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!

It’s Definitely Summer, but It Ain’t No Summer Vacation 18/8/09

I have been in an extended finals period since June 28^th. I have reached a point where I can no longer look at anything that has to do with school or my paper that I’m supposed to be writing or the three finals that I still have to take. It’s almost like a sick joke that Israel plays on its college students: we have “vacation” from the end of June until the end of October, but we are theoretically taking finals until mid-September. Its nuts. I mean I would rather spread out my 13 finals than take them all at once, but still, this is quite ridiculous.

Ok done complaining.

This summer I have had the opportunity to experience some pretty cool things through the framework of my studies. I spent 2 weeks on the archaeological dig at Tel E’ton

, about 10 Kilometers from Lachish. The dig was amazing. It was incredibly hard work: wake up at 4am, dig from 5am-1pm all hard physical labor, but I learned a lot and had a really amazing experience. One of the best experiences was one morning on the way to the dig I went with my friend in his car instead of taking the bus. He had the radio on to one of the national stations and just before the clock struck 5am they broadcast the Shema and then a Chapter of the Mishna (Oral Law) to start the day off with some Jewish learning. I had no idea that anything like that existed. My friend explained that at 5am on this channel and 6am on another they broadcast this every morning to mark the start of their new day (even though they broadcast continuously throughout the night). I was in shock. I was so pleased and impressed that the

country started its day with the Shema and some Jewish learning. There are so many times when the arguments about the character of this country and the fights between the secular Jews and religious Jews are unbearable, but this simple act that took less than 30 seconds helped make it clear that I live in the Jewish Homeland. It was inspiring and uplifting, and made me feel blessed that I was up at 5am to experience it.

This past week I also got to experience my First Anniversary. It is unbelievable that a year has gone by so quickly. It seems like it was only a few months ago that we got married! This has been a wonderful year for us where we have built our home and strengthened our relationship. To celebrate we stuffed our faces at the all-you-can-eat Brazilian Buffet at Papagaio (thanks mom and dad), we spent Friday playing on the beach and going sailing, and to top it all off we had a lovely, relaxing Shabbat together at home. It’s been really nice to be able to look back over the last year with such fond memories, and we look forward to many many many more happy years together!

I’m still here 5/7/09

I just wanted to drop a quick line and confirm my existence! I am currently in my second week of finals (that will last until September- woo hoo) and it’s a bit intense. I can’t believe that I have finished my coursework for my first year of University in Israel. Time has flown by so quickly. This year has been so wonderful. I have learned an amazing amount about Israel, her history, archaeology, and culture. It has been fascinating and I

can’t wait to start learning again next year! I am also a little sad though. This year was so much fun and I made such a amazing friends, but I know that next year won’t be the same. One of my closest friends is getting married and moving to Haifa, another of my closest friends is moving to the school of Social Work, and my department is splitting up between those who wish to concentrate on Archaeology and those who wish to focus of Geographical History. We have had so much this year and really built an amazing “Chevre”. We even had a picnic on the last day of classes because we like spending time together so much. I feel so blessed to have found such an amazing family in school, and I can’t wait to spend more time with them over the next few years! The summer is going to be hectic for me- I have 13 tests and a paper as well as 2 weeks of an academic archaeological dig so hopefully I’ll be able to check in every once in a while! Happy Summer everyone!

