Tzfat, Purim, Tel Aviv, and Kibbutz Channaton...plus, of course, classes, field trips, and days/nights around Jerusalem

Hey readers!

So I know it's been a RIDICULOUSLY long time since I last wrote, and I apologize - between classes, work, midterms, touring around Jerusalem, spending time with my fellow students, and every day life, it's been difficult to find time to update. Anyway, I'm writing now from Athens International Airport (and, probably from the plane as well seeing as I only have about a half an hour until I board). I'll update later about my last 6 days in Athens, but now for your reading pleasure: the last month in Israel.

Last I updated, I was about to leave for a weekend in Tzfat. After a bus ride that, with stops, was about as long as a flight from Detroit to San Diego, my roommates Courtney and Jessica, my friend Amanda, and I arrived in Tzfat late Thursday night. At the bus stop in Jerusalem we had met a group from a yeshiva in Jerusalem who were also going to the same place we were - Assent. Assent is basically a secret Chabad house (in that it doesn't advertise itself as Chabad, but very obviously is when you get there). Since we had missed the dinner that everyone else was having, they got us leftovers and told us to eat quickly because the night's lecture was about to start. We had signed up to go there on a weekend program, in which they were supposed to be lectures about Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism), Tzfat, and Purim, in addition to Shabbat prayers and meals, and some touristy activities as well. Well, the lectures ended up being mostly about Purim, and how we are supposed to wipe out Amalek (mini-lesson in Judaism: when the Jews were wandering through the desert, a nation called Amalek attacked the Jews from the back - where the children and elderly were. Because they were so immoral and attacked the most innocent and weakest part of our nation instead of attacking the soldiers, the Jews were commanded to "wipe out Amalek". Haman, the villain of the Purim story, was part of Amalek, and anyone after him who tried to wipe out the Jews - ex. Hitler - was presumed to be part of Amalek). Anyway, by the end of the weekend we were pretty sick of hearing about Amalek, but luckily the first lecturer didn't really speak at all about Amalek, and stuck more to Kabbalistic ideas. He was a really good lecturer, but unfortunately, he only spoke one more time over the weekend. I should also mention that Molly Mardit from JAMD, the same person from my high school that I had seen at the Carlebach Moshav about a month before, was also at Ascent for the weekend, and we just so happened to be put in the same room (again!).

Anyway, the next day we decided to skip the morning lecture and the group's tour in order to do some of the touristy/shopping stuff that the schedule did not allow for otherwise. This turned out to be a very good decision, since, due to pouring rain, the program changed what they were doing, and ended up taking a bus to a nearby town instead of doing the things they had planned on doing in Tzfat. This way, we got to actually see Tzfat (the city we had come to see after all, even if it was by means of walking in the POURING rain on slippery cobblestones). We went to the famous Tzfat candle store, some Jewish book stores, the workshop of David Friedman (a famous Kabbalistic artist who speaks to different groups about themes in Kabbalah that he uses in his art), and some of the famous synagogues in the area, as well as the different artists shops (Tzfat is famous for its artists colony). Unfortunately, some of the synagogues we had wanted to see were closed, but we at least got to see the Ashkenazi (European Jewish) Ari synagogue (the Ari was the man who wrote the book that modern Kabbalistic study is based on). We also went to the Tzfat cemetary, where we saw the grave of the Ari, as well as the graves of several high school students from Tzfat who had been killed in the crossfire in the 1970s after being taken hostage by the PLO while on a field trip. This was particularly interesting for me since I had learned about the hostage situation a few weeks before in my Arab-Israeli conflict class. At some point during the day, we also had lunch at this really cute vegetarian restaurant, which was really more like a room with 2 or 3 tables with a house style kitchen attached to it and two women cooking some items from their menu. During lunch, they were also baking whole wheat chocolate chip muffins, so obviously the whole "restaurant" smelled amazing the entire time we were there, and we had to have a muffin before we left.

