Saturday, December 27, 2008

St. Louis

I arrived home in St. Louis this afternoon safe and sound, althoguh I am definitely tired now. I have a number of updates that still need to be posted to the blog and they will be in the next day or two. Now, it is time for sleep.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Off to the airport - L'hitraot Yisrael!

I am off to the airport shortly. It has been a wonderful time in Israel and I will miss this amazing country and the wonderful people I have met here. I hope that we can all be reunited again.

This is not the end of the blog. I still have several posts that I need to make from this past week. I will do that either at Ben Gurion Airport or in Newark or at home in St. Louis. Hopefully, all of the flights go smoothly and waiting in the airports is not too horrible.

I'm excited to see my family and friends, but will miss Israel.

L'hitraot Yisrael! Ani ohev otach!

Sunday, December 21, 2008

A Last Email From Israel

Shalom m’Yisrael,

This will likely be the last time you will see me starting an email with “hello from Israel” while I am studying abroad. Time flies. I just realized that I haven’t written since Thanksgiving. A lot has happened since then. In four days from now, I will be at Ben-Gurion Airport preparing for my flight back to the United States. In five days, I’ll be home. It’s a little insane and I definitely do not have enough time to do everything I still would like to do.

Here are some highlights from the past few weeks. For more details, check out my blog at http://joelportman.blogspot.com.

- On Thanksgiving, we went to a large empty area, made a bonfire, and cooked a one pot meal. It was good, but not the usual Thanksgiving. I later found out that the area was an illegal dump and the wood we were burning was collected from the area.

- I have been to the Old City of Be’er Sheva a number of times. Including Falafal Yarok, which may be the best falafel stand in Israel. On Friday, I saw several yarmulke wearing Jews selling dancing Santas and fake Christmas trees. That was amusing.

- I went on a tour of the Air Force Museum, which was pretty awesome. Besides the planes one would expect to see, they also had anti-aircraft weaponry, remains of Israeli destroyed Egytian planes, and a bird zoo. Explain that one to me. On the way there, we found an amazing shwarma stand that I have since returned to.

- We went on an Overseas Student Program trip to Mitzpe Ramon and hiked a lot in and around the giant crater. We stood in a sort of hippie dance place in not-quite mud huts.

- My birthday! I turned 21 on December 8. They brought me a cake in my Hebrew class. In the afternoon we went to Falafel Yarok and then got fresh fruit smoothies. About 22 of us got together and went to a great restaurant. They brought us tons of salads and other fun things that they kept refilling. I also got a lamb kabob. We then went to a pub/bar near campus and later to a student party at a club. It was fun and most of the people on my program came to at least something with me which was really nice.

- We had a walking trip around the Old City with Ora, my Hebrew teacher, who explained to us some sights in Hebrew. We then went back to her house where she made us a delicious lunch.

- We had a farewell dinner for the learning program I’ve been doing at a nice restaurant called Jerusalem’s in the Government Center Mall one night and the next night had a farewell dinner for the Overseas Student Program at the best Indian restaurant in Israel.

- Last weekend I was in Jerusalem for Shabbat. It was my last visit to Jerusalem during this time in Israel and I visited the Kotel (Western Wall) where a Hassidic guy told me I could move to Israel and he would find me a wife to make/raise a family with. This Shabbat I spent in Be’er Sheva.

I have a lot to do before I leave Israel. I still have places that I want to see that I will not be able to see. When we got to Be’er Sheva, I figured there would be things that I would do and then have nothing to see in the city. There aren’t a ton of sightseeing places in the city, but I still haven’t seen them all. I also have to finish papers and study for tests, go to class, take tests, see people, clean, pack, etc.

I am going to miss this place and the people. I am finally starting to use my Hebrew with Israelis and becoming a part of the society. I’m leaving soon and I could definitely spent more time here.

For those of you that are wondering, I get back to St. Louis on December 26 and leave for Denver on January 4 in time for classes on January 5.

Hanukah started tonight. I want to thank all of you who have written me and/or read my blog while I’ve been in Israel. Happy Hanukah and Merry Christmas to everyone and a Happy New Year as well.

B’Shalom,

Joel Portman

P.S. Here are links to pictures for those of you who are interested:
Israeli Air Force Museum - http://picasaweb.google.com/mazeltovjp/Israel16IsraeliAirForceMuseum
Mitzpe Ramon & Hiking Trip - http://picasaweb.google.com/mazeltovjp/Israel17OSPMitzpeRamonHikingTrip
My 21st Birthday - http://picasaweb.google.com/mazeltovjp/Israel18My21stBirthday
Hebrew Trip Around Be’er Sheva - http://picasaweb.google.com/mazeltovjp/Israel19HebrewTripAroundBeErShevaOraSApartment
The Last Week-ish in Israel (still being updated) - http://picasaweb.google.com/mazeltovjp/Israel20TheLastWeekIshInIsraelLShanahHabaAh

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Pictures of the Last Week-ish

I have created a new photo album with pictures from my last week/week and a half in Israel. It will be continuously updated during my remaining time here.

Here is the link.

Thursday

On Thursday, I had a visitor. One of the guys that was in my USY group to Israel in 2005 is in Israel visiting people and he came to Be'er Sheva to visit me. He was here Thursday until Friday morning.

We went to the Beduin Shuk, among other things. I've been to the Beduin Shuk a number of times, but I looked at a lot more this time and really realized how much stuff there is there. I probably could have bought several things there earlier in my trip for less money that would have benefited me. They also have a ton of random and worthless things, but it's all fun.

One guy tried to sell me a chamsah for 600 shekels! It was larger and maybe a little nice than some of the ones I have purshased for around 8-12 shekels that most ask 20 shekels for, but this was a crazy price. He told me that it was half off for me and "original". For that price "original" better mean from the Temple period. Logically, I didn't buy it.

Last Sunday & My Hebrew Class

Last Sunday, we had a Hebrew "field trip" around parts of the Old City in Be'er Sheva. We met our teacher, Ora, at Abraham's Well (biblical site) at then walked around several places in the Old City which Ora described to us in Hebrew. She is awesome.

We ended up at Ora's apartment where she made us lunch including several salads, shakshuka, fresh squeezed lemon aide, and some kind of chocolate & cream desert that was crazy good. She is an amazing cook. We watched a movie about the Children's Houses in Kibbutzim, where Children in a Kibbutz used to live all together, seperate from their parents. It's related to what we are talking about in class and Ora said we didn't have enough time to see it in class.

It was a good time. To see pictures, click here.

Recent Thoughts

This may not seem so revolutionary to you, but they kind of took me by surprise. I had a number of thoughts on the bus ride back to Be'er Sheva from Jerusalem last Saturday night. Here are the cliff notes:

- I'm finally starting to feel acculturated and then I am leaving the country. Some examples: I am comfortable traveling by myself, I'm starting to use my Hebrew more when I'm out, I'm comparing more prices in shekels now instead of first converting them to dollars, etc.

- If everything were aligned correctly and I went home for a while in the middle, I could see myself staying in Israel for the rest of the year (Spring Semester). It's took late for that to happen now.

- I want to come back to Israel before too long. Perhaps I can staff a USY trip to Israel (the same one I went on, preferably) one summer. It likely wouldn't be this summer because I've already committed myself to Boy Scout Camp Staff (the last summer of staffing?), but perhaps for summer 2010. If I don't come back then, who knows how long it will be before I return? I wouldn't like that.

- While I had never said that I would "never" live in Israel, I basically said that I "couldn't see it happening". Now, though I could. There would be a lot that would have to work out for that to happen and I'm definitely not saying that I am planning on moving to Israel now, but I could see it potentially happening maybe. Who knows how long this will last once I get back to the United States and back in my groove there...

Last Shabbat in Jerusalem - a week late

So, last week on Shabbat, I went to Jerusalem. It was my last trip to Jerusalem during my current time in Israel.

I went to the Kotel since it was my last time in Israel. It took forever to get there on the bus, because in addition to the regular Friday pre-Shabbat traffic, they were tearing up Jaffa St, a major road, for installation of a light rail system that is years behind. While at the Kotel, I had a guy come up to me and ask me why I had not been back to Israel since 2005. He then told me that I should make Aliyah (move to Israel) and that he would find me a wife with whom I could raise a family. That was fun.

I spent Shabbat with the Romm's on French Hill. They are the same family I spent to High Holy Days with. They were very nice and a number of the members of their synagogue welcomed me back and some asked why it had been so long since they had seen me. We talked about my time in Israel and relaxed and all kinds of good stuff. They were really nice people and I hope to see them again some day.

I am going to miss Jerusalem. I'm glad I have been studying in Be'er Sheva, but I have enjoyed all of my time in Jerusalem. There are just some things about that city you can't get anywhere else. Hopefully, it won't be too long before I can look out of a window into a Palestinian city on Shabbat and then drive down Bar-Ilan back to the bus station at night and see all of the ultra-Orthodox Jews everywhere.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Today

Okay, so catching up will have to be tomorrow. It's been crazy busy lately. I had my final in Critical Decisions in the History of the State of Israel today. It was hard, but could have been worse. I also had 3 other classes. In my Jewish Identity class we are discussing Judaism and sexuality. In my Arms Control class and Terrorism class we are discussing biological and cheminal warfare and terrorist access. We watched a National Geographic documentary, a BBC film about a mock dirty bomb attack in London and preperations for it (called "Dirty Bomb"), and when we learned about al-Queda, we watched The Hamburg Cell about the September 11 attacks and the indoctrination that takes place.

Tonight, we had our "farewelll" dinner/party for the Overseas Student Program. It was at an Indian restaurant, rated the best Indian food in Israel by the Jerusalem Post. It was good. It was also rather sad. I've only recently begun to realize that I am really going to miss many of the people in my program and that chances are, we won't all be seeing each other again. I hope we do though. It is just now starting to hit me how soon I leave Israel. There is still so much to do...

Monday, December 15, 2008

Behind, again

So, once again I am behind. I am attempting to do a lot of work for finals - 3 papers and 3 tests before I go home.

