A New Year's Resolution

Last week was ראש השנה, and in Israel it literally represents the New Year. In the United States I always observed the holiday, but never really thought of it as my New Year, because in secular American society it is not. School is in full swing and the Jewish High Holy Days (ימים הנורים) represent a strange sort of interruption. They tend to fall at a time, for University students, when classes are just beginning to get difficult for the semester. Due dates for papers draw closer and research projects need their library time.

Here in Israel, the holiday is felt everywhere. The checkout lady at the supermarket wished everyone a Shanah Tovah, because the holiday is on everyone's mind. There is no feeling that the holiday crept up on you, because the world view here is centered around the Holiday cycle. Rosh Hashana is the last real day of summer for secular Israelis and often that means one last beach trip. Sounds strange to American Jews, but for some reason it seems to fit in my mind. I was in services all day, but I could understand how a secular Israeli might want to streatch their summer just one more day. The Shabbat after Rosh Hashanah is traditionally an extra large party. It makes sense to me as well, because the New Years (Jan 1st) is always a large party. Why not celebrate the last few hours the last year and rejoice in the year to come?

I hosted two friends for Rosh Hashanah and we decided to Shul hop around Jerusalem's many options. I attended HUC for Erev Rosh Hashanah and found it to be a carbon copy of every other Reform High Holiday service I had ever been to. There was a large operatic choir singing the prayers to beautiful tunes, and each cantorial student had at least one solo. The cantorial students have been running around like their collective hair was on fire for the last month preparing. It was nice, but I'm in Israel and couldn't pass up the opportunity to see as much as possible.

I ducked out of HUC after the Torah reading on Rosh Hashanah day 1 and headed quickly for Har-El. While they have a well trained operatic cantor, the whole service had a much different feel. The entirety of the service was in Hebrew, it is an Israeli Reform shul after all. I arrived just in time to pray Mussaf with the congregation, a part of the service not included in most American Reform Synagogues. The service ended with B'shana Ha'baah, an Israeli folk tune who's title literally means 'Next Year.' Its a song of hope and decidedly secular. Singing that song at the end of Rosh Hashanah services reminded me why I love the Israeli Reform Movement, an amazing blend of old and new.

On day 2 of Rosh Hashanah my friends and I went to the Jerusalem Great Synagogue for Scharit services. Because I was hosting to women, they sat in the balcony and had a much better view than I did. It is a spectacular view and an amazing place. The whole shul is designed to be acoustically perfect for the Chazzan (service leader.) He stands facing the Ark and sings, accompanied by an all male operatic choir, and without the aid of a microphone all 2,000 people can hear his wonderful voice. The service is decidely Orthodox in its leaning, but it was a unique exprience. The Chazzan there will be retiring after this Yom Kippur and I had to see him lead services once before then.

After Shacharit we wandered a block down the street to the Conservative Yeshivah to catch Mussaf. It was a more egalitarian type service, but still had its times when the Chazzanit (female service leader) allowed the participants to go their own pace. The Sermon was very interesting and seemed to come from the heart. Its rare to see a Rabbi speak without notes, in my experience, but he spoke eloquently. The theme was one of T'shuva (repentance) and specifically the Ramban's teachings about it.

After the whole experience we walked back to my apartment to nosh a bit and then we walked over to the Kotel in the old city. There were a lot of tourists out. I joked they were 'watching the Jew in his natural environment.' (Use the National Geographic narrator in your head for that line.) My friends and I decided to pray Mincha service together just outside the gate to the Kotel plaza, so we could pray in mixed company. Then we headed down to the Kotel to say our own prayers. As I entered the Kotel area, a group of 20 something Modern Orthodox men asked me to pray with them. They already had a minyan, so the gesture was one of pure hospitality. How could I refuse? Orthodox Mincha service takes roughly 10 minutes and these boys were no exception. As we concluded with the Mourners Kaddish I turned to leave and meet my friends back in the plaza. One of the men grabbed my arm and said, stay and sing with us. Once again how could I refuse? Their voices weren't operatic, but something about the way we sat and sang next to the Kotel was magical. I really felt the depth of faith these young men had. Beautiful is an understated adjative for this situation.

When I finally left to go with my friends, they told me they loved listening to that 'wonderful group of singers over on the men's side.' I couldn't help but blush that I had been part of it, but it was an amazing experience to be a part of it. What a wonderful New Year celebration I had.

