I've said before, one of the interesting things about Israel is the lack of lines. At shops, kiosks and many similar places lines just do not exist. It's the person closest to the shop keeper that gets served first. One place I thought this would be different were stores that have clearly defined registers and lanes. Alas, this is not so.
I've heard it from other people, but I had never experienced the lack of a line in a grocery store. This morning while I was at Mister Zol (Mister Cheap), there were a lot of people shopping because there is another holiday tonight and I think stores are closed tomorrow. I fight my way through the store, gathering all of my groceries and then get towards the front of the store. Apparently leaving a cart in line marks your spot enough to go get more things and return to have moved up in line.
As I approached the line, the woman in the line next to me pointed out that the abandoned cart actually had an owner who would be returning. Since my "on the spot" vocabulary is not that great, I didn't know how to explain to this woman that I understood what she was saying and that the owner could have their spot if they returned before the belt was cleared so I could put my stuff down. I responded with, "okay." Apparently this is not the appropriate response and I got a great eye-roll and look from this woman.
When the "owner" returned to her place in line, I of course let her have her place in line. This was when she realized that she had forgotten something else and told me that I could move in front of her and she would return. I guess this was her saying that I needed to guard her place. I told her that I wasn't the last in line and that she would need to talk to the person after me (I was able to explain this in Hebrew on the spot).
My purchase was finished and I was putting my groceries in my bag when the woman returned. Surprising to her, the customer after me had started unloading her groceries and a man had moved in with his few items behind her. The first customer (the woman that let me go in front of her) was upset and had a brief, frustrated discussion with this man. In disgust she moved in behind him.
This is so strange to me and probably is to people back in the USA. Apparently the man's decision to move forward is a faux pas, even in a place with distinct lines. I'm getting better at this culture, but there are still some things that just don't make sense to me.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
HaFalafeliyya
About a 2 minute walk from my apartment there is this little falafel shop that I've been grabbing food at since the first day I got to Israel. The first thing I like about this spot is that the owner works there almost every day. I see him sitting talking to customers, reading his paper, prepping everything. There seem to be only two or three other employees that I see working there on a regular basis. He's really friendly and almost always makes fresh falafel for you.
If I needed to rank the falafel here, I can't rank it as the best I've had, but it's really good food and you can't be the location in relation to my place. The falafel is seasoned really well. There is something spicy to the falafel itself. When you add to that the spicy sauce that I always add, it's the right level of heat for me.
The hummus is standard and the chips are pretty good as a topper. They're the best when they're fresh out of the fryer. On the whole, I'd say the falafel here is solid, but not incredible. You really can't beat the location for me and the atmosphere is very neighborhood-ish. They also added a clever sukkah for the holiday that's going on right now. Just another testament to the owner.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
HUC Campus
Since very few of my family and friends will be able to actually visit HUC while I'm here, I thought I'd give you a virtual tour of campus. I didn't take a lot of pictures inside buildings since they're pretty standard rooms. Join me on a walk through HUC-JIR Jerusalem.
On my way to school, I come to King David, this is HUC from across the street.
Looking up the stairs is the Administration Building. To your left, after the first staircase, is an entrance that is only open when services are open to the public.
If you go in through the synagogue entrance, you walk into the back of the Mustein Synagogue.
Leaving the Administration building there are some stairs that take you down to the main courtyard. Across the courtyard on the right is the Abramov Library, straight ahead is the Archeology Building and in between the two the Skirball Museum. Follow the video into the courtyard.
This is the main courtyard, after you go down the stairs towards our library, this is our view.
From the museum you walk down a long hallway towards the academic courtyard where the majority of the classrooms and offices for our professors are.
On the left and right are the rooms. You can see a pretty nice fountain in the middle. When the weather was nicer they had water flowing through it.
From the left of the picture, there is a staircase that takes you down to what they call the student's courtyard. It's a nice spot that most of us sit in our shorter breaks.
