Saving the Best for Last: Our Last Two Days in Israel

Our last two days in Israel continued in the North, first in the Golan and then in Hof HaCarmel (between Haifa and Tel Aviv).  We left Tzfat bright and early (notice a theme?) to climb into the Golan Heights.  We started at Mitzpeh Gadot, where I had gone with my Arab-Israeli Conflict class on our Golan Heights field trip, but it was cool hearing another tour guide's perspective of the site.  Basically, the site was an old Syrian outpost, later captured by the Israelis, which overlooked Israel pre-1967.  We learned about the Israeli spy later captured and killed by Syria who had helped Israel and its efforts in capturing the Golan Heights from Syria.  It was really interesting and the memorial there for the fallen soldiers from those battles is really well-built and thought-provoking.

We continued on to Mount Bental, which apparently is some place that all the birthright groups go to, but I've never been.  It's an old Israeli army bunker left for tourists to see, and it was really interesting, especially after seeing Beufort a few days earlier (in fact, some of the scenes in the movie were filmed there).  The views were also really gorgeous.  We looked around the bunker for a little while, and took lots of pictures.

Then we stopped at a town called Katzerin, where Yael had done part of her national service.  We had lunch there at a cute restaurant called Blue Berry (despite not serving anything with blueberries in them...) and shopped around for a little bit.  I also had Krembo #2 (and final) of the trip.

After Katzerin, we headed to an unplanned stop at the Arbel, a gorgeous overlook on the Kinneret.  We sat there and did some meditation led by one of our American staff, certified yoga instructor, Melissa.  We journaled and reflected, and enjoyed the view, and at least I tried to forget that we were leaving in less than 2 days.

After that we headed off to Kibbutz Nachsholim, where we would be spending our last night and a half.  The Guest House there was really awesome, especially compared to Tzfat. After settling in, we had a lecture by the famous Israeli author, A.B. Yehoshua.  He gave a rather controversial talk on the role of Israel in Judaism and Zionism and basically said that you can't be a "full Jew" unless you live in Israel, where Judaism is lived to its fullest.  He basically said that a secular Jew in Israel is more Jewish than a religious Jew in the Diaspora.  Personally, I didn't really like what he had to say or agree with it, but since I had been hearing about him since at least my high school Hebrew classes, it was pretty cool getting to meet him, and he did spark some interesting debates amongst myself and the rest of the ATID fellows.

After A.B. Yehoshua, we had a fabulous dinner at the Kibbutz, and then covered some important business regarding our activity for the next day, our trip t-shirt design, and various other last minute administrative things.

The next day, we started by preparing for our activity for the rest of the afternoon.  We would be going to Neve Michael, a government sponsored youth village for children at risk (abuse victims, witnesses of violent crimes in their home, etc.).  Our madrich Michael told us that we would be splitting up into four different groups to run four different stations for the kids to do different activities, in addition to touring the facility and eating lunch with the kids.  We spent the morning getting our stations ready.  I was in a group that would be making foam wallets and decorating them, so for us, preparing meant cutting out the foam squares, marking where to fold them, cutting out the velcro strips to close the wallet with, making a sample, and making a sign for our station.  Myself and the other four members of my group vigorously worked to get enough supplies together for 60 kids (it turned out to be way less, but oh well, at least it wasn't way more!).  After a quick walk down to the Kibbutz's beach (did I forget to mention the Kibbutz was right on the beach of the Mediterranean?) we boarded the bus to Neve Michael. 

When we got there, one of the women who works there told us about all the services they provide (which are quite impressive) and some examples of the horrible things the children who lived there had suffered through.  I felt so bad for all of them for having to go through that, and it made me really excited to work with them.  After the introduction, we were given time to get our station together (which included helping the people who work there normally clean off the table we would be using - apparently they weren't nearly as prepared as we had hoped).  Then, we went to the dining hall to eat lunch with the kids.  I was with a group of crazy wild boys, but it was fun talking to them.

Then it was time for our stations.  When the director explained to the kids what we would be doing, they were all really excited, so it was nice to know how much it meant to them.  Our first two groups were really quiet and super cute - they really enjoyed decorating their wallets, and were really well-behaved.  The next two groups, which included more older boys (and who we had been warned by our staff had been crazy at the other stations as well), were a little difficult and out-of-hand, making us ready to be done - 2 hours working with kids is a long time!!

After we finished our stations, we attempted to clean up the glue that was stuck all over the table we were working on, but eventually gave up.  I was reminded of and frustrated by Israel's total inability to recognize the usefulness of paper towel, as toilet paper doesn't really work well to get dried glue off of a table, but whatever.  We did a short wrap-up as a group, and talked and talked about the activity, which seemed to be successful overall with all four groups, though there were some snags, and it was very exhausting.

Before going back to the Kibbutz, we stopped in the town of Zichron Yaakov, which, among other things, is known for having the best ice cream.  We did some last minute shopping around, I went to a candy store (only to find, to my extreme disappointment, that they were out of vanilla Krembos), and then to the ice cream shop, where I got belgiun waffle ice cream, which was surprisingly delicious.  At Zichron Yaakov, Eliyahu, our medic/guard, left us, which was very sad, and we sang him a rounding farewell rendition of "Eliyahu HaNavi". 

Once we got back to the Kibbutz, we had some free time to pack, shower, rest, and prepare for the banquet.  I somehow thought it would be a good idea to take on the responsibility of making a slideshow for our final banquet, which I for some reason forgot would stress me out.  Me, in my perfectionist montage zone, was on hyper-tension mode, trying to cut down 2000 pictures and put them into a slideshow, all in an hour and a half.  Well, I managed to finish it just in time, though I didn't look over it, so there were some kinks - like the fact that the auto-movie maker decided to stop making the movie halfway through the pics.  But whatever, people seemed to really like it.
Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself.  After free time, we went to the banquet, which was a special private dinner in a private room of the dining room of the Kibbutz, served to us rather than buffet.  There were multiple courses, some of which were delicious (who knew I liked sweet potato soup?) and others were lacking (honey glaze is not the cure all of food).  We had fun hanging out and being treated though, reminiscing and sad that our trip was almost over.  There were some toasts, and then the boys sang "Here's to you Rabbi Hirsch Chin" (to the tune of "Mrs. Robinson"), which was hilarious to say the least.  After that, we did the slideshow, which everyone loved despite my totally screwing it up as I am cursed to do, but ce la vie.  After that, we got in a circle, and each of us was individually spoken to and then given a wooden camel figurine from the staff, which was cute, and everything they said about each of us was really nice.  After that, we had our gifts for the Israeli staff, who were really wonderful.  We sang one last round of Lecha Dodi, and finished up some last minute talks and business before having a few hours to rest.  Then we said our goodbyes to those extending their trip, and headed off to the airport.

And so, another amazing journey to Israel came to an end.  I miss it so much already, and am kicking myself daily for only having Aroma once while I was there (what could I have possibly been thinking??).  Anyone know of other ways I can get back to Israel for free???  Suggestion box open!  I am hoping to staff a birthright trip this semester, so if anyone has connections with Israel Outdoors, hook me up!

Love for Israel, and praying for the safe return of all the members of the IDF fighting in Gaza for the safety of Israel,

Leah

Kol HaKavod L'Tzahal

Tzfat - Cold, but AAAAAAWESOME

Back again for another update.  I have to admit though, I'm cheating a bit.  I'm currently sitting in Reagan National Airport, trying to pretend I'm not horribly jet lag and miserable to no longer be in DC and waiting for my flight to Detroit.  In case you can't tell by my entries thus far, our trip was pretty packed, leaving precious little free time to keep myself up to date on this thing.  Take out the additional time of other people using my computer to check email/facebook/grades, and that leaves me with one very behind blog.  However, since I left the journal they gave us for personal reflections and lecture notes, finish this blog I must (I promise, I won't do what I did with Megiddo!).

Anyway, 2009 started with an early wake up (as I mentioned before), followed by a long drive up north to the Lebanon border (which meant lots of bus sleeping).  We stopped on the way for a bathroom break, where we were asked to buy chocolate or other candy for the Israeli soldiers we would be meeting later.  They said it would really lighten up their day and we would appreciate.  I don't think any of us realized that we were actually meeting on-duty soldiers on their patrol of the border, rather than some of the many soldiers wandering around doing other things.  More about this later.