Now for the Resolution...I've gotten pretty sloppy about keeping up with you all through the blog and through all the various other forms of communication I have available. I'm going to do my best to change that.

I hope you all had a wonderful New Year. לשנה טובה!

P.S. If I have wronged you in the past year please find it in your heart not just to forgive me, but to email me so that I can try to make amends.

A Post....

So it has been quite awhile since my last post. I'm not even quite sure what I last wrote about, but here's an update on my life.

I've now been in Israel/Abroad (note 4 weeks in Europe) for about 300 some days or about 10 months. Up until I got to HUC life was fairly simple...there was a goal and my whole being was focused on that goal. Getting into HUC was not an easy task for me and I finally did it.

I'm now about a week away from being finished with HUC's summer Ulpan session. I started the session in the Daled level of Hebrew, but now I am in Gimmel. The reason for the switch was my achillies heel: reading. I'm still not quite where I want to be with it, but hey I can pretty much function in this society with my speaking. Take the strengths with the weaknesses.

The Ulpan has been an interesting experience, especially coming from a totally different kind of Hebrew learning. Academically it is far more challenging here, but the Kibbutz Ulpan system forces students to live a life in Hebrew. My co-workers at the Kibbutz didn't speak enough English to even greet me in the morning, and here we are all North American or native English speakers. Holding down a conversation in Hebrew with other HUC students isn't always easy, but we all try our best.

We've also started a Biblical History survey class. Its essentially a two part class with lectures on Wednesday night and Trips on Thursday. Its an interesting concept for a class. Discuss the Philistines and their cities on Wednesday night and actually go to them on Thursday. The professors mostly come from archeology backgrounds and have incredibly interesting insights into the biblical texts. Nothing is taken for granted when they read the bible.

Other than that, my life is pretty much a gigantic ball of frustration. Its mostly directed at the fact that my student loans are now about a month and a half late. This fact alone makes me want to tear out my hair on some occasions. (Good thing I've got a short haircut.) Its making it difficult for me to function here as it is constantly on my mind. I've been told its just a paperwork miss shuffle, but that doesn't make me feel any better. Everyone tells me to have patience and I'm trying. I refuse to yell at anyone on the phone or here in Israel. It just won't do any good so I'm trying to keep calm. My new friends/classmates have been a great help.

In other news around Israel...

Brett finally graduated from his combat medic training course. Its one of the most difficult courses in the Israeli Army and he finished in the top 25% of his class. Not bad for a guy who's Hebrew is admittdly not so strong. I went to the ceremony where he recieved his pin. It was quite something to see him there. He even got a big hug from his commander. After the ceremony I went up to his Kibbutz to celebrate with him. It was also his Kibbutz's 60 birthday so there was a great deal of celebrating. I got to see a movie about the Kibbutz, a show about the founding, and even a concert. It was also the day the new Garin moved to the Kibbutz, thus compounding the good things.

I swear that as soon as I get internet working well enough in my apartment, I will post the 1000 or so pictures of Europe on the Internet.

Till next time folks...

Shabbat in Jerusalem

So I know its been awhile since my last blog, but I'm gonna give you all a quick update...

I landed back in Israel on 6/7/08, please note that this is the European date and not the American date. (In Europe its Day/Month/Year.) Anyway, I landed in Tel Aviv and spent the night in an air conditioned dormitory at Hayarkon 48. (Israel's most famous Hostel.) It was an uneventful night with not much to talk about.

When I arrived in Jerusalem on the 7th, life became a whirlwind of activity. I've gotten a new cellphone and am looking for a place to live permanently. Its been quite crazy. There's all sorts of new things to do and many challenges await.

I still need to:

Get my Student Loans to come through.
Get a Student Visa for Israel
Get a Place to live permanently
Get class schedules
Buy books
Generally get myself in school mode

Its going to be an interesting few weeks and I'm looking forward to the challenge.

Tonight is my first Shabbat as an HUC student and I've waited for this for a long time. I hope you all have a Good Shabbos!