Today, I went with Barney and Brooke to get waffles with ice cream/gelato at Aldo's today. I also bought more strawberries in the shuk - only 13 shekels/kilo this time.

Updates that will soon be posted that are late:
Jerusalem/Shabbat
Recent Thoughts
Sunday & My Hebrew Class

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Oy! Only Two Weeks Now!

So, I had the revelation while eating a wonderful, large shwarma for dinner with a friend tonight at the bus station that in two week from now, I will be at Ben-Gurion airport waiting for my flight back to the United States. That is insane. How am I gonna do everything I still want to do? I have mixed feelings about going home, but I'll just have to come back to Israel soon.

Yesterday, I got back my two essay outlines/midterms for the Arms Control class and the Terrorism class that I'm taking. I got a 94% and a 90%. Not too bad. Now, though I need to buckle down and work. It is hard to concentrate sometimes as I have discovered a plethera of television shows available to me online - especially, The Nanny and now, The West Wing.

Tomorrow, I am going to Jerusalem for what will likely be the last time on this trip to Israel. I'll visit the Kotel and then spend time with the Romm's - the family I was with for the High Holy Days.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

My Birthday

Yesterday, December 8, was my 21st Birthday!

יום ההולדת העשרים אחת שלי

Here is a brief rundown of what I did:

- In Hebrew class, Hila (our program counselor) brought me a Honey Cake birthday cake with a candle in it. They sang to me and then we shared the honey cake.
- I went to lunch with a friend at the amazing falafel place in the Old City, Falafel Yarkot.
- We got fresh fruit smoothies in the Old City
- At night we gathered to go to dinner. We had dinner at a restaurant called Avazi in the BIG Shopping Center. We walked there as a group, about 20-30 minutes. I had made a reservation earlier in the day. They had a big table set up for us. As soon as we sat down, they started bringing us tons and tons of little plates of salads and big bread/lafeh. As soon as one thing was gone, either they refilled it or brought something new. They also brought rice, chips (french fries), and orange juice and lemonade. We ordered our entrees. I got a lamb kabob. They gave me a birthday cake with sparklers in it, although it wasn't really cake - it was some sort of gelatenous cake. We had about 22 people at dinner. That made me happy. It was a big group of friends.
- We walked back to the dorms and most of us met back up a bit later to go to a bar.
- When we met up, we went to one person's room and had champagne for my birthday.
- We then went to the Manga Pub/Bar, in the teacher's building, across Rager, across from the hospital. (I know that doesn't mean anything to anyone else reading this.) We cut through the hospital in a shortcut that wasn't really any shorter. We sat around the bar first and then got a table. We had a good time and a few of my friends bought me a few drinks.
- After Manga, some of us took cabs to Chika, a club in a wharehouse that was having a big party last night. I was kinda forced into a cab to go. It was a big place and a lot of people were dancing to loud music and crazy lights. It was fun.

Overall, it was a good birthday. I had a lot of fun with many of my friends in Israel.

See pictures of my 21st Birthday here.

The Weekend in the Negev

I spent this past weekend on the last OSP (Overseas Student Program) trip of the semester. We spent the time in the Negev and learning about the Negev.

We started the morning on Friday at Sde Boker, the place where David Ben-Gurion, Israel's first Prime Minister lived a good part of his life. It is the location of a lot of research into him and into the Negev. We learned about some of the decisions David Ben-Gurion made and watched a new movie they had made. We also discussed Israeli perceptions of the Negev and how the have (or haven't) changed through film. I saw David Ben-Gurion's grave (coming full circle from the first weekend I was in Israel and our visit to Ben-Gurion's home and grave then). Last Wednesday was David Ben-Gurion Day and there were a number of wreaths still on his grave.

We did a hike in the maktesh - the large crater - next to Mitzpe Ramon. The beginning was a bit steep/difficult but it was mostly a nice walk. It was a good time. At the end, we realized that the area we were walking in was a firing zone for the military, so I'm assuming we had permission to be there, but who knows. My friend Josh and I pretended to hitchhike in the desert for a picture, but the first car that came by actually stopped. hehe.

The place we stayed in Mitzpe Ramon, whose name I don't remember, was in a wharehouse that is now a dance studio/hippie hangout. They had low couches around tables for eating and we slept in sort of "mud huts" on mattresses on the ground in a large room in the wharehouse. They were a vegetarian place and the food was really good.

After dinner, we did an acrobatics class. We did different stretches and crazy stuff on ropes attached to the ceiling and cloth ropes attached to the ceiling.

Saturday, we did a meditation like thing and walked for an hour or so in the desert without speaking. We then buried each other with rocks. One person laid down and the other covered him with rocks in a premeditated order and then took them off and placed them in a circle around him, a stack, etc. Then we switched. After that we sat in a circle and passed rocks around and all kinds of craziness.

After the meditation part, we walked to a lookout over the crater where we ate a late lunch. We were going to hike into the crater, but instead walked around the top of the crater in a few directions and hung out, looking out over the crater and the desert.

Later, a few of us went to see the sunset in the desert. It was pretty, but disturbed with a lot of clouds in the sky.

See pictures here.

Air Force Museum

So this should have been posted last week:

Last Thursday I went to the Israeli Air Force Museum with three friends. We went to the Bus Station and got one of the best shwarmas I have had. The guy was amazing. It was a bit more expensive than I wanted, but it was worth the few extra shekels. After finding out that we'd have to wait an hour for a bus, we took a cab to the museum. It was about a 10 minute ride, just outside of Be'er Sheva.

The Air Force Museum was rather large. It told the history of the Israeli Air Force and had planes from around the world - France, USSR, England, United States, Israel, etc. They had some really awesome planes. They also had a museum that discussed ways in which pilots perform rescues. They had a section of anti-aircraft weaponry and a section on radar technology. There was a row of helicopters and a large old Boeing plane that was used to show a video of the Israeli Air Force in various wars. There were also a number of planes from Syria, Egypt, Iraq, etc. that Israel has captured, including one that was dual labeled for Israel and Syria. Remains of destroyed Egyptian planes from the 1967 Six Day War could be seen in a few locations.

Strangely, the Air Force Museum had a (fun) playground. They also had, for whatever reason, a bird zoo. I saw ostriches, peacocks, ducks, geese, an alpaca, and more. It was odd.

Check out pictures here.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

I'll Catch Up Tomorrow & Pictures

This weekend I went to Sde Boker & Mitzpe Ramon and did some hiking in the desert.

I'll catch up on the blogging about the Air Force Museum and this weekend tomorrow. In the meantime check out pictures:
Air Force Museum
The Weekend in the Desert

Also, tomorrow is my 21st Birthday!

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Three Weeks?!?

So, I haven't written anything here this week. I'm slacking here. I only have a few minutes because it is late and I am getting up early tomorrow for an OSP trip to Mitzpe Ramon for Friday and Saturday. I'll write more after the trip.

Here are a few highlights of the week:

In three weeks from now, I'll be on a plane getting ready to leave Ben-Gurion Airport, Tel-Aviv, Israel for Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey, United States of America. It's crazy.

I got my midterm test back in my Jewish Identity and Contemporary Issues class and go a 98%.

We had a meeting about checking out from the dorms.

I've started working on scholarships for next school year.

I explored part of downtown Be'er Sheva on Monday - several malls, the city government area, etc. and saw a decent amount of the city that I have been meaning to see. Be'er Sheva really can be a nice and even beautiful city if you know the right places to look. I also explored a large grocery store that was supposedly less expensive. Before our explorations though, we got waffles in the big mall - Canyon HaNegev with Gnutella and ice cream. Not healthy, but really good.

Today, I went to the Israeli Air Force Museum with three friends. It was quite amazing and we spent 2-3 hours there learning about the history of the Israeli Air Force and looking at the planes. I'll have to write more about this later. I also have pictures to post.

I have my 21st birthday this Monday, December 8!

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Good news!

I got back my midterm essay today in my Critical Decisions in the History of the State of Israel class. I got a 100%!

My Professor wrote:
"This is one of the best papers ever presented to me by an OSP [Overseas Student Program] student in the many years I have been teaching."

That's fun!

My paper was titled: "The Camp David Accords and Israeli-Egyptian Peace: American Influence in the Peace Process – American, Egyptian, and Israeli Opinions – and Modern Perspectives on their Success". If you are interested in reading my essay, click here.

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Friday and Saturday

Friday morning I went with two friends down to the Old City in Be'er Sheva. We went to a street market that I've heard called the pedestrian mall, the Jewish Shuk, the Friday Shuk, etc.

One the way, after we got off the bus, we stopped at a fruit stand where I bought some beautiful strawberries. I love strawberries (when I was little, before we moved, we used to have a strawberry garden in our back yard) but haven't seen them in Israel, which was disappointing. Logically I bought some strawberries.

In the street market there were a lot of great stands with everything from food to houseware items to clothing to souvenirs. There were kids shouting out prices (One kid kept yelling "Eser! Eser! Eser!" (Eser=10 [Shekels] for bakery items). I bought a few souvenirs, including the first one I found that actually says "Be'er Sheva" on it. I was looking for dreidels, but I guess I was too early still. I found an actual Judaica store and they said it would be another week or week and a half.

At the end of the shops, I found a falafel stand (Falafel Yarkot) that a friend of mine told me that his professor (who teaches tourism to Israelis) said is claimed to be the best falafel in Be'er Sheva. "They" say that the best in Israel is in Be'er Sheva and if this was the best falafel in Be'er Sheva, then it could be said that this stand made the best falafel in Israel. It definitely could have been, it tasted amazing. The stand was always busy. Unlike other stands, you don't pick what goes in your falafel. Usually, you tell them what salads, chips, etc, but here they just put everything in. One other really cool thing though is that they didn't use tongs to put the fafafel in the pita. They threw it in the air and caught it with the pita. That was nifty.

