It's not goodbye...it's lehitraot!

Sitting at the airport I am still not able to believe that my journey in Israel over. I thought walking out of the Kfar would do it, or maybe saying goodbye to everyone, but it still did not feel real then. I got to the airport, sweaty from carrying all of my stuff in the sweltering summer heat of Isreal, and called my parents to tell them everything was ok and all that jazz. My Dad says to me on the phone, "it must have been tough to leave" and just then it felt like a frog was in my throat and my heart jumped into my stomach and I responded "not really, I just need a beer..."! Nonetheless, it is hard...it is difficult to put these 5 months into perspective. Did I do enough? Did I accomplish what I came to? Was my dream fulfilled? Thinking about these things gives me a headache, just thinking about "what if" but the biggest one is "what if I never came?"...when I think about that I know that I did enough, accomplished enough and fulfilled a dream just by stepping outside of the box and trying to give back to this world. It would be a lie to say that I never shed a tear of sadness, never got frustrated with the program, the kfar or the students or that I didn't want to go home sooner that I had planned.

I could go on in a list of the things I didn't accomplish here: my hebrew still is not good, I did not make many strong friendships, nor did I see so much of the difference I made at Hakfar Hayarok. However, the lessons I have learned here about myself and others, religion, Israel and the world are irreplaceable and could never have been expected. It is like when you don't get the present you want but you get something even better you never could have imagined. This is how I feel about my Israel experience.

In the end, though, the memories I am thinking of as I sit in the airport today are those of students happy to see me when they returned from holidays or weekends with their families,
celebrating 60 years of Israel in the streets of Tel Aviv, showing Alfredo the wonder of this land, and challenging myself to see new perspectives on people, places and life.

My mom wrote me last night to tell me how proud she and my dad were that I had realized a dream at my age and left the comfort of home to do so. I think everyone does something at my age that is realizing a dream-this is what your 20s are for-but mine was just a little farther away. My parents moved across the country to Michigan, where they knew no one, which was certainly a huge step for both of them. My sister just got married...my brother won award after award in graduate school...Maya moved across the country to work on a campaign because it was a dream of hers...Alyssa taught English in Korea. Everyone does this, and must, because otherwise you wake up when you are 50 and think "Where did my life go?"

It is actually funny because on my program I ended up sharing a room with a girl named Amy who could not have bee nmore different than me but saw life in a very similar way. She would approve of me to describe her as a rucksack wanderer...a Canadian hippy with dreadlocks. This was probably the person I was the closest with here, the last one I would have expected. The thing that bonded us, though, was our desire to live life to its fullest, to see the good in life and to always hope for a better future in this world. We spoke yesterday how it may be morbid but we think often about "If I died tomorrow, would I have done enough?" and both decided that it was better to think this way than to have it any other because when it comes to the end of our lives, we hope to be happy and fulfilled.

So now I will go back to my life, hopefully just glide right back into where I was when I left my family and friends and start law school. In explanation of my cheesy title to this entry, "lehitraot" is the Hebrew was of saying "See you later" and that is how I feel about leaving Israel because I know I will be back soon, very soon. Israel will always be in my heart, my soul and my thoughts because my connection to Israel is forever a part of me. Just as I cannot tell the beginning of it, so too can I not tell the end. I leave knowing I will return soon to see the country that means so much to me and reminds me that anything is possible in this world, in a land that has been taken away from and given back to the Jews, brought them together after thousands of years in Diaspora and has survived so many enemies. For me, this is my homeland and always reminds me that, as a Jew, I have a place in this world too!

Ramat HaGolan and Druze

The past two days have been spent on a very interesting trip with my program. We went up north to the Senir Stream to hike near Mt. Hermon, the tallest mountain in Israel which is shared with Syria and Lebanon. It was beautiful hiking through the lush green of the north after having spent so much time in the desert with Gadna and my trip to Eilat. It was still very hot but it was beautifully refreshing. We also visited the Hula Valley Nature Reserve which is in the valley adjacent to the Golani mountains of the Golan Heights. This Nature Reserve is well known as a common stopping place for the birds that migrate from Europe to Africa in the winter and is filled with many of them during the migratory season. Unfortunately, when we were there we saw but a few birds in the beautiful landscape although we did enjoy the sunflower seeds of the sunflowers that were growing and the trees with delicious wild berries.

That night we arrived at a Druze village called Peki'in, where we were staying the night. In all honestly, Jews and Christians live in this village as well but it is predominanty Druze. In fact, the oldest dated synogogue is in this village and is dated to be 2,000 years old from the second temple period. We had tea at a beautiful place (see the pictures) and then dinner at a family's home. This family owns a restaurant in the town but since we were such a large group they closed their restaurant and had it on the roof of their home, where their family has lived for over 100 years. The family in the village itself for far longer. We watched the most beautiful sunset and the rising of the moon over the mountains (see the pictures) while we ate the most delicious meal of stuffed grape leaves, kabobs, salads and falafel that I have had yet since being here. Afterwards, we sat and talked to the family about the family, Druze culture and lifestyle. We learned that Druze is a unitarian monotheistic reformation of Islam that is very small and peaceful. They reside almost wholely in the mountains of Israel, Syria and Lebanon where they used to have to hide to escape persecution and struggle to maintain the Druze life, which is also why they were forced to keep the religion a secret for many, many years. They dress and eat and pray much like Muslims but it is forbidden to consume drugs or alcohol and no one can convert to be Druze and one cannot marry a non-Druze and still be considered Druze. It is a small, strong group that considers itself more of a social group or a culture than a religion, we were told by this family.

Druze live with the Jews and Christians in the town beautifully and, in fact, helped to hide Jews in the caves of the mountains when they were trying to escape persecution from the Romans. Today, there are only 3 Jewish families who maintain the synagogue and a small number of Christians (I am unsure of the number) but they live comfortably and peacefully together, we were told and observed. Druze signed, upon creation of the IDF, that they will serve just as any Israeli does even if it means that they may have to fight against other Druze in Syria and Lebanon. It is unlike the Bedouins, who signed that they had the option to fight for Israel or not when they were of that age.

The next day we took a walk around the town, which the 100 shekel bill is designed after (the buildings, tree and pool of water you see on the bill are from this town) and went to a soap factory that has a secret formula generations old in a Druze family of Peki'in. Then we went and saw the tomb of a Rabbi in Tiberias who was well known for his contribution to the Talmud. People were praying devoutly to this Rabbi as if he held a secret to life, and it was strange to me that I did not feel the same power I have at other places of Jewish worship and history. However, I do commend those that are able to do so by giving so freely of their faith and believing so devoutly.

We ended the trip in Jerusalem where Lori's son was finishing his 40 kilometer hike to get his beret, meaning he finished his training to be in the Paratroopers Unit. It was very emotional and beautiful to see these men accomplish something they have worked so hard for, and to make it into such an elite unit of the army. For Israelis, this is a real rite of passage to finish this hike, which all the units have to do but in different places in the country to get their beret. The berets are different colors for the different units and until you finish this hike you must wear a gray one, which means that you are still in training, so receiving the colored beret is a big deal. Lori cried and her family and in-laws, except the twin of the son receiving the beret because he is in a different elite unit and could not get out of the army in time, came to see the ceremony. There are awards for outstanding soldier, which he was considered for, but he was honored when his Officer took his beret off his head and gave it to him rather than give him a new one. It is a great honor to have your officer do this for you and Lori cried when it happened...oh moms! It was really fascinating to see this, though, because I have heard about it from friends and to see it just helps me understand just a bit more about the culture of the army and the life of the army, as well as that of Israel in general. One of the friends of Lori's son is what they call a "lonely solider" meaning he does not have family in Israel. This friend, Rafael, made Aliyah from Australia and is now in this elite unit, which is quite impressive. Anyway, his mom came in and surprised him when he finished the hike and for the ceremony so I thought it was so beautiful how powerful that must be for an olim (immigrant to Israel) and his mother.

It was a very interesting trip where I learned about Druze culture as well as more about Israeli culture by attending the paratrooper ceremony and understanding a cultural group that is an integral part of Israel as such a friend to Jews.

As a dream comes to an end...

Well, it is hard ot believe that there is only one week left to this five month adventure of mine. The last few weeks when I have not been writing have been filled with exciting trips, events and just savoring the last cherished times here in Israel. Although I know I will be back, and I am sure soon, it will never be like I was on this trip-here for so long, so familiar and free and open. In case any of you do not know, this was a dream of mine to live in ISrael for al ong period of time since I was bat mitzvahed here atop Masada when I was 12 years old. The fact that this dream of mine, for so much of my life, is coming to a close is like a strange reality that I must face...what is next? REAL LIFE!

Since I last wrote I have been on many trips with my group and on my own. First, we took a day trip to Ashdod, a small city south of Tel Aviv on the coast that is home to many Ethiopian immigrants. We met with people at an absorption center to learn about Ethiopian life in Israel, since we work with so many Ethiopians on the Kfar. It is so fascinating how they lead their life and then came to Israel. They practice Judaism as if it never had so much of the Rabbinical law that we follow. However, their laws of Kashrut and regarding Shabbat are nearly the same. When they first came to Israel, though, the State of Israel determined that they were JEwish in terms of the "law of return" meaning that they had the right as Jews to return to the land of Zion, but the religious Rabbis did not accept them as Jewish. They wanted all of them to be converted to be Jewish, or else they could not marry in Israel. There were many protests regarding this, because the Ethiopians did not want to convert to a religion they beleived they were-the men did not want to be re-circumsized when they had had their bris when they were babies just like every other Jewish man. Aside from the shock that they were not accepted as Jews, they moved from third world Africa to first world Israel. If you have read "The Red Tent" by Anita Diamante, just imagine their lives in Ethiopia as it was described in that book. They had to be taught about running water, toilets, cooking indoors, etc. But one thing must be remembered- they had a holiday in Ethiopia where they would go up on a particular hilltop and pray to get to Jerusalem, to return to Jerusalem, and now they were returned to the land of Zion. Many of them live in poverty in Israel because the parents do not know how to speak Hebrew well and they do not know how to live in this world, or how to do the jobs that are necessary. So, the absorbtion center that we visited helps the youth to keep them off the street and out of trouble so that the next generation will be better integrated into Israeli life. It was an interesting visit.

