Last week I had the distinct pleasure of riding the train all the way from Jerusalem up to Haifa. As I was sitting in the train car and looking out of the window I couldn’t stop feeling overwhelmed by the breathtaking beauty. I was further overwhelmed by the drastic landscape changes that occurred approximately every 20 minutes. It is truly amazing to me that in this tiny little strip of land in the middle of a vast desert we have almost every single type of topography and climate region (obviously of the warm ones!) If you ever get a change to ride the train I highly recommend it: it offers a view of Israel unparalleled to any other I have seen and everyone can enjoy because no one has to drive! (Oh gosh I am such a commercial!!)
This past month has been pretty intense and jam-packed. I am officially finished with school and included in that is an exemption from ever taking a Hebrew Language course again. To attest to the success of my program I am currently in the middle of a popular Modern Hebrew book and I am understanding and enjoying almost as much as I would a book written in English. I am finding that my Hebrew has really made the progress that I was looking for and that overall this has been an incredibly successful year.
Wedding planning is going fantastically. I have had a few stress-induced breakdowns but for the most part things are going well. My goal is to take care of as many things as far in advance as possible so that when the wedding actually arrives I can be relaxed and just focus on being happy and excited. So far so good. I have been running around like a maniac for the last week and a half and my to-do list is rapidly shrinking!! Unfortunately it means that I am not having the super relaxing summer I was hoping for, but at least I am being productive!!
This Wednesday marks my 1 year anniversary of making Aliyah. Can you believe it? I can’t. This year I feel that I have more or less integrated myself into society (I can yell at obnoxious public workers at the post office etc. with the best of them!) and I really truly feel at home here. My Hebrew is improving all the time and now I just have to work on getting down the whole male/female concept and be able to properly integrate it into my speaking. I now have my very own Israeli drivers license and am learning to adapt my driving to this jungle of horrible horrible drivers.
David and I have officially taken possession of our apartment and will spend the next 5 weeks until we move in getting it ready for us to live in. It is a huge step to finally have a home of my own in addition to the whole getting married thing. I am getting super excited for the wedding! It is only 5 weeks away and I am already starting to go out of my mind with excitement and impatience. I just want to be married already! David is very busy in the army which is both good and bad, it shields him from a lot of the unnecessary wedding stuff and makes me more independent, but it also means he is left out of a lot of the decision making process. I guess that is what life is like when you are in the army—no matter what else you have going on in your life, some things are just more important. Fortunately he loves his unit and he loves his job. This will make the next almost 5 years easier if not absolutely pleasant.
This past year has also brought with it some less pleasant things. Two major terror attacks in Jerusalem have not been easy. I was not here during the Intefada and while “seasoned” and “hardened” veterans might react differently to the bad news I still take it to heart and very hard for a long time. I think the government is making more mistakes in dealing with our situation than should be tolerated and I pray that the government will fall soon and can be replaced with a more morally responsible and effective one. Despite it all I have no desire to leave and I have not for one minute regretted my decision to live here. Every day I feel more and more that Israel is my home. I love living here, and even after a year I still look out my window most mornings and the thought goes through my mind of “wow, I live here!”
Tomorrow a good friend of mine is going home so she can come back at the end of the month on a Nefesh B’ Nefesh aliyah flight. It is amazing seeing her and talking things over with her and reliving where I was a year ago. I have grown so much this year and feel that I have really starting truly growing into myself. I look forward to seeing where the next year will take me, but I will always know that this has been one of the best years of my life.
Monday, July 7, 2008
Monday, June 9, 2008
One Crazy Week
For some reason this past week has just been insane!!!! I didn’t get to sleep before midnight any night of the week and I was doing fun and exciting things every day. It was GREAT and so much fun!
It all started out that on Shabbat my fan and bug zapper got turned off with our new Shabbat Clock that cuts the electricity to part of the house on hours when we don’t need to save electricity. I was too hot and didn’t sleep at all during the night and I also didn’t get a nap because it was so damn hot! I don’t know how it happened but I didn’t go to bed until midnight on sat. night either.
Sunday I woke up early to go to the licensing office to pick up my drivers license!! Went to school and then came home and attempted to nap. I was so tired that it just didn’t really work. That evening was Student Day (and also the start of Jerusalem Day) which is a huge concert and party downtown. For 30 NIS we get entrance to the concert and then at 2 am most venues in town were holding activities ( old Israeli songs and beer, Jazz, poetry readings, dance clubs, etc) for free with a wristband and serious discounts on drinks. I went with Becca, Aaron, and our friend Arielle. It was amazing. Complete with Bungee Jumping. Unfortunately I was SO tired that I couldn’t take it. I sat down in the nargila tent and almost fell asleep during the Hadag Nachash concert. From there I went home and attempted to sleep. I had to do my usual facebook and jpost routine before bed and didn’t get to sleep till around 2- stupid I know.
Monday was Yom Yerushaliyim!! I was so exhausted from the day before that I didn’t get up till around noon. I had some breakfast and then took a 2-hour nap. I wrote an essay I needed for Hebrew class and then Arielle and I went to get something to eat. I stupidly had a HUGE ice coffee not realizing how late in the day it was and forgetting to take into account that the caffeine really affects me. We then headed to town for the huge parade and “flag dancing”. It is a huge parade through the entire city and into the old city to celebrate the reunification of Jerusalem in ’67. Thousands and Thousands of people march through the streets singing and dancing and it is one of the most beautiful and inspirational things I have ever seen. We stood on one place for an hour and watched the sea of people go by and it was still continuing by the time we headed to the old city. We went to the Kotel and danced there for about an hour. It was super amazing. Thousands of people cramped together singing and dancing and celebrating. It made me feel so idealistic and proud to be here. One very obvious thing that was quite distressing was that the only sector of the country represented was the national religious community. The Charedim are anti- anything Israel related and the non-religious don’t care that much and don’t see the reunification and the opening of the Kotel as a miracle and an important event in Jewish and Israeli history. It made me really sad. Am I part of a tiny piece of the county that is the only piece that still cares about anything anymore? That still sees this place as a miracle? That wakes up in the morning feeling lucky and wonderful to be here? The answer for the most part is sadly yes. The trends are scary: the Arabs hate us, the Charedim think we are defying g-d’s will my existing, and the non-religious could care less that we exist and if they could get visas many would go elsewhere.
