The Plan

I'm hitting the sack a bit early tonight because I have been strangely peer-pressured into attending the pre-sunrise (read: arrive at 3:45am) slichot service at the famous Syrian sephardi synagogue in the nachlaot neighborhood. When will I be in Jerusalem for the high holidays again? Yes, I'm a glutton for punishment.

Wishing everyone a tzom kal (easy fast) and a Yom Kippur rich with meaning and significance.

What Happens When You....

What happens when you are sitting in the middle of Jerusalem on SHABBAT, wearing jeans and a T-shirt and the person with whom you are sitting is smoking a cigarette?
You might guess that you will get harrassed for both dressing improperly and violating the shabbat.... but you'd be wrong.

No, as LR and I sat in the middle of the midrehov this afternoon, we were approached by a hasid in a streimel who asked if he could have a cigarette. (LR gave him one, but only after saying, "Shabbat Shalom" which must've made him feel really.... um... conflicted.)

And then we were approached by another hasid who first asked if we spoke French (which I pretended to, but really don't) and asked whether I lived alone, implying that he might like to change that status from single to ... married. HA!

I think this is going to be a new pasttime for LR and me. Good times!

Car Bomb in Rishon L'tzion

Today I told my little brother that it was a wonderful time to be in Israel. I stand by that statement, but there was a car bomb today in Rishon Letzion. No more information at the moment than that, but stay tuned to Haaretz to find out more. Not the best way to start shabbat.

Peace, please. -myrrh
...
UPDATE: It seems that the blast was criminally motivated and the only person killed was the driver of the car. This does not seem to be a terror attack. Baruch Hashem!

Israeli Political Structure

For some reason, I can't open blogger in mozilla, so I'm stuck using explorer. Bah. Any thoughts?

Another Dorot Day done. Today we focused on the Israeli political system, giving us a bunch of structural background information, visiting the Supreme Court, and then hearing from one of the most interesting, acclaimed, prolific journalists in Israel - Aluf Ben. He's cute too!

The first part of the day was review for me. Israel doesn't have a constitution. Israel has a political system that favors small, radical parties. Yes, I know. Hopefully, I remembered something after writing my thesis as a critique of the Israeli political structure.

Then on to see where the Supremes sit. Holy Moly! If you haven't been to this building yet, as I hadn't, make sure you don't miss it on your next trip to Jerusalem. It has symbolism without the usual corniness. Tons of natural light, local materials, imposing strength without seeming ominous. A real delight. One of the best parts for me was when we walked into the inner courtyard and Avraham said, "Does this remind you of anywhere?" And I knew immediately. It was the Alhambra in Grenada, Spain. My mom talks about working intensely to be cultured (whatever that means). I think for me it might be stuff like this, being able to say, "Yea, I've been there. I get the reference. I know what that's like." It felt pretty cool.

We proceeded on to meet Mr. Ben. What a treat! He spoke in fluid, clear English basically without taking a breath for over an hour and then entertained questions. He concentrated on an analysis of the Defense Minister, Amir Peretz, outlining his rise and then fall from grace in his current position. Some particularly interesting points:

• Mr. Peretz does not have a college education. Wow. Can you imagine someone in the U.S. moving into such a position of power without one?
• Mr. Peretz, as a Moroccan Jew, symbolized for many people a new Labor party, where the mizrahi sector would not be marginalized. Frankly, I didn't really understand how a party that is based roughly on social democracy could be for so long in the position of disenfranchising such a huge portion of the population. This deserves more commentary, but I think I'm beginning to understand the depths of the racism/classism that has/continues to exist in this country.

Nothing earthshattering about the day, but quite interesting.

To Do:

• Must get back to grad school applications tonight.
• And I'm working on book editing for the Arava Institute.
• And I have some research to do on the environmental issues associated with the nuclear reactor at Dimona for the Dorot day that I am planning next week.
• And I have to make something for the potluck I'm going to for shabbat. Possibly something with peanut sauce.
• And I have to emotionally, mentally, spiritually prepare myself for Yom Kippur (which also means I MUST CUT DOWN ON THE COFFEE CONSUMPTION, otherwise bad things will happen.)

