Neue Sinagoga and Theology

Spent the day in Berlin with AH. We visited the big 'Neue Synagoga' where I think my grandmother and her family used to daven. The chapel is totally destroyed, but what is left of the rest of the building is magnificent. Also, I feel like it has taught me a little bit about the theology of that side of the family. My grandmother never talked about theology or God - not that I was really old enough to have those kinds of conversations with her - but it is interesting that the place where they ended up in SF was MUCH more traditional that this place in Berlin. In Berlin they had moved the service to Sunday, played an organ, and put together an entirely new siddur that was largely in German. How foreign a Conservative synagogue must have felt to her! And yet, she fit in perfectly. She was the caterer of the schul and one of the main kosher caterers in SF for years.

The Brandenburg Gate is just as spectacular as expected and I have much more to say about the Jewish memorial behind it. More later when I return from today's siteseeing.

Potsdamerplatz is not in Potsdam

Yes, I managed to be about an hour late to meet my friend this morning because of the snafu. Woops.

I slept in a 'quaint' (read: yucky) hostel in Berlin, but now I'm out of the city hanging out with my old roommate, AH, and her lovely family. It is grey and wet here, but apparently I'm missing quite a snowstorm in Israel. I'll take the overheated homes and warm showers here over that weather anyday.

Inquiring Minds

I'm dirty, tired and hungry but I made it to Berlin. I'm heading out to Potsdam tomorrow to meet up with an old roommate and then back to Berlin to see all the sites. Gut Nacht!

Aschaffenburg Surprise

I'm at an internet cafe in Aschaffenburg posting this, and it's going to be short cuz the z and the y are in the wrong places on the keyboard and I can't find a bunch of other letters and symbols that I need. But the biggest surprise about venturing to the town where my grandfather grew up is... how remarkably beautiful, fun, trendy, hip and happening this town is. Who knew? I guess I subconsciously figured that the town would resemble him and his siblings: utilitarian, intelligent, a little drab and possibly even possessing a weird smell. But this is a shopping desination buzzing with young hipsters and yuppies schmoozing in cafes.

Oh yea, and I went directly to the tourist center when I got here and asked for the Jewish cemetary so that I could visit my great grandfather Julious Isaak, buried there. First, the tourist lady gave me a song and dance about how it is often closed (don't worry, I assured her, I would find someone to open the gate for me - and it was open anyway) and then I told her that my grandfather left Aschaffenburg in 1936 to which she gave me a long, sad face. I wanted to tell her that it wasn't something I was sad about. No, we Isaaks are happy, healthy, alive and kickin because Saba had the gumption to get going to Palestine. Moreover, if he hadn't left, he wouldn't have met my grandma and my dad would never have come to be. I don't long for this land as my own. I'm sad for the loss to my people, but our family came out on top on this one.

More on this later. Must hit the train to Berlin in a few hours.

Oh yea, and the wedding celebration was fantastic yesterday!

Pics when I get back to Jtown... I have lots!

What's A Jew To Do...

... When you're in Germany on Christmas? Well, you eat Christmas dinner, attend Catholic mass, and read the story of the Birth of Jesus, of course!

And that's what she did.

Yes, I am loving the gracious hosting of the family where I am staying. It is cold, cold, cold outside and toasty warm inside. The town of Worms looks like a stage set of a German hamlet (surprise, surprise)!! Anyway, I will be celebrating my friend's wedding tomorrow and I'm off to Aschaffenburg on the morning of the 27th. Hopefully, I'll figure out how to upload some photos, but they might have to wait until I return to J-town.

Be well and to everyone a Frohe Weihnachten!

Lessons from the Leadership Seminar

My excuse for the lack o blogging this week is pretty good: I was holed up in a fancy hotel at Mitzpe Ramon engaging in a "leadership training" seminar and then hiked and camped in the southern Negev. Now I'm back in Jtown for shabbat to refuel, repack and prepare for next week in Germany where my guess is the blogging will also be rather weak. Never fear, I'll be back in the New Year with tons of stuff to write about.

