Last Wednesday our Israel Seminar class started discussing the idea of what it means to be a "secular" Israeli. At some other point, when I have fleshed out my thoughts on this, I will post something about the different relationships to Judaism that exist in Israel. This time I want to talk about our speaker.
To give the secular view we heard a discussion from Etgar Keret, a great Israeli author. He showed us one of his movies and read from one of his stories. Some of the other students had already purchased some of his books, and I have had the chance to read more of his stories. He also took the chance to sign some of these books. Included with his signatures were little drawings. All I have to say is that I wish I could be THAT creative.
His little drawings were of two or three completely random things combined to make really interesting pictures. In listening to him talk about how he creates his stories was fascinating. A part of his writing process is to focus on a situation or a sentence that doesn't sit well in his head. Around that, a story develops. Sometimes it is incredibly short. Other times, the stories end up longer. In any event, they are fascinating stories.
I don't see my mind working in the same way. I'm left thinking, is it possible to learn creativity? Is there a way that I can train my mind to spin that way?
When I have free time, I can't wait to add some of his work to my reading list. They were great stories.
What about Secular Israelis? More to come as I let my feelings on this steep a little.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Ben Sira Hummus
Located on Rechov Ben Sira, near Mamilla, there is a little hole in the wall hummus shop, appropriately named Ben Sira.
There aren't many seats in the restaurant, a few at the bar and a couple of tables with a few tables outside, until the weather gets bad. When you walk in you can smell the hummus and falafel and it smells great!
One of my favorite things about the hummus is that it comes to you still a little warm and the bring you warm pita, pickles, onions and tomatoes on the side. The texture is perfect. They serve a smooth, creamy hummus that has some whole chick peas on the top as well. At a very reasonable cost, you can also get a fresh side of Salat Israeli.
Not only that, but the meal also includes a few falafel balls. The most recent time I ate at Ben Sira, it took me a while to get to the falafel, so it was a little cold. The taste was still great though. Crunchy but not flakey, with a good mixture of seasoning.
You might be asking, "What is so exceptional about the hummus here?"
Well, aside from the hummus itself being very tasty and smooth, they put various toppings on the hummus. I have only ever had their Hummus Basar (Hummus with Meat). They take ground beef and brown it on a griddle. Then put it on top of the hummus adding another texture to the hummus. Off the top of my head, I know they have a mushroom one that is really good, so I've been told. Unfortunately I do not remember what some of the other ones are.
In the end, you get way too much food for just one person. Yeah, it is possible to finish off a bowl of it yourself. Or you can get the food lakakchat (to take away), and it keeps really well for a day or two. Instead, I like to bring a friend. Hummus and a salad is more than enough for a light lunch and it tastes fantastic! If you're headed towards Mamilla, headed in the direction of Ben Yehuda, or even making your way towards Yamin Moshe, Ben Sira is a good place to stop in for lunch. However, get your "Israeli attitude" ready. When it's busy, the space is cramped and you need to make it to the front to be served.
It's absolutely worth it.
B'tayavon,
There aren't many seats in the restaurant, a few at the bar and a couple of tables with a few tables outside, until the weather gets bad. When you walk in you can smell the hummus and falafel and it smells great!
One of my favorite things about the hummus is that it comes to you still a little warm and the bring you warm pita, pickles, onions and tomatoes on the side. The texture is perfect. They serve a smooth, creamy hummus that has some whole chick peas on the top as well. At a very reasonable cost, you can also get a fresh side of Salat Israeli.
Not only that, but the meal also includes a few falafel balls. The most recent time I ate at Ben Sira, it took me a while to get to the falafel, so it was a little cold. The taste was still great though. Crunchy but not flakey, with a good mixture of seasoning.
You might be asking, "What is so exceptional about the hummus here?"
Well, aside from the hummus itself being very tasty and smooth, they put various toppings on the hummus. I have only ever had their Hummus Basar (Hummus with Meat). They take ground beef and brown it on a griddle. Then put it on top of the hummus adding another texture to the hummus. Off the top of my head, I know they have a mushroom one that is really good, so I've been told. Unfortunately I do not remember what some of the other ones are.