On the right side in the student's courtyard is the Moadon, the cafe and all purpose room that we use all the time. The courtyard is really nice though.
To get to this spot, you have to walk a decent way up from the Student's Courtyard and head towards the main courtyard. Instead of going back up to the Administration building though, take a right and you find yourself in another little garden behind the Admin Building.
From that garden, you take these steps back up. You can see the Admin Building towards the back of the picture.
That about does it for campus. I hope that's enough so you can get a feel for what the place is like.
I hope you liked school!
On my way to school, I come to King David, this is HUC from across the street.
Looking up the stairs is the Administration Building. To your left, after the first staircase, is an entrance that is only open when services are open to the public.
If you go in through the synagogue entrance, you walk into the back of the Mustein Synagogue.
Leaving the Administration building there are some stairs that take you down to the main courtyard. Across the courtyard on the right is the Abramov Library, straight ahead is the Archeology Building and in between the two the Skirball Museum. Follow the video into the courtyard.
This is the main courtyard, after you go down the stairs towards our library, this is our view.
From the museum you walk down a long hallway towards the academic courtyard where the majority of the classrooms and offices for our professors are.
On the left and right are the rooms. You can see a pretty nice fountain in the middle. When the weather was nicer they had water flowing through it.
From the left of the picture, there is a staircase that takes you down to what they call the student's courtyard. It's a nice spot that most of us sit in our shorter breaks.
On the right side in the student's courtyard is the Moadon, the cafe and all purpose room that we use all the time. The courtyard is really nice though.
To get to this spot, you have to walk a decent way up from the Student's Courtyard and head towards the main courtyard. Instead of going back up to the Administration building though, take a right and you find yourself in another little garden behind the Admin Building.
From that garden, you take these steps back up. You can see the Admin Building towards the back of the picture.
That about does it for campus. I hope that's enough so you can get a feel for what the place is like.
I hope you liked school!
Saturday, September 25, 2010
A Scooter Ride & Matkot - מטקות
Friday was a great day! I got up early in the morning to clean up a bit and get ready to head up to Tel Aviv. I was really excited to meet up with a friend that I had met while on Taglit that I hadn't seen since 2007. I caught a ride with some friends who were heading up to Tel Aviv to chill on the beach and spend some of their break from there.
The ride was great and on the way, I called my friend. Instead of heading to the beach we went to last time we were in Tel Aviv, she suggested one short distance away. We picked up a Sheirut that took us to a point a few blocks away from the beach.
After chilling for a while she arrived and it was great playing catch up for a "few" (read, "four-and-a-half") hours. Not only was it a lot of fun to catch up with her and meet her boyfriend, who was a lot of fun too, I finally got a chance to play that paddle game that Israelis seem to always be playing on the beach.
Matkot is a lot of fun. The ball doesn't react the way that you would think it does, which makes the game a little harder than you would expect. I loved playing this game. Here are the rules;
1) Stand a few feet away from each other.
2) Hit the ball.
3) Wait for your partner to hit the ball back.
4) Hit it back to your friend.
5) Try to keep a good rally going.
6) The winners are anyone playing!
I need to find a set of these Matkot and bring them home. It's really a great game and you can make it a lot harder if you want to add some finesse or stand further apart.
I was heading back to Jerusalem and she offered to give me a ride on her motorcycle to the Central Bus Station. Even though I had watched these things whip around the city, I graciously took her offer. Now I know why so many Israelis use these things.
Aside from the fact that they are a lot cheeper than a car, and use less gas. In Israel, the scooters don't really need to follow all of the traffic laws. For example, they can squeeze between two cars and make their way to the front of the stoplight. It was also pretty fun riding. Even though I was wearing a helmet, I could feel the wind rushing through my hair (all 20 of them). I'm not sure where I'm going to be going to school next year yet, but if I end up in Los Angeles I may need to pick one of these things up to get around out there. Tons of fun.