Tuesday I had a dress fitting in Efrat and then I went back to school and had a field trip (and it was SO hot) and then I went back to Efrat for a Kallah Class. It was my most calm day but I still didn’t get to bed till after midnight.
Wednesday was also relaxed but that evening Becca and I went to a wedding and I was already so wiped out from the rest of the week! But the really exciting thing was that my cousins lent me their car so I could drive to the wedding which was on a kibbutz far from easy transportation. It was so cool to be driving! The wedding was beautiful and I’m so happy I got to go!!
Thursday was a usual day- David came home! We went out for dinner and to the Israeli Book Week. (A celebration of Hebrew books- all books are on extreme discount and there is a huge field set up with thousands of books being sold fair style—it’s so cool!) At the Fair we bough David a set of Gemara as a wedding present. Then we hung out with some friends and then went to sleep after midnight. I am pooped but it was a great week!!
It all started out that on Shabbat my fan and bug zapper got turned off with our new Shabbat Clock that cuts the electricity to part of the house on hours when we don’t need to save electricity. I was too hot and didn’t sleep at all during the night and I also didn’t get a nap because it was so damn hot! I don’t know how it happened but I didn’t go to bed until midnight on sat. night either.
Sunday I woke up early to go to the licensing office to pick up my drivers license!! Went to school and then came home and attempted to nap. I was so tired that it just didn’t really work. That evening was Student Day (and also the start of Jerusalem Day) which is a huge concert and party downtown. For 30 NIS we get entrance to the concert and then at 2 am most venues in town were holding activities ( old Israeli songs and beer, Jazz, poetry readings, dance clubs, etc) for free with a wristband and serious discounts on drinks. I went with Becca, Aaron, and our friend Arielle. It was amazing. Complete with Bungee Jumping. Unfortunately I was SO tired that I couldn’t take it. I sat down in the nargila tent and almost fell asleep during the Hadag Nachash concert. From there I went home and attempted to sleep. I had to do my usual facebook and jpost routine before bed and didn’t get to sleep till around 2- stupid I know.
Monday was Yom Yerushaliyim!! I was so exhausted from the day before that I didn’t get up till around noon. I had some breakfast and then took a 2-hour nap. I wrote an essay I needed for Hebrew class and then Arielle and I went to get something to eat. I stupidly had a HUGE ice coffee not realizing how late in the day it was and forgetting to take into account that the caffeine really affects me. We then headed to town for the huge parade and “flag dancing”. It is a huge parade through the entire city and into the old city to celebrate the reunification of Jerusalem in ’67. Thousands and Thousands of people march through the streets singing and dancing and it is one of the most beautiful and inspirational things I have ever seen. We stood on one place for an hour and watched the sea of people go by and it was still continuing by the time we headed to the old city. We went to the Kotel and danced there for about an hour. It was super amazing. Thousands of people cramped together singing and dancing and celebrating. It made me feel so idealistic and proud to be here. One very obvious thing that was quite distressing was that the only sector of the country represented was the national religious community. The Charedim are anti- anything Israel related and the non-religious don’t care that much and don’t see the reunification and the opening of the Kotel as a miracle and an important event in Jewish and Israeli history. It made me really sad. Am I part of a tiny piece of the county that is the only piece that still cares about anything anymore? That still sees this place as a miracle? That wakes up in the morning feeling lucky and wonderful to be here? The answer for the most part is sadly yes. The trends are scary: the Arabs hate us, the Charedim think we are defying g-d’s will my existing, and the non-religious could care less that we exist and if they could get visas many would go elsewhere.
Tuesday I had a dress fitting in Efrat and then I went back to school and had a field trip (and it was SO hot) and then I went back to Efrat for a Kallah Class. It was my most calm day but I still didn’t get to bed till after midnight.
Wednesday was also relaxed but that evening Becca and I went to a wedding and I was already so wiped out from the rest of the week! But the really exciting thing was that my cousins lent me their car so I could drive to the wedding which was on a kibbutz far from easy transportation. It was so cool to be driving! The wedding was beautiful and I’m so happy I got to go!!
Thursday was a usual day- David came home! We went out for dinner and to the Israeli Book Week. (A celebration of Hebrew books- all books are on extreme discount and there is a huge field set up with thousands of books being sold fair style—it’s so cool!) At the Fair we bough David a set of Gemara as a wedding present. Then we hung out with some friends and then went to sleep after midnight. I am pooped but it was a great week!!
Bureaucracy is Expensive
I feel like I have been up to my neck in bureaucracy over the past few weeks and I would like to share a bit of the experience. In order to have a legal Jewish wedding in this country every couple must register with the religious authorities. The process is pretty complicated and rather expensive and if you aren’t at least somewhat religious and understanding of the necessity of a central rabbinic authority, it can be an absolute nightmare. Each member of the couple must bring witnesses attesting to their status as an unmarried single (if you have been previously married you must provide a divorce certificate or a death certificate etc). Then each must bring their parents ketubah (as proof of Jewishness), a kosher certificate from their wedding hall, a certificate that their rabbi is allowed to perform the wedding according to the religious authority’s standards, a certificate that the woman has completed a course in the laws of marital purity, and a hefty chunk of money. Fortunately we are student/soldier so we get a significant discount…but still. They definitely don’t make it easy even to REGISTER to get married here. We are also fortunate that David lives in Efrat and they have their own branch of the religious authority here AND that the Rabbi who is marrying us happens to be the head of it! We can register everything for the wedding here in Efrat, but I had to bring my single certificate from my place of residence (aka Jerusalem).
Unfortunately for me the process in Jerusalem is a bit nightmarish. I tried to go a few months ago to the Rabbinate to get my certificate and after an hour and a half of waiting and being shuttled around from desk to desk I was informed that I couldn’t get it anyway because it only lasts 3 months and it would be expired before the wedding came around and I’d have to do it again anyway!!! I was so flustered and stressed when I left there that I ended up going on a shopping spree to calm myself down! The Rabbinate building is dark and cramped and everyone is angry about something and it was just a really unpleasant atmosphere. It is also very unsettling that some unsympathetic religious guy can potentially control my future!
