HUC campus pictures

Here are some pictures of the HUC school campus. It's absolutely beautiful here. Go forth and check it out!

http://good-times.webshots.com/album/553668762PYqGVk

Shofars

After a highly amusing conversation with a non-Jewish friend of mine, I realized that not everyone knows what a shofar looks like. And if you don't, my entry from last week must seem very, very weird. So here are a few pictures of shofars, in all their glory:

They're usually made of ram's horn, and they're always blown on Rosh Hashanah, plus other times, especially during the month of Elul (Sept/Oct) in order to call the Jews to worship. There are four different types of sounds you make, ranging from one long note to nine little spurts of sound. Here's another:

This one is the type that most people bought the other day - strange as it may seem, the bigger the shofar, the easier it is to produce a sound.

And here is a random internet picture of someone blowing a shofar. I picked a picture of a woman in response to the conservative religious sexism here - Orthodox Jews say that only men can blow the shofar, even though it's specifically mentioned in the Talmud that women can do it too. The woman here is also wearing a kippah (beanie-like head covering), tallit (prayer shawl), and tefillin (straps with boxes containing Hebrew prayers on the arm and head). Yeah, I admit it may look funny... but then again, Catholics have that wafer and wine bit and monks who swing incense, so I guess none of us religious-types can really complain. :)

Chocolate!

I got my schedule, and it isn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Two days a week I have school from 8:30am-5:30pm, one day is an "Israel Seminar" where we go around the city, and the other two days are only 8:30am-1:30pm. I'm taking Modern Hebrew, Biblical Grammar, Liturgy, Bible, Modern European Jewish History, plus a fun class entitled "Why I am a Reform Jew." Next semester I get more electives, plus Rabbinic Literature, so I think it'll be more interesting academically.

J and I are in Holon right now, at my dad's. I'm loving the air conditioning. Friday we went to the Tel Aviv beach, and J got to experience the glory of fine sand and the warmth of the Mediterranean. Then we saw Superman Returns at CinemaCity, on a HUGE screen (it was as big as an IMAX). Then my brother and sister came with us for dessert at Max Brenner's, the wondrous Chocolate Bar. Here's the link to the menu, so you all can drool: http://www.maxbrenner.com/menus.html (look at the Sweets and Drinks). EVERYTHING is of chocolate! It was amazing, I'm in awe. Unfortunately they only have locations in New York, Israel, Australia, Singapore, and the Philippines. So consider it another excuse for you all to visit!

We'll probably be here til tomorrow, then back to Jerusalem. Hopefully this heat wave will end soon.... I feel like the wicked witch, I'm meeeeelllllting!

The mundane bits of life

I know it's been a while since we've updated. Bad us! But honestly, life is school, friends, and homework, and if we don't have field trips, I don't know what to say! So maybe I'll tell you all the mundane details of life and you can decide for yourself if it's boring or not.

To me HUC seems like college - everyone lives near or around us, the school is a tiny little gossip fishbowl, and there's a great sense of community. Everyone helps each other, is supportive, buys each other's homemade necklaces, that type of thing. A good example - today a bunch of us went to go buy shofars (in preparation for the upcoming High Holidays), and two hours later, I heard some utterly *awful* shofar sounds coming from the apartment three buildings down. Aww, classmates learning! I thought. And I was right - three people waved to me through the window with their shofars.

Ulpan ends tomorrow, a fact for which I am utterly, completely grateful. I love the Hebrew language, but grammar for 5 hours a day, 5 days a week, for 6 weeks, was getting old. We have our academic orientation on Thursday, and I'm really looking forward to finding out our classes, teachers, etc. (Yes, I'm a geek, this is already well-known). Friday we're going up to Holon to stay with my dad - he's already asked us what food we want! - and then we get back Sunday, and intend to relax. Real academic school starts the week after. Jonathan's ulpan ends when mine does, and his next session begins Sept. 3rd, so it seems to be working out perfectly.

