Yom Chamishi, Yom Shishi, and so on

Yom Chamishi means "Fifth Day," and this refers to what most of you readers would call Wednesday night and Thursday.   Yom Shishi, "6th Day" follows Yom Chamishi until Shabbat.

Last Yom Chamishi, during the Wednesday night part, I went with Deena to the Science Museum.  It was a bit of a walk, but overall a lot of fun.  Did we learn anything?  For that we would have needed more focus and drive, but we had a good time seeing what there was to see, playing what there was to play, and manipulating what there was to manipulate.

Thursday was a normal day of school.  But afterward we all got dressed up as if it were Shabbos(ish) for the Thanksgiving festivities.  All of the Kfar girls were going in and out of each others rooms, borrowing clothes and just talking.  The thing is, that this started at 5:30, when it was already Yom Shishi.  So whatever.

Leah, Suzanne, and me: the best roommates of all time

 

We met in Moreshet Yisrael, the synagogue that is part of our complex, accompanied by Bogrei Nativ (alumni) who live in Israel, their families, and the families of some current Nativer- over 200 people all together.  Yossi talked about the program, how it has changed over the years.  The Nativ A Capella group performed two songs.  There was a great video, put together by a few Nativers, describing our year. 

We went back to the main building for dinner.  On the way, we noticed tables set up with envelopes, each with a name.  We all received letters from our parents!  This was exciting, especially as this was a time that many Nativers were a little homesick.

Then we had dinner.  As a vegetarian, I wasn't very bothered by Israelis not knowing how to cook turkeys, but many other people were when raw pieces of meat were put on their plates.  But other than this issue, dinner was great!  Vegetarians got spungy tofu and really great stuffing.  The sweet potatoes were better than usual (yet still in a weird sauce).  The cranberries were fantastic except for the fact that they ran out so all I got was a little bit of the mush.  We had pumpkin and apple pies for dessert.  There is so much I'm forgetting to tell, but this was a lot of fun.


After dinner we Nativers met up again.  We went to the auditorium for another video, this one just for us, and I must say, hilarious!  It was full of pictures, many of which I recognized as my own.  Then we went to "cupcake decorate," which meant we had muffins (cupcakes practically don't exist in Israel :( ), chocolate spread (frosting would be ridiculous), twizzler pieces, cookies, and sprinkles.  Many people made their muffins look like turkeys...I was not one of those people.


After this, some of us went to watch Thanksgiving episodes of The Simpsons and How I Met Your Mother, two of our favorite shows, but many of us agree we should have had Friends episodes.  And with this, the night was over.


On Friday, I went for a run, went to the shuk, and got ready for Shabbat.  That night I went to Yakar and was hosted for dinner with Pam by some strangers.  We had a great meal with 4 generations of a very nice family.  They were Americans who had moved to Israel, so the apartment smelled like an American Shabbos.  I ate fresh challah, a yummy squash soup, and roasted vegetables (honestly one of my favorite foods!), which was a nice change from the Israeli-style that I've eaten for the past 3 months.  Although, most of the time, I played with the little kids.


Saturday, I went with Julia and Mia to Mayanot to meet Marne (who hosted us for the first day of Rosh Hashana) for lunch.  At shul, I saw a girl Noa who I went to Ramah with, and during the kiddush I talked to her (for the first time in nearly 4.5 years) for a little.  Also, this was a small shul, but there were 6 or 7 other people wearing the tallis I had...a little strange for me.  Lunch was delicious and fun.  With walking, davening, and eating, we were gone from base for a total of 8 straight hours.  It was fantastic.


Last night, Erev Nativ was amazing!  I was very reminded of BBYO, which was nice.  We split up by sex.  We girls first went into a small room and reflected (in 2 meanings of the word) with Rachel.  We laughed when Suzanne gave an activity away by yelling out "Hey, this is Jill's!" (referring to my mirror, as we reflected over our reflections), but were mostly serious, and overall had a nice bonding experience.


Then we went for an activity with Ira.  We had to do different exercises (squats, pushups, crunches, and suicides).  For this, we talked a lot more with each other (instead of to the group) and laughed pretty much the whole time.  Ira explained to us how physical activity is a great way to bond because you have to encourage your friends to keep going. 


We went back to Rachel and discussed if we think either activity was better bonding, whether guys and girls bond differently, whether it would have been different if we did these activities with the guys, and what we can do to bond as a whole group more.  Rachel and Ira decided that we would have as stereotypical "girl" and "boy" activities as possible, so we concluded with chocolate fondue while the guys concluded with non-alcoholic beer and salami.  This was a fantastic program.


Trivia: What is one of my new favorite things to do when I have some free time?  Look at pictures of food.

