walk back up hill to our car. Leaving Haifa was a bit like finding Old Jaffo….a series of small streets with interesting curves and dead ends but eventually we found our way. The next highlight of the day was Rosh Pina. While sitting in the back of the car, I discovered that Rosh Pina had a very recommended restaurant called Chocolata. We all agreed that sounded promising and we were hungry. Old Rosh Pina, also at the top of a steep hill was charming. The restored village was the home of Galilee’s first Zionist pioneers in 1882. It is filled with crafts galleries in restored buildings and an old synagogue. There were also blooming almond trees and orange and lemon trees filled with fruit and flowers everywhere. The restaurant is the old home of the tutor for the Baron Edmond de Rothschild and its stone interior, filled with comfortable couches and tables and chairs was a great place for lunch. Lunch was delicious and the chocolate cake we shared for dessert was wonderful. Feeling refreshed, we drove east to Tzfat. We drove up a windy road, commenting on the Israeli drivers passing us on the curves. After a few circles, we found the old Jewish Quarter and the Artists' Colony. We explored and enjoyed the town but it was beginning to be late so we decided to head to Tiberias and return to Tzfat the next day for more exploring and shopping. The twenty miles from Tzfat to Tiberias passed quickly for me. Buzz drove, Jessica navigated and I enjoyed the views and the flowers which were blooming everywhere and in every color in the Gallilee. Cows were grazing in pastures filled with rocks (and some grass). There were groves of fruit trees, filled with fruit, and almond trees blooming everywhere. Jessica guided us to a great restaurant for dinner, right on the Kinneret (Gallilee).

The third day of our trip up north was great fun, although it rained all day. We went back to Tzfat and to the Golan and then drove down the other side of the Kinneret. We also, with a slight detour, found Kibbutz Naot Mordechai, and had a good time in their shoe store. We had expected rain on this trip and other than causing us to miss a few overlooks, it was not really a problem. I wonder if she asked the driver about that statement.

On Wednesday, Buzz and I drove through the West Bank down to Ein Gedi and the Dead Sea. We stayed on a kibbutz in Ein Gedi that also had a botanical garden. The contrast between the Dead Sea and the desert and the kibbutz was amazing. I enjoyed looking at all the varieties of blooming plants and we had a wonderful time hiking to the waterfalls at Nahal David (where David hid from Saul) and exploring the area. Of course, we went to the Ein Gedi Spa and played with the mud and Buzz bravely went into the very cold Dead Sea. Pictures coming, once they are sent my way! We took the cable car up Masada on Thursday and spent several hours exploring. (Thank you, Michael, for suggesting the cable car! Buzz does however, want to go back and climb….) Masada was fascinating. We were lucky enough to be (temporarily) part of a Sephardic Bar Mitzvah party on the cable car up and down. On the way up, everyone was singing and swaying. Once they were on Masada, the party formed a parade and marched to the old synagogue, singing, accompanied by shofar and drum.

We came back to Jerusalem and met Jessica for a delicious dinner. (Notice a theme?!) (Thanks for the great food!!) It was great to be able to rely on Jessica for food and outing ideas! We spent the next few days exploring more of Jerusalem and shopping and of course, eating. We spent a second Shabbat in Jerusalem and went to services at Kol Hanshema (Israeli reform) and at HUC. We met up with the group visiting from mom's old synagogue in Great Neck, several of whom know my grandmother. The assistant rabbi and her husband went to college with Becky. We referenced "It's a Small World" not for the first time this trip. We heard the horn sound the beginning of Shabbat and ended Shabbat with some visiting rabbis who invited Jessica’s class over for wine, cheese and havdalah. It was a beautiful havdalah service.

We had a wonderful tour guide who took us around the old city. I was in class all day. They had more fun. Asnat Cohen met us at 8:30 and took us to the Mount of Olives first so that we could see the city from that perspective, above the Temple Mount. We could see the Old City as well as the Dome of the Rock and the City of David. It was the beginning of a wonderful day. On the way to and from the Mount of Olives we saw several other gates to the Old City. We spent the entire rest of the day (until 4:30) walking around the Old City. It was supposed to rain all day but happily there were only two showers during the day and we were inside both times. Highlights included the Wohl Archaeological Museum where we saw a variety of artifacts from families living during the Second Temple period. It was amazing to see the remains of a mansion from that time. Asnat’s explanations were really helpful. Our favorite part of the day was the Ophel Archaeological Garden. Archaeologists have dug a great deal at this site. We walked on original steps from the Second Temple, we saw the remainders of Robinson’s arch, the place where the trumpet player stood to announce Shabbat and other holidays, and stones from the top of the original wall, lying where they were found but showing the Roman destruction. We also saw some interesting videos in the Davidson center. Other highlights of the day included visiting a few stores where Asnat knew the owners. One was in the Arab shuk and the owner had an amazing collection of original Bedouin fiber. The pieces he had were beautiful. He also had other antique Judaica which was beautiful. He gave us a cup of mint tea which was delicious. We also went to see 4 Sephardic synagogues in the Old City. They were beautiful. We stopped at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher too. It was quite an experience. Asnat introduced us to the keeper of the key for the Church. He is Muslim. The church is co-owned by several different Christian groups, none of whom can agree on much of anything, except that they don't want the others to have the key. Thus, the Muslim keymaster. We walked around the Cardo as well as the Arab Shuk. Asnat was friendly and knew so much that it was a great and moving day.

Our visit was wonderful and we’re already thinking about when we can go back and see more of Israel. The only hard part was saying good bye to Jessica and that was really difficult. For me too! Especially because we said goodbye at about 10:00 at night, at which time I still had work to do, emails to send, and a trip to pack for before the next morning. More to come soon!

Back soon!

A quick, really early in the morning post. As a makeup for being brief, a picture of my parents in Caesaria, with the Mediterranean Sea behind them. My parents are en route back home, and I'm about to head out on a trip myself. HUC is taking us down to the south of the country, where it's supposed to be in the mid-80s and sunny. A refreshing change! We're going to Eilat, snorkeling, studying, kibbutz-ing, Bedouin tent-ing, and enjoying the desert. So this is advance warning that there won't be another new blog for a few days; I'll be back late Saturday night...just in time to go to school Sunday morning!

Have a good (short) week, and I'll be back soon!

Overdue

It has been about 10 days since I last posted, and I don't think I've been that bad all year! At least I warned you...and I have a good excuse ready.

But I'm behind on pretty much everything, especially sleep, so this will be short and sweet, with hopefully more details coming, and certainly pictures coming when I have time to post them, and when I can borrow the parents' cameras to upload their pictures.

They arrived last Thursday, and I was at Ben Gurion to greet them and laugh at my mom (but only a little) for crying: she finally made it to Israel AND got to see me after a lot of months away! They were troopers and woke up early for my crack-of-dawn Friday morning shuk run. Shuk was loved by all. Friday evening services at Shira Chadasha: they loved them. It is a more religious service, but there is so much music, it is impossible not to like it. It's beautiful. Great dinner at Lauren/Aaron's. My parents like my friends. Hooray!

