Someone Else's Words

Here is a link to my friend Yoni's blog post about his reflections on last night's terror attack that happened very near where he lives and learns. It is very touching, and it very clearly reflects how I feel in a very eloquent way.

I am still having some trouble with my arm from the tennis elbow. Sorry I am not writing more.

Mid-Dig update

I'm procrastinating getting my bag packed for my third week of digging and figured I might as well write an update :)
This week I am going to be participating in the Archaeological Sciences Field School through the Weitzmann Institute and I am very excited!
On a less exciting note, I was diagnosed last week with Tennis Elbow (an inflammation in the tendons around my elbow-tendinitis like) . It's not that bad other than the fact that its really painful and will take some serious physical therapy to make it better. It also means that I won't be doing the last week of digging that I had planned because it is simply not worth injuring myself any more.  It also means that I'll be spending much less time in front of the computer because it just hurts too much.

Have a great week everyone!

Ps. I was walking around today running errands...and its BOILING outside with plenty of humidity...and there was a girl wearing a jean jacket. I almost passed out just looking at her. People are nuts.

National Community Service Award

This past week I received a scholarship and award in recognition of the community service I did this year at Beit Noam. The community service was under the auspices of the Office of Immigrant Absorption and the Student Authority. The government provides an academic scholarship to all new immigrants, and in return asks for 120 hours of volunteer service. I, along with 49 other immigrants, was chosen from among over 1,000 students who participated in this program to receive the award. On Tuesday there was a ceremony. At first I wasn't really sure how I felt about the whole thing and I wasn't really sure what it all meant. I was pleasantly surprised to realize that it is a big deal. I didn't realize how few people were chosen to be recognized for their work. In addition, I didn't realize how emotional and proud I would feel being there with my immigrant peers, all of us working hard toward successful absorption here, and all of us giving so much to the country we want so badly to be a part of. I was the only American chosen, and that made me very proud on the one hand. On the other it made me a bit sad to see that there were many countries well represented (including Ethiopia and many South America countries) and that no other Americans participated in the program to a level that deserved national recognition. I wish I would hear of more Americans like me enjoy their community service and feel that it really changed them, like mine changed me.

David, Aunt Marilyn, and Cousin Lia came with me to the ceremony. It was really nice to be able to share with them, and I know I made them very proud. It is such a great feeling to be recognized for something that I loved anyway. I took a few pictures, but haven't had the chance to upload them to the computer yet. Hopefully some time in the next month in between the digs and tests I'll put some up.

Digging Week One

I just got back home from my first week of digs for the summer. I was at Tel E'ton and had a great time. It was the last week of the digging season for this Tel, and even though it's usually a really stressful time I really enjoyed myself. The whole waking up at 4am and then working a more than full day in the sun on little sleep and sometimes only marginal food thing is pretty tough, but considering I'll be spending a total of four weeks on digs in various capacities I tried to make sure I mostly enjoyed. It was physically challenging and I decided to treat the work like a free gym membership for the month. Hopefully by the end of this month I'll be in amazing shape!
This was a really great week. The atmosphere was fun and really enjoyable despite the hard work.
Next week I move to Tel Safi which is a whole different type of beast. It should also be a great experience... Hopefully I'll have the energy next week to give another update!
Shabbat Shalom

Gone Digging

Ok. In a few minutes I'm off to dig for ancient things for the next month! I'll be spending one week at Tel Eiton, where I dug last year, and 3 weeks at Tel Es Safi (Gath). One of the weeks at Safi I'll be participating in a Weitzmann Institute Archaeological Field School and I'm really excited. I took a course this year on Archaeological Sciences and this is the optional field experience continuation of the class. We get to do fun things in the lab and help the archaeologists answer burning questions about the chemical makeup of finds in real time out in the field. We can even determine at what temperature pottery was originally fired in about 5 minutes!!
For more information on the projects, check out the Safi blog : gath.wordpress.com
i'm not sure that Tel Eiton has a blog yet (at least not in english) but you can find information on the Bar Ilan website : lisa.biu.ac.il

Happy 4th of July and Happy Summer!