I can't wait to go back up there to meet up with them again. Apparently her boyfriend is a musician. I may need to go up to listen to him play some time.
We also talked a lot about Israel and about religion. Surprise, surprise. I'm still working out how I feel about it. But the more I come to understand how "Judaism" is implemented as a national religion, the more in understand why there are so many secular Israelis. I'm going to think on this more before I completely sort out my thoughts.
Taglit - Also known as Birthright. This is a 10 day trip that is completely subsidized for young Jews ages 18 - 26 to go to Israel and in a whirlwind tour see a lot of the country. This was my first experience in Israel and as you may come to find out, was a little influential on my life since then.
Sheirut Moniyot - They can also be called by their shorter name, sheirut, but don't pluralize them as Shirutiyym -that means bathroom. They're a combination between Taxis and busses. For a set price per person they will take you from one set location to another established location. It is possible to get off at stops on the way, but you need to tell your driver where you want to go. You can also call a sheirut and have them pick you up to take you to a place. They're great all purpose transportation options if you need to use them.
The ride was great and on the way, I called my friend. Instead of heading to the beach we went to last time we were in Tel Aviv, she suggested one short distance away. We picked up a Sheirut that took us to a point a few blocks away from the beach.
After chilling for a while she arrived and it was great playing catch up for a "few" (read, "four-and-a-half") hours. Not only was it a lot of fun to catch up with her and meet her boyfriend, who was a lot of fun too, I finally got a chance to play that paddle game that Israelis seem to always be playing on the beach.
Matkot is a lot of fun. The ball doesn't react the way that you would think it does, which makes the game a little harder than you would expect. I loved playing this game. Here are the rules;
1) Stand a few feet away from each other.
2) Hit the ball.
3) Wait for your partner to hit the ball back.
4) Hit it back to your friend.
5) Try to keep a good rally going.
6) The winners are anyone playing!
I need to find a set of these Matkot and bring them home. It's really a great game and you can make it a lot harder if you want to add some finesse or stand further apart.
I was heading back to Jerusalem and she offered to give me a ride on her motorcycle to the Central Bus Station. Even though I had watched these things whip around the city, I graciously took her offer. Now I know why so many Israelis use these things.
Aside from the fact that they are a lot cheeper than a car, and use less gas. In Israel, the scooters don't really need to follow all of the traffic laws. For example, they can squeeze between two cars and make their way to the front of the stoplight. It was also pretty fun riding. Even though I was wearing a helmet, I could feel the wind rushing through my hair (all 20 of them). I'm not sure where I'm going to be going to school next year yet, but if I end up in Los Angeles I may need to pick one of these things up to get around out there. Tons of fun.
I can't wait to go back up there to meet up with them again. Apparently her boyfriend is a musician. I may need to go up to listen to him play some time.
We also talked a lot about Israel and about religion. Surprise, surprise. I'm still working out how I feel about it. But the more I come to understand how "Judaism" is implemented as a national religion, the more in understand why there are so many secular Israelis. I'm going to think on this more before I completely sort out my thoughts.
Taglit - Also known as Birthright. This is a 10 day trip that is completely subsidized for young Jews ages 18 - 26 to go to Israel and in a whirlwind tour see a lot of the country. This was my first experience in Israel and as you may come to find out, was a little influential on my life since then.
Sheirut Moniyot - They can also be called by their shorter name, sheirut, but don't pluralize them as Shirutiyym -that means bathroom. They're a combination between Taxis and busses. For a set price per person they will take you from one set location to another established location. It is possible to get off at stops on the way, but you need to tell your driver where you want to go. You can also call a sheirut and have them pick you up to take you to a place. They're great all purpose transportation options if you need to use them.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Place In Judaism
We have these smaller reflection groups that meet once a month on Mondays. My group met for the first time this past Monday and our first topic of conversation was about the role that place should play in Judaism. What changes for a lot of us is exactly this role.