We finally arrived at Kibbutz Malkiah, a Kibbutz right on the Lebanese border.  We first heard a lecture from Elliot Chodoff, who is the head of northern command, and has written a manual for infantry and paratroopers in the north.  His lecture (and its accompanied Q&A session, in which I was an avid participant) was really interesting, and felt very Saban/AIPAC-esqe.  He talked about the ties between Hizballah and Hamas, tied in Syria and Iran, and went through the low-down of the threats Israel faces.  He explained why a nuclear Iran is not an option Israel can live with, saying that detente won't work in this situation, and anyone who thinks it will doesn't understand the complexities in US-Soviet Cold War relations that made detente work.  He brushed off the theory that the leaders of Iran are illogical or suicidal, but rather explained that the major issue is size.  If Cold War Soviet Union used nuclear weapons against the US, it would take several thousand bombs to destroy the US.  This, therefore, made it so that there was no advantage to attacking first.  However, Iran could easily destroy Israel with one nuclear weapon, and completely obliterate it with 2-3.  Because of this, if Iran goes nuclear, Israel's best option is to start nuclear war.  And when that is your best option, you are in a really really bad situation. 

Anyway, Elliot had to leave us to go down to Gaza (since he commanded troops in Lebanon, he had to work with Gaza infantry units who didn't have infantry experience like those who fought in the north).  One of the leaders on the Kibbutz, Eitan, who was one of their head farmers, showed us around the kibbutz and talked about the security situation there.  Yael later told us that he learned English after the war with Hizballah so that he could explain to groups like us what they had to live with, but he really was just a farmer by trade.  He showed us one of the Kassam rockets that landed on the Kibbutz, and then took us out to meet soldiers on patrol.  This was an incredibly moving experience, because, while you see soldiers all over Israel, these were soldiers literally on duty patrolling the Israel-Lebanon border, who took 15 minutes on their patrol to stop and meet with us.  They showed us the packs they have to carry every day (weighing around 25 pounds), the humvees they drive, some of the weapons and technology they have, and talked to us about their daily routine and some of the drills they do.  They were called off, so we moved on to our next location - the orchards of Kibbutz Malkiah right on the border.  We stood amongst their orchards, look right across a fence at Lebanon.  We started hearing shots, and got really freaked out, but Eitan assured us that he could tell from the sound that they were blanks, being used as practice by the soldiers we had just seen.  This comforted us, and let us concentrate on what Eitan was telling us about the border and the Kibbutz's security, how all the women and children had been sent down south by him during the war, while the men stayed to work the fields.  He also told us that, even though Lebanon was just right across the fence, and therefore had the same kind of agricultural terrain as Kibbutz Malkiah, Lebanon was growing opium in the fields we were looking at across the fence, while Israel was growing apples and other fruits.  This irony was enforced when we were reminded that this is in the UN patrolled area.  As far as the UN is concerned, Eitan said, that is a criminal issue, out of their realm of interest.

He was going to show us the kibbutz bomb shelter when he was called off to reserve duty (I think) so we continued on our way to Tzfat.  When we finally arrived, we found out we had to lug our suitcases up a few flights of stairs, only to find that our rooms were FREEZING.  The hotel was really charming, but really really cold.   Unfortunately, it didn't get a whole lot better throughout the weekend, and se spent most of the time bundled in several layers.  After dinner, which was basically home cooked by the owners of the hotel and really yummy (made up for the cold I guess?) we bundled up and watched the Academy Award nominated movie Beufort, about a fortress in Lebanon that had been conquered by Israel in the First Lebanon War, in the last few days before the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon in the early 2000s.  The movie was really interesting, and had much more of an impact after having met with the soldiers.  We heard a little bit from Michael, our Israeli madrich (counselor) about what it was like for him to watch the movie, since he was the only one amongst us who had actually served in the army and felt those kind of dangers, pressures, and hopelessness.  It was really emotional, and really tough to watch right before bed!

 

Friday morning we went to Livnot U'Lehibanot, an institute that combines community service with basic Kabbalah study.  We listened there to a lecture about Kabbalah and charity and anger, and heard a little about the institution.  This was followed by a short tour of the Old City of Tzfat, with Yael taking us to two lesser-toured synagogues - Biet Yosef (Joseph Caro's synagogue) and the Abu Hav synagogue.  They were really pretty, and very Tzfat-like in their decor. 

After the tour, we had free time to shop around and eat lunch.  I went with my friends Sam and Nehama to the vegetarian restaurant I had found on my last trip to Tzfat, which was absolutely delicious.  Nehama is vegetarian, so she was thrilled, but Sam and I also really enjoyed it, especially our shared dessert of a whole wheat chocolate chip muffin and apple pie.  Lunch was followed by some shopping through the various art and Judaica stores, though I managed to get away without buying anything (yay self-control!).  Then we stopped by Tzfat Candles, which we had been informed had recently burnt down, much to my sadness.  Well, when I saw it, I realized that they weren't kidding - it was completely destroyed!  It was so sad seeing such a cool place in ruins like that, though they have opened up a warehouse a few doors down (I didn't get to see it, though, because by the time I got there, it was already closed for Shabbos).  Then we went back to the hotel and got ready for Shabbos.

We did a quick learning session at the hotel, and then lit candles before heading back to Livnot, where we would be holding our services.  It was really interesting, because while we could have gone to one of the zillion synagogues in the area, our Rabbi understood that many of the people on our trip would not feel comfortable with the very religious synagogues in the area, especially given the very small women's section in many of them.  So, instead, we did our own service, modeled on using the classical tunes of the area, and reflecting on our week and the things that we had done since the last Shabbat.  It was a really cool service, and I enjoyed it a lot.  The one thing that I found really amazing was during some of the la-la-las after singing some of the prayers.  The last Shabbat I spent in Tzfat, I went to a Friday Night service that lasted about 2 hours due to all the singing.  I was in a very small women's balcony looking down at all the men, dancing as they sang.  I thought it looked like they were having a lot of fun, and that maybe the service would be more enjoyable if women were able to do that as well.  However, there was no space for us to do that.  Well, it was only appropriate, then, that my next shabbat in Tzfat, all the women danced as we sang as well.  It was really fun, and made the service really enjoyable.  At the end of the service, we sang Aleinu and Hatikvah on the balcony of Livnot, looking out at the view and the stars.  This was followed by dinner at the hotel, filled with lots more singing and some study after.  Overall, a wonderful Friday night.

Saturday morning, services weren't really mandatory, so I took advantage of the one day we had to sleep a little bit later, which felt amazing.  We had a learning session with some cookies and other snacks, followed by lunch - cholent of course!  This was followed by some more fabulous shabbos rest, and then more learning with more snacks (sense a pattern yet?).  Then we did Havdalah, and had a little time to get ready before our night program.  We went to see a pretty well known Kabbalistic artist named Avraham who was AAAAAAWESOME and SOOOOO DEEEEEEP (imitating him in case you haven't met him before).  He was really cool though, and I of course had to buy a small piece of artwork (I have my own room now, so it's worth it!).  He, also, is from Michigan, this time from Southfield...apparently there are a lot of Michiganders in Israel?  Anyway, after our time with Avraham, we had dinner at one of the many random Tzfat pizza places, followed by watching a little Hassidic dancing thing in front of a random square in front of a bank (?) and then free time hanging out at the hotel.

Off again in the morning for more long bus rides and fabulous adventures in the Golan...

Tel Aviv - the eternal contrast to Jerusalem

After our visit to the Supreme Court, we headed to Tel Aviv for our brief visit to the warmth, the secular, and modern NYC-like city.  We started at one of my favorite places in Tel Aviv - Nachalat Binyamin.  This is a main pedestrian walkway in downtown central Tel Aviv, where on Tuesdays and Fridays, local artisans come and set up a HUGE and amazing art fair.  After a stop at the amazing juice/smoothie stand, we did some shopping around the art fair (and the purchasing of a mezuzah as a gift and a Chamsa wall-hanging for myself), and then I went with my friend Sam to Roladin, one of my favorite Tel Aviv restaurants (as can be proven by the number of people I have introduced to the fabulousness of it).  We ate outside (because it was warm enough to actually do that!) and enjoyed people watching/me running after busses with election advertisements on the sides of them so that I could take pictures for my Advanced Israeli Politics class next semester. 

