A Foggy Week in London Town!

Once again I have been delinquent in keeping my blog updated, time has simply gotten away from me. As of today, I have less than 2 weeks left in Israel and I honestly can’t believe it, my time here has gone by so fast, it is bittersweet. Where to begin. . . as many of you may know  by now, every Tuesday my group goes on a field trip and one Tuesday in the recent past we volunteered with an organization called Leket. Leket is an organization that goes to farms around Israel  and collects the surplus produce and crops and then delivers them to soup kitchens and other social assistance programs around the country. It is a really amazing organization and it operates by the principle of “Leket”, which is one of the major Mitzvot in the Torah and it states that farmers should not harvest all of their crops and should leave a certain percentage for the poor. So, we made our way to Rehovot, just south of Tel Aviv, and we met one of the coordinators of Leket, who then told us that we would be harvesting some leftover potatoes. He also mentioned that it was actually a little bit late in the season to be harvesting potatoes so some of them might be rotten, yummy! We set out into the fields, once again, another sentence I never thought I would use to describe an activity I did, and began picking the nearly turning potatoes. I just kept telling myself that I was doing a good deed and that after that day I was going to take a bit of a break from eating potatoes. Plus we got a free t-shirt out of the whole thing, so it was totally worth it.

Also, while I was on my knees picking potato after potato and examining them to make sure they weren’t rotten, I had some extra motivation since at the end of that week, I was jetting off to London for a glorious week of sightseeing with my Mom. I had been to London before during my senior year of high school, but since I was with a school trip and we fit England, Ireland and Wales into one week, I had not had very much time to really see and experience London. I flew from Tel Aviv to London’s Luton Airport, a small, dinky place that I previously had not known existed on EasyJet, a truly, extremely budget airline, that while providing decently cheap airfare, charges you for everything from being able to board the plane first (since there are not assigned seats and the general boarding process is eerily similar to cattle herding) to the typically complimentary soda and bag of pretzels. However, the business practices of EasyJet did not matter as it safely got me from point A to point B and then I transferred to Heathrow Airport where I was waiting with a smile and open arms for Mom to come in.

I don’t think I have the patience or mental fortitude to go through every detail of our trip and I am sure that most people would get tired of reading at about Day 3 so I am going to do a “Highlight Reel” of our trip. On our first day in London, we toured St. Paul’s

View from half way up St. Paul's Cathedral

Cathedral, which has the most impressive and beautiful tile mosaic ceiling the I have ever seen and its Dome is one of the hallmarks of the London skyline. We also decided, whether foolishly, or extremely intelligently, to climb the five hundred and seventy something stairs to the very top of St. Paul’s Cathedral which provided the most breathtaking 360 degree views of the city and it also happened to be a gorgeous, sunny day, but unfortunately all photographic evidence of that view and our impressive accomplishment of climbing five hundred and seventy something stairs has been lost due to a camera malfunction. The next day we toured the UK Parliament, which, to me, being the political junkie that I am, was one of the most interesting parts of the trip. Foreigners are only allowed into the Parliament on Saturdays so we were lucky we were able to book tickets; we saw the 2 different chambers of the Parliament, the House of Lords and the House of Commons and learned

Mom and I after our tour of Parliament

all about, not only the Parliament, but the beautiful building in which it is housed. Then two friends of mine who I worked with for the 2 summers at Camp Kingswood in Maine and who live in England, Amy and Trisha, met us in London and it was so great to see them, even if only for the day. After our second day our luck apparently ran out and the weather turned from beautiful to cold and rainy, which I suppose is the usual in London. We were given a tour of the Tower of London by a true Beefeater and also saw the beautiful Crown Jewels. Then we made our way across the Thames River and took a ride on the London Eye, which was really cool, but it was pouring so the view was a bit limited due to the clouds and fog.

Then the next day it was raining once again, but we still participated in our regularly scheduled activity (rain in London is like snow in Rochester, nothing is ever cancelled); we did a really cool walking tour that took us from Picadilly Circus in the center of London, through St. James, then on to Buckingham Palace to watch changing of the

Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace

guards (which actually was an edited version due to the rain), and then we ended around Parliament and Westminster Abbey, it was a great and unique way to see the city. Even though there is tons to see in London we also wanted to see some of the other sights in England, so the next day we went to Stonehenge and Bath. Stonehenge was OK, for some reason I thought it was going to be bigger, but Bath was wonderful. Mom totally fell in love with the quaint little village where we saw the first century Roman Baths as well as a one-time residence of the the great writer, Jane Austen. We also explored the cobblestone streets and alleyways and ended up eating lunch at, what is apparently, the smallest pub in the UK. Of course, Royal Wedding Fever was still running rampant all over London, so we had to go see the place where it all happened, Westminster Abbey; the stone work in the Abbey is absolutely unparalleled,

Mom and I in front of Westminster Abbey

the ceiling has a magnificent lace pattern that is completely carved out of stone. We saw the Coronation Throne which has been used to crown the English Monarchs since the 13th Century and we were able to pretty much figure out exactly where everything happened and where everyone was sitting on the Royal Wedding Day .