PARIS

Two weeks ago David and I took a very very much needed vacation to Paris. It was our first real vacation since we got married (sorry mom and dad, coming to visit you is nice, but its not vacation!) and we were very excited. We went for 5 days and had an amazing time.
The weather was a bit chilly, but we got to see all of the sites and really enjoyed being together.
I am now in finals mode- I just got out of my third in the last week. It has been really really intense and highlighted how important the time with David was.
Next week I start an entire month of archaeological digs. That should also be intense, but hopefully a lot of fun and educational too!
Here are some pictures from our trip:

O How I Hate Beni Brak

This is the first time since I've been in Israel that my experience GETTING TO a bureaucratic office has been more unpleasant than my time spent in said office.

This morning I walked to the Interior Ministry Branch in Beni Brak to get my first Israeli Passport (I had a legal travel document that was only valid in Israel.) All told, it took me only an hour, but the walk through Bnei Brak is just so unpleasant.

I can't stand Charedim and am completely disgusted by their way of life. The streets are filled with garbage and it reeks everywhere. I almost got hit by cars at least 5 times because they all drive as if they don't value human life. And to top it all off, they are rude. When I crossed the bridge over the highway that separates Givat Shmuel from Beni Brak I took a huge deep breath of the "clean" air and felt so relieved to be home!

On the other hand, my experience at the Interior Ministry was really really refreshing (ironic as that is). I didn't even have time to fill out the passport request form when it was my turn at the counter. The lady was really really nice and helpful and I was finished within 7 minutes. Unlike in the American system, I will have my passport within a week (probably sooner). Definitely a mixed up way to start the day!

יום שחרור ירושלים (Jerusalem Liberation Day)

Today is Yom Yerushalayim- the day that commemorates Israel recapturing Jerusalem during the Six Day War in 1967. In past years I went to Jerusalem to attend parties and celebrations in the streets and to walk to the Kotel with thousands of others dancing through the blocked off streets towards the Old City. This year I stayed home in Givat Shmuel, but it was still very special.

Last night (the Jewish date starts the night before, so it was also Jerusalem Day last night) David and I went to a wedding. One of David's friends from the army got married. During the part of the ceremony where the groom breaks the glass in commemoration of the destruction of the temple I was particularly touched: Here we were commemorating Jerusalem's destruction and ON the day that Jerusalem was liberated, a new couple is being joined into the community of Israel. It was truly beautiful and a nice way to commemorate the day.

Today was the Brit Milah for my friend Shira's baby. She is my first really really close friend to have a baby so it was especially exciting for me. In addition to being nice to be there with her and her husband, they made it extra special with the name they chose for their son. They called him Yishai, in Hebrew ישי. In addition to being a nice name, the letters form an acronym that stands for יום שחרור ירושלים which literally means Jerusalem Liberation Day (today). It was so beautiful how they were able to add such meaning to their son's name.

Israel as an Outsider

Last week I was a counselor on Ramaz's 8th Grade Israel Trip. (Ramaz is a religious day-school from Manhattan). I spent a week traveling with the kids and their teachers ALL OVER Israel. It was an incredibly exciting, exhausting, fun, crazy, hard, and interesting week. I think the most interesting part, for me at least, was getting to experience Israel once again through the eyes of outsiders.

My favorite parts of the trip were the bus rides. I would sit with the kids and just look out the window with them and gush about how much I loved the country. It made me feel so good to explain to them about the places we were going and the things they saw and to give it a personal touch.

It was pretty weird to be with a bus full of people who viewed Israel as a place where they frequently vacation, but not as home. I wonder what kind of connection they feel they have to this place. I tried to get a sense while they were here, but I'm still not sure. I don't know what its like anymore to not feel that everything I see is "mine", I wonder if they feel a similar sense of possession even if they don't live here...

