Last week I (finally) started my studies at Bar Ilan University. I am studying Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology with a specialization in Archaeology. I will be learing a lot of Israeli History all the way through pre-history as well as the accompanying archaeology. I am SO excited. This is a subject that interests me deeply. When I was trying to figure out what in the world I wanted to study, I asked Seth for his advice. His answer (as most of his answers to my ridiculous questions) was: Just study something you like. I didn’t know what I liked. His answer was: Don’t you like Israel? Didn’t you move there because you love it so much? Maybe you should study that. Pretty miraculously a few days later I was talking to a friend who told me about the cool program at Bar Ilan. We went to check it out and within weeks I was registered. Parallel to the degree I am going to start learning to be a tour guide and will get an official Tour Guiding license from the government. Hopefully, after I graduate, and even while I’m still in school, I’ll be able to lead tours and get to spend the rest of my time hiking and visiting and seeing Israel all the time. It’s like a dream come true. I’ve always wanted to know all about all of the places I’ve ever been, and this past week I finally started my journey to that knowledge.
It is an amazing feeling being back on a college campus. I didn’t realize how much I missed the atmosphere until this week. There is something stimulating about being surrounded by hundreds of people who are all in the same general place in life as you and who are all striving toward a similar goal: The BA. The campus exudes a buzz and it is fun to just walk around or sit on the grass and watch people go by. It’s just a good feeling…especially since I have spent the last few months without anything “real” to do AND my computer was broken for most of the time! It’s nice to have a reason to get out of bed in the morning and now I have something to do in the evenings when I get home. I think it will also ease a bit of tension in mine and David’s relationship since I am no longer so dependant on him for my entertainment and companionship.
As much as I have been enjoying the beginning of school it is still very overwhelming. I am taking 13 classes for a total of 20 hours of class a week, and they are all in Hebrew. My Hebrew is at a high enough level that I can get by with no problem, but it is a daunting task to sit for 10 hours a day and listen to lectures in Hebrew. Some professors don’t speak loudly or clearly enough and I have a hard time. Fortunately the department I am in has a very open, uncompetitive atmosphere and everyone shares their notes with everyone else. I am sure that in the classes I am having a harder time in I will be able to get enough notes together to really understand. It’s a bit scarry and thrilling at the same time. I am really really going to college in Hebrew. I really can’t wait for things to continue and to really get into a routine, and I am just so happy to finally be a student again and on my way toward something big that will open up my future!
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Thursday, October 30, 2008
I'm Back!
I'm Back! Sorry for the long hiatus, but since we've been back from the states (about a month and a half) my computer has been broken and I have been pretty much out of my usual communication circles. A lot has happened during the time that I was computerless so I figured I'd give a quick update.
Our trip to Houston after the wedding was great. It was so nice to be home and get to spend some more quality time with my family. Then of course Ike came along and messed up our plans a bit. We "survived" Hurricane Ike with fortunately very little damage. My parents didn't have electricity for 2 weeks but fortunately we were able to stay with friends during most of that time. David and I didn't get to take care of everything we had hoped to because most of the stores and offices we needed were closed due to the storm until after we left. It was hard and not so fun to not have electricity and to spend my last week at home in someone else's home but at the same time I'm glad we were there. I would have felt so guilty not being with my family while they prepared the house for the worst and then cleaned up after... not to mention how scared I would have been for their safety not knowing exactly what was happening to them! I'm also glad David got to experience it so that maybe he can begin to understand what it's like, and what it was like in Allison- a storm/flood that still haunts me.
Since we've been back our time has been taken up mostly by the holidays. We spent most of the time with David's family. They are moving soon and I know it was important for David to celebrate the big ones one last time in the same place he has lived almost his entire life. Now I'm just waiting for school to start. I got the word about five minutes ago that the potential strike isn't happening and that school will start as scheduled!! YAYAYA!!! Since the chagim I have been taking care of things at home, practicing being a dutiful housewife (which is sometimes fun but mostly lonely), and doing a LOT of reading. I'm also knitting a blanket and cooking a bunch. Bottom line- I can't wait for school to start!!
