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!
Sunday, December 5, 2010
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!
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
נודד מדבר יהודה!! (Our trip in the Judean Desert!)
I just got back from a 3-day backpacking trip in Midbar Yehuda, the Judean Desert, which is in the Jerusalem-ish area, next to Massada and the Dead Sea. I was the logistican for the trip (along with Yoella, another American here), which basically means that we were in charge of all the food and equipment for the trip. It also means that this post may include many descriptions of the food we ate, since that was one of my main time-consumers during the trip.
We started on Sunday morning; we left the mechina at 7:30, got to Midbar Yehuda by 9:30, and started hiking! It was a medium-level day, with some uphill, some downhill, and everything in between. We had an optional "summit" in the beginning of the day, where about half of us left our bags at the bottom of a hill and ran up. It was very steep, but the view was totally worth it. I have many pictures; I'll probably put them up later. Anyway, we got to camp by 4 pm, did some stretching, and then Yoella and I (along with the "toranim"-basically food-helpers) started making dinner. It was stir-fry. We were dissapointed because they didn't give us all the ingredients we asked for, but it ended up still being great! It was kind of funny because we spent all the time preparing dinner complaining about how there was no soy sauce and how we didn't have enough spices to make the stir-fry how we wanted, and then when we were cleaning up, we found the soy sauce. Oh well.
Monday was harder. I woke up at 4:30 in the morning to start making breakfast for everyone because we had decided that we would do something nice and make pancakes, even though they take longer. It was pretty much a huge fail. The person that made the pancake mix put way too much water in it, and that combined with the fact that we had no spatula and were cooking on a small hill basically made it impossible to make regular pancakes. Therefore, I had the great idea of making scrambled pancakes. So we poured a lot of the mix in and started scrambling it. It did not turn out the way we planned at all-the oil mixed with the pancakes and it turned into a disgusting mush that didn't cook at all. At this point, it was already 5:20, and everyone else was up and ready for breakfast. There were about 20 people crowding around us, watching us make the pancakes, and screaming unhelpful advice, criticism, and questions. An example of a question I got probably three times: Person: "Why do the pancakes look disgusting?" Me: "Because the mix is too watery." Person: "Why is the mix too watery?" Me: "Because someone put too much water in the mix." Yeah, so I probably wasted about 5 minutes of my life on that pointless conversation. After we were finished with that whole disaster and we had finished washing the dishes, we only had 5 minutes left before we had to leave, and I hadn't even stuffed my sleeping bag, let alone changed into my hiking clothes, brushed my teeth, etc. So I was pretty much a mess when we left that morning.
The whole day had a very stressful undertone for everyone. We were rushing to get where we needed to go, and our breaks were all very short, with the boys always counting down the last 30 seconds, as if they were trying to find the way to stress everyone out the most they possibly could. There was a huge gap between the first and last people; at least 20 minutes I would say. Near the end of the day, we had a discussion about this gap, and I think that most people took it to heart and tried to help the people in the back as opposed to rushing in front. Also, in our "sicum yom" (day conclusion? basically a discussion we have every night about how the day went), many people voiced their opinions that the day was not fun for them and very hard and they felt that people did not help them a lot. Therefore, "Chulyat Tiyulim" (my committee that helps plan the trips) decided that we would shorten Tuesday and make more breaks and "hadrachot" (short lessons about where we are). For dinner on Monday we had pasta with tomato sauce, hot dogs, and a delicious salad, if anyone was wondering.
Tuesday was really fun! We walked pretty slowly and saw amazing views the entire time; it really looked like a scene from The Lion King. I played many word games, such as Ghost, Contact (family members reading this: it's that complicated game that we played one time in a car ride somewhere), and 20 questions. The hardest 20 questions things that I guessed were the trident in The Little Mermaid and a check mark on a sheet of paper. Pretty intense.
A question to think about: What is the best way to get your plate clean without wasting too much water? In my opinion, you should lick it. This hasn't caught on yet to anybody else, but I'm pretty sure people will start to follow my example at some point. Some people prefer to rub dirt into the plate to get the oil out and then either just bang it all out or use a little bit of water to clean the dirt out. Others just wash it out with water. All three work, but I invite you to think: What is the best way to get your plate clean?
Sorry this is so long.