Lag B'Omer

So tonight begins one of my favorite holidays: Lag B'Omer! If you're counting the Omer, you can check to see what day it is on my blog or my sister's blog. (Our Dad wrote the code for her counter.) Lag B'Omer is the middle day of the counting of the Omer. It's a special day during the counting because you are allowed to do many of the things normally forbidden during the Omer. You can:

Get Married (One day only!)
Listen to Music (Some of my favorite bands just came out with new CDs!)
Shave your beard (Maybe you don't want to if you're still growing your Hockey Playoff Beard.)

In Israel Lag B'Omer is a day of picnics and huge bonfires. I'm a little sad to be missing it, but I'm pretty sure I'll get to experience it next year. Tonight I'm going to be shaving my beard and cutting my hair...look for some before and after pictures both here and at my sister's blog!

Happy Lag B'Omer!

Heathrow

That's right folks I'm no longer in Israel. I'm currently sitting in the departures area at Heathrow International Airport just outside of London England. Today was an eventful day to say the least.

Lets begin the story with yesterday evening, when I made one of the most colosal mistakes of my life (at least regarding travel.) I mistook a 1AM flight for the wrong day and completely missed my flight to Chicago. In any other airport in the world I would have been screwed. In Israel, the free Wifi access in the whole airport saved me. I mangaged to skype my way to Orbitz's customer service and cash out my ticket for the full amount (minus an 'airline fee' of $100.) Then using Orbitz website I booked a new flight imediately but this one was through London with an 11 hour layover. Hence why I'm writing from England.

Anyway with all of that taken care of at the airport I headed to Tel-Aviv in the hopes that I could stay with friends. That didn't pan out so I instead headed back to Jerusalem. Luckily the busses still run at 12am from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem.

Anyway I ended up back at Ben Gurion Airport at around 3pm this afternoon. Through security and the rediculously large duty free shopping I finally got on a plane bound for London.

On the flight I met a very nice Israeli man who spoke no English. What Luck! I ended up translating every cabin annoucment and word spoken by the flight attendants. It was amazing and a fun way to flex my Hebrew skills. Turns out his son lives here in London and works in Security at the Airport. (Yeah I know it seems so typical, but its often true.) His son just had a baby boy and my new traveling companion was on his way to meet his first grandson for his brit. The flight was largely uneventful other than that.

When I arrived in Heathrow I found the airport to be almost completely deserted. The shops are all closed and most of the services aren't working. When I spoke to the hotel booking agent at the airport he explained to me that all available beds at the airport hotel were taken. Even if I could get one they cost 360 GBP per night! (Multiply that by 2 to get the USD amount!)

Anyway I took the underground to my terminal for tomorrow morning's flight and found a vaguely comfortable place to spend the next 6 or so hours before I can check in. While sitting here I've met another Israeli. Turns out speaking Hebrew is a great asset when traveling around the world. He and I have been talking about life in general for the last hour.

He's quite an interesting fellow. He was born in Haifa, but lives in Omaha now. Both of his children are 'American' and are going to college at Indiana and Illinois. Crazy to meet another Hebrew speaker so randomly.

This is essentially my first shot at backpacking in Europe. Yeah its been largely unsuccessful as I haven't even left the airport, but at least I have a stamp from England on my passport. That makes three foreign stamps: England, Israel, and Jordan. (Quick side note: Jordan's visa takes up a whole page and I was only there fora bout 10 hours!)

Anyway I'll be getting this posted after I land in the USA.

Israeli Holidays

So in Israel there are three major holidays clustered around the end of Pesach. These three holidays are also celebrated in the rest of the world, but they have special meaning here in Israel. These three holidays are Yom Zikaron HaShoah, Yom HaZikaron, and Yom Ha'atzmaut.

Yom Zikaron HaShoah is the day of rememberance for the Shoah (Holocaust.) It started on the night of May 1st this year. I stayed at the Kibbutz for the holiday so I got to see the way the Kibbutz commemorates this very important day. On Revivim there was a ceremony of about 45 minutes. At 8pm everyone assembled in the אולם תרבות (Literally: Cultural Hall) for the ceremony. The ceremony was poetry written by survivors and victims of the Holocaust. There were a few songs as well. The whole ceremony ended with אלי אלי (Eli Eli) by Chana Shenesh. I've heard the song many times in my life, but this time it was different. I can't really describe it, but it was somehow more powerful.