Sunday morning, picked up the rental car and headed north. Sunday we visited Old Yaffo outside of Tel Aviv, what is now an artists' colony, but was previously a big city before Tel Aviv was founded as an escape from Yaffo. Then we went to Caesaria, ruins of a very Roman-Jewish town, and then drove up to Haifa for the night. Monday morning we visited the Bahai Gardens, an amazing terraced garden, although the tour was in Hebrew. It was beautiful nonetheless, although I think I prefer not-quite-so-perfect plants. Then we drove to Acco, an ancient city but also a thriving Arab town, and looked around for a few minutes, and moved on. The ruins were less impressive after Caesaria and we were ready for the rest of the day's itinerary. We found our way to Rosh Pina, a little town outside of Tsfat. In one of the guidebooks, Mom found the description of a great-sounding restaurant there. We found it eventually, and it was worth it! With a name like "Chocolatte," how bad can it be?! To be posted: before and after pictures of dessert. Then we drove over to Tsfat and walked around looking at some old, beautiful synagogues and some of the artists. It was late in the afternoon already though, so lots of things were closed. It went onto the schedule for the next day. Dinner was at a delicious meat restaurant in Tiberias that HUC had taken us to. Yum. Tuesday we headed back to Tsfat to walk around some more, and I got a beautiful microcalligraphy picture. It is an image of Shabbat, but the whole design is filled in with teeny tiny writing of the Shabbat prayers and songs. It's hard to describe, but it's amazing. You may have to come visit my Cincinnati apartment to see it hanging next year! Then we went back to Rosh Pina, because some of the galleries there had been closed the day before, and we wanted to see them. Lunch at the same restaurant! Then we drove through the Golan some, but it was rainy, so we didn't bother going to a lookout point; we wouldn't have seen much. After adventures in directions and Hebrew-speaking, we found our way to Kibbutz Naot Mordechai, which is where they make (and have a factory store for) Naots. Some pairs of shoes later, we got back into the car and made our way back to Jerusalem, driving all the way around the Kinneret/Sea of Galilee (two names, same lake), and getting back for a late (late!)

Mom and Dad went down to the Dead Sea on Wednesday and Thursday and had an amazing time at Ein Gedi park, Masada, and the Dead Sea. I went to school. I also got some really pretty flowers on Wednesday:)

We made Shabbat dinner last night and had a few friends over. Another one of those nights where we all of a sudden realized it was midnight...and we were going to services in the morning. Services today at HUC, where we met up with the group from Beth El in Great Neck, NY, where my mom grew up. Had lunch with Rabbi Davidson (who married my parents) and their younger rabbi, Darcy Crystal, and her husband and son. She and her husband are Princeton '97, and so of course knew Becky and we had a great time with them. And they have a really cute baby. Had an afternoon wine-and-cheese party at the apartment of a couple of rabbis who are on sabbatical in Jerusalem right now and want to get to know our class. It was really nice, and felt good that they're really trying to spend time with us. Then lots of homework and catch-up work...

Now bed. Pictures...soonish.

Catching Up

I'm completely exhausted, so hopefully I can successfully string some words together before I collapse into bed for a few hours. I know I don't often post on Wednesday nights, but I wanted to catch up before I potentially fall behind again. (Yes, I use a similar philosophy with my schoolwork!)

Monica left last night. Or this morning. Or somewhere in between. She stayed up reading a book. I went to sleep for a couple of hours, set my alarm for 1:40 in the morning, sat half-awake probably not as very good company while we waited for her shuttle (which, for the first time in my experience, was late), and then at 2:15, I went back to bed. Hence the confusion over when she actually left. And a few minutes ago I got an IM that she made it home safe and sound! I love that everyone knows to check in with me and let me know that. Thanks, mom, for the extra measure of concern. (For the record, I had checked Monica's flight a couple of hours ago, and I already knew the plane had landed in Boston. But I appreciate the check-in IM all the same.)

It was so much fun to have Monica here! I love that with Monica (and also Saroj who was here a couple of weeks ago), I haven't seen her for more than 6 months, but she arrived and it was like no time had passed at all. We had lots of stories to catch up on, but there was no lack of comfort or anything. Friends like that are not easy to find, and I'm glad I have them...and that they were willing and able to fly around the world to visit! She did some touring on her own, and we did some together between my classes. She seemed to enjoy Shabbat services at my favorite synagogue and we had a delicious Shabbat dinner with friends, one of those dinners where we're having a great time, and all of a sudden it's midnight. We went into the Old City twice. The first time we did the part I know: the Kotel (Western Wall) and the Jewish shopping area and Arab shuk (market). The second time we were aiming for the Church of the Holy Sepulchere, where I had never been. We only made a couple of wrong turns, but with some timely help from my StreetWise, we made it there without too much of a problem. Unfortunately, neither of us had managed to read about it before we arrived; we just knew it was supposed to be an important and impressive site. Also unfortunately, neither of us had remembered to put a guide book in our bags, so we didn't really know what we were looking at. We walked around though and talked about our various religious experiences and marveled at the building and its art, which really is amazing. And then after we got home, we read up on where we had been. It's apparently the site of Jesus' crucifixion and burial! The part of the church with his tomb is through the room which was so small and crowded that I couldn't stay in it. Also, we didn't know why everyone was in there, so we didn't stay, so we kind of missed a main attraction. Oops. But now that I know more, I kind of want to go back (with a book) and really know what I'm looking at.

Tuesday evening we went on the weekly visit to my Ethiopian family, but this week all the HUC families were getting together for a Tu B'shevat party, the holiday that celebrates "the birthday of the trees." It turned out to be a great time: we made tissue paper flowers, handprint trees, and lots and lots of pipe cleaner crowns, for us and the kids. I also learned that Monica has amazing language skills. For someone who could not name a Hebrew letter when she arrived, she picked up a good amount of vocabulary, and now can recite most of the alphabet! She wrote "Monica vas here" on our fridge with our Hebrew letter magnets before she left.

In spite of being completely exhausted, today was an amazing day. For this week's Israel Seminar, we were learning about the Palestinian-Arab-Israeli citizens. These are Arabs who live within the main part of Israel (not the territories) and have full citizenship and full rights under the law, although often not in practice. We went to an Arab town north of Jerusalem, to an Arab teachers' college. We did some learning about the issues on our own, and then for the afternoon met in small groups with students from the college. Our best days of seminar have been when we get out and really talk to people, and this one was definitely not an exception. We were all told that no topic should be off limits, and we really had a conversation about tough issues: how they feel about Jews, what we think when we see a Muslim, the likelihood of peace, Palestinian-Arab-Israeli identity, family, dating and marriage, politics...you name it, we talked about it. It was a great activity, although it was far enough away that we probably won't see them again. Our professors were talking about trying to bring the same group of them down to Jerusalem to meet with us here, and I would absolutely love for it to happen, but given the craziness of our schedules, I am unfortunately pessimistic that it will happen. I truly hope they find a way to make it happen though. We all need more encounters like this one as a reality check: they're not so different from us at all! and as a small, but hopefully not completely insignificant, road to peace. We did all agree that if there aren't interactions between Jews and Muslims, peace is just a dream.