I hope all is going well with all of you. Hopefully I can get back to a more routine posting schedule now that my computer is back!!!
Monday, September 1, 2008
We FINALLY Got Married!!!!
David and I finally got married on Thursday August 14, 2008. After waiting what seemed like FOREVER and planning and organizing and anticipating it actually really happened. And it was a lot of fun. The entire evening seemed to go by in a blur. I remember things clearly but I felt like I was floating through it all. I think I finally snapped out of it at the end of the night and felt like “Woah. Is it over already?” I hardly tasted (or even saw for that matter) the food, but I heard it was yummy. I only noticed the flowers because the videographer’s sound guy was trying to put the microphone near the chuppah and one of the arrangements fell as I was on my way to David. Fortunately my reaction was to chuckle instead of getting upset. The Chuppah itself passed so quickly and felt like it wasn’t even happening. David kept smiling at me so I kept smiling at him and all I wanted to do was talk to him (which I did as much as I could). When it was all over and we were being danced to
the Yichud room I felt like I was experiencing an outer body experience. I didn’t really feel like I was walking away from my chuppah…I was just floating and hoping that none of our friends would accidentally dance backward into a wall or a door or something.In the Yichud room, away from all of the music and people, I finally came back to myself. I cried with relief and happiness. After almost 3 years together of a ridiculous relationship that still now we ask ourselves if we were out of our minds to try to make it work we FINALLY REALLY ACTUALLY got married. It was such a wonderful feeling when it hit me that my “struggle” to really get to spend the rest of my life with him was over. I had him. He was mine and I was his and we could really start OUR life together. It’s almost making me cry as I write this thinking about how good it all feels.
The dancing was wonderful. I only remember the fact that I danced so hard I could barely breathe most of the night. Fortunately I had good friends to bring me lots of wat
er and a chair to sit on when I thought I was going to fall over. I didn’t dance with David as much as I had anticipated but it’s ok, I was so caught up in what was going on and whirling around me that I almost didn’t notice.I also have wonderful, amazing friends. I had a complete entire table of friends that I had grown up with in the states who came to Israel to be at my wedding. Aside from the fact that it was wonderful to see them all again and together, it made me feel so loved that they all made the effort to be with me. It made the night so much more special. I had friends prepare a song for us and perform it in front of everyone. They are both in the army
and it must have taken a lot of effort to find time to rehearse and plan. David’s friends performed “The Dance” that started as a wedding tradition for his high school class, then his yeshiva class, and then David introduced it to his unit. There were guys from all three places in David’s life dancing their hearts out for us. It was amazing.The night was magical. I can’t describe it any other way. Nothing seemed to go wrong and at the end I was married so nothing else mattered.
To top it all off, we had a Shabbat Sheva Brachot with all of our family at the hotel right after the wedding. That was really the cherry on top. To see all sides of our families spending a Shabbat together and really getting to know each other and sit and chat was really beautiful. Even though it was two completely different families coming together probably for this weekend only, the harmony and happiness was tangible. We are so lucky to be blessed with such loving families and really enjoyed all of our time with them.
I am going to post some pictures but they are NOT the official photographer’s because I don’t have them yet. Hope this will give a taste of what it was like. There are also a ton on facebook and a few snapfish albums. Email me if you want more!
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Hativka Still Makes Me Cry 22/7/08
This has been a huge week. And it is still only Tuesday. The week started out with the fast of the 17th of Tamuz where we begin the mourning period leading up to the 9th of Av. The 17th of Tamuz mourns the processes that was set in motion and brought about the destruction of the Temple and the theft of the holy vessels. It is supposed to be a very sad day even though I unfortunately have a hard time truly connecting to it. I fasted nonetheless and spending a day not eating or drinking is enough to make anyone start thinking. And with last weeks return home of 2 of our missing soldiers, there was plenty to think about. I am very torn about how I feel about the seemingly outrageous price that we paid to get back 2 badly preserved bodies while at the same time being proud that Israel is a place that will try to get its soldiers home no matter what. Daniel Gordis has a very moving piece that looks at the prisoner swap in a very positive light.