The next trip that we took was to the West Bank, to Judean Samaria where radical Jews have been creating settlements to take back the land they believe to be ours from the time of the bible. We saw how they live and why they choose to live in this area "illegally" since Olmert has made building new "homes" in the West Bank illegal according to the zoning laws. We learned how they get around the laws to build their homes. While this is certainly not a funny matter, it was an interesting tour because it was like one of those new developments in the US where they give you a pamphlet about how great it is and how you around...only this time they showedy ou the factory where they produce the walls that go up over night so that no one comes and stops them, the Yeshiva, the Shul and the Mikveh. It is actually a beautiful place with magnificent views that we saw through windows of the bullet proof bus we took there. At the end the man who took us there and gave us his very biased view of life there, as a resident, he told us "thank you for coming and seeing the "facts" for yourself. Now there was a great deal I learned on that day, and much of it was truthful information, but from a biased point of view and much of it was certainly not warranting the title of "facts". Nonetheless, you can't know the whole picture until you see the extremes, right? Or maybe the proper go-to phrase is "that's why they make vanilla and chocolate ice cream" as my mom always said.

The most interesting part of the past few weeks, though, was certainly my 4 day Gadna experience in which I learned a taste of what it is to be a combat soldier. Yes, I smeared charcoal on my face and decorated myself with leaves and branches when I learned about camoflauge (there are pictures that are posted here so you can see) and I shot an M-16. The M-16 is the gun that all the soldiers in Israel carry, and also the gun used for Vietnam. Yes, my father was apparantly an excellent shot on an M-16 but that certainly did not get passed on to me who did not hit the target event once (it was the gun!). Does anyone know where those guns were made? Yes, that is correct by Colt in Hartford, Conn. It is labeled on every gun, along with "Property of the US Govt." Strange to see the first time but we are allies, right? I learned a lot about the army and sat in the place of a 17 year old who would be going to the army in the next year. Gadna was developed for high school students with only 1 year left before the army, so they are about 17, to give them a perspective of what it will be like, mostly so that they are not scared and learn about it before they get there so they know how it will be. For me, it was culmination of a lot of learning about the army when I was able to understand it more and see what basic training would be like, even if for just 5 days. There were recent Ethiopian Immigrants, Israelis, Russians and another Masa group from Brazil. Our group was certainly the oldest and best behaved, but it was good to interact with others from different places and experience it all together.

Since Gadna we celebrated Shavuot on the Kfar with a big festival in which parents and others came to see the Kfar and a show the kids put on for everyone with singing and dancing. I have been going to the beach and enjoying life on a farm where they are growing the most delicious cantaloupe I have ever tasted. Last weekend I went to Eilat, which is the southern most point in Israel where it meets the Red Sea and borders with Egypt and Jordan. It is in the middle of the desert and it is crazy the resort town they build in the last like 40 years from nothing. There are the most beautiful fish there because there is a lot of Reefs, so I went snorkeling and I swear saw colors I didn't know could exist under water.

It is hard to believe that I am leaving in just one week, a number of people I know from my program and others I have met here who are on Masa pograms have already left and it is just strange and sad that this dream is coming to a close. Nonetheless, I know that I have taken complete opportunity here to grow and experience before the rest of my life begins. While it is still a mystery where it comes from, my connection to Israel and my Judaism is deeper than ever and I understand myself a great deal more than when I got here...with stronger conviction in my values and the person I am! Today there was a ceremony for us at the Kfar and it was crazy how many of the students wanted to keep in touch, how many cheered for me when I went on stage to accept my certficate and how much my program director listed that I had done here at the Kfar in this short amount of time. It made me realize that I have worked to do a lot here, even if at times it seemed unrecognized and unimpressive. In fact, I was speaking with a woman today who knew I was on the "American" program at the Kfar and began to tell me how her daughter had made an "American" friend who she loved and spoke of often. She says, "Do you know a girl named Kara?" When I told her it was me, she pointed out her daughter and it was one of the girls I have been working with to get the paper at the Kfar recycled but hse is very shy and I never actually did more than tell her what to do and say hello to her on campus. To know that she had told her mother about me and been positively impacted by my small interaction was just so rewarding to me...it made me feel powerful and accomplished. With that note, a dream has certainly been fulfilleD!

At my mom's request...

Back by apparently popular demand (or just that of my mother) is my blog...I have gotten lazy recently although I have been a part of some really unbelievable events. Yesterday marked one month until I leave Israel and it is a very bittersweet feeling, to be honest. I have spent a great deal of time in Israel very uneasy with this or that, feeling stagnant and frustrated with what I have accomplished or the lack there of, if there is...have I made enough of my time here? Has my mind been stuck back in the US too much? It is hard to be so far from family and friends, and I miss them more here than ever before-and I was not one to be homesick at camp or college, for those who don't know me so well! It is strange because it is the most fulfilling experience to live out the words of the Torah in the land of Israel, to see what we learned about the harvest holidays and to be a part of the holidays that I only learned about in Sunday school. For example, I live on a farm where I see the wheat change with the seasons in accordance with the Jewish holidays and calendar. It is an interesting way of seeing the world-to realize how realistic what is written in that book that we study and read as "the bible" really is in this world.

In any event, this country is amazing more than just for how it relates to biblical Judaism, but for its people-those that built this land to what it is today in only 60 years as well as those that maintain that drive and inspiration. It always amazes me how so many great ideas have been put into action here-new initiatives for change are constantly being adopted to make the situations with the borders of the state of Israel as great as possible. While they may not have the perfect roads and they may not have the best school system, they are getting kids off the streets with a number of different initiatives for change in the problem of poverty in the country-it is not avoided but attacked straight on. For example, the village that I live and volunteer at, which is mainly paid for by the government of Israel, for children who live in high risk areas for crime, violence and poverty, to be removed from that environment before they get into trouble is a fantastic idea. Here they are given chores on the farm, responsibility and a family-ish environment-most of their teachers live on the village and the village has university students living here for free in exchange for tutoring the students. It amazes me how it works and all the interworkings of which children they give which tasks and how much responsibility they give them. There is nothing like this in the US, absolutely nothing...and we are a more "advanced society"? Where are such initiatives? Part of me thinks "wow, what a great place to raise children with such innovation and creativity, living out the Jewish lifestyle in the land of our people" but then I remember how far it is from the US and my loved ones, the terrorism and war, as well as the lifestyle I love in America!

In any event, all of this inspiration mainly comes from the "Presidential Conference" that I recently attended, put on my President Shimon Peres (who one I met at the milk festival). He wants to improve the image of Israel in the world, so he intends for the conference to be annual but this was only the first. In fact, we (the BFLers) respresented Masa at the conference and had the privilege singing Hatikvah (the Israeli national anthem) on stage at the opening ceremony to with Peres-we were on the news and in the papers for it! Presidents and Prime Ministers came from all over the world, reknowned authors, politicians from Israel and the world attended this event...even President Bush attended (as you may have seen in the papers). All political opinions aside, it is a pretty amazing experience to be at the event of only about 2,000 people when the President of your country visits the country you have been living in and you get to hear him speak. Granted, a large amount of the audience there was from the US, but nonetheless. It was really cool to see the secret service agents line the door with 5 rows of them seated behind him! Geez, it was a bit excessive....but he spoke well about the history of the relationship between Israel and the US and working towards peace in the Middle East by refusing to work with terrorist organizations. Here, Bush is revered for going into Iraq and taking down Saddaam because he was one of the largest threats to the security of Israel.

Moreover, I shook hands with Elie Weisel (you can see it in my pictures) at a lunch with 7 nobel prize laureates speaking, all of which were Jewish. Then I shook hands with Vaclav Havel, a personal hero who was a huge leader in the Czech revolution against the Soviets when they won independence, and I heard him speak at a panel discussion with Alan Derschowitz, Zeev Bialsky and Henry Kissinger. I almost brushed shoulders with Tony Blair but his security got in the way. However, it was not the people being close to me that got me excited, but their ideas for how to solve the problems in Israel through the economy and innovation, about leveling morals with reality in the security issues and about how to improve Jewish education in Israel and the Diaspora. It was a unique experience to be around so many experts in the most hotly politically debated land in the world! For a political science nerd it was an extraordinarily stimulating and thought provoking environment...and exhausting!