Tzfat, all nice and overcast/rainy

Noah's Ark, made into a candle at the Tzfat candle store

The hand-carved ark at the Ashkenazi Ari Synagogue

It cleared up a little bit

Pretty amazing flag picture, if I do say so myself

The cemetery for the Tzfat students who died in the PLO hostage situation

Friday night, we went with the group to a local synagogue for services. While it was fun it first, it had to have been one of the longest Friday night services I have ever been to in my entire life. It lasted over 2 hours, and that was with us leaving early. The program hadn't left until just a little bit early, and we were all going to host families for dinner, so we all felt really bad because we were so late, but we didn't know where we were going and had to wait for them to take us there. When the four of us were finally taken to our house for dinner, we were met by a very large, Sephardic (Spanish/Moroccan Jews) Chasidic family with AMAZING food and an absolutely fascinating story. The father was a kosher butcher working in South America, and he only comes home for the holidays, so the mother ran the household. Her oldest daughter was there with her husband and two kids - a girl who was probably about 3 and absolutely adorable, and a baby who was only a few weeks old. There was also a teenage son, a pre-teen daughter, and two younger sons. She also had a daughter who was about our age, who had a very fascinating story. We saw her with a baby at first, and we didn't know whose baby it was because she was clearly not married (she didn't have a husband there and her hair wasn't covered, as is customary for orthodox married women to do). Later, though, we found out that it was her baby, and that her story was very unusual considering that she was raised in a very religious household in a very religious town. She had apparently been married and divorced, but her baby was not with her ex-husband, but rather with a boyfriend who had moved to Miami right before she found out she was pregnant. She was supposed to go visit him in Miami, but when she told him about the baby, he had said he didn't want her to come and didn't want anything to do with him. Well, once the baby was born and he saw how cute he is (he's about 3-4 months old), he asked her to come, so she told us she was going to Miami soon. Anyway, we stayed at their house for about 3-4 hours, talking with the daughter and the mom over dessert and tea and ended up going back to our program late. Once we got back, there was some storytelling and singing, and then we went to bed.

The next day after lunch, there were some more lectures, some rest time, and then a walking tour of Tzfat by the Rabbi who had given the lecture the night we got there. It was really interesting, but we were unfortunately rushed through it because it started late and we had to get back in time to finish shabbos. After shabbos was over, we caught the first bus back to Jerusalem.

Well, the next was Purim week, so in addition to having a three day weekend the next weekend, we basically had an entire week of celebrating. On Monday night, which was technically what should have been St. Patrick's day (but it was moved by the Church to earlier because of Easter, but we pretended it hadn't been), we were invited to a movie night with some people from first semester. That was the first night my friends and I started hanging out with this group of people from first semester, some of whom it turned out are roommates with some of my friends who are also just here for the spring. Anyway, I'm really glad we've been able to branch out and mix first and second semester people, because it's really hard since they had a whole semester without us and we had all of Ulpan without them, so when we were first making friends they weren't there for us to make friends with.

Tuesday night was the Hebrew U Purim Party, which was just down the street from our dorms. It was pretty fun, especially since it was a party where we basically knew half the people there (almost reminded me of a Phi Sig party lol). They had also hired all kinds of performers, including belly dancers, people on stilts, etc.

Us dressed up to go to the Hebrew U Purim Party - Jessica as a Bunny, Amanda as a Butterfly, Marissa as a cat, and me as Princess Leah --- get it???

Two of my friends dressed up as Elliot Spitzer and his prostitute

Thursday night was the actual Purim night, and it was really cool seeing how they celebrate it in Israel. For Megillah reading (when the story of Purim is read from a scroll in synagogue) I went to the Great Synagogue in Jerusalem. It's a gorgeous synagogue that I went to when I was here with my dad, but I figured this would be a perfect time to go because, unlike on shabbat and most other holidays, I could go and take pictures of the interior. Plus, I could enjoy Megillah reading with Israelis. Well, the synagogue was as beautiful as I remembered, but because it is so big, it didn't seem very full, which was kind of disappointing. There were a bunch of kids and some adults dressed up though, which was fun, and the person who read the Megillah read REALLY fast so we were done in no time at all. After Megillah reading, I went out with a bunch of people downtown, and it was absolutely crazy. Everyone on the streets was completely wasted (as it is a commandment to be very very drunk on Purim), with people drinking on the streets and spraying party foam on random passersby. Music was playing in Zion Square (the main square downtown) and all down Ben Yehuda street. It was crazy seeing all the people dressed up and all the police and soldiers just standing by watching the craziness. It was lots of fun, and one of the girls we were with ended up getting into a rap battle with some random guy on the street that was kind of bizarre but also really hilarious.