And why do I have a feeling I may fall behind on posting again? Tomorrow afternoon I'm going to the airport to pick up my parents!! I can't wait! :)

Busy, busy, busy

We’ve noticed recently that HUC has been piling on the meetings, getting to the point where we’re feeling over programmed and completely lacking in free time. The problem is that it’s hard to seriously complain about it, because the added events recently have been so interesting! A potentially long post to follow…

I gave my D’var Torah on Monday, as I mentioned and included a few days ago. I think I’ve now received the fallout from it, and it’s really been fairly positive! The main criticism I got from some of the faculty was that the (two-sentence) reference to Shrek was not really necessary and distracted from the overall message. I still think it lightened the tension and seriousness, and I like it there, but I guess it goes to show that there’s no way to please everyone. A day later, an older, very respected professor/rabbi came up to me to tell me how much he had enjoyed my talk. He did not just stop there though, but gave me lots of details back from the speech, and told me exactly what he thought was really good. That made me feel really good!

Before I got up onto the bima to give my speech, there was another amazing part of the service. We read Torah every Monday, and everyone is required to do so at least one Monday during the year. (I did mine in September.) So all three readers did their thing Monday morning, but before they could go sit back down, the cantorial student who was leading the service started talking. She revealed that the third Torah reader, a cantorial student in his 40s, had actually never been called to the Torah before. (He had never been involved Jewishly when he was younger, and therefore never had a Bar Mitzvah, and had never had occasion to do so since.) This meant, she explained, that despite his being a *few* years older than the traditional 13-year-old Bar Mitzvah boy, it was his Bar Mitzvah. She presented him with a Kiddush cup from the rest of the cantorial students, the traditional temple gift to a Bar Mitzvah, blessed him, and we all broke into a chorus of “Siman Tov u’Mazal Tov,” a song traditionally sung at happy moments. A good portion of the class started crying. It was one of those incredibly unexpected, but completely moving moments that just sneak up on you. I loved it.

On Tuesday I had my first history class with the second professor (each one is teaching 6 classes this semester), on the history and religion of Islam. He had complete laryngitis, so we walked in and found a PowerPoint slide on the screen explaining that he had no voice and we would be watching clips of a movie about Muhammad. One interesting thing about the movie was that traditionally, Muhammad and his family cannot be depicted on screen visually or audibly, which understandably presents a rather large obstacle to making a movie about his life. This movie got around that problem by showing his followers and he was generally an off-screen presence. When people were speaking to him, they spoke directly into the camera, and we never heard his replies, just how his followers responded to his replies. It was a little awkward, and made him out to be a more passive leader than I’m sure he was, but it was certainly some creative thinking! It is an interesting story that I’m looking forward to learning more about, and we talked afterwards about questions that we had not thought about much before, like how difficult it must be to present oneself as a prophet, and the difficulties faced by a brand new religion. It reminded me on the class I took in college on “emerging religions” (or, commonly, cults), because every new religion starts out that way. I have lots to learn in this class and I’m excited about it!

Tuesday night, Monica arrived! I also had a ridiculous Israeli moment. The cell phone rental company said they would drop off her phone between 7 and 10 at night at my apartment, and they would call when they arrived, since our buzzer doesn’t work. We weren’t excited about having to stay in, but we made a good dinner and sat and caught up. At 10:10, when the phone had not arrived, I called the company. The woman on the other end said apparently they had tried to deliver but could not get in touch with me. My phone had been in my pocket. I guess it’s hard to get in touch without calling! She then checked again and said, “apparently the driver put it in your mailbox.” I went to check while we were still on the phone. [Background info: these phones usually come in boxes slightly smaller than a shoebox. Things go into my mailbox through a small slot, and we unlock the back of it to get things out. The locked door opens up, exactly the way that a USPS mailbox is not allowed to do, meaning that if it’s full, everything falls out when you open it.] I unlocked the mailbox, and immediately realized it was packed full. I put my hands underneath to catch what was falling out, and found everything that should have been in the phone box. Apparently the driver did not or could not call me, so instead left the box for me. Except that the box didn’t fit in the mailbox, so he took each individual part: the phone, the charger, the case, the instruction sheet, the rate sheet, the contract, and slid them one at a time through my mail slot. Only in Israel.

Wednesday night we had our first presentation on the FSU trip to start giving us some background on things we should expect, bring, not bring, and more. Highlights: It will be cold. There may be bread on the seder table. Don’t refuse the vodka, but you don’t have to drink it. Dress nicely. Bring your own toilet paper and purell.

Yesterday afternoon was one of our extra programs. We’re usually done at lunchtime on Thursdays for the weekend, so you can imagine our excitement when all of a sudden a 4:15 program showed up on the calendar. Rabbi Yoffie, the head honcho of the Reform Movement, was in Israel and would be speaking to us. But, then his speech was really good! He had some interesting things to say, and he is a fairly engaging speaker, which is always a nice surprise. Content: the future of Reform Judaism. Not surprisingly, we have gotten a lot of that this semester, but this one was enough different that I enjoyed it. After the talk we had a short Tu B’Shevat seder and dinner. Tu B’shevat is taught in the United States as “the birthday of the trees,” and it’s basically an agricultural holiday that marks the approximate beginning of the planting season and is how traditionally age of fruit bearing trees is tracked. So for trees that are required to grow a certain number of years before eating their fruit, they all count as a year old on Tu B’shevat. The seder involves drinking wine that starts as white and gradually gets more red added to it (Four cups: white, light pink, dark pink, red), and eating different kinds of seasonal fruits. Things that (amazingly) went into my mouth last night, and were enjoyed in varying amounts: pomegranate seeds, raisins, dates, dried apricot, walnuts. Be impressed!

This morning, Monica and I got up early to go to the shuk as per my usual Fridays. Every so often I have to remind myself to look around as if I haven’t been doing this stuff for six months, and it’s an easier reminder when I have a visitor. The shuk is huge and overwhelming. We bought a fruit today that just looked interesting, and I have no clue what it is. She took lots of pictures of the impressive displays and aisles of food. We were in the Old City yesterday. I was reminded of the impressiveness of the sights and the sheer age of the city, and the craziness of the Arab market there. Visitors are a great way to make sure I remember all that. Monica’s here until Tuesday, and then mom and dad arrive Thursday! That only gives me a few more days to think of more things they could bring for me...

Shabbat shalom!

Words of Torah

This year, each of us is required to give one D'var Torah, basically a sermon on the weekly Torah portion. Mine was today. I thought it went well, and I got lots of really positive feedback from my classmates. The professors/rabbis who critique us gave me some interesting things to think about; their suggestions mainly related to ideas I could have included if I did not have such a short time restriction, and the place of pop culture on the bima. (I maintain that it has one.) Because I have had a few requests (some of them from classmates!), my words are posted below. It's long, so I'm going to let it speak for itself. But if you have LOTS of time on your hands, my friend and classmate Michal and I just added links to each other's blogs. She updates frequently, always has interesting insights, and is heading to Cincinnati with me next year! Enjoy...!