Check out a video that I took of the falafel making:

(On YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFVrmCxvpCY)

Yesterday, I went to my Jewish Identity Professor's home for Shabbat dinner. I got there early and joined him and his son for Shabbat evening services. I'd been before with him, but this time we went to a different synagogue called "Beit Knesset Kipah". It is older, larger, more traditional, and more Israeli. It was nice. Dinner with my Professor's family, was nice as well. We had a great conversation alongwith his wife and a few of his children.

Today, I've been working on random stuff - the blog, emails, designing a group t-shirt for the Overseas Program, stuff for DU, scholarship stuff, etc. Just taking it easy mostly. I also started watching a tv show that my Mom likes. It's called "Knight Rider" and it is on NBC. It's really good. You check it out.

I've also started listening to Christmas music. I love Christmas and Winter Holiday music. It's kind of ironic though in Israel...

Happy Thanksgiving!

A belated Thanksgiving post:

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun, although not what I am used to. It will definitely be a Thanksgiving to remember. We had a one-pot dinner cooked on a bonfire.

We got together and went to a clear area on the other side of the train tracks, across from the dorms, down the street about 5-10 minutes. Our head counselor, Hila, decided where we would make the bonfire - i.e. apparently we could just make it, no permission or permit needed. I asked her about the wood we used and where we were. Apparently the place we were was an illegal dumping site and the wood we burned was wood collected from the area. That would explain the plywood, nails in the wood, and the cloth stapled on to some of the wood.

We made a fire and cooked in a large pot. We had turkey, potatoes, carrots, lentils, garlic, onions, and a whole bunch of other stuff. I don't know all of what Hila put in the pot. I do know that there were a lot of spices and orange juice, wine, and some other liquid from a bottle. It was spicy, but good. She also decided to cook potatoes (some were sweet potatoes) in the fire. She just through them in - no foil or anything - and when they were done, we picked them out, broke them open, and ate the inside.

Hila said it was her first Thanksgiving. Inbal, our other counselor was there as well, along with a number of other Israelis. It was definitely interesting. Some of us sang campfire songs after dinner.

Later, we went to a Pub next to the dorms and got chocolate cake and ice cream. It was good, but I wanted pumpkin pie. :-)

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Last Weekend - Shabbaton

Here is a brief rundown of last weekend:

I went with my friend Josh to Jerusalem on Thursday night.

We stopped for shwarma and then went to Mahane Yehuda, the shuk in Jerusalem. I hadn't been there and wanted to make sure I saw what it was like, even if that view was limited at 9:30 p.m. It was still fairly busy, but a lot was closed - not nearly the craziness of Fridays before Shabbat.

We stood in the Old City at The Heritage House and went to the Kotel, Western Wall, on Thursday night and again on Friday morning.

On Friday, after the Kotel, we joined a group of students from Hebrew University, the Conservative Yeshiva, and Nativ (Conservative post-high school year long program in Israel) at Hebrew University.

We went to the Druze village Daliat al-Carmel to the shuk. They have a lot of really cool stuff in their stores, including "unbreakable glass" that is handmade and handpainted. In one store, we had a conversation with a really nice Druze guy in a back room. He told us about the Druze flad (for the people, not a country) and the similarities between the Druze and the Jews. He spoke in Hebrew and I didn't understand most of it, but it was a lot of fun.

Afterwards, we drove to Kibbutz Hanaton, near Haifa. Kibbutz Hanaton is the only Conservative/Masorti Kibbutz in Israel. It is small, but they are rejuvinating it as the kibbutz undergoes privatization. While on the Kibbutz, we learned about their plans for the future.

Over Shabbat, we had good services and good food. I met some interesting new people. We studied the weekly Torah portion and a brief development of the Oral Torah. It was all very good.

Our stay was nice and I enjoyed the Shabbaton.

---

I was going to be in Jerusalem for this coming Shabbat, but those plans fell through. I could probably pursue a number of other options, but will likely stay in Be'er Sheva and take it easy and try to do some sightseeing around here.

Pre-Thanksgiving Email

Shalom,

Wow! Time goes by so fast. In one month from today, I will be home in St. Louis. I have now been in Israel for almost for four months. While that seems like a long time, there is so much that I was hoping to do here that will not happen. There are too many places to go, too many people to see, too many things to experience. I guess that means that I’ll have to come back again :-).

It has been too long since my last email. I also haven’t been as good the past two weeks with updating my blog, but I think the main highlights ended up there. School has gotten the better of my time, as it probably should. The past two weeks have been midterms. I turned in two complex essay outlines for two classes that will turn into decent sized, well researched final papers for my Arms Control and Nuclear Weapons and Introduction to Terrorism and Guerilla Warfare class, took an essay test for my Jewish Identity class, and wrote a 9.75 page paper for my Critical Decisions in the History of the State of Israel on the Camp David Accords and Egyptian-Israeli peace. Needless to say, I am ready for the weekend.

Here are (briefly) some of the highlights of the past few weeks:

It has gotten colder in Be’er Sheva (this isn’t really a highlight). It is now into the upper 40s at night. During the days I have been able to wear shorts (today it was in the mid-upper 70s), but it is going to be dropping into the 60s this weekend.

My Hebrew has been continually getting better, although I still feel like I need to learn more. My Hebrew teacher has added an extra Hebrew class on Sundays for us since she tells us we aren’t where we should be, overall, for our level.

I spent a weekend in Tel-Aviv. I spent a good amount of time on the beach and went to the flea market in Jaffo where, at a nearby store, I bought new Naot, awesome sandals.

I have new roommates. All of the rooms in my suite are now filled. One of my roommates was born in Uzbekistan, one is from Tel-Aviv and knows English well, and one is named Mohammed (I haven’t seen him as much). They are all nice.

The elections happened. Everyone in Israel was talking about them – Americans, Israelis, etc. It was all over the news and I had a few conversations with Israelis about the results.

I spent a weekend in Eilat. We went snorkeling in the Red Sea coral reefs. They were beautiful. I saw some amazing coral and beautiful fish. We did two hikes – one in a desert canyon and a longer, more intense one in the Eilat Mountains. On the way down, towards sunset, we saw the mountains on the Jordanian side of the Gulf turning red and reflecting into the water. It was a lot of fun.

I went to a memorial ceremony for Yitzhak Rabin at the University (all in Hebrew). Yitzhak Rabin was an Israeli Prime Minister who was assassinated for working towards peace with the Palestinians by an extremist Jewish terrorist.

The Israelis started class on Sunday, November 16. Ben-Gurion University was the last University in Israel to begin. It also happened to be the same week of finals at the University of Denver. Interesting… During the first week, there was a huge festival on campus with banks on campus, the student association giving out free things, area restaurants set up on campus, and a lot of clothing and jewelry stands.

This past weekend, I went to Jerusalem with a friend. We went to the shuk there and to the Kotel, the Western Wall. On Friday, we joined a group of students from Hebrew University, the Conservative Yeshiva, and Nativ (Conservative post-high school year long program in Israel) for a Shabbaton. We went to the Druze village Daliat al-Carmel and went to the shuk. They had all kinds of great shops and I had a conversation with a Druze guy in Hebrew that I mostly didn’t understand about similarities between the Druze and Jews. We then went to Kibbutz Hanaton, near Haifa, for a fun, relaxing, educational Shabbat.

There is more, but you can read my blog at – http://joelportman.blogspot.com.

Here are links to some pictures since my last email:
Tel-Aviv – http://picasaweb.google.com/mazeltovjp/Israel13TelAvivVisit
Eilat and Hiking – http://picasaweb.google.com/mazeltovjp/Israel14EilatAndHiking
First Week of Israeli Class – http://picasaweb.google.com/mazeltovjp/FirstWeekOfIsraeliStudentClassNov162008
Jerusalem, Druze Village, Shabbaton – http://picasaweb.google.com/mazeltovjp/Israel15JerusalemAndShabbatonAtKibbutzHanaton

I can’t believe that tomorrow is Thanksgiving. It really hasn’t occurred to me that we are at the end of November. Logically, nothing special happens in Israel for Thanksgiving. We have class tomorrow. However, since we are mostly American on the Overseas Student Program, we’re having a modified celebration. We are going to have a bonfire (Israelis do that a lot to celebrate nationalistic holidays) and I think a one-pot Thanksgiving dinner. I know we’ll have turkey, but I hope that everything else ends up there, especially pumpkin pie.

Anyway, that’s enough for now. I’ll be sending at least one more email before I leave Israel. Stay in touch. Let me know what’s going on in life – it’ll make it easier to catch up when I am home in a month.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Joel

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Oy. I'm Behind.

Logically, I am behind on blogging again. I have been busy writing a paper for my Critical Decisions in the History of the State of Israel class. Doing the research, analyzing the research, and writing the paper have taken longer than I thought. I just finished my essay on "The Camp David Accords and Israeli-Egyptian Peace: American Influence in the Peace Process – American, Egyptian, and Israeli Opinions – and Modern Perspectives on their Success".

Yesterday, I also had a midterm in my Jewish Identity and Contemporary Issues class. I spent a decent amount of time, especially on Sunday reading, rereading, and studying for the exam. After the exam we had an evaluatory meeting with the Director of the Overseas Student Program to discuss our thoughts on our classes and ways they can attempt to improve our program before the end of the semester.

Okay, I have to do reading for classes tomorrow. I'll blog more, specifically about this past weekend tomorrow. In the meantime, look at these pictures of my weekend in Jerusalem and at a Shabbaton at Kibbutz Hanaton in the North - click here.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Etmol, Hayom, v'Mahar - Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

As I mentioned in my last post, this is the first week of class for the Israeli students. There have been groups on campus all week. Yesterday, I got my BGU towel and tote bag from the student association. One of the banks on campus is giving out free ice cream to students who have an account with them or open one up. When I told them I am only here for five months, leave at the end of December, don't want an Israeli bank, etc, they gave up and gave me free ice cream anyway :-) They have awesome names on their fake credit cards - "Israel Israeli"

Here are some pictures of what is going on on campus.

Today in my Arms Control & Nuclear Weapons class, we met with the cadets in the Israeli Air Force Officers program. The air force cadets spend one year of their training getting a degree and our professor also teaches in their program. We learned what life is like to become a pilot in Israel and talked about their lives and our lives.

