Sunday, November 4, 2012

Beautiful Jerusalem

Since I've mostly been settling into a normal routine of class, class, eat, class, class, eat, shabbat (eat, pray, eat, pray), class... etc, I thought I would do a different kind of post.

By the time I get home at night, I'm usually completely wiped out and ready to relax or go to bed. But I've been wanting to exercise, so I wake up early in the morning and run/jog/walk for a few miles. The first time I did this, I was amazed at how empty the city seemed. The only people around were the ones cleaning the stores and restaurants on Emek Refaim, or a few other joggers and dog-walkers. I got to the end of my route and realized the infamous windmill was just another block or so, and there was a beautiful view from the promenade next to it. I got to the top as the sun was just rising above the Judean hills surrounding Jerusalem. The color of the sunrise itself was beautiful, but the way the sun reflected off of the Jerusalem stone was absolutely breathtaking. I snapped a photo of the sunrise and the windmill. It was really incredible, and I personally believe a Jerusalem sunrise is something everyone should experience at least once in their lifetime.

On my way back home, I was thinking how nice it was to be able to jog and not yell "slicha" (excuse me) at the hoardes of slow-moving, fast-talking Israelis, and how grateful I was to be able to appreciate the beauty of Jerusalem at my own pace. Then as I reflected more, I wondered what it is that makes Jerusalem so beautiful and special. Is Jerusalem inherently beautiful on its own with the Jerusalem stone, the pomegranate, olive, and fig trees, the hills and the sunrises/sunsets? Or is it the people that make up this crazy, frustrating, insane, illogical, yet somehow magical city, that makes it something amazing?

I think it's the people. True, they have no concept of waiting in a line or opening a bank at normal hours. But when you say "Shabbat Shalom" to the owner of the makolet (mini-grocery store) and he says "AMEN AMEN u'l'kol am yisrael" (and to all the people of Israel) with a giant grin on his face, as he looks up from the page of Talmud he studies when he has no customers, its hard to see this city, and the people in it, as anything but beautiful. I am so incredibly thankful to be here and having all of these wonderful experiences.

Another brief "Beautiful Jerusalem" experience: on Friday, one of my classes took a walking tour around parts of Jerusalem, and while we were stopped in a courtyard, an elderly man (at least 95!) came up to us and said he would open the Museum of Psalms especially for us for 5 minutes so we could look around. It turns out the man was a Holocaust survivor from Hungary who began painting upon arrival to Israel. He does incredible, vivid paintings of the various Psalms from the Bible - they are really truly amazing to see.

On a final note, since it is Movember (men grow moustaches, raise awareness and funds to fight cancer affecting men), I'm helping to raise money in honor of all the amazing men in my life. If you'd like to donate or learn more, click HERE :-)

Love and miss y'all... if anyone wants to send me a care package full of reduced-fat white cheddar cheez-its, hershey candy cane kisses, blue trident gum, ziplock bags of varying sizes, febreeze, lysol wipes, and a swiffer wet-jet... I wouldn't complain. Just sayin...
XOXO

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Holidays, Vacations, and more!

Shalom friends and family! From Rosh Hashanah until Sukkot we were without internet at the house, hence the lapse in blog posts. Anyways, it's back now (after a long and frustrating process) so I'll try to summarize everything that's been happening in my life in the past few weeks.

1) Yom Kippur in Israel... quite the experience. Almost everyone was wearing white, and people walk everywhere in the streets because there are no cars at all on the roads in Jerusalem. Kids were also riding bicycles and scooters... right after Kol Nidre it was absolute insanity and made for some awesome people watching!! One of the highlights of Yom Kippur for me was at the very end of Neilah, after fasting for 25 hours, when we began to sing "L'Shana Haba'ah B'Yirushalaim" (Next Year in Jerusaelm) and realizing that, after 25 years of longing to live in Jerusalem, I was finally here and doing it. Everyone in the room was filled with so much energy and enthusiasm to be there, even after a long day of fasting and praying. It was a wonderful experience. My roommates and I then hosted a break the fast potluck in our backyard and had a great time with our Pardes friends.

2) Tiberius... Since my friends and I couldn't find cheap travel deals outside of Israel, 5 of us found a relatively inexpensive weekend at a spa in Tiberius (along the Sea of Galilee/Kinneret) and decided to go for a girls' weekend. It's about 3 hours away from Jerusalem and is kind of like the Jersey Shore, complete with a boardwalk and disco cruise. It was so interesting... there wasn't a lot to do there but we explored a local nightclub, drank wine on the beach with Israelis, and generally relaxed and enjoyed the pool for a few days. Here's a picture of some of us in front of the Kinneret after a long day at the pool!!