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בקש שלום ורדפהו. In Psalm 34, we are instructed to seek peace and pursue it (Psalm 34:15). The judge Gideon tells us that one of God’s many names is Adonai Shalom, God of peace. Masechet Derech Eretz Zuta tells us: Great is peace, because all blessings and prayers conclude with peace. We are a people obsessed with peace. We like to make peace, keep peace, and even run after peace. In Divrei HaYamim alef, we learn that God did not permit King David to build the Temple in Jerusalem, because he was constantly at war; peaceful King Solomon built it instead. Even the patriarch Jacob fled from his home rather than face the possibility of war with his brother Esau. And here in this week’s Torah portion, Be’shalach, we arrive at the pinnacle of the Exodus story. The people finally escape from Egypt, cross the Sea of Reeds to safety, and sing a song of Thanksgiving to God: אשירה ליהוה כי גאוה גאה; I will sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously (Exodus 15:1). And then the Israelites move on, wander in the desert, leaving peace in their wake and eventually settling peacefully in the Promised Land. Except…that’s not exactly how the story goes. In the midst of the Song of the Sea, praising God for rescuing the Israelites from their Egyptian oppressors, we heard today: יהוה איש מלחמה - יהוה שמו. Adonai is a warrior. Adonai is His name! All of a sudden, after receiving one miraculous rescue from the peace-loving God, this peace-loving people lauds Him as a great warrior. A man of war! Our teachers have long struggled with this militaristic aspect of Shirat Ha Yam. How can we seek peace and pursue it while we are praying to God the warrior? Why is being a strong warrior suddenly a good thing? Maybe it is precisely out of this contrast that God’s divinity emerges. Although God is a warrior, God does not fight dirty. According to Rashi, the second half of this verse, Adonai shemo, teaches us that God does not fight with traditional weapons of war. God uses only God’s divine name, and the battle is won. Except that with all due respect to Rashi, God’s name alone seems to be quite destructive on the shores of the Red Sea. After all, as we read today, “Pharaoh’s chariots and his army He has cast into the sea; and the pick of his officers are drowned in the Sea of Reeds.” Whether the Egyptians were defeated by traditional weapons or the terribly awesome divine name, they did not fare so well. The God of peace and compassion has seemingly been replaced by the vengeful God so rejected by the Reform movement. In all daily Jewish prayer, including Mishkan Tefilah, God has another warlike name, Adonai צבאות, literally God of armies. Open Mishkan Tefilah to Tsur Yisrael, Kedushah, or Ma’ariv Aravim. Read the English translation of these prayers. Notice the italics in the middle of the translation where it translates “Adonai Tzvaot” so literally as “Adonai Tzvaot.” Every single day, although we may not realize it, we continue to pray to this God of war. We have prayers for peace interspersed throughout our service, but the heart of the tefilah includes more than one mention of God’s warlike attributes; we simply choose not to acknowledge them. But this verse from Shirat Ha Yam, Adonai ish milchama, Adonai shmo, shows us a way to come to terms with this violent image of God. God is not only a warrior. Masechet Sanhedrin (39b) gives an interpretation of what happened after the Israelites were safely across the Red Sea onto dry land. The Egyptians have just been swept up in a massive tidal wave, and the angels begin singing God’s praises. God stops them. “מעשי ידי טובעים בים ואתם אומרים שירה לפני?!” “The works of my hands are drowning in the sea, and you sing a song before Me?!” God is not impressed. Sure, God just killed an entire Egyptian army to save the chosen people, but that doesn’t mean God is happy about it. Sometimes even God has to do what has to be done. And so the words Adonai ish milchama are followed by Adonai shemo. Adonai is God’s name. And the rabbis teach that the name Adonai, in contrast to Elohim, encompasses the attribute of compassion. S’forno teaches that this battle between God, fighting for the Israelites, and the Egyptians, was ultimately a fight between good and evil. If not for the destruction of the Egyptian army, the whole world would have been destroyed. In this case, the destruction was actually a necessary element showing God’s great compassion. יהוה איש מלחמה - יהוה שמו. In Biblical writing, we are constantly looking to see what is not written. Here, it’s a conjunction. God is a warrior, BUT God is His name. Or alternatively, God is a warrior, AND God is His name. But there is no conjunction in this verse in the Torah, and it is troubling to us. It is disconcerting, because showing several opposing qualities at once is something humans have not figured out yet. But God is always a few steps ahead of us. Unlike a human king, Rashi points out that God can embrace two attributes at once, even when they contradict, as the attributes of רחמים and דין, compassion and justice. God can make war compassionately, or remain merciful in the midst of an ugly battle between good and evil. In a moment of insight from a more recent source, DreamWorks studios, Shrek tells Donkey that ogres have layers, like an onion. Similarly, humans have layers and facets, revealing different parts of ourselves at different times. And if humans and ogres have different attributes that show themselves under different circumstances, then God, in whose image we were fashioned, how much the more so. But unlike our one-at-a-time layers, God’s facets can sometimes shine all at the same time. Ultimately, the Song of the Sea is full of tension, as Aviva Zornberg points out. The people are overwhelmed by the experience, thankful for their freedom, mournful of the loss of everything familiar. The Mekhilta, our most ancient midrash on Shemot, reports that even the slave women, those Jews who were the least enlightened and educated, saw more on the shores of the Red Sea than the prophet Ezekiel saw in his lifetime. But the Israelites saw good as well as evil, death and life, a warring God and the hope for peace. We praise Adonai Tzvaot. We pray for peace. It does not always make sense to us, but we have to get beyond our human perspective and try to look at life from God’s point of view. There is always more than one side to the story. There is often more than one right answer. So God can be simultaneously the warrior and the peacemaker. We should absolutely seek peace and pursue it. We never know when God will decide to jump in and fight for us, as at the walls of Jericho, or when God will let us fight it out for ourselves. We run after peace, even though war sometimes pursues us, and we are hopeful and grateful, in awe of every aspect of God’s presence in our lives. We praise יהוה איש מלחמה, God the warrior, we pray for Adonai shalom, and we remember יהוה שמו, that even in the midst of conflict and destruction, God’s compassion is always lingering just under the surface of our lives.

Looking Forward

I’m now two weeks into second semester, and I think I’m ready for another vacation. Happily, the upcoming visitors should help me get through the almost-spring stretch more happily. I was outside this morning, enjoying the beautiful weather: today it’s sunny and cloudless, and somewhere around or above 60 degrees. I noticed that at the same time, it’s about 14 degrees at home. Granted, it’s the middle of the day here already and it was still earlier than anyone should be out-and-about at home, but still…that’s farther apart than our weather has been this year that I can remember. (Yes, Dad, I know you were at work already. I don’t really count your waking hours as normal though.)

My Google countdown tells me I go home in 109 days. As I was sort of hoping would happen, I’m having mixed feelings about those 109 days. I really, really am looking forward to going home and seeing everyone and being back in the US. But 109 days doesn’t seem very long, and there’s also still a lot more I want to do here. I guess I should get down to enjoying my next 109 days and getting everything out of this year that I want to.

That said, I’m also already looking forward to heading to Cincinnati at the end of the summer. The HUC deans of each of the campuses just visited us here in Jerusalem. We had more time divided by campus than we have yet this year, and I really enjoyed it. The dean of the Cincinnati program is great; he’s friendly, helpful, and easy to talk to. The group of us heading to Cincy is an amazing group; I like all of them, and I’m really excited that I’ll be spending the next four years with such a great portion of my classmates. There are also frequent discussions about visiting NYC and LA, to see my friends on those campuses, of course. When I met with the Cincinnati dean, he pulled out a goody bag that he had brought for each of us. I am now the proud owner of an HUC Cincinnati t-shirt, at least until I find someone who might fit into it more effectively; a Cincinnati Reds bumper sticker, which I would be really excited about if I liked baseball…or had a car…; a packet of chili mix, which I will definitely be making use of; a Procter and Gamble stress ball; and a piece of Grater’s chocolate. Which reminds me that I’ve been meaning to eat that chocolate. In a visit of a few days, we got excited about where we’re headed in the fall and got more information on the city that will be my home for four years. I’ll be leading Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services at a congregation somewhere in the middle of the country. I’ll have a student pulpit, where one weekend a month, I’ll visit and be The Rabbi. I’ll be teaching Religious School again. I’ll also be taking lots more classes, which I have heard are much more intense than the Year-in-Israel program, but also in English. Not to wish away the rest of my time in Israel or the summer, but I’m also excited for everything that awaits me in Cincinnati. I guess it’s good to have lots of things to look forward to.

