This Year in Jerusalem: A Lot to Say

Hi folks,

I know I've been M.I.A. for a little while, but I'm back and have a lot to talk about. We'll see how much stamina I have this afternoon, but if I tire of writing I'll be back soon to complete the update. First and foremost: I FINISHED ULPAN!!! It ended quite well and I'm very pleased with my final marks and everything, so that's great. I've been on הפסקה or break. And this is what's been up:

Let's start at the beginning (two weeks ago) and work our way to today. As many of you know, my dear friend Katie has recently moved to Jerusalem and is getting married in a little more than a week! Last week our friend Elana was also in Jerusalem, and the three of us hit the town getting ready for the wedding and setting up Katie's new apartment. (She lives about five minutes by foot from my place, which is really fantastic) Katie recently converted to Orthodox Judaism and is marrying one of Matan's best friends Gil who has also become more religious in the last year or so. It has been very interesting and fun for me to tag along with Katie to the various religious neighborhoods of Jerusalem getting everything you need to be an Orthodox family - we went to the Sheitel Gamach (basically the wig lady) where Katie bought a beautiful wig and I tried on a bunch of new funky hairstyles. I was touched to see how the people in the English-speaking Orthodox community here really go out of their way to help people, especially if they're Calas, or brides-to-be. It has been really neat. On Friday we're going to the Kibbutz along with Katie's mom who just arrived to start getting things ready for the big day. I have the honor of being Katie's Shomeret (which translates to guardian) for the full 24 hours before the wedding. As Shomeret my duties basically consist of not leaving her side on the day leading up to the wedding. Orthodox brides have Shomerets to 1. make sure they are staying in a good mindset and not freaking out too much and 2. because it is believed that brides are very emotional and therefore vulnerable to demons, but if they have a friend with them the demon won't be able to get to them. Whatever the reasons, I'm excited for a pre-wedding slumber party :) Katie is the first close friend of mine to get married, and while navigating all of these changes can be challenging, I've been enjoying it quite a bit.

Next up is a lesson of sorts in Hebrew. Since I've been here I've been collecting a list of funny/interesting Hebrew sayings and phrases. Here are three that I think are worth sharing:

1. די - This is pronounced "die" and it means "stop, enough". Anywhere you go in Israel you will often hear parents yelling this at their annoying bratty children, kids yelling it at their brothers and sisters who are pulling their hair, and husbands and wives yelling it at each other in heated argument. It basically means "stop being annoying" but when you hear moms and dads yelling "DIE! DIE! DIE!" at their children it's pretty strange and hilarious.

2. לשים לב - This is an infinitive which is used as an expression and means "notice" or "pay attention". However, it directly translates to "put your heart". I think that's pretty neat.

3. בית - This means "house", but it is used quite interestingly in a number of noun-noun combinations (called סמיכות in Hebrew). High school is called בית ספר which means "House of Books", not to be confused with library which is ספרייה, or "Bookery". And a hospital is called בית חולים which means "House of Sick People".

Also, you'd think I would be used to the fact that I live in a Jewish Theocracy, but I keep being shocked by little things that happen and illustrate that Judaism is the majority here. For example, the TV stations turn off a few hours before the fast comes in for Yom Kippur. You couldn't even watch TV if you wanted to! Also, there are Sukkas EVERYWHERE, outside of almost every restaurant, so people can sit and eat in the Sukka when they eat out. It's kinda like the Christmas trees in all the stores, but from my religion! It's kinda exciting. Also we were driving on the highway the other day and the big sign that usually says where the accidents are said "Happy Succot Holiday!" It's kinda nuts.

Now on to a more somber subject. I imagine that many of you have probably heard about or seen the newly released video of Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier captured by Hamas in 2006 and held captive since then. The video is obviously a hot topic of conversation in Israel these days, and the newspapers have been printing detailed analysis of his body language and facial expressions. This is all quite interesting, but I am perturbed by something much more basic in this situation: Hamas is holding Gilad in order to convince Israel to release hundreds of militant Palestinian prisoners. The longer they hold him, the more prisoners they will likely receive. What drives me completely out of my mind with frustration and anger is why aren't they demanding something else??! They have an incredible amount of bargaining power (Israel will do nearly anything to get their soldiers home) which they could be using to get all sorts of basic human needs filled for the citizens of the Gaza strip! Were I Hamas, I would, for example, ask for access to clean drinking water. Or infrastructure so that people could get to hospitals when they need to. Or movement towards a viable solution in which Gazans were not confined to the Gaza strip and treated like zoo animals. Just for example. I understand that they're a terrorist government and that these things are not high on their agenda, but it makes me so sad and frustrated. Watching this unfold makes it much easier to understand why Israel refuses to hold proper negotiations with Hamas, who are making it clear that they don't care about their people, only about releasing extremist prisoners. Overall this situation is yuck.

Enough with the sad stuff. I just got back from a fun three-day trip to the north! On Sunday I drove north with Matan, his dad Yoram, and his niece Mai, to visit the Kibbutz where Yoram grew up and meet his sister and brother-in-law. Yoram was born right before the war for independence in Israel in a small village. This village was surrounded by small Arab villages and when the fighting started they were subject to constant bombing, and had to flee in the middle of the night to a brand new Kibbutz where they lived in tents for the first few years. This Kibbutz is called גשר הזיו pronounced Gesher HaZiv, which means Bridge of Splendor (which I think sounds HILARIOUS in English!) Yoram told us about his childhood there which is pretty stereotypical of a childhood at the early Kibbutzim: the area surrounding the Kibbutz was all wild trees and olive orchards left by the Arabs who fled after independence, so the kids spent all day running and hiding outside, only coming home to eat and sleep. The Kibbutz is located minutes from the Mediterranean Sea and near underwater caves (which are now a tourist attraction that we visited) but Yoram said they used to spend all day swimming from the beach to the caves and exploring. Sounds like paradise. The main industry on Gesher HaZiv is field crops, in particular bananas and AVOCADO!!!!! We had an endless supply of avocado the three days that we were there, so you can understand why this Kibbutz has quickly made it onto my list of "places to live one day". We visited old forts and castles, and spent an afternoon at the beach. It was a really nice trip and a lot of fun to meet this side of Matan's family and learn about Yoram's childhood.

I think that might be all I've got for now. Classes start in a little less than two weeks, which is really exciting. I got the internship that I wanted (yay) so I will be working at a school with Arab Israeli and Jewish Israeli kids, as well as conducting interviews and writing articles about the school and this movement. More on that and classes when things actually get moving. It's so strange that it's October, almost my birthday, and I haven't started school yet. I'm excited to get started.

Here are some photos of our trip. Enjoy!