These kids were 8th graders and the focus of the trip was "fun connection to Israel" rather than an educational tour, so I wondered how much they really took away from the trip. When, during the summary activity the night before they left, one of the kids said that even though he had been here many times before he had never realized just how beautiful Israel is. Even if he took nothing else from the trip, other than a great time with his friends. I feel like something has been accomplished: another person in this world recognizes Israel's beauty. If even one of those kids moves here one day, or dedicates their life to the support and betterment of the State of Israel then my time with them has been a success.

Great Summaries of My Opinion

Here are a couple of links to articles that have come out in the last 24 hours that express better than I could how I feel about the situation here:
Jpost
Wall Street Journal

Happy Independence Day!

Memorial Day 2010

Last year I had a very intense and emotional Memorial Day. I spent the day driving all over to be at as many places as possible in an attempt to try and experience what veteran Israelis go through on Memorial Day. This year, my friend and I, probably unconsciously, took a totally different approach.

Instead of being in the southern plains and jerusalem area, we went straight to Tel Aviv. We had both really wanted to experience Memorial Day in the big city. In the end, it turned into a walking memorial to our past heroes than a day spent crying over our current losses.

We started in Yaffo. We walked around the old port area just to walk. It used to be the gates to Israel. All new immigrants and pretty much all of the maritime trade passed through the port. Until the Arabs, in 1920 decided that they'd had enough of the Jews and shut down the port. Thanks to them Tel Aviv and Haifa ports were built/flourished, and the flow of Jews to Israel wasn't too badly affected.

From Yaffo we took a walk along the beach to the Etzel Musuem. The Etzel was a national milita that broke from the more mainstream Hagana. They were the ones to capture Yaffo during the War of Independence and the museum stands in the remains of an old arab house that they used as their base during the assault. It was a fierce battle, but also one of the most successful during the War.

From there we headed by bus to the old Trumpeldor Cemetery. We were sitting on the bus about to pull out of the terminal when the siren went off. We almost couldn't hear it because of all of the engines. As always the siren pierced my heart and it took a few minutes after the world started moving again to calm down.

The Trumpelor Cemetery was opened in 1902 when a wave of cholera spread through Yaffo. In an attempt to stop the plague, it was ordered that bodies were not allowed to be buried inside the city. A plot of land in the middle of sand dunes was chosen for the Jewish cemetery. It stood alone until Tel Aviv was founded over 20 years later. During the Arab riots of 1920/1921 the Jews killed were buried in this cemetery.

The cemetery currently holds 5,000 graves and is maxed out. It is the final resting place for many of Israel's famous leaders, including: President Moshe Sharet, Eliyahu Golumb- founder of the Hagana, Dov Hoz- head of the Histadrut, H.N Bialyk- the author and poet, Chaim Arlozorov, Zeev Jabotinsky, the Chissin Family- founders of most of the early settlements in the holy land, most of the founders of Tel Aviv, and many many others. It is a fascinating cemetery that only in the past few years has undergone renovation and restoration.

When we got there, we walked in to a tiny ceremony with no more than 20 people. It was organized by the Organization of Former Hagana Members and there was a small presence from the army and the police. They explained the history of the cemetery and of many of the people buried there, especially the victims of the arab riots. The most striking thing was that as everyone was leaving, we heard the older people grumbling that within a few years there would be no ceremony there because there would be no one left to do it. The common thread between this year and last year's Memorial Day was that then we had also been to a ceremony in danger of "extinction". My friend and I decided that we believe it's more important to make an effort to be at these ceremonies: to learn from what these people have to say and to show them our support in their mourning and that we care about our past and the sacrifices made so long ago. Everyone goes to the main military ceremonies, but do people even know that these smaller ones take place? I learned so much during that half an hour, it would be a shame to miss out on similar opportunities.