Last week I decided to try to register at my other option, another branch of similar something (I’m not really sure how it really works anyway). I brought my witnesses with me (Noam and Becca’s boyfriend Aaron) so that we could get it done on the spot and everything would be great. We got to the office and immediately were sent to talk to the head of the place because something in the paperwork I had didn’t look right. Turns out the letter that my Rabbi from home had written attesting to my Jewishness couldn’t be accepted because he didn’t show up in their computer system as a real Rabbi. He refused to register me until we could prove that he really was a Rabbi. Our options were to let him fax it to another office and we could have waited a week OR we could schlep to the other side of town and go to that office ourselves. Obviously we decided to take it in our own hands and not rely on him to fax it or do anything to help me. We rode to the other side of town and waited for 45 minutes in the lobby of the Chief Rabbi’s (both of them) Office for a really nice pregnant woman (the only person who smiled at me throughout this whole process) to have one of the Rabbis check up on the status of my Rabbi in the states. It was really strange that the Sefardi and Ashkenazi Rabbis had two different sides of the building and there was no connection between the two other than through the lobby… as if this place didn’t have enough problems!! Fortunately they were able to verify his status and wrote me a letter to give to the other authority so I could get my certificate. We then raced back to the other office and I was able to fill everything out. My witnesses testified and all is good. I almost had at least 3 nervous breakdowns that day but all in all I survived!
My other bureaucratic messiness was getting my drivers license!!! I had to take 1 lesson and 1 test if all went well, but first I had to do a whole bunch of stuff: get a special form from only 1 place in the whole city, get an eye test, get a doctor to sign it (almost 100 NIS), go to the licensing office to have them sign it, find a teacher, take the lesson, have him sign me up for the test, take the test, go back to the licensing office to pick up my license, and THEN go to the bank to pay for it so it would be valid. It took me about 5 months in total to get everything done. Obviously I didn’t do it all at once, but still!! After just about 1000 NIS I am now a licensed driver in Israel and SOO glad it’s all over.
All in all it wasn’t so bad to deal with the bureaucracy, but as I was talking with a girl who was on my aliyah flight we made an interesting observation: this is not an easy place to live. If you really want to be here because it’s where you believe you’re meant to be then yea the bureaucracy junk is annoying but at the end of the day it doesn’t matter that much. If you don’t want to be here more than anything, I can guarantee that within a few years you will have returned to where you came from because it’s just not worth the headache if being here isn’t worth it. For me, being here is worth every second and every penny.
Unfortunately for me the process in Jerusalem is a bit nightmarish. I tried to go a few months ago to the Rabbinate to get my certificate and after an hour and a half of waiting and being shuttled around from desk to desk I was informed that I couldn’t get it anyway because it only lasts 3 months and it would be expired before the wedding came around and I’d have to do it again anyway!!! I was so flustered and stressed when I left there that I ended up going on a shopping spree to calm myself down! The Rabbinate building is dark and cramped and everyone is angry about something and it was just a really unpleasant atmosphere. It is also very unsettling that some unsympathetic religious guy can potentially control my future!
Last week I decided to try to register at my other option, another branch of similar something (I’m not really sure how it really works anyway). I brought my witnesses with me (Noam and Becca’s boyfriend Aaron) so that we could get it done on the spot and everything would be great. We got to the office and immediately were sent to talk to the head of the place because something in the paperwork I had didn’t look right. Turns out the letter that my Rabbi from home had written attesting to my Jewishness couldn’t be accepted because he didn’t show up in their computer system as a real Rabbi. He refused to register me until we could prove that he really was a Rabbi. Our options were to let him fax it to another office and we could have waited a week OR we could schlep to the other side of town and go to that office ourselves. Obviously we decided to take it in our own hands and not rely on him to fax it or do anything to help me. We rode to the other side of town and waited for 45 minutes in the lobby of the Chief Rabbi’s (both of them) Office for a really nice pregnant woman (the only person who smiled at me throughout this whole process) to have one of the Rabbis check up on the status of my Rabbi in the states. It was really strange that the Sefardi and Ashkenazi Rabbis had two different sides of the building and there was no connection between the two other than through the lobby… as if this place didn’t have enough problems!! Fortunately they were able to verify his status and wrote me a letter to give to the other authority so I could get my certificate. We then raced back to the other office and I was able to fill everything out. My witnesses testified and all is good. I almost had at least 3 nervous breakdowns that day but all in all I survived!
My other bureaucratic messiness was getting my drivers license!!! I had to take 1 lesson and 1 test if all went well, but first I had to do a whole bunch of stuff: get a special form from only 1 place in the whole city, get an eye test, get a doctor to sign it (almost 100 NIS), go to the licensing office to have them sign it, find a teacher, take the lesson, have him sign me up for the test, take the test, go back to the licensing office to pick up my license, and THEN go to the bank to pay for it so it would be valid. It took me about 5 months in total to get everything done. Obviously I didn’t do it all at once, but still!! After just about 1000 NIS I am now a licensed driver in Israel and SOO glad it’s all over.
All in all it wasn’t so bad to deal with the bureaucracy, but as I was talking with a girl who was on my aliyah flight we made an interesting observation: this is not an easy place to live. If you really want to be here because it’s where you believe you’re meant to be then yea the bureaucracy junk is annoying but at the end of the day it doesn’t matter that much. If you don’t want to be here more than anything, I can guarantee that within a few years you will have returned to where you came from because it’s just not worth the headache if being here isn’t worth it. For me, being here is worth every second and every penny.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Yom HaAtzmaut 2008
According to the Jewish Calendar, a new day starts at sunset of the old day. Memorial Day and Independence Day are one day apart and the remembering transitions directly into celebration in a way that is befitting to a place like this where sadness and fear are almost always mixed with happiness and love of life. Efrat has a really lovely local tekes (ceremony) to mark the end of Memorial Day and the start of Independence Day. The entire town (or small city really) shows up to the largest park and plops down on blankets on a slope to watch the festivities. They have sad songs and speeches for the end of Yom HaZikaron and once Yom HaAtzmaut starts the flag is raised from half-mast and the celebrating begins. They start with a torch lighting ceremony and they have everything from a live band to the youngest jazz class in the area performing. In the end to top it all off they have one of the nicest and largest fireworks displays in the area. I bumped into some other new-immigrant friends and had a blast singing and dancing and jumping up and down with them celebrating our first Independence Day as citizens. It was really fun and really special.