Another one of our favorite experiences on our trip was the Afternoon Tea Cruise on the Thames River, it definitely made us feel like English aristocracy, although we preferred champagne to the traditional English tea. We got beautiful views of Parliament, St. Paul’s Cathedral and many other sites as we cruised along the Thames. Earlier that morning we managed to get half-priced tickets to see Billy Elliot on the West End and it was honestly worth every penny and then some. The performance was unbelievable! And finally we have arrived at our last day in London, we really, really did not want our trip to end, but we decided to spend our last day in royal style and headed out to Windsor Castle, the Royals weekend residence (because apparently Buckingham Palace, which is less than 10 miles away, is just not enough). There is definitely a more tranquil and relaxed feel about Windsor Castle, so I suppose I can see why the Royals like it, but we had a terrible tragedy occur while there, our camera had a complete meltdown and spontaneously erased 292 pictures. We tried as best we could to put that out of our minds and enjoy our tour of the castle, which we definitely did, and then Mom finally got a picture with a Royal Guard. The next morning we both reluctantly departed and returned to separate parts of the world, but it was one of the most amazing trips ever; despite the less than stellar weather and the camera malfunction, the trip far exceeded even my wildest expectations!

Finally, to quickly sum up, before leaving for London, I completed my literary review concerning doctors’ views on patients who use the internet for health information and then bring said information with them to their appointments. Upon further review and a final round of editing, it will hopefully be published with my name on it, but that is still a little ways down the road, and I will be notified if/when it does happen and where it is published. No matter what ends up happening with it, however, doing research and working with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s School of Public Health has been a very valuable experience for my ultimate career goals. I am going to sign off for now, I will try to write one last post from the Holy Land, I am leaving in less than 2 weeks and I definitely have a lot to reflect on. I hope that this finds everyone well and I will see many of you very soon!

Socialism at its finest. . . in Israel

I apologize that I have been so lax about updating my blog, unfortunately, I have had neither the time nor the motivation to write recently. I have been on the go non-stop which in many ways is a great thing, but at the end of the day I am left with little creative energy. To begin approximately where I left off the last post, about a month ago now, I had the pleasure of meeting up with a delegation of congregants from Temple Israel of New Rochelle who were visiting Israel with our Rabbi, Rabbi Weiner. We met at the Reform Synagogue, Kol Haneshama, that happens to be down the street and around the corner from my apartment, for Friday night Shabbat services and they were lovely. The tunes of the prayers were slightly different than what I am used to, but in the end, all the prayers are the same the world over, so there was still a definite sense of home and familiarity. I have been back to Kol Haneshama many times since for Friday night services, it is a really special and welcoming community, which is comforting in a place that can sometimes feel so far away from home. Following Friday night services, I joined the Temple Israel group for a Shabbat dinner at their hotel in Jerusalem and let me tell you, it was far better than anything I usually make for Shabbat, plus it was really nice to be surrounded by familiar faces.

A couple weekends after seeing the group from Temple Israel of New Rochelle, my group spent a weekend at Kibbutz Ketura in the Negev Desert, which is in the southern part of Israel. The land of modern Israel was largely developed by kibbutzim, which are socialist farms founded by the first Eastern European immigrants to Israel in the early twentieth century and which helped to cultivate the formerly dry, rocky and arid land into lush and productive farmland; they basically helped establish Israel’s agricultural economy. All those who are members of a kibbutz, which means they have a stake in and work in some capacity on the kibbutz, also live there, so in essence, a kibbutz is an all-inclusive community. As one of the members of the Kibbutz that I visited put it, I have over 300 family members, and if you thought gossip spread quickly in your Jewish community, just imagine what happens when you all live together. Kibbutz Ketura is located about 45 minutes north of Eilat, the southern most point in Israel and is one of the few truly socialist kibbutzim still left in Israel. And when I say truly socialist, I mean they actually share everything, there is one bank account and each member uses what they need, the children are all educated on the kibbutz,  and each member has a specific responsibility on the Kibbutz whether it is showering the cows on the dairy farm at 2am or harvesting the dates from their date palm field. Naively, I didn’t believe that places like that actually still existed, but let me say, I absolutely loved the weekend I spent there. Everyone was so kind and clearly very dedicated to their community, it was inspiring. I don’t think I could ever live there, but being able to spend a few days there was a really special experience.