So Much Bread

Sorry for going 2 weeks without a post.  I’ve simply been living life and not keeping track of what I’m doing.  Yesterday, I looked back upon the last 2 weeks, so here are some interesting things, not in chronological order.

I’ve had meetings to prepare for going to Poland in January. We’re learning events during the Holocaust and past life in Poland. Three of my grandparents had one parent who came to the U.S. from Poland, and I’ve asked them where my family used to live and for any other information they may have.

I donated blood.  I had been meaning to for a while.  It was different from donating in the U.S.- there are many fewer questions and they make you drink water or juice while donating.

One Friday night, I went to Kol Rina with a few friends, and we got hosted for dinner by a woman, Simcha, who brings many people to her home every Shabbat.  They spoke mostly Hebrew, so we didn’t talk much except to each other.  More people kept on coming as dinner went on.  Different people gave divrei Torah.  And there was a ton of bread!  First, there was some bread for motzi.  Then more bread.  Then more bread.  It was passed around the table, left on plates, and one challah was cut.  There were homemade breads, grainy breads, burnt-ish breads, white breads.  So much bread!!!

Another Friday night I went to a Sephardi synagogue for what turned out to be one of the shortest services ever!  It was interesting how instead of everyone singing most things, one person would read for everyone.

I went to Roz’s minyan for the past two Shabbat mornings (one because I quickly discovered I did not want to stay in Yeshurun).  The atmosphere there is incredible!  You can tell that everyone truly wants to be there.

I’ve spent a lot of time hanging out with friends in my building, watching funny videos and playing with bouncy balls.  It’s a lot of fun.

I got sweatpants of 25 shekels! 

One Erev Nativ we Kfarmers had individuality-unity programming.  For part of it we ran around in the park putting paint handprints on each other.  It was fun, but a very underdeveloped program (we did not learn anything about individuality or unity from this, but our madrichim liked to say we did).  After this, Barry, Deena, and I went for a run covered in paint.

This past Erev Nativ we watched “Trembling Before G-D” with the Karmielevators.  This is a documentary about the struggles of Orthodox Jewish homosexuals in halacha (law) and life in their communities in general.  It was very interesting.

I found out that my Aunt Trudy is friends with my friend Sarah’s parents.  I love Jewish Geography and can’t wait for how great I will be able to play this game after Nativ.

Trivia: SO MUCH BREAD

Pterodactyl-Off

I am the ultimate pterodactyl!!  Many of you are aware of the wide array of noises I make, such as "the guinea pig" and other squeaks, "awkward dinosaur" (imagine garbage disposal + fish), and several unnamed clicks and growls.  If you are aware of these, you are also probably aware that the most beloved sound is "the pterodactyl."  It has awed and confused many a listener, and I have yet to meet another individual who can both make this noise and is willing to do so in public.  Last night, while surprising Nativers with an assortment of these noises, assistant director Maya tells me she can be a pterodactyl.  Obviously, we decide to have a pterodactyl-off.

Maya goes first, exhaling and vocalizing a Jurassic sound while moving her hands in a pterodactic style.  I find this quite a cute display and prepare to show her how I am more prehistoric than she.  My hindrance (often the case when people expect me to produce this sound) is laughter, but after a minute I pull myself together.  I take one deep, relaxing breath and exhale.  Then as I inhale again I produce my [in]famous screech.  Immediately, Maya says, "You win."  I am the ultimate pterodactyl.  I am full of pride for the remainder of the evening.  [Maya and I also decided to join forces for future competitions.]

To further update you readers...

I am continuing to learn about Israel's political situation, the history of Zionism, what time to say the Shema (and tangential discussions in Masechet Brachot [a book of Talmud]), Heschel's ideas about rationality and spirituality, what is written in ketubot (marriage documents), selections from Deuteronomy, and conversational Hebrew.  (Mia, if you are still checking, I know this paragraph is not grammatically correct, but it was so much easier to write it this way.)

The past few days have wonderfully been full of free meals, including tonight when I went to a learn-with-rabbinical students class.  Julia, other Conservative Yeshiva students, and another woman met at Hebrew U for a fun session, led by a couple Ziegler students.  We had an activity to demonstrate the development and topicality of rabbinic texts over several generations and studied a daf (page) of Talmud concerning the strengths of pieces of nature, man, emotions and actions, and tzedaka (justice/charity).  Julia and I plan on getting more Nativers to come for the following Wednesdays.

I think I have officially decided to stay in Israel during break and see more of the country that I do not have time to see on open weekends.  I will hopefully travel Europe for a few weeks some summer between years of college.

Trivia: The pterodactyl-off may be my greatest accomplishment to date.