After I spent three very full days at the Presidential Conference focusing and thinking and sitting and eating...I had two more days for the final BFL Seminar (I was able to go to the Presidential Conference as one of only 100 Masa participants of 5,000 because I was in BFL)! It was actually really fun, we did team building and leadership oriented activities the first day at Neot Kedumim, a biblical Nature preserve outside of Jerusalem (where I went for the Israel-Diaspora Relations Seminar) which has only vegetation that would have been in this land during the biblical period. There, among other things, we herded sheep and goats. It was so funny and we learned about which one is the leader and why and how to learn from them and blah blah blah! That night we played "Who's Line Is It Anyway?" with memories from the past BFLs. It was sad to say bye to the people there because I really really enjoyed my time with them and we all got close. At Kabbalat Shabbat during each seminar, not everyone came but it was always a certain group of us and there were unique tunes we did for certain prayer taught by the different people from around the world which was beautiful. I will miss the people and the experience of BFL because it was so nurturing and trying to teach us leadership in the Jewish world and inspire us and our individuality.

The day after BFL ended, I went on a trip with my group to the Dead Sea, Ein Gedi, Mitzpe Ramon, Sde Boker (Ben Gurion's desert home) and this ecological village that the Jewish Agency funds as an educational center for recycling and the environment. We stayed at the "Sukkah B'Medbar" which is the "Sukkah in the Desert" and it is like totally "green" with solar power for the lights and hot water in the shower and there no running water in the bathrooms (they use Woodchips so it does not smell and they can compost it). It was so peaceful and nice there, I slept like a baby. It was also nice to have some bonding time with the group and Lori.

Now it is back to real life on the Kfar. School is winding down at the high school and they are all taking exams or are unfocused or whatever. So, I have been helping out at a pre-school that rents space on the Kfar and it is nice. The kids are great and I am having fun playing with them practicing my hebrew with the kids and the staff. Plus we have a ton of trips and the end coming up so it is good that things are winding down...but as I said before, a bit weird. It was my dream to come here to live for an extended period of time and it is really great that I did it, I would never change or replace it. I got to know Israeli culture and participated in as much as possible-no matter how frustrating it was...even last week I went to a big fire for Lag B-Omer even though I was tired and it was not totally my thing. It was crazy-everywhere you looked someone was having a big fire, like we learned we were supposed to do in Sunday school but no one in the US really does nowadays. Lori told me that one year she flew out of the country on that night and it was beautiful from the sky with like the whole country with huge flames of fire. These are the beautiful things about living in Israel, living the Jewish calender of holidays and harvest that we only learn about in the US.

Now I need to get some sleep but mom-is this good enough? I am glad everyone is enjoying my thoughts and insight-if there is any in these entries. I am trying to enjoy my remaining time and really take advantage of the freedom before law school! Hope all is well in the US!

Yom HaZikoron and Yom Haatzmaut

In creating this entry, I had to pause about whether to write these two days into one entry or separate them out as the separately powerful days that they were for Israel. In the end, though, there is no way to separate these inextricably linked days. For those who are unaware, Zikoron in hebrew means memory and Atzmaut means Independence and Yom means day. So, Yom HaZikoron is Memorial Day and Yom Haatzmaut is the Independence Day, and they are celebrated in consecutive days, which were this past Tuesday and Wednesday. Like all Jewish holidays, the holiday began at sunset the night before the actual day. Most people, including myself, find it to be a difficult concept to grasp that you hold memorial services for fallen soldiers in the day before you party to celebrate the birthday of your country. Until you have experienced it, you cannot imagine how powerful of an experience it is to celebrate in this way. (I apologize for the lack of pictures but somehow nothing captured the experiences I had during these days.)

On Tuesday my group was part of a memorial for fallen soldiers put on my Masa, the non-profit organization that my program is connected with here in Israel. It was a service that was based on the idea of six degrees of separation, in which every person in the world is separated from every other person by no more than six degrees. In Israel, as such a small country, there seem to be even less separation and when a terrorist attack happens or soldiers are lost, it would amaze you to know how many people you know are connected to someone that was lost. It was specifically about people who had made aliyah to Israel that were about my age and either joined the army or was killed in a terrorist attack. There was not a dry eye in the crowd of this outdoor program that was integrated with music written in the memory of those who were killed. And to be reminded how, in such a small country, the distance between someone being killed and those that remain is usually none at all-everyone always knows someone involved in the tragic events that unfold here all too often. Furthermore, it began with the erie sound of the sirens sounding to begin the Memorial Day.

If I did not tell you all in the last entry, on Yom HaShoa and Yom HaZikoron, Israel sounds sirens, which are what an American would think of as the old school sirens from war movies when a bombing is going to happen. It is an erie sound, especially when the entire country stops wherever they are to hear it. On Yom HaShoa it is sounded once during the day but on Yom HaZikoron it is sounded twice: once to begin the day of remembrance at sunset and once during the day on Yom HaZikoron. A friend of mine, whose father is Israeli and has family here, was on the way to a memorial service for his cousin who was killed in the army when the second siren was sounded during the day of the Memorial Day. He was driving on the highway and told me that all of the cars stopped, including the train that was running on the tracks adjacent to the highway.

I chose to attend at a memorial service at the cemetery next to the Kfar, which is one of the largest in the country, rather than the service the Kfar was putting on. Walking into the cemetary was like walking into a concert, with free water and flowers being given out to those that entered and a sticker to put on in memory of those fallen. It was filled with people surrounding every grave and I had to remind myself that this was because every person there had lost someone who was buried in this cemetery as a result of those that defend the land. We stood next to the grave of the brother in law of the director of my program. The sounding of the sirens began this service and I listened to the Mourner's Kaddish, a memorial service (Yiskor), and a speak by a military officer (which I was proud to at least partly understand). It was very moving to be surrounded by so many people who had lost someone in defense of this country.

After a heavy day of Memorial services, sirens, and thoughts and prayers for those who made even my ability to come to this Jewish state safely, sunset rings in Yom Haatzmaut- "Independance Day". One would think that this must be impossible to celebrate after such a solemn day, but somehow it feels right to celebrate the country for which so many have died.

The night of Yom Haatzmaut my group went to be part of what we thought was a rooftop party overlooking Tel Aviv at a television news station. However, we were the studio audience who could not even be seen on TV, and while it was on the roof it was hardly overlooking Tel Aviv. Furthermore, we were not allowed to talk or make noise during the taping. Nonetheless, it was neat to watch them broadcast the news (even if it was in Hebrew) as well as watch all of the events unfolding throughout Israel on a big screen. What was not fun, though, was in the elevator on the way down when 12 of us got stuck in an 8 person elevator. I am telling you, though, that we had a moment in there! Judith finally says to everyone to be quiet, prayer is the only thing that can help us now- and she was serious. After 15 minutes of yelling, banging and ringing the bells, we all went silent for a long moment and the doors opened for us!

After this we went to a huge street party in Tel Aviv on a street called Florentine and the spirit in the crowd was unwaveringly filled with pride and hope for the state of Israel. We partied and danced until six in the morning when we finally went home with the sun rising as we walked into the Kfar. The next day I attended a barbeque put on by the Greater Hartford Jewish Federation, in which I was shocked to see the number of people living in Israel who either moved from the Hartford area to Israel or have roots of their family back in Hartford. It was a wonderful experience and I gladly spoke to the group about my experiences in Israel as part of a Masa program.

That evening my entire group barbequed, the usual activity on Yom Haatzmaut, and just spent time talking about our time in Israel. It was the first time that my group did something all together without the Kfar or the director of my program or anything and it was great. We talked about how special it was to spend the 60th birthday of Israel here after having been living here for at least 3 and a half months (some of the people on the program were here before the program began). It was a special and unique experience to feel already immersed in the life here, and then to celebrate the 60th year of independence within that understanding and immersion. It is something I never expected to be so moving, because I would have felt huge pride and excitement for the event if I had been in the US or if I had visited Israel during it. But I could never have expected the feeling I got from seeing the pride in the people on Florentine, the youth of Israel who will be carrying on the nation in the future. It gave me hope and further love for this land and its people, and made me feel, again, like I am no longer a tourist here.

Yom HaShoah

Today in Israel is Yom HaShoa, beginning yesterday evening and finishing this evening. I have been a part of many different events on this day in the US and in Europe, but it is something different here in Israel. This country is built on the survivors from the Holocaust and having a memorial day here has had a strong impact on me. I have been to the camps during a semester spent studying Eastern European Jewry before, during and after the Holocaust, I went to Yad Vashem last week for my third visit, in every city I visit in the world I try to find their Holocaust Memorial or museum (if they exist), but being here for this has left me with a feeling in my body that is better than visiting any of those places. Here, it is as if the Jews really have done more, they have persevered and succeeded in the wake of this, but still remember it with the power of its occurence. There are 6.7 million Jews in Israel today, the same number as those killed in the Shoah.

In case you are not aware, Shoah is the Hebrew name for the European Holocaust. This word, in literal translation of the Hebrew word, means "calamity". The choice of this word is interesting, because the word in English "Holocaust" does not mean "calamity", but rather was originally defined as "a sacrifice consumed by fire", before it was the name for the European Holocaust. The definition of the word "calamity" is "a disastrous event marked by great loss and lasting distress and suffering", which I feel much more accurately defines what occured in Europe between 1931-1945. For this reason, I choose to use the word "Shoah" in place of the word "Holocaust" as often as possible. The disappointing thing to me, though, is that the world has not adopted this word, this title, for the destruction caused by the Nazis during WWII. Holocaust does not fully explain what happened during those years to Jews, Gyspsies, Homosexuals and all those that stood up to the Nazis. It was a true calamity, a time consumed by great loss and leaving long lasting suffering in the world for those involved, those who lost someone, and the groups discriminated against during its time.

