New Favorite Word

FESTIVICATION, FESTIVICATE

Explanation:
During my mishna class today, we were talking about hol hamoed, and what did it mean to celebrate a festive occasion. Of course, I only heard "festivication," as in the process by which someone celebrates festivals. Used in a sentence: How shall we best festivicate this upcoming Purim? Celebration connotes observance with possible joy, while "festivicate" demands gaiety, merriment, or pleasure. Jewish enthusiasts fesivicate, especially on Purim.

Sctuff, sctuff and more sctuff

Oy! Did I fall off the bandwagon this week! No posts... you wouldn't have known that so much has been going on by me. Quick bullets of things I learned, discovered, encountered, visited and endured. Reverse chronological order:

• Today: The Dead Sea water feels like jet fuel on your skin. Yuck. But floating around is just as fun as it was when I was 9 years old.
  
• Metzada is still amazing even after not seeing it for the last 12 years. Best part: cisterns.
• Driving in Israel: not my cup of tea. I'll take the bus, thanks.
  
• Mon: I think I generally just like sanctified spaces, even if they aren't my holy spaces. The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem... yep, super holy.
• Breakfast in Mahane Yehuda.... fantastico!
  
• Sun: Rockin awesome visitor from SF, JH, gave me the opportunity to traipse through the Old City (Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Kotel, Various Quarters, Shuk) and I was glad for it despite the rain. Sometimes it is very special to behold your own home through the eyes of a newcomer. Reference: Hiroshi from Japan.
• Sat: Rockin Awesome Visitor arrives. Welcome her with hippie soup here, drinks here, and her first humus from the shuk at Gdawg's house.
• Shabbat morning meant lounging around.
  
• Fri: Shabbat dinner chez Y.C.'s parents. It is always astounding to interact with Jews who observe Judaism in different ways than how you were brought up... but keeping the core intact. Mizrahi family, everyone attends without question, race pace kiddush, half hour dinner, relaxed desert in livingroom with extended political conversation.
  
• Haircut, Tel Aviv style. Shorter and blonder. But not dramatically much of either.
  
• Thurs: I celebrated being accepted to a fantabulous PhD program here with a full teaching fellowship including stipend, tuition, insurance... the works. I'm burying this huge piece of news to see if y'all are paying attention. The night included vast celebratin all over Tel Aviv including some dancin on the bar at the Erlich.... Tee hee...
• Dorot Day learning about foreign workers, immigration and aliyah. Not much genuinely new information here, but I was interested in the vastness of the cultures streaming into Israel. Also interesting to hear about the low crime rates among foreign workers and their sense that Israelis respect them for wanting to work.
  
• Wed: Cousin's birthday party which entailed camping out ALL DAY in a local coffee shop and buying a drink for each of the visitors. Cute.
  
• Tues: Must've done something, but can't remember at the moment.
  
• Mon: Women of the Wall is surprisingly not my thing. I think I just cannot pray as a political statement. I wish it wasn't that way in this situation, but it is, and therefore it cannot be my place.

Basically, it has been a full plate since my last post. I didn't even write about my classes, my new private tutoring in midrash, my excited anticipation of my brother's arrival, my gardening at home and outside, the dreary weather, the sun, my lack of sleep, my determination to share the best of this country with my visitors and (as they say here) v'chuley...

A Happy Mulch Shoveler

Today, as a shoveled mulch and watched the sunset over the Jerusalem hills, my co-shoveler (age 8, probably) turned and asked me in Hebrew, "Is this cow cocky?" I answered, "Maybe, the trees really love cow cocky."

I started volunteering with SPNI Jerusalem in their public gardens projects that are more than just an effort at beautifying the city. The gardens are really opportunities for environmental education, minority empowerment and reclamation of dignity. Basically, it rocks. You get an excuse to get very dirty, speak Hebrew, and see beautiful landscapes.

I'm exhausted but really happy. I have much to report about Women of the Wall, Adar, Trumah, new tutoring sessions, but I must leave them for another time.

Salatim, Oy!

My newest sister-in-law rightfully pointed out as a comment to the last post that I failed to explain what exactly are "salatim". Unfortunately, they are nebulous, evading easy description, much like pornography, "I know it when I see it." Here goes with the best description that I can muster. Salatim are from the word "salat" which means salad. But don't be fooled, there is hardly ever a scrap of lettuce involved. Salatim is the general term encompassing everything from tubs of humus and tehina in all their varieties, to little salads of carrots, or red cabbage, beets or even some scary fish things that look weird and I never buy. They are often used as appetizers.

