On Wednesday, I was "toranit," meaning I cleaned the whole day. Usually, being "toran" is a non-desirable job in the first place, because there are lots of gross dishes and you get pretty tired. But I am pretty sure that nobody is going to be able to fight with me for the rest of the year about who got the worst day to be "toran." I definititely did.
I woke up at 6:30 to start preparing breakfast and the boy who was "toran" with me hadn't woken up yet, so I just started cutting up the salad. I didn't have a watch/the time with me, so I just assumed he would come at like 6:45 or something, but at 7:15 (which is when breakfast starts), he came running in and we quickly set up the rest of breakfast. That wasn't too bad.
Then I walk out and see two people sweeping up a few broken plates in the corner of the cafeteria. I thought it was weird because I hadn't broken any plates and I hadn't even noticed that there were shards when I walked in that morning. Then somebody points out to me a broken window that we have with blood all over. Our eyes went down a little, and we see bloody paw prints all over the wall, and then all over the floor, and then on the tables, and then on the serving utensils that were left out during the night, and then on the garbage cans. It was disgusting to say the least. It turned out that a cat had gotten in during the night, had broken the plates, freaked out and tried to run around the whole room and escape through the broken window. Now it is stuck in the ceiling and we cannot get it out. Ew.
We moved breakfast outside and spent the morning moving everything in the cafeteria outside and cleaning everything ver very well with some kind of special toilet cleaner. We ended up having lunch outside because it was a beautiful day and the tables and chairs were already outside!
So that was my horror story of the week.
Tomorrow, we are leaving for the rest of Campus Negev, our trip in the southern desert of Israel. We already had a day on Thursday, in which we met with many Bedhoins.
Merry Christmas, and Shabbat Shalom!
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Back in Israel!
It's Thursday now, and I got back on Tuesday from the US, surprisingly with very little jet lag. The trip home was very nice-I spent lots of time with my family, saw some friends (although I was upset that so many people were still at college), and I even went to my high school a few times (I know, ew).
It was great to come back to the mechina and see everybody! We missed each other a lot! Basically, during every single break we've had since I've been back, I've had a meeting with the trip committee to plan our trip to the Negev next week. It looks like it's going to be an AWESOME trip! I am in charge of one day with another person, and I still have to call a few places, but this is what it looks like may happen on our day:
1. We will visit a prison where they put Darfur refugees who have illegally immigrated to Israel (a controversial issue).
2. We'll visit a community of people who have moved to the Negev (the middle of the desert) from big cities like Tel Aviv and have made this decision with the intention of taking a stance against big-city living.
3. We'll go to some sand dunes!!!!
4. We'll go to another city where our Rosh Mechina, Zevik, will lecture. I need to look up more about this city-I'm not exactly sure about it yet.
5. At night, we are sleeping at Mechinat HaNegev, another mechina! It's always fun to meet people from other mechinot and compare (ours is obviously the best though).
So this should be pretty exciting! Other than that, we are starting work on giyusim (recruitment) for other Americans who may be interested in doing this program next year!
One thing I wanted to mention that happened before my trip to the States: I had my Shuir Chanich-my lesson that I gave by myself ALL IN HEBREW for a little over an hour. My subject was anti-Semitism on college campuses in the United States, and I started by taking a Palestinian side and telling them all about how Israel is a terrible place. After that, I took questions-they tried to defend Israel, and I responded to their defenses as a Palestinian. One person believed that I actually thought this way, which was pretty funny, but even though most people knew I wasn't being serious, they played along with it really well, and we had a good debate. After that, I showed a 6-minute clip about things that happen on college campuses with regards to Israel, and then I gave statistics and took questions. It was a successful shiur, and I'm proud of myself for doing it!
It was great to come back to the mechina and see everybody! We missed each other a lot! Basically, during every single break we've had since I've been back, I've had a meeting with the trip committee to plan our trip to the Negev next week. It looks like it's going to be an AWESOME trip! I am in charge of one day with another person, and I still have to call a few places, but this is what it looks like may happen on our day:
1. We will visit a prison where they put Darfur refugees who have illegally immigrated to Israel (a controversial issue).
2. We'll visit a community of people who have moved to the Negev (the middle of the desert) from big cities like Tel Aviv and have made this decision with the intention of taking a stance against big-city living.
3. We'll go to some sand dunes!!!!
4. We'll go to another city where our Rosh Mechina, Zevik, will lecture. I need to look up more about this city-I'm not exactly sure about it yet.
5. At night, we are sleeping at Mechinat HaNegev, another mechina! It's always fun to meet people from other mechinot and compare (ours is obviously the best though).
So this should be pretty exciting! Other than that, we are starting work on giyusim (recruitment) for other Americans who may be interested in doing this program next year!
One thing I wanted to mention that happened before my trip to the States: I had my Shuir Chanich-my lesson that I gave by myself ALL IN HEBREW for a little over an hour. My subject was anti-Semitism on college campuses in the United States, and I started by taking a Palestinian side and telling them all about how Israel is a terrible place. After that, I took questions-they tried to defend Israel, and I responded to their defenses as a Palestinian. One person believed that I actually thought this way, which was pretty funny, but even though most people knew I wasn't being serious, they played along with it really well, and we had a good debate. After that, I showed a 6-minute clip about things that happen on college campuses with regards to Israel, and then I gave statistics and took questions. It was a successful shiur, and I'm proud of myself for doing it!
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Meeting with Charedim
On Thursday night, we went to Jerusalem to spend the night with Charedim, really really orthodox Jews. The meeting was organized by an organization that tries to get religious and secular Jews to talk and try to understand each other. I think this is really important because I think that both groups have stereotypes about each other, and although they may never agree, it is important for them to at least understand in order for the Jews in Israel to stay united.