Yesterday I went to my new apartment to check on our new paint job. It is so exciting to have a place of my own where I can do whatever I want with and really make my true home. The wedding is in 3 weeks and 2 days and it makes me so excited to be working on building our home together.
From the apartment I went to meet up with my cousins, the Metzgers, to drive all
the way down to Mitzpe Ramon (most of the way down to Eilat) for Lia’s graduation from Officers School. The ceremony itself was pretty standard and no that exciting, but getting to watch almost 400 young Israelis, most of them younger than me, becoming officers was a great experience. Unfortunately this country is a place where the military is a necessity and war is always on the horizon. With the reports of increasing draft dodging, knowing that there are still hundreds of soldiers who feel it is necessary to serve our country on a higher level is reassuring. The thing that touched me the most about the tekes was how emotional I still am during the singing of Hatikva, Israel’s national anthem. It has been over a year and I still tear up if not cry full out whenever the anthem is sung. The feeling was even more powerful standing in a stadium of hundreds of new officers and thousands of proud parents, siblings, a
nd friends who all are proud to be part of this place. Sometimes I feel a bit like a cheese-ball for being so emotional, but I keep reminding myself that the very existence of this country is a miracle and it is a miracle to be part of it.
This morning I woke up bright and early at 5:15 to head to the airport to help welcome my friend Arielle’s flight. She is moving here by herself, going to the Israeli version of the seminary program I attended, and then going into the army as part of their program. I think she is even braver than I am and feel really proud to be her friend. This was my first time to a Nefesh B Nefesh welcoming ceremony since my own and it was wonderful to be there as a ‘veteran’. They had something really neat set up for the flight: in addition to broadcasting the whole thing live on the internet for th
e benefit of family and friends all over the world, they had the feed up on the screens in the reception hall so we could watch everyone disembarking. Arielle was one of the first off the plane so I rushed to the entrance to be able to meet her bus. When she came out I ran and gave her a huge hug and we both started sobbing. There are few people who can truly understand what it feels like to leave everything you know and love to come to a difficult place out of love and staunch ideology. It is comforting to be able to share my life experiences with such people. There are pictures of us on the arutz 7 website (link) I am the one who is hugging someone and I’m wearing a bright yellow shirt with white polka dots. We danced with some of her other friends and then went back inside for the rest of the “fesitivities”.
The main attraction though was an 88 year old woman who was making Aliyah. She is a Holocaust survivor who attempted to move to Israel once before the Holocaust and then again on the Exodus. She didn’t make it either time and today she finally realized her dream of becoming an Israeli citizen. She was ceremoniously awarded her Immigrant Document to a standing ovation from a crowd of over 700 people. It was very moving and absolutely fantastic to get to be part of her finally realizing her dream.
When we stood to sing Hativka Arielle barely made it through the first 3 words before she started sobbing and I was crying silently beside her. Twice in two days I felt the powerful emotions that drew me here much stronger than usual. I was proud to be here and I shared in her joy and disbelief that she is finally an Israeli after so much time planning and waiting and wishing. This is not an easy place to be but I still believe that it is the only place to be.
Unfortunately, this afternoon there was yet more reason for crying. Our dream as expressed in the anthem “To be a free nation in our own land, the land of Zion and Jerusalem” was once again threatened. A copycat terrorist took a bulldozer from his place of work and went on another rampage in downtown Jerusalem, this time much closer to my home. Fortunatley no one was killed this time and only 1 person is considered to have been “seriously” injured. The terrorist, an Israeli ID carrying East Jerusalem resident, was killed. The second terror attack in 3 weeks of this kind makes me sad and upset and a little bit scared. I also feel frusteration and despair. On the one hand we want to make the Palestinians life as easy as possible, but on the other hand there are people who really do want to kill us. How do we survive with our lives and our hearts intact? Is there a solution? Will there ever be one that will work that doesn’t include a devastating war and the decimation of an entire people (please G-d that it won’t be us who is decimated once again)?
I have Tikva , hope, that one day things here will be peaceful, but for now I try my best to keep my head up high and not to loose hope.