I also have one more thing to get excited about, that’s also in the future but not quite as far away. I’ve mentioned my Passover trip to the Former Soviet Union, at least once or twice. I got my group assignment and location assignment! My immediate group is my friends Josh and Hayley. Josh was in the Barcelona group in August and headed to Cincy with me, and Hayley is another fun friend who will be a great travel buddy. We are psyched to have been grouped together. They’re the people I will be leading seders and programs with, but we also get a couple of touring days at the end of the program with the other people in our country. There are about 12 of us going to the same country, and they’re all great! I know that sounds silly, but I’m looking forward to touring around with people who I don’t often spend tons of time with, but who I really like from the little time we have spent together. Where am I going? I am in the Polotzk-Vitebsk group, traveling in Belarus. Our free days at the end will be in Minsk. Feel free to start passing on suggestions of things to visit, and any information you may have on Minsk family history, PLEASE share!! There will be lots of pictures and probably lots of stories.

Now that I have about an hour before I have to get ready for Shabbat, I’m considering attacking some homework. Or responding to some of the zillion emails I have been neglecting. Or one of the other things on the page long to-do list. Shabbat shalom!

Birthday Special

A quick early morning post. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHAEL! Hope it's a great one, even though I'm on the other side of the world.

And...off to school.

Resettled

Well I’ve made it through the first week of classes, and now I can officially say…116 days to go! That’s right. After a couple of weeks of being pretty homesick (visitors, while wonderful to have, tend to have that effect on me after they leave), I finally got on top of things and my friend Cassi and I booked tickets home for the same day. I’ll be home mid-May, and chose to land at JFK in the middle of the afternoon instead of before 6 am. Somehow I see that as more pleasant for all parties involved in picking me up. I know I seem excited to come home, and I’m definitely psyched that I have less than four months left until I get to go home. But at the same time, now that I have that ticket in hand, I think I’ll be able to enjoy the last almost-four months even more. I know exactly how much time I have left, there is an end in sight, so now I can (hopefully) buckle down and focus on school and friends here and enjoying the opportunity I have to live over here. Temporarily. (For the record: Google does the countdown for me.)

I really like my classes this semester so far. Not all that much changed, but it feels very different. Instead of having a rabbinic literature history lecture and two rabbinic literature classes every week, we have Bible three times a week. I think my bible professor is one of the best teachers I’ve ever had, and I am so excited to have him so often now. He’s also my biblical grammar teacher, so everything is finally coming together. The grammar made sense to me last semester because I can follow specific rules and logic, but now we’re actually applying everything, so I am, of course, really enjoying that. The class is also what I’ve been waiting for since college. In college, I took “faith busters (that's the nickname),” a course on early Christianity that approached the development of the religion and the New Testament from an entirely historical point of view. I loved it, and was disappointed that there was no parallel class on Judaism. I finally have it! It is definitely a bit jarring to be sitting in rabbinic school and dissecting bible text without mentioning God, but it’s also fascinating to delve into the text and think about how it all came together. Also, the bible we use for class is Hebrew-only. It’s pretty exciting that in most places, I can understand most of what’s going on! The professor’s favorite exercise when we start a new passage is to read it verse by verse and translate from biblical Hebrew to modern Hebrew. (Think: translate from Shakespearian English to normal American English.) It’s an amazing way to reinforce the grammar we have learned and to see the weird way the bible phrases things, but it’s also really nerdily cool that I can understand both biblical and modern Hebrew!

I also have a new history class that I think I’m really going to enjoy, because it’s a subject I really haven’t had before. I’m taking a class on Islam and the Arab world, and it’s being team taught by two professors. One of them I had as an educator on one of our trips, and I know he’s great. The other I had for the first time on Tuesday, and I thoroughly enjoyed the class. Basically it’s going to be two separate classes on sort-of-alternating weeks. One professor is teaching about the religion of Islam and its history, and the other is teaching about the Arab world from a sociological-political point of view. I’m really excited!

My other new class is a once-a-week Hebrew literature class. I am still on the fence about it, although I think I’ll come around. The teacher likes to move at lightning speed, which I think will be a theme of the semester, since my bible/grammar teacher does so as well. But even though I felt almost out of breath at the end of class, I realized I did understand what was going on, and that is always nice. We’re starting with children’s stories, and reading them, discussing them, and talking about what makes a story a children’s story. It’s not just the level of Hebrew, although that helps. But reading a story in rhyme in a foreign language is not easy. It’s hard to stay in rhythm when struggling to read words correctly!

Our Wednesday Israel Seminar this week focused on Reform Judaism in Israel. While it is now the largest Jewish movement in the US, it is a small fraction of Israeli society and struggling for recognition and its place here. After a lecture by our dean, we got to split off to go on different field trips to see different Reform communities first hand. I went to a synagogue in Mevasseret, in a Jerusalem suburb. Coincidentally, it is the same area where I volunteer with the Ethiopian absorption center every week, but the groups are almost entirely separated. The whole area of Mevasseret used to be cheap land, close but not too close to Jerusalem, very close to the pre-1967 border with Jordan and therefore less desirable, and where the government built lots of low-cost housing for immigrants. But after gaining Jerusalem, there was lots of urban sprawl, and it became a much more attractive location. The immigrants were slowly replaced by upper-middle class Israeli natives and Anglo immigrants, and costs went way up, and it’s now a really nice neighborhood. Except that there is still this absorption center right next to the expensive housing, and the two populations more or less ignore each other. So I was excited to see the rest of Mevasseret. The contrast is fairly unreal.

We got off of our bus to be greeted by the community’s rabbi, who happens to be the first native Israeli woman to become a rabbi, and she had quite a story. She took us first to the preschool/kindergarten, and the kids were of course adorable. It is exactly as one would expect a Reform preschool to be, with lots of Jewish content on the walls, a basket of kippot that the kids and their families decorated, and that they all, girls and boys, wear when they’re doing specifically Jewish activities, and lots more. Amazingly, because it’s not an Orthodox school, this school is classified as secular by the Israeli government. Israel is not so good at a middle ground, which is part of why Reform Judaism struggles here. The most fascinating part of the preschool was the bomb shelter. I know that sounds weird. Schools here are required to have them, and they are frequently part of a tour. (We had a tour of the HUC shelter over the summer. I sincerely hope I will never need to be in there again.) Over the summer, during the Lebanon war, the school had to have bomb shelter drills, and the kids freaked out. They were being packed into this little, undecorated room that was generally just used for storage. It was scary for 3, 4, 5 year olds! So the synagogue realized that they needed to make it a less scary place, and they have certainly done an impressive job. The room now has several murals on the wall, with more to come. There is a big Noah’s ark that the kids can play in, a TV with movies, and lots of pillows and blankets. They also have started using the room regularly, so that it’s not a new place if it ever becomes necessary to use it: they have some quiet time in there almost every day, so it has become a haven for these kids even though hopefully it will never need to become a physically safe space for them. It was fascinating to hear about the process of making it into an attractive place and seeing how successful they had been.