Later that night I went into Jerusalem with a bunch of friends. Center of Town was packed with things to do and people doing them. We went straight to the square in front of the municipal building for Israeli Folk Dancing! The square was PACKED with thousands of people
dancing in hundreds of circles dances that have been around since before the state was established. It was so much fun. It was really unbelievable. It was the perfect thing to do. Because folk dancing is “not cool” all of the gross “cool kids” (read arsim = those kids who wear really tight jeans and have spiked hair and who have listen to music on their cell phones on buses and who have no respect for themselves or anyone else) were at other parties and the dance floor was open for chill people who just wanted to come and dance and be happy. It was an awesome mixing of peoples (again the Charedim were completely absent) from religious to non, old and young. The dancing went until almost 4am!!!! It was also the most ‘kosher’ mixed dancing I have ever seen. The religious girls and religious guys danced in separate circles and the people who wanted to dance together did so and there was no issue from anyone. People were just happy and dancing and singing and it was fantastic. I didn’t know more than half of the dances but just being carried along in huge circles of dancing singing happy people made me so happy. I want to go there every year to celebrate because I feel like it epitomizes everything I love about Israeli society and what it is that we are doing here- making a home for all Jews and truly appreciating what we have as well as being connected to our past. It was awesome!
David pulled the unfortunate duty of being on call during the holiday weekend. In
order to fulfill the local commandment of “Thou Shall Barbeque on Independence Day” and get to be with David as well we piled into cars and drove to his base. We figured that either the nature reserve next door or the beach down the road would be perfect places for our “Al Ha Aish” (On the fire) but when we arrived we noticed that everyone else (literally) was following the same commandment!! There was absolutely no room anywhere. At first I freaked out because I really wanted this BBQ, but then we remembered that right next to the gate of David’s base is an area of picnic tables for when families come to visit their soldiers. We drove in there and had a lovely picnic and even got to take David home with us!!
Another fun aspect of the day was sitting and talking with David’s grandfather. His grandfather made Aliyah just over a month ago. He is 85 and it is not his first time living here. Before the state was founded he was here as a journalist and served in the Hagana. Listening to him retell his stories on Independence Day, which he personally helped come about, was really amazing. All in all it was an amazing holiday week and I hope that it will continue to be as meaningful and exciting in the coming years.
Later that night I went into Jerusalem with a bunch of friends. Center of Town was packed with things to do and people doing them. We went straight to the square in front of the municipal building for Israeli Folk Dancing! The square was PACKED with thousands of people
dancing in hundreds of circles dances that have been around since before the state was established. It was so much fun. It was really unbelievable. It was the perfect thing to do. Because folk dancing is “not cool” all of the gross “cool kids” (read arsim = those kids who wear really tight jeans and have spiked hair and who have listen to music on their cell phones on buses and who have no respect for themselves or anyone else) were at other parties and the dance floor was open for chill people who just wanted to come and dance and be happy. It was an awesome mixing of peoples (again the Charedim were completely absent) from religious to non, old and young. The dancing went until almost 4am!!!! It was also the most ‘kosher’ mixed dancing I have ever seen. The religious girls and religious guys danced in separate circles and the people who wanted to dance together did so and there was no issue from anyone. People were just happy and dancing and singing and it was fantastic. I didn’t know more than half of the dances but just being carried along in huge circles of dancing singing happy people made me so happy. I want to go there every year to celebrate because I feel like it epitomizes everything I love about Israeli society and what it is that we are doing here- making a home for all Jews and truly appreciating what we have as well as being connected to our past. It was awesome!David pulled the unfortunate duty of being on call during the holiday weekend. In
order to fulfill the local commandment of “Thou Shall Barbeque on Independence Day” and get to be with David as well we piled into cars and drove to his base. We figured that either the nature reserve next door or the beach down the road would be perfect places for our “Al Ha Aish” (On the fire) but when we arrived we noticed that everyone else (literally) was following the same commandment!! There was absolutely no room anywhere. At first I freaked out because I really wanted this BBQ, but then we remembered that right next to the gate of David’s base is an area of picnic tables for when families come to visit their soldiers. We drove in there and had a lovely picnic and even got to take David home with us!!Another fun aspect of the day was sitting and talking with David’s grandfather. His grandfather made Aliyah just over a month ago. He is 85 and it is not his first time living here. Before the state was founded he was here as a journalist and served in the Hagana. Listening to him retell his stories on Independence Day, which he personally helped come about, was really amazing. All in all it was an amazing holiday week and I hope that it will continue to be as meaningful and exciting in the coming years.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Yom HaZikaron 2008
This year was my first year for the Memorial Day/Independence Day circuit as a citizen. I have been here before on these, two of the most awesome (in both meanings of the word) days of the year to be an Israeli. In Israel, Memorial Day and Independence Day are the complete opposite of what they are in America. There is no such thing as celebrating with shopping or football games. This two day period is for family time, reflecting, remembering, mourning, and then celebrating like there will be no tomorrow! Everything shuts down and everyone celebrates (Memorial Day is a half workday unless you request to get off).
This year I wanted to take advantage of everything and really experience it all. Memorial Day is marked here with a siren that sounds throughout the ENTIRE country. When the siren sounds everything stops and everyone stands at attention. Traffic stops and people get out of their cars to stand together with the rest of the nation for a minute of true silence and reflection. This year I had been at an engagement party in the early evening but wanted to be in a public place to be able to properly observe the moment of silence and to be outside with the rest of everyone while it happened. I went down to Emek Refaim (the main street by my house) and sat on a bench for 10 minutes watching the people go by until the siren went off. The sound is piercing and in the complete silence all around you it’s as if you can feel the sound of the siren reverberating through your body. It is haunting. It feels like something is entering your soul—standing there with everyone else doing nothing but thinking about the fact that it is Memorial Day is an incredible thing. That feeling is one of the reasons I want to live here. That feeling means that I am part of something greater than I am, that is worth dying for. And those who have made the ultimate sacrifice so that I may live safely and free in my homeland are worth remembering.