When we arrived at Kibbutz Ketura on Thursday afternoon, our first scheduled activity was what they called the “Desert Arts Workshop”, during which we had a choice of doing “Desert Rock Sculpture”, “Desert Decoupage” (a.k.a paper mache), “Desert Dance Workshop” or a “short” hike. As much as stacking rocks or dipping strips of napkins into glue and wrapping it around a rock or flower pot or something sounded wonderfully appealing and while, yes, my dancing talents are quite spectacular, I decided to go on the “short” hike. The amount of time allotted for these activities was an hour and a half, after which we were supposed to have free time at the pool (which in the desert is a major commodity), so I figured an hour and a half  hike would be more like a nature walk, an assumption which was perpetuated by the coordinator of our visit at Kibbutz Ketura, who assured us that the hike was not very difficult at all. Did I mention we were in the desert? It was about 100 degrees when we set out on our hike, I only brought a small bottle of water since I thought we would be back from our “short” hike in no time. After a near-death experience which involved traversing a stretch of very steep and very loose, rocky

As we began the ascent on our "short" hike.

terrain, I realized that this hike was not going to be exactly what we had expected. Again, in case you missed it, it was really hot and by the time I had finished the uphill portion of the hike, my water bottle was already dry. However, when we did reach the top of the ridge situated behind the Kibbutz (this was already past the hour and a half mark) the view was absolutely breathtaking; from where we stood we looked across at the Red Mountain range of Jordan and as the sun began to set the view became even more beautiful. I was standing on top of this ridge, the desert wind blowing around me, and there was nothing between me and the mountains of Jordan, and although I was standing on solid ground, the view was so expansive and

The view on our hike of the Red Mountains of Jordan.

surreal that I almost felt like I was suspended there. Three hours and 4 miles later, we completed the hike just as the sun was setting, I was beyond tired, spent and dehydrated, but besides the slight discrepancy between what I thought the hike was going to be and what it actually was, the views, the landscape and that great feeling of accomplishment and exertion you get after completing something like that, were totally worth it.

The rest of that night we hung out by the pool where we had a barbeque and were able to ask one of the kibbutz members questions about what life was really like there. The best part was, the next morning we woke up at 4:45am to go on another hike!! We had to wake up so early so that we could make sure that we were hiking during one of the cooler parts of the day, if we had started hiking any later, it would have been well over 100 degrees by the time we finished. That morning, we went hiking in the Red Canyon and as we were driving to the beginning of the trail we traveled along the border with Egypt, which was pretty cool to see, although it was far less impressive that I had imagined, the border was a three foot high fence with a single strip of barbed wire. Anyway, the Red Canyon was

Hiking through the Red Canyon.

formed by an ancient river that carved really cool rock formations out of the red sandstone and limestone in the region. The hiking trail actually followed the old river bed, so we were walking on sand the whole time and we even hiked up and over an old waterfall. At some points the trail disappeared and we had to descend rock faces using metal rungs that had been nailed into the rock, it was pretty cool, although, I was far more impressed with the views of the hike the day before. And don’t worry, I was sure to regale my fellow hikers with some interesting facts about the rock formations and the sand thanks to the priceless geology knowledge I learned during my time as a Geology 101 teaching assistant in college.

After finishing our hike and eating a quick breakfast, we were given some free time in Eilat, the southernmost point in Israel known for its coral reef, scuba diving and the resorts located there. A bunch of us decided to just go lay on the beach, but we ended up spending most of our time in the waters of the Red Sea since it was well over 100 degrees and at one point while sitting on the beach I felt like I was slow-roasting. I am proud to announce that I have completed the extremely sought after accomplishment of swimming in every major body of water in Israel, it was really hard and I would like to thank all

Eilat

those who helped make it possible. The water of the Red Sea is the most beautiful color blue and while you are swimming you can look to one side and see Jordan and then to the other side and see Egypt, it was really awesome. We eventually made it back to the Kibbutz where we spent some more free time at the pool (during the day time, if you are not submerged in some kind of water, the heat is almost unbearable) and then began preparations for Shabbat. The Shabbat services on Kibbutz Ketura, which is a pluralistic kibbutz, were almost exactly like the services at Camp Kingswood which, of course, made me so happy (although, sadly, we didn’t finish with the Backstreet Boys’ version of Adon Olam). During Shabbat, we were given a tour of the Kibbutz and learned about some of the inner workings of the governmental body there; we also saw their dairy farm, their algae production operation and their date palm orchard which are the main sources of income for the Kibbutz. It was so interesting and again, like so many other experiences I have had here so far, it was unlike anything else I have ever done. I was sad to see the weekend end, it was just the relaxation and rejuvenation I had needed, but, alas, we returned to Jerusalem and to the daily grind. So much more has happened since, but I’m afraid I am going to have to call it quits for today. In the next installment, I’ll talk about why I have decided to take a break from eating potatoes for a while, the progress I have made on becoming a published “scholar” (I use that term loosely) and my trip to London!!! I hope everyone is enjoying summer

Remembrance and Celebration

Much of my blog has been a somewhat comedic discussion of certain social idiosyncrasies that I have come to know and love since living here, all of the funny and sort of crazy ways that make Israelis unique. Most of the quirks that I have talked about have had something to do with Israelis being bolder and more impetuous than I am used to, but over the past 10 days I have seen a whole other side of Israeli society. I have realized that the amusing and distinctive characteristics that I have mentioned in my previous posts only scratch the surface and that below the surface there is an unbelievable conviction to remember and to honor everyone and everything that have perpetuated the survival of Israel. And why, you ask, have I discovered this in the past 10 days? Well, during the first 2 weeks of the month of May there are 3 major Israeli holidays: Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), Yom Hazikaron (Memorial Day for Soldiers and Victims of Terror) and Yom Ha’atzmaut (Independence Day). Being here for all of these special days was a truly touching and amazing experience.