We started on Sunday morning; we left the mechina at 7:30, got to Midbar Yehuda by 9:30, and started hiking! It was a medium-level day, with some uphill, some downhill, and everything in between. We had an optional "summit" in the beginning of the day, where about half of us left our bags at the bottom of a hill and ran up. It was very steep, but the view was totally worth it. I have many pictures; I'll probably put them up later. Anyway, we got to camp by 4 pm, did some stretching, and then Yoella and I (along with the "toranim"-basically food-helpers) started making dinner. It was stir-fry. We were dissapointed because they didn't give us all the ingredients we asked for, but it ended up still being great! It was kind of funny because we spent all the time preparing dinner complaining about how there was no soy sauce and how we didn't have enough spices to make the stir-fry how we wanted, and then when we were cleaning up, we found the soy sauce. Oh well.
Monday was harder. I woke up at 4:30 in the morning to start making breakfast for everyone because we had decided that we would do something nice and make pancakes, even though they take longer. It was pretty much a huge fail. The person that made the pancake mix put way too much water in it, and that combined with the fact that we had no spatula and were cooking on a small hill basically made it impossible to make regular pancakes. Therefore, I had the great idea of making scrambled pancakes. So we poured a lot of the mix in and started scrambling it. It did not turn out the way we planned at all-the oil mixed with the pancakes and it turned into a disgusting mush that didn't cook at all. At this point, it was already 5:20, and everyone else was up and ready for breakfast. There were about 20 people crowding around us, watching us make the pancakes, and screaming unhelpful advice, criticism, and questions. An example of a question I got probably three times: Person: "Why do the pancakes look disgusting?" Me: "Because the mix is too watery." Person: "Why is the mix too watery?" Me: "Because someone put too much water in the mix." Yeah, so I probably wasted about 5 minutes of my life on that pointless conversation. After we were finished with that whole disaster and we had finished washing the dishes, we only had 5 minutes left before we had to leave, and I hadn't even stuffed my sleeping bag, let alone changed into my hiking clothes, brushed my teeth, etc. So I was pretty much a mess when we left that morning.
The whole day had a very stressful undertone for everyone. We were rushing to get where we needed to go, and our breaks were all very short, with the boys always counting down the last 30 seconds, as if they were trying to find the way to stress everyone out the most they possibly could. There was a huge gap between the first and last people; at least 20 minutes I would say. Near the end of the day, we had a discussion about this gap, and I think that most people took it to heart and tried to help the people in the back as opposed to rushing in front. Also, in our "sicum yom" (day conclusion? basically a discussion we have every night about how the day went), many people voiced their opinions that the day was not fun for them and very hard and they felt that people did not help them a lot. Therefore, "Chulyat Tiyulim" (my committee that helps plan the trips) decided that we would shorten Tuesday and make more breaks and "hadrachot" (short lessons about where we are). For dinner on Monday we had pasta with tomato sauce, hot dogs, and a delicious salad, if anyone was wondering.
Tuesday was really fun! We walked pretty slowly and saw amazing views the entire time; it really looked like a scene from The Lion King. I played many word games, such as Ghost, Contact (family members reading this: it's that complicated game that we played one time in a car ride somewhere), and 20 questions. The hardest 20 questions things that I guessed were the trident in The Little Mermaid and a check mark on a sheet of paper. Pretty intense.
A question to think about: What is the best way to get your plate clean without wasting too much water? In my opinion, you should lick it. This hasn't caught on yet to anybody else, but I'm pretty sure people will start to follow my example at some point. Some people prefer to rub dirt into the plate to get the oil out and then either just bang it all out or use a little bit of water to clean the dirt out. Others just wash it out with water. All three work, but I invite you to think: What is the best way to get your plate clean?
Sorry this is so long.
Monday, November 8, 2010
"Madasim" (Exercise classes) and the Army
So we have exercise classes here usually 3 times a week, which is good because we eat SO MUCH and then sit in class all day, so without these classes we would gain a lot more weight than we are already gaining. Which I guess would be not-so-great in a program that is preparing people for the army.
Anyway, a few interesting things about these classes. A few weeks ago, we had a class where we had to run around in zig-zags (we don't have any exercise facilities, so we have to be creative) and then our counselor would yell things and we had to stop and do them. It started with pretending to shoot a basketball, hit a tennis ball, do a kickboxing kick, and things like that. It moved on to doing push-ups, sit-ups, etc. Finally, we had to crouch and pretend to shoot a gun, and then crawl on the floor and shoot a gun, and then hide behind a bush and shoot a gun. I just remember thinking to myself-if somebody who didn't live here had a movie of us doing this, they would think it was the weirdest and most terrible thing ever. It's really something that could be used against Israel-the whole idea that society thinks about the army so much. There are soldiers everywhere you go in Israel-it's a normal occurence to see them everywhere (very unlike how it is in America).