The Life of an Army Wife 17/5/09

I am very proud of David and the work he does in the army. He works very hard in a very important job, and I know that he is actively contributing to the security of this country. Unfortunately this all comes at the expense of his time with me. After about 3 and a half years together I am more than used to getting by on my own and filling my time without him, but I always have a guilty feeling in the pit of my stomach when I’m having fun without him. Usually, When David is away and I’m having fun he’s doing something physically and mentally tasking and not fun at all. A perfect example is our pre-wedding menu-tasting: David was on a field exercise eating kosher spam and barely sleeping while I got to have a fabulous gourmet meal with family and friends in anticipation of the wedding. I don’t think David has ever gotten over that disappointment and is still waiting for us to be invited to another wedding at the same hall so he can finally taste the food. We have finally reached a new stage in our “he leaves me home alone” relationship: I am starting to take longer trips for school and during the summer I will be gone for two weeks straight for an archaeological dig. And I’m torn. After all of this time that he’s had to leave me for really important things I feel even more guilty for leaving him and extending the stretches of time that we won’t be able to be together. I guess I have to get used to it if I want to be a tour guide and be bouncing around the country all the time! All of this is practice for the real world, because as I try to keep reminding myself, its not only the army that separates us, its life and we have to get used to being together while being apart. It sounds ironic that this would be an issue for us after all of the time I spent in the states while we were together, but its so different now that we’re married and have gotten used to seeing each other all the time!!

A Proper Memorial Day 7/5/09 (Warning, It’s Long)