Later that evening I went with my friend Noam, who is currently serving in a combat unit, to the neighborhood ceremony. Every area has their own little ceremony to commemorate those who fell from their communities. It was small and personal and really nice. I haven’t lived here long enough to recognize most of the names of those who had fallen in battle or who had been killed in terror attacks, but Noam who has lived here his whole life knew of many of them. It was a somber evening and very much befitting the occasion.
The next morning I went with my friend Arielle and David’s brother Ari to the National War Cemetery at Har Hertzl. On Memorial Day morning there is a major ceremony presided over by the Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, but more importantly it is a time to go visit graves of soldier who you knew or didn’t know or maybe those who’s stories you heard once or those who have no one left to visit them at all. This was the first time that I had a specific grave that I wanted to visit. Over a year ago, a soldier was killed in some sort of parachuting accident during advanced training. The details have never been released… He used to come spend almost every summer in Houston visiting his grandmother and uncle so we were very friendly. He also grew up with David in Efrat. I was in Austin for the funeral and when they had a memorial service for him I was in the country but sick and couldn’t go. It was important for me to be able to at least visit his grave once. The other thing about going to Har Hertzl on Yom HaZikaron is that it’s packed. More packed than the most popular concert. It is packed with people from all walks of society. Another aspect of Israel that I love so much is that everyone fights together and unfortunately everyone dies together, but at the end of the day all differences are put aside and religious and non-religious people hug each other and cry and share memories because we are all one people. (I purposely didn’t say anything about the Charedim…don’t get me started)
We found the grave but it was already surrounded by his former unit and other friends and family members who came to pay their respects. Because we were relatively late, we couldn’t get too close and instead ended up next to a grave farther along the row. The grave happened to be of a soldier, named Roi Klein, who had been a student (a few years older and already married with children) at David’s Yeshiva. His story is that during the Second Lebanon War he was up in Lebanon as an officer with his troops when a grenade was thrown to where they were all clustered. Rather than run and take the chance that only most of his unit would be either killed or seriously injured, he jumped on the grenade. His last words were the Shema as he absorbed the blast and saved the lives of every single one of his soldiers. His sacrifice is of the highest level and I felt honored to be able to pay my respects to such a wonderful man on such an important day.
Another siren sounds on the morning of Memorial Day to mark the beginning of the official ceremony. The siren had the same affect of me in the morning except I was a bit too squished to feel too much emotion. The ceremony was broadcast over speakers throughout the cemetery and was pretty routine. At the end though, with the singing of the national anthem, the Hatikvah (the hope), I began to lose it. Standing there in the packed cemetery amidst all of the families of fallen soldier, current soldiers, and regular citizens coming to pay respects with everyone singing at the top of their lungs about the hope to “be a free nation in our land, the land of Zion and Jerusalem” and knowing that it is coming true. Because of the graves we were standing next to we have a country to sing about and to be proud of and to live in. It was truly an amazing thing. I could hardly get the words out I was crying so hard because I was sad because I was happy to be here because I am scared that with the way things are going things might not continue to be so great. I was crying because I had the opportunity to stand among my brethren and say to the world that we are here and we are alive and we are strong and we aren’t going anywhere. It’s days like that that tell me that I made the right decision and that this is where I belong.
The next punch came when the crowd around me started to spontaneously sing “Ani Maamin” which basically states our believe that one day the messiah will come and that no matter how bad things get we will not lose hope and faith. This is when I REALLY started to lose it. Seeing the parents of so many soldiers sing this song with strong voices made me feel week. I wish I could posses the strength that these people have in their pinkie finger. They have lost children and siblings and parents and friends and still nothing can shake their hope and their faith and their strength. I feel a sense of unbelievable empowerment just being in the same space as these wonderful people.
I don’t know what was happening in the other areas of the cemetery (which is HUGE) but I was in the most recently filled area with victims of the last war and other tragedies since. There has been a movement within the National Religious sector to emphasize the importance of army service and not just as the bare minimum but as a serious “donation” to the country and to society. The yeshiva where David studied encourages its students to sign on optional time in the army and to join combat units as well as “less prestigious” units to try to raise the overall level in the entire army by being good people and a good example. This 20-something year old movement has really born fruit. There are religious officers and soldiers all over the army and not-so-slowly climbing the ranks (in officers school about 1/3 of the cadets are religious even though they represent less than 10% of the population). This was clearly evident by the overwhelming number of religious Jews standing by the graves of their loved ones. The area of the cemetery was filled with a majority of national religious fallen soldiers and it was truly heartwarming to see what an influence and a difference this movement is having on the army and the rest of the country.
This year I wanted to take advantage of everything and really experience it all. Memorial Day is marked here with a siren that sounds throughout the ENTIRE country. When the siren sounds everything stops and everyone stands at attention. Traffic stops and people get out of their cars to stand together with the rest of the nation for a minute of true silence and reflection. This year I had been at an engagement party in the early evening but wanted to be in a public place to be able to properly observe the moment of silence and to be outside with the rest of everyone while it happened. I went down to Emek Refaim (the main street by my house) and sat on a bench for 10 minutes watching the people go by until the siren went off. The sound is piercing and in the complete silence all around you it’s as if you can feel the sound of the siren reverberating through your body. It is haunting. It feels like something is entering your soul—standing there with everyone else doing nothing but thinking about the fact that it is Memorial Day is an incredible thing. That feeling is one of the reasons I want to live here. That feeling means that I am part of something greater than I am, that is worth dying for. And those who have made the ultimate sacrifice so that I may live safely and free in my homeland are worth remembering.
Later that evening I went with my friend Noam, who is currently serving in a combat unit, to the neighborhood ceremony. Every area has their own little ceremony to commemorate those who fell from their communities. It was small and personal and really nice. I haven’t lived here long enough to recognize most of the names of those who had fallen in battle or who had been killed in terror attacks, but Noam who has lived here his whole life knew of many of them. It was a somber evening and very much befitting the occasion.