Today we had a really hard class, composed of basically sprinting for 40 minutes. Another thing that would never have happened in my gym class at home (we wouldn't have done sprinting anyway, but in case we did...)-people started to get really tired and their heads and chests were hurting, and our counselor was just like, "don't worry, a little headache is fine, don't drink any water, work through it, you can all do it!" It just seems like everyone is usually obssessed with hydration (which is a good thing) and it was weird to feel like they already think of us as people who can deal with the pain and work through it, just like these Israelis are going to have to do in the army.
Anyway, a few interesting things about these classes. A few weeks ago, we had a class where we had to run around in zig-zags (we don't have any exercise facilities, so we have to be creative) and then our counselor would yell things and we had to stop and do them. It started with pretending to shoot a basketball, hit a tennis ball, do a kickboxing kick, and things like that. It moved on to doing push-ups, sit-ups, etc. Finally, we had to crouch and pretend to shoot a gun, and then crawl on the floor and shoot a gun, and then hide behind a bush and shoot a gun. I just remember thinking to myself-if somebody who didn't live here had a movie of us doing this, they would think it was the weirdest and most terrible thing ever. It's really something that could be used against Israel-the whole idea that society thinks about the army so much. There are soldiers everywhere you go in Israel-it's a normal occurence to see them everywhere (very unlike how it is in America).
Today we had a really hard class, composed of basically sprinting for 40 minutes. Another thing that would never have happened in my gym class at home (we wouldn't have done sprinting anyway, but in case we did...)-people started to get really tired and their heads and chests were hurting, and our counselor was just like, "don't worry, a little headache is fine, don't drink any water, work through it, you can all do it!" It just seems like everyone is usually obssessed with hydration (which is a good thing) and it was weird to feel like they already think of us as people who can deal with the pain and work through it, just like these Israelis are going to have to do in the army.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Pictures!
I've been too lazy to put pictures up, but here goes!
A sample from my weekend with Noa :)
Me and my cousins! Taken during Sukkot in Kfar Saba.
My nivutim (navigations) group! Supaaa fun
In the Golan on our hike through Nachal Zavitan.
The picture from the museum that we saw in the Golan about the Syrian Druzim who live there (refer to previous post).
Me and Ayelet at the Idan Riechel concert we went to! It was organized by Masa, which is the organization that helps to bring Jews from outside of Israel to Israel. Almost every program in Israel is associated by Masa, so I saw a lot of people I know there from Chicago!
A sample from my weekend with Noa :)
Me and my cousins! Taken during Sukkot in Kfar Saba.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
The Golan and Everything Since
It feels like I haven't written in forever, and I always think about things I want to write here but then I forget. I'll do my best, though.
Last week, we were on a week-long trip to the Golan (in the north of Israel). We spent a lot of time getting on and off the bus, visiting different historical sites mostly. We hiked one day in the Zavitan, which also has a lot of natural springs there, so we went swimming and it was really fun! The most interesting thing we did in the Golan was on the last day, when we visited a Druzi museum. Most Druzim in Israel are very loyal to the country; they serve in the army even though they are not required to. Some Druzim in the Golan, however, still consider themselves Syrian (Israel conquered the Golan in 1967 from Syria). These Druzim do not accept Israeli citizenship, they do not serve in the army, and they cannot obtain Syrian citizenship either because they live in Israel. It was very interesting to hear their point of view, although some of the things we saw in the museum were very disturbing. For example, there was a big map of the Golan labled "The Arab Syrian Republic," and there was also a picture of children standing on the street doing something that looked very similar too the Hitler heil. We asked our tour guide about it, and he said it was part of an exercise for gym class in a summer camp they have every year. We were still pretty offended by it, and later he said that actually it was just the children saluting their flag, because apparently that is how everybody salutes their flag (according to our guide). Our tour guide tried to draw a large distinction between the Jewish people and the Israeli people, and said that the fact that we tie those two things together so strongly is the reason why peace cannot be obtained. It was a little disturbing to hear all these things, but it definitely made us think.