For the meal I hosted this afternoon, I served them with homemade tabouleh (OK, my roommate made it). I bought what I think is the best humus in Mahaneh Yehuda (the Jewish shuk in Jerusalem) at the cheese man plus little plastic containers of hatzilim (grilled eggplant with spices), gezer (boiled carrot in spicy goodness), kruv adom (red cabbage in a mayo sauce), and selek (basically plain cooked beets). I serve these with fresh cut veggies, like cucumbers and tomatoes, and some crackers.

I realized at this moment of the meal that I had definitely made too much food.

Course 2 was an easy sweet egg quiche thing made with corn, red pepper and caramelized onion.

Course 3 was whole rice flavored with zaatar (completely unnecessary) and salmon cooked with wasabi and soy sauce (such a hit that I have exactly NONE leftover).

Course 4: cookies, oranges, persimmons and a pomello.

No one left hungry.

Recipe for sweet quiche:
Sautee some onions so they are yummy sweet to taste.
Crack and scramble 4 eggs
Add some milk (the thicker the better) to the eggs.
Add some flour to the mixture to that it thickens. Stir so not clumpy.
Pour half the egg/milk mixture into a small baking dish.
"Layer" chopped finely red pepper, half can of sweet corn, sauteed onion.
Pour remaining egg over top.
Bake for a while. When baking about half done, sprinkle sweet red paprika over dish for color.
Bake rest.
(I'm sure you could add tons of spices to flavor, even making it spicy or even cheese.)

Finding My Way Back

I posted back here about the shabbat malaise that was gripping me. And it didn't just come for a quick visit, it set up shop in my living room and hung out for a while. But I think I'm finally looking at my watch and asking it to please leave.

I love shabbat. I love the rituals. The food, oh the food. I love the people, the aura, the way the air changes just slightly and how the sun seems to move slower. Yes, I'm back into my old shabbat ways... or almost.

And they do it differently here in Jtown. The challah is much, much sweeter (often with halva). Everything starts with salatim, cuz what would the meal be without them? People know the rules... come and stay. And guests can bring helpful parts to the meal due to the eruv allowing people to carry.

I invited some folks over for this coming lunch and I'm busying myself with researching some new recipes on my favorite site, but if you have any veggie/dairy ideas for this coming shabbat lunch, hit me back.

Tentative menu looks like this:
Salatim
Challah
Wine
Salmon with something mustardy or wasabi
Salad (my roommate is making) that resembles tabouleh with a twist
Some kind of sweetish eggy frittata/quiche thing.
Tofu something? Thoughts? Maybe with CI Secret Sauce (don't even ask!)

I'm open to other suggestions.

Environment Day and Final Dorot Seminars

I can't believe that I waited these past few days to reflect on "Environment" Dorot Day that we participated in last week.

Environment day highlights:

• Hiriya: The site of the Gush Dan (Greater Tel Aviv) Municipal Garbage Dump from 1952 until 1999 (?). It is a huge mountain. Today it is just used as a transfer point (TA is now dumping in the desert) and has a high tech, energy generating recycling/sorting plant. The technology is still too expensive to be used large scale, but an encouraging pilot.
  
• Rosh Ha'ayin: the nexus of the Israel Water Carrier operated by the Mekorot Co.
  
• Sataf: site of JNF forest and place where they are returning to ancient farming techniques on the old terraces carved into the hills.
• Hearing from SPNI:Jerusalem about the success regarding the Safdie Plan
  

I'm not sure that I learned any substance that was truly new, but there is something very important about matching real experience with the statistics, maps and theory that I'm engaging with every day.

One of the really sad things was that we also planned our *final* seminars for the year, and the pattern that emerged is very interesting. Throughout the year we have looked at marginalized communities, serious problems facing the country, and many ways in which Israel differs from the U.S. We ended up with some pretty interesting, but many depressing days with takeaway messages that blamed the Israeli government or pointed to alienated minorities. This final batch of dorot days will concentrate on some "stock issues" that we all have at least some background relating to. Topics selected were: Holocaust, Security, Israeli Political Right, and Tiyul to the Golan. For many people, these are the topics that they would have addressed first, rather than last. I also respect my group for being sensitive to opposing viewpoints so much that they are interested in hearing another side on many issues.

UPDATE:
Another thought about our topic selection: It occurred to me that one of the reasons that we concentrated so much of the year on minority populations is probably twofold. The first reason is because we have come to this year with a substantial knowledge and background in the stock issues already. And secondly, I think we feel, as American Jews, like minorities in our own home country, and therefore identify in some way with minorities in other places. I mentioned here that my roommate and I differ because he has always been in the majority and I in the minority where we've lived. Anyway, an interesting note.