One of the reasons for the establishment of the state of Israel was to offer a safe haven to Jews from Europe affected by the Holocaust,  and so, on Yom Hashoah we remember the 6 million lost and, with that, vow to never let anything like the Holocaust happen again. At 10:00am there was a nationwide siren during which everyone stopped what they were doing and stood in silence, and I mean everyone; even drivers stopped their cars, buses, motorcycles and stood in the middle of the street. There was also a memorial ceremony on Mount Herzl, where Yad Vashem is located, during which the Prime Minister spoke

The View from Mount Herzl

and 6 torches were lit to commemorate the 6 million who perished. On that day, I felt like we were not only remembering those lost, but also honoring those who survived and helped build the nation of Israel. As time passes, the direct effect of the Holocaust is felt by fewer and fewer families in Israel, but, since Israel is such a young country and has had to almost continuously defend itself and it’s existence against its neighbors, almost everyone here knows someone who died in battle or as a result of a terrorist attack. And it is for that reason that Yom Hazikaron, falling one week after Yom Hashoah, is such a somber and respected day; it is on this day that families visit the military cemeteries and the graves of those whose lives were cut short by enemies and terrorists, memorial services are held throughout the country and again there are 2 sirens during which everyone stops and observes a moment of silence.

The WUJS program falls under the auspices of MASA, an organization that enables thousands of young Jews from around the world to come on long term programs to Israel, and for Yom Hazikaron MASA hosted a tecces (memorial service) to which we were invited. To begin our Yom Hazikaron, the thousands of current MASA program participants gathered on Ammunition Hill, the site of one of the battles against Jordan during 1967 that allowed Israel to re-capture Jerusalem. MASA chose only 7 individuals who either died in action or in a terrorist attack to honor that night, all of whom were either from somewhere outside Israel and had made Aliyah or were in some way involved with MASA, but it was still very moving. Something that the mother of one of the victims said really stuck with me; she was speaking about what she feels her obligation to her son is now that he is gone, and she said that she doesn’t necessarily need to talk about him all the time, but rather help to create a society and country worth his sacrifice. It was special, touching and really unlike anything I had ever experienced. The idea of knowing one, two, or more people, peers, family members or friends that were lost in action or in a terrorist attack is so far beyond my reality, it is difficult for me to even comprehend. For Israelis, sadly, it is almost an inevitability, and it is for this reason that I, a foreigner looking from the outside in, believe that Israelis are not only a remarkably resilient people, but take such pains to remember.

And then, as the sun set over Israel, we transitioned from the solemn Day of Remembrance to the joyous Independence Day. While the switch from mourning to celebration is surely a difficult one, it actually makes sense. On Yom Hazikaron we remember those who lost their lives and on Yom Ha’Atzmaut we commemorate what

Celebrating Independence Day!

they lost their lives for. In the States we have the 4th of July, but believe me when I say, it pails in comparison to Yom Ha’atzmaut. As a way of remembering all that has been lost during Israel’s continuous fight for survival, Israelis exuberantly celebrate what still remains: their nation. The pride that Israelis have in their country is inspiring!

Once Yom Hazikaron ended, the streets of Jerusalem filled with people, everywhere you turned they were dancing, singing, chanting and waving the Israeli flag. Throughout the center of Jerusalem there were performances, countless parties and a fireworks display. Israelis, young and old, celebrated together. Trying to negotiate our way through the throngs of people was insane, but totally worth it to be a part of this amazing night. The next day was a time for barbeques and picnics in the park; the WUJS group was invited to a barbeque hosted by one of the former participants and we grilled, talked and hung out in the sun all day, it was really fun. Honestly, my words cannot

A crowd on Ben Yehuda Street dancing and waving Israeli flags!

adequately convey the feeling one has during Yom Hazikaron and Yom Ha’aztmaut, it is a mixture of incomprehension, tragedy, triumph, and strength, I am just so happy that I was able to be a part of it. Happy 63rd, Israel!