Anyway, I was put in a group with my friend from the mechina (Racheli) and two Charedi women, one of whom joined later. We had discussions about two topics in particular: the army and women. The Charedi community has a reputation for not going to the army because they think it is more important to learn Torah all day. The woman explained to me that the army does things that she does not agree with that makes it unreasonable to ask her and her family to serve. For example, in ceremonies for the army, everyone sings "Hatikva" (the Israeli national anthem) and stands up. In her opinion, this is treating the "Hatikva" as if it is a holy prayer, which it isn't for her. She said a lot of other things, including that there is no benefit for men to exercise all day, and that the Charedi community is doing just as good of a job protecting Israel as the army because they are praying to God for it. She used Hanukkah as an example; in the story of Hanukkah, the Jews defeated the Greeks even though the Jews' army was much weaker and smaller. She says the Jews must have prayed and that's why they won. I didn't agree with her on this issue, but it was interesting to hear from her what she had to say. I could tell that she felt bad saying all this stuff; she was always stopping to make sure that we were not about to blow up.
I felt a little more connected to the next issue we talked about: women. She explained to me how men and women are two completely different beings and as such have completely different roles in life. A man's role in life is to study Torah, and a woman's role in life is modesty. She should protect over herself as something so valuable that nobody can see it other than her husband. I kind of understand this, but it still bothers me how women are forced into a little corner of the synagogue where they can't even see or hear anything, and how if there is a party with singing and dancing, they are supposed to just sit and do nothing, since men are not allowed to hear their voice or see them dance. The woman I talked to was not bothered by this at all-she said she was protecting over herself.
Then, I brought up the issue of women in different movements of Judaism who wear kippot, t'filin, and talit. She said that this was forbidden by the Torah by the law that says that men cannot wear women's clothes and vice versa. I told her that this was the way that many women find a real connection with God, and she said that women need to find their connection in other ways, such as lighting candles on Shabbat. I talked about how some movements try to modify Judaism a little bit to make it more relate-able to people and times now, to which she answered that the Torah was written to fit all times and can never be changed based on what people think. She said that people cannot decide what God wants of them because God has written it all clearly in the Torah. I had a little issue with this, because many Jewish laws are not taken exactly from the Torah, but from the "mishna" and "gmara," which are two interpretations of the Torah written by rabbis a long time ago. Anyway, this conversation went on for a long time...I can see where she's coming from with the whole modesty thing, but I still disagree with her on a general level. It was very interesting to hear.
By the way, I am writing this in on my laptop on my bed in Chicago! I came home yesterday for Hanukkah!
Anyway, I was put in a group with my friend from the mechina (Racheli) and two Charedi women, one of whom joined later. We had discussions about two topics in particular: the army and women. The Charedi community has a reputation for not going to the army because they think it is more important to learn Torah all day. The woman explained to me that the army does things that she does not agree with that makes it unreasonable to ask her and her family to serve. For example, in ceremonies for the army, everyone sings "Hatikva" (the Israeli national anthem) and stands up. In her opinion, this is treating the "Hatikva" as if it is a holy prayer, which it isn't for her. She said a lot of other things, including that there is no benefit for men to exercise all day, and that the Charedi community is doing just as good of a job protecting Israel as the army because they are praying to God for it. She used Hanukkah as an example; in the story of Hanukkah, the Jews defeated the Greeks even though the Jews' army was much weaker and smaller. She says the Jews must have prayed and that's why they won. I didn't agree with her on this issue, but it was interesting to hear from her what she had to say. I could tell that she felt bad saying all this stuff; she was always stopping to make sure that we were not about to blow up.
I felt a little more connected to the next issue we talked about: women. She explained to me how men and women are two completely different beings and as such have completely different roles in life. A man's role in life is to study Torah, and a woman's role in life is modesty. She should protect over herself as something so valuable that nobody can see it other than her husband. I kind of understand this, but it still bothers me how women are forced into a little corner of the synagogue where they can't even see or hear anything, and how if there is a party with singing and dancing, they are supposed to just sit and do nothing, since men are not allowed to hear their voice or see them dance. The woman I talked to was not bothered by this at all-she said she was protecting over herself.
Then, I brought up the issue of women in different movements of Judaism who wear kippot, t'filin, and talit. She said that this was forbidden by the Torah by the law that says that men cannot wear women's clothes and vice versa. I told her that this was the way that many women find a real connection with God, and she said that women need to find their connection in other ways, such as lighting candles on Shabbat. I talked about how some movements try to modify Judaism a little bit to make it more relate-able to people and times now, to which she answered that the Torah was written to fit all times and can never be changed based on what people think. She said that people cannot decide what God wants of them because God has written it all clearly in the Torah. I had a little issue with this, because many Jewish laws are not taken exactly from the Torah, but from the "mishna" and "gmara," which are two interpretations of the Torah written by rabbis a long time ago. Anyway, this conversation went on for a long time...I can see where she's coming from with the whole modesty thing, but I still disagree with her on a general level. It was very interesting to hear.
By the way, I am writing this in on my laptop on my bed in Chicago! I came home yesterday for Hanukkah!
Pictures from the Judean Desert!
חולניקים!! Americans! Roy, Ari, Yoella, Brad, me!, Roy, Jonathan
A mountain that we climbed in the middle! I don't know how much you can see in this picture, but it was realllllly steep!
Me and ma pack
Doesn't it look like The Lion King? At some points there were actually the trees that they have in The Lion King!
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