In the US, the Holocaust is taught about in non-Jewish schools as a unit in a history class. During this unit, students are taught about it as something of the past, something from a far away land, and something that can never happen again. Here in Israel, it is taught
as something that the people who founded Israel were a part of such as the grandparents and aunts and uncles of everyone around them, as something that everyone must ensure never happen again. With this is a much most impactful connection than anywhere else in the world, we must be honest with ourselves that, in reality, it is happening and has happened in places like Armenia, Rwanda, Darfur, and Cambodia. When will genocide end? When will we learn?

Last night I watched a film with the 11th and 12th grades called "The Wave", which is based on a class in 1957 in Palo Alto, California. I had read about this but never seen the film, and while it was completely outdated in every way except the message, it was a great message to be made to any and all students. People ask all the time, "why did people allow the holocaust to happen?" "why did so many people follow Hilter?" "why didn't more people stand up to the Nazis?". Well, this story shows human proof of the answer to that question: it is human nature to follow. Essentially, the story is about a high school teacher who was presented with the question by a student "Why did no one stand up against the Nazi's?" "How could 6 million Jews be killed without anyone stopping the Nazi's?" As a result, he began a "movement" among the students called "The Wave" in which the students did not know it was only an experiment but began to act filled with power and superiority. In the end, he told them that a national leader of the movement would announce himself to them, but he got them all together and when they asked who the leader was, the teacher showed them a film of Hilter and his followers. Every student was so distraught to have learned that they too, followed without question, just like the Germans and the Nazis during the Shoah. The reason I mention this is that I consider myself a very involved and relatively conscious American Jew, and I worry that American school children are not taught this message, the message that will keep the Shoah from being repeated, the message that will help future generations prevent genocide, a message that could hopefully make this world a better place.

In Israel, Yom HaShoa is taken seriously by the students, and they are reminded every year for an entire day what happened during the Shoah, not only in a unit in high school or middle school. It is my hope that Yom HaShoa will be adopted throughout the world, the world that turned its back when this was happening, the world that allowed 6 million Jews die before they stopped the Nazis. But I am only one person-how am I to help this? How am I to make such a large difference? All I can do is blog to you all, who will hopefully pass the message on to friends and family, and maybe then we will not see the destruction in Darfur, maybe there will not be a new group discriminated against and killed for who they are, who their family is, their customs and history or for whatever reason. And if they are, maybe with the message I want to be portrayed though Yom HaShoa, more people will stand up to them. But we can only hope it is enough to educate and remember and send the right messages to the future generations.

Pesach in Israel with Alfredo

Well, Pesach in Israel is certainly a GREAT experience for any Jew-everywhere you turn there is something to eat that is Kosher for Pesach! It's AMAZING!

Aside from that, I had a wonderful seder that was half Israeli and half American in Tel Aviv, near the beach. We sort of just went around the table and read each in English or Hebrew- as we preferred. It went much more quickly than reading it in BOTH languages! HAHAHA! In any event, it was delicious food and wonderful company and I was very excited to be having Seder in Israel. It was funny, though, because even the Israeli's say "Next year in Jerusalem!" and the Americans thought that was interesting because we are in ISRAEL!

In any event, Alfredo got in in time for the Seder and then we spent a couple days at the beach in Tel Aviv, went to Cesarea, spent a night in Haifa, went to other ruins on the way to camp on the Galilee, saw Tsfat and then drove from there all the way down past the Dead Sea to too a small town in the desert called Mamshit, near Arad, to stay at a Bedouin tent. The drive through the country from north to south was so amazing...probably one of the most interesting experiences I have had in Israel. Everyone who comes here witnesses the difference from north to south, east to west, with every form of land imaginable. To drive it yourself, in one day, was really cool! As we were driving we had the Jordanian border, the fence separating the countries, on our left side and the Judean Hills on our right. We drove from the Mountains of Tsfat through the Yisreal valley, through the Judean hills to the Dead Sea and the Negev. Alfredo told me it was one of his favorite memories, that and spending Shabbat in Israel, seeing the Western Wall on a Friday night. After staying in the desert we went to Masada, the Dead Sea and Ein Gedi before going to Jerusalem for the weekend. Next, we spent a day and a half on the Kfar where I live just so that he could see it and we could relax before he went back to the grind of work (yes this rigorous itinerary was what he called a vacation!).

It was an interesting experience to see Israel through the eyes of a first time visitor, of a person so curious about Judaism and Israel. In fact, it affirmed my belief that Israel is a magical place, filled with endless possibility and a power in the land, a place where miracles have and continue to happen. I told him about how being in Israel makes me believe anything is possible on one of his first nights and I think he was sort of like "oh, ok" but by our first night in Jerusalem he too understood what I meant. He was very moved by the Western Wall on Shabbat, and by the beauty and history he found here. As he told me, there are remains of cities here before he ever knew there were remains to be found and people from more places than you can ever expect. And this is why I wanted to spend an extended period of time here, to experience this and to understand it as more than a tourist. To explain these words in an action, when Alfredo wanted to put a note in the Wall on Sunday (because he had not done so on Shabbat), I joined him in doing so. What is surprising to me and maybe to many of you is that I cannot count the number of times I have visited the Wall before, and I have never left a note. To me, I finally realized that I do believe in its power, the strength of this country and the miracles that can happen!

Through Alfredo's visit, I realized that I have become more than a tourist here. I think that I know this land pretty well both from north to south and east to west and also from inside out, as much as possible as an outsider. But more than that, I have found a connection to this land more than just as a Jew, but as a believer that this land is truly beyond your wildest dreams, further than expectations and filled with endless promise.

The Negev Desert

This is a part of Israel that now interests me greatly because it is filled with socio-economic problems, beautiful places as well as unbelievable people. To begin discussing the Negev, it is important to note that a couple weeks ago I had my second of the BFL seminars (I spoke of the first in a previous entry) in which we went to Beersheva, which is a city in the desert, in the image of Ben Gurion's dream to populate the Negev. We went to volunteer at one of many "Ayalim" villages, which were built in the Negev for university students. The idea of these villages came from the idea of a man my age who had finished the army and was thinking of traveling the world, like many Israelis do after the army. A friend of his father's said to him, "If we had done then what you are doing now, we would not have the country that you see today." With this, he took his check that he got from the army when he was released and put it into an idea to populate the desert into student villages. There are now 6 or 9 villages being built and/or lived in by University students. The students pay a very minimal amount to live there but repay their rent with hours of community service in the areas that the community is situated. In case you were not aware, the South of Israel (the Negev) is quite impoverished, including Beersheva. Projects like this make me realize that it is truly amazing what one person can do, especially in a small country like Israel! Beersheva, nonetheless, is a city filled with a great deal of culture such as a high population of Bedouins who are very kind people. On the seminar, we also visited Ben Gurion University of the Negev, which I had looked into attending for a year masters program in Middle Eastern Studies! It is a well known University in Israel for its community activism and we met with the participants of a program called "The Community Action Unit" and "The Open Apartments Program" in which the students live in a struggling community in Beersheva for very little and pay their rent through volunteer hours. I had looked into this program, actually, because I was struggling, when coming here, with whether to make my time academic or volunteer. Clearly, I went with the volunteer route. Nonetheless, it has been running for 30 years and Beersheva has already seen a great improvement in those years.

This past week, for three days, I went camping in the Negev Desert of Israel. Amy and I figured out logistics like food and gear and everything and then Shoshana and Judith decided to join us for the trip. We had to take two buses to get there, from Tel Aviv and then Beersheva. Looking out the window in Beersheva, I saw this amazing shuk (market) in which, apparantly, there is an unbelievable Bedouin market with hand made pieces by older Bedouin women who still live the traditional livestyle in tents and caves in the desert making all the pieces by hand and selling them in this market. According to what I have read, younger generations of Bedouin women are not interested in this lifestyle anymore so I am very interested in going to the market and experiencing it. I have had wonderful experiences with Bedouin people who I have met so far on my trip. They are very warm and welcoming and excited to talk to anyone. THe culture is very peaceful, with delicious tea and coffee sitting around a fire with the beat of music made from using a unique wooden coffee grinder in the silence of the desert.

In any event, the Negev desert is a beautiful, unique place that can only be described as inspiring. There were many instances that made me feel this unbelievable power in the desert, a loneliness that I have never felt before and a questioning of whether coincidences are actually only that, and nothing more. It also made me realize why Moses saw G-d in the burning bush- he was probably deliriously dehydrated!

On our trip, we went to Mitzpe Ramon to begin, which is a small town on the edge of Mahktesh Ramon, a 25 mile long and 6 mile wide crater in the desert. Mahktesh is a hebrew word for this phenomenon known only in this country, (there are others in the Negev), the word for it does not literally translate into English (like most Hebrew phrases) and literally means "mortar" as in a mortar and pestle. By definition, though, a Mahktesh is an erosive valley walled with steep cliffs on all sides and drained by a single watercourse. The craters walls are made from layer upon layer of different-color rock beds containing fossils of shells, plants, and trees and create a rainbow of color in an otherwise colorless desert. The mahktesh floor is covered with heaps of black basalt, the peaks of ancient volcanos, jagged chicks of quartzite, huge blocks of overturned rocks, and beds of multicolored clays. It is beautiful as you walk through it to see the snad change from brown to red to orange to yellow and then just back to the sand that one would see on the beach. There was a great deal of flint rocks, which are a beautiful opaque brown color and while we did not see any fossils, unfortunately, I am told the canyon is rich with them.