As for the leadership training... a few interesting points came up that got me thinking about group dynamics, the contagiousness of energy directed toward community service and how much I appreciate having brothers.

Group Dynamics: The group of fellows is a rather close one, particularly interesting considering that we don't work, learn or live together and are diverse by design (politically, religiously, and stylistically). That said, we don't all hang out together all the time. There are individual people to whom I am closer than others, some of that is a function of where I live and learn and with whom, where I daven and with whom, age and temperment considerations, and a healthy dose of randomness. Looking inward at our own group dynamics was both interesting and sort of painful. It broke the general feeling that we are one big happy family and it exposed cleavages and fractures within our unit. I can understand why it might be objectively interesting to learn about those things, but only if our community is merely a laboratory constructed to simulate groups. If we are a "real" community, then the goal should be empowerment and cohesiveness rather than instruction. I am personally conflicted about whether we consist of a "real" community at all. I mean, we didn't choose to be together and we all signed contracts so that we can't leave. But there is a reality to the openness with which we engage one another and a truth to the emotional and difficult times we've spent together. Anyway, something to chew on.

Charisma, Energy and Contagion: I have something embarassing to admit— I went to my first EcoClub meeting at CMC because I had a wee crush on the president of the club. (B[W]G, if you're reading, I'm sure this isn't news.) What struck me about him wasn't really his looks (sorry) but it was his absolute dedication and passion to what he was doing. His energy was contagious and I was quickly swept up in his grand ideas about environmental protests, organizing conferences and speaking to the media. Somehow the surety with which he approached the cause gave me the strength to press onward.

I owe B[W]G a lot, probably more than I could ever return to him. Not only did he teach me about the importance of environmental protection and methods to accomplish that (how to talk to the media, how to organize a rally, how to coax cohorts out of bed early in the morning, how and when not to get arrested), he convinced me that it was something worthwile to pursue. When I graduated I didn't have any skills, so I looked for jobs that would value the work that I did with EcoClub and ended up in the environmental consulting world. Basically, he set me on my path.

And what does this have to do with our leadership seminar? Well, we fellows had a discussion about our role vis a vis the people who we are learning about in Israel and the desire of some of the fellows to do acts of community service. Some people were excited, others not so much. But my attitude throughout the whole meeting was, "Well, if you want to do community service... just do it... and then rally the rest of the group behind you." I don't think you have to have the permission of the group to start a project and if you want people to help you, then take them out for coffee and convince them that their help is valuable to the endeavor. Instead of taking this advice, what will probably happen is that we will have another few meetings where we don't get much done. Oy!

Brothers: GB, AI and MI, How do I love thee? Let me count the ways: Here's what happens when you grow up as the middle girl among a group of boys. You learn to suck it up. You learn to be comfortable in dirty places and sleep outside is fun (something I truthfully didn't do much of as a child). You learn that it is important to challenge yourself even when you are scared. You learn to try new things. You learn that girls can tend a fire just as well or better than the boys as long as she's willing to haul firewood. You learn that you must speak up to be heard. You learn that no one will take your feelings into consideration unless you make your point clearly. .... There are, of course, many more lessons, but these were the ones that came to mind this week. Thanks boys!

Shabbat Shalom!

Shabbat Food Blogging

In order to recover from my traumatic day on Thursday, I cooked a big ole (mostly) vegan meal for shabbat... and I even have pictures.

For starters:
Crackers and cheese (I said mostly)
Dolmas (premade) and olives
Challah (of course) and humus (dressed with zaatar and paprika)
and wine


Course 2:
Cucumber salad: (I whipped this one up from what I had in the refrigerator)
Cucumbers sliced finely
Capers
Dill, fresh, lots of it
Some olive oil
Some vinegar (I used "salad vinegar"... not really knowing what that means). Probably best with white wine or rice vinegar.
Touch of dijon mustard. Some mustard seeds would probably do too.

Course 3:
Orange cranberry walnut salad. This recipe was lifted wholesale from epicurious.
This was my first attempt at candied walnuts. They were really good, but definitely must use wax paper next time. None of this tin foil business.