After lunch we met up with the rest of the group in front of the newly-kosher Burger King and walked through Shuk HaCarmel (the main Tel Aviv market), where I had random run-in #5 of Israel - a girl from my Hebrew class when I was at Hebrew U.  Then we boarded the bus to our hotel.  We all got very excited as we passed the famed Hayarkon 48 hostel (and Kink toast across the street), on the way to the Basel Hotel, which was basically right across the street from the beach.  We dropped our stuff off in our rooms, and then went to the beach to take some pictures at sunset.

Our evening program was at the Reform Temple of Beit Daniel.  We met with their rabbi, who explained to us the differences between Reform Judaism in the US and Israel, and how the Reform movement was an important alternative to secular Judaism in Israel.  Then some Israeli students (who were mostly actually Americans who made aliyah) who belonged to Beit Daniel came to meet with us and talk to us about the community, life in Tel Aviv, security dilemmas faced by people our age in the IDF, etc.  2 of them happened to be GW alumni, so that was pretty cool.  We had super-Israeli pizza with them for dinner as we continued our discussion.  Then, together with the students, we listened to a speaker from an organization called Mishpachot Shakulot (Bereaved Families).  This is an organization of Israeli and Palestinians who have lost a family member in the Conflict.  We were suppose to hear from an Israeli woman and a Palestinian man, but due to the security situation in Israel right now, the Palestinian was unable to make it passed the checkpoints to Tel Aviv, so we only heard from the woman.  Still, it was very fascinating, and she told us how her son, who preached reconciliation and social action rather than violence, was killed while working at a checkpoint by a sniper.  She preached reconciliation and understanding, saying that we need to be able to relate to each other as bereaving people who share loss and who share grief when there is loss.  It was very interesting, but a little too eutopian for me to buy into - I wish the world worked like that, but terrorists will never be able to understand us as human beings.

After the program, I went back to the hotel, where Guy (my roommate from Hebrew U) and Marissa (one of the girls on my program from the US, who is Guy's girlfriend in and Israel visiting him for winter break) came to meet me at the hotel.  I wanted to be able to go out with them, but we had to stay in the hotel, so we hung out in the lobby and caught up for a while.  It was really great seeing them both again and hearing what they are both up to.  Guy is in Tel Aviv now studying computer science, and Marissa is applying to social work grad school, and is hoping to do her program in Israel. 

The next day, Wednesday (aka New Years Eve 2009) we had to do some rearranging to our schedule once again to ensure that we stayed as safe as possible in the security situation.  We were supposed to take a tour of Jaffa, the old port city, which is also a mostly Arab area.  Because of supposed riots that day before, we decided not to do that, but instead went to a place called the Jaffa Institute (similar name, so similar thing, right?).  The Jaffa Institute is a program that helps underprivileged children and their families.  They run an after-school program to ensure that kids from the poorer neighborhoods of Jaffa and the surrounding areas have at least one hot meal a day, do their homework, take their school seriously, and are hopefully able to remain in school and join the army to continue to be part of Israeli society.  Apparently, many people from poorer areas tend to end up in jail for drug convictions and other minor crimes, and anyone with any sort of criminal record will not be accepted to the army.  Because of this, it makes it difficult for them to get a job later, because most employers look to army experience and training as important job experience for later work, especially when the applicant did not go to college, let alone graduate high school.  The Jaffa Institute works to fix these problems, and put the kids in their program on the right track.  They also realized through their services that giving these kids a hot lunch (schools in poorer areas of Israel end at 1 because that's all the national government funds for, so lunch is after school) is not enough to ensure they are well fed, so they started a sort of food bank program, in which they bring families twice a month a box of many of the staples that are important for daily living (oil, rice, cereal, chickpeas - this is Israel after all, pasta, other canned food, etc.).  We assisted with this program, assembling (very quickly I might add - we finally had good team work even if IDC didn't work out well) 25 boxes filled with food to be delivered to these families.  I think we all really enjoyed learning about the Institute, and then helping them out, even just a little bit.

After we left the Jaffa Institute, we headed over to Rabin Square.  I think I mentioned this the last time I went to Rabin Square (when I went to meet up with GW Birthright in June), but I have recently gained a new appreciation for this site, as I wrote a 40-page final paper for my Arab-Israeli Conflict class in Israel about the effects on foreign policy and domestic attitude following Rabin's assassination.  This really gave me a nuanced understanding with which to approach this visit, because, unlike the last Birthright visit, the explanation given by our tour guide was much more in-depth than just a simple relaying of the facts (then again, our tour guide, Yael, never simply told us the basic facts...in case I haven't mentioned this yet, Yael was AAAAAAAWESOME).  She told us about how, right before Rabin's assassination, she had been very involved in the anti-Rabin movement, as she was a member of the "Greater Israel" school of thought that she had been brought up with in her religious family (Greater Israel is the idea that Israel should exist in all of Israel that was promised by God to the Jews - aka against the giving up of Gaza and the West Bank, for example).  However, as soon as she saw that the movement against Rabin was getting more violent and out of hand (like pictures of Rabin dressed in Palestinian head gear, etc.) she realized she no longer wanted to be actively involved in the movement, because Rabin was still her Prime Minister and the 1948, 1967, and 1973 military hero she had heard so much about.  However, as soon as word spread that Rabin was assassinated by a religious Jew, she immediately felt like she was being judged, because she wore skirts which labeled her as religious as well.  Yael told us about how this event meant more to Israeli society than simply the murder of their Prime Minister, but it brought about an age of increased pluralism and understanding in Israel, something that we as American Jews, and Jews participating in the ATID program which taught us to appreciate all forms of religious and political perspectives, could truly appreciate.  It was really interesting hearing her story, and shed a more personal light on the information I had learned while writing my paper last spring.  Before we left, instead of listening to Shir L'Shalom (the Song of Peace - the song sung at the rally right before Rabin was assassinated), we went to the Rabin memorial and listened to Shir L'ahavah (Song of Love) as a reminder that Rabin's assassination taught us that it is time to love and appreciate one another instead of fighting over different views of what peace and security meant.

After this, we had a little bit of free time around Rabin Square to have lunch.  Some of us found a place called Magic Burgers Bar.  What is Magic Burgers Bar, you ask?  Well, it is basically a poser for Burgers Bar, but definitely equally as good, right down to the Burgers fries.  It was pretty fantastic, I have to say.  Also, while waiting for my usual grilled chicken sandwich (wow that sounds awesome right now...) one of the soldiers waiting for Israel as well saw that we were wearing our super shnazy green ATID jackets, and asked us about our program.  After explaining, I noticed he had a very American accent and asked if he had made aliyah or was just volunteering in the army.  Turns out he was Israeli but had lived in the US for a few years growing up, hence the American English accent.  Where in the US?  Ann Arbor! Such a small Jewish world. 

Anyway, after lunch (and the purchasing at a small grocery store of some individual bottles of what turned out to be very dry champagne for our New Years pre-party celebrating later) we headed over to Alma College, a pluralist, secular Yeshiva in Tel Aviv.  We talked about the Shabbat Kiddush and what you should do if there is a prayer that you just don't agree with.  It was interesting to see this kind of text study in an environment that was open to the possibility of change from tradition, though I don't necessarily buy into that school of thought.