I think I’m now all the way back into my routine, although my study skills, as usual, could still use some work. Hopefully this weekend, now that I have a really long to do list again, I will get back on track and remember that I’m a student with lots of work to do. At least until the next waves of visitors show up in a week and a half! Thanks for all the comments on the last post:)

Shabbat shalom!

Feeling Rabbinic

Most importantly, after spending LONG periods of time on the phone, we have our internet back. It turns out that we’re supposed to have a static IP address, but the cable company decided it would be fun to change it anyway. At least the tech guys spoke English!

On Tuesday night, I stayed up late to greet Saroj! A good friend from college and post-college in DC, Saroj had just finished her Birthright trip and extended her trip for a few days to visit me and have more time on her own in Jerusalem. Even though both of us were completely exhausted, we hadn’t seen each other in the more than six months since I left, so we stayed up far later than we intended, just talking and catching up. Unfortunately for furthering my tour guide skills, she was about to be on her own for a few days.

HUC decided to ease us back into school this semester. We had to be back at school this past Wednesday, but classes don’t start until Sunday. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday morning were spent in a colloquium discussing issues of Reform Judaism in America. Many people in the class, myself included, did not have high hopes for these few days. Happily, I was far wrong. In the last couple of days, it has finally felt like I am in rabbinic school! We spent our days listening to engaging speakers and discussing big issues in small groups. We talked about issues of Jewish affiliation, non-Jews in Jewish life, the past and future of Reform Judaism, and the formation and development of our own Jewish identities. In small groups, we discussed huge issues and discussion questions. What has been my most significant experience in shaping how I think about the meaning of being Jewish? Who has been the most significant influence on my Jewish development? How has Israel impacted my sense of Jewish identity? What are qualities that stand out in outstanding Jewish leaders we have known personally? How can non-affiliated Jews be encouraged to become part of Jewish life? How can non-Jews in Jewish families be integrated into the synagogue? Where is Reform Judaism in America headed? How can the increasing individuality of religion be combated by the synagogue community? I know that these questions may not sound that exciting to you, but for many of us here, it reminded us of why we came here in the first place, and it was hopefully a taste of at least some of what we will be doing when we get back to the program in the States. It may have been the first time this year that discussions from the classrooms spilled over into lunch time, dinner time, and other free time. It has really made us all think and get excited about our futures, and that has made me very happy!

The colloquium continued on Friday morning, which broke my usual Friday schedule of running errands in the morning and attempting productivity in the short afternoon before Shabbat. Instead I went to the end of colloquium in the morning and relaxed for the afternoon. Friday evening Saroj and I headed to HUC for student-led Shabbat services as a class with lots of visitors. The service was great. HUC does not hold Friday evening services most weeks, so my class scatters over Jerusalem, each of us attending the service we have grown accustomed to this year. For the last few weeks we have been on vacation. Friday evening, though, we gathered together at school for our own service, and it was really comforting. It was nice to be all together praying and celebrating Shabbat as a group, and I was definitely content for the moment to be exactly where I was.

After services, we were all going to different professors’ and administrators’ houses to be hosted for Shabbat dinner. Along with Saroj and a few of my classmates, I was heading to the home of one of the Hebrew teachers, a woman I had never met, although she will be teaching my class once a week this coming semester. I had heard that she was a tough teacher, but a great one, but nice with a great sense of humor outside of class. While I’m going to have to wait until Monday to validate the in-class part of that description, the other half is exactly right. We were warmly welcomed into her home, and had a delicious meal, learning that Jewish mothers are the same across the world. There was more food on the table than twice as many of us could have eaten, and she pressed containers of leftovers on all of us to take home. I have big tupperwares of chicken and potatoes and sweet potato soup in my refrigerator, and I’m kind of excited about it. The food was delicious! In addition to our hostess and fellow HUC students, her oldest son, out of the army for a week now, was there, and her daughter, who is currently in the army but serving in Jerusalem, was also there. The younger son is still in the army and wasn’t there. After dinner we stayed at the table, and then in the living room, talking for several hours. There were family stories about universal subjects: losing track of children (in amusement parks and at gas stations), traveling, and other things. We talked about school and told our teacher about how much we enjoyed the colloquium. We talked about Hebrew. We talked about differences between the United States and Israel, and since this family has spent time living in the US, they had some very interesting opinions! We talked about Reform Judaism in Israel, army life, and so much more. We finally all realized we were tired and should head home around 11, and our teacher even called the cab company for us, and handed us our bags of leftovers, and sent us on our way. It was a really fun evening, and very different from the usual routine!

Today, Saroj is exploring the Israel Museum and making one more visit to the Old City, and I’m having my last real lazy day of vacation, because I’m back to classes tomorrow. Have a good long weekend at home, and sleep a little bit extra for me!

Vacation from Vacation

My internet seems to be down right now, so I will write in the meantime and hope that it’s back up for me to post. And check my email. And read the news. And sign onto IM and skype. And, well, to have internet. Sadly, the guest blogger had to head back to the states to go back to school. So while he may provide a nice long comment, you just get my side of the story for now.

New Year’s in Jerusalem was fairly uneventful. I had heard that it was really not celebrated here, so I didn’t even make dinner reservations. That might have been a mistake. It turns out that it’s not really celebrated here by Israelis, but it’s still during the time when Israel is filled up with Americans on vacation, so restaurants are booked. We did find one eventually, and had a good dinner. The rest of the night was quiet and very low-key. Among other things, we packed for our trip to the Dead Sea…

Monday morning we woke up far earlier than planned to the sound of my landlord banging on the (bolted shut) door. He wanted to fix something in the apartment, and when he said he would come by on Monday, I assumed it would be in the evening as usual, or at least after 9 am. Apparently I was wrong. I went to the door and explained that I was still sleeping, and asked him to come back later. He agreed, although I don’t think he apologized for waking me. I guess I can take that as proof that New Years really isn’t an Israeli holiday. Around lunchtime we made it to the rental car office to pick up our car that we had reserved online a few days earlier. They informed us that they didn’t have the car we reserved, but they could upgrade us to a minivan (thanks, guys) or downgrade us (and we would pay less) to a Getz. We really didn’t want the minivan, but the Getz was one of the smallest cars I had ever seen. Michael went outside to look at the two cars and decide, and when he came back in, announced that he had seen a sedan close to what we had reserved, sitting in the lot. They told us they couldn’t give us that car, because someone else had reserved it. That seemed a little illogical to us, since we had also reserved a car, and it wasn’t there. Ultimately, they gave us the car we wanted. As we were filling out the paperwork, another group came in. From their conversation, it was unclear whether they were the ones who had reserved the car we had now claimed, or whether they simply had more claim to it than we did, being part of their frequent rental program or something. In any case, we apparently did a good job of arguing. They told the other group that the car was not available. They could have a minivan or a Getz. We finished as quickly as we could and drove away! Among other things we found in the car was a booklet of Israeli driving laws, at least the ones that are different from the US and Europe. The most random may have been that it is illegal to turn left into a parking lot. I guess I was comforted knowing that in contrast to what I see on the roads, there are, in fact, driving laws in Israel.