Tofu Cabbage salad:
Chop cabbage
Shred carrots
Sautee onion and tofu in soy sauce and fresh ginger
Chop tomatoes
(This would also be good with sesame oil and sesame seeds, but I didn't have any.)

Sweet potato latkes
Shreaded Sweet potato
Chopped Scallions
Ground ginger
Cumin (mmmmm....)
Little bit of brown sugar
Salt and pepper
Eggs and flour to bind

We finished the meal with choc chip cookies, cakes and soofganiyot!
And drank whiskey gingers throughout. A good time was had by all.
...
Tonight I am staying at Mitzpe Ramon with a Dorot Leadership Seminar. I will be on the internet very sparsely over the next few days, so email is probably the best way to catch me. Take care and Happy Hannuka!

Settlement Day

I didn't think that I could top the other emotional rollcoaster dorot days.... but I was wrong.

The schedule for today:
Met in Jerusalem and heard lecture with Gershom Goremberg, author of The Accidental Empire. If his book is even half as interesting as his lecture, it's worth a read.

Boarded a bulletproof bus (!!) and toured the holy city of Hevron and the ma'arat hamahpela (the place where traditionally Abraham, Sara, Yaakov and Leah are buried.) We were guided through the barren city of Hevron by a Jewish settler in Hevron.

Along the road to the settlement of Alon Shvut, part of the Gush Etzion block, a rock was thrown at the bus. (!!) At the Yeshiva we met with one of their big scholars. Although it seemed clear that he wasn't prepared to talk politics with us, he ended up being very candid and interesting.

We ended the day at Kibbutz Naaran where we met with the young 20 somethings that founded this kibbutz just 7 years ago to fulfill their Zionist socialist dream of revamping education in Israel and returning Jews to their roots.

I'm still trying to process all my emotions from the day. It was so loaded. I experienced everything from crying and on the verge of a panic attack in the maarat hamachpela, to outrage while walking on the streets of Hevron when I realized that in some neighborhoods Palestinians are forbidden from using the street in front of their homes so they must use ladders to get into their own homes from the back. I was frustrated and confused by the teacher in the Gush who seemed to believe that a 2 state solution was necessary, but we'd sort of find a way, not recognizing his own complicit behavior that hindered the peace process. I wanted to shake the kids (no older than me) who founded this kibbutz in the Jordan Valley and remind them that their high ideals were nice but insufficient to justify their placement..... in my eyes, at least.

I hope to post more on this day. There's no way I can get into it all now. But some recurring themes that kept presenting themselves:

• Rule of Law: Mr. Gorenberg talked about how both activist settlers and government officials worked in supralegal ways to settle the land. And then the kibbutz naaran settlers talked about how international law only sort of applies to them. They are convinced that when the Israelis and Palestinians do eventually form an agreement on the land, that no international body will fail to support it, regardless of any other previous legal situations. Gorenberg also said that he hopes that Israel will participate in establishing two new countries with an agreement with the Palestinians: A new Palestinian State and a new Israeli country with a strengthened sense of the rule of law.
• Story and Myth: I mean these words in the most powerful manifestation of truth. They are reality to those that participate in them. Why was I so emotional at maarat hamahpela? The only reason I can think of is that my tradition, my mythology told to me from the time I can remember dictates that the first Jews, the progenitors of my people, Avraham Avinu and Sarah Emanu, are buried there. Our guide in Hevron told a variety of stories that give meaning to her life as a settler in the area. She explained in gory detail how a young child was viciously killed in one of the archways of the city. She gave graphic detail to her own husband's stabbing. She showed us a museum that chronicled the savage killing of innocent Jews during the rioting in the 20's in Hevron and explained how ancient synagogues were used as public toilets by the Arabs who lived in the area. We heard from more than one person, "In 1948 we got a state. In 1967 we got a homeland."
• Where are the Palestinians in all this?: The weird thing about the whole day was that we managed to drive through an area populated in places densely by Palestinians and we didn't interact with them at all. We didn't even see them. The streets of Hevron were completely empty in the H1 section even though we understand that there are 20,000 of them living there. The bus we used went on "bypass" roads that meant we didn't go through any of the rigorous checkpoints that Palestinians deal with everyday. We heard about Palestinians destroying kevar yosef. We heard about how much easier it would be without Palestinians, but since they aren't leaving we must deal with them. We heard about what it might mean to put a Palestinian state abutting Jordan with all its unregulated refugee camps. Oy!
• Beauty: In the midst of all this turmoil, there is the land which is truly a thing of beauty. There are limestone terraces that are old. There are rolling hills and vineyards. There are sunsets and ancient vegetation.
  