We went back to the hotel for dinner and some free time to get ready for our New Years Party.  After realizing that the champagne I bought was never in a million years going to make it down my throat beyond a few sips, we finished getting ready for the party, took some pictures, and headed off coatless to Hangar 11, a warehouse type building on the pier that is apparently use usually as a concert hall.  Well, we assumed that we were going to be able to go right in, so our lack of coats would just be more convenient due to the lack of coat checks, but we had to wait for our counselor to get the tickets from will call, and basically froze.  In the mean time, Sonya, one of the girls from American, got her foot run over by a cab as she was getting out (police report later filed, though her foot turned out to be fine, luckily).  Anyway, we finally got into the party after a few minutes of penguin-style snuggling to keep warm.  The party was, well, interesting.  We had been told we were going to an Israeli party with a performer and a DJ, but it was nothing like what we expected.  The room was HUUUUGE, and the bar's selection of juice mixers was sadly minimal, especially considering Israel's huge supply of awesome juices, but whatever.  But anyway, there were cirque del sole style performers all over the room, which seemed kind of bizarre, but the best was yet to come.  At around 11:15, this band came on with...how do I best describe this?  Another band of very crude muppets.  Yup, muppets.  They talked a lot about some very crude, sexual, and inappropriate things (made super awkward by the fact that the Hassidic Rabbi running our program was there...awwwwwkward!)  Anyway, we were hoping they would leave in time to start the new year in a non-ridiculous way, but the count down included the crazy muppets as well.  Oh well.  Otherwise, it was fun though, dancing to awesomely Israeli techno music.  I don't think it was exactly what any of us expected, but I had a pretty decent time.  Certainly better than last New Year's.

And of course, after a crazy New Year's, we had to wake up BRIGHT and early to leave Tel Aviv for our adventures in the North....

"Rebuild the Walls of Jerusalem" (Our week in Jerusalem)

Well, it has certainly been a very busy last few days - packed with nonstop activity, leaving us all pretty exhausted, but I guess that's what these kind of trips are known for, right?

On Wednesday morning, we had a seminar at the kibbutz we were staying at in the Negev with Rabbi Aryeh Ben David, founder of an spirituality organization called Ayekah.  We worked in chevrutah (partners) and in groups to work through some texts about Chanukah that related to spirituality, and did a "spirituality checkup".  It was really interesting, and I think we all really enjoyed the interactive nature of the session.

After the seminar was over, we loaded the busses and began the journey to Jerusalem.  We stopped for lunch at a mall in Ma'aleh Adumim, where I went to Aroma - yum! It was very exciting - my first Aroma back in Israel.  I also saw the first of many election posters, which I have been taking pictures of for my Israeli Politics professor for next semester.

After lunch at the mall, we made our first stop in Jerusalem at Har Hazeitim - the Mt. of Olives (after passing Hebrew U on the way, which was very exciting).   We looked out over the Old City and the graves, some from hundreds of years ago, along the side of the mountain.  We made a "L'chaim" as we first glanced at the Old City and the Temple Mount, and listened while one of the girls on our trip, who is in Israel for her first time, said Shehecheyanu.  Afterwards, Rabbi Chin, the Rabbi leading our group, told us about how his ancestors on his mother's side are buried there, and then took us around the corner to his father's grave.  His father, who was also a rabbi, had died about six months ago, and he told us about his father which was very emotional for him, obviously, and very moving to all of us.

We got back on the bus, and headed to the entrance of the Old City.  After stopping at King David's grave, we went to the site where they are rebuilding the Churba synagogue.  Then we started to head towards the Kotel, but before we did, we stopped on a platform to talk about holiness.  As we were talking, we started hearing the Hatikvah playing over a loudspeaker, so our tour guide decided to stop the discussion to let us go look out over the Kotel while the Hatikvah was playing.  When we went to the overlook, we found a Muslim group from South Africa who was there as part of a tour of the Middle East.  We had some really interesting encounters with them, which gave us some really nice moments of hope.  One woman, in full Muslim dress and full hijab, offered to move out of the way so I could see and take a picture.  One of our staff members was wearing a fuzzy hat that was similar to one that one of the Muslim women was wearing, and the Muslim woman said to her that their hats should be friends.  This led to them having a conversation with our staff person explaining to the other woman about the significance of the Kotel to Judaism.  Also, it turned out that the Hatikvah we had heard was part of an introduction to a swearing-in ceremony for Nachal, a unit of the Israeli army.  They announced that the main ceremony was going to be in a few hours, but we got to see some of their initial formation. 

After a quick stop at the Kotel, we went to the Davidson Center (the archaeological park along the other side of the Kotel) where we had a Chanukah party with some Israeli soldiers.  We lit candles, ate donuts, and sang and danced with the soldiers.  It was SO much fun and really inspiring.  Afterwards, we changed our schedule and decided to go to the swearing-in ceremony for Nachal.  Unfortunately, it started late, so we missed a great portion of it because we had to leave, but we at least got to see the beginning (the raising of the flag and some other parts).  Afterwards, we went to dinner at a restaurant in Talpiyot, which was kind of strange and had really weird food like Turkey testicles (ew), which became a joke in our trip.

The next day (Thursday) was a very archaeological day, so obviously I loved it.  The morning started with a session with a Professor of History and Archaeology at Hebrew U named Lee Levine.  He talked to us about the Hasmoneans (oh so apropos for Chanukah), and various aspects of the story, like the possible explanations for why the holiday actually lasted for 8 days (besides the Hebrew school answer of the oil miracle).  It was a really interesting session. 

This was followed by another interesting session at the Pardes institute.  In honor of the week's Torah portion being part of the Joseph story, we learned about Joseph's coat.  First, we watched clips from two modern-day interpretations of the Joseph story: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and Dreamwork's Joseph King of Dreams.  We saw how the movies depicted Joseph's coat and what the reasons given for the coat were.  Then, we looked at various texts explaining what the word pasim (the Hebrew term used to describe Joseph's coat) meant.  The texts described various interpretations of what this meant, including design, color, and symbolism.  It was a really interesting and creative session.  While there, I met someone in their educator's program who is going to be teaching for a month or so at JAMD (my high school) next semester, so I found that really cool as well.

After a delicious lunch buffet at Pardes, we traveled through the rain to Ir David, the City of David.  After watching a fabulous 3-D movie (that can really only be compared in level of fabulousness to the Golan movie from my field trip in the spring), we put up with the rain to go and visit Hezekiah's water tunnels.  While I had been there before with my JAMD trip, it was really cool doing it again.  These tunnels were used to protect Israel's water supply against attack, and brought water into the City of David/Old City.  Especially after having read "The Source" (a historical fiction book based on Megiddo and other archaeological sites around Israel), which talked about a similar tunnel, I thought it was really cool to go through it again.  Even though it was dark and wet (and we had to go outside into the cold and rainy weather in our wet clothes right after) it was still a really fun and cool experience.  As we waded through the water directed by our keychain flashlights, we sang songs (ranging from Salaam to old school Backstreet Boys), which made it go by faster and was a lot of fun. 

When we got out of the tunnels, we met with an IDF spokesman for Ir David.  Before the planned program, he brought us down into an area underneath the Ir David visitors center where they are currently excavating what is believed to have been either David or Solomon's Temple (there is some debate over whether it is 10th or 9th century BCE, but the head archaeologist on the dig is convinced it is David's Temple due to some embedded 10th century pottery).  A few weeks ago, they found two seals with the names of two of the people mentioned in the book of Jeremiah who, on behalf of the king, wanted to kill Jeremiah because of his attacks against the king.  These seals together, prove, without any doubt, the legitimacy of each other.  Because they were both found, there can be no doubt that these seals are referring to the biblical men by their names.  I found this completely fascinating, especially given my interest in archaeology and because we had learned about Jeremiah and his suffering in prison by the king in my Hebrew Scriptures class last semester.  Also, two days before we were there, they had found a huge treasure of Byzantine coins, worth about half a million dollars, which had apparently made big international news since we had been in Israel.  Basically, the visit to that site was the coolest thing ever.

After taking us to the site, we went to a small room in the Ir David visitors center, where we discussed the historical/religious, and therefore political, importance of Ir David.  Located in East Jerusalem, this area is very controversial, but every important to showing that the Jews do have a long history in the area (not to mention that Baron Rothschild had bought the area well before the creation of the state).  It was really interesting to hear his perspective, and we were told we would get the other side of the political spectrum later in the trip. 

After a quick stop at the hotel, we went off for some free time in Emek Refaiim.  I went with my friend Sam to Burgers Bar (yum!), where they were giving out free sufganiot to their customers for Chanukah!  Then we went to Michal Negrin (this is me we are talking about), where I found a sale (yay!) so I got some rings for myself, and a birthday present for a certain someone whose birthday is the day I get home.  After I started practicing my Hebrew with the saleswoman, we got into this whole conversation about intermarriage in the US and if my parents were worried I would fall in love with a non-Jewish boy.  She then proceeded to tell me how, when she had been in the US for a year, she fell in love with a black man (insert sarcastic gasp here), but it didn't work out because she knew her family would never accept him.  Well, it turns out she worked in a mall selling Dead Sea products (yes, so typical/hilariously Israeli) in Connecticut, in a town near where my friend Sam is from.  So this random chick gave Sam a note to give to Roland "Ronnie" at Kay Jewelers in the mall.  Basically, it was pretty hilarious.