When we got to the Mitzpe Ramon, we went to the visitor center to find out how to get to our campsite and have lunch overlooking the canyon. We learned there that it was going to be a heat wave for the next couple of days so we needed to be extra careful with water and being in the sun. Don't worry mom- I wore my sunscreen and a hat and drank until I peed clear! We also learned that it was much farther than we thought to walk to our campsite and we would have to wait until later in the day to do so because it was too hot! In the desert, no one goes outside in the heat between 1030am and 430pm when it is summer...it is like a very long forced siesta! So we sat and had our lunch and went to wait for the bus. While waiting for the bus, a tour bus came by asking where we were going and luckily they were driving right by the road to take us to the campsite so we hopped in this big tourbus who were all kind enough to drive us the 10 km (8 miles) down the road to where we could walk to the campsite. We found, more and more, that people in the desert just help one another like this to get from point A to point B because they are kind and know how it is to be stranded in the lonely desert. We were reminded over and over again in three days when we asked something like "how do we get there?" that "you are in the desert" so buses do not run often, people do not speak so much English and it is HOT!

So, we got off the bus thanking them profusely and walked the 1.5 hours to the campsite after being dropped off in the middle of this huge, vast crater. The campsite was run by Bedouins and after we set up camp and pitched our tent we met two guys our age who were hiking the Israeli trail after finishing the army. The Israeli trail, for those who do not know, is a 580 mile trail that crosses the entire country of Israel, with its southern end in Eilat, the southern most point in Israel on the Red Sea and its northern end in Dan, the northern most point of Israel at the Lebanese border. I have now hiked part of it on the 8th grade trip in the North and part of it on this trip. They were at the beginning of their trek, having started 3 weeks back in Eilat and I was very impressed with them. It typically takes about 30 to 70 days to finish this trek that they were choosing to do after the army to get to know the country even more before leaving to go travel the world. They both were very interested in going to the US to work and live for a period of time before traveling to places like South America, Thailand, and Australia. Like I said above, so many Israelis leave Israel after the army to go travel and I respect them for that because after 3 years of army in which they have no freedom, they want to live and do and experience. However, I found it very impressive that these two men had chosen to learn even more about their country than they did in the army by walking it from point to point. They were, at this time, learning what it was like to live in the desert of Israel and soon they will learn what it is like to live in each other part. It is something many Americans never know about our country, including me, to live in every area of the country to learn about your country and know it inside and out, to put your life on the line for your country, not any other. There is something in their blood that I do not know if Americans could ever have and it is inspiring. We also sat and had tea with the Bedouins who ran the campsite, all also around our age. They had grown up in homes but their parents grew up traditionally in tents and caves. They lived in the campsite and ran it because it was owned by one of their uncles, but most of them left the Mahktesh each day to work in another town, at a gas station. They were very kind and I actually felt bad because I wanted to talk to them more about their lives and lifestyle but I was very, very tired from the day. After a few cups of tea, I went to sleep in what was a very hot night in the desert.

The second day we woke up early to go for a hike before it was too hot to be out of shade. We decided on a 5 hour to 5.5 hour route through the desert. We ended up walking for 6 hours because we wanted to make an ascent to see the crater from a peak rather than from the floor. Look at my pictures and you will see the rainbow of colors on the walls of the crater, the awe of its vastness and how I saw the beauty of the desert, which many think of as only piles of sand. We were nearing the end of our trek and switching trails to get back to the campsite. We were running low on water since we had taken that ascent and got to a point in which it seems our trail ended and the one we wanted did not begin. We were tired and hot in the desert and we had not seen one person in the 5 hours we had been walking. We tried walking one way and then saw no more markers s we went back, then we began walking a different way but again we did not think this was the correct way. All of a sudden, as we began to walk in the direction we hoped was correct, a man in a red hat emerged from behind some bushes. His name was Thomas and he was British, meaning he spoke English. He told us which direction to go in (which happened to be the direction we were walking without certainty) and so we found our way thanks to him. Then, as we were continuing out walk down the road to our campsite in the heat, which was the midday heat we were not supposed to be walking in but were, nonetheless, because we had extended our hike and left later than planned, he stopped with Thomas stopped with his family to offer us water. We made the joke that "Today, G-d came to us in the form of a man named Thomas!"...which from a group of relatively secular Jews, is quite a joke!

After that we rested and Shoshana and Judith left to go back to the Kfar because they were pooped and had things to do back home. Amy and I stayed at the same Bedouin campsite for a second night. Part of me wanted to go back because the heat was so strong in the middle of the day that even shade did not help. My head hurt and the campsite was quite lonely and empty as well as I was so tired from the long walk we had taken that morning. However, this night was even better than the night before when we talked to the hikers and bedouins, because we moved into a small alcove area that was not available the night before, so that we could build a fire and move farther from a group of school children who had come to spend the night there. So we had dinner next to the fire and then walked out onto a hill top away from the light of the campsite to look at the stars. The moon shone so brightly, as you can see in my pictures of it and the quietness of the desert was so calm. That night I slept like a baby in the cool air of the desert night. We set our alarm to wake up early so we could start our journey out of the crater. When the alarm when off I opened my eyes to the desert sunrise literally at my feet. Without intending to, we had positioned our tent so that the door faced east and we had left it open to let the cool air in while we slept. We hit the snooze, of course, and each time it went off or just when I rolled over, I saw a bit more of the sun peaking over the doons of sand. I wish I had taken more a pictures of it, but the one I did was unable to capture its beauty so it is something I will just have to remember. Mom, it is like when we used to say when we were driving home from the beach and there was a beautiful sky filled with a rainbow of colors "I wish I could paint so that I could put this on paper"...only a more beautiful sight than I think I had ever seen before!

We got up early and started walking to the road where we could catch a bus to town. We had been walking for about an hour when the Bedouins we had talked to a couple nights before drove by and insisted on giving us a ride to Mitzpe Ramon. We told them we were going to Ein Avdat and they told us they were going to Avdat but we didn't understand each other and I didn't know these were very close to one another (I was tired and hot, I do not know how I missed that)...so they dropped us in Mitzpe and we caught the bus there. They told us to come visit them at a particular gas station where they worked and we were sort of like "sure, whatever" thinking we would never see them again. We told the driver Ein Avdat but he misunderstood us and we ended up in Avdat, in front of the particular gas station they had told us to go to and we saw their car parked there. What are the odds?

Avdat happened to be a beautiful Nabatean 12 acre acropolis that was highly recommended in my travel book so we took the opportunity to walk up there and see it. The name "Avdat" is the Hebrew version of the word "Oboda" (30 BC to 9 BC) a deified king who may have been buried there. The Nabateans, seminomadic pagans who came here from northern Arabia in the 3rd century BC, were in control of what is referred to as the "Spice Route" or "Incense Route" because they knew how to trek the desert from Petra to the Port of Gaza with a secret way of finding water. They became very wealthy because no one in the small community would tell their secret about finding water in the desert. As they became wealthy, these nomadic people settled in this fortress of Avdat, with a lavish lifestyle shown by the winepress and lavish bathhouse. The fortress also shows the traces of the Romans and Byzantines who conquered it, but were never shown the secret of the water that the Nabateans were able to find along their route in the desert. The promintent local dynasty intermarried with the family of Herod the Great, and the NAbateant kingdom was finally abolished by the Romans in AD 106. Most of the remains on the acropolis date from the 3rd, 4th, and 5th centuries- the Christian Byzantine period. The city of was sacked by the Persians in AD 620 and was rediscovered only in the 20th century. A great deal of the remains had destroyed in an earthquake, but what does remain gives a strong sense of how these people lived with two beautiful churches, the wine press, an army camp, and the bathhouse nearly wholly intact aside from the roofs. It was a beautiful view of the surroundings from the top, as well, and well worth getting lost to see.

After finishing our walk around we went over the gas station and there were the people who we had met at the campsite and driven us to Mitzpe. Shareef, who was the one with the car, was insistent on driving us to Ein Avdat, where we were trying to go when we ended up there. He gave us nice cold water (we had been drinking a lot of hot water in the desert the past couple days) and drove us the 10 km (about 8 miles) down the road to Ein Avdat, also called Avdat Spring, which divides Avdat and Kibbutz Sde Boker, where Ben Gurion lived and is now buried. This day, we joked, G-d came to us in a man named "Shareef" because Ein Avdat was very difficult to find, as we would have had to walk about 5 km (3 miles) from the road to get to the beginning of the 2 hour hike through this canyon with a spring in the desert. The walk was beautiful and we met a British Olim (immigrant to Israel) who we talked to for about about the army and the chance for those who come from harsh backgrounds to make it in Israel. He was a psychologist who lived on a Kibbutz outside of Tel Aviv. As we went on, we met a French family who made me realize that any french I ever learned has most definately been replaced with Hebrew, unfortunately. There was a beautiful grove of poplar trees, as you can see in my pictures of the canyon and spring. At the top of the ascent you find what was once a water fall and you can see the marks of ropes which Bedouins once used to pull buckets of water from the spring.

After this, we just headed back to the Kfar because we were completely exhausted. It made me feel old, unable to move like I used to on my adventure trips to Maine, Alaska, Colorado and the Alps! Either way, I have not slept as well as I did last night in a long time and I may not for a long time. I was asleep by 10pm, which is rare here at the Kfar with all the kids and us sharing dorm rooms and did not wake up until 9am! I fell asleep sore from the walking and enriched from the experience of the people and beauty of the desert, something I thought was just a vast amount of unuseful land before coming to Israel.

Are you asking what I am doing in Israel?