Last Week was Israeli Memorial Day and Independace Day. The experience here in Israel is very different from that in America, and this year my experience was truly special. Unfortunately David was on duty the entire time so I made plans with friends to take the car and have a real Memorial Day. I went with my friends Merav and Shira who are both tour guides, know every inch of this country by heart, and love to find special things. I was their chauffer and they were my guides on what has so far been the most moving and meaningful Memorial Day I have ever experienced. We had to have David on base by 7am so we got a really early start. Our first destination was a place called “Givat Tom ve’Tomer” (Tom and Tomer Hill). It is a personal memorial on the outskirts of Kibbutz Negba to the 73 soldiers who were killed in the “Helicopter Tragedy” February 4, 1997. Two transport helicopters collided in mid-air and everyone aboard was killed. The father of one of the soldiers, a resident of the Kibbutz, had a very hard time recovering from the loss of his son. He decided to build a personal memorial and garden in memory of his son and of the other fallen soldiers. The site is barely a hill, but you can see it from far away because the electric pole that runs through is painted like a sky with 73 doves on it in memory of each of the soldiers. We were there by 7:30 just as the caretaker was setting up for the day- they already had tens of groups planning to come. He explained that the father had recently had a stroke and that he takes care of the garden for him. He asked us to help him clean off the signs as we were walking through if we didn’t mind. Obviously we didn’t. The garden was small but beautiful and so unbelievably peaceful. He purposely planted only plants that are indigenous to Israel because, as he wrote on one of the plaques in the garden, that this was the greenery that the soldiers walked through and served in and experienced during their service and it was a tribute to them. All throughout the garden are places to stop and sit and reflect as well as large stone memorials bearing the names of all of the fallen, where they were from, where they served, and whatever other little anecdotes their families wished to have added. All throughout the garden are newspaper clippings and letters from the families about their loved ones. It is a small and nondescript place, but it is filled with so much love and pain and memory that it was tangible. Places like this exist all over the country and it was nice to get to see one for myself. I had a very strange feeling while walking through the garden. I felt as if I were an outsider encroaching on other peoples lives and other peoples pain. My friends were very emotional thinking about all of their friends and loved ones who have fallen- and the number is unfortunately not small, and all I could think about was an additional facet to the sacrifice that I made when I decided to move here. My children will know this pain. They will be surrounded with it their entire lives and I have brought it upon them. My friends thought that this was a very interesting observation and I think started to understand a bit more what exactly is entailed in making Aliyah.
Our next stop was to a nearby hill that was capture by Battalion 53 of the Givati Bridage in the War of Independence. This Battalion doesn’t exist anymore, but many of its soldiers are still alive. Every year they have a ceremony on that hill (where there is also a memorial). Shira found the place a year and a half ago. She is from that area and had always passed by without ever stopping in to check it out. One day she went with friends just before Memorial Day and there was an old man there who was missing a hand and was setting things up. They started talking to him and it turns out that he was one of the soldiers in the Battalion (he lost his hand in the war… he was a sapper who had laid all of the mines in the whole area) and was in charge of the ceremony every year. The girls stayed there for a few hours listening to his story and they promised to come back for the ceremony. Shira couldn’t make it because her grandmother had passed away and she needed to be with her family so it was especially important for her to go this year. She had stayed in touch with him and he even sent her books that were written about the Battalion. His biggest fear is that once the remaining members of the Battalion pass away there will be no one to conduct the ceremony in honor of their fallen heroes from the War of Independence. When we got there he immediately recognized her and it was clear just how happy he was that we had come and that Shira had remembered. The ceremony was simple and sweet and showed that these men were true heroes. The man honored to light the memorial flame was in a wheelchair and needed 3 people to help him make it to the platform but he wanted to walk and nothing was going to stop him. This man had commanded a convoy that came under attack and then was abandoned by other forces when the convoy got stuck in the mud. He commanded his troops for almost 8 hours stuck inside their armored vehicles under constant enemy fire without food or water until help could reach them. He kept them all alive. The Battalion Commander, who is 94 and still completely lucid, also spoke. Even at 94 it was clear that this man was a wonderful leader and a powerful influence on people. He said that 61 years after the war he still feels the need to apologize to the families who’s sons and brothers and fathers he wasn’t able to keep safe. This man helped start the Nachal Brigade as well as was a founding member of a few of Israel’s cities. It was truly an honor to be part of such a special and rare and almost extinct ceremony.
Next we went to the military cemetery in Kiryat Anavim in the Jerusalem hills (actually it’s the town directly down the mountain from where I got married) where the fallen from the Palmach’s “Har’el Brigade” are buried. The ceremony itself was the usual standard government ceremony with yet another 2 minute siren (see my last post about the sirens). It was special because a distant relative of Merav’s was killed in the Battle for the Castel and her family came to visit his grave. The other reason coming to this specific ceremony is special is because all of the former Palmachniks who are still alive come to honor their friends. When the ceremony is over they stay and talk. They talk about their war experiences and their friends to anyone who is willing to listen. We stayed for two hours after the ceremony to listen to them talk. These men standing and sitting before us are the people who liberated Jerusalem and broke the siege. It was amazing to get to sit and listen to the people that I’ve been learning about in school talk about one of the most interesting and exciting times in Israel’s short history. I felt truly honored to be in their presence and still can’t believe that I was so lucky to be able to be there and here the stories first hand.
Since we were so close to my cousin’s house we popped in for a visit and then we had a picnic in nearby Yad Hashmona (a town that was founded in memory of Holocaust victims) in an area looking over the mountains. Shira and Merav had brought a guitar with them and had downloaded the chords and lyrics for every Memorial Day song that exists. All day during the drives they were playing and singing. During our picnic we just sat for hours singing songs and enjoying the wonderful country that we are so lucky to have.
For the transition ceremony between Memorial Day and Independence Day I went to Efrat with David’s family because they always have a really sweet and nice ceremony. During the ceremony they have people they wish to honor light torches “for the Glory of the State of Israel”. The first family honored to light a torch was the Goodman Family. Many of you will know them through their Houston branch. Their son Yoesf was killed in a parachuting accident in February 2006. The family currently has 3 other sons serving in the army. All of them are in combat positions and two are in the very same unit that Yosef served in. When Ann and Goodman (the mother) walked onto the stage with her sons all in uniform and their father Mordechai I already started to tear up. Ann walked up the microphone and said with pride in her voice that they were lighting the torch in honor of the soldiers and all of the defense forces with pride and love and understanding of personal sacrifice. I totally lost it. Standing in front of me were the true heroes of this country. Instead of being angry about the loss of their son and demanding that their others not go to the army or serve in only non-combat positions, they understand Zionism and love for this country and they sent their other sons to battle anyway. These are the people on whose backs and hearts this country has been built and is continuing to be supported. Without people like the Goodmans who are filled with the utmost sense of purpose and dedication we would be nowhere. I am proud to know a family like that and hope that one day I will be able to be even a fraction as strong as they are.