3) Sukkot... Sukkot in Israel is really amazing, all over the place little temporary booths pop up - almost every apartment with a porch, balcony, or yard has one, and restaurants build them on the streets for people to eat in for the week. Everyone gets invited to friends' houses for meals and parties, and it's a really social holiday. I also got to visit my family in Beitar Illit for a few days while the whole family was in town, so it was really nice. (For my non-Jewish friends: Sukkot is a harvest festival where we construct temporary shelters like the Israelites did in the desert and "live" in them for 7 days.) At the end of Sukkot is Simchat Torah, where we celebrate the end of Deuteronomy and start again at Genesis. There was a lot of revelry and fun to be had by all.

I've also discovered the Malkha Mall which is about 10 minutes away by bus... possibly the best/worst thing that could have happened to me this year. Anyways, hopefully my precious Seminoles will recover from our devastating loss and be back on top in no time, and I look forward to making a new blog post in the next few weeks!!

XOXO!!

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Being Cool and Staying in School!

Hello friends and family!! I've finally started school, and it's been keeping me so busy I haven't had time to update my blog. So, here's the past two weeks in a nutshell: 1)SO MUCH LEARNING 2)SO MANY NEW FRIENDS!

School: It's been a combination of challenging and rewarding so far. I finally switched my classes around so that I'm happy with my schedule. I'm taking a class on Genesis, the "Megillot" (Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther), one morning of Mishna (Jewish Oral Law), Turning Points in Modern Jewish History, a "Parshat HaShavua" (Torah portion of the week) class which is ALL IN HEBREW, AHHHH!, a Rabbinic Thought class, and a Teaching Prayer class. I'm also taking a class on Trope (how to chant the Torah), a Chasidut class, and a class about "Neviim Rishonim" (First Prophets - Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings). Needless to say, I am busy and exhausted and my brain hurts after a long day (sometimes 8:30am-9pm) but it's been lots of fun so far. As everyone keeps saying, "all beginnings are hard," but I'm really enjoying myself so far.

Friends and other adventures: We had a Shabbaton (weekend-long retreat) for the whole school and I really bonded with a lot of people over the weekend. Everyone is so nice and so welcoming, and I'm having so much fun. I've really been enjoying getting to explore Jerusalem the past few weeks. The Ben Yehuda Street area has TONS to do - bars, shops, frozen yogurt... the essentials. It's about a 15-minute bus ride from where I live and there's always a new friend who wants to go hang out down there. There's also a great street close to where I live, about a 5-10 minute walk, which is a fun place to go and obviously much closer to home. For Shabbat and holidays I've been getting to go to lots of different friends' houses for meals and go to lots of different styles of services, which has been fun.

Sukkot is coming up, which means a nice long break from school. Originally, I was planning on traveling with a few other girls and hoping to get a last-minute deal to Turkey, Spain, Italy, or Greece, but we can't seem to find anything cheap enough :( so I think I may end up going to this festival in the desert for a few days just to get out of Jerusalem for a bit. I'm sure whatever I end up doing, I'll have a good time :)

Miss y'all so so much, and I'm really wishing I could be with everyone at Doak this weekend to watch the Noles dominate Clemson... but I do know that this is right where I'm supposed to be for the next year!! Wishing everyone a Happy New Year, and GO FSU!!!!


Friday, August 31, 2012

life is about to get busy!!

Even though classes don't officially start until Sunday, the past two weeks have been really busy... So I'll just run briefly through the highlights :-) And, if you want to "subscribe" and get my posts right to your inbox, let me know your email address and I'll add you!

1) Experience at an Ethiopian Church in Jerusalem... one of the most unique and unforgettable experiences I've had yet! We were able to enter for a few minutes, after removing our shoes, and they were in the middle of a prayer service. The men were chanting and drumming (I thought of my friend Kufert who loves drumming!) and the church was circular, so we started walking around the perimeter. There were rugs covering the floor and several pictures on walls, columns, propped up next to walls, in nooks and crannies... almost all of them depicted Jesus, and I thought it was really interesting that Jesus was portrayed as white in an African Church. We were then asked to leave because we weren't dressed modestly enough (oops) but it was a truly unforgettable experience. 

2) Jerusalem Beer Festival... Ironically in Hebrew this is called "beera b'ira" (the word for "beer" and "in the city" sound the same, so clever). I went with a friend of mine and we tasted beers from around Israel and around the world - including Brooklyn Lager ("TASTES LIKE AMERICA AND FREEDOM" we said!). We also played a fun game called "American, Israeli, or Russian" where we tried to guess the nationalities of other festival-goers. We deduced that based on fashion choices it was easy to tell where someone came from. Later that night, my friend Melissa from Tallahassee was visiting for a conference and needed a place to stay, so she crashed with me and I introduced her to Jerusalem night life (and chocolate rugelach the next morning!). 