I turned in detailed outlines for the papers I will be writing for my Arms Control class and my International Terrorism class. The topics are "Does Israel’s nuclear program make the country safer and increase its importance in international affairs?" and "The development of modern Jewish fundamentalism in Israeli politics and West Bank settlements and its lingering discrepancy with attempts towards a two state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict".

Tomorrow night I am going to Jerusalem with my friend Josh. We are going to stay in Jerusalem (maybe go to the shuk, Ben-Yehuda Street, Kotel, etc.) on Thursday night and then go to Hebrew University on Friday morning to meet a group sponsored by the Fuschberg Center for Conservative Judaism in Jerusalem and go to a Shabbaton on a Conservative Kibbutz in Northern Israel. We'll be stopping at a Druze village on the way. It should be a good time.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Lots To Do

I haven't been so good about updating the blog recently. I'll try to catch up tomorrow. I have been working on three papers. It has taken a lot more time than I've expected.

Yesterday was the first day of class for Israeli students. People are everywhere now. There are people all over the dorms (I even had to tell someone how the laundry here works and how to print, where to get a print card, etc.). People are everywhere on campus. There are other classes going on in our building now - and the Israeli students are loud in the hallways.

There is a festival on campus for the first week. Area restaurants and bars have stuff set up. It seems like every bank is there giving out free stuff trying to get student accounts as are cell phone companies. There are also a number of clothing, jewelry, etc. stores set up. I got two awesome shirts - one short sleeve and one long sleeve - that I've seen Israelis where and they have Hebrew on them - something I've been looking for. The student association is also confirming registrations for the new school year and giving out gifts to all of the students. I haven't gotten mine yet. I probably will tomorrow - the line has been really long.

Here are the designs from the t-shirts -
A camel poking its head through the "warning: camels on road" sign.
An image of the Dimona Nuclear Facility. Israel does not confirm or deny that it has a nuclear program and Israeli journalists cannot reference it. The Hebrew says "According to foreign sources".

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

New Roommates

Today is move-in day. I know it is "officially" for the Freshmen and I think for other students as well. The BGU classes for Israeli students start on Sunday, November 16 and there is supposed to be a festival on campus that whole week.

I had been told that I am only getting one new roommate, but apparently that is not true. I now have two new roommates, 3 total. One came this morning and the other, this afternoon. I don't know either well yet. The first one who came does not know English so well I don't think. His name is Mohamed. He wasn't the friendliest. The other guy was only here briefly. His name is Eli, he is from Tel-Aviv, he knows English very well, and he seems very friendly. Those are my initial impressions.

Yitzhak Rabin

Yesterday was Yitzhak Rabin memorial day. Our class was canceled and we had a program learning about him and why he was assassinated (Yitzhak Rabin was a Prime Minister of Israel - learn more). We went to the University's Memorial Ceremony which had a pretty good attendance considering classes haven't started here yet. It was all in Hebrew, but they did several readings, sang several songs, and did a memorial prayer. It was very moving.

Eilat, Hiking, etc.

This past weekend I went with the OSP group on a trip to Eilat. We started off going North of Be'er Sheva to a nature preserve where a flower grows that is only grown two places in the world, both in Israel. This yellow flower only flowers two weeks a year. After that, we drove South. On the way, we discovered that our bus driver had a DVD with some Friends episodes on it so we watched several episodes on the way there and a few on the way back.

Pictures from the weekend

In the desert north of Eilat, we did a hike through a canyon. Hila's (our group leader) husband is majoring in geography and he explained to us some of the geological features of the area. It was a nice hike in the desert.

In Eilat, we went to the "guest house" place that we stayed between the main area of Eilat and the border crossing to Egypt. It was similar to the places we have stayed on Kibutzim, but this time in a city. In the evening, Josh and I walked to a nearby hotel to the synagogue there. The group praying was finishing so we did our own Kabbalat Shabbat service which was a lot of fun. We walked around the really nice hotel and then went back for dinner. In the evening, we played cards and hung out.

Saturday morning, I went to the beach/nature reserve a bit early and went swimming with a few people. The water was cold but it was a nice day. We then had a guided program. We were taught about the coral reef and the fish in it (the most Northern reef in the world). They gave us snorkels and PFDs. We had a guided swim through the reefs and then could go back on our own, which I did. The coral reefs were beautiful. The fish were amazing. All of the awesome fish you see in an aquarium, in books, in movies, etc. were swimming with me. I swam with Nemo and Dora from Finding Nemo.

In the afternoon, we did a hike in the Eilat Mountains above the city, overlooking the Red Sea. It was actually more intense than I had expected for our group, but I really liked it. We climbed up about 900-1000 feet and overlooked the bay, Eilat, Aqaba, etc. We could see Egypt and Jordan and the mountains on the horizon to the South may have been Saudi Arabia. We hiked up and down, climbing over rocks and jumping down the mountain, sliding on the gravel/rock that wasn't really a path in may places. It was good fun.

We stopped at the mall and Tayelet/Promenade in Eilat for dinner before coming back to Be'er Sheva.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

The Presidency, Obama, and Tomorrow

The elections have been a big deal in Israel as I'm sure you all know. Israel is tied to the U.S. in a lot of ways - security, economy, military, politics, tourism, etc. Additionally, there are a lot of Americans who live in Israel both as visitors and citizens.

A number of people in my program stood up all night Tuesday-Wednesday to watch as election returns began to come in. They watched Fox News on a tv in the student center. I did not join them. I had to get up in the middle of the night to register for classes at DU for the Winter Quarter at 3:20 a.m. my time, so I watched some returns then. I also got up early in the morning to see more solid numbers - it was around midnight central time when I woke up.

I had hoped to be able to watch CNN or Fox News live online for results, but was unable to on Fox News' website and CNN only had their International Edition available, which kinda isn't very good. Instead, I watched MSNBC as well as clips from other news services. I also followed political results and news throughout and after the election process from CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times, The Economist, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and the Denver Post, among others.

When I bought lunch yesterday, Wednesday, I heard the Israeli news come on and then they played a clip of Obama's Winning Speech. Most Israelis I have met seem to be happy for a United States President Obama. My roommate questioned me on why I supported Obama and how he will be successful in making his "change". He has his doubts, although in the process of our conversation I somehow learned that he trained with the U.S. Military in Israel while he was in the Army.

Today, I got an English language version of the Jerusalem Post newspaper and a Hebrew language version of the Yediot Ahoronot newspaper. Both of them are covered with news, reactions, statistics, editiorials, etc. about the election. They are the November 6 edition as the results had not been announced in time for the November 5 papers in Israel. Logically though, I can't read much of the Hebrew newspaper and I haven't read the English one. While I'm sure I already know, I'd like to see what direction Missouri officially goes for President.

On another note, I had a Hebrew test today which went well. It focused on a story we've been learning about Hanah Senesh. I also went to the mall downtown, the shuk, and the Beduin shuk. I was unsuccessful in finding a sweatshirt, which I need, in Hebrew. However, I bought a fleece sweatshirt from the Israeli clothing company Fox in the mall.

Tomorrow, I am leaving at 7:30 a.m. for an Overseas Student Program trip to Eilat. We will be doing some hiking along the way and snorkeling in the coral reefs. It should be fun.

Ha, look at that. Tomorrow could be a double entendre between Obama and what I am doing. Craziness...

My Roommate

I got a new roommate about a month ago. Now, I suppose that you may be wondering why I am first writing about this now. Well, he has only really been living here for two weeks and we have only recently really been getting to know each other.

His name is Simeon (spelling?). He was born in Uzbekistan before his family moved to Israel. His mother is orginally from Germany. She knows German, Turkish, Russian, Yiddish, and Hebrew. As you can see, no English. I found this out at some point during his move in when his mother and I tried to have a conversation. We weren't so successful, but she is very nice.

Simeon is a nice guy. He studies a lot and works at Motorolla. He has been good about helping to clean and organize our kitchen( and he brought toilet paper when he moved in, which was needed).

Simeon is going to be in his 4th year when the semester begins. He is taking summer classes now. He is majoring in Communication Systems Engineering.

We recently began to talk more. He has pretty good English and I'm working on my Hebrew. He also roasted his own peanuts the other night. I thought that was pretty cool.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Tel-Aviv

This past weekend I was in Tel-Aviv. I stood with the family of my brother's friend's brother's girlfriend's family. They were very nice. They live in North Tel-Aviv near the University.

I went Thursday. Thursday night we drove along Deisengof Street and then relaxed at their home.

Friday I was taken to the beach near the marina where I hung out on the beach and walked along the beach and promenade from the Tel-Aviv Marina to Jaffo. I walked around part of Old Jaffo and went to the flea market and a number of covered markets that I had gone to when I came to Israel with USY in 2005. It was nice. I also finally found less expensive Naot, the awesome Israeli Birkenstock-like sandals that I have. I have needed a new pair, but they are expensive (279 Shekels + in most places). I found them in a store in Jaffo for 250 Shekels and talked them down to 230 Shekels which is about 50 Shekels less and with a better exchange rate, it was worth buying the new pair. Friday evening I helped cook dinner and then we had dinner with the family and two of their kids.

Saturday, the couple went to visit their son on his Navy base. There was a chance that I would go with them, but they weren't sure that their son would get the approval to let me onto the base. Instead, they took me to a beach. I walked a half an hour along the beach and relaxed for a while on the beach. Different areas of the water were cold and warm, depending where I was. I then walked half an hour back to their house.

Besides these events, I spent time watching movies and television shows, reading for class, and just relaxing in their home in Tel-Aviv. Watching all of the movies and t.v. shows with Hebrew subtitles was interesting and, I think, helped my Hebrew understanding. If I had a t.v. in my dorm, I think that my Hebrew could be improved by my watching a lot of t.v. and movies with Hebrew subtitles so that I can follow how the Hebrew is used and attempt to improve my vocabulary.