I was so caught up and inspired by Yom Hashoah, Yom Hazikaron and Yom Ha’atzmaut that I completely skipped our trip to Hof Habonim and Zikron Yaacov. Hof Habonim is a beautiful nature reserve that runs along the coast south of Haifa and so, we started our day by doing a beautiful nature walk along the Mediterranean, the water was the most amazing color blue! Once we left Hof Habonim, we went to Zikron Yaacov, an inland town that was cultivated and built up by the Rothschild family, the town’s name actually means “memory of Jacob”, in honor of Baron Edmund de Rothschild’s father, Jacob. Zikron Yaacov was different that any other place I have seen in Israel, it sort of reminded me of a slightly funky, chill and quaint town in California somewhere. The houses weren’t typical Israeli houses and it has a really cool cobblestone main street lined with cute shops and cafes. It also has a thriving wine business, with one of the main wineries in the area, Tishbi, located there. After a quick lunch in town, we headed to Tishbi winery for a tour and tasting, it was delicious . The day was beautiful, sunny and relaxing (which may or may not have been partially the result of the wine) and was just what I had needed! Finally, that is all for now. . .this weekend we are going to the beach in Tel Aviv and then next weekend we will be going to a Kibbutz in the Negev, so I will have lot of fun and exciting things to report!! I hope everyone is well and congratulations to University of Rochester Class of 2011, I can’t believe it has already been a year!

The amazingly blue water of the Mediterranean at Hof Habonim

When it rains, it pours. . . in Israel

So apparently 85 degrees and sunny is not quite warm enough to warrant turning on the air conditioner on the bus, I feel like I have been slow roasted like a chicken or something. I now understand why dogs like to stick their heads out of the car window when it’s moving. Anyway, on the way to work this morning, when we hit a little bit of traffic, the bus drove down the middle of the 2 lanes on our side of the road, this way the driver was ready to jump into whichever lane started to move more quickly, again, this is a practice that is decidedly Israeli. I can’t say that it is a dumb idea though, it happens in the supermarket also, customers don’t quite stand in one line, they stand in between two lines to see which line is moving faster, then jump into that one. It is actually kind of brilliant and I bet it saves MINUTES from people’s commutes and shopping trips. Additionally, I have been noticing that there are more student drivers on the road in Israel than I have seen anywhere else; I would love to hear/see what goes on within a student driving lesson in Israel. The way I imagine it is, Instructor: The car in front of you is not moving quickly enough, OK, lay on the horn for about 30 seconds and then I’m sure they’ll move, Instructor: You are backing out of a driveway and you see that there are cars coming, it’s OK, back out anyway, the cars will most likely stop, Instructor: Your lane is blocked by a stalled car, that’s OK, go around, that’s what the median is for. I am almost positive that this is not actually the way driving lessons go in Israel, but the bottom line is that driving here is not easy.

I left off my last post right before our trip to the North; the Wednesday after the Passover Seder the program I am on (WUJS) organized a hike in the North of Israel, near the city of Tiberias which lies on the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee). The hike was called Arbel and it was not so much a hike, as a walk with a bit of climbing and hiking thrown in every

View of the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) from the top of Mount Arbel

so often. But, whatever the hike lacked in difficulty it made up for in unbelievable views. Lately, Israel has been getting quite a bit of rain, which, for this time of year, is both uncharacteristic and annoying, but because of that, the landscape was still very lush, green and blooming with all sorts of flowers. At first, we walked along the summit of the mountain where we had a 360 degree view of the Kinneret and all the surrounding land and then we began our climb down (doesn’t sound like much of a hike, does it?). But it was actually really cool, we had to climb down these make-shift ladders made out of metal clips that were implanted in the side of the mountain, we were literally hanging off the side of a rock face and again the view was amazing! We eventually finished our hike/walk and then got some free time at a beach at the Kinneret, which in theory would have been the perfect end to the day, but we encountered a little hiccup in our plan. It turned out that the beach we went

On my way down the make-shift ladders on the side of the mountain

to had been rented out by Israel’s largest bread bakery for their Employee Appreciation Day (since there isn’t much bread baking going on during Passover, ironic, isn’t it) and let’s just say we stuck out.

Following our group hike, two of my friends from the program and I decided to stay the night in Tiberias, which I would describe as a Jewish Atlantic City, complete with the kitschy boardwalk and not much else. Then, early the next morning, we made our way from Tiberias, on the Kinneret, to Haifa which lies on the shores of the Mediterranean. Haifa is one of the largest, if not the largest, port in Israel and it is a really interesting city. The center of Haifa is built on a mountain, called Mount Carmel, which boasts Israel’s only subway system, 6 WHOLE STOPS! The city is a really cool mix of industrial, artsy, religious and secular, plus it has some really great beaches (which, of course, we didn’t get to experience on this trip since it was raining the whole time). After dropping off our stuff in the hostel, which was located in the industrial Port area, we decided to go to the Clandestine Immigration and Naval Museum, which despite its name, was super interesting. Following World War II, Israel was still under British control and there was a limit on the number of Jews that were allowed to immigrate, so Haifa was a hub of secret immigration missions from various points in Europe. They managed to sneak many Jews into what was then Palestine, but many of the clandestine immigration ships got caught by the British Navy and the passengers were sent to refugee camps in Cyprus until it could be decided whether or not to let them into Israel. We not only learned about all that, but we also learned about the origins of the Israeli Navy and the role that it has played in many of Israel’s most monumental battles. As an added bonus, there was a decommissioned submarine and Israeli warship that we were able to explore and we tried to imagine what it would have been like to have been on them during action; the sleeping arrangements were a challenge to say the least, there were cots suspended from the ceiling with chains and there were three stacked on top of each other, oy.