Things I Can't Stand About Israel, Part 1

To balance one of my last posts where I talked about all the stuff I love about Israel, I thought I'd start a parallel list of all the stuff that drives me nutso about this country.
Also in no particular order.

• Honking horns. All. night. long.
• Humus at every meal. I like humus more than most, but it is appropriate/healthy to eat it morning, noon and night?
• Expensive tofu.
  
• Words that they have in Hebrew, but decided that the English word sounds better, so they take it and transliterate it back into Hebrew... so newbies like me have a hard time reading it. When I encounter a good example, I'll get back to you.
• Shower heads with nowhere to mount on the wall so you have to hold the hose/nozzle thingy while you shower.
  
• Stray cats. Everywhere. - Is this just a Jerusalem problem?
  
• Grocery stores that close 2-3 hours before shabbat on Friday. I get it, the people that work there are preparing for shabbat too, but what a pain in the neck for me if I forget something and want to run out to get it.
  

testing....

Some issues with blogger... hopefully they will be resolved soon

Stuff I Love About Israel Part 1

In no particular order:

• The blue shirts that the egged bus drivers wear
• Israeli pop music - especially the song "Yonatan Shapira" that is so popular on galgalatz
• Tomatoes for 2 shkalim per kilo at the shuk. That translates to $0.21/lb, if I did the math right.
• shemesh, shemesh, shemesh - sun, sun, sun
• Those built-in dish drainage racks in the kitchen above the sink. Ingenious!
• A bazillion options for veggie shnitzel. This deserves a post of its own, but Tivol has created a veggie food empire. Woohoo!
• Change for any amount when boarding the bus.
  
• The small references to liturgy or religious language in everyday activity. For example, when you drive out of the gas station, it says, "Tzeitchem L'shalom" which every time reminds me of shalom aleichem that we sing on Friday night. I get the giggles everytime I see it.
• No classes on Friday in preparation for shabbat

Dorot Days aka Existential Questions on the Table

I haven't blogged at all about the Dorot Days since this post but it isn't because they haven't occurred or because they haven't been interesting. Quite the contrary. The last two weeks we have been pursuing issues related to early Zionism and their implications for us today.

I mentioned that I was in Tel Aviv learning about Brenner and Rav Kook. There we learned about the early wave of Jewish settlers to Tel Aviv, coming first to Neveh Zedek and eventually building the modern metropolis as we now know it. I walked away still totally confused and baffled by the concept of "secular Zionism". Here's what I do understand, possibly others can then help me out with the rest.

Religious Zionism makes sense (I don't necessarily agree with it, but I get where it's coming from). RZs believe that God gave the Jews land, and Jews should come and fulfill that Divine decree. Also, Zionism based solely on persecution makes sense. Jews were having a pretty crappy time in Europe and elsewhere before and after the Holocaust. They wanted to get out to save their own hide. Israel seemed the only place to do it. Indeed, this argument still holds today. (This line of argumentation doesn't solve the problem of why Israel specifically, but work with me for a minute.)

We talked about Socialist Labor Zionism that formed many of the eary kibbutzim (we visited one of the first women born on Degania who had some pretty interesting stories). I get it that they were Socialists and wanted to create a new form of society that elevated work to a higher level. I understand that this new social engineering project didn't seem possible in Russia or Romania or wherever they came from. But why Israel, especially if they didn't really want to be practicing religious Jews? I understand that they wanted to maintain their Jewishness, but they were creating an entirely new model for what that would look like, so why did it need to adhere to the ancient land? Was their sense of peoplehood/nationalism so strong that it lead them to Israel? If they so wanted to be part of the Jewish people, why isolate themselves on a kibbutz?

I know it sounds like heresey to be asking these questions. But I'm a Zionist, basically of the religious sort, plus I like to live in today where we have a Jewish State, one that is important to the Jewish people everywhere. But I do think it is important to confront these early Zionist ideas face-forward so that we can understand those who oppose Zionist thinking.