In the end, you get way too much food for just one person. Yeah, it is possible to finish off a bowl of it yourself. Or you can get the food lakakchat (to take away), and it keeps really well for a day or two. Instead, I like to bring a friend. Hummus and a salad is more than enough for a light lunch and it tastes fantastic! If you're headed towards Mamilla, headed in the direction of Ben Yehuda, or even making your way towards Yamin Moshe, Ben Sira is a good place to stop in for lunch. However, get your "Israeli attitude" ready. When it's busy, the space is cramped and you need to make it to the front to be served.
It's absolutely worth it.
B'tayavon,
Monday, December 6, 2010
Fire and Rain
In case you hadn't heard, there had been a massive fire raging on Mount Carmel in northern Israel. Finally, after 82 hours, Ynet News was reporting that the fire had been contained. There have been 41 reported deaths, many homes and acres of land destroyed. Including the artist's colony of Ein Hood, somewhere I almost visited when I was up in Haifa.
My thoughts and prayers go out to the families of those that lost loved ones. And I am thankful for the firefighters who fought to contain it.
Which brings me to the other side of this coin. Rain. In Jerusalem we finally received some more rain this morning. This winter has been one of the driest in a long time. Hopefully we get a consistent amount of rain over the next week or so to soak the ground and prevent something else like this from happening this year.
I have a friend who lives in Haifa and goes to school there. Last I heard from her, they were evacuated from school, but it was difficult to breathe outside her home. I hope they are alright and they can soon return to normalcy.
My thoughts and prayers go out to the families of those that lost loved ones. And I am thankful for the firefighters who fought to contain it.
Which brings me to the other side of this coin. Rain. In Jerusalem we finally received some more rain this morning. This winter has been one of the driest in a long time. Hopefully we get a consistent amount of rain over the next week or so to soak the ground and prevent something else like this from happening this year.
I have a friend who lives in Haifa and goes to school there. Last I heard from her, they were evacuated from school, but it was difficult to breathe outside her home. I hope they are alright and they can soon return to normalcy.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Training Day
Wait, we have a few days off?
Yes!
For Chanukah HUC gave us a four-day-weekend! That means I actually had a lot of free time and a Sunday like I was used to.
So instead of sitting around all day on Saturday doing homework, I joined a a few of the other riders for Ride4Reform this year on a training ride. Dan took us on a short route towards Yad Vashem. But instead of going to the museum, we took a left down a sweet hill into Ya'ar Yerushalayim (the Jerusalem Forrest). It was a nice ride complete with some hills both up and down. I hadn't been out on a bike for a few weeks so it felt great getting out there on the road and feeling the pavement pass beneath me.
The is something rewarding about climbing a hill for five minutes. Winded and fighting for breath climbing over the crest and seeing a steep decline. Whipping down it as wind rushes past your face to the point that you can no longer hear the traffic. There is nothing better for a Shabbat afternoon.
Why on Shabbat? Because most of the city of Jerusalem doesn't drive on that day. Fewer cars means that we all feel much safer.
It's also great going in a group. For me, I do like sitting on a bike at the Yimkah (spelled in English YMCA), and listening to music to keep my legs churning as hard as I can. But it's so much better to go out with a group of friends. Today there were only five of us, which is a good start to the group we have riding in March. I missed a few of the earlier rides, so I am a bit behind.
On the bad news side of things, my brakes were squeaking. Every time I squeezed it, a high pitched whine came from the front wheel. Then, as we were riding, I could hear the brakes rubbing while we were out. That means tomorrow, when I still don't have school, I'm going to head down to the bike shop and see if they can fix that. I would take care of it myself, but there are two issues.
1) I don't own the right tools here.
2) I've never had disc-brakes on a bike and I'd rather not break them.
Back to the homework,
Happy Hanukah
Yes!
For Chanukah HUC gave us a four-day-weekend! That means I actually had a lot of free time and a Sunday like I was used to.