The drive to the Dead Sea is on a (perfectly safe) road through the West Bank. (Seriously, there are tourist stops on the way there.) The views of the Judean Desert are amazing. It’s not desert like I would normally picture a desert, but instead hilly and mountainy and rocky and gorgeous. I tried to take some pictures as we drove, but they are mainly blurry and/or have my finger over the lens. But a couple of them came out. We also had to stop once to let a herd of camels cross the road. There were 8-10 of them. We have a picture of the last few going by. It definitely made for good entertainment on the way there, and a definite realization that we were in the middle of a desert.

Our hotel was very…Israeli. And it was filled with lots of…Israelis. They tried to make people stand in lines, but that concept still hasn’t caught on so well in this country. It was a hotel where there were only rooms on one side of the hallway, and the middle was open from the top floor to the bottom, so when there were kids racing up and down hallways and shrieking a few floors away, we heard it. Frequently. There were signs not to drink the tap water, because it’s salty. It’s ok to shower in and brush teeth with, but not so good for large quantities of drinking. The signs said there was drinking water available at a designated location on each floor. We expected a water cooler of some kind. That was a silly assumption. No, there was a tap sticking out of the wall, but instead of being labeled “salty water, not for drinking,” like the rest of the taps in the hotel, this one was labeled “drinking water.” Was it really any different? We’ll never know.

We went to Masada, of course, and debated hiking to the top (supposedly about a 45 minute climb) or taking the cable car (a 3 minute ride). We decided to hike it. It was beautiful outside, and how bad could a 45 minute hike really be? After you’ve committed to the hike and gone well past the ticket counter and cable car entrance, you see the sign at the beginning of the hike, saying it’s a steep climb that also includes about 700 stairs. And they’re not even stairs; they’re uneven stone ones, and some of them should definitely count as two, especially for someone my size! A little over an hour later, we did make it to the top. At the top, I found the ticket counter and upgraded our ticket down to the cable car. It suddenly felt like 700 stairs down was a bad idea. We wandered around the top of Masada for an hour or two, looking at all the ruins of Herod’s palace and the Jewish fortress that used the mountain many years later. It’s a beautiful site, and a fascinating story of the Jewish rebellion and mass suicide that occurred a few years after Jerusalem was conquered, in 73 or 74. Everyone believes the story, the Israeli army brings many of their soldiers to Masada to basically swear that Masada will never fall again, and most tourists stop by to pay homage to a group of rebels who decided to kill themselves rather than become Roman slaves. The story is all written down by Josephus, who apparently got it from a couple of women and children who survived. Archeologists have found a lot of evidence, including the storerooms that contained enough food to survive months or years on the mountain and the stone shards with names carved into them, apparently used for lots to decide who would kill the others. But…they never found the one little piece of evidence that you would think people would need to believe a story about a mass suicide of almost one thousand people: there were never any human remains found at Masada. Weird. I guess everyone likes the story anyway.

The next day we went to Ein Gedi, a nature reserve in the same area. It’s gorgeous. In the middle of desert, there is this area with naturally occurring waterfalls and plants and really pretty things you wouldn’t expect in a desert. And also cute animals that don’t seem so afraid of people. We have some pretty close up pictures of some of them. We did a short hike through the reserve that went to a few waterfalls, each bigger and more impressive than the one before. The last one before hiking back, of course, was beautiful. There was a couple around our age who was hiking right in front of us, then they would stop and be behind us, then in front of us again, and we kept sort of acknowledging each other quietly. We all ended up stopping at the same end waterfall though to take pictures and enjoy its prettiness, so we talked some. One of them was American, went to Penn, lives on the west coast now. She was Israeli. We left the waterfall at the same time and basically hiked back together, pointing out good pictures to one another on the way back. Then we wanted to go see the ruins of a synagogue a short walk away, so we all walked over together. It was entirely random, and I’m sure I’ll never see either one of them again, but it was an amusing way to spend an afternoon.

The trip back from vacation was…well looking back, it was pretty funny. We were in a rental car. We walked back to the car on the last day, about to drive back to Jerusalem. I noticed that something was hanging down in the front. Basically, the front part of the undercarriage is made of cheap, thin plastic. So if you pull all the way into a parking space, it doesn’t always hold up. It didn’t on this car. Michael pushed it back up into place, and we went on our way. A couple of kilometers down the road, it definitely sounded like it had come down again. So we pulled over into a spa parking lot (on the right, of course). Clearly as we were about to drive into the West Bank (a safe part, but still…), we didn’t want to have to stop again. So Michael took a shoelace from one of his shoes and tied the piece back up, wrapping the shoelace around the grill of the car. There were several knots and it seemed very secure, although he mentioned after we were back that he wished he had used both shoelaces; he was worried about it the whole way back. (The drive was about an hour and a half.) We arrived back at my apartment, and still had several hours before the car had to be returned. We debated what to do. Michael wanted his shoelace back, so the piece was going to be hanging down. On further inspection, there was more of the plastic piece missing right behind where it had broken, probably damage that was done before we ever had the car. So we really didn’t want to be charged for something that wouldn’t have happened if the car hadn’t been broken in the first place, although we of course didn’t know that the piece was missing until the little piece that was left broke. So we did what any good Israeli would do. We walked up to a hardware store, debating ethics the whole way there. We decided this was, in fact, taking responsibility: we were fixing the car so that the same thing wouldn’t happen again any time soon. We bought a roll of black duct tape, came back to my apartment, and fixed the damage. Michael got his shoelace back. The car rental place got their car back. Everybody was happy. Hopefully including whoever has that car next…!

Friday morning Michael was a trooper and got up to go on my way early morning shuk run. We bought yummy things and spent the day walking around Jerusalem and not doing a whole lot more. We had a quiet Shabbat dinner at home and enjoyed the treats we had bought ourselves at the bakery in the morning. Eventually his airport shuttle came…at 2 in the morning. An amazing vacation. But always too short.

Now I’m gearing up to go back to school and have lots more visitors. I have a D’var Torah (sermon) to give to my class the end of the month that needs to write itself, travel agent work to do for my parents' trip, some reading to do, and various other errands I would like done before classes start again. I also am (as expected) pretty homesick again. I know that once classes start and I’m busy I’ll do better with that, but right now, I really just feel far away again. So as not to end on a sad note, here’s a link to Michael’s pictures from his trip. I haven’t posted mine, mainly because they’re the same pictures, and also because I haven’t had internet all day. I’m at a friend’s apartment mooching internet for an hour! Talk to you soon…

Playing Tourist

Another guest blog, with my (Jessica's) comments in blue. Michael wrote first, in black. This week the time finally came to play my role as a proper tourist in Israel, which can generally mean only one thing: museum time! Since Jessica had only been to the Israel Museum to see one or two exhibits, I did not feel too guilty about bringing her back there to do some more exploring. I actually wanted to go back. And I still haven't seen the whole thing, so I'm looking forward to having more visitors to "drag" me back there! The Israel Museum is a large campus containing a main exhibit hall as well as a few smaller buildings for temporary or special exhibits. The first building we hit contained an exhibit of an odd sort: bread. Actually, first we hit the cafe, which was very good by museum standards. We had been warned by friends to go to the bread exhibit on full stomachs. But I digress. The entire building (2 small floors) was dedicated to exhibiting the breads used by different cultures for holidays, religious events, and milestone occasions. For example, there were parts devoted to challah, matzah, and Easter bread. It turned out to be a fascinating exhibit, since I had never given much thought to the significance of bread from a religious perspective (contrary to a good kugel, which has always held a special place in my heart—and stomach usually around Rosh Ha’shana). I thought it was interesting that while bread has always been important to Jews and Christians, it is only now in modern times gaining importance in Islamic culture. I also found it amusing that on every display showing a different type of bread, all real-but-preserved, there were signs in Hebrew, English, and possibly also Arabic warning that the bread was preserved and poisoned, so we shouldn't touch it or eat it. Mom and Dad, this one closes before you get here. Sorry.