It was a good weekend. Here are a few pictures from along the beach in Tel-Aviv.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

A Cold Week

This week has been rather cold. While the temperature has, according to the sites I've found online, only gotten into the 50s once, I don't believe them. I have stopped using the fan that I have at night and often during the day as well. My tile floor is cold and I'm considering buying a cheap heater for my room or if not, perhaps a heavier blanket. Additionally, it has been cloudy for much of the week and rained off and on most days. While the rain is definately needed here, I find the weather to be rather unhappy without blue skies and sun. I liked the weather before much better. I think that it is suppossed to change for next week, which would be good.

My Hebrew teacher has asked our class for an additional session on Sundays for at least one time, but likely for a few weeks. She think that we are behind, which is true. I feel like I should know more than I do.

I'm leaving in a few hours for Tel-Aviv. I'll be spending the weekend with a family there and will return to Be'er Sheva on Saturday night. When I return, I'm going to have to start doing a lot of studying and reading as well as research for several midterm papers that will be due before the end of November.

Monday, October 27, 2008

A Bit on Today

The screen on my cell phone stopped working (on Friday) so I had to get a new phone (today), which also didn't work so I got another one (after some stress, also today due to confusion with other people and their phone issues). That was cool. I went to the shuk today and bought fruits and vegetables (I bought bought corn on the cob for about ~30 cents per husk). I also bought a kilo of hummus for only 8 shekels - I was super excited. Ialso got locked out of my room and my roommate got locked inside because our door decided to stop working. That was fun.

I decided tonight that I'm going to Tel-Aviv this weekend. I'll be staying with a family my brother put me in contact with.

I also went to class today, but need to study/read a lot.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Only Two Months Left

As of today, I have been in Israel for three months. That means that I only have two months left here.

It's crazy how fast time has gone. I can't believe that it will be November in less than a week!

Unfortunately, today it is finally cold in Be'er Sheva. While there were times when it was definately hot today, I elected to wear pants instead of shorts. Overall, it was a good decision, even though I hope that it warms up enough for me to still wear shorts later in the week.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Email - Done with the Holidays, Back to School

If you want to read about my second break, do so by clicking the link to the left as this email copy just has a brief summary.

-----

Shalom,

It has been quite a long time since my last email; almost a month in fact. So much has happened in the last month and it has flown by so fast. I don’t know where my time has gone. Since my last email, I’ve passed the half way mark of my time in Israel and tomorrow will be two months until I return home. It’s crazy. I still have so much that I want to see and experience. Class has barely even happened. I’ve only had a few weeks of class, interrupted by the holidays. Now, I have class straight through for the rest of my time in Israel.

Celebrating the Jewish holidays in Israel has been great. The services themselves didn’t necessarily feel very different but the feeling of community in the synagogue and the country as a whole was amazing. Seeing “Shana Tova” signs around and hearing people say “Shana Tova” is a great feeling. Seeing Sukkot around Israel is awesome. They were literally on almost every balcony and in every corner of a building and grassy area in many parts of the country that I saw. I was in Jerusalem for Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and Simchat Torah – all with the same great family (They kept inviting me back, which was fine with me). Dancing around outside and inside with the Torah on Simchat Torah and singing “Am Yisrael Chai” – “The People of Israel Live” in Israel was a wonderful experience.

Since my last email, we’ve had the holidays, my second break, a number of other travels, and class. Below are some of the highlights. For more details check out my blog at http://joelportman.blogspot.com or email me. I’ve also attached a long description of my second break for those of you who are interested in skimming through or reading it in its entirety.

We had an Overseas Student Program trip to the North a few weekends ago. We went to Tzfat, did a little hiking in the North, saw the first kibbutz, the Kineret (Sea of the Galilee), a cemetery with many Zionist and Kibbutz pioneers, and a chocolate factory and stayed on a kibbutz in the North.

We saw Kaparot which is a way that some (some meaning only a few, mainly very Orthodox Jews these days) Jews seek forgiveness for sins. A chicken is swung over one’s head and is killed and given to the poor as a way to transfer one’s sins from one’s self to the chicken. My viewing of this though ended up being more of a way to see how a chicken can be killed in a Kosher manner.

During my second break, in addition to the holidays and the large amount of services that I attended, I did a lot of traveling, mainly in the North and around Jerusalem. I went to Rosh Hanikra, grottoes along the Mediterranean Sea at the very Northern point of Israel and the Lebanese border. I stayed with an Israeli family in Tivon, a suburb of Haifa. It was a great way to experience actually living in Israel and see how an Israeli family might live. We went to the Jordan River where my friend got rebaptized, we went swimming in the Kineret, Sea of the Galilee, and we went ATVing in the Lower Galilee through mango orchards on a moshav. I went to a party for an Israeli guy who finished his army service and learned a new card game.

While in Jerusalem, I visited several overlook sites from Hebrew University/Mt. Scopus over the city, East Jerusalem, and towards Jordan. I went to Ammunition Hill, the site of a battle in the 1967 Six Day War that led to the reunification of Jerusalem. I walked through Mea Shearim, the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood, the day before Simchat Torah and saw the Sukkot everywhere and people getting ready for the holiday.

I, along with two friends, took a day tour to Hebron organized by the Jewish Community of Hebron. While it was an observant, very right-wing tour, it was a great way to visit. We drove through the West Bank where I saw the security barrier, a number of checkpoints, several Jewish and Palestinian villages, Rachel’s Tomb, the Tomb of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs, the three Jewish neighborhoods, and a number of other sites.

I think that this email is long enough for now. Like I said, if you want to know more about anything, check out my blog or email me. For information on the holidays I mentioned, check out: http://www.ou.org/holidays.

Here are links to pictures that I’ve posted since my last email:
OSP Trip to the North - http://picasaweb.google.com/mazeltovjp/Israel10OctoberGalileeTrip
Kaparot (Warning: These are graphic) - http://picasaweb.google.com/mazeltovjp/Israel11GRAPHICKaparotChickens
Break #2 - http://picasaweb.google.com/mazeltovjp/Israel12Break2NorthernIsraelJerusalemHebronJerusalem

Stay in touch. My next email should come sooner than almost a month.

L’Hitraot,

Joel Portman

Politics - A Summary

This is a post that should have been made a long time ago, at least on some level…

Many of the people on my program have at least some interest in international affairs and/or politics if they don’t plan on majoring in or making a career out of one or both of these things. As such most members of my group stay up to date with politics.

During the National Conventions, I watched most of the Democratic Speeches and some of the Republican Speeches (I wasn’t as interested in all of the speakers) and I know that many of my friends did the same. We sometimes discussed the speeches while walking to class.

I, along with many of my friends, stay up to date with politics in the U.S. on a regular basis. Many of us monitor news sites online and watch news videos. Most mornings, I watch the recording of the previous evening’s CBS Evening News online and also subscribe to email updates from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and The Economist.

The progress of the Presidential campaigns, as well as other topics (i.e. the economy), frequently make it into conversations between my friends and I as well as conversations that are had and that I join in on during meals that I have been invited to when I’ve stood with different families around Israel. Many of the families I’ve stayed with have American citizenship and many of them plan on voting in the upcoming election, although some fear that they had missed the application deadline for absentee ballots. Some also said that it can be hard to contact the last place they voted in the U.S. if they left before they were of voting age or were born in Israel but also have U.S. citizenship.

I had been concerned that I would not receive my absentee ballot on time, if at all. Luckilly, I got it soon after Rosh Hashanah. This was important to me, not only because of the significance of this year’s election, but also because 2008 is my first Presidential Election and I wanted to make sure that I could vote. I filled out the ballot the same day I received and mailed it soon afterward to make sure that it would be in St. Louis long before the deadline.


As far as Israeli politics go, that is a big mess. I try to follow what is going on here, but it is very confusing. Even Israelis tell me the same thing. However, after attempting to follow what’s going on while living here and after visiting the Supreme Court and Knesset in Jerusalem, I have a bit of a better idea of how the government (is supposed to) function. I subscribe to email updates from the Arutz 7 news service, have an RSS feed from the Ha’aretz newspaper through Google Desktop, get video news from www.jerusalemonline.com, and frequent the Jerusalem Post website.

Mayoral elections are coming up in many cities and that is a big issue in Jerusalem with candidates from a wide range of backgrounds. Tzipi Livni, the Foreign Minister, was recently selected as the head of the Kadima Party and has been attempting to form a new coalition government and become Prime Minister, but it is likely that she will not succeed and will instead send the country into general elections.

This is not even going into the craziness that is going on with the academic system. After two strikes last year (senior faculty and students) and the threat of another strike (junior faculty) as well as a semester being canceled, there are now threats of another strike. The government has been cutting funding to Universities (most of Israel’s Universities are public) and telling them to increase the costs to students – hence the strikes. As a result of the strikes, the government said they would restore their funding of Universities to their previous level (but not increase them). Now, the government is withholding that funding. Therefore, the Presidents of the Universities are threatening not to open the Universities for school (they start at various times in November) if they do not receive the funding – i.e. another strike. This is looking likely, but who knows.

Well I could go on and on, but this is enough for now.

Pictures

Check out my pictures from Break Two to Jerusalem, the North, Hebron, etc.

Also, I have finally added captions to my photos from our OSP Trip to the Galilee.

Break Two: Yom Kippur – Simchat Torah

Below is a description of my activities during my second break in my Overseas Program - October 8-21. Some days have more detail than others and overall, this is a fairly long description (6.5 pages typed) so feel free to skim and skip around. I hope that this provides answers to many of you who have asked what I did during the break.

Background

I had originally wanted to go to Egypt during this break and spend a good deal of time researching different options and contacting various tour companies. However, in the wake of an increase in kidnappings in Egypt, warnings by Israeli authorities against travel to Egypt, and a warning from my international Terrorism professor, I decided against traveling to Egypt. Instead I started looking at a variety of options, but didn’t really solidify my trip until the day before I left (and then changed it part way through). There ended up being a lot less planning on this trip than the first one.