Funny story from the Golan: I convinced my friend that I had a pet mouse living in my room with me, and I'm pretty sure he believed me. Basically, around a month ago, my roommate was on her laptop and she couldn't find the mouse for it, so she was looking around yelling, "Where is the mouse?" and I thought that she was talking about a real mouse, so I was like, "A mouse?? We have a mouse??" They think this is the funniest thing ever, so they have been telling people about it. So I was walking with my roommate and another boy, and my roommate asked him if he heard about me and the mouse. So I just made up a story about how I have a pet mouse and I keep him in my drawer in my room and take him on walks and everything.
During the weekend, I stayed in the north at Kibbutz Ga'aton with my friend Noa, who is there on a dancing program. It was so much fun! I met a lot of the people she lives with, and I got to put faces to names I had heard on the phone. It was very fun.
This week at the mechina has been very interesting. I have been planning nonstop a class with my friend Tali for next week, which is our week dedicated to the Holocaust. We are going to talk about different ways to look at the Holocaust, like from the point of view of a righteous gentile, the Pope, non-Jews who were also victims, and other countries (such as the US). I hope it will be successful-I think it will be.
Last week, we were on a week-long trip to the Golan (in the north of Israel). We spent a lot of time getting on and off the bus, visiting different historical sites mostly. We hiked one day in the Zavitan, which also has a lot of natural springs there, so we went swimming and it was really fun! The most interesting thing we did in the Golan was on the last day, when we visited a Druzi museum. Most Druzim in Israel are very loyal to the country; they serve in the army even though they are not required to. Some Druzim in the Golan, however, still consider themselves Syrian (Israel conquered the Golan in 1967 from Syria). These Druzim do not accept Israeli citizenship, they do not serve in the army, and they cannot obtain Syrian citizenship either because they live in Israel. It was very interesting to hear their point of view, although some of the things we saw in the museum were very disturbing. For example, there was a big map of the Golan labled "The Arab Syrian Republic," and there was also a picture of children standing on the street doing something that looked very similar too the Hitler heil. We asked our tour guide about it, and he said it was part of an exercise for gym class in a summer camp they have every year. We were still pretty offended by it, and later he said that actually it was just the children saluting their flag, because apparently that is how everybody salutes their flag (according to our guide). Our tour guide tried to draw a large distinction between the Jewish people and the Israeli people, and said that the fact that we tie those two things together so strongly is the reason why peace cannot be obtained. It was a little disturbing to hear all these things, but it definitely made us think.
Funny story from the Golan: I convinced my friend that I had a pet mouse living in my room with me, and I'm pretty sure he believed me. Basically, around a month ago, my roommate was on her laptop and she couldn't find the mouse for it, so she was looking around yelling, "Where is the mouse?" and I thought that she was talking about a real mouse, so I was like, "A mouse?? We have a mouse??" They think this is the funniest thing ever, so they have been telling people about it. So I was walking with my roommate and another boy, and my roommate asked him if he heard about me and the mouse. So I just made up a story about how I have a pet mouse and I keep him in my drawer in my room and take him on walks and everything.
During the weekend, I stayed in the north at Kibbutz Ga'aton with my friend Noa, who is there on a dancing program. It was so much fun! I met a lot of the people she lives with, and I got to put faces to names I had heard on the phone. It was very fun.
This week at the mechina has been very interesting. I have been planning nonstop a class with my friend Tali for next week, which is our week dedicated to the Holocaust. We are going to talk about different ways to look at the Holocaust, like from the point of view of a righteous gentile, the Pope, non-Jews who were also victims, and other countries (such as the US). I hope it will be successful-I think it will be.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
The Final Break
It's 3:30 in the morning right now-why am I awake? I am on "shmira," meaning that I am awake with another boy, and we are supposed to make sure that everybody is safe during the night. We don't have a gun or anything, so I'm not exactly sure what we would do if someone dangerous came, other than try to beat them up? But we do this anyway-every night is split up by hours, and a boy and a girl must do shmira together every hour. Technically, whoever is on shmira is supposed to be walking around outside, but most people go on the computers. It's kind of nice actually-you sit with someone and get to know them a little better, and it's great for me because more people are on facebook chat at 3:30 am :) I like that it's in the middle of the night because I get to go to sleep before and after,, but Danny (my partner) didn't go to sleep before this and will be up until 4 am..yuck.