From there we went to Independence Hall and the Hagana Museum. Surprisingly, I had never been to either and we felt it was apropos to the day to head there of all places (it was the real date of Independence Day, but because of Shabbat everything was pushed over by one day). The entire day highlighted for me how amazing of an accomplishment creating the state was, and how all of the sacrifices were worth it despite the pain. Without our brave soldiers and civilians, we could never even have come close to building what we have today. With that said, we also must strive to live up to the example of our forefathers and let nothing get in the way of building and maintaining our home. May G-d give us the strength and foresight to do so.

The Real Heroes

On Erev Memorial Day:
I wrote about this family in my Memorial Day post last year. Their grandmother and uncle are from houston and the kids used to hang out with us during the summers. They are Israel's Real Heroes:
read the Jpost article: here

Wedding Season

I thought I'd post some pictures from the weddings we've been to lately... I don't have from each one because I forgot my camera a few times :)   

Where Can I Get Some?

This past Friday, two soldiers were killed during an operation in Gaza. One of them, Eliraz Peretz, was a father of four. While it is always hard to hear about a father being killed or dying for any reason and leaving behind him four young children, this situation is even harder to understand. Eliraz had already lost an older brother in battle as well as his father a few years later. His family had been kicked out from Sinai as part of the peace agreement with Egypt and then later his family was kicked out of Gush Katif for reasons that still don't make any sense to me. He adopted the family of his friend Roi Klein who was killed 4 years ago during the Second Lebanon War. His house in Eli (West Bank) {Where David studied before enlisting in the army} is currently under demolition orders.

I have been sitting on the couch reading news story after news story detailing the eulogies delivered at his funeral that was this morning (and sobbing uncontrollably) and about his family. The thing that strikes me the most: their strength. The message his mother, a widow who already had to burry one son , wanted the world to hear was one of strength and continuation and bravery and love of life. I am sitting here and I can't stop thinking to myself: Where can I get some? some of that strength? some of that deep sense of belief if our purpose and mission here? some of the courage to allow her other children to be in combat units even after losing her first? some of that power that allows her to put the Jewish People above herself no matter the cost?

David pointed out to me that I have already made a huge sacrifice for the sake of the Land of Israel and the Jewish People- I moved here. I left my family and a cushie American life and moved here to be where I felt I belonged. Well, thats all well and good and everything, but I can't help feeling like I haven't done anything. I am afraid that were I to be put to the test, I wouldn't have the strength and courage and fortitude that the Peretz family has. I can't help feeling that I was prepared to go only half-way. I get scared whenever there is unrest. I worry whenever there are serious terrorist threats. Will I be able to continue life normally if a Third Intefada does break out? I guess the only answer is that time will tell and that I will continue to pray that I never have to be tested the way this family has been tested.

It hurts so badly to see what these people have to go through and to glimpse their unbreakable strength at a time when so much of the outside world as well as large portions of Israeli society hate them.

May we all be blessed with a safe and peaceful Passover. May we continue to come ever closer to the days when neighbor will not lift up sword against neighbor, nor will they learn war anymore. May we merit in our days to see a united Jewish People not ripped apart by internal hatred so that we can stand a chance against our enemies who wish to destroy us.

I Lived Through My Presentation

Yesterday I had to give a presentation to my seminar class on Second Temple Period burial practices. It was an hour and a half and included a power point presentation that I had to write in Hebrew. The longest I had ever had to speak in front of people in Hebrew before this was 7 minutes in my ulpan class when I first made Aliyah.

Not only did I survive, but everyone said it was really interesting and that my Hebrew was really good. I only lost my train of thought once (and subsequently couldn't get it back EVEN in English...). I haven't slept well for 2 weeks because I was freaking out...but at the end of the day I survived it.

I feel like I have crossed a huge threshold in my "absorption" to Israeli society. I can now even give presentations in Hebrew. Wow. Now I just have to start working on the one that is due in June :)

I'm Famous!!