Haifa is also the home of the Bahai Gardens, which are one of the holy sites for members of the Bahai faith. Bahai is a world religion and its followers go on pilgrimage to the gardens in Haifa, as well as volunteer to maintain the gardens year round. No matter what time of the year you visit the Bahai Gardens,

Looking from the top of the Bahai Gardens down toward the Port of Haifa

they are always perfect, pristine and beautifully in bloom. Plus, they consist of about 20 or so tiers that are built directly into the side of Mount Carmel, they are truly amazing. On a side note, the first night in our hostel we were in a fantastic private room, but for our second night we had to move to a mixed dormitory style room, which was less than pleasant. Look, I have stayed in dormitory type hostel rooms before and it wasn’t so bad, but in this particular situation we were in a room of 10 with a bunch of old German people who smelled like feet. They are called Youth Hostels for a reason, and if you are passed even the farthest reaches of “youth”, you should not be staying in a dormitory with actual youths. After that lovely night, we made our way back to Jerusalem for the rest of our Passover break.

Since returning from Haifa, I have had some really “interesting” experiences. I found out that someone somehow stole my credit card number and charged thousands of dollars in Dubai. So I have had an epic, still unfinished battle with my bank about getting a new card sent to Israel and incidentally when I asked the woman at my bank headquarters why I had not received an alert of some kind about my credit card being used in Dubai, she responded, “Well, it is still in the Middle East region”. Right, of course, I’m just going to run across the street to Dubai, charge a couple thousand dollars and then head back over to Israel, sounds realistic. Anyway, for the most part that has been taken care of, and since then I have returned to work at Hebrew University. But, on my second day back at work I started to not feel so well, fast forward through Shabbat to the doctor’s office on Sunday and I managed to get bronchitis in Israel! Fun times. But, that has also been pretty much taken care of, I am feeling much better, and once again I am back at work where I have been assigned 2 new research projects on which I will actually be listed as a co-author!! That is all for now, I suppose, even though every time I finish a post, I realize how much more I still want to tell everyone about, but once again, it will have to wait until the next installment. I hope everyone is enjoying the end of school and the beginning of summer

Jerusalem. . . if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere

There are only two cities in the world that I can say I have truly fallen in love with, New York and Jerusalem. I can’t tell you exactly why or what I love about each city, it is just a feeling I get every time I cross the bridge from the Bronx into Manhattan and every time the bus, sherut or car I am in begins the climb through the mountains towards Jerusalem. And each city is completely unique; there is no other place in the world like either of them. Just this morning while waiting for my bus to work, I saw a Priest driving a Mercedes, followed by a stately looking Arab man with his wife and then a car full of Hasidic men bringing up the rear, the everyday contrasts here are almost unbelievable.

Over the past 2 weeks I have had the privilege and adventure of experiencing a number of different ways of life and areas of Israel; I saw the way our forefathers lived during the time of the Bible, I saw how people live in a fairly isolated kibbutz community in present day Israel and I visited the major metropolitan and maritime center of the north, Haifa, Israel. I also started my long awaited internship at the Hebrew University’s School of Public Health (I know some of you were beginning to think it wasn’t real). With each experience, I had a certain set of expectations, all of which were completely turned on their heads, nothing was what I expected, many times for the better and a few times for the worse.

In an attempt to preserve the accuracy and dignity of my account, I will retell the events in the order in which they really happened. So, I will start with my internship (Finally!) One of the main reasons I came to Israel was the chance to pursue my chosen field in one of my favorite places in the world. I am working with a professor at the Hebrew University’s Braun School of Public Health who is conducting research on the use of the internet among Israeli adolescents, both Jewish and Arab, for obtaining health information and how such information affects the patient’s relationship with their physician as well as drug and alcohol abuse in Israel. My first day was a Sunday, which is the Israeli Monday (very weird, I know. . . I still haven’t gotten used to it) and I traveled from my apartment in Baka on the zig-zagging 45 minute bus ride to Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital. I passed the Chagall Windows and eventually found my way through the bustling hospital to the School of Public Health. The professor I am working for wasted no time getting me involved in the work they are doing. With an impending deadline for a research proposal that they hadn’t even started, I was thrown onto the front lines of the hard core world of academic research; well, that might be taking it a little far, but, anyway, I was given a stack of scholarly articles and told to read each one and then write a mini-research paper summarizing everything. I felt like I was in college again, and although I miss the University of Rochester dearly, I was not so thrilled. Long story short, I submitted my report to the professor and he decided to use it in his research proposal, so within my first 3 days I was sort of published!! I am not going to sugar coat it, it was pretty boring, but I have already gained experience that the usual Masters student who is may age wouldn’t have, which is great and hopefully a sign of more things to come.