Yesterday, I had a conversation with my boss - a South African Jew who now lives in Beer Sheva. He got his PhD at Umich so he knows what its like to live in the U.S. He explained that he lives in Israel so that he doesn't have to explain/account to anyone why he observes holidays. The whole country is on the same calendar. But I still don't get it... he's willing to live in a country where he and his children will have to serve in the military and possibly get killed in order to live by a similar calendar? Something doesn't add up to me. I understand what a pain it is to justify my own absence at work/school during Jewish holidays, but it isn't that big a deal. Or is it?

I also think that just because getting one's head around this Zionism concept is difficult, doesn't mean that it isn't worth it. Sometimes getting deep into the education of an idea is a tough one, but yields results.

10 days of T'shuva have begun, so get your repentance on!

Puedo Escribir Los Versos Mas Tristes Esta Noche

Neruda said, "Tonight I can write the saddest lines"

Last night evoked the corniest, most cliched, horrible lines of poetry.

For example, "I ran in pursuit of the absent moon but she hid behind her bright star cousins."

Or more offensive yet, "The ominous mountains rise upwards punctuating the shadows and whispering of the infinite and grand."

Yes, last night commanded the very worst of the English language.

"I lost my room, but found my people - children playing futbol under night's cloak."

and "I became one of the amcha, the grit forming under my fingernails."

Somehow, it is OK for Neruda. I won't put you through any more.

B'Rosh Hashana Yikatevun...

My RH was really quite lovely. I davenned at an egalitarian, independent minyan in Jerusalem where the spirit was high and the atmosphere was low-key and hamish. I wore simple clothing and jewelry, mostly white colored, that reflected my attitude of the day. I dined in 3 different homes for dinner and lunches where I had tasty vegetarian food, sang joyous songs, and even learned a bit of Torah.

My main regret about this Rosh Hashana is that Jerusalem is just so darn far from home!! Part of it is that I can literally hear my father's bass voice in stereo reciting various sections of the liturgy. Pre-shofar blowing I hear, "Give heed to the sound of the shofar, the blast that is blown o my people!" And being here means that I cannot sit at my mother's finely appointed table for dinner where the most delicious and delicate kosher food is served.

Another issue is that when one moves around as I have since graduating high school, one has a difficult time creating one's own traditions on the holiday. I have been the recipient of more meals than I can count and had the privilege to listen to many different chazzanim chant the liturgy - mostly good, some not-so-good. But one important aspect of the high holidays is being able to return to that comfort tradition that you only do once a year and yet you always return to - whatever that is. My friend, SM, told a stories of her traditions and I realized that I really don't have my own. Of course, I do the obvious stuff that everyone does - apples and honey, round challot, the standard blessings. But I haven't created anything that is uniquely mine. Perhaps that is something that comes with a family and stability of place - something I don't anticipate actually having for a while. Maybe with a concerted effort, I can begin to make something mine. I think I will start with trying to duplicate the honey cake that I ended up making for my contribution to all the meals. L'at, L'at (slowly, slowly) these things can fall into place.

I do have some memories of years past that are embedded in my mind. At the schul where I grew up through Bat-Mitzvah age, the long twisty shofar lived high on the wall above the yahrtzeit memorial plaques. It might have been in a glass case, but it was definitely up there by itself. A few days before the hagim, suddenly it would be gone, brought down from a museum relic for use. The wall always looked so strange and barren with no shofar. As a young child, I wondered what the shofar thought of us, watching us pray in the sanctuary throughout the year, not getting blown. Did it get jealous of the other ritual objects that were touched all year long? Or was it happy to stand high above the people, knowing that it was being reserved for a special purpose?

And how could I ever forget the chilling, clear-pitched, multi-tonal shofar blowing of my parents' current synagogue. The man who does it every year, AM, has this incredible ability to bring out the most primal echo-y notes from the ancient horn.

I also remember the general escalation of energy in my childhood home before the holidays. I know my growing up wasn't typical, being a rabbi's kid will do that. The morning of services, my dad and oldest brother would run off to schul earliest because GB lead the morning section. I think my mom and my other brothers and I usually only caught the tail end of his leading.

Enough of this reminiscing....