Friday started with an interesting, but overly passive, study session at the Conservative Yeshiva on the Zohar.  We were all pretty exhausted and were basically being recited to, so I don't really think any of us were huge fans of it.  Then we took the busses to a gorgeous lookout point over the whole city called the Haas Promenade, where it is presumed that Abraham first saw Mt. Moriah on his way to the mountain for the "binding of Isaac".  It was also important in recent Israeli history for border issues, etc. pre-1967.

After the lookout, we went to the shuk at Machaneh Yehudah - yay!  It was super exciting to be there, but CRAAAAAZY busy since it was only a few hours before Shabbat.  I got some fresh pita and babganoush for lunch, and did a little bit of shopping (including getting Marzipan rugelach and sufganiot, yummy!).  However, I was INCREDIBLY disappointed to find that an Aroma coffee shop had been built IN the shuk (for those of you familiar with the area, it's in the outdoor part on the end towards Marzipan).  Now, this was definitely not there last time I was here, and frankly is just way too much modernization for such a classic area.  I love Aroma almost as much as Amanda, and we both are very upset and disturbed by this recent development.  It really is heresy.

Anyway, after the lovely rush and craziness at the shuk, we returned to the hotel to get ready for Shabbos.  We lit Chanukah and Shabbat candles at the hotel, then proceeded to our host synagogues in Emek Refaiim.  The program had set us up with host families for dinner, and we were going to their respective shuls to meet them there.  Our family went to a shul called Yael, which, as far as Jerusalem synagogues go, was really nothing to write home about...but I will anyway - small, modern orthodox synagogue, with a small and crowded women's section.  I ended up standing, but we missed Kabbalat Shabbat so it really wasn't for too long anyway.  Luckily, though, the night was salvaged by our AMAZING host family.  I went to dinner with my previously mentioned friend Sam and another girl, Rachel, who are both students from American University.  We met up with our host family and began walking to their house as I started playing Toronto Jewish geography.  The dad was from England and the mom was from Toronto.  They had 4 sons, 2 of whom (and 1 friend) were at dinner, who were all born and raised in Israel but spoke perfect American (or I guess Canadian) English.  They had gone to camp at Ramah Toronto (which is where all the Ramah people from West Bloomfield go) so that was fun finding all the people we knew in common.  It's really impossible to fully capture the dinner experience, but it was really incredible.  We felt really comfortable with them, and basically spent the entire time laughing, making fun of Rachel's crippled-state (she has a boot on her foot...long story) and determining how to make a food castle (instead of a food pyramid).  The food was also delicious - we had vegetable soup with a meat stuffed matzah ball, chicken with porcini mushrooms and garlic, actual lettuce salad (a rarity in Israel), green beans, LOTS of amazing latkes (our first and only of Chanukah in Israel - apparently donuts are bigger here for Chanukah than latkes), and for dessert, "parve milkys" (pudding in little glass dishes with whipped cream and strawberries).  It was basically amazing.  After dinner, we went back to the hotel for a quick program with the group and a late bedtime.

Shabbos morning I went to shul with my friend Nehama to Shira Chadasha (see a blog entry from my first week of my semester here for more descriptions on Shira Chadasha).  I had never been there on Shabbat morning before, because most of what makes it amazing is the Friday night singing, but there was Hallel for Rosh Chodesh so we still got a good taste of the singing.  There was a wedding and a bat mitzvah, though, so it was pretty busy, but we managed to get seats.  We then returned to the hotel for lunch and some rest, before a study session and snacks at the OU Center to wrap up the early shabbos.

We came back to the hotel for a really moving Havdallah ceremony, and then went to get ready for our night.  As we were getting ready, we found out that, during Shabbat, Israel had started raids in Gaza, and that Gaza had fired missiles back.  It was pretty scary, and everyone was freaking out.  They had us call our parents and tell them we were no where near the range of the missiles though, so I still felt safe. 

After a quick bus ride to Tel Aviv (with a stop for dinner at a mall where I had Big Apple Pizza a la Yaffo St.), we went to an AMAZING concert at the Mayumana center in Tel Aviv with David Broza.  Basically, Mayumana is this group that does all kinds of crazy percussion, like with garbage cans, beat boxing into long pipes, and even percussion with a jug in water.  One of my friends called it Israeli Stomp but better.  They had taken the music of David Broza, a famous Israeli singer, and incorporated it into their show.  So, we not only go the wonderful pleasure of seeing David Broza live, but also got to see this really really cool group.  We were basically all dancing the entire time in our seats, and talking about it all the way home.  After the concert, when we were about to board the busses, our tour guide's husband pointed out that David Broza was standing in the lobby of the building.  We ran in, and ended up getting a picture with him!  It was SO cool!

On Sunday, we started our day with splitting up, with the boys and girls going to different orthodox yeshivot.  The boys went to Ohr Somayach, and we went to Mayanot, a recently newly created girls seminary.  It is a Lubavitch yeshiva but is very open to people of all different religious affiliation, and one of the past students who spoke to us had grown up with basically no Jewish background, and spent a few months studying there right after they opened.  We started our study session with looking at the Shema and the first paragraph of the Shema, but it ended up going into this really intense discussion about women in religion and other related topics.  It got pretty heated, but was really interesting.

After we left the seminary and picked up the guys from their yeshiva, we headed back to the Old City for some shopping time.  I got a mezuzah by this Judaica artist Emanuel who I found when I was here last time and got candle sticks by him.  I'm starting to collect mezuzot for my future law school big girl apartment, so it was a good addition to the collection.  I walked around the Cardo with Alexis, one of the girls from Maryland on our trip, while the other girls ordered Hadaya jewelery. 

After that, we went on a ridiculously long tour of the separation border.  We had to edit it, though, because we were supposed to go to a refugee camp and into East Jerusalem to learn more about the Palestinian perspective, but because of riots there following the Israeli operation in Gaza, we had to cancel that part, and just stay on the Israeli side of the green line.  We did get to go to several look-outs and see the fence, and see a few developed settlement towns in the Jerusalem area.  We also had to cut down the tour a little bit because of Chanukah traffic (no joke).

After a quick break at a coffee shop, we continued on to the AJC (American Jewish Communities), where their social director, Rabbi Ed Rettig, talked to us about the differences between American and Israeli Jews, and how we needed to get on the same wavelength so we could relate to each other and have debates, rather than right now, which is basically Israelis and Americans talking to each other and thinking they mean the same thing but really don't.  It was pretty interesting, but I think we were all a bit too tired to fully pay attention.

This was supposed to be followed by some free time/dinner on Ben Yehudah, but that was cancelled because of the security situation.  I was really upset, especially because nothing has happened in the Ben Yehudah area in a really long time, and I felt that this was being a little over-protective (especially because other groups, like Meor) are still going.  Instead, they brought us carry out to the hotel and we hung out with that for a little while.

Earlier in the day, they had notified us that, despite being unsuccessful earlier in booking tours of the Kotel Tunnel, we got a call that day saying that there was a last minute cancellation for that night and we could have the spot.  This was really exciting, especially because there is usually a 3 month waiting list, because our tour guide had worked as a guide at the Tunnels (and I personally was excited because I haven't been there in about 5 years, so it was nice to go back).  Though really late at night (the slot wasn't until 11pm) at the end of a really long and tiring day, the tunnels were really fascinating, especially coming from my new archaeologically infused viewpoint.