I know I have written about the topics that I have been prompted to think about from the seminars I attend and anyone who writes to me.  However, I would like to simply discuss my work here since I have not given any updates about how and what I have been doing.  In the beginning,  I was sort of just left to my own devices to develop my internship here and how I would volunteer.  Let me tell you that it was not so easy.  Aside from the language barrier, Israelis like to pretend that everything is ok.  Also, there is the lack of communication and the cultural differences about just "joining in".  In the US you are given a date and time as well as what exactly will be going on and you join something based on this information.  Here, this does not happen.  Some people on my program get very frustrated by this and the lack of communication, as well as the fact that our role as the "Americans" (even though we also have a Canadian in our group) is very unclear.  Everyone certainly wants us here, in my opinion, although others in my group do not feel so welcome.  I have found that if I make myself a positive attribute and participate in events regularly, the staff and students really appreciate my presence.  In fact, one of the guides here recently told me that it makes him very happy when he sees his students coming up to me after a weekend away and hugging me and he sees me sitting and talking with the student  because the students are genuinely are excited to see us and have us here.  This also makes me very happy and I am glad that the English speaking of the students is improving before my eyes because it will present so many opportunities for these students.   The confidence and initiative it takes to push your way into a group that did not originally outwardly express enthusiasm for having you there, though, can be hard and while it was for me at first, it still is for others in my group at times.  Nevertheless, I feel as if I have found a niche here at the Kfar and I really enjoy being here.

Every time I go to a conference put on my Masa (the umbrella non-profit that my program is under) I compare notes with participants on other programs.  Most of the programs sound like great opportunities- professional internships in areas of your choice, internships in the government, living in different cities throughout the country, kibbutz ulpan, etc.  However, I am really happy I chose to live on a youth village and volunteer my time because it is something I will never be able to experience again.  An agricultural boarding school is unique to Israel, and I will never again live on a farm/village where I wake up to the chirping of birds and walk out my door to see the beautiful view of a farm that going on long enough to end with a view of the ocean.  I am learning to organically garden while still helping kids learn english and trying to teach them about the environment.  Also, I am immersed in a multicultural environment with Arab, Israeli, Russian and Ethiopian children on one of the most disputed pieces of land in world history.  

To explain the work I do, let me just tell you that planning out your full day here just does not work because something always comes up.  I am rarely board, and if ever find myself this way, I simply take a quick bus to Tel Aviv and explore that for the day.  On Sundays I usually find myself in meetings about my recycling project or working on it in one way or another.  I have found now that everything here is in place for people to recycle such as receptacles, I just need to get the Kfar to do it.  The Department of Environmental Affairs came and met with myself, my director and three other people on my program who are helping me.  They told us they have been trying to make the Kfar more "green" for years and it has just not been done.  We have started to collect paper but it is not in reach of students for the most part to recycle their paper.  Also, bottles are only collected in the boarding school to raise money and it is not taught to the students why they recycle nor do they do so when they are on school grounds, which is where many bottles are used and thrown in the trash.  So, I am creating laminated signs to inform the students about recycling and promoting so that the boarding school students recycling more often.  Also,  I am putting paper recycling receptacles in the boarding school.  Other people on my program have taken on the idea of starting a compost to teach the kids about it.  It is going to start small but we want it to be adopted by the entire Kfar because it could then save them 15% of the water they currently use to irrigate the fields and the cost of soil.  This way, kids will see how they can help the environment by putting their bottles and cans one place (in Israel they collect bottles and cans together), their paper one place, and their organic refuse another place.  With 1200 students coming to this school and 400 of them boarding here, I hope we can affect change with the children so that more of Israel begins to understand how important this is to the environment.  It is difficult, though, because the Kfar is very divided between the school and boarding school, so it is hard to get a universal agreement to everything when I want everyone to work together.  The people who work here do it because they love it but they are very busy and, I think, probably underpaid for their hard work.  For this reason, to incorporate these new ideas, which they agree will benefit the Kfar, it is difficult to find people with the time to help you.  This can get frustrating but my patience has really grown here because I really do want to help make the Kfar a better place.

On a side note, patience is truly a virtue in this country.  I have been here for 2 months and it has taken me that long to get the paper company to agree to pick up the recycled paper from the Kfar.  While everyone tests your patience here, they do not seem to have patience for others.  I find that the teachers, who are certainly underpaid and overworked more in this country even than in the US, are very short and harsh with the students.  At times, so are the guides.  There is a lot of yelling at the students and rough criticism.  I try to show them by I, myself, not yelling and using constructive criticism.  In the beginning, the teacher I work with told me that I am too nice, I am too American, that the students need to be handled roughly and with discipline.  Since then,  I think she sees that my way works because the students are doing much better and enjoy my being a part of the classroom.  They tell me that they enjoy class more now and love having me there, and I notice that they do not skip as often anymore.  It is interesting, too, that here in Israel their studies are not taken as seriously, nor is skipping class.  Also, the guides of the group we live with is always yelling at his kids, and they are on punishment often.  I tell him "Stop yelling Alon" and he looks at me and yells "I NOT YELLING".  It has become a joke between us and I think that has influenced him to realize how he sounds to an outsider.  I notice that he does not have to yell as often in front of me and slowly I hope he realizes it is not as necessary in general.  Maybe this is why the students like having me here.  But, if I can incite a little more patience with the staff here for the students, I think it could be a better place.

On Mondays I teach English in the morning, then help in the organic garden where we are growing lettuce, broccolli and cauliflower and then I will usually study Hebrew either on my own or with a guide here who I help with his University level in English in exchange for tutoring me.  My hebrew is coming along slowly but surely.  Our hebrew classes were not very good at the beginning but they are getting better and better by trial and error of how to make 11 students who are all learning from different levels and at different rates to all learn as much as possible.  Personally, I study as much as possible on my own so I am learning a lot that way.  Last week Amy (the Canadian participant on the program) and I went on a trip to the North with the 8th grade and were put in a group with low level English.  I spoke Hebrew as much as possible during the hikes and I was very excited that I was able to converse with the students and get to know them.  It was basic conversation about myself and themselves, but nonetheless it was conversation.  

Organic gardening is really interesting and nice.  I am out in the fields on beautiful days and I am helping the environment by not using chemicals to kill the weeds and bugs.  The person who does this is named Victor and he is originally form Argentina so when we cannot find the words in English or Hebrew to talk about something, one of us will usually understand it in Spanish.  He is so happy and excited to have our help is very excited that we are starting to teach about recycling and compost because he has been wanting to do so at the school for a long time.  As I had written in earlier blogs, I had wanted to work with the gardener at the Kfar to make it more beautiful.  However, it is beautiful on its own now because I have realized now that the winter/rainy season is over and they have cleaned it up so they do not really need help.  I was working at the visitor center doing landscaping and gardening over there but organic gardening interests me more at this point because there was not so much going on over there, jsut weeding around the plants, so I am enjoying it much more.  So, my beautification of the Kfar did not really happen because it was sort of unnecessary, which is fine with me.  Oh, and I was going to organize a trash pick-up but I learned that they have some people from the local mental hospital (I do not know the most PC term but they are mentally disabled adults) come to help at the Kfar and they do the trash pick up.  Also, students who are on punishment for smoking go around and collect cans for recycling that are left around or from students.  

On Tuesdays I teach in the morning in the English classroom again and then Noah (another participant in my program) and I go to Tel Aviv to work in a soup kitchen called "LaSova" in the Shapira neighborhood, which is a very poor neighborhood.  "LaSova" means "to be full" in Hebrew.  The people that work there are very welcoming and appreciative of our visits.  There, too, I am forced to use my Hebrew as many of the works and almost none of the people who come to eat speak any English. I was very proud that I was able to use my Hebrew to learn that one of the people I work with has a birthday only a few days before me, and he is only one year older than me!  To explain the soup kitchen itself, let me tell you that I make the joke about the soup kitchen that "beggars can't be choosers but here they are" because the food is good food and people are always complaining!  We are changing what we are serving often because we run out and people will come up and say they do not want what they were given because their neighbor now has green beans and they want green beans!  Also, it is different than an American soup kitchen because we serve them like a restaurant.  Also, they are asked to pay a shekel (about a quarter) if they have one, but if not they are not refused.  They are given a lot of food, a full plate with a starch, meat and vegetables, a roll and soup as well as many different options of soda.  They can have as much of everything that they want except meat, and they can bring containers to bring food home for dinner because the kitchen is only open for lunch until 230.  But, make sure to get them the right soda or they will get angry- "LO DIET!" they say often if you bring them diet coke instead of regular!  It takes some patience there but they were, regardless, simply very hungry and, in the end, very appreciative.  The kitchen itself makes huge quantities of food for other kitchens like this all over Israel after school programs in these neighborhoods too.  I have not had the opportunity to work in the afterschool program in the Shapira neighborhood but it runs from noon to midnight sunday through thursday and it feeds the kids, helps them with homework, and gives them activities such as dance and art to do there.  This is the only organization like this in Israel and it was started by an attorney and his wife on their own accord.  I usually work there for about 2-4 hours (as long as I can) until I need to get back to the Kfar for a Hebrew lesson.  

In the evenings that I do not have Hebrew or finish early enough, I try to spend time with a group I have decided to devote my time to, which is the group in which many of my students live.  So, I will go over and help them with English or hang out and talk to them.  They are in 11th grade and they are really uniue kids.  A lot of them are very musical or artistic and they are usually hanging out in the group playing the guitar and dancing and laughing and goofing off.  They are very forward and love to talk about themselves so I have learned about where they are from and everything.  Some are Morrocan, some Arab, some Russian but I not yet met one that says his family has been Israeli for generations!  In fact, many people here, including the students, are amazed that I am at least a third generation American on both sides.  Also, they ask a lot of questions about the US and me, and I am happy to share most things about myself with them as well as discuss topics with them and help them with problems they may be having.