So instead of sitting around all day on Saturday doing homework, I joined a a few of the other riders for Ride4Reform this year on a training ride. Dan took us on a short route towards Yad Vashem. But instead of going to the museum, we took a left down a sweet hill into Ya'ar Yerushalayim (the Jerusalem Forrest). It was a nice ride complete with some hills both up and down. I hadn't been out on a bike for a few weeks so it felt great getting out there on the road and feeling the pavement pass beneath me.
The is something rewarding about climbing a hill for five minutes. Winded and fighting for breath climbing over the crest and seeing a steep decline. Whipping down it as wind rushes past your face to the point that you can no longer hear the traffic. There is nothing better for a Shabbat afternoon.
Why on Shabbat? Because most of the city of Jerusalem doesn't drive on that day. Fewer cars means that we all feel much safer.
It's also great going in a group. For me, I do like sitting on a bike at the Yimkah (spelled in English YMCA), and listening to music to keep my legs churning as hard as I can. But it's so much better to go out with a group of friends. Today there were only five of us, which is a good start to the group we have riding in March. I missed a few of the earlier rides, so I am a bit behind.
On the bad news side of things, my brakes were squeaking. Every time I squeezed it, a high pitched whine came from the front wheel. Then, as we were riding, I could hear the brakes rubbing while we were out. That means tomorrow, when I still don't have school, I'm going to head down to the bike shop and see if they can fix that. I would take care of it myself, but there are two issues.
1) I don't own the right tools here.
2) I've never had disc-brakes on a bike and I'd rather not break them.
Back to the homework,
Happy Hanukah
Friday, December 3, 2010
Ride4Reform Update
As a group, we have been doing a lot of fundraising already. We've had two bake sales, which have been going well. Last night was a ton of fun; the Latke Eating Contest.
The Year in Israel Program was challenged by the Los Angeles campus of HUC-JIR to a latke eating contest. The rules were, eat as many latkes as possible in 7 minutes. After our Chanukah celebration last night, the contest was on. I decided that I didn't really want to risk throwing off my "intense training regimen" (read; casual workouts) by piling on tons of latkes. Instead there were six competitors that ate as many as possible. Guess who won? Yeah, my roommate. Apparently she is the latke eating champ! And she beat the highest number put up by LA by eating 25 or 26 latkes.
I wish I had pictures to put up, but my camera is in transit to the states to get fixed. Hopefully that will be back with Kaitin when she gets here so I can resume taking an obnoxious number of pictures.
There are also a few quick updates about the Ride4Reform this year;
Check out the page I created on Facebook at the link here.
Or if you would like to check out their page, they have a Facebook Fan-Page, complete with some photos from a recent ride on part of the route for this spring.
Finally, the last place you can check out if you need to get your fix of ride4reform information, Marina and Dusty put together a wordpress site that will be the main way the group will put information out, read bios about everyone who is riding with our team this year, and look at some of the videos from the latke eating contest.
And last but not least, I will shortly be finally registered for the ride. Once I have taken care of that, I will let you know how you can donate to the cause if you are able to. Honestly, every little bit will help!
Off to the gym, I'm going to try to sit on the bike for a little while this afternoon.
The Year in Israel Program was challenged by the Los Angeles campus of HUC-JIR to a latke eating contest. The rules were, eat as many latkes as possible in 7 minutes. After our Chanukah celebration last night, the contest was on. I decided that I didn't really want to risk throwing off my "intense training regimen" (read; casual workouts) by piling on tons of latkes. Instead there were six competitors that ate as many as possible. Guess who won? Yeah, my roommate. Apparently she is the latke eating champ! And she beat the highest number put up by LA by eating 25 or 26 latkes.
I wish I had pictures to put up, but my camera is in transit to the states to get fixed. Hopefully that will be back with Kaitin when she gets here so I can resume taking an obnoxious number of pictures.
There are also a few quick updates about the Ride4Reform this year;
Check out the page I created on Facebook at the link here.
Or if you would like to check out their page, they have a Facebook Fan-Page, complete with some photos from a recent ride on part of the route for this spring.
Finally, the last place you can check out if you need to get your fix of ride4reform information, Marina and Dusty put together a wordpress site that will be the main way the group will put information out, read bios about everyone who is riding with our team this year, and look at some of the videos from the latke eating contest.