On Monday morning, we divided up again, this time into groups based on our professional career interests.  I went with all of the politics kiddies to the Foreign Ministry, where we met with the head of the Department of Civil and Diplomatic Law (aka the legal advisor to Foreign Minister/Kadima party leader Tzipi Livni) which is basically the coolest job ever.  The meeting with him was especially interesting because of the current situation, which is mostly what we talked about.  It was really interesting getting his perspective on it.  I also managed to get an apparently illegal picture of the outside of the building before getting yelled at by the security (apparently the sign that says "state of israel foreign ministry" is super top-secret?).  They also made us check our camera at the door when we were going through security, so no more pics after that.

groups based on our professional career interests.  I went with all of the politics kiddies to the Foreign Ministry, where we met with the head of the Department of Civil and Diplomatic Law (aka the legal advisor to Foreign Minister/Kadima party leader Tzipi Livni) which is basically the coolest job ever.  The meeting with him was especially interesting because of the current situation, which is mostly what we talked about.  It was really interesting getting his perspective on it.  I also managed to get an apparently illegal picture of the outside of the building before getting yelled at by the security (apparently the sign that says "state of israel foreign ministry" is super top-secret?).  They also made us check our camera at the door when we were going through security, so no more pics after that.

After our meetings we did ODT (outdoor training) which ended up being IDT (indoor training) because it was raining, which all the Israelis are happy about because they need rain, but of course, as tourists, it's not so fun.  Anyway, ODT/IDT is basically low ropes course bonding exercises, which weren't really so successful.  We had some trouble working as a team and communicating, mostly because we are all leaders and wanted our opinions heard, and because we have become pretty socially divided, which really shined through in these activities.  Oh well, ce la vie.

After ODT we came back to the hotel for "processing", where we got a chance to reflect a little in our journals about the activity, and then broke up into pairs to do this thing they really enjoy having us do called "deep listening", where you just listen to the other person talk for 10 minutes.  It was nice to get some stuff off my chest.  Then we had a really nice dinner at the hotel, followed by a session with Amotz Asa'el, former editor of the Jerusalem Post and founder of Business Week Israel.  He helped balance out the right and left politically that we had already heard from, arguing that Israel is not really as polarized as everyone says, and that there is a general consensus amongst Israelis with most major issues.  He answered a lot of our questions, and it was overall pretty interesting.

After the session, we had some free time.  On our way out of the hotel, my friend Sam and I noticed that there was a bunch of commotion in the lobby.  Apparently, after our session, 8 of the people in our group squeezed into an elevator that could fit maybe 4, and not too comfortably either.  Obviously, the elevator could not handle this, and got stuck.  They were stuck in there for 45 minutes until help came, so we took the opportunity to make fun of them as much as humanly possible.  After they got out, Sam and I headed over to the new nearby outdoor mall (which leads into Zion Gate of the Old City) and went shopping for Ahavah products and stopped in the Michal Negrin store (and I didn't even get anything!).  It started to rain pretty hard though, and of course I didn't bring my umbrella that one time, so we headed back to the hotel.  Everyone there was hanging out, and drinking, and playing scattegories, so we opened up the wine we bought at the shuk and hung out with them, then headed to bed.

Tuesday morning, our last few hours in Jerusalem, we went to the Supreme Court, where I went on a field trip last semester.  After a brief tour (lines and circles!) we discussed the legal issues of the separation barrier to round out our discussion.  It was pretty interesting, but a lot of it was stuff I knew already from my Israeli Legal System class in Israel last spring, and various other classes I've taken.

After that, we boarded the busses, said goodbye to Jerusalem, and headed off to Tel Aviv...Tel Aviv update to come soon!

I'm staying safe, I promise!

Happy New Years!

<3 Leah

The "Leah Blog": back in action

Hey everyone!

Welcome back to Leah in Israel.  I know I never really updated it about Megiddo before leaving the last time, but safe to say, it was an amazing time.  I'm back in Israel for a little over 2 weeks, and per the request of the lovely Jessica Levy, I have decided to attempt to reinstate the blog for my latest Israel adventure.

I'm currently here on a program called the ATID Campus Fellowship.  It's basically birthright plus - longer than Israel, more intense, more off-the-beaten-track, more included, and more amazingness.  Over the course of the last semester, I have been attending classes with 3 other GW students, along with several retreats with the students who are taking the same class at Maryland and American.  These classes will continue next semester, but for now, we get to spend two weeks together in Israel.

Our adventure started Monday evening with a flight on Austrian Airlines to Vienna, and, after a slight layover, a flight from Vienna to Tel Aviv, arriving Tuesday afternoon.  The flight was generally fine (minus the fact that my messed up finals sleep schedule prevented me from sleeping at all on the first flight, and the annoying French lady woke me up several times on the second flight).  A few thoughts on Austrian Airlines, though:

1.  If bright colors are not aesthetically pleasing to you, do not fly this airlines.  The seats are bright green, and the stewardesses wear bright red.  And they go ALL OUT with their red: red jumpers, red shirts, red TIGHTS, and red shoes.  It was a little ridiculous/eye hurting.

2.  The security video was kind of hilarious.  It involved a guy who was so stupid he bumped into signs, got his tie stuck in the tray table, and was reading the safety message upside down.  There was also a woman and a 5 year old child, and these 3 were the only people on the plane.  It was rather amusing.

So after landing in Tel Aviv and taking the requisite hour to sit outside the bus for no reason whatsoever in the area I like to refer to as "the Hebrew U forgot to bring enough busses" waiting area, we made our way to Genesis Land/Eretz Bereshit.  For those of you who actually read my blog last time/were in Israel with me, this is where I went camel riding last time.  There were no camel rides this time because it was night, but we did have the same shtick with someone pretending to be Eliezer and Abraham, and the same amazingly delicious food - which was a great first meal in Israel after airplane food!  Then we took the bus down to the negev for our first two nights.

Today was a LOOOOOONG day.  We woke up early, and headed to Mt. Yishai in the Ein Gedi region.  We hiked up and down the mountain from around 8am until about 3:30pm.  It was intense, and the fact that I'm still suffering from the plague I contracted during finals, leaving me with an intense cough, did not help matters.  That, combined with my fear of walking down hills, made it particularly challenging.  However, the view from the top was completely worth it - gorgeous desert and mountain on one side, and the Dead Sea on the other.  On the way down, we went for a brief few minutes to one of the falls at Ein Gedi, which was beautiful so I wished I could have stayed longer.   I also got to practice my Hebrew a lot today, because since I was having trouble and taking it slow, so I hung back with the medic/guard/holder of the ghetto hunting rifle, who doesn't speak English, which was nice.

After the hike, we went to the Ein Gedi spa, where we pretended to go into the sulfar pool (but after putting my feet in for a minute I realized that my cut from the hike was burning so I took it out).  We chilled for a while, ate a huge but way too late lunch, and some people went to the Dead Sea.  Towards the end of the hike, a sand storm had started that picked up before we got to the spa, so the sand clouds and my cut (plus the walk to get there) made me opt out of Dead Sea-ing.

We're back at the guest house at the kibbutz we've been staying at.  We have dinner in a few minutes, and then some night program.

Lehitraot from the holy land once again,

Leah

Last Few Weeks in Jerusalem

After finishing my last final on Sunday, June 1st (a few days early, luckily!) I spent the next week and a half enjoying my last little bit of time in Jerusalem and at Hebrew University, with a few day trips around the country.

On Monday morning I woke up bright and early to catch a bus to Tel Aviv.  A few of my friends from GW were on Birthright with GW Hillel, and while they had been in Jerusalem the weekend before, finals had prevented me from being able to see them then.  But by Monday I was free and clear, and able to see some Tel Aviv sights that I hadn't gotten a chance to see yet while seeing my friends too.  I met them in the morning at Independence Hall in Tel Aviv, where the Israeli Declaration of Independence was signed in May 1948.  Because they were running late, I had a little bit of time to sit outside and enjoy the beautiful weather at Founders Park which was right in front of the building.  When they finally arrived, it was really good to be able to see my friends, and it made me excited to go back to DC and see everyone.  It was also really cool to finally get to see Independence Hall, though the speech that was given was definitely geared toward the "Birthright agenda".  We listened to the presentation with a bunch of other Birthright groups, and having never been on Birthright myself, it was really interesting observing them for the day and the message that all the staff and other people in contact with them were trying to promote.  Basically, the speech at Independence Hall was very much a "love Israel, the Jews needed a place after the Holocaust, this is your homeland" type of message, which I guess is what I expected, but it all seemed a bit forced.  Anyway, it was cool seeing Independence Hall though, since I've never gotten a chance to go before because it is closed on weekends and that is the only time I've been there really.