The next stop at the museum was an enormous model of Jerusalem around the time the Second Temple was still standing. Even having visited the Old City and Western Wall in the last several days, it is hard to appreciate the significance of a walled city and the Temple without seeing the role it played in that era, both religiously and geographically. The Second Temple occupied an enormous part of the city, and the rest of the city was basically designed around the Temple. Without seeing a model, it is easy to visit the Western Wall without understanding why it is such a sacred location. Don't get too accustomed to having links in blogs. Or else demand that Michael shows me how to do it...if it's not complicated.

The third destination at the museum was a special, permanent exhibit on the Dead Sea Scrolls, the oldest known surviving Biblical documents written before 100 CE. The museum hosts this exhibit in a unique structure that looks almost like a giant Hershey-kiss from the outside. Chocolate analogy. Bonus points! As you enter the building through a wide tunnel, you come to the center of the “kiss”, where a round fire-place-like structure sits in the center of the building. Wrapped around this structure, against a white background, is an enormous piece of the Scrolls. Sort of. Upon closer inspection, I found a caption reading “Above is a facsimile of…” At first I was a little disappointed that this grand structure was dedicated to displaying just a copy of the Scrolls, but fortunately, there were several equally interesting and original objects also on display including the Aleppo Codex, believed to be the oldest complete manuscript of the Hebrew Bible (and by complete, we mean ignoring the huge chunks that have been lost including almost the entire Torah! The last couple chapters of Deuteronomy are apparently there. And a small scrap of Exodus is in the wallet of someone in New York.)

The rest of the museum was a more traditional display of Judaica items and an impressive collection of art including original works by Cezanne, Pissaro, and Gauguin and a sprinkling of Monet, Warhol, and more. While much the Judaica exhibit was predictable (candlesticks and Torah covers spanning 100s of years and several continents), there were a few intriguing items. My personal favorite was the candelabra-cube, a metal cube with holes carved on each side to hold candles for six different occasions including Shabbat, Chanukah, a normal dinner, and a wedding. Seemed like a pretty clever invention to me—one “candlestick” for every occasion—now if it had candles secretly stored inside, I would have been extremely impressed. One of my favorites was the "prayer ball" which appeared to be essentially a swiss army knife of prayers. It was the size of a slightly overgrown baseball, with about 5 or 6 silver sheets that came out with different prayers on them. The future rabbi in me thought it was cool!

By far, the most interesting exhibit on display in the museum was . . . wait for it . . . a Hebrew Union College diploma! In an exhibit about the role of women in contemporary Jewish life, alongside a special headcovering for women rabbis that looked like a kippuh with a pony-tail, the diploma from the 1980s was somewhat tucked away in a corner, but easily represented the most recent advancement of women’s roles in Jewish religious life. Go, Jessica! Most of the exhibit, placed upstairs in a small hall overlooking a replica of a synagogue, showed more "traditional" aspects of Jewish women's lives: head coverings, Shabbat candlesticks. The "progressive" corner was just that: a small corner including the kippah and diploma in a small, not well lit part of the display. Maybe it will expand eventually.

In addition to our museum time, I dragged Jessica back to the Israel Supreme Court for a tour, to satisfy the inner-law-student in me. The Supreme Court is just across the way from the Knesset (Parliament) and the future site of the Prime Minister’s office and lives in a modern building flooded with natural light. For the most part the Israel Supreme Court (ISC) functions in a similar manner as the US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) with a few exceptions. First, the ISC does not always sit as a full panel of 15 justices; rather, most cases are heard by a 3-judge panel much like the Appeals Courts of the US but as few as 1 judge or as many as all 15. Second, ISC justices face mandatory retirement at age 70 unlike SCOTUS justices who serve life sentences terms. Third, the ISC hears petitions directly from any Israeli resident who claims his/her human/civil/natural rights have been violated by a government policy (and has $400). In the US, claims of violations of constitutional rights go through the same court system as any civil lawsuit and rarely advance to the SCOTUS. Fourth and most significantly, the ISC hears ~15,000 cases per year versus the SCOTUS’s ~70 cases per year. Stats like that make the SCOTUS look just as productive as Congress, but I digress. . . . Also, there are 5 women currently serving on the ISC, including the current Chief Justice, who is chosen purely on the basis of seniority, politics (for once) aside.

The third tourist attraction for the week was the Old City, a must-do for every visitor. If you're keeping track, we actually did the Old City a couple of days earlier. In many ways, one of the most awe inspiring parts of the Old City is simply walking through one of its gates. Seeing the city’s walls from far away and then walking through them gives you a sense of entering a grand castle or fortress (though the taxis driving in and out of the gates lessen that impact slightly). Inside, the Old City is a mix of tourist traps, private residences, religious institutions, and sacred sites. Oh yeah, and hundreds of tour groups. I think there are more English speakers there right now than Hebrew speakers. Ick. In some ways, the Jewish Quarter reflects the layout of the rest of Jerusalem with stretches of shops and restaurants (e.g., Ben Yehuda Street) and religious neighborhoods and institutions (e.g., Mea Sharim). However, the grounds of the Western Wall are second-to-none in religious significance, as demonstrated both by the number of people praying at, kissing, and simply visiting the wall as well as the security presence controlling access to the grounds. There is also a strong religious presence: the men and women are separated to approach the wall itself, women are required to be dressed "modestly," men must have their heads covered, cameras are not allowed on Shabbat or holidays, and the list goes on. It is governed right now like a very traditional synagogue. It also took me longer to finish my time at the wall, because I had trouble actually approaching it. The women's side is much smaller than the men's side, and therefore always crowded. It can take a while to actually get through the crowd and close enough to touch the wall. My biases aside... The most striking part of the Old City is how each of the city’s quarters (Jewish, Christian, Armenian, and Muslim) are strictly divided, yet visitors flow seamlessly from one to the next. One minute we were walking along a string of Jewish shops selling expensive talit and artwork and the next minute we were surrounded by small vendors selling spices, cheap souvenirs, and employing high-pressure sales tactics. Passing neither a sign nor security, we had leaped from the Jewish Cardo shops to the Arab shuk all in a matter of a few steps. Not a security problem! The Arab shuk in the Old City is also a tourist site and a cool place to wander, but not for too long for the claustrophobic. Mom, you'll love the fabrics. We wandered around three of the four quarters before treating ourselves to the obligatory falafel pita and heading back from Old to New.

Just realized after re-reading that there are several feminist rants from me in this one. Heehee. Oops. Didn't mean for it all to come out at once. :) Saroj: safe travels and see you soon!!

Shabbat Shalom and happy new year!!