We came back on Sunday from our last long break, which I am happy about because it means I will get to spend more time at one place for a while. I started the break at my friend Shir's house in Ra'anana, where we ate weird Israeli sushi (with cooked fish and sweet potato), saw a movie (even weireder..the one with that guy from Juno if any of you have seen it...something about ex-girlfriends), and watched looooots of tv. I then went to my cousins' house in Kiryat Ono, which was really fun! My cousin Oren picked me up on Friday night, and we had Shabbat dinner together, and then I went with Oren to a little party that his friend was throwing in honor of the haircut he got before he joins the army. Oren's friends were all very interested to talk to an American, but most of them didn't understand why I am here and asked me things like, "Is it so bad in America that you decided to come here? You have so much to do there-we have nothing to do...Why would you ever come here?" I think they were under the impression that I go to Disneyland every day. Anyway, it was pretty interesting and nice to talk to Israelis my age outside of the mechina. In the morning, we went carting (raced around a track in mini cart things) and bowling, and we wanted to go to the sea, but it was too hot. It was really really hot. I also ate a lot of cake there. Yum.
When we got back to the mechina on Sunday, we did some yoga and then got ready for our "nivut" which was on Monday--navigation. This is when they give us coordinate points on the map and we have to find them and decide how to get from place to place. We have different points for the day and night-during the day, we are allowed to use the map, and during the night, we are not supposed to use it. We have a compass the whole time. Anyway, I was dreading this because last time we did it, I did not have fun and was not a good navigator. Every person is supposed to take a section of the route, memorize it, and lead the group; if you make a mistake, the whole group gets lost. This made me very nervous, but my group was great, and we did not get lost at all, which is quite an achievement. We actually stopped for coffee once and tea once when we saw great views. I have many pictures from this day, which will hopefully be on facebook soon, and I will even upload some of them onto this blog as soon as I get the chance.
I am going to be very busy this week because I am on two committees that are working pretty hard-tiyulim (trips) and Shoah (Holocaust). Our trip to Ramat Hagolan is next week (starting this Sunday), and there is a lot to do for that. I'll spare you the details (I don't even know all of them), but I will probably be in meetings for a lot of the week. Exciting, right? But I actually am excited!
We came back on Sunday from our last long break, which I am happy about because it means I will get to spend more time at one place for a while. I started the break at my friend Shir's house in Ra'anana, where we ate weird Israeli sushi (with cooked fish and sweet potato), saw a movie (even weireder..the one with that guy from Juno if any of you have seen it...something about ex-girlfriends), and watched looooots of tv. I then went to my cousins' house in Kiryat Ono, which was really fun! My cousin Oren picked me up on Friday night, and we had Shabbat dinner together, and then I went with Oren to a little party that his friend was throwing in honor of the haircut he got before he joins the army. Oren's friends were all very interested to talk to an American, but most of them didn't understand why I am here and asked me things like, "Is it so bad in America that you decided to come here? You have so much to do there-we have nothing to do...Why would you ever come here?" I think they were under the impression that I go to Disneyland every day. Anyway, it was pretty interesting and nice to talk to Israelis my age outside of the mechina. In the morning, we went carting (raced around a track in mini cart things) and bowling, and we wanted to go to the sea, but it was too hot. It was really really hot. I also ate a lot of cake there. Yum.
When we got back to the mechina on Sunday, we did some yoga and then got ready for our "nivut" which was on Monday--navigation. This is when they give us coordinate points on the map and we have to find them and decide how to get from place to place. We have different points for the day and night-during the day, we are allowed to use the map, and during the night, we are not supposed to use it. We have a compass the whole time. Anyway, I was dreading this because last time we did it, I did not have fun and was not a good navigator. Every person is supposed to take a section of the route, memorize it, and lead the group; if you make a mistake, the whole group gets lost. This made me very nervous, but my group was great, and we did not get lost at all, which is quite an achievement. We actually stopped for coffee once and tea once when we saw great views. I have many pictures from this day, which will hopefully be on facebook soon, and I will even upload some of them onto this blog as soon as I get the chance.
I am going to be very busy this week because I am on two committees that are working pretty hard-tiyulim (trips) and Shoah (Holocaust). Our trip to Ramat Hagolan is next week (starting this Sunday), and there is a lot to do for that. I'll spare you the details (I don't even know all of them), but I will probably be in meetings for a lot of the week. Exciting, right? But I actually am excited!
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