Thoughts on a Different Way to Travel

Most of this trip was spent staying with families instead of in youth hostels. While I did less of the “tourist” traveling on this trip than I had originally wanted to, I found the experience very enjoyable. I did not end up going to all of the museums that I had planned on, but I had the experience of living life like an Israeli. We traveled several days in a car instead of a bus, went to places (beach, restaurants, etc.) that tourists are unlikely to find, and more. It really gave me the feeling of a person living in Israel instead of a person visiting Israel.

Yom Kippur (October 8-9)

I was in Jerusalem for Yom Kippur, back with the Romm family in French Hill.

View previous post about this here.

Shabbat (October 10-11)

After the movie at the Romm’s, they took me over to the Schwartz’s.

View previous post about this here.

Saturday night – Sunday morning (October 11-13)

Back in Be’er Sheva. I had originally planned on being in Be’er Sheva Saturday night and Sunday and then going to the North on Sunday evening. This ended up changing and I was in Be’er Sheva until Monday morning. There is nothing really to write about here. I just took it easy and attempted to catch up on emails and random stuff after being gone.

The North (October 13-15)

Heading up North was a great time. While it could be described as the length of a long weekend, it seems like we did so much more in that time.

Aaron and I left Be’er Sheva on a 7:26 a.m. train and took it to the end of the line in the North at the Nahariya station. Ximena joined us North of Haifa from the station we would be returning to later in the day. We got off at the Nahariya station and took a taxi to Rosh Hanikra.

Rosh Hanikra is the Northern most site in Israel. It is on the Mediterranean Sea and consists of grottoes that the sea has carved into the rock (turned white from salt). We took a cable car down to the grottoes, saw a video about their creation, and walked the path through the grottoes. It was really beautiful and the sea was a great shade of blue. Back above the grottoes, we saw the border with Lebanon, which must have been closed for some time. We saw (sort of) the military establishment on the mountain and several soldiers hanging out.

We took the train back to the Lev HaMifratz station, North of Haifa. The station was attached to a shopping mall, which was kind of cool. We waited there while we figured out if we’d be able to stay with Barney (from our program) at his friend Nitay’s (Israeli) house or in a youth hostel in Haifa. It ended up that we could stay with Nitay. Barney and Nitay came to pick us up from the station and we went to his house in Tivon, a suburb to the Northeast of Haifa. It was a nice house in a nice area.

At their house, we met Nitay’s family. They were having a party for their family to celebrate the birth of Nitay’s sister’s baby a few months prior. It was kind of awkward being at a family party we weren’t invited to, but the family was very nice and welcoming and it was a good way to see how a large Israeli family interacts. Nitay’s mother and family are originally from Russia and his father and family are originally from Uruguay. They all knew English at some level. They gave us dinner – a lot of (really good) meat.

This was the evening that Sukkot was beginning and while we were still planning on traveling, there was no public transportation the first day of Sukkot – Monday night to Tuesday night (The beginning and end of the holiday are especially special). While this was originally going to be an issue for travel, it wasn’t now that we were staying with a family. Nitay’s dad has a company car and we got to use it – and the company paid for the gas.

After dinner, we hung out in Nitay’s room and got to know him. Afterwards, we went to a restaurant in Haifa and got waffles. I was not sure what to expect at first and Nitay told us not to worry, that he would order for us. This was good because the menus were in Hebrew, we couldn’t read them, and they didn’t have English menus. A bit later, the waitress brought us the most amazing things ever. They were huge waffles stuffed with milk chocolate and white chocolate and covered with chocolate and bananas. They came with two scoops of ice cream and two piles of whipped cream. It was amazing and I thought I might burst.

After the waffles, we drove around the area and to an overlook site that had some sort of monument on it. We hung out there for a while watching the lights of the city.

In the morning (Tuesday), we got up, ate breakfast, and made our decisions about what to do that day. We drove towards the Kineret, Sea of the Galilee, and went back to the Jordan River, near where we had been on our group trip and Ximena, who is not Jewish, got rebaptized. We then drove to a store to pick water and a few snacks and then on to a beach. We went to a beach that was popular with Israelis (but wasn’t too crowded. It was a free beach (many beaches in Tiberias on the Sea now charge a fee. It was on the other side of the Sea from Tiberias and down a road that I don’t see a tour bus making it through. It was a nice beach and the water was great.

After the beach, we drove most of the way around the Sea and sort of through the lower Golan Heights to the North of the Kineret. We went to a moshav (we thought it was a kibbutz) where we went ATVing. They were on Israeli time – meaning not ready when we got there. We took an ATV and a Ranger. Only Nitay and Aaron (who has an International Driving Permit) were allowed to drive. We went down some paths through the orchards and down to the Kineret again before returning to our starting point on the moshav. It was very enjoyable, although not quite the off-roading I had expected. I decided that it was a good thing to be able to see the orchards (I found out they were Mango) in Israel during Sukkot, the Fall harvest festival. We were very dusty after this.

On the way back to Tivon, we stopped at a restaurant that Nitay said was popular with many Israelis after going to the Kineret or the Galilee. They had great chicken and brought us pita and salads as well as Turkish coffee and candy after the meal. It was really good. That night we hung out at Nitay’s house and then went to his friend’s house. Nitay’s friend was having a party in his Sukkah for another of their friends who had just finished his time in the army. While there it started sprinkling (i.e. a little rain) so we moved under their awning and we played cards. I learned an Israeli card game that is like a combination of Go Fish, Gin Rummy, and Texas Hold ‘em. While I didn’t like it at first, it ended up being fun and I was fairly good at it.

We went back to Nitay’s house to sleep. We left in the morning.

Be’er Sheva (October 15-17)

I had planned on going to Tel-Aviv with Aaron on Wednesday, but that didn’t end up happening. Aaron and Ximena decided that they wanted to go to Egypt after all and I was not feeling well. I had figured that I would go to Tel-Aviv by myself, but decided to go back to Be’er Sheva to rest and try to feel better. In Be’er Sheva, I took medicine, relaxed, and hung out with the people from my group who were still in the city.

Between Yom Kippur and the end of Sukkot, the University was basically shut down. Many entrances to campus were closed, many buildings were closed, and restaurants on and near campus were closed. It was kind of crazy.

Shabbat in Jerusalem (October 17-18)

I went to Jerusalem on Friday to stay with the Romm’s. It was fun traveling during Sukkot. There were Sukkot at the bus stations, outside restaurants and shops on the sidewalk, and around homes and on balconies, especially in Jerusalem. When I got to the French Hill neighborhood, I saw Sukkot all over the place. They were literally hidden away in every nick and cranny of outside of the buildings.

I spent Shabbat with the Romm’s, going to services, eating in the Sukkah, and hanging out. It was a good time. I enjoy the Hallel service that is included during Sukkot and I liked singing the psalms in Jerusalem. It felt like I was becoming part of the family when they welcomed guests at the synagogue during services on Saturday and when someone mentioned that the lady left me out, she said that I was more like a regular than a guest.

Sunday – Jerusalem, Hebron, and the West Bank (October 19)

I got up early to go to morning services (I used the lulav and etrog) and then we went to the Fuschberg Center for Conservative Judaism where Rabbi Romm works in downtown Jerusalem. Along the way, he pointed out different significant buildings. I left him and walked down the street to the Sheraton Plaza Hotel where I met Barney and Ximena and we went on an organized tour of Hebron.

The tour was led by the director of the Hebron Fund and I knew it would contain many observant Jews and be rather right-wing, but I figured that would make the tour more interesting. I was still caught off guard though when our tour guide mentioned as we drove off from the hotel (about 10:00 a.m. on a bullet proof bus) that if we answer his questions, we should let him know what yeshiva we go to so that he can report back on us.

We drove along the security fence/barrier/wall (depending on what word you choose to use) and went to Rachel’s Tomb. I had thought that it was actually in Bethlehem (which I had been looking forward to visiting) but it was actually more of an enclave set into the security wall. There was a symbolic grave marker inside that people were praying at. While it was cool, I was a bit confused as to what we were supposed to do there.

Driving through the West Bank we saw a few olive trees, but most of the areas we were in had grape trees. We saw several checkpoints that didn’t really seem to be too worried about letting people through and a number of villiages, both Jewish and Arab.

In Hebron, we went to the Tomb of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs, the Me'arat HaMachpela. Outside we were told about the community and about the tombs and their history, their significance, and the history of the building (built by King Herod during the same period as the Second Temple). The building was converted under Ottoman rule into a Mosque and now, the Jews and Muslims each have control of about 50% of the building. Inside are symbolic tombs for the patriarchs and matriarchs that are buried in caves (off limits) below the building. Ten days a year, on holy days that are pre arranged, the entire building is open to only Jews and on ten different days, to only Muslims. Two years ago, one of the holy days was the same – Hoshana Rabah and a Friday in Ramadan – and the entire building was split – open to each religion at different times, without incident. We prayed Minha there.

Also in Hebron we saw the three neighborhoods with Jewish families, Tel Hebron, Beit Hadassah, and the Avraham Avinu synagogue and neighborhood (they have one of the oldest Sephardic Torahs in the world). We also went to a museum there about the Jewish community in Hebron. There were a lot of soldiers around the area and a lot of tourists there (they told us that visits during Sukkot were popular). We also saw the blocked off crossing into the Palestinian Authority controlled parts of Hebron (90%+ of the city).

There were definitely pro-settlement sentiments on this trip, as I’d expected, but the tour leader, while acknowledging that he has Arab friends, didn’t really agree that the Hebron settlers had issues with the army or soldiers in the area. He did say that before there was “peace” that the Jewish and Palestinian settlers got along a lot better. Interesting…

I enjoyed seeing the West Bank. While there were a lot of checkpoints, they didn’t really seem to be stopping and checking a lot of cars, but maybe I was there on a day the media was focusing on this area… We got back a little after 5:00 p.m.

Back in Jerusalem, I left Ximena and Barney and went back to the Fuschberg Center where I met Rabbi Romm. We went back to his home, had dinner in the Sukkah, etc.