Yesterday I went to my new apartment to check on our new paint job. It is so exciting to have a place of my own where I can do whatever I want with and really make my true home. The wedding is in 3 weeks and 2 days and it makes me so excited to be working on building our home together.
From the apartment I went to meet up with my cousins, the Metzgers, to drive all
the way down to Mitzpe Ramon (most of the way down to Eilat) for Lia’s graduation from Officers School. The ceremony itself was pretty standard and no that exciting, but getting to watch almost 400 young Israelis, most of them younger than me, becoming officers was a great experience. Unfortunately this country is a place where the military is a necessity and war is always on the horizon. With the reports of increasing draft dodging, knowing that there are still hundreds of soldiers who feel it is necessary to serve our country on a higher level is reassuring. The thing that touched me the most about the tekes was how emotional I still am during the singing of Hatikva, Israel’s national anthem. It has been over a year and I still tear up if not cry full out whenever the anthem is sung. The feeling was even more powerful standing in a stadium of hundreds of new officers and thousands of proud parents, siblings, a
nd friends who all are proud to be part of this place. Sometimes I feel a bit like a cheese-ball for being so emotional, but I keep reminding myself that the very existence of this country is a miracle and it is a miracle to be part of it.This morning I woke up bright and early at 5:15 to head to the airport to help welcome my friend Arielle’s flight. She is moving here by herself, going to the Israeli version of the seminary program I attended, and then going into the army as part of their program. I think she is even braver than I am and feel really proud to be her friend. This was my first time to a Nefesh B Nefesh welcoming ceremony since my own and it was wonderful to be there as a ‘veteran’. They had something really neat set up for the flight: in addition to broadcasting the whole thing live on the internet for th
e benefit of family and friends all over the world, they had the feed up on the screens in the reception hall so we could watch everyone disembarking. Arielle was one of the first off the plane so I rushed to the entrance to be able to meet her bus. When she came out I ran and gave her a huge hug and we both started sobbing. There are few people who can truly understand what it feels like to leave everything you know and love to come to a difficult place out of love and staunch ideology. It is comforting to be able to share my life experiences with such people. There are pictures of us on the arutz 7 website (link) I am the one who is hugging someone and I’m wearing a bright yellow shirt with white polka dots. We danced with some of her other friends and then went back inside for the rest of the “fesitivities”.The main attraction though was an 88 year old woman who was making Aliyah. She is a Holocaust survivor who attempted to move to Israel once before the Holocaust and then again on the Exodus. She didn’t make it either time and today she finally realized her dream of becoming an Israeli citizen. She was ceremoniously awarded her Immigrant Document to a standing ovation from a crowd of over 700 people. It was very moving and absolutely fantastic to get to be part of her finally realizing her dream.
When we stood to sing Hativka Arielle barely made it through the first 3 words before she started sobbing and I was crying silently beside her. Twice in two days I felt the powerful emotions that drew me here much stronger than usual. I was proud to be here and I shared in her joy and disbelief that she is finally an Israeli after so much time planning and waiting and wishing. This is not an easy place to be but I still believe that it is the only place to be.
Unfortunately, this afternoon there was yet more reason for crying. Our dream as expressed in the anthem “To be a free nation in our own land, the land of Zion and Jerusalem” was once again threatened. A copycat terrorist took a bulldozer from his place of work and went on another rampage in downtown Jerusalem, this time much closer to my home. Fortunatley no one was killed this time and only 1 person is considered to have been “seriously” injured. The terrorist, an Israeli ID carrying East Jerusalem resident, was killed. The second terror attack in 3 weeks of this kind makes me sad and upset and a little bit scared. I also feel frusteration and despair. On the one hand we want to make the Palestinians life as easy as possible, but on the other hand there are people who really do want to kill us. How do we survive with our lives and our hearts intact? Is there a solution? Will there ever be one that will work that doesn’t include a devastating war and the decimation of an entire people (please G-d that it won’t be us who is decimated once again)?
I have Tikva , hope, that one day things here will be peaceful, but for now I try my best to keep my head up high and not to loose hope.
Monday, July 7, 2008
I Live in a Beautiful Country 7/7/08
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.
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, 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.
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