Yom HaZikaron is the Israeli version of memorial day. In the United States, Memorial day is a day of barbecues, sales at retail stores, and generally a pleasant day off. In Israel, a country where violent conflict is unfortunately sometimes a daily reality, Memorial day is a very important day. The television stations (even the cable ones) are all turned off. The ones that are still broadcasting only show names of Israel's fallen soldiers. This year the holiday started on the evening of May 7th. At Revivim there is a short program beginning at 8pm. It began with the air raid sirens. All of Israel heard these sirens across the State and stood in silence until it ended. The ceremony was much like the the Shoah memorial. There were poems written by soldiers and songs sung. The somber attitude was punctuate by the reading of the names. The list of names read at Revivim's memorial were the sons and daughters who fell during Israel's conflicts. Most of Revivim's soldiers who have fallen in conflict fell during the Independence war. Most fell defending the road junction just outside Revivim. They literally fell defending their homes and land.

The next day, after the ceremony, I was at work when the Sirens again sounded at 10am. Once again everyone in the country stopped and stood in place at attention in a moment of silence. I actually burned the turkey I was cooking on the grill because of the timing, but I didn't care one bit. To honor the soldiers who have fallen in defense of Israel is way more important than anything else I could have been doing.

The end of Yom HaZikaron merges seamlessly into Yom Ha'atzmaut: Israeli Independence Day. This year was a very special year to be in Israel. May 15th 1948 David Ben-Gurion announced to the world the establishment of the State of Israel. May 8th 2008 was the 60th anniversary of that momentous day. Last night around 5pm I got on a bus, and headed to Tel-Aviv to see the program and concert at Kikar Rabin (Rabin Square.) I have no idea how many people were there, but it was packed. My friends and I stood and listened to the concert and watched the spectacular fireworks and light show. My friends were a bit lost with the musical aspect, but I knew a lot of the songs sang that night. When HaTikvah (התקוה) was played I was moved to tears. Imagine it, 60 years of Israel and I got to be here for the day. It was a wild and crazy party and who could blame the average Israeli for being ecstatic about their home turning 60!

We returned to Revivim the same night. (We actually got home at around 3am.) Exhausted from the trip and the party we all fell into bed. When I woke up this afternoon, the Kibbutz barbecue was already in full swing. I spent the day eating, playing volley ball, and generally lounging around the Kibbutz pool. It was a great way to spend the holiday. As a side note, the Kibbutz had a program while I was away in Tel-Aviv. During the program the showed a video that had been filmed througout the Kibbutz over the last year. Apparently I was in this video and I'm trying to get a copy, more updates about that later.

I think that the best part about all of these celebrations and commemorations was my Hebrew level. When I went to Kikar Rabin for the memorial of Rabin's assassination, I understood very little of the ceremony. Over the last week and a half at every ceremony I was surprised at how much I understood. While Ulpan may not have been successful for everyone here at Revivim, It certainly was for me.

Looking forward to seeing all of my readers soon when I come visit the states.

Pesach Two Ways (Part II)

So with all the amazing experiences I had in Jerusalem for my first few days of Pesach, returning to the Kibbutz was a strange slap back into reality...

Returning to the Kibbutz meant one thing: Work. Without class during Pesach, the Kibbutz decided that each Ulpanist got only 3 days off. I got Friday, Sunday, and Monday off, so on Tuesday morning I was in the kitchen working. It was not what I would call the best way to spend a Pesach, but it was pretty much my only choice. I tried to make the best of it, but most of the other Ulpanists took their vacation's sporatically throughout the week leaving mostly a very small group to socialize with. I studied, I ran, and I went to be early. It was pretty boring, but that's not really what this post is about.

During Pesach its very important to me to keep as close to Kosher (for Pesach) as humanly possible. In college I cleaned my entire kitchen and even boiled my utensils and cookware. Sure it was a hassle, but it was important to me to be close to chamez free. Here at the Kibbutz that was pretty much impossible. The kitchen did almost nothing to clean for pesach. In fact many of the things which they cooked were the standard Kibbutz fare. Breaded schnitzle was still served, along with pasta, rice, corn, and coos coos. There was matzoh put out where the bread is normally, but it was right next to the bread.

I'm a fairly easy going guy and none of this would normally faze me. However, I felt like the only one who was keeping Kosher for Pesach on the Kibbutz. It was, needless to say, a difficult experience.

More to come later about the upcoming holidays: Holocaust Rememberance Day, Memorial Day, and Israel's Independence day (YAY 60 YEARS!)