I'll write more in upcoming days.

More wedding photos, the party

Ari and Eva sitting in a tree K.I.S.S.I.N.G!!

I'm So Proud!

Haloween in New York City:
Two of these girls are my neices and the others are their very good friends. Ah, if only I had photos from when I dressed similarly. At least I had an excuse. It was the 80s.
(Am I too young for nostalgia?)

A little fun for the season...

If you have some extra cash lying around and want to give the swankiest, most hilarious Hannuka gifts on the planet, then check out: www.jewishfashionconspiracy.com.
But it isn't for the youngins!

A Time to Sit... And A Time to Challenge...

Late last night, one of the students at Arava organized a brief movie screening and discussion where he could present a "Palestinian position". The documentary was put together by PNI with voiceover by their leader, Mustafa Barghouthi. The film was the purest piece of propoganda I've ever seen. It placed every single ounce of blame on Israel for the misery of the Palestinian people, and how miserable it is!

The biggest problem that I had with the video is the insinuation that Palestinians only use peaceful protest as a means to fight off Israeli violence. It just isn't true. Not only that, the student who presented the film openly advocated violent resistance.

Look, the fact of the matter is that it is miserable in the Palestinian Territories and for all I know, every word of the video was true. But there is enough blame to go around to all parties. The student did acknowledge that some of the past Palestinian leadership was responsible for some of the problems.

One of the Israeli students commented that he viewed Israeli actions like the young kid in school who, feeling threatened, becomes the school bully. He beats up other kids because he has reason to believe that he, himself, is in danger. If the student, or the Israeli people, begin to feel safe again, then they will ease the violence.

I have trouble with that analogy as well, because it legitamizes the violence. We don't allow our kids to be school bullies and we shouldn't allow a government to use collective punishment like Israel does. On the other hand, what else are we to do? I wish I had solutions instead of just criticism.

Truthfully, the movie was important to see, because this is the story that Palestinians are learning in school. This is the narrative that people will know for a long time into the future and if there is ever going to be a serious effort to make peace, narratives will have to be acknowledged. I don't know how much truth matters anymore in light of this viewing.

Skepticism Abounds

Today, having braved the very early 4 hour ride to Arava, I attended an interesting interchange between a guest speaker and the students here. Remember, the students at this school are committed to environmental protection, and hail from Israel, Jordan, Palestine and the U.S. They range in age from 18 to mid 30s and range in education from just completed high school to already completed graduate degrees.

The guest speaker was a woman connected to the The Global Earth Charter. When she introduced the concept of the charter to the group, she mentioned that it took a long time to create (10 years) because of hangups like "the Inuit people who hunt animals. So we couldn't exactly say that we want to protect animals in all situations." She immediately lost me. It sounded like too much cultural relativism for this gal. Either the charter stands for something in the face of cultural taboos, or it doesn't carry much weight. (Look, I'm not arguing that it should have mentioned something about protecting animals in all circumstances. All I'm saying is that a document should mean something.)

Many of the students had issues with it too. They picked apart section 13 which reads, "Strengthen democratic institutions at all levels, and provide transparency and accountability in governance, inclusive participation in decision making, and access to justice." Notably both the Israelis and Jordanians asked whether the charter would support the U.S. war in Iraq based on this language. Neither set of students found the language appropriate. At least one student asked, "What about when democracy conflicts with a cultural belief?" To this she answered, "It's cool. It doesn't mean everyone has to become a democracy, just that people find what works for them best." I wondered whether this charter really meant anything at all.