Tomorrow I leave the Central Bus Station at 7am to get to the Arava Institute by 11am and start my internship there in earnest. Very excited to be getting back to the environmental policy world. Must hit the sack early. Lila Tov.

Wishes From My Mom

Sometimes mom says it best:

A year of success in all of your endeavors

A year of good health

A year of prosperity

A year of fulfilling your dreams

A year of optimism and hope

A year when our leaders will lead us to peace

A year when the extremists from all sides will lose their ability to
hurt us all

A year of new friendships across conflict lines

A year of true dialogue across and amongst cultures

A year when we learn to appreciate and to celebrate diversity

A year of activism and commitment to peace making

A year of peace

Quick Quick - Rosh Hashana Wishes

As far as I can tell, I have exactly 7 minutes to post this thing before the scheduled outage will kick me out of blogger. It's at 4pm PST which makes it 2am here, yeppers, I should be in bed anyway.

I just wanted to wish all my readers (yes, I think I'm just talking to you, eema) a happy, healthy, soulful, mindful, intentional and inspirational Rosh Hashana. It's hard to get all that in while beating your breast and announcing to the congregation all the ways that you have transgressed, but give it a shot at least.

I am particularly thankful for an outstanding year, the best one yet, where I've learned tons and made important friends. I'm working on finding Zion, here in Yerushalayim, and in all other senses of the word too.

In the meantime, I will be eating various meals around town and sharing my whole wheat honey cakes with anyone who wants em. They aren't healthy, don't worry.

Go on - double dip those apple pieces in honey.
Shana Tova U'metuka!

Back and Getting My Act Together

I returned from Arad mostly healthy - this cold has laid me low for nearly two weeks. YAY!! So I have a ton of errands to run today. Yes, I know that it is already 2pm and I haven't left my apt yet. So sue me.

On the list:

• Get ingredients for honey cake before the country runs out of the stuff. Everyone in Israel eats apples and honey this week.
• Buy a machzor (prayer book for the high holidays) because the place that I'm going won't necessarily have enough. Plus, having a bit of English is nice. While I'm at it, I might pick up a JPS Tanakh and a Hebrew-English dictionary.
• Purchase a new kippah or some sort of head covering for prayer. Hmm... this one deserves a longer post where I go into a lengthy discussion of my own inner monologue related to the feminist/anti-feminist issues related to covering one's head and the marriage thing. For another time. Suffice it to say that my own solution isn't good enough at the moment.
• Talk to some experts on the Israel's desert in preparation for the Dorot day that I am planning in a few weeks where we will go explore the land.
• Figure out where I'm eating for the holidays. Basically, invite myself over for meals.
  
• Buy a new calendar, the paper variety. I think that might just be my short term solution to my palmpilot woes.
• Get a wireless router so that once and for all I can get email in my room on my computer.
• Book my ticket to LA for THE WEDDING!!!
• Make some little treats for those people who I want to give something for Rosh Hashana.

There are other boring things to do like find cheaper tofu, acquire some dryer sheets even though I don't have a dryer, and find some bellydancing classes somewhere closer than Tel Aviv. But other than all that, I'm totally unscheduled today.

There is, of course, much more to tell... like how I roamed the hallways of the hotel in Arad all night long instead of waking my roommates with my hacking cough, or like how I learned some interesting midrashim in classes on the Akedah relating to Jewish images of Muslim/Christian theology. Oh yea, and there's the Brenner vs Rav Kook stuff that I learned about last week (and I think I might be related to Kook on my mom's side), to say nothing about how I was cracking up listening to a rock and roll version of Echad Mi Yodeah. And then there's the issue with the hot water in my apartment where my landlord has suggested that I stop paying the building maintenance - not a legal option....

Anyway, too much to get into right now, but take care all you readers and if I don't touch base with you sometime soon, Shana Tova U'metukah! Have a good and sweet new year!

Off to see the wizard

Well, to Arad actually for shabbat with a Pardes shabbaton right after my regular Thursday Dorot programming on Early Zionism. Yippee! So don't expect any blogging for the next few days.