The next morning I went with my friend Arielle and David’s brother Ari to the National War Cemetery at Har Hertzl. On Memorial Day morning there is a major ceremony presided over by the Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, but more importantly it is a time to go visit graves of soldier who you knew or didn’t know or maybe those who’s stories you heard once or those who have no one left to visit them at all. This was the first time that I had a specific grave that I wanted to visit. Over a year ago, a soldier was killed in some sort of parachuting accident during advanced training. The details have never been released… He used to come spend almost every summer in Houston visiting his grandmother and uncle so we were very friendly. He also grew up with David in Efrat. I was in Austin for the funeral and when they had a memorial service for him I was in the country but sick and couldn’t go. It was important for me to be able to at least visit his grave once. The other thing about going to Har Hertzl on Yom HaZikaron is that it’s packed. More packed than the most popular concert. It is packed with people from all walks of society. Another aspect of Israel that I love so much is that everyone fights together and unfortunately everyone dies together, but at the end of the day all differences are put aside and religious and non-religious people hug each other and cry and share memories because we are all one people. (I purposely didn’t say anything about the Charedim…don’t get me started)
We found the grave but it was already surrounded by his former unit and other friends and family members who came to pay their respects. Because we were relatively late, we couldn’t get too close and instead ended up next to a grave farther along the row. The grave happened to be of a soldier, named Roi Klein, who had been a student (a few years older and already married with children) at David’s Yeshiva. His story is that during the Second Lebanon War he was up in Lebanon as an officer with his troops when a grenade was thrown to where they were all clustered. Rather than run and take the chance that only most of his unit would be either killed or seriously injured, he jumped on the grenade. His last words were the Shema as he absorbed the blast and saved the lives of every single one of his soldiers. His sacrifice is of the highest level and I felt honored to be able to pay my respects to such a wonderful man on such an important day.
Another siren sounds on the morning of Memorial Day to mark the beginning of the official ceremony. The siren had the same affect of me in the morning except I was a bit too squished to feel too much emotion. The ceremony was broadcast over speakers throughout the cemetery and was pretty routine. At the end though, with the singing of the national anthem, the Hatikvah (the hope), I began to lose it. Standing there in the packed cemetery amidst all of the families of fallen soldier, current soldiers, and regular citizens coming to pay respects with everyone singing at the top of their lungs about the hope to “be a free nation in our land, the land of Zion and Jerusalem” and knowing that it is coming true. Because of the graves we were standing next to we have a country to sing about and to be proud of and to live in. It was truly an amazing thing. I could hardly get the words out I was crying so hard because I was sad because I was happy to be here because I am scared that with the way things are going things might not continue to be so great. I was crying because I had the opportunity to stand among my brethren and say to the world that we are here and we are alive and we are strong and we aren’t going anywhere. It’s days like that that tell me that I made the right decision and that this is where I belong.
The next punch came when the crowd around me started to spontaneously sing “Ani Maamin” which basically states our believe that one day the messiah will come and that no matter how bad things get we will not lose hope and faith. This is when I REALLY started to lose it. Seeing the parents of so many soldiers sing this song with strong voices made me feel week. I wish I could posses the strength that these people have in their pinkie finger. They have lost children and siblings and parents and friends and still nothing can shake their hope and their faith and their strength. I feel a sense of unbelievable empowerment just being in the same space as these wonderful people.
I don’t know what was happening in the other areas of the cemetery (which is HUGE) but I was in the most recently filled area with victims of the last war and other tragedies since. There has been a movement within the National Religious sector to emphasize the importance of army service and not just as the bare minimum but as a serious “donation” to the country and to society. The yeshiva where David studied encourages its students to sign on optional time in the army and to join combat units as well as “less prestigious” units to try to raise the overall level in the entire army by being good people and a good example. This 20-something year old movement has really born fruit. There are religious officers and soldiers all over the army and not-so-slowly climbing the ranks (in officers school about 1/3 of the cadets are religious even though they represent less than 10% of the population). This was clearly evident by the overwhelming number of religious Jews standing by the graves of their loved ones. The area of the cemetery was filled with a majority of national religious fallen soldiers and it was truly heartwarming to see what an influence and a difference this movement is having on the army and the rest of the country.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Little Observations, Pesach, and My Birthday 5/5/08
So I always 
promise myself that whenever I think of something to update I will actually do it—turns out I’m a much better procrastinator than I had imagined. (Obviously I am writing right now so that I will have a legitimate excuse not to do my homework)
It has been a big last month! I turned 21 and had one of the most amazing birthdays ever. David took 2 days vacation off of the army and we went up north to the Golan. I had never really spent any time up there and it was wonderful for me to get to familiarize myself with a new part of my country. I was also just so happy to get to spend so much consecutive uninterrupted time with David (when it wasn’t Shabbat). Tons of things didn’t go as planned (the visibility was terrible so all of the views of the kinneret were blurry, we didn’t end up camping on the beach, we didn’t cook out rather we “cooked out
” in his cousins backyard, we didn’t sleep well so we didn’t hike well and didn’t make it to the pools we wanted to get to) but it was all great to me because all I wanted was the time away together. It was absolutely perfect.
From then I was on vacation for Pesach for just over 2 weeks! It was wonderful. I did a lot of relaxing and a lot of cleaning and I spent the Chag with David’s family which was really nice. It was my first Pesach away from my parents but fortunately the people who led Seder did it similarly enough to the way we have always done it that I felt at home. Plus I was with David which always makes me happy. It was also wonderful to know that I was doing the Seder and that I wouldn’t have to do it again the next night. Being Israeli is awesome!
During Chol Hamoed I was VERY busy! David and I went to visit the Herodion (sight of one of Herod’s fortresses/palaces) which I’ve been wanting to get to for a long time!