Also students identified section 16 as problematic, which reads, "16. Promote a culture of tolerance, nonviolence, and peace." This had a bullet point underneath which says, "c. Demilitarize national security systems to the level of a non-provocative defense posture, and convert military resources to peaceful purposes, including ecological restoration." When students questioned what this really meant, she couldn't even fudge some sort of acceptable answer.

What it so stark about this interchange, is that these students are ALREADY committed to peacebuilding (at least on some level) and environmental protection. And yet, even they weren't sold by this document. So the questions remains, for whom is this charter useful or meaningful? The point of the charter organization, so far as I can tell, is to both "rally the troops" and then collect actual activities and groups who are doing things that conform to the values it sets forth. There isn't really anything else controversial on their website.

A quick web search shows that a lot of people are talking about the Global Earth Charter. Toyota claims to be an adherent. Religious groups tout it as the new international religion. But does it mean anything? This woman who spoke to the group, said that armed with this charter she developed a new school in China (I'm not sure what that means) and in one of the former Soviet Republics (can't remember which one). Do you think this charter is more powerful in those places?

A few other things happened that discredited the woman. After she had us read the charter, and then lie on the ground outside to feel the Earth move, she started asking the group to suggest concrete ways that we would make a difference to further the ideas of the charter. I couldn't tell what her point was. Was she trying to get new ideas? If so, she wasn't taking notes. Was she trying to get the students to think along those lines? She obviously didn't know her audience, who is well on its way to thinking creatively about environmental protection. Plus, every time someone said anything, she nervously responded, "Yes, right," even before they got the idea out, totally discrediting the possibility that she was actually listening.

The lecture was very instructive to me in any case. It basically showed me how important it is to tailor any presentation to the audience. With adults, I think it is often better to speak at a higher level, where the listeners may have to ask for clarification, that it is to speak at a low level that may be perceived as condescending.

Eyzeh Mazal! (What Luck!)

Talk about good timing, NYT Travel profiles Berlin.

Schedule Roundup

A head cold, substantial grad school stuff, assignment for creative writing and life has kept me away from blogging substantially in the last week. But it certainly hasn't been for a lack of interesting things going on. In reverse chronological order:

• Yesterday our Dorot Day focused on the miserable plight of Israeli Arabs. Cutting away all the propaganda is a tough one, but it is just clear that they are second class citizens, at best, in this country. And the worst part is that there is no one else to blame but ourselves. If we [American Jews] identify with Israel at all, and the Zionism that plays out in this country, then we must accept responsibility for the lack of true democracy here.... and dare I say: racism. We did talk about what a "New Zionism" would look like, one where Jewish ethics and morals were played out on a political level... but oh, what a long road it will be before we get there.
• On Wednesday, after interesting Rambam and Counseling classes, I discovered that the "iriya" (city hall) is only open from 8am to 1pm to accept payment of my residential tax. Of course, I arrived at 3pm and it was closed. Must deal with this next week.
  
• Monday night and Tuesday I was at Kibbutz Ketura working on Arava stuff. My boss and I have decided to work together on a research proposal to the World Bank on a Jordan River commission. I'm not sure what this will really look like, but I'm starting to read a ton about the 2nd tier negotiations that have taken place between experts (geographers, engineers, and technical folks) about the river for years. In some way, it would be better to divorce these land based issues from the heavily political sphere. Positives and negatives. Subject for its own post. Also, it was a full moon!
• On Monday morning, I had Talmud class, which I'm still not loving and T'fillah where we looked at some of the rules of lighting Hannuka candles. I almost forgot Hannuka was coming because for me it is so bound up in Christmas schtick... and it is not present here at all.
  

I'm heading to family this shabbat! Shabbat Shalom!

Icky Head Cold Attacks

Pretty much everyone I know has been sick, and today I have a head cold full blown. I'm still going about my business, but a little slower and always with a box of tissues.