And last but not least, I will shortly be finally registered for the ride. Once I have taken care of that, I will let you know how you can donate to the cause if you are able to. Honestly, every little bit will help!
Off to the gym, I'm going to try to sit on the bike for a little while this afternoon.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Turkey At Last
This is a new tradition in my family. About as long standing as my Mom's marriage to my Step-Dad. I don't remember why or when he started it, but he would buy solid chocolate turkeys for thanksgiving. One for each of his kids. I think it was something started by an aunt of his. I'm sorry I don't really remember where it came from.
Since my Mom and Joe were married. This has become something fun to look forward to during the run up to Thanksgiving.
Yes I know Thanksgiving was a week ago, but there is a point to me writing about this for today.
As you hopefully know by now, I'm in Jerusalem. For some strange reason, Israel does not celebrate Thanksgiving. I was going to go to the Thanksgiving dinner that was put together by some of the students this year, but at the last minute, I just needed to stay home instead. So my Thanksgiving this year was pretty bland. I was talking to my Mom and she said that there was something in the mail for me.
It took only two weeks for it to get here, which is really quick by Israeli mail standards, and I got my package on my way out the door from school today. Yea! Chocolate Turkey! It's strange how a little thing like a chocolate turkey can excite me so much, but it was a great reminder of home. Something familiar to bring me back to Minneapolis.
That's really all I've got for now, just something exciting that happened to me yesterday.
Since my Mom and Joe were married. This has become something fun to look forward to during the run up to Thanksgiving.
Yes I know Thanksgiving was a week ago, but there is a point to me writing about this for today.
As you hopefully know by now, I'm in Jerusalem. For some strange reason, Israel does not celebrate Thanksgiving. I was going to go to the Thanksgiving dinner that was put together by some of the students this year, but at the last minute, I just needed to stay home instead. So my Thanksgiving this year was pretty bland. I was talking to my Mom and she said that there was something in the mail for me.
It took only two weeks for it to get here, which is really quick by Israeli mail standards, and I got my package on my way out the door from school today. Yea! Chocolate Turkey! It's strange how a little thing like a chocolate turkey can excite me so much, but it was a great reminder of home. Something familiar to bring me back to Minneapolis.
That's really all I've got for now, just something exciting that happened to me yesterday.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
HUC Flag Football Game 2: 49 - 0
Yep. We got killed again. As expected, the other team clicked really well with each other. They had crisp route running, and good communication and were all incredibly athletic. Yep, we got destroyed. None of us feel too badly about it though, because after the game we learned that the women on the team we played against are currently the 5th best Women's Flag Football Team in the world.
You read that correctly. They are the 5th best in the world and we held them to only 49 points. We even made a few 4th and goal stops. Including one that I stopped on the two yard line. Let's not talk too much about my personal performance. Apparently I'm not that good at football. I made a completion or so, and caught a pass for a decent amount of yards. Then there were the lapses, like the interception I threw when I overthrew the receiver... my bad.
Our team is getting better at working together. We actually put together some drives and it felt like we were clicking. It's getting more fun as we are starting to play with each other more. That's why we're playing, to have fun.
We also have the greatest cheering section ever. I want to give a huge shout-out to our friends that pack the stands and an even bigger shout-out to the administrators that continue to show up to watch us.
Next week is a bye (apparently there are a few that we get). But we get our jersey's at our next game! Woohoo!
You read that correctly. They are the 5th best in the world and we held them to only 49 points. We even made a few 4th and goal stops. Including one that I stopped on the two yard line. Let's not talk too much about my personal performance. Apparently I'm not that good at football. I made a completion or so, and caught a pass for a decent amount of yards. Then there were the lapses, like the interception I threw when I overthrew the receiver... my bad.
Our team is getting better at working together. We actually put together some drives and it felt like we were clicking. It's getting more fun as we are starting to play with each other more. That's why we're playing, to have fun.
We also have the greatest cheering section ever. I want to give a huge shout-out to our friends that pack the stands and an even bigger shout-out to the administrators that continue to show up to watch us.
Next week is a bye (apparently there are a few that we get). But we get our jersey's at our next game! Woohoo!
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