The school requires us to lead services, read Torah, and give a sermon (drasha) at least once. So I've signed up to read Torah in November, the portion of Isaac's near-sacrifice (on which Helayne is giving the drasha). My own sermon is Dec. 4th, I have no idea what portion. And I'm leading services on October 16th, along with Melanie, a cantorial student, and Matt, an education student who seems to be on par with me in terms of my Classical Reform background. I didn't know that Temple Israel was so classically Reform until I got here and started talking to other students... who knew that so many other Reform temples chant the intro paragraph before the Shabbat kiddush, or that so many of my classmates grew up wearing tallitot and even tefillin?

Hmm, what else.. There are some things that happen only in Israel, impromptu shofar choirs notwithstanding. Passing the makolet (small neighborhood grocery) on the way to school early in the morning, I saw the shop owner step outside with his coffee, say "Baruch Atah Adonai..." for the blessing, and then go back inside to begin his day. That just doesn't happen in the States!

The next night, after a Shabbat service/potluck dinner/song session at a friend's house (he has a HUGE balcony), Jonathan and I were heading home. We were stopped at a stoplight, about to cross the street, when I noticed that the woman standing in front of us was wearing an absolutely gorgeous skirt. Not wanting to covet it alone, I whispered to Jonathan - and then he turned to her to compliment her on her taste. Well, it turns out she's American, she's a banker and her husband's a surgeon, they're from Chicago, and they're here for a week playing tourist. We stood on the street corner for 40 minutes talking to them, and the next night, they called us and we went out for dinner! (Burger Bar, by the way - garlic mayonnaise that is to die for, you don't even miss not having cheese).

Other interesting things about Israel - I hadn't really understood til I got here that everything here is spontaneous. No one makes set plans until the day before or even the day itself, and nobody gets upset about it. It helps me understand a lot about my Israeli family, actually - we have completely different mindsets in some ways.

Then there are the bits that are just as interesting, but maybe not so favorable. Like beggars with unbelievable chutzpah, who won't leave you alone after you say no. And mosquitos from hell. And the fact that nobody spays their cats, so there are strays *everywhere*. Jonathan and I have been studiously avoiding adopting some kittens... but to tell the truth I'm not quite sure how much longer I'll last. They live in the building next door and they're adorable. I think we would have already taken one in except that they're so scared of humans, they won't let us pet them.

And oh my goodness - I could write more, but this is already long. I should go study for tomorrow's quiz. Kudos if you got this far... g'night!

Michal's Article for TI Bulletin

Hi all,
It looks like I'm going to have a regular column in the Temple Israel monthly bulletin, entitled "Life in Israel." For those of you who know me from TI, consider this a preview of September's article. For those of you who don't know me from temple, don't get the bulletin, and have no idea what I'm talking about, read and enjoy. :)

"Living in History"

To live in Jerusalem is to constantly float between two worlds. On one hand, I am firmly anchored in the present. I drink hot chocolate at a café and connect my laptop to a wireless internet network. I bypass a pothole in the street on my way to school, pet the stray cat who likes to hang out in my building, and am concerned about my grade on the upcoming Hebrew test.

Yet, at the same time, life is indelibly marked by the past. While late for meeting a friend, I rush and trip over a jutting piece of stone in the Jewish Quarter; then I stop and realize that Hillel or Shammai could have tripped over it too. I am too tired to make dinner and so order pizza for delivery; I am taken aback when it is accompanied not by a Papa John’s garlic-type sauce, but by a spice packet of “zatar,” or “hyssop” in English, the very same spice with which David is purged and cleansed in Psalm 51. Arriving home after a long day, I complain that my feet are filthy after walking around in sandals. Then I wonder, how many generations of women have had this same complaint?

It is easily apparent why HUC requires its first-year students to live here, and not in Tel Aviv or Beersheva. While all Israel is rooted in history, it is only in Jerusalem that I can traverse the centuries in a matter of minutes, and pass fourteen historical sites on the way to buying my vegetables at the open-air market. Nowhere else in the world can I view the Dead Sea Scrolls in the Israel Museum in the morning, wander through the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Mea Shearim in the afternoon, and attend the opening ceremonies of International Gay Pride week in the evening.