On Wednesdays and Thursdays (they are less busy than the rest of the week), I do my organic gardening and teach English but something else always comes up or I work on my blog or tutor English or study my Hebrew.  Thursdays are like Fridays in the US so by 2pm school is out and no one really does anything anymore because it is the weekend! 

So, I am finding myself very busy between trying to see and do everything as well as filling my time with volunteering and studying hebrew.  However, like I said, when I am not busy I find the time to meet relatives or friends of friends here (like Tami and Helen) or go to explore and get to know Tel Aviv better.  Every week, though, there seems to be a holiday or event at the Kfar or a school trip they want me to  be a part of! Last weekend, though, I was on the Kfar and free on Friday so I went in a took a Bauhaus tour of Tel Aviv.  It was very interesting to learn how Tel Aviv developed and why it was so influenced by the international style.  Tel Aviv was not considered a city by its number of inhabitants until the 1940s.  Before that it was considered a suburb of Jaffo, which is now considered the "old city."  Originally, Jews and Arabs lived together in Jaffo but in 1909 the city because so crowded that suburbs formed, and the Jews moved to live in Tel Aviv.  In the early 1920s there were riots between the Arabs and Jews and more Jews began to leave Jaffo and settle in Tel Aviv.  The relationship continued to get worse and Jews even began to move to Europe where they thought it would be better.  While there, the Jews were influenced by the architectural style and certain well-known Israeli architects attended the Bauhaus School.  When Hitler came to power in the early 1930s many Jews escaped to Israel and settled in Tel Aviv.  For this reason, more and more homes needed to be built.  Many homes were designed during this time in the international style by those that had escaped Europe.  Tel Aviv continued to grow, quadrupling in size every 5 years.  Now, the typical style remains Bauhaus with very functional designs and straight lines and gardens in the front and/or on the roof of the homes and apartment buildings.  Also, rooms inside are very large with large windows that provide a great deal of natural light.  However, Tel Aviv does not provide money for renovation of these buildings and, although Tel Aviv was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its architecture, they also do not provide money for renovations.  So, many buildings have begun to sell the roof, which was usually used as a garden, and use the money they make off of that to renovate the entire building and make the roof another floor. So, the renovated homes in the Bauhaus style in Tel Aviv today typically have 4 or 5 floors rather than the typical 3.  Now that I understand how Tel Aviv grew and developed I feel like I both understand the city more, as well as the layout of the city.  Dad and Brad, are you proud that I took the initiative to learn a little bit of architecture?  HA!

In any event, I am loving being here on the Kfar and giving my time learn about this school and Israeli culture and give to it as I see the places for improvement.  I get the sense from some people that they think "Who are you to say what the problems are? You do not live here" but then I remind myself that if one of them came to the US and  did this I may feel the same way.  However, I try to be as respectful as possible and show the small ways to make it a better place and hope that maybe someone will do this for me some day.  When I met Helen Goldfarb, who I mentioned in my last blog, we talked about my volunteering.  Her husband was truly unique in his efforts to give to others and treat every man equally.  She told me that he would have called what I do "positive egoism".  I agree with her, because I certainly came here for personal growth but also wanting to help people.  I think this is OK because as long as I do my best to give to the people here in every way, my own personal growth and learning from it is simply a wonderful affect of my work.  Also, we discussed how the world was such a problematic place right now the way that people are, how they act, and the disputes/war that exists.  I told her that I try not to look at the negative because it only makes everything seem impossible.  Rather, I look at it as Gandhi said, "You must be the change you wish to see in the world".  I am not here making war cease or feeding every person who is hungry in the world- in fact, it is not even close!  However, I am doing my small part to step out of my comfort zone to help people that do not have the opportunities that I had as an American.  It is my hope that someone, such as the students here or the people who read my blog, will see what I am doing and want to do it too or at least encourage someone else who is thinking of it.  If more people travelled the world, if more people volunteered just a small amount of their time on a regular basis, if there was a little more understanding in the world, this is the change I want to see and I am trying to affect the world by living that way.  Now to be clear here, I am not perfect nor am I right all the time (yes, I am admitting that)- but I hope in this way my example can lead to others following the example.   Maybe this is egotistical, but I think it is just being positive about the world and doing the best I can do with my life at this time.  Hopefully I will remember this when I am worrying about the job I will get out of law school, what I will get paid, and how big my house should be...but for now I try to remind myself every day that the world can be as beautiful a place as we want to put the effort into making it.  

So this is what I am doing here in Israel, in case my philosophical and topic-oriented writing has left you asking the question that is the title of this blog.

Chag Purim Sameach

This past weekend was Purim.   Here on the Kfar it was celebrated for a whole week.  It is really cool how Purim is so celebrated here, and while it is usually equated to Halloween it is actually quite different.  During the month of Adar, which is when Purim happens, it is a mitzah to be happy and celebrate.  People genuinely want one another to have fun, which includes a lot of drinking usually, but still it is not in a "PARTY!" way, but in a jovial way.  In any event,  I fully enjoyed the week and found myself very happy to be involved in the events that went on on the Kfar.  I hope that at home I can get more people to celebrate it more fully because it is a GREAT holiday!

Because I was on the leadership conference, I missed the first party that started off Purim on the Kfar.  The first event that I witnessed was a special dinner of breakfast like pancakes and french toast (which we never get on the Kfar) and all the boys from the group that ran all of the events for Purim dressed up and did a lip sync on stage, it was very funny.  Then each group had to do a skit based on a topic, which I did not understand a lot of because it was all in Hebrew.  I did understand that the 7th grade group that we live with WON!  They were very cute and excited. 

The next night they had this like calm like Yoga themed thing with everyone sitting on the floor and it was nice and relaxing until they all burst through with bumping club music and surprised us with a Disco!  It was fun.  They asked us to perform a "Traditional American Dance" and teach it to the school so we chose the YMCA.  It was SO fun and funny!  The kids got really into it and so did our group!

The next day, unrelated to Purim, I met Helen Goldfarb, a cousin, in Tel Aviv.  I spent a wonderful day with her as we ran some errands, had lunch, and sat for tea and cake at her house.  She told me about my Grandma Ruth and my Uncle Jimmy and about her husband Mordecai who was a wonderful man.  She was an inspirational woman with her stories of traveling and of life.  I felt honored to have a full day with her and loved her company, it was very special to meet someone who knew my family so well but who I had only met once prior to this visit.  Hopefully I will be seeing more of her soon.

That evening was the "All Night Party" on the Kfar.  I dressed up as a butterfly, but everyone got really into their costumes.  The party was for both the boarding and non-boarding students.  The boarding students each had two costumes: one that they coordinated with the group and one that was their own.  It was really cute to see everyone all dressed up and into it!  I also felt really like a part of the school because when I got there people were excited to see me there and I just fit in with the kids I knew and spent time with them.   I didn't go to sleep until like 5 that night because we were dancing at the party and hanging out for so long!

My director, Lori, had us over for a sleep over at her home.  I volunteered to help with the food-shopping and cooking, which was really interesting.  Lori took us to a nearby Arab village that is "within the green line" meaning that it is not a part of the West Bank.  It is unbelievable though because these people are not governed or supported by the Israeli government so their streets are not cleaned, their trash is not picked up.  We drove through when they had the "call to prayer" but because we are in Israel, people are more liberal so cars do not stop for the people to pray right there.  However, I did see a little boy on the street stop to pray right there, it was very cute as well as interesting that such a small boy had the discipline to do so.   That night just before dinner we packed as many people as possible into Lori's car and drove over to a mental institution by her house.  We put on funny hats and walked around giving out candy to the residents and telling them "Happy Purim".  They were all so happy to see us and it really made me feel good to make their Purim as little more special.  We had a fantastic meal and went to bed.  In fact, I slept on Lori's daughter's bed which is a water bed....ha!  It was funny because every time I moved it was like I was on an ocean...ha!

I spent most of the rest of the weekend at the beach because it was the first really hot and summery weekend in both Herzlia and Tel Aviv.  We went out at night in Ramat HaSharon and Tel Aviv.  There was no absence of parties in Israel during Purim and everywhere people were having fun!  I also spent a lot of time with the staff here on the Kfar going out, going to the beach and having barbeques and getting to know them.  They all have interesting stories and come from different areas of Israel.  Each loves the children here and must be commited to put the time and energy it takes to help these kids, so they are all really genuinely good people.  It was good to get to know and spend time with them.  They all have stories of the army and growing up that have lead them to being where they are now, helping at the Kfar while going to University.  The staff members I was spending time with are between the ages of the 27-32 and right now in University.  It is just such a different life because while we go to college they serve their country, then they save money and travel the world before University.  But, I usually equate my wanting to be here with their traveling after the army and they tend to understand that for me, once I being Law School, I will be unable to travel like they won't after University is finished.  The cultural and life differences, that they face death for their country while we go to parties and class, are something that will always separate Israelis from most other industrialized countries.  However, it also keeps the strength of the nation and pride in the country strong.  