The outside of the Great Synagogue

Inside the Great Synagogue

Zion Square on Purim night

People dressed up on Ben Yehuda Street

Friday and Saturday day we got a little bit of rest from Purim until Saturday night when Shushan Purim (the special Purim for cities that were walled during the time of Joshua) began. On Saturday afternoon, Jessica and I (with Amanda for a little bit) sat out in the student village and enjoyed the nice day while doing some reading. After Shabbat ended, the thee of us went out downtown for Sushi, and then came back to the Student Village where there was a Purim party right outside my dorm in the middle of the Student Village. It was pretty convenient, and a lot of fun. They had a costume contest, and the winner, who was dressed up as a Hookah, won a free airline ticket to Europe.

Hanging out in the Student Village

Party in the Student Village (that's my building in the background)

Me and my roommate, Jessica, at the party in the Student Village

Party in the Student Village

On Sunday (Shushan Purim day), Jessica, Amanda, and I went to the Old City. After a stop off at the Kotel, we walked through/around the city until we got to the house of Jeff Seidel, a pretty sketchy guy who runs a Jewish Student Center on campus that runs programs in an attempt to "frum out" (ie make more religious) anyone they can through fun trips and programs. Anyway, he had a Purim Seudah (the festive Purim meal) that was open to all students. About 20 or so students were there, and there was really delicious food and LOTS of alcohol. It was weird because Jeff (and his 16 year old son who looked 12) kept pouring people drinks and telling people they weren't drunk enough (though I guess it is a mitzvah, right?).

Purim Seudah at Jeff Seidel's

Monday it was back to classes. Then, on Tuesday, we had a dinner in our apartment for all the "regulars" who hang out in our apartment, because my roommate Courtney's boyfriend was visiting from Colorado for his spring break, and she wanted him to meet everyone. It was a lot of fun, especially since we had all been so busy lately that our apartment hadn't been as lively as it usually was, so it was nice to have everyone back there again. It was also obviously nice to meet Courtney's boyfriend, especially because we had heard so much about him, and knew how anxious she was to see him.

Roommate picture: Roi, Guy, Me, Courtney, and Jessica

Unofficial roommates picture: Marissa (our next door neighbor and Guy's girlfriend), Me, Jessica, Thai (Courtney's boyfriend), Courtney, and Amanda

During my Israeli Legal System class on Wednesday, we went on a field trip to the Israeli Supreme Court. We were given a tour of the building, during which the tour guide explained the architecture of the building, while reviewing some of the things we had learned in our class about how the Israeli court system works. We also got to sit in on one case, which was being heard by three justices, one of whom was the first Arab appointee to the Supreme Court, and another of whom was the Chief Justice. The case was also unique because of the criminals being tried was representing himself, which is apparently very unusual. We also got to see a few interesting features of the Israeli court system. First, all of the lawyers wear black robes like judges do in the US. Also, the lawyers from both sides (prosecution and defense) both sit at one round table, which each side getting one side of the table. Also, in the case of a criminal trial, the criminal sits in a special booth that only has one exit, which is into the back halls of the court through which they are led to and from jail. However, there are no doors through which they can get out into the courtroom. It was really interesting to see, especially having spent so many weeks learning about the court system.

The hallway of the courtrooms

The courtroom - judges's bench and lawyers table

The courtyard outside the courts

After class on Thursday, my friend Amanda and I went to the Old City to do some shopping in the shuk and to go see the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the church built on the location at which Jesus is believed to have been crucified. It was a beautiful church, with lots of different little chapels. It was also really interesting to see the people who were worshipping there, and how they acted at the part of the church where Jesus was crucified. It really helped me connect with the idea that Jerusalem is so important to many different religions. After we left the church, we saw people doing Via de la Rosa, walking through the 12 steps of the cross, where Jesus was brought and humiliated on his way to being crucified. A lot of people were doing Via de la Rosa for a few weeks because it was right around Easter, and since it was just the week after Easter, a lot of people were still doing it. It was really cool to see, especially because it was something I was so unfamiliar with. The group was carrying a large wooden cross while singing prayers, and at each "station" they would put down the cross, say some prayers, and then switch who was to carry the cross.

The Church of the Holy Sepulcher

Lamps that hung over the rock where Jesus was laid after he was crucified

Picture in the main entrance to the church

One of the many domes in the church

The altar in one of the chapels

A prayer and incense ceremony in the main corridor

Where Jesus was crucified

People doing Via de la Rosa near the Church of the Holy Sepulcher

View of the windmill/German colony from along the Old City walls

Thursday night we went out to eat downtown, and then went to a bar with some of our first semester friends. It was a really chill bar that was like a Turkish/Arab style bar, with low couches and cushions all along the walls. It was a lot of fun and nice environment to hang out after a busy week.