I just realized that there are actually people out there who do (or at least did) read my blog! I am so excited about it, and I'm not even sure why...

How did I find this out?

So... I was watching Band of Brothers with David, which is an amazing series that HBO put out about American troops in WWII, and it made me think about my grandfathers, both of whom served in the war. After watching the last episode, in which the real troops that the characters represented were interviewed, I wanted to find out more about where my grandfathers served. Unfortunately, unlike my generation who live our entire lives on the internet, it is not so easy to find out about their army services through google (and if it is, it just means I'm not very internet adept.) From there I started googling myself using my various name combinations, and lo and behold, someone else quoted me on their blog and even posted a link!! The best part about it was that it made me want to go back to my blog and read what I had written almost 2 years ago (no, I can't believe that time has flown by so quickly!)

It was pretty apropos that the post that was quoted I had written on a fast day, and today was a fast day. In my old post, I had a lot to say and a lot of emotions having just moved to Israel and all. Now I feel that a lot of that is missing. I have settled down to a "normal" life routine and things don't seem to excite me and amaze me so much anymore like they used to. I wonder if in all of my attempts to create a normal life for myself I have let some of the power of making aliyah disappear. Re-reading my post also made me realize how wonderful of an outlet this blog has been, and now hopefully I'll really start writing again at least semi-regularly.

For now, Purim is this weekend and today was Taanit Esther. It was pretty uneventful... I went to the library and rushed to finish a project that I had ignored until the very last minute. The amazing thing though is that I am right now in the most intense wedding season of my life. I have already been to 4 weddings since the start of the year and I have 3 more coming up in rapid succession, and David just found out that another of his friends just got engaged. While it is a bit overwhelming, exhausting, and frankly quite expensive to have so many friends get married in such a short span of time it really is a truly wonderful thing. I would rather be exhausted from happy occasions than from sad ones! May we all be blessed to join together only for Smachot!

Happy Purim!

Back and Better than Ever!

After a Very long break, I'm back! I had sort of gotten out of the blogging rhythm and felt like I didn't have much to say, but after such a long time there is plenty to update :)
I am currently in my second year studying Archaeology at Bar Ilan. I LOVE it. It's fun and interesting and I'm having a great time.

There are a few changes though this year. I'm volunteering and working.

I just started working as a research assistant in one of the Archaeology labs (read: data entry.) It's a pretty lame job, but I'm thrilled. My first real job in Israel and it's in my field! This is the time to make the connections that will hopefully help me throughout my entire professional life. This was one of the main arguments I made to my parents when I told them I wanted to study in Israel, and see, its true!

As part of being an immigrant, I get a scholarship for school from the Government. In order to get the entire value to which I am entitled, I have to do a certain amount of community service. To fulfill the requirements I have started working at a place called Beit Noam (Noam's House). Beit Noam is a day center for adults (21 and up) with serious physical and mental handicaps. It is a place that provides physical therapy, hydrotherapy, reflexology, communication therapy, an opportunity for the capable participants to work and make money, programming to inspire creativity, and an opportunity to give parents a break from dealing with their grown children during the day. In addition, Beit Noam has a series of apartments that are fully staffed so that participants can live independently. It is an inspiring place and I love working there.

I come in twice a week and have 3 participants who I work with one on one for an hour at a time. They are all of varying levels of disability and have different levels of communication. I have only been working there for 3 months, but I already feel a strong connection to them. When their faces light up when I walk into the room I get moved to tears, and when their classmates recognize me from the other side of the room and ask how I'm doing I get goosebumps. It is such an incredible place, I feel like I am being sucked into this special little world where, as their motto goes, "Everyone feels equal." I would attach a link, but I don't think they have a website. Hopefully I'll post pictures soon.

David is doing well and working hard. I am still just as proud of him as always.

Hopefully I'll start updating more regularly now, even though I'm not sure if anyone still reads this thing!