The next day I went to visit my cousins in Neve Ilan and that evening David’s family was having a reunion so I went to that which was really pleasant and a lot of fun! The next day was when the real fun started! My friend Shevy had gotten tickets to one of the concerts at the Ahava festival at the dead sea (Ehud Banai and Maschina) hoping that she could find someone to go with her! It was awesome. We decided to save money and hitchhike the whole way. The concert didn’t start until 10pm but we left Jerusalem around 6ish. We
got great rides from really nice people all along the way. The concert was FANTASTIC and I had so much fun but it was during a heat wave and even at 2am when the concert was ending it was at least 90 degrees!!! We made it back to my place by 3:30 but for some reason I didn’t sleep so well ☹
The next day I went up to David’s base (which is much more of a schlep than I could have ever imagined) to visit him and play at the beach right next door. It took me so long to get there that we only had about an hour there before we had to run to go to some engagement parties. We went to tel aviv for one of his best friends’ from yeshiva’s engagement and then we rushed down to beer sheva to my cousin eliana’s engagement party (well the tail end at least). It was a very family oriented week and a great opportunity for both David and I to meet each oth
er’s extended families!
The next day David went up to Yeshiva for a visit and Elana came over to play with me! She is here for the semester studying in Haifa and it was the first time we got to see each other!! She looks fabulous and is having a great time.
Chag was nice and then Sunday was back to school (bummer).
Ok jumping forward. Remember those orange trees that were on the street that I talked about so proudly a few months ago? Well in order to accommodate the new light rail system it looks like they are all going to be taken down. It makes me really sad and sort of goes along with how my optimism for the future of this country under its current leadership is significantly dropping. I still wouldn’t want to be anywhere else but it is incredibly frustrating.
Last week my friend Yoni turned 20. He is a Lone Soldier (aka he is serving in the army but has no immediate family here) I’ve kind of adopted him. He does his laundry by us and we are very strong emotional supports for each other (and David is a great army resource!) To celebrate his birthday he wanted to have a Seudah Shlishit (afternoon Shabbat meal) at his apartment. Because his place is too small we had to eat outside (his street is closed to motor traffic and is really pleasant) we were a nice sized group of 20ish people sitting outside and singing and enjoying Shabbat and it was really a beautiful experience. Here we were in the heart of d
owntown Jerusalem sitting in the street singing as Shabbat was ending. Even if yoni and his friends weren’t all musical it would have been a special experience. David was even convinced that some tourists were going to stop and take pictures. Once Shabbat ended the guys decided to daven Maariv together. Since there was clearly no room inside they just started the service right where they were in the middle of the street. It was a beautiful thing to see 15 guys praying together in the middle of the street in the middle of the city. These kinds of things give me the chills and make me so happy that I live here. It was just so natural (but there was a tourist who took pictures) and felt so right that it’s the kind of thing that can only happen in Israel and especially in Jerusalem.
Now I’m just attempting to stay motivated in school… I’m so close to the end and my grades don’t count for next year!! This week is Yom Hazikaron (Memorial Day) and Yom Haatzmaut (Independence day) and I am really excited. I’m hoping to make it to Har Hertzel to the National War Cemetery on Memorial Day and then I think im going to visit David on the beach by his base and have a bbq!!
promise myself that whenever I think of something to update I will actually do it—turns out I’m a much better procrastinator than I had imagined. (Obviously I am writing right now so that I will have a legitimate excuse not to do my homework)It has been a big last month! I turned 21 and had one of the most amazing birthdays ever. David took 2 days vacation off of the army and we went up north to the Golan. I had never really spent any time up there and it was wonderful for me to get to familiarize myself with a new part of my country. I was also just so happy to get to spend so much consecutive uninterrupted time with David (when it wasn’t Shabbat). Tons of things didn’t go as planned (the visibility was terrible so all of the views of the kinneret were blurry, we didn’t end up camping on the beach, we didn’t cook out rather we “cooked out
” in his cousins backyard, we didn’t sleep well so we didn’t hike well and didn’t make it to the pools we wanted to get to) but it was all great to me because all I wanted was the time away together. It was absolutely perfect.From then I was on vacation for Pesach for just over 2 weeks! It was wonderful. I did a lot of relaxing and a lot of cleaning and I spent the Chag with David’s family which was really nice. It was my first Pesach away from my parents but fortunately the people who led Seder did it similarly enough to the way we have always done it that I felt at home. Plus I was with David which always makes me happy. It was also wonderful to know that I was doing the Seder and that I wouldn’t have to do it again the next night. Being Israeli is awesome!
During Chol Hamoed I was VERY busy! David and I went to visit the Herodion (sight of one of Herod’s fortresses/palaces) which I’ve been wanting to get to for a long time!
The next day I went to visit my cousins in Neve Ilan and that evening David’s family was having a reunion so I went to that which was really pleasant and a lot of fun! The next day was when the real fun started! My friend Shevy had gotten tickets to one of the concerts at the Ahava festival at the dead sea (Ehud Banai and Maschina) hoping that she could find someone to go with her! It was awesome. We decided to save money and hitchhike the whole way. The concert didn’t start until 10pm but we left Jerusalem around 6ish. We
got great rides from really nice people all along the way. The concert was FANTASTIC and I had so much fun but it was during a heat wave and even at 2am when the concert was ending it was at least 90 degrees!!! We made it back to my place by 3:30 but for some reason I didn’t sleep so well ☹The next day I went up to David’s base (which is much more of a schlep than I could have ever imagined) to visit him and play at the beach right next door. It took me so long to get there that we only had about an hour there before we had to run to go to some engagement parties. We went to tel aviv for one of his best friends’ from yeshiva’s engagement and then we rushed down to beer sheva to my cousin eliana’s engagement party (well the tail end at least). It was a very family oriented week and a great opportunity for both David and I to meet each oth
er’s extended families!The next day David went up to Yeshiva for a visit and Elana came over to play with me! She is here for the semester studying in Haifa and it was the first time we got to see each other!! She looks fabulous and is having a great time.
Chag was nice and then Sunday was back to school (bummer).
Ok jumping forward. Remember those orange trees that were on the street that I talked about so proudly a few months ago? Well in order to accommodate the new light rail system it looks like they are all going to be taken down. It makes me really sad and sort of goes along with how my optimism for the future of this country under its current leadership is significantly dropping. I still wouldn’t want to be anywhere else but it is incredibly frustrating.