Trying to get the last sheep in with the herd

The talented shepherds of WUJS!

Although I am very much enjoying working in a hospital environment and gaining hands-on public health experience, I have decided that my true calling in life is to be a shepherd. Every Tuesday, the program that I am on organizes a field trip to a different site in Israel and the Tuesday before Pesach we went to a magical place called Neot Kedumim (literally translates to Ancient Landscape). Neot Kedumim is a nature reserve in Israel where the land has been made to look exactly as it would have looked during Biblical times, apparently all of the plant life (shrubbery, grasses, flowers, etc.) and the animal life is the same as when our ancestors were in Israel all those years ago (doesn’t it sound thrilling already). We, of course, began our adventure with a stimulating team building game involving a hula hoop and then moved onto a trust exercise in which one person was blindfolded and the other person had to give them accurate directions in order to get a bucket into a well (I was not overly impressed or engaged after these two activities). The true magic began as we entered the goat/sheep pasture. I had my doubts, I thought it was going to be really stupid, but I haven’t laughed so hard in a very long time. We discovered that herding goats/sheep takes a certain amount of finesse, 2 sticks to bang and make noise and a very loud and alarming voice; within our lovely WUJS group we found that we not only have 2 shepherding prodigies, but a goat/sheep whisperer, Jacob, who would get the sheep and goats to move by softly singing to them. I can honestly say that I never thought I would ever herd goats or sheep, but it ended up being a super fun and hilarious experience. Finally, our trip to Neot Kedumim concluded with the making of a Biblical meal. I put my vast camp experience to good use and helped to build a fire over which we baked fresh pita, it was a delicious way to end our Biblical day!

After only 3 short days of my internship, the Hebrew University began its spring/Passover break so I was “forced” to have 2 weeks of vacation (it’s a very hard life). During that time, I traveled to a number of different places in the North of Israel, including a kibbutz in the Gilboa Mountains for the Passover Seder. There are two really fantastic things about celebrating passover in Israel, they only have one Seder and the whole entire grocery store and many restaurants become kosher! Anyway, the Seder I attended was at the home of a friend’s uncle and it was unlike any that I had ever been to. The family has this tradition that each member prepares something, whether it be a poem, song, skit or even a game, to do during the Seder at a point that is particularly meaningful to them; it made the Seder more personal and I thought it was a very special practice. Additionally, since the kibbutz on which the uncle lives is a religious one, there were no electronics during that first day of Passover which was difficult for me but also really appropriate and even refreshing since, although we are not literally slaves anymore, it can sometimes feel like we are enslaved to our routines, our jobs and all the the electronics that keep us constantly connected. Once the sun set in the Gilboa mountains, I made my way back to Jerusalem, but it was a Seder that I won’t soon forget.

In the interest of not putting everyone to sleep from reading this epic, I am going to save my hike in the North of Israel and my trip to Haifa for the next time. I hope everyone had a great Passover and that this post finds you well

Some of the WUJS group on our trip to the Biblical Landscape!

ברוכים הבאים לירושלים – Welcome to Jerusalem!

The view from our neighborhood looking toward the Old City.

So, I have already been here for almost 5 weeks and I truly apologize for not keeping a better blog or any blog at that. Most of my days are so super packed that when I have a free minute, I have absolutely no motivation to write. Anyway, it is early evening Saturday and right now I am sitting in the courtyard of my apartment building, the sun has just sunk below our building so there is a pleasant breeze and it is the perfect place to try and recount the last 4 weeks. To start, I would like to impart a few nuggets of wisdom I have learned about Israel since living here. Israel is a major public transportation country and its bus system is great, but its drivers can be insane. I have come to realize that road markings, sidewalks, curbs and speed limits are pretty much meaningless to drivers here. The taxi I just took back from the Israel Museum drove almost entirely in the opposite lane for much of the way back because the traffic on our side was going far to slowly for his taste; if a car is blocking the road, the traffic behind it will just use the curb/sidewalk as an extra lane, no big deal. In that same vein, however, most Israelis on the bus are very nice, talkative and will always give up their seats to the elderly, mothers with infants and those that are injured. Since I am a born and bred New Yorker, I have an instinct to J-walk whenever walking, but that is a big no-no here, not only do police give out tickets for doing so, if drivers see a pedestrian crossing the road when they shouldn’t be, their engines rev and it seems as though they speed up in order to try to hit them, like it’s a game, I think I would be worth about 1000 points. Also, Israel really likes Rihanna. . . I don’t personally know any Israelis that are obsessed with Rihanna, but there is a very prominent “Rihanna culture” here. During a typical night at a club, at least 5 of her songs play within a 2 hour period and while I was in Tel Aviv, there was a Top 20 Countdown of just Rihanna songs on Israeli MTV. Obviously all of these “nuggets of wisdom” are based on my own amateur observations, and aren’t cold, hard facts but these slightly humorous cultural nuances are part of what have made my first month here so amazing, challenging, hilarious, and interesting.