Jerusalem is a phoenix. It is unique in that it has been beaten, broken, and reborn time and time again. It resounds simultaneously with the lamenting of the Biblical prophets and the laughter of today’s children. It wails with the heartbreak of those sent into exile, and rejoices with those who today call the city their home. The balance of the old and new is not one that is delicately maintained, but it is carelessly juxtaposed, with ancient and modern colliding daily in surprising, wondrous ways. Though I have only lived here for two months, I feel extremely fortunate to call this land of living, breathing history my own. I hope that all of Israel will soon find peace, and that you, too, will have the opportunity to visit and to walk to the grocery store alongside the sages of old.

A visual collision of the old and the new: Horse-drawn cart traveling on the street, carrying a modern computer tower, monitor, and washing machine.

Field trip post!

This a shot of an ancient burial cave from the time of Solomon (the top part of the cave was taken off). People in that time laid the dead to rest, up to five at a time, in a cave (as we so nicely represent - I'm in the back). A year later they went back and collected the bones and put them in a deep pit buried under one of the walls. The cave I’m in was an archeological find, for they found nine generations of bones in that pit! Not to mention the silver amulet with the phrase from Psalms.

This is very, very blurry, but it’s me in the place where the Last Supper is thought to be held. It’s next to the Church of Annunciation, were Mary went to her “eternal sleep.” Both are away from the Old City walls, in the quarter where the Essenes lived.

This is King David’s tomb. It says “David Melech Yisrael Chai Vikayam,” "David is the King of Israel Living and Established" (I think) - which also happens to be a children’s song. He ruled from 1004-965 BCE, so while we're not sure if this is the actual historical place where he was buried, for 2000 years it's been revered as his tomb and has spiritual significance.

This is a really bad picture of me and Jonathan, but you can see how cramped the tunnel is – it’s a water tunnel built by King Hezekiah around the 7th BCE. They carved it to transport water from the spring that sustained the city; the spring was outside the city walls, and they were afraid of being conquered through a siege, so they tunneled the water to safely inside the city.

Other than these wonderful field trips, I’m doing better in ulpan, have been walking a ton around the new city, and have been very social and getting to know other students at HUC.

(And oh yes – this is for my college friends. I actually impressed people with food I made! It was a salad, but still… fancy lettuce, walnuts, dried cranberries, cut-up apples and parmesan cheese, tossed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. If you know me, you know I can’t cook, so I was thrilled!)

Til next week....

Dead Sea Scrolls

From Michal:

They rock. Very much so. They're in the Israel Museum, in a special building made for their preservation and security - and they are AMAZING. Written in old Hebrew, they're torn-up parchment with letters that I can only half-identify. We couldn't take any pictures in the museum, so you'll all have to come and see them for yourselves. But talk about an intriguing experience - I'm very interested in learning more about the Essenes and Qumran now.

We also spent two hours at this huge model of Jerusalem at the time of the second temple, recreated through archeological and literary sources. There were different neighborhoods were the Pharisees and Saducees lived, you could see the city walls at various points in time, look at Herod's palace, and really get a sense of how big the Temple was. Our tour guide is from HUC, and was phenomenal. (He's the one who's been taking us on all of our field trips). We saw a bunch of other archeological finds at the museum, too, but the model and the Scrolls took the cake.

In other news, ulpan's going better - I'm going to meet with my teacher and the head of the Hebrew program on Sunday to discuss getting a tutor. I realized I don't know my Hebrew roots - that would be helpful! J just got his Hebrew book for his ulpan, so I'm looking forward to learning his grammar with him.

Oh, and for the record, the schwarma on the corner of Agrippas and King George St. is most excellent... I can never go back to plain falafel again. :)

My Birthday (or a visit with the King of the Beasts)

The movie night was actually held on my pre-birthday, the 29^th. Michal had made it clear that she had very specific plans on my real birthday, the 30^th. I greatly anticipated the day as Michal went to great pains to keep it secret from me for she knows how I love surprises. Now, if you know Michal, you can imagine how painful it was for her not to share with me what she was planning. I swear I thought she was going to explode!

