Monday 7/23

Even though we could do stuff on Erev Tisha B'Av, no one really wanted to because we all wanted to stay cool and start hydrating to prepare for the fast that was starting at night. I had a really interesting conversation with Aaron about Israeli and world politics. He has spent years debating on international teams and had some really interesting things to say. We met up with our friend Yoni for lunch. I was craving pineapple pizza and coincidentally so was Yoni so that worked out well. Then I called the people at Hebrew U to make sure there wasn't anything I had to do before registration. Glad I called because I needed to come in to take part II of the ulpan test and because I had the wrong date for registration! I also found out that I was placed in level 4 based on the first part of the test which is exactly where I wanted to be. We went back to Aaron's and watched "Shooter" while seriously hydrating and resting. We then had dinner with his parents and brother. By the end I had eaten and drunk so much I literally felt like I was going to explode. It was not so pleasant. I was waiting to go to shul when I realized that the only shoes I had with me were leather and it is prohibited to wear leather shoes on Tisha B'Av so I ran to my friend Ariel's house to steal a pair of flip flops from her. It's so great that we're the same size and I can just run into her house and grab stuff whenever I need. I also got to see her little siblings who were back from camp who I'm slightly obsessed with :). I went to shul to hear Eicha and then went home with Aaron's family.
Tisha B'Av is also give or take the anniversary of the disengagement from Gaza. On TV there was a really interesting documentary which followed the leader of the Yehudah, Shomron, and Gaza municipal council, a secular Jew who lived in Gaza and who's daughter had been killed by terrorists 3 years before on her way home, and the commander in charge of organizing all of the troops who would actually carry out the disengagement orders. I had just come back from my year in Israel when the disengagement happened and I had partially disengaged myself from Israel and didn't really get what was going on. It was very emotional from many sides and I'm happy I finally got to see something like this. One of the things I didn't realize was that about 50% of the residents of Gaza were secular Jews who had been asked by the government to move there 20 ish years ago and just didn't want to be kicked out of their homes. I don't know if the documentary is available in English, but if it is I recommend it. It was called "the War for Home" or something along those lines. The other interesting things is that the guy put in command was someone who really understood most of the people being moved and was very sensitive to them. His family members were all very involved in anti-disengagement efforts to the point that he bumped into his niece at a protest. I think that one of the main reasons things went so smoothly and non-violently was because he was sensitive and really tried to be as noncombative as possible. A really stirring scene was when the soldiers came to the non-religious guys house to hand him the evacuation order he got very angry and started yelling at them to go away and that they were no longer his army. The commanding officer happened to be a friend of his. Later that night he was walking around his town and he saw a soldier in uniform crying. The boy could have been not much older than 18, and at the sight of the soldier so overcome with emotion about what he was commanded to do the man immediately had a change of heart. He started hugging all of the soldiers and telling THEM that everything was going to be ok. In the end he organized a meeting with the other citizens of the town. They agreed to leave peacefully but asked the army to let them stay as long as possible. They made a deal with the army and that's what happened. I was crying the whole time. I am still angry that a lot of those people still do not have permanent places to live (as the government had promised they would have) or land to replace their farmland. A group of farmers started a hunger strike just before Tisha B'Av at the Knesset to try to pressure the government to live up to its promises. I hope they don't starve to death waiting.