The Horror: Bat Mitzvahs In Israel

Getting out to Tel Aviv *again* was a much needed respite from the wacko life here in Jtown. I'm happy to be home, but there's something about Yaffo in the sunshine that just cannot be beat.

And also TA gives me the opportunity to hang out with .... (drum roll please).... regular old Israelis. Jerusalem has so many Americans that one could easily be surrounded by the expat community. TA is not so. So, some of my recent conversations with my new chevreh has given me a unique view into Israeli society. Like last week when I mentioned that I'd had a Bat Mitzvah. A hush fell over the crowd. "A what?" they asked. "You know, just like a boy, but where a girl gets up and has an aliyah and reads from the Torah and maybe even gives a drash on the reading." More silence. None of the three guys had ever heard of such a thing. "You mean that you stood on the bima at the synagogue?" Yessireebob.

What ensued can only be described as full blown culture clash. The Israelis deemed the whole thing shocking, horrifying and even downright blasphemous. The Americans thought Bat Mitzvahs were as regular as humus on cucumbers, or shakshuka for breakfast. And these weren't haredi or even Orthodox Israelis. These aren't people who had halachik reasoning behind them. These Israelis are just your average mizrachi/"traditional"/secular folk.

The conversation broadened and when I spilled the beans that I wrap tefillin most mornings, the Israeli guys couldn't take it anymore. They were incredulous!

.....

The sacred and profane are jumbled here in a way that I don't really understand. You can go to a coffee shop on shabbat, spend money, violate the rule of the religious law flagrantly, but if you dare to suggest that you would eat anywhere other than your parents' home on Friday evening, you would be considered totally nuts.

You can support the work of Chabad because they don't demand too much on your life and make even little mitzvot easier, without recognizing that they were, at one time, revolutionary too. New revolutionary thinking, such as egalitarianism, is far too dangerous a break with tradition than the religion can bear.

......

Food for thought anyway!

Making Tachlis Sexy

Tachlis isn't sexy. She isn't your trophy wife. She doesn't get her hair done at a fancy salon. Tachlis doesn't dress with low cut necklines, or attend the hottest bars. She won't whisper sweet nothings in your ear, and she's not going to make the first move.

And since Tachlis is so unsexy, sometimes you have to dress her up and take her out. You have to discuss her virtues over tea at the American Colony. Marrying Tachlis is not about lust, but about love, hard work, dependability.... and even sometimes.... results.

...

For those of you who have any idea what Tachlis means, you are probably more confused than those who think I'm discussing a lover. Tachlis is the Yiddish and now Hebrew term for "brass tacks" or "rubber to the road" or "the heart of the matter". And I'll say it right now, I'm a Tachlis kind of girl.

Today I met with one of my Palestinian research partners at the American Colony in East Jerusalem to discuss an ongoing project to monitor fine particulate matter in the air over Israel, Palestine and Jordan. We talked shop: progress of the monitoring stations, standardized methodology, funding setbacks, public health threats, baselines, models for the future. And anyone eavesdropping would have been bored to tears. This isn't the exciting, groundbreaking, everyone-shake-hands kind of diplomacy. It is the quiet, turtle-rather-than-hare type. In this version, the parties arrive with certain values in common (public health=important, environment protection=good thing, cooperation=positive externalities) and they move to MAKE THINGS HAPPEN with or without a "ripe" political climate.

This week the US State Department issued an enhanced warning to Americans. If you've been following the news, you know that besides the internal turmoil among the Palestinians which has resulted in countless unnecessary deaths, the Old City is again a flash point due to some archaeological work being done near the Temple Mount/Haram ASharif.

And what am I up to? I'm plodding along writing a paper about cooperation on this particulate matter project that is bringing the scientific communities closer.

Yep Tachlis isn't sexy. But she's my kind of woman!

Still Got It

It was Kolonel Chardali (Col. Mustard), eem ha'ek'dach (with the revolver), ba'hader ochel (in the dining room). Remez (Clue) is just as much fun to play in Hebrew as it is in English. And yours truly took the game at DR's birthday party tonight.

Game night anyone? Bring it on!

Update: Citizenship and Toto Tamuz

Way back here, I wrote about the plight of Toto Tamuz, the Nigerian born soccer player, adopted into an Israeli home at age 3, who does not have permanent resident status or citizenship.

Haaretz reports today that:

"An agreement has been reached on permanent residency," the Beitar Jerusalem striker confirmed yesterday. "It will enable me to play for the national team, to be enlisted into the army and to receive citizenship in a year and a half. When everything is officially signed and sealed, I will be happy.

Maspik! (Enough!)

Fighting off head cold number 3? number 4?. I've just had enough!