Last week my friend Yoni turned 20. He is a Lone Soldier (aka he is serving in the army but has no immediate family here) I’ve kind of adopted him. He does his laundry by us and we are very strong emotional supports for each other (and David is a great army resource!) To celebrate his birthday he wanted to have a Seudah Shlishit (afternoon Shabbat meal) at his apartment. Because his place is too small we had to eat outside (his street is closed to motor traffic and is really pleasant) we were a nice sized group of 20ish people sitting outside and singing and enjoying Shabbat and it was really a beautiful experience. Here we were in the heart of d
owntown Jerusalem sitting in the street singing as Shabbat was ending. Even if yoni and his friends weren’t all musical it would have been a special experience. David was even convinced that some tourists were going to stop and take pictures. Once Shabbat ended the guys decided to daven Maariv together. Since there was clearly no room inside they just started the service right where they were in the middle of the street. It was a beautiful thing to see 15 guys praying together in the middle of the street in the middle of the city. These kinds of things give me the chills and make me so happy that I live here. It was just so natural (but there was a tourist who took pictures) and felt so right that it’s the kind of thing that can only happen in Israel and especially in Jerusalem.Now I’m just attempting to stay motivated in school… I’m so close to the end and my grades don’t count for next year!! This week is Yom Hazikaron (Memorial Day) and Yom Haatzmaut (Independence day) and I am really excited. I’m hoping to make it to Har Hertzel to the National War Cemetery on Memorial Day and then I think im going to visit David on the beach by his base and have a bbq!!
Thursday, April 3, 2008
BIG Changes
I made Aliyah under the (incredibly wrong) impression that once I made this major life change everything else would seem like a piece of cake. Surprisingly and thankfully I have found the first almost full year (wow) to be smooth and calm and I really feel that I slipped into my life here with no adjustment problems. I moved into an area that I know very well and surrounded by friends whom I’ve known for a long time. During this year of Ulpan, my Hebrew has improved by leaps and bounds and I no longer feel bound by any form of language barrier. I have learned how to navigate the bureaucratic system with few traumatic stories, and above all else I really truly feel at home here.
The question next becomes “Which here do I identify as my home?” Jerusalem in particular or greater Israel in general? Unfortunately for me I have not explored as much of greater Israel as I would have liked by this point. That’s why I am freaking out about the major changes that are about to take place in my life. David and I are planning to move to Givat Shmuel (a city near Tel Aviv) so that I can study at Bar Ilan University and he can be close to his base and come home every day. Literally everything will change aside from the fact that I will still be in the same country.
I am getting married, I am moving to a new city, and I am starting at yet another new university. That is a lot to take in all at once and I am just blown away by how stressed I am about the changes. I really truly believed that I couldn’t possibly ever worry about changes in my life again. I guess I am starting to realize that monumental change in monumental change no matter how much change has come before it and as people we tend to cling to what we know and shy away from the trauma of getting to know something new.
Fortunately, along with my trepidation I am super excited. I CAN NOT WAIT to be married to David. The long engagement thing is really convenient in that we have plenty of time to plan and are giving our friends and family time to make travel arrangements. The long engagement also gives us time to adjust to the idea of being married for real, but at the end of the day 10 months feels like way too long. We are both so ready to start our lives together: we want to start building our own routine independent of anyone else, we want to set up our house, and most importantly we just want to be able to be together for real, for good. It will be great also to live in Givat Shmuel. Because of its proximity to the campus it is a haven for young people and as Bar Ilan is a relatively religious place there are a TON of young married couples who will be in the same situation as we are for us to socialize with. The base is also only 20 minutes away as opposed to an hour and a half from Jerusalem which will make our first few years together more pleasant because he won’t be commuting so much. I also can’t wait to start school. I have been waiting for years to finally decide what it is that I will study and just the knowledge that I have made the decision and been accepted to the program I want is a fantastic feeling! I will be getting a degree in Israel Studies and Archaeology as well as the government’s tour guide certification. I am so excited. I find the subject fascinating (obviously) and am so so so excited to learn. All of these changes are wonderful and thank G-d they are all happening and things are finally coming together for me, even if I have done things a bit out of order!!
p.s. I am also turning 21 in 11 days!! Crazy right?
The question next becomes “Which here do I identify as my home?” Jerusalem in particular or greater Israel in general? Unfortunately for me I have not explored as much of greater Israel as I would have liked by this point. That’s why I am freaking out about the major changes that are about to take place in my life. David and I are planning to move to Givat Shmuel (a city near Tel Aviv) so that I can study at Bar Ilan University and he can be close to his base and come home every day. Literally everything will change aside from the fact that I will still be in the same country.
I am getting married, I am moving to a new city, and I am starting at yet another new university. That is a lot to take in all at once and I am just blown away by how stressed I am about the changes. I really truly believed that I couldn’t possibly ever worry about changes in my life again. I guess I am starting to realize that monumental change in monumental change no matter how much change has come before it and as people we tend to cling to what we know and shy away from the trauma of getting to know something new.
Fortunately, along with my trepidation I am super excited. I CAN NOT WAIT to be married to David. The long engagement thing is really convenient in that we have plenty of time to plan and are giving our friends and family time to make travel arrangements. The long engagement also gives us time to adjust to the idea of being married for real, but at the end of the day 10 months feels like way too long. We are both so ready to start our lives together: we want to start building our own routine independent of anyone else, we want to set up our house, and most importantly we just want to be able to be together for real, for good. It will be great also to live in Givat Shmuel. Because of its proximity to the campus it is a haven for young people and as Bar Ilan is a relatively religious place there are a TON of young married couples who will be in the same situation as we are for us to socialize with. The base is also only 20 minutes away as opposed to an hour and a half from Jerusalem which will make our first few years together more pleasant because he won’t be commuting so much. I also can’t wait to start school. I have been waiting for years to finally decide what it is that I will study and just the knowledge that I have made the decision and been accepted to the program I want is a fantastic feeling! I will be getting a degree in Israel Studies and Archaeology as well as the government’s tour guide certification. I am so excited. I find the subject fascinating (obviously) and am so so so excited to learn. All of these changes are wonderful and thank G-d they are all happening and things are finally coming together for me, even if I have done things a bit out of order!!
p.s. I am also turning 21 in 11 days!! Crazy right?
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