Never fear those of you who were concerned - I went to the doctor yesterday and he gave me some meds so that I can now sleep better through the night. I'm still working through this cold, but I'm pretty sure to be on the upswing. Hopefully by shabbat I'll be better. Thanks for all your well wishes.

I just found out that you can GOOGLE EARTH my apartment in Jerusalem. That is so cool.

Besos to everyone. And an early shabbat shalom.

Yahrtzeit Candles

Today is my Saba's yahrtzeit. I lit one of those remembrance candles and stood during kaddish at morning t'fillot. My roommate asked me if it was for 9/11.

Nope.

My Saba was truly and extraordinary man and perhaps the only patriarch of the family whose life maintains mythic proportions. [Family members, feel free to correct inaccuracies!!]

He left Germany without completing high school. Fought for the RAF in WW2 in North Africa. His plane was shot down over the Mediterranean and he was the only survivor. My uncle told me once, "Your Saba was the kind of man that lived hard. He played hard, he worked hard. He did everything with a kind of burning intensity." He was in Palestine for a short time after the war and eventually made his way to San Francisco, a place he loved and called home for the rest of his life.

He was known to sit with the Hebrew paper and a dictionary, placing a dot next to words that he looked up so that he would know when he returned to the same word twice.

As the shamas of the schul, he arrived at minyan early to roll the Torahs and do other ritual and not-so-ritual tasks.

He died 13 years ago, a week after climbing on the roof of his home to make repairs, in the doctor's waiting room - in his sleep.

May His Memory Be for a Blessing.

Jordan River: the awesome, the mythic, the polluted

Evangelists join green groups, try to save Jordan River from pollution

By The Associated Press

Christian evangelicals have teamed up with environmentalists to fight polution and try and save the Jordan river. Small sections of the Jordan's upper portion, near the Sea of Galilee, have been kept pristine for baptisms. But Israel, Jordan and Syria have siphoned off huge amounts of river water to meet their needs in this arid region, and pumped waste water back in. Hardest hit is the 60-mile (100-kilometer) downstream stretch - a meandering stream from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea.

Environmentalists say the practice has almost destroyed the river's ecosystem.

The evangelists want UNESCO to declare the entire Jordan Valley and river a World Heritage Site, hoping it will force all countries involved to work together to save it.

"If there's irreversible damage done ... Israel's going to have another PR battle on its hands," said David Parsons, a spokesman for the evangelical Christian Embassy in Jerusalem, which has joined forces with Friends of the Earth Middle East, a green group.
Rescuing the river could take decades, environmentalists say.

The damage began in 1964, when Israel began operating a dam that diverts water from the Sea of Galilee, a major Jordan River water provider, to the national water carrier, said Hillel Glassman, a stream expert at Israel's Parks Authority. At the same time, Jordan built a channel that diverted water from the Yarmouk River, another main tributary of the Jordan River.

Syria has also built reservoirs that catch the Yarmouk's waters. In a year, the Yarmouk's flow into the Jordan River will dwindle to a trickle, once Syria and Jordan begin operating a dam they jointly built, he added.

Environmentalists blame all three countries.

The 1994 Israel-Jordan peace treaty contained provisions for rehabilitating the river, said Munqeth Mehyar, chairman of Friends of the Earth Middle East in Amman.

"They simply did not implement what came in the agreement," he said. "The violation took place much before and not only by the Jordanians and the Israelis, but also the Syrians."

The three countries replenished the river with sewage water, agricultural runoff and salt water, Glassman said. The freshwater foliage that once flourished along the river's banks has been replaced with saline vegetation.

"Almost no fresh water is flowing down the Jordan River anymore," said Mira Edelstein, an expert on the Jordan Valley for Friends of the Earth Middle East. "It's true there are springs along the way which replenish it a little bit, but unfortunately it has become the ... dumping yard of the countries."

Overpumping and mineral extraction by Israeli and Jordanian companies are also drying up the Dead Sea, the lowest point on earth, with the shoreline receding 3 feet (1 meter) a year. The southern third of the lake is gone, and the experts doubt the famously salty lake can ever be rehabilitated.