3) Academically (aka the biggest reason I'm here)... I finished Hebrew classes! Am I fluent? Far from it. Am I a lot more comfortable speaking Hebrew, conjugating verbs, and smiling at cute Israeli men? Absolutely. I took a 3-day prereq course about the siddur (prayerbook) which was tons of information to process but was fascinating for the most part. I also got placed into my Torah and Talmud (another body of Jewish literature/laws) classes in the "gimel" (3rd) level, so hopefully it will be challenging and interesting. I've met so many people in the past few days because of various orientations, and everyone in the program is amazing. I'm so excited and grateful to get to spend the next year here :-) Classes officially begin Sunday morning, so I'm sure I'll have lots to report next week.

4) New apartment!! This past week we moved out of our old apartment into a new one (and gained another roommate). This one is technically in the "Katamon" area of Jerusalem but it's right on the border of Baka. It's about 10 minutes away from my school, 5-10 minutes to Emek Rafaim, the busy street with restaurants, shops, and bars, and it's close to some major bus lines. The rooms are small but the living room/kitchen area is HUGE and it has a really nice yard shared by everyone in the building. We definitely plan on entertaining this year!!!

Obviously a lot more than that has happened but those are some of the bigger things that stand out to me. I hope y'all have a Shabbat Shalom, a good weekend, and most importantly GO NOLES!!!! I'll be wearing my garnet and gold in honor of FSU tomorrow. XOXO!


Friday, August 17, 2012

week numero dos

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My second week here in Israel has been just as fun and crazy as the first. New hebrew word of the week: "balagan" which means chaos/craziness/insanity. I've moved up another level in my Intensive Hebrew class, which is great, but I still don't feel confident using my Hebrew on the streets. I keep reminding myself I've only been here two weeks, and the longer I'm here the more comfortable I'll feel. Also, I am so relieved to have a social life here! I feel like I've done more and seen more people in the past two weeks than I did in the two years in Minneapolis... feels good to be busy again!!

Last Thursday, I went to Tel Aviv to see my friend Julie... we had a blast and did so much in the 24 hours I was there. We had dinner and drinks in Florentine, which is a really young and hip(ster) part of town - and lots of Americans! The next morning, we went out for Israeli breakfast - SHAKSHUKA!! This is easily one of my favorite foods. It's a spicy tomato-pepper-garlic "sauce"with eggs. SO GOOD! Breakfast in Israel is usually accompanied by veggies, cheeses, olives, dips/spreads, and bread. YUM! After breakfast, we walked around Nachlaot Benyamin, a craft fair, but it was hot so then we walked around Dizengoff Center (giant mall) for the rest of the day.

Friday night, my roommate and I hosted Shabbat dinner for two of the girls in our program... it was delicious and fun. Saturday morning, I went to my family's synagogue... it was a nice walk, and most of the small side roads were deserted (observant Jews don't drive from Friday night-Saturday night). Services were nice, and I went back to my family's house for lunch. I also got to meet my cousin, Tami - she's been here this past year, and just went back to the states - but we overlapped for a week and I really enjoyed getting to know her. 

Saturday afternoon, I went to see a few of my MN kids here on a summer program, it was great to see them and hear about their trip. After Shabbat, I went out for Sushi Rehavia (delicious sushi chain) with my friend Scott and some of his friends. We then went out for a drink, but Sunday is a work/school day so we weren't out too late. 

Sunday night, cousin Tami and I met up with some of our mutual friends (such a small Jewish world!) for the Balabasta Festival at the shuk (outdoor market). It was really neat to see so much performance art - there were musicians, people actively making art on balconies, dancers, and lots of people - this is where the word "balagan" is useful to describe the scene at the shuk. Wednesday night was Tami's going away party, and I met a few more people who will be in Israel for the year - more friends to hang out with, yay!

Last night, I had a delicious dinner with my friend Evelyn, who recently made Aliyah (moved permanently to Israel). It was great to catch up and see her. 

Tonight, I'm going to a potluck dinner, and who knows whats in store for the rest of the week! :-) Missing my friends and family so much, but I'm having a wonderful time here. 

my first week went a little like this...