More Than Being in Jerusalem

Last Friday, I woke up early in the morning to get to breakfast right when it opened with Mia, Maddy, and Deena.  Why would we do such a thing on the one day we can sleep late?  To catch an early bus to Tel Aviv, of course!  We went to Tel Aviv, staying at the apartment of Maddy’s friend from home, and had an incredible weekend.  On Friday, we decided to forget our plan of going to museums to instead walk around.  We found ourselves walking to Yaffo (we were in the south end of Tel Aviv anyway), stopping to appreciate street art along the way.  We gazed at the Mediterranean Sea, ate at a restaurant where all of the waiters were deaf (great food and a lot of fun because we had dry erase boards at the table; a couple days a week they have a blind restaurant open where you eat in pitch black; they also have a theatre group of the deaf and blind), and wandered into an art gallery. 

street art in Tel Aviv

For Shabbat, we did Kab Shab and maariv together at the beach, then ate the food we brought- challah, peanut butter, cheese, and a chocolate croissant.  We had a sang a little before birkat, and we did BBYO post-birkat singing (yai-da-dai…what do horses eat? HAY! Yai-da-dai…, David Melech Yisrael + abba/ima, kein/lo, etc.)  It wasn’t our plan, but we were asleep around 10 pm.  In the morning we went to The Great Synagogue of Tel Aviv, but we left after Torah reading because we felt very disconnected at this shul.  Then we went to the beach, where we played in the waves and read in the sun.

I did not go to Tel Aviv for this purpose, but when there I found myself learning about who I am and what I want in life.  I don’t know if it was because I felt more independent than when in Jerusalem where I have school and Nativ programs or if it was because I was in the edgy, artsy south Tel Aviv, but this weekend meant a lot to me.  I realized, I do like cities, just not “downtowns”; I now don’t think I’ll mind being in Boston for 4 years.  I don’t like being a tourist, and while I want to go back to see museums, I think I get a better sense of where I am and enjoy traveling more by just walking around. 

So what are the implications of this?  I don’t know what I want to do during winter break.  The independence in traveling was so great that I feel I should take advantage of my opportunity to go to Spain or Italy for a relatively cheap price.  But could I have a comparably good experience traveling around cities in Israel?  And I know I want to go hiking for at least a few days.  What to do?  I should be able to do any two things with my 12-day break.  Help me decide!

Sunday was my birthday, and it was possibly my best birthday yet.  First of all, I got my Nativ 31 shirt that day (as did everyone else).  2^nd, I got a letter from my parents full of balloons in the mail.  3^rd, I received literally a million hugs (yes, Julia, literally).  4^th, Masa (an organization that has over 200 programs (including Nativ) for spending a significant amount of time in Israel) chose this day to have an Idan Raichel concert for all of their programs.  Even though I feel like I have permanent ear damage, the concert was a lot of fun (but I don’t see myself going to another concert of music I don’t really like being played too loudly to appreciate it…probably ever).

I don't know who the guy in plaid is, but the rest of us are Nativers, having fun at the concert.

On Tuesday, Erev Nativ was Stever Wernick, CEO of USCJ, speaking to us about the trends in the Jewish community and his goals.  There is a shift from synagogues to building-less kehillot (communities).  We discussed this means, and what should be done about it. 

Wednesday was a lot of fun.  After classes, I went for a run.  Then I went to the shuk and did some other shopping on Yaffo (the street, not the city by Tel Aviv) with Zach and Julia.  Then that night I just hung out in my room, laughing a lot, with a bunch of friends.  My final activity for the evening was looking at snorgtees.com and thinkgeek.com with Sarah, indulging our nerdiness with ideas like watches in binary, duct tape as a toolkit, and a wide array of science puns.

Thursday was the beginning of our Conservative Judaism Seminar.  Jules Gutin, the head of USY, came and talked to us, mostly looking at the results of a Nativ survey which asked questions about our formal Jewish education and Jewish youth groups.  Today and tomorrow he’s leading discussions with us by track.  It’s really cool how most USYers know Jules personally.  He comes to visit regions and summer programs to get to know the participants.  It’s not like this in BBYO, but this is sort of what international presidents do.

Just before getting on my computer to finish typing this, I came into my room after being out for a couple hours to find my bed covered in the balloons my parents had sent.  Apparently today is my birthday, too.

Trivia: Sigmund Freud and Theodore Herzl lived on the same street in Vienna [thank you for the correction, Mom], but at different times.

Shabbat Shalom!

Pictures Added

Sorry for the delay, but I have inserted pictures into the following posts.  If you want to see them, I'd suggest looking at "Jerusalem: What a Place," "Getting Ready for Rosh Hashanah," and "I Guess Most of This Has to Do With Sukkot."  I also apologize for undoing paragraph breaks- I see the posts differently when editing.

Soon, I'll post about more recent Nativ life, including spending the weekend in Tel Aviv with 3 friends and attending an Idan Raichel concert.