...

For the last day or so, I have been hearing this line in my head over and over again:

"The woman didn't remember if she was invited to her son's first wedding."
So today in my creative writing class, I used that as a jumping point to start a story. It hasn't moved very far, but I'm working on developing a short story about this woman (who will remain nameless throughout ) and her son, who becomes Jewish.

The Importance of Being Counted

Sometime after my Bat Mitzvah, I attended a Bar Mitzvah of another student from my Jewish school. Being that it was at an Orthodox synagogue, I took my place at the back of the room with the rest of the women. Ok, so the service wasn't my cup of tea, but I didn't really think about it. Until the end. For the Aleynu (one of the last prayers in the service) a little kid, possibly the little brother of the Bar Mitzvah boy, went up to the Bima, was given a tallit to wear, and he lead the congregation in prayer.

And then it hit me. This little kid, under the Jewish age of maturity, who had little Jewish education, could participate and I couldn't. Despite the fact that neither of us counted (he wasn't old enough and I was a woman) he could give something to the community by his presence and it didn't matter if I showed up at all.

And that's when I knew I was truly egalitarian.

Another Jewish blogger has published his next edition of Halichot Pluralism, a series that tries to compile all the thinking of Jewish pluralist communities in the U.S. He lays out all the issues... and today's edition is hot topic number 1: Counting Minyanim.

For me, it is the egalitarianism issue par exellence. We can have an unimpassioned, rational conversation about who can lead what, but if I don't count, then I don't want to be a part of the service at all. I'll go somewhere where I do.

At the possible risk of exposing sacred MM lore, here's how it went down from my perspective at the MM: Despite my relatively recent settling in SF, I was invited to a meeting in the SK livingroom on the future of the MM. I had been attending since August and had tried desperately to ingratiate myself into the community leadership. At this fateful September meeting, the main agenda item was discussing started Shabbat morning services.

This brought to the fore a host of issues that had previously been placed back burner, first and foremost our definition of who counts in the minyan. Thankfully there had been so many people on Friday night so as to make the point moot. (I actually don't know what the group did in its nascent stages when it wasn't obvious that enough people would show up.)

I was running a few minutes late to the meeting, so it began just as I arrived. DH lead what was to be one of the most significant Jewish gatherings in my life. He addressed the "who counts" issue first, explaining that because there were those who felt strongly that only 10 men made a minyan and there were those (like me) who would walk if they weren't counted, we needed to create a system where everyone could continue to participate. He explained that the 10 plus 10 standard was not an attempt to create new halacha. It was a compromise solution to enable us to continue to pray together. With surprisingly little discussion, he called for a consensus reading of the group to approve the new standard. It was unanimously accepted.

The rest of the issues (how we would sit, mechitza, who would/could lead what) took up the rest of the meeting. Not everything slipped by with the same ease as the first decision; we were/are still a very diverse group, but I believe that the reason the meeting concluded as well as it did was a function of us having made the first decision to count both genders in the 10 plus 10 formula.

Since that fateful meeting in Sept 2005, only once has there been a breakdown. We call it "the crisis," arguably one of the most uncomfortable occurrences in the minyan history. Despite all our good intentions to ensure that we would always have a 10 plus 10 minyan, one shabbat morning it didn't happen. If I remember correctly, we had 12 men and 9 women. We waited. No one showed up. (SF is not like NY where you can go outside and find some random Jew on the street.) Eventually, we realized we were going to have to proceed, but it wasn't clear how.

One member of the mm and a very close friend of mine, came to me knowing that he and I viewed the situation very differently. He believed we should proceed as normal because there were more than 10 men. I believed that our policy had no teeth, unless we enforced it in this setting. He said to me, "Look, Myrrh, we both see a minyan in this room. What is the problem?"

We did not daven as a minyan, reinforcing the policy that we had determined just weeks earlier. Yes, I believe that we did the right thing, even though it was a horribly uncomfortable morning. At lease one person left when he realized that we weren't going to count the 10 men as sufficient.