Jerusalem – Hoshana Rabah and Simchat Torah (October 20-21)

In the morning we went to services, which were longer due to Hoshana Rabah. We used the lulav and etrog and then took willow branches and hit the ground in a symbolic asking for rain for the land.

After services, Rabbi Romm took me on a drive around the neighborhood and showed me the outside of the Hebrew University campus (closed for the holiday) and several views over Jerusalem and the Old City as well as towards Jordan. Looking over East Jerusalem, we saw a number of Palestinian villiages. While we didn’t see the refugee camps, the villages definitely did not look as poor as the media makes them out to be.

We went to Ammunition Hill which is the site of a battle between Israel and Jordan in the 1967 Six Day War that led to the reunification of Jerusalem. We went through the museum and walked through the trenches that were a major part of the battle.

Afterwards, we went to Mea Shearim, the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood, and walked around for a bit. It was amazing to see Sukkot on almost every single balcony and outside buildings. The place was busy as people prepared for Simchat Torah, full of people wearing black or white for the holidays. We went to a bakery next to a shmura matza (handmade matza) factory. We walked through several streets of the neighborhood. Most in the area do not watch t.v. and thus, Rabbis send people messages by posting signs on buildings. Rabbi Romm read one to me saying that watching any film is not permitted, even if it could lead to the fulfillment of a mitzvah, because this could also lead one astray as well as another sign saying that during Sukkot, women are only allowed to walk on one side of the street at night.

We then went back to the Romm’s house and relaxed and got ready for Simchat Torah. While I had originally wanted to go the Kotel, the Western Wall, on this day (I didn’t as car access was blocked due to so many visitors to the Old City during Sukkot), it ended up being a great day.

Simchat Torah was great in Jerusalem. I spent it at Ramot Zion, the Conservative Synagogue, with the Romm’s. I had thought that I might be at the Kotel or at another Orthodox synagogue, but I had a great time. We went to services at night and we danced with the Torah in the sanctuary, outside on the roof of the social hall/auditorium and then in the auditorium. I got to hold the Torah for part of the time outside and we danced and sang a number of Jewish and Israeli popular songs, some of which I hadn’t sang since I was in USY. We then read a little (as opposed to finishing the Torah and starting over) from the Torah, but unlike my synagogue, did not call everyone up to the Torah for an aliyah (they did it in the morning).

In the morning we went back to services. Services were longer due to Simchat Torah as well as Shmini Atzeret being the same day in Israel. We once again had a great time dancing with the Torah outside and inside and then read a lot from the Torah. We finished the end of Devarim/Deuteronomy and then started again with the beginning of Bereshit/Genesis. They did a number of group aliyahs to cover the entire congregation: Kohens, Levis, Rabbis and their families, New Parents and Grandparents, Parents of 3+ children, different sections of the sanctuary (left, center, right, balcony), etc. I heard a number of tropes (melodies in which the Torah is read) used due to the diverse makeup of the synagogue including one from Italy and one from Yemen.

We napped in the afternoon and went back to the synagogue for the afternoon and evening services as well as Havdalah. While there I met a member of the synagogue who I had previously seen but had never been introduced to. He moved to Israel from Pisa, Italy 69 years ago. He is a Professor of Bible at Hebrew University and travels around the world. When he gives lessons, he can quote specific verses, even without preparation. I really liked him.

My time in Jerusalem for the holidays was great. The Romm’s said they enjoyed having me and invited me back for Shabbat again sometime.

Now it is on to class. I have class now until I go home – we have no more breaks.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Yesterday - More to Come

I haven't updated my blog in a while. I owe updates from Yom Kippur and my second break including Sukkot and Simchat Torah in Jerusalem. I will post something along those lines tomorrow. I may also do a post about politics here/in the U.S.

I was going to be in Tel-Aviv this weekend, but elected to stay here in the dorms. I am currently sick and figured that this would be the best option for getting better. I started feeling sick during my break, but got better prior to last weekend. Unfortunately though, sickness returned (and I think, worse).

Yesterday (Thursday), I went to a clinic after Hebrew class to see a doctor. I went to the reception desk to get an appointment. Luckilly they make appointments the same day. Not so luckily, most people didn't know English and the lady who did know only knew a little. Nevertheless, I got an appointment and went to wait in the waiting area.

In the waiting area, I eventually attempted to talk to a few ladies who were also waiting to see doctors. I did fairly well, considering. My Hebrew is getting better, but still has a logn way to go. I think that it is impaired as well when I am sick and can't think clearly to translate and process it in my head.

I went in to the doctor. He said he didn't really know English. His English was as good as my Hebrew when I got to Israel, if that. He told me to explain what was wrong in English though. Between my attempts at speaking Hebrew and understanding his Hebrew, my speaking English and his attempts to understand English, and my pointing, I think the message got across. He was very nice.

The doctor put information into the computer about me. (They are pretty advanced here. They scanned my insurance card to give me my appointment and also to put in my diagnosis and prescription.) He gave me a prescription for two different types of pills and some sort of (cough?) syrup. Hopefully, I'll be getting better soon.

Last night I slept horridly, probably because of the medication. Once, I woke up after having a dream in Hebrew (who knows if it was real) and in my half-asleep state was thinking in Hebrew as well. It was kind of crazy...

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Edited Break 2 Plans

Okay, so here are some updates on the rest of my break -

Tomorrow, Monday, moning we (Aaron and I)are taking a train at 7:26 a.m. (yikes!) to the very northern end of the line and the a taxi to visit Rosh Hanikra - grottoes on the Mediterranean Sea at the Israeli/Lebanese border. Ximena is going to meet us on the way from a northern train station.

We are then going to Tivon to stay with Barney and his friends through sometime on Wednesday. We will be having fun galavanting around the North (doing who knows what). There is a chance that we may have to stay at a youth hostel, but it's all good.

Wednesday sometime Aaron and I are going to be going to Tel-Aviv where we will meet Josh and travel around to see a few sites in Tel-Aviv before returning to Be'er Sheva on Thursday night.

Friday I am going to Jerusalem to stay with the Romm's again until Tuesday night - the end of Simchat Torah. They've invited me to stay with them the whole period.

On Sunday though, I may depart the Romm's for the day and take a tour with Aaron and Zion to Hebron and Bethlehem. Don't worry, it's with an organized trip on an armored bus, although it is, I believe, a very right-wing, pro-settlement tour. It ought to be interesting. Here's a link.

Those are the plans for now. So we shall see how they work out...

Yom Kippur & Shabbat

I spent Yom Kippur and this past Shabbat in Jerusalem.

Taking the bus to Jerusalem was rather uneventful and I was surprised by the relative lack of security. I got to the Romm's (the family I had stood with for Rosh Hashanah) at the time they asked me to arrive and went with them to Minha – the afternoon service – prior to Yom Kippur. After that we went back to their apartment to get ready for Yom Kippur at which point we discovered that their refrigerator had stopped. Luckily in what could be termed “the miracle of Yom Kippur” it came back to life during the day.

I spent Yom Kippur at Ramot Zion, a Conservative synagogue in the French Hill neighborhood. The fast started at ~4:45 p.m. on Wednesday and ended at ~5:50 p.m. on Thursday. The fast was surprisingly easy, which I was very happy about. I went to Kol Nidre Wednesday evening. On Yom Kippur day, I was at the synagogue at the beginning from 8:30 a.m. until the end of Mussaf at 2:00 p.m. – ish. Minha began at 3:15 p.m. and Neilah ended around 5:50 p.m. They actually finished a bit early and dragged out the end of the service.

The entire Yom Kippur service was in Hebrew and since everyone speaks Hebrew fluently, they sped through bits of the service. Luckily, I had a copy of the same Mahzor, prayer book, that I used at home for the High Holy Days with English translations. Most of the services matched up and I was able to read the translations and reflections that I very much enjoy on Yom Kippur. We had a nice pre fast meal and a nice break fast meal.

On Yom Kippur in Israel, there is no public transportation – bus, train, airport, etc. Even the taxis stop running. The television stations do not broadcast and neither do the radio stations, except for a silent one that is left on in case of national emergencies – after the Yom Kippur War. No one drives – many roads have barricades put up. Children who aren’t religious ride bikes and skateboards in the roads since there aren’t cars. The only vehicles I saw (basically) were hospital transports and ambulances. French Hill is on top of two Palestinian villages and occasionally cars would come up to a barrier and turn around (some on purpose people may ask). One group of three cars with music playing and a guy smoking a cigarette drove up and moved the barricades out of the way. I thought that there might have been a confrontation between them and Jewish people at the intersection (There was violence in Akko that is still continuing – an updated story).

Yom Kippur was a great experience and hopefully, will yield excellent results.

On Friday I went to morning services and to the naming of the Rabbi’s child followed by a reception. I then helped the Romm’s set up their sukkah. (Sukkah’s seemed to pop up all over the neighborhood after Yom Kippur. It was great. It was described to me as the overnight shanty town all over Israel.) We then watched the movie of the book The Chosen by Chaim Potok. It was very good. Afterwards, we took the dog, Max, for a walk and then I made it over to the Schwartz’s. I stood with them for Shabbat.

The Schwartz’s live a five minute walk from the synagogue in a nice apartment complex full of nice plants. They live on the top floor of their building and have a balcony overlooking the Palestinian villages below and the West Bank. In the distance at night, you can see the lights of Amman, Jordan. They are very nice people (and coincidentally the grandparents of my friend Maayan). The lady, Penina, teaches music at the Academy associated with Hebrew University as well as private lessons and directing the synagogue choir. He husband, Shalom, is a retired professor of social phychology from Hebrew University. He is running a program that is doing research in 70+ countries and they are leaving soon for 10 days in Slovenia. He won the Israel Prize in Psychology in 2007. Needless to say, we had very interesting conversations.

We didn’t go to services on Friday night but had a very interesting dinner with a couple made up of a Law Professor and a Professor (and chair of department?) of Hebrew and Related Semetic Languages at Hebrew University. We had great conversations. Lunch was at the Schwartz’s and I met a number of people with interesting stories. Many had some tie to Camp Ramah of some sort. We talked a lot about the political situation in Israel and the U.S. and the riots in Akko.