This year, being in Israel, we are in a new place. This is something completely new to me. I have never been outside my communities in Minneapolis, especially for some of the important Holy Days. I think a large part of this has to do with the unfamiliarity here. What we talked about in our group was that sometimes community can create a place for you. One of my colleagues brought up the example of the Israelites building a the place for God to reside in the community while they were wandering in the wilderness.
I started to think about this a little more. Without looking back at the text, I remember that the people needed to make a holy home for God to reside among the people. Another part of this command was that the people needed to make themselves a holy community as well. In this case, then you don't need a specific location to be special for you, but you need the community to also create this holiness.
Arguing the other side of the argument, there are specific locations that I feel like I can connect to God. Although I am very frustrated with some of the things that have been happening at the Kotel lately, it is still a special place to me. The Kotel represents the closest place that we are allowed to pray to the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Although the worship offered historically at the Temple was animal sacrifice, something I do not agree with in today's culture, there is something special about this place. When we wandered over there during Yom Kippur, I couldn't help but offer more prayers and another recitation of Vidui (Confession) at the one of the most important sites to Judaism.
There are other places that are special to me too. Thinking about them helps me focus my thoughts. I remember sitting at Camp TEKO in the little chapel that overlooks Lake Minnetonka. Listening to the wind blow through the trees and hearing the boats motoring around the lake is a place that I have found a connection.
At times, I have thought about what Judaism would look like without Israel - the country. Yet I keep coming back to the fact that Israel is incredibly important. Not only are there holy sites, but this is the only place in the world that Jewish traditions affect the entire country.
For example, during Yom Kippur, the country shuts down. I was able to walk down the middle of the wrong side of the road because there were almost now cars. The streets were so quiet! Kids were riding on their bikes and people were out in force. I didn't even wear a watch because time didn't really matter.
It isn't even near Pesach yet, but I have been told that you can go get food at almost any restaurant because they are almost all Kosher for Pesach. Israeli summer is effected by the Holy Day cycle and even the time change is effected -we moved our clocks back the Sunday after Rosh HaShanah to make Yom Kippur easier.
What role does place play in Judaism? I still don't know actually know a full answer. Part of it is memory, part of it creates community. A place can inspire thoughts and prayers, and a place can make you so incredibly frustrated that you just want to shout. Places can connect us to our history. Yet it is that history that also causes problems. I think this is going to be a lifelong process of figuring out how Israel, the country, should play into my life as a Jew. But I'm glad this course is making me start to think about it.
L'Shalom
This year, being in Israel, we are in a new place. This is something completely new to me. I have never been outside my communities in Minneapolis, especially for some of the important Holy Days. I think a large part of this has to do with the unfamiliarity here. What we talked about in our group was that sometimes community can create a place for you. One of my colleagues brought up the example of the Israelites building a the place for God to reside in the community while they were wandering in the wilderness.
I started to think about this a little more. Without looking back at the text, I remember that the people needed to make a holy home for God to reside among the people. Another part of this command was that the people needed to make themselves a holy community as well. In this case, then you don't need a specific location to be special for you, but you need the community to also create this holiness.
Arguing the other side of the argument, there are specific locations that I feel like I can connect to God. Although I am very frustrated with some of the things that have been happening at the Kotel lately, it is still a special place to me. The Kotel represents the closest place that we are allowed to pray to the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Although the worship offered historically at the Temple was animal sacrifice, something I do not agree with in today's culture, there is something special about this place. When we wandered over there during Yom Kippur, I couldn't help but offer more prayers and another recitation of Vidui (Confession) at the one of the most important sites to Judaism.
There are other places that are special to me too. Thinking about them helps me focus my thoughts. I remember sitting at Camp TEKO in the little chapel that overlooks Lake Minnetonka. Listening to the wind blow through the trees and hearing the boats motoring around the lake is a place that I have found a connection.
At times, I have thought about what Judaism would look like without Israel - the country. Yet I keep coming back to the fact that Israel is incredibly important. Not only are there holy sites, but this is the only place in the world that Jewish traditions affect the entire country.