Hebrew word of the week: m’an’yen which means interesting. That’s a good way to describe my first week here. I will share that one of the funniest things that happened to me so far is that I washed my clothes in floor cleaner (in my defense, it was on top of the washing machine, looked exactly like a bottle of detergent, and smelled like flowers). My clothes are a bit stiff but no worse for the wear. For now, I am taking Ulpan classes (intensive Hebrew) and I’m happy to announce that I’ve already moved up a level in both my vocab and verbs… but my brain hurts after class every day!
Anyways… when I got off the plane, my cousins picked me up from the airport and I found out I had another new cousin!! What a great way to be welcomed into Israel. After one night in Betar Illit with my family, I wanted to get settled in to my apartment in Jerusalem. My roommate and I went exploring and enjoyed getting lost on the streets of Jerusalem.
Friday, I had lunch with my friend Scott who is here for a year at HUC Rabbinical School. It was wonderful to see a friendly face and I look forward to seeing lots more of him!! Then, I went back to Betar Illit to spend Shabbat with my family.
My trip there was interesting. To get there, you have to pass through tunnels which run next to an Arab village. In the past, there have been some issues with villagers shooting at cars coming out of the tunnels. My taxi driver kept telling me “Aravim lo tov” (Arabs are not good) and making shooting noises. In my limited Hebrew I attempted to tell him that while I agreed shooting was bad, it didn’t mean all Arabs are bad and I have several Arab friends who are nice and didn’t want to hurt Jews, but either he didn’t understand my broken Hebrew or he didn’t want to. I knew that one young American girl wouldn’t change the mind of a stubborn old man, but I do have Arab friends who are able to see both sides of the conflict and who know violence only begets more hatred and violence. I wish more people were willing to look at the human beings on both sides of the conflict and not just “Arabs” or “Jews” or whatever.*le sigh*
Despite a disturbing taxi ride, once I arrived my Shabbat was filled with lots of food, cute kids, family, food, reading, food, and rest… exactly what a Shabbat should be. After Shabbat ended I went to visit other family who happens to live very close to me in Jerusalem - it was great to see my cousins and their three kids!! I look forward to spending next Shabbat in Jerusalem with them.
Tuesday night, I went into the Old City to see my friend from college, Carly. She and her husband (and their adorable daughter) are studying here. We had dinner at Burger Bar, which was delicious. Afterwards we went down to the Kotel (Western Wall) to pray. As we were walking towards the wall, I could hear the evening call of prayer from Al-Aqsa Mosque. Despite some people seeming so intolerant, there is an undeniable beauty to the fact that two opposing cultures and religions were praying to the same God, in the same place, at the same time. Yet people choose to focus on what divides them than on what they have in common. I know the issues run much deeper than that, but it is still upsetting. 
This morning I went to the new baby’s bris (circumcision ceremony) and had a great time seeing my family again. I’ve also experienced the Central Bus Station (twice), the shuk (outdoor marketplace), and Ben-Yehuda street. Tomorrow after class, I’m going to TEL AVIV (yayyyyyy) for the night to see my friend Julie (and her boyfriend and puppies!!). I’m really excited to see her and be in Tel Aviv, even if I am only there for a night. 
Thats all for now, sorry if the post was really long but I’ve been really busy!!! I’ll try to keep the next ones shorter :-) Love and miss my American (and all-around-the-globe) friends and family!!!

my next move...


Hello friends and family! As many of you know, I’ve decided to move to Israel for a year. Why did I decide this and what will I be doing? First, I came to this decision after hours of contemplating if I should leave a job I love in order to pursue something I’ve always wanted to do. I absolutely love my job, but I’m not particularly attached to living in Minnesota. Since I was little, I can remember wanting to live in Israel. Throughout my adult life, I’ve consistently tried to make it happen but something always fell through. I finally decided that the older I get, the harder it will be for me to pick up and move to another country for a year. As the wise Rabbi Hillel said, “If not now, then when?” and who am I to ignore sagely wisdom like that? So, that led me on a quest for the perfect way to spend a year in a place that I love.
After several programs that were almost-right, the perfect program actually found me! After applying to the Pardes Year Course, they took one look at my resume and saw I was a Jewish Education junkie and contacted me, saying I should apply to this special program. It is an offshoot of their Educator’s Program (which gets you a Masters at the end of two years), but since I already have my Masters in Teaching, this is a program where I can fill in the gaps in my knowledge in Tanakh, Talmud, (for all my non-Jewish friends, this is Jewish texts - our bible, commentaries, laws, etc) and take a few classes with the Educator’s Program cohort. This is the perfect next step to help me realize my goal of becoming a day school teacher. 
I’ll start August 5 with a three-week intensive Hebrew class, and then my Pardes classes will begin September 2. All in all, I am a huge mixture of emotions right now. Most of all I’m excited, but I am also nervous (especially for how I will get all my clothes for a year in two suitcases weighing less than 50lbs each!!), thankful (most especially to my parents and grandparents who are so incredibly supportive), and bittersweet. As I said, I love my job and the kids I work with, and it will be really hard to leave my friends and family in America for a full year. However, this is an incredible opportunity and I can’t wait to see what this next adventure has in store for me. I’ll try to post every other week or so to keep y’all up to date with my adventures!!