The MOST exciting thing I did during Purim and in the Purim spirit, was that I went skydiving.  It was right next to the beach so when I jumped I could see Haifa, a very well known military based, kibbutzim, mountains and clear blue ocean.  It was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had and when I finished I asked if they would take me up again!  It was exhilarating and I would do it again in a second!  If you want to see the video of it, the person I went with, Noah (another participant on my program) got a video taken of it (it cost extra and I decided against spending the extra money) and I am in it.  You just have to go to Youtube.com and search "Noah Serbin" and it will come up.  They show us getting ready and going up together and I jump out just before him, I am the first tandem jumper so you can see me jump out of the plane and then I land right before him and they show that too.  It's a cool video too and it is only like 8 minutes or something...so enjoy!

So Purim all in all was very much fun and very interesting and I tried to enjoy every moment of it!  Hope you enjoy some of the pictures of it!

Let me rephrase that...

Shalom Shalom...

There are a few things I want to make myself more clear about on what I have blogged about previously here.  I do not think that I properly explained myself when I talked about Synagogues and Judaism in Israel.  Here in Israel, there are Jews from everywhere in the the world, as I have mentioned meeting many of them, and there is a synagogue to suit every one of their needs.  However, many-if not all- of those synagogues are in Jerusalem.  THere is a Conservative shul in Tel Aviv but it is small and not regularly attended nor do many people attend it in general.  In Jerusalem, it is AMAZING how many different services you can attend with in the city in walking distance of almost anywhere near the old city.  Also, it is wonderful that there are no dues that need to be paid to the synagogues by those that attend, and the government helps to fund the synagogues. However, the rest of the country does not have those options and many of them are not aware of their options in terms of practicing Judaism, at all.  For example,  many of the people on my Kfar do not know anything about the Reform or Conservative movements or what they mean and are actually very interested to learn from me and talk about them because they much more agree with the ideals of those movements than that of Orthodox Judaism, which is all they know.  For this reason, they do not attend Shul regularly but practice in their home or with friends and do not daven regularly because they do not have a Shul nearby with which they connect in ideals and practice.  For this reason, they consider themselves "Secular".  

Another point I was trying to make is that there is not representation of the reform and conservative movements in the Knesset while there is representation for the "secular" and "religious" groups.  In my opinion, the "secular" representatives do not represent those that could be considered conservative or reform or somewhere along the spectrum.  So, while they are free to choose which synagogue they attend, their beliefs are not represented for them.  Also, they are not free to be married by any rabbi, only an Israeli Orthodox rabbi.  THere are flaws in the system, is all I am trying to say, in terms of people who want to practice in their own way in a synagogue in the remainder of the country, where the synagogues of Jerusalem are not available to them.  THere is also a lack of education about the options in the rest of the country.  It just makes me appreciate how most places in the US have these options for Jews, even though it lacks many of the beautiful aspects of being a Jew in Israel, in the country built on Judaism and our ideals.  While I understand that the reform and conservative movements were born in the Diaspora, I think that Israel can adopt them more fully and that many Israeli Jews would identity with them rather than identifying themselves as being secular, enabling them to have more of a Jewish identity rather than considering themselves more "israeli".  Many secular israelis say this, that they are more "israeli" than "jewish" which is an oxy moron to me, but to them to be "jewish" is to be "religious".  For this reason, 60% of Israelis identify themselves as being secular.

Also, it is not that I believe religious and secular Israelis are unable to coexist or be friends with one another, but that it amazes me the differences and disputes among them because we are all Jews.  Some of each groups are not respectful to the other and some of them do not believe in being friends, but for the most part they do and simply disagree hugely on what being "Jewish" and living in a "Jewish State" means, which is funny to me because we are all Jewish!  It is also sad because I do not see a solution to some of the political disputes on this topic. 

On the same note, I think it is important to note that Jews have always been a small group, it is how we are meant to be.  We grow and we fade and we are isolated and we are powerful, but we never go away and I truly believe we won't, even if we morph again.  We morphed into the Shtetls of Poland, the movements in the Diaspora, into a nation in Israel, and soon I think we will morph into more of a culture than a religion, even though the religious aspects will remain present.  Think about it, right now we are 1% of the US population and 11% of the representative in Congress.  What other group can say this?  It is the only time in the world that people proudly display their Judaism in the world, and proudly support the State of Israel.  I feel strongly, no matter what anyone tells me about the Jewish population withering or about Jews needing to make aliyah, that Judaism is at a powerful point and that we will continue to flourish in our own way, as a small but powerful religious and cultural group.

Who Would YOU Call A Leader?

I have been accepted onto leadership program which is three seminars that are three days long each, through the non-profit organization which my program is a part of, Masa Israel.  The meaning of "Masa" in hebrew is "Journey" and I have discussed before in my blog how this was the vision of Itzhak Rabin.  In my opinion, this a great organization.  It is in its second year and is now offering partial scholarships to EVERYONE who comes on one of its programs.  These scholarships come from the taxes of the Israelis which are matched dollar for dollar by donors.  At the first of the three leadership conferences, for which they told us 121 people applied and only 50 were accepted, the man who came up with the idea for Masa came and spoke.  He was so excited to see everyone there and had us all go around the room saying where we were from and what program we were on.  Then he told us about how 5 or 6 years ago Ariel Sharon announced to the Jewish Agency that he was looking for a way to use a certain amount of money that had been allotted to helping the image of Israel in the world.  So, he came up with this idea that he thought was going to be rejected for sure-to use the money to bring Jews from the Diaspora to Israel in the image of what Itzhak Rabin has envisioned.  He wanted it to be something that could, potentially, open the door for people who want to make aliyah but that its sole purpose was to bring more young people to Israel to understand it.  Part of his reason for coming to this idea was that he learned about all the Americans who go abroad during University and he thought, "why are the Jewish students not coming to Israel?"  So, he brought it to Ariel Sharon and he thought it was a great idea.  In two years, Masa now has over 8,000 participants!  Only a few of the programs existed before and just became a part of Masa, hundreds of programs were created...all from the idea of ONE man!

Anyhow, we had a great three day Shabbaton about leadership in which we went to Mt. Herzl and to the new Herzyl Museum.  I have been here only a few years ago and it did not exist, in fact the Israelis who were with us got teary-eyed at the end of the museum because they talked about Israel as the vision of Herzl and all of the accomplishments if Israel.  It made me teary-eyed too and reminded me how lucky I am to live at this time because I cannot imagine a world in which there was no Jewish state.  The question came up over the weekend, "where did your Zionism originate?"  For many people, it came from their parents or grandparents or families.  My immediate family is certainly a strong supporter for Israel, but no one would call themself a Zionist like I do.  In fact, my grandfather openly talks about how he was not a Zionist and did not understand the need for a Jewish state when it was forming.  He visited Israel since and now supports it, but still will tell anyone who wants to listen that he is NOT a Zionist.  So where does mine come from?  Well, like everything in my life it came from the support of my family and especially my parents.  When I was a child I wanted to come to Israel and, while I do not think anyone (including myself) knew why I wanted to go there, my family made it happen.  My parents supported my love for Israel and my desire to return on Birthright and for a longer period of time.  My love grew out of curiosity, learning, and visiting this beautiful country which was created for MY people by my ancestors and through the dream and hard work. of another singular man- Herzl.  

We also went to the Menachem Begin center, where I learned a great deal about this former prime minister who grew up escaping Russia and then becoming part of the underground who fought for Israel from the British.  He planned the bombing of the King David Hotel in 1946, which lead to the British handing over Palestine to the Jews.  I had known him only for his harsh politics and destructive end in which he became isolated due to his wife's death and the deaths of many soldiers and civilians as a result of his military tactics.  However, he was actually a promoter of peace and signed the peace agreements with Egypt.  He was a good man, a strong politician and, I think, lead the country to the best of his ability during very difficult times.  However, he did not believe in giving the Palestinians any rights or any land, which I simply do not agree with because they are human and resided here for a long time on their own.  Nonetheless, it was a beautiful museum which walked you through his life and taught me a great deal.

The whole weekend I began to wonder "Am I a leader?"  I am in a group here where I do not feel like the people can be lead because there are such strong personalities and I just do not know how to talk to most of the people in the group.  However, I think I am a leader in the sense that I do not go with the flow.  I do not do things because others are, and I have always prided myself on this personality trait.  Furthermore, I am a leader because I want to be the change I see in the world, as Gandhi put it.  I am here in Israel volunteering my time at a school with underprivledged students who are Arab, Israeli, Russian and Ethiopian and working at a soup kitchen once a week.  I do think partially for my own satisfaction and the experience, but even more for the impact I hope to have on others and the world.  It is my hope that by seeing what I am doing, taking the time to give back to the world and experience it in a new ways, others will do the same.  I also hope to impact the people I work with here both on the Kfar and at the soup kitchen in Tel Aviv.  Finally, I hope to bring what I have learned back to the US and teach people about it.  

As part of the leadership seminar, we are required to do a project to connect our community at home with Israel.  I intend to come up with a penpal system between high school students here at the Kfar and high school students in the US.  There will be seminars and discussions for both the Israeli and American students so that they can learn about one another so that understanding can be built about the multicultural Israelis that live here and the Jews that live in America.  The disconnect is unbelievably huge, and it is important that in a world that is so connected, we make this connection to form understanding.  

So, who would YOU call a leader?  Me, Herzl, Begin, my family?  For me, this seminar is helping me realize how to use my intelligence to become a leader as well as how important it is for leadership in this world-without it where would we be?  What could be accomplished?  Leadership does not need to be someone as famous as Herzl or Begin or Rabin, but someone like the person that started Masa or a mother who encourages her child to be everything they can be so that the world is just a little bit more a better place.