Ok, now for a somewhat quick synopsis of what I have been doing over the past 4 weeks. I live in a great neighborhood in southeast Jerusalem called Baka (or Ge’ulim in Hebrew), which is really family oriented and full of English speakers (I want to practice my Hebrew, but I tend to hear more English than Hebrew in the neighborhood). It is really safe and it borders the German Colony, where there is a really great, main street called Emek Refaim which is lined with shops, restaurants and stores (but again, full of English speakers). We are also pretty much within walking distance of the Old City and the center of Jerusalem (by “pretty much” I mean it is about a 45 minute walk). I share a 3 bedroom apartment with 3 other girls and everything is working out really well in terms of the living situation.

The first week we were here was orientation and it was extremely packed; we had countless meetings and icebreakers as well as an unbelievable hike in the North. We

The view from the mountain we hiked in the Golan

made our way 3 hours north of Jerusalem to an area of Israel known as the Golan Heights; it borders Syria and it is the most fertile land in Israel. There are many Kibbutzim in the Golan Heights, which are communal farms that were set up by some of the first European immigrants to, what was then, Palestine, and which were founded on the principles of socialism. We were really lucky to have gone to the Golan Heights when we did because it was breathtakingly green and there were flowers and trees in bloom everywhere; in a month or so it will be so hot that most everything will turn yellow. Besides the hike, my favorite part about the first week was celebrating Purim, you have never truly celebrated Purim until you have done so in Israel. On Purim, one is supposed to drink until they cannot tell the difference between Mordecai and Haman (between good and evil), and Israelis take that command really seriously. But beyond that, the air in Israel during the festival of Purim is absolutely electric! The first night my group and I celebrated in Tel Aviv and then the next night we celebrated in Jerusalem and everyone dressed up, I dressed up as a mouse (but not a blind mouse, shout out to Mouse 1 and 2). What also really struck me when celebrating in Jerusalem was the Megillah reading I heard; back story: a few of my friends from my program and I went to a party at someone’s apartment that we heard about through a friend, we were the first ones to arrive and we didn’t know anyone so it started out really awkwardly, but it exponentially improved with the arrival of more people and the opening of more wine. When hearing the Megillah, one is supposed to make noise to drown out Haman and people have made this ritual into a sport, everyone has their own proven method of how to most effectively make such noise, ranging from screaming “No me gusta” to barking like a dog to banging cabinets, it was both fascinating and so much fun!

Let’s see, since that first week we have had daily Ulpan sessions (Hebrew classes) in the mornings and then seminars and field trips in the afternoon. Although the 9am Ulpan classes could be trying at times, my Hebrew has really, really improved, I can have conversations with taxi drivers about their children and grand children, give directions, order a bagel with cream cheese and countless other things that help me in everyday life here. Most of our afternoon seminars have also been really interesting; we have this amazing Judaism teacher who we first met on a fast day before Purim, she hadn’t eaten all day and she still gave the most invigorating, inspirational and entertaining lecture about the story and meaning behind Purim, I couldn’t wait to see her lecture with food in her. We had a crash course on the Israeli political system, which I, of course, find endlessly interesting, as well as a session on the Oslo Peace Process (featuring the one and only Bill Clinton) and the 2nd Intifada which was intense and sad. It was also disappointing to learn about how apparently close they came to a “peace” agreement which then completely fell apart. We also went to the Machane Yehuda market, known in Jerusalem as just the Shuk, which is a maze of booths, stalls and shops selling everything from housewares, to fresh vegetables and fruits, to baked goods, to homemade pasta and even clothing; it is much less expensive than normal grocery stores so it is a good place to stock up, especially on fresh produce.

After three weeks of Ulpan and educational seminars, it finally came time for our pseudo graduation from Ulpan. I was in Class A, the lowest level of Ulpan (but proud of it!!). During our class time we translated a song by a singer who seems like the Israeli Michael Bolton or something, which turned out to be a depressing, cheesy and infectious song about lost love. So our teacher, in her infinite wisdom, decided we would perform said song in front of everyone at our “graduation” party. It was a wild success and our class is now regarded as highly renown performers amongst the WUJS group , I also have a video of the performance, but am still not sure whether to release it to the public for fear of humiliation. At this point, it is time for me to bid farewell for now, it seems as though I have written somewhat of a novel as my first blog post. The start of my internship, Passover and the reason behind my decision to change my career aspirations to becoming a shepherd are all still to come! I hope this post finds everyone well!!

Some lovely WUJS ladies before a tour of the Old City