Since the 30^th fell on a school day, her plans didn’t take effect until after she got home, at which point I was locked in my bedroom. When I was finally released, my two best friends here in Jerusalem, Jaimee and Helayne, were in the living room with Michal and a very large chocolate iced cake (that Jaimee had made) that said “Happy Birthday.” I would show you a picture of it, but it was so tasty that it didn’t live long enough to get photographed.

After happy birthday’s and cake, we gathered things up and took a cab to some mysterious location. That location turned out to be the Jerusalem Zoo where Michal had arranged a backstage private tour of the large cats in the zoo, starting with my birth animal, the lion!

Below is the link to the pictures from that day:

http://community.webshots.com/album/552801933AcqMkV

The tour was led by a colorful character named Dennis, who is the man in charge of all the animals that can rip your arm off with big sharp pointy teeth. Dennis was originally from London, England and had a marvelous English accent. He was very charming and was very open with us about everything. Like, for instance, when he pointed out how the male lion watched him like a hawk, even when 100 meters away. Michal asked if the lion knew who he was and if the lion had a fondness for him. Dennis replied, “Yeah, he knows who I am, watches me every second he can see me. Likely tear me apart if he ever got the chance.” When I asked why he responded, “Because he is a big male lion, that’s why.” Fair enough, I thought.

Jaimee and Helayne were with us at the zoo and we all got to see some leopards that had just arrived and had not been put on display yet. We were the first people who didn’t work at the zoo to see them. Dennis also showed us the process they use to feed the lions and other large cats and told us about their diet, which consists of insane amounts of red meat.

After the private tour we continued to look at the other exhibits where a goat, and later an ostrich, took an unusual fondness to me. I swear they can sniff an animal lover a mile away.

The zoo also had a special section dedicated to animals from the Bible. It would have the name of the animal, where they lived today and the excerpt from the Bible where it was mentioned. It was very cool, but I’m kinda a geek that way.

After the zoo we went to a fabulous Indian restaurant where the four of us all had some of the best Indian food I have ever had (but then again, I was in desperate straits for Indian food so I might have been prejudiced at that particular moment). Helayne and Jaimee had never had Indian food before, so it was a real treat to share with them my favorite cuisine. Michal and I helped them pick out dishes and enjoyed watching them savor the fine delights of a well-made curry. Everyone scarfed down so much food that we could hardly walk away from the table.

Nothing a full stomach to help you fall right to sleep, and that’s exactly how we ended the night.

All in all I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday. Much thanks goes to my wife for making it all happen.

Movie Night

As a celebration of my birthday we invited Michal’s fellow HUC students and thier spouses, to our house for a movie. Now, you have to realize… this is me we are talking about. It wasn’t just a DVD popped on the TV, no…. I set up a Dolby 5.1 surround sound system and projected a 60” image on my living room wall. The windows literally shook with every explosion, and our neighbors no doubt cursed us.

To prepare for this Michal and I moved tables, set up chairs, threw down comfy blankets and pillows and warmed up the projector. We requested our guests bring not birthday gifts, but yummy treats to celebrate this occasion. As more and more people piled in, it became clear that the little gathering of 10 or so people that I knew personally grew into a whopping 30 some people in our tiny apartment. There was no shortage of sweet cakes and pastries, and Michal kept busy placing these on dishes between the bags of popcorn she was popping for our guests.

The night began with munching and schmoozing and then the traditional Saturday night Havdallah led by a very nice cantorial student named David. After the service we turned off the lights and cranked up the surround sound. Soon the base of the DVD intro quieted everyone and a special edition of Independence Day was on its way. It was a grand evening of happy birthday singing, sweet food, and big explosions.

Below is a link to the picture from that night:

http://community.webshots.com/album/552805271GcxdOV