For example, during Yom Kippur, the country shuts down. I was able to walk down the middle of the wrong side of the road because there were almost now cars. The streets were so quiet! Kids were riding on their bikes and people were out in force. I didn't even wear a watch because time didn't really matter.
It isn't even near Pesach yet, but I have been told that you can go get food at almost any restaurant because they are almost all Kosher for Pesach. Israeli summer is effected by the Holy Day cycle and even the time change is effected -we moved our clocks back the Sunday after Rosh HaShanah to make Yom Kippur easier.
What role does place play in Judaism? I still don't know actually know a full answer. Part of it is memory, part of it creates community. A place can inspire thoughts and prayers, and a place can make you so incredibly frustrated that you just want to shout. Places can connect us to our history. Yet it is that history that also causes problems. I think this is going to be a lifelong process of figuring out how Israel, the country, should play into my life as a Jew. But I'm glad this course is making me start to think about it.
L'Shalom
Thursday, September 23, 2010
In Joshua’s Shoes: High Holy Days In Jerusalem
I had a interesting and difficult experience during the High Holy Days. At times I was frustrated with services and had a hard time because it didn't feel familiar to me. I really missed being at Adath for N'eilah and Kol Neidre. Something just didn't feel great about not being there for it.
Nevertheless, Yom Kippur was a a much better Holy Day than Rosh HaShanah was for me. Today my post is up and running at TCJewfolk. You can either access it directly through the link; In Joshua's Shoes: High Holy Days in Jerusalem. Or if you chose to go through their site at TCJewfolk you can find it on the right side under the Voices section.
Nevertheless, Yom Kippur was a a much better Holy Day than Rosh HaShanah was for me. Today my post is up and running at TCJewfolk. You can either access it directly through the link; In Joshua's Shoes: High Holy Days in Jerusalem. Or if you chose to go through their site at TCJewfolk you can find it on the right side under the Voices section.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Done, done, and I'm on to the next one
Although we just started the actual school year, today is the first day of break. This is the first year that I've had a fall break and this is great! It's not so much because the work load is stressing me out already, but the Holiday load has been exhausting.
First there was Slichot to get us in the mood for the High Holy Days. Then there was Rosh HaShanah for two days. Rosh HaShanah butted up against shabbat this year, so it was a three day weekend that wasn't terribly restful, although there were some meaningful experiences.
A week later was Yom Kippur. Although I didn't really get anything done for school, that didn't matter for Yom Kippur. I really took a lot from that Holy Day this year. But starting that night, people around here have been getting ready for Sukkot, a large, week long festival that culminates in another Holiday; Simchat Torah and Shmini Atzeret.
Then it will be back to school, back to the books, after one more shabbat. Pfew!
I'm excited to have some time off here though. I have some things I want to catch up on. And some people that I would like to catch up with. I'm not planning on any major trips this week off, which makes me very happy to have a relaxing break. It is going to be filled with guitar, reading a little homework and friends. Yea!
Chag Sameach!
First there was Slichot to get us in the mood for the High Holy Days. Then there was Rosh HaShanah for two days. Rosh HaShanah butted up against shabbat this year, so it was a three day weekend that wasn't terribly restful, although there were some meaningful experiences.
A week later was Yom Kippur. Although I didn't really get anything done for school, that didn't matter for Yom Kippur. I really took a lot from that Holy Day this year. But starting that night, people around here have been getting ready for Sukkot, a large, week long festival that culminates in another Holiday; Simchat Torah and Shmini Atzeret.
Then it will be back to school, back to the books, after one more shabbat. Pfew!
I'm excited to have some time off here though. I have some things I want to catch up on. And some people that I would like to catch up with. I'm not planning on any major trips this week off, which makes me very happy to have a relaxing break. It is going to be filled with guitar, reading a little homework and friends. Yea!
Chag Sameach!
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