Hadas Shamir, a masseuse at a spa in Ein Gedi, an Israeli resort on the Dead Sea, remembers that when she moved to the area from South Africa in 1978, the shoreline was just 30 feet (9 meters) from the road. Today, the spa has to drive its guests a mile (1 1/2 kilometers) to the water.

Visitors flock here to sightsee and bathe in mineral-rich waters. "People who believe the Dead Sea is good for them will still continue coming. I don't know how much longer the sea will be there for them," Shamir said.

Back at the baptismal site, Marilyn Spence, 54, of Plano, Texas, was disappointed to hear the river's ecosystem had been ruined, but said it didn't diminish the life-changing experience she had on her visit.

"To read about it is one thing, but to really be here and to be in the place that Jesus was baptized, it's really an emotion that you can't describe," Spence said. "Saying yes to Jesus Christ is the ultimate, it's just the ultimate."

Bringing SF With Me

I leave SF only for there to be an earthquake here rating 4.4 on old richter.
I definitely felt it... at least now I know that my building can withstand such a shake. Whew!

Dorot Days aka Dear Mr. Hospital Director

Every Thursday I am committed to attending Dorot Seminars. Each week a pair of "Dorots," as we're sometimes called, puts together an agenda on a predetermined topic. This past week we were supposed to explore the issues in the north of Israel related to the recent conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon. One of the fellows organized a way for us to join an AJC Solidarity Mission that was also going to the north.

I was skeptical of the plan from the get-go given my own horrible experience with a UJC mission back in Dec 2001. On that trip, I was first forced to sit and listen to a man who taught the strategies of propaganda. I asked, "Well, if we need all these 'strategies' maybe we have a problem with the facts?" Then, I was shunned by the entire group for being such a radical and no one talked to me the entire trip. Anyway, back to today.... I wasn't too keen on being part of someone else's trip regardless of who it is, when we have the resources to create our own learning experience. I really only made it to the first part of the day because by noon I was running a fever and went home. But from what I did see, the day was created as a dog-and-pony show by people who received money from American donors. We went to Rambam Hospital in Haifa, which is without a doubt, an exceptional medical institution. Not only did it function most admirably to save those who were victims of attacks, but it continued to function at 60% of its normal capacity while preparing for its own attack. Baruch Hashem none of the actual missiles fell on the hospital, despite the fact that many came close.

However, the part of the lecture that really got my goat was when the hospital director critiqued the CNN coverage of the hospital which was undeniably positive. The director said, "The reporter remarked that 'we've seen it in Beirut and we've seen it now in Haifa,' but you should know that this is not the same as Beirut. In Beirut the hospitals were not themselves under attack like we were here at Rambam." I did a double-take. Wigga-what?

First off, dear Mr. Hospital Director, there was an order of magnitude more people injured and killed seeking medical attention in Beirut than all of northern Israel. Certainly, the hospitals were deluged with patients. And then secondly, it is possible to argue that hospitals themselves may not have been targets of Israel's missile campaign, but infrastructure such as power and water lines most definitely were rendering medical care very difficult, to say the least. Thirdly, that is all to say nothing about the blockade on the Lebanese ports making it impossible to bring in new medical supplies for ailing patients. I'm sure the Beirut hospitals felt as strained as yours, and probably more so.

Unfortunately, at the time I was too feverish to put up a fight or at least ask a pointed question.

More importantly, however, is the issue around what Americans see and hear about Israel and about conflicts. Within Israel there is a very serious critique raging about the nature of the war. The big questions on the table are: why did we go into Lebanon if Hezbollah is not crippled and never could be and the hostages haven't been retrieved? Why were soldiers in miluim so ill-equipped that they sought food from local Lebanese civilians? Why wasn't Israel prepared for this kind of war? There are massive demonstrations going on in this country demanding that the PM resign on these issues. But Americans aren't exposed to them. That doesn't seem to be "legitimate" conversation for outsiders - let's not air our dirty laundry to the neighbors. So, are American Jews outsiders? To what degree? If they are, then they don't need to make these solidarity missions.