Friday morning my roommate Jessica, along with my friends Amanda and Jordana, and I got up early to catch a bus to Tel Aviv for the weekend. We planned to spend a nice weekend on the beach, and that was exactly what we did. It was a really fun weekend, and was basically spring break part one.

After we arrived on Friday and dropped our stuff off at the hostel (which was a block away from the beach), we had lunch and then went to the beach for a few hours until it got a little chilly out. After a much needed nap, we had a delicious dinner and then took a walk all the way down the beach, which was really nice. After that, we went to Max Brenner's, a chocolate restaurant which was DELICIOUS!

The next day, we spent a long day on the beach in the sun. It was perfect beach weather - not too hot, but not too cold either. We got lots of sun, read/napped on the beach, then had lunch at a restaurant right on the beach with our feet in the sand. After lunch, we moved down the beach a little bit for a change of scenery. We stayed most of the rest of the afternoon, took a break in a nearby mall in the evening, and then went back to Jerusalem. It was a perfect, relaxing weekend, and I got a great tan!

The Tel Aviv beach

Me and Jessica on the beach

Amanda, Jessica, and I at dinner

Footprints in the sand at night

Me and Amanda at lunch on the beach

The following weekend I went on a shabbaton at Kibbutz Channaton, the only Conservative (Judaism) Kibbutz in Israel. It was mostly students (undergraduate and rabbinical) from JTS (the Jewish Theological Seminary), but it was nice because it gave me the chance to hang out with some of my JTS friends that I hadn't seen in awhile and meet some new people I hadn't met before. We left very early Friday morning, and headed up north. We stopped for about an hour or two at a Druze village, where we walked around and did some shopping, and I had pita with labaneh (a kind of sour yogurt cheese spread) and zatar (a Middle Eastern spice) which was delicious! On the way out of the town, we stopped at another pita place on the side of the road, so I shared a thin pita (almost like a crepe) and chocolate spread with one of the other people on the trip. When we got to the kibbutz, we were supposed to have time to go swimming in the kibbutz pool, but it was WAY too cold, so we ended up just hanging out until shabbos. Friday night we had services, and it was really nice to go to a conservative service again with women being able to participate and men and women sitting together. After services we had dinner in the kibbutz dining hall, and then went and had a learning program. After the programs were done for the night, a bunch of us hung out in the room I was staying in and just hung out and played scrabble. It was a lot of fun and a nice time to catch up with people

The next day was a pretty relaxing day. After lunch, we had another learning program, and then took a tour of the kibbutz. Because the kibbutz is a dairy, we spent most of the tour with the cows. After climbing up to the top of the kibbutz (which had a great view) we went to see the different cow pens. There was an area for the regular cows, an area for the pregnant cows, and an area for the baby cows. We saw several VERY pregnant cows, some cows that were less than a week old (and even one that had been born earlier that day and one that had been born just a few minutes before we saw it). There was also a separate "cow hospital" for the cows who were sick or had recently given birth. After that, we went to the milking area, where we saw the cows being milked with very sophisticated machines. The kibbutznik who was giving us our tour explained to us that the milking machines are able to detect almost immediately if there is something wrong with the milk, so that no bacteria-infected milk gets mixed up with the milk that the kibbutz produces. It was really cool seeing the cows being milked and learning about the whole process.

After the tour, we relaxed by the pool for a little while (I went in for about a minute, but it was FREEZING!), and hung around until Shabbat was over. At the end of Shabbat, we had dinner, evening services, and then havdallah. Afterwards, we quickly went back to our room, packed up our stuff, and headed back to Jerusalem.

The view outside my window at Kibbutz Channaton

The next week was a very busy week, between a two-day Hebrew midterm and getting things done before break. That Thursday was the last day of classes before break, and when classes were over, I met with Jordana and Amanda, the two people I went to Greece with, to plan our itinerary. Then I packed and got ready to leave for Greece!

My next entry will hopefully come soon...look out for a Greece update!

With lots of love (now from Tucson as it took me several flights/layovers and a few days in Arizona to finally finish this post),

Leah