We went back to synagogue for Mincha and Ma’ariv and after Havdalah I returned to their apartment while they had choir practice. I ate dinner and then they came back and took me to the bus station. It was very nice Shabbat.

I am currently in Be’er Sheva and am leaving early tomorrow morning for the next leg of my break.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Potential Plans for Break #2

While I've been thinking about it off and on, I didn't really realize until today that my second break begins tomorrow with Yom Kippur. That said, I spent a decent amount of time today trying to figure it out. Below are some preliminary plans.

Yom Kippur - In Jerusalem with the Romm family (French Hill, Conservative Shul)

Shabbat - Move over to another family from the same shul who happen to be a friend's grandparents :-)

Saturday night - come back to Be'er Sheva

Sunday night - head up North to Tivon

Sunday night - Wednesday morning - stay in Tivon with a few people from my group at one of the guy's friend's home. We don't have anything definitive planned but have ideas like going hiking, to the beach at the Sea of the Galilee, going rapelling, ATVing, kayaking on the Jordan River, etc.

Wednesday - go to Rosh Hanikra - an awesome and beautiful place on the sea at the Northern border of Israel with Lebanon.

Wednesday evening - Friday morning - Tel-Aviv. We don't have any definitive plans. Ideas include the beach, Palmach Museum, Yitzhak Rabin Plaza, Israeli Independance funness, Markets, etc.

Friday - Sunday - come back to Be'er Sheva. Spend Shabbat in Be'er Sheva relaxing an catching up on emails and readings and such for class.

Sunday sometime - head to Jerusalem

Sunday sometime - Tuesday night - Spend time in Jerusalem to experience Sukkot and Simchat Torah in Jerusalem and maybe do some sight seeing - we don't really know yet...

So that's all we've got so far. It will hopefully shape up to be a fun experience.

New Years 5769

As we approach Yom Kippur, I ask your forgiveness for anything I may have done against you this past year, whether it was done knowingly or unknowingly.

As I reflect on the year past and the new year that is now here, I am going to try to pledge to the following in order to become a better person:

To become a more understanding person of others and of what happens in their lives as well as my own.

To become less jealous.

To become less judgmental and attempt to see the best in people. I sometimes tend to bend to preconceived and/or incorrect notions of a person without/before actually getting to know that person and this clouds my ability to positively interact with some individuals.

To speak less ill of other people.

To learn more about Judaism and its roll in my life.

To truly value my family and my friends.

Gemar Chatimah Tova - May You Be Sealed For A Good Life

Highlights of the Week

This week is shortened due to Yom Kippur beginning tomorrow (Wednesday) night. Here are some highlights of the week:

Sunday night a group of guys went to see the ritual of Kaparot performed. It was very interesting, though I learned more about how chickens are slaughtered than the actual act, which I kinda disagree with. If you want to see some pictures, they are graphic, click here.

It is still nice enough to go to the pool, which I did on Monday. Well, I hung out and laid out, I was afraid the water would be too cold.

We've been discussing "Who is a Jew" in my Jewish Identity class. This is apparently a very complex issue...

The Overseas Student Program had a little pre-Yom Kippur gathering last night that was an interesting discussion of the holiday. We later had a learning program on Yom Kippur and Sukkot. Good fun.

Today in my Hebrew class we watched the movie Ushpizin. I really like that movie. My two classes tonight got canceled because the professor is sick. This gave me more time to plan out my break, which I just discovered starts tomorrow with Yom Kippur...

I also went to the library today to find books and make copies of chapters/articles for class. That was an experience trying to figure out how the library is organized when I cannot find the English speaking librarians.

A Weekend in the North

So, this should have been posted earlier this week - say when I returned from the North or right after the weekend...

Check out the pictures from the weekend here.

We spent this past weekend traveling around the North of Israel. We left Friday morning at 6:00 a.m. and stopped at a really nice rest stop for breakfast. I had brought some cereal but wanted to see what they offered. Logically I had to get a croissant. I also wanted chocolate milk, but the lady didn't understand me asking for it in English so I said "halav" which is Hebrew for milk. I got hot milk. That is not the same thing, in case you were wondering. I found out that I should have asked for "Chocolat". Obviously I didn't know.

The first place we went was Tzfat. Tzfat is an old city that it the birthplace of Kabbala, home to many old synagogues, and the place where many famous prayers were written. It is also a resting place of many famous Rabbis from many periods of Jewish history. We walked around the city and learned a bit about it. I put on tefillin with a Chabad guy who was previosly not religous, had graduated from the University of Denver ( :-) ) Law School, and was a millionaire lawyer in Miami. That was an interesting discussion.

We went hiking around a mountain near Tzfat to see the nice (green) North. We saw where the headquarters of the Israeli Radar/Defense is in the North that monitors the border with Lebanon and Syria. We then drove through Tiberias, saw the Sea of the Galilee and the Golan Mountains, and went to our home for the weekend Kibbutz Daganya Bet.

Our Kibbutz was a nice place and we did a little Shabbat shindig, had dinner, and hung out. They had hamocks which is really fun. In the morning we went on a walk to Deganya Aleph, the first Kibbutz, and talked about its founding in the early 1900s and the Kibbutz movement. We learned how they fought off the Syrians in the War of Independance. We also went to a place that was basically a clearinghouse for people who came to Israel and wanted to start new kibbutzim. We walked by the Jordan River and also went to a really beautiful cemetary where a lot of Israeli Pioneers and Zionists are buried including the poets Rachel and Naomi Shomer. We didn't get in the Jordan River or the Kineret (Galilee) though.

After having gone back for lunch, a few of us returned to a bridge over the Jordan River and did a little Tashlich service. One of the girls in my group wanted to find out about getting rebaptized so we went to the place where they do baptisms on the Jordan River and while she found out about it, I learned about Jesus - on Shabbat. That afternoon we also went to a chocolate store. Apparently this Kibbutz makes some of the best chocolate in Israel. Their ice cream certainly seemed to attest to that :-) . We hung out in the afternoon - and our rooms had TV (with cable) which is apparently a commodity for us.

We returned to Be'er Sheva Saturday night.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

My Rosh Hashanah 5769

Shalom and Shana Tova!

I got back to Be’er Sheva last night after spending Rosh Hashanah in Jerusalem. It was a great time. I had gotten in contact with a Rabbi (Rabbi Edward Romm) from the Conservative Judaism Fuchsberg Center in Jerusalem to find out about getting set up with a family in Jerusalem for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. He ended up inviting me to stay with his family.

Monday I left for Jerusalem, which was an easier feat than I had expected in the day of the eve of a Chag (holiday). I took a bus to the Old City where I helped a lady with her bags (she had gone to the shuk – market) from the bus to her apartment inside the Old City. I then went to the Kotel where I was asked if I had put on Tefillin that day. I had not and being that it was the day before Rosh Hashanah, I took the opportunity to do so at the Kotel and say the Shema. I then found a minyan (prayer group) in the tunnel at the Kotel on the men’s side and davened (prayed) Minha (the afternoon service) there. I then spent a bit of time in a personal prayer prior to the New Year at the Kotel.

After praying, I found a taxi to take to the French Hill neighborhood where I was staying for the holiday. I had a few things going against me pricewise – I’m American, I speak English, there was a lot of traffic, it was the afternoon before a major religious holiday. Some taxi drivers wanted 100+ shekels for the ride, which is a ridiculous amount. I found one driver who I talked down to 65 shekels. He was a Christian Arab who lives in the Armenian Quarter of the Old City.

French Hill is a nice neighborhood that borders both Hebrew University and East Jerusalem. We drove through an Arab village on the way to French Hill and down a hill from where I stayed was a refugee camp. Each night/morning, I woke up with the Muslim call to prayer three times between 4:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. I think that the call to prayer is awesome and fascinating, but not at those hours, for me at least. Only in Israel could something like that happen on Rosh Hoshanah.

The Romm family is very nice. They live in an apartment that they own in a nice complex with a lot of greenery around it. They have two daughters and a dog. They are very nice people and walking the dog after each meal was a good thing after eating. They are Kosher and Shomer Shabbas. They have lived in Israel for about 30 years.

They pray at a Conservative Synagogue, Ramot Zion, that is nearby. It has a lot of families that are originally from America, but all of the services – including Mahzors (High Holy Day prayer books),page numbers, sermons, etc. – were in Hebrew. They have about 200 families as members including a lot of Hebrew University professors and about 12-15 Rabbis. Their synagogue Rabbi is a woman who was very pregnant (i.e. past due). The services were led by different volunteers in the synagogue and were held in the auditorium because the sanctuary was too small. They have a choir that sang a few songs each day.

My basic schedule:

Monday
Arrive
Get to know the family
Services
Dinner – They had 5 Hebrew University students over for Monday night and Tuesday as well who were very nice. I also met some other Hebrew U. students at services.
Taking it easy
Sleep

Tuesday
Breakfast
Services
Lunch
Taking it easy/Talking to the family
Services
Dinner
Taking it easy

Wednesday
Breakfast
Services
Lunch
Taking it easy/Talking to the family
Services
Figuring out getting back to Be’er Sheva
Taking the bus back to Be’er Sheva – they drove me to the bus station :-)

I had sort of expected some sort of crazy spiritual revelation by celebrating Rosh Hashanah services in Israel and Jerusalem. That didn’t really happen, which I was a bit disappointed about at the time, but later noticed a lot of small things. The service was all in Hebrew. I could look out the window and see Jerusalem stone. The shofar blower was under a large Israeli flag. The Kohanim did the blessing over the congregation. And there was more.

I found the experience of Rosh Hashanah very enjoyable and meaningful. Walking back to the apartment from synagogue I saw rose bushes, which I have not previously seen in Israel. Maybe that is a good sign for the year ahead?

I got invited back to the Romm family for Yom Kippur this coming week. I am excited for that opportunity.

Gemar Chatimah Tovah - May your final sealing (in the Book of Life) be good.