From that point onwards, we decided that we would get commitments from 10 men and 10 women or we would cancel services. (On Shavuot morning, when we had a Torah but didn't necessarily expect to read it because we didn't know who would stay, we were able to scrap together a minyan, but only after waking up two women who had fallen asleep just hours before.) In fact, the weekend that I was recently back in SF, we had just enough (10) women. Had any one of them slept in, we would be back in crisis mode. To everyone who showed up that morning, todah, todah. I consider it your personal gift to me.

Pluralism is really a hard row to sew. It involves compromises on the most basic issues. It leaves people in a state of discomfort. By Jan 06, my own feelings of anguish were surfacing. I felt at home theologically in the local Conservative Synagogue, but felt more rooted socially and aesthetically at the MM. How much of my theology should I sacrifice at the alter of community? I went to go talk to Rabbi DR who introduced to me the concept of "dynamic tension". She said that if attending services at the mm were truly theologically agonizing, then I should walk away. But if the theological differences were just holding me in a place of dynamic tension, then I was actually serving as a counterpoint to a larger discussion and my voice and presence were even more essential.

Thank you DR. I now accept dynamic tension in my life because it pushes me to become more involved, more dedicated, more learned, and engaged.

And the minyan issue is interesting because it is particular to Judaism. We need each other. The fact of another person's existence and presence is integral to my religious experience/observance. We do not exist in a vacuum trying to communicate with the Divine. That kind of dialogue can only happen when we sanctify the space by acknowledging and recognizing one another.

New Research Topic Buzz

Since I have basically completed editing the book on water security for the Arava Institute, I am going to be transitioning to my own independent research project. My boss has asked me to prepare a proposal on the topic for our next meeting in two weeks.

There are a million things going through my head, but one of the topics that he suggested to me was looking into a Transboundary Water Commission dedicated to the Jordan River. Right now, nothing of that sort exists and so the river gets neglected.

I haven't fleshed out the proposal yet, but I think it will build on Oran Young's conceptual framework of Fit, Interplay and Scale. Once I've compilated a survey of similar commissions and identified the key questions, I'd like to conduct interviews with stakeholders on the topic so that I can make a politically viable design.

The whole process has gotten me all abuzz with starting a new topic.

Vegan Recipes and Words 'o' the day

These recipes are dedicated to BG who stops at nothing to produce delicious meals.

For Thanksgiving I made an old standard:
Ginger spiced carrots:
Skin, Chop carrots (try not to use the baby carrots. They are soooo boring.)
Boil carrots till slightly soft
Put carrots in oven safe bowl
Grate fresh ginger (ample amounts) over carrots
Add some lemon juice
Add brown sugar
Bake carrots for a little while till desired softness and heat

Tonight I am making a new twist on another oldie and goodie:
Orange beet fennel salad:
Wrap beets in alum foil and bake to soft (at least an hour)
Chop orange slices into bite sized pieces, taking pits out
Prepare bowl of warm water and add raisens to plump and soften
Chop fennel bulb into itty bitty pieces
When beets done, unwrap, remove skin, chop for salad and wait till cool

Dressing:
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
mustard seeds (might also add fancy mustard)
leftover water from raisens

Combine it all together right before serving

Favorite thing to make in this weather:
Mushroom barley soup
Sautee onion, garlic w a little oil at bottom of soup pot
Add chopped mushrooms
When soft add chopped carrots and celery
When all that soft, add barley
After about 5 minutes, add soup stock. My recommendation: Osem Consomme Soup mix (also called "crack soup" in some circles.

Eat up!
...

Word of the day/week/month

• Mesubach (complicated): As in, harbeh devarim b'chayim sheli mesubachim (many things in my life are complicated.)
• Garon (throat): sore throat today, bah
• V'radim (roses): My new favorite tea, Wissotzky Rose Chai
• Chotev Etzim (lumberjack): Eifoh ha chotvei etzim b'yisrael? (Where are the Israeli lumberjacks?)