After Independence Hall, we walked over to Nachalat Binyamin (where there is a fabulous art fair on Tuesdays and Fridays, but since this was a Monday it wasn't there), where they let the group go on their own for lunch.  I went with Becca Kelner, one of my sorority sisters who happened to be on birthright, and a bunch of other birthright participants with one of their soldiers to this REALLY delicious restaurant...we were in such a rush to get back to meet the group though that I didn't remember to ask what it was called, but it was amazing.  Anyway, after we met back up with the group for lunch they were delayed from leaving because two girls had gone off to go to the bathroom and didn't come back for like 45 minutes but weren't answering their phones.  It was lucky for me though, because they were supposed to use that time to go to Yaffo, and since I wasn't allowed on the Birthright busses because I wasn't an official participant, I would have had to cab there and it's kind of far.  Instead, we ended up walking over to a park for their "daily conversation".  They talked about how they felt about themselves and their connection with Israel after having been there already for almost a week, and it was really interesting and kind of amusing to hear some of them say things like that they felt like tourists at first but didn't anymore (after being here for 5 months, I still feel like a tourist!).

After their conversation, we went over to Rabin Square, where former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated.  I was really excited because, even though I had been there before, as I mentioned in my last post, I had just finished writing a VERY extensive paper on the aftermath of the assassination, so I was excited to see it.  Unfortunately, it wasn't quite like I remembered it, and a lot of it was closed off for construction.  I seem to remember there having been a lot more graffiti there, but I guess it's entirely possible that I'm not remembering correctly.  Anyway, after that, the Birthright group left for Tiberias, and I said goodbye to my friends and headed back to Jerusalem.

Founders' Park outside of Independence Hall

Israel's Declaration of Independence

Inside Independence Hall

Becca and I at lunch

Downtown Tel Aviv with Eli and Hannah

Memorial in Rabin Square at the location where Rabin was shot

Graffiti and newspaper clippings, posted in mourning at Rabin Square

Tuesday was a fairly relaxed day - caught up on the sleep I missed from the night before (having gone to sleep late after finishing my last papers and waking up early to go to Tel Aviv) and went to campus to turn in my papers.  On Wednesday, my roommate Courtney and I went on a tour of Hebron, a very important city in Judaism but one that is now mostly Arab and has been the center of much conflict.  As part of Oslo II, much of Hebron was transferred to the Palestinians, though a small part (where several very holy Jewish sites are) is still under the control of Israel.

The tour started with a stop outside of Hebron but near Jerusalem, where we went to Rachel's tomb (Rachel being the matriarch).  While the rest of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs are buried in Me'arat Hamachpelah (the cave of the Patriarchs) in Hebron, Rachel was not buried there because she died from childbirth, which occured while the family was traveling.  Jacob buried her along the road between Hebron and Jerusalem, and that was our first stop.  We learned a lot about the fight to keep Rachel's tomb open to Jewish access, as it was a very dangerous place for Jews to go during the second intifada.  Since then, the efforts of a group of religious women have convinced the Israeli government to build a wall/fence around the tomb area, ensuring that all visitors would be safe and that visitation could occur 24/7.  The tomb itself was really cool and very interesting.  The one thing that was disappointing was that, because the tomb is a religious site where prayer is held, there is a divider between men and women, so I wasn't able to see the tomb in its entirety.  Regardless, though, it was really cool being able to see all the people who came to pray there, and being able to say the special prayers that you say at Rachel's tomb.

The women's side of Rachel's tomb, with a woman praying at it

The prayer that is supposed to be said at Rachel's tomb

Courtney and I at Rachel's tomb

The security around Rachel's tomb

After Rachel's tomb, we continued on to Hebron.  We met up with our guide for the city, and he showed us all around the very small Jewish neighborhood of Hebron.  He told us all about the different families that live there, what happened to the residents of Hebron during the intifada, and why the families who live in Hebron feel it is important for Israel to continue living in Hebron.  We also visited the grave of Ruth and Yishai, two of the characters from the scroll of Ruth, which is read on the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, which would be the next week.  We also went to some more modern graves and heard various stories about the people who were buried there.  Then our guide took us into a very small building where several families lived, but had originally been told by the government that no renovations were allowed.  This meant that through the winter this year, which was very cold, the building had no windows.  They also only had one bathroom and one kitchen for several orthodox families, which was a LOT of people.  Luckily they have recently been allowed to renovate, and now each family has a make-shift apartment (ie a bathroom and a small stove with which to cook on in addition to their bedrooms).  We went into the house, where a woman was cooking schnitzel that smelled SOOO good, and got to talk to her for a little while about her life in Hebron.  After that, we broke for lunch at a local pizza place, and then moved on to the main attraction.

The Cave of the Patriarchs, or Me'arat Hamachpelah, was nothing like I had expected it to be.  Having heard the stories about how Abraham bought a cave to bury his wife Sarah in, and that he was later buried there along with Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob, and Leah, I had assumed that it would just be a cave and that there would be some vague signs saying that all the Patriarchs and Matriarchs were buried somewhere in the area.  I was pleasantly surprised to not only see that it was, more or less, a building, but that there were actual tombs that were labeled with who was specifically buried there.  The tombs were covered in tapestries and had artwork on the walls, and were very beautiful, though it was hard to believe that the tombs themselves were several thousands of years old (the decorations came much later).  The other thing that was interesting was that there was a lot of Arabic calligraphy around the tombs, since they were also holy to Muslims, and the area had been used as churches and mosques throughout history.  Overall, it was really cool being able to see it, and it made me realize why Hebron is so important to the Jews and why it has been such a source of conflict.

A window of a house in Hebron, which was covered in many VERY political bumper stickers throughout the last decade

The border between Jewish and Palestinian Hebron is highly militarized...

The graves of Ruth and Yishai

A coffee container that had deflected several bullets during an attack on Hebron, leaving no casualties (but the coffee pot)

Military outpost

Hebron flag - reads: Hebron, from then and forever

Military tower and mosque tower - says a lot about Hebron

Cave of the Patriarchs

Tomb of Jacob

Me and Courtney and Abraham's tomb

The main hall of the building

Arabic calligraphy in the room with Sarah's tomb

Me at the grave of my namesake, Leah!

After a long and eventful day, we arrived back in Jerusalem, and after a quick nap and stopping by the airport shuttles that were taking the first batch of students leaving to go back home, I went to grab dinner at the Chinese restaurant down the street with my friend Amanda.  Just after we ordered our food, the people who she was storing her luggage with while she went to Europe after classes ended got to dorms to pick up her stuff, so we ended up leaving and taking our food to go.  Once we got back to the dorms, we saw that there was a huge event in the center of the student village.  Basically, that week Hebrew U was having an event for the Hebrew U Board of Directors in honor of the university's 90th anniversary, and that night's event was in the student village.  It was a huge event, with lots of free food and drinks, a band playing music, and the whole student village decorated with lights and cushions around all the benches so that they would be like couches.  Since finals were done the next day, most people had already finished, and many of my friends were leaving the next night, so it was a really nice way to end of the semester.

The Student Village all decked out

Courtney and I at the party

Flaming baton twirling mimes?

Another shot of the student village

Thursday was my first post-finals relaxation day.  It was really sad, though, because between Thursday night and Friday morning, almost all of my friends who were still left in Jerusalem were leaving (though a few did stay on for a few more days).  After another round of goodbyes at the airport shuttles, Amanda (who, as I said before, was going to Europe, not home, so her flight was different than everyone else's and wasn't leaving until Friday morning) and I went out for one last Jerusalem dinner to Luigi's, our favorite Italian restaurant.  Then there was another goodbye, though Amanda and I met up the next week in Tel Aviv for another 2 nights when she came back, so it wasn't as bad as the other goodbyes.

Friday morning I headed downtown with a few of my remaining friends, Becca, Ashley, and Dana.  After walking around the shops on Ben Yehuda and looking at some posters in a really cool poster store, Dana and I split off and went for one last time to the shuk on Machane Yehuda.  There's something so indescribable about the shuk, and I am definitely going to miss all the hustle and bustle and the amazing fresh, delicious, and SUPER cheap produce and baked goods.  It was also crazy busy because it was right before Shabbos, and while that does get somewhat frustrating, I think it adds to the character and the atmosphere.