Learning: On Revelation

The Vilna Gaon (a great Litvak Jewish teacher of the 18th century) was rumored to have studied Torah while soaking his feet in buckets of ice water to keep himself awake. Oy! And you thought the Hasidim were a little nutty. Today, I did a little Gaonic Torah study myself. Having walked the 20 minutes to class in a downpour, I arrived wet and cold and proceeded to study Torah and Mishna in that state. I got home 5 hours later quite awake and also badly in need of a warm shower. Ah the price we pay for some in-depth Torah learning!

Today we delved into some questions inherent in possibly the most difficult, most awesome and most important part of the Torah: Parsha Yitro which depicts revelation at Mt. Sinai.

We spent a long time looking at those Big Ten trying to decipher the reasoning of a mechilta d'rabbi yishmael who argues that there is a parallel between the 1st and 6th commandment, 2nd and 7th, 3rd and 8th, etc. Some of the comparisons are a bit more obvious than others. For example, the first commandment that asserts, "You shall have no other God's but me," is set juxtaposed to, "You shall not kill." There is something intuitive about how the destruction of human life (destruction of that which is created in the image of God) is also a desecration of The Divine directly.

The second commandment is a specific prohibition against creating idols and graven images which is set opposed to the prohibition against adultery. This too is somewhat intuitive: he who deals unfaithfully with people (in an adulterous way) will also deal unfaithfully with God, similar to idol worship.

I had a bit of trouble with the third parallel. The third commandment prohibits taking God's name in vain juxtaposed with the eighth commandment stipulating not to steal. In order to understand this relationship I harked back to a conversation I had in my mishna class a few weeks ago (referring to Mo'ed, chapt 1, mishna 6) where we talked about a time/world where speech carried an enormous amount of power. That specific mishna refers to the difference between "freewill offerings" and "vow offerings" and how an individual may or may not be liable for surety depending on which offering he gave. (I'm not going to get into the whole mishna here, ask if you want to learn more about it.) But basically my takeaway was that at the time of the redaction of the Mishna there was still a sense that proclaiming something so had some kind of actual power to make it so. Otherwise, what exactly are we doing when we pray for certain kinds of physical things? In this context, the comparison above makes a bit more sense. The mechilta says obliquely, "One who steals will end up swearing falsely." But I think it runs deeper than that. The act of stealing anothers' property is analogous to the false proclamation of truth in God's name; it is a figurative stealing of Emet.

The fourth commandment matchup pairs remembering shabbat with not bearing false witness. The mechilta explains that "forgetting" shabbat is akin to testifying that God did not create the world in 6 days and rested on the 7th. It is its own false witness to the creation of the world. This reasoning, while understandable, doesn't sit well with me because shabbat for me is imbued with so many other meanings, more than just testifying to God's creation. Maybe I take this one the most personally because it is the only commandment that I have the hardest time following. Also, it is a tough matchup because shabbat is not a universal law, but rather only applies to the Jewish people, but creation was clearly something for all humanity. Something still doesn't quite gel about this pair for me.

The fifth and final juxtaposition positions, "honor your mother and father," against "do not covet/desire that which isn't yours." In order for this one to work, one must make the leap from covetous desires to a kind of distasteful worship or honor that is outside the code of proper human behavior. Respecting one's parents is the symbol of good and proper conduct and covetous thoughts (or behavior) is a violation of that proper order of things. This one resonates powerfully for me and has some of the most important applicability for today where disrespect for parents, covetous behavior and a violation of the proper world order are all rampant in our lives.

Tu B'shvat

This shabbat marks the 15th of the month of shvat where we celebrate the "birthday of the trees" and yet another new year celebration. Thank God that Judaism gives us more than one New Year to get it right. We have the big Biblical one (the 1st of Nisan, right before Passover), the official one that gets a title "Rosh Hashana" (1st of Tishrey), and the beginning of tithing which is supposed to begin on the 1st of Elul. [Yes, Elul comes right before Tishrey so that year is really only one month long, but whatever.]

I think we can take from this that beginnings are intended to happen constantly and we cannot roll all our hopes and dreams and resolutions and confessions all into one. We're human and our tradition reflects that.

For your viewing pleasure, another Goldsworthy:


I'm definitely becoming more of a traditional environmentalist here and thinking more deeply about the impact that my life can have on the world in this regard. I think there are more yet unexploited opportunities for the Jewish community to be working on environmental protection, but I am proud that my parents' schul is using a "green consultant" to work with them on their upcoming expansion. I'm not sure what "A light unto the nations" really means, but I'm pretty confident that this is part of it.
Shabbat Shalom and Happy New Year [of the trees].
Blessings and almonds (after all, hashkeydia porachat)!