And because this segment of American Jewry isn't exposed to the conflicts, they can't make sophisticated distinctions about Israel. All they see is Israel-right, everyone else-wrong. It surprises me how many people buy this kind of shtuyot (nonsense). Nothing is ever that kind of black and white.

Basically, I hope we never join a group whose purpose is to make a statement when the goal of our group is to learn together, not make communal gestures or political declarations.

I still don't feel like I have an insider's look at what occurred just before I arrived in the north of Israel. Possibly something I will have to explore on my own.

Losing My Religion...er... Voice

Since getting sick a few days ago, I have very nearly lost my voice. I'm sure part of it is owed to my attendance at a loud, yet delightful wedding where I had to yell over the music to communicate... but nevermind that. I've decided that it is a sign from Hashem that I should not make it to Kabbalat Shabbat, stay at home today, pop popcorn, watch movies and rest. Amen to that!

Unfortunately, I live in JERUSALEM and it is freakin hot here on the 5th floor during the day, and your truly is too freakin lazy (or cheap?) to get herself a fan. So, if you can see the sweat marks on your screen, just wipe em off - there will be more. It probably doesn't do me any good in the temperature department that I'm hitting the Wissotzky Fruit Galore tea pretty hard to combat this cold/flu thing. Next on my list: Make iced tea!

Next up: Jewish Studies
Well, after moving into my apartment, I visited a number of different Jewish Studies institutions in town including Pardes and the Conservative Yeshiva. I'm still struggling with what it will mean to attend the various schools, but at least for now I've decided that I'm better off putting together a patchwork of classes on a variety of different subjects than committing myself to one place, or one topic. Yoffee!

Interestingly, both Pardes and the Conservative Yeshiva structure their entire classroom schedule around studying Talmud. Now, I can't even say that the very little that I have studied Talmud would even count at all, but I realized after both schools were going on and on about it, that I just wasn't that interested. And I had an inadequacy complex about it. As if not wanting to study Talmud was like being into theater but not wanting to open Shakespeare. But the fact of the matter is that there are tons of other playwrites, maybe even better playwrites than Shakespeare. It isn't the end all be all of theater.

I conferred on this topic with a rabbi in my life (one of many) and he basically agreed with me, admitting that studying Talmud doesn't necessarily make you a better person. It doesn't necessarily put you in a better position to become a better Jew and it doesn't necessarily help you move closer to the Divine Source. In fact, he claims that it is actually a highly academic ego thing, where people know that they've moved into this little elite group once they've slogged through the first three years of the opaque text. Well phooey. I'm not into it! So there.

That leaves the rest of Jewish texts, thought, spirituality and practice for me to study while I'm here. Ha! I'm trying at the moment to follow up on recommendations of great teachers regardless of the subject matter, so if you happen to know a fabulous teacher in the Jerusalem area, give a holler.

Internship Progress
I realized that the travel schedule initially proposed by the folks at Arava was significantly more rigorous than I was able to commit. It basically precluded any serious Jewish Studies courses or ulpan - both of which are requirements for my fellowship. So we are in negotiation at the moment for what an internship will look like without the travel being overly burdensome for me.

Ulpan
I'm not really anywhere yet. Thankfully, I'm spending an extraordinary amount of time with my very patient roommate who listens and corrects my Hebrew for hours. At least I'm doing a lot of regular practice, even if I'm not formally in class. Hopefully this will start in earnest after the Hagim.

Services
I've been able to make it to morning davenning a few times a week - really there are no excuses because the Conservative synagogue is RIGHT NEXT DOOR! I even have my choice of davenning at the Fuchsberg complex. Pretty schweet! I haven't let on yet that I can read Torah; I thought I'd give it at least a week until I'm all of a sudden needed to read as Torah readers often are.

Other stuff is in the air as well including a possible retreat to Ein Gedi next weekend with Pardes - it is about time to get out of the cities of Israel for a change. I have yet to visit my family in Beit Shemesh and other places. Yes, lots to do.

Sensitive Words

Check out this posting: Principles of Uncertainty from Maira Kalman

Nothing more needed from me.

If you feel so inclined, feel free to comment on her question about there being room for pettiness during war. Good question.