Challahs at Marzipan Bakery off of Machaneh Yehudah, home of the best chocolate rugelach ever!

Produce at the shuk

After going home and resting/getting ready for shabbos, I went to services with my friend Dana and her boyfriend at a Sephardic synagogue down the street from the dorms.  The synagogue was really pretty, but it was somewhat hard to follow the services since they were fairly different.  The major difference was probably the order of the prayers, though, so I would hear a prayer, recognize it as something I knew, but not know where in the siddur we were, so I wouldn't be able to find the words to follow along.  It was an interesting experience, though, and I'm glad I got to see it at least.  After services, Dana, her boyfriend, and I went to Dana's friend Laura's dorm for shabbat dinner.  Laura was also in my program, but I had never met her before, but I was glad I finally did get to meet her.  The dinner was the three of us, Laura, Laura's cousin who was American but moved to Israel, Laura's cousin's boyfriend, and Laura's best friend from seminary who had since moved to Israel and was in the pre-university program at Hebrew University.  I had a lot of fun with them, and ended up staying there until around 11, just talking and debating and joking around.  The food was also very yummy.  When I left, Laura invited me to come for lunch or dinner the next day, but I ended up sleeping through lunch (as I had told her I probably would), and my friend Becca ended up coming over Saturday evening, so I didn't want to ditch her so I could go to dinner with them.

So that was basically Saturday day - got a LOT of sleep catch up, and then hung out with Becca.  We had also decided to go see the Sex and the City movie with the person Becca had been staying with since the dorms closed (I had paid to stay an extra week since it was cheaper than a hostel and more convenient), so we hung out for a bit, then went to the cheap falafel place down the street from the dorms for dinner, and then headed off to the movie theater.  The movie was really good, and I was glad I saw it in Israel partially because I'm pretty sure everyone at home has already seen it if they had any interest in seeing it, and I wouldn't have had anyone to see it with at home.  BUT I'm also glad I went because I got to see what an Israeli movie theater experience was like.  First, when we went to buy our tickets, Becca went and bought hers and then I went and bought mine.  When I went up to buy mine, they seemed very confused and asked if Becca and I wanted to sit together.  I said that of course we did, so they asked why we didn't buy our tickets together.   Apparently in Israeli movie theaters, tickets are given with assigned seats, which was just crazy!  Luckily we were able to trade in our tickets for seats together though, but then we found out that Becca's friend was bringing a friend.  Well, at that point, there were no longer 4 seats together, or even 2 and 2, but Becca's friend was willing to sit in this little nook between the last seat and the wall, so it ended up working out ok.  The second thing I learned about Israeli movies is that they include a cigarette break.  Exactly halfway through the movie, no matter how long the movie is or if it falls in the middle of a scene or something, the movie stops, the curtains go down (oh ya, they also had a curtain in front of the screen) and the lights turn on.  A bunch of people go tup, and I was really confused because it was clearly not over (Carrie was in the middle of a sentence when it stopped!) and I at first thought that something had happened to the movie, but Becca's friend told us that it was just an intermission.  Anyway, while it was apparently meant for a cigarette break, it served as a nice bathroom break, so I kind of liked the concept and think that the US might want to adopt it.  It worked out perfectly, and just as I got out of the bathroom, the lights in the lobby were turned on and off (like at a play or opera!) and we went back into the theater for the second half of the movie.

Me at the Sex and the City movie

Movie poster for "Sex V'HaEer HaGedolah" - Sex and the Big City

Sunday I went back downtown for some last minute shopping and to pick up my El Al ticket to go home the next month from the El Al office.  After that I went home and took a nap to prepare myself for staying up all night for Shavuot!  Shavuot is the Jewish holiday that commemorates the receiving of the Torah by the Jewish people from Mt. Sinai.  It is also one of the three pilgrimage holidays, when, during the time of the Temple, Jews would make a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem to make a special sacrifice (in the case of Shavuot, which was supposed to represent the beginning of the blooming, Jews were supposed to sacrifice their first fruits of the season).  In order to "prepare" themselves for the receiving of the Torah, Jews today spend the whole night of Shavuot studying rather than sleeping, so that i the morning they will be fully prepared to receive the Torah.  Shavuot in Israel was Sunday night through Monday night (outside of Israel, Shavuot is celebrated for two days just in case the message about the new moon didn't get to the rest of the world fast enough), so Sunday night was the night to spend studying.  Becca and I started the night with a bunch of other Hebrew U students who were still in Israel at the Fuchsberg Conservative Center, which was having a Shavuot dinner for overseas students.  After dinner, we stayed there for the first lecture, which was about the dilemma of the conservative movement, and then moved on to Pardes, a non-denominational learning center where Becca had been taking classes this semester.  When we got there, I saw a few people I knew from home, some of whom I expected to see and others who I didn't.  We stayed there for two lectures, one on the "grey" areas of some of the ten commandments (when things like jealousy and disrespecting your parents are acceptable) and another on Torah revelation, which had a lot of partner study mixed with the lecture.  Those two sessions I found much more interesting than the first one I went to at the Conservative Yeshiva.  After those sessions were over, we walked back to Fuchsberg so we could walk with them to the Old City to go to the Kotel (Western Wall) for morning services before bed.  Since Shavuot is a pilgrimage holiday, a LOT of people still go to the kotel, since it is the only remainder from the Temple.  We walked along one of the main roads that leads to the old city, and it was really cool as we got closer to the gates seeing people from all directions all going to the same place. 

When we finally got to the Kotel, we didn't go to the main part, which was very crowded and separated by a divider between men and women (it was so crowded, in fact, that the divider/mechitzah was extended all the way back through the courtyard by the Kotel), and I therefore would have had trouble hearing any of the services.  Instead, we went into the Davidson center, which is basically an archaeological park of recently uncovered parts of the wall that the Kotel was a part of.  The part that we went to was basically an extension of the Kotel, in which a stone with Hebrew engraving was found in addition to part of the arch from the bridge that the priests had used to enter the Temple.  Apparently, there, every year, there is a conservative service for Shavuot, so I went there for services.  Even though the service lasted much longer than the Orthodox services at the Kotel, which was kind of annoying because I was exhausted, it was a really cool experience to actually be able to hear and participate in a service at a place that, in my opinion, is basically just an extension of the Kotel.  When women pray at the Kotel and sing, they are often given dirty looks by women who think that women shouldn't sing in public/where men can hear them.  But in this service, I was able to sing and say the prayers as part of the community, and it was incredibly moving.  There was just something so different about being able to sing prayers about the glory and rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Temple from the remains of what once was the glory of Israel.  After services were over, I went back to the dorms and slept.

On Tuesday, I met up with my Aunt Michelle and cousin Joseph at the Central Bus Station.  They were both in town to visit my cousin Sarah, and we were going together to see some cousins in Chadera that I had never met.  After a bus to Tel Aviv and a train to Chadera, we were met by my cousin at the train station.  We went over to her apartment, and after a snack, took a walk around the town to see it.  It was really cool to see an average town in Israel - while I had seen major cities and random kibbutzim and moshavim, I had not really seen any of the smaller cities/towns, so it was cool.  After our walk around, our other cousin (the first cousin's sister), came over, and we had a really good dinner...I had forgotten how long it had been since I had a home cooked meal!  After dinner, we went to see the other cousin's apartment, and then I headed back to Jerusalem.  It was a really nice day, partially because, as I said before I got to see a smaller city, but also because I got to meet relatives I hadn't met before and got to practice my Hebrew a lot!

Park in Chadera

Memorial to the citizens of Chadera who died in the various wars of Israel

Wednesday I spent packing, and Thursday was last minute packing up, moving out, and saying goodbye before leaving for Tel Aviv to meet up with my sorority sisters, Liz and Melissa, who were coming in for the dig at Megiddo. 

Megiddo updates to come soon.  I actually just got home to Michigan yesterday, so I'm still a bit behind on these updates, but only by a few weeks, so hopefully I'll be up to date soon.

Missing Israel and Jerusalem,

Leah