Day 1:
We had a lecture with an Israeli correspondent for NY Times. He was rational and didn't talk about Zionism, so I found this interesting.
Then we had a choice of a session on film at some place that would give a tour and a session on film in our auditorium in -3. We are supposed to have choices because people have different interests, so I don't really understand this, but I enjoyed not needing to leave Beit Nativ. We watched two short films- one about a group of observant Jews on a camping trip and one of them brings his non-observant girlfriend and the conflict that ensues in this, and one about a group of snipers in the army. We talked about the films' purposes and messages, and if I had any interest in film I probably would have enjoyed this.
That night, though, had the worst piece of ITS. The CEO of the Masorti Movement (kind of like the Israeli Conservative movement, but with a heavy emphasis on bringing non observant Jews to some observance and making non-Orthodox Judaism more acceptable in Israel) gave a presentation about his work and how the Israeli government resists it. He gave a lot of numbers and statistics without enough context or information to fully understand the situations, and I personally could not find much meaning in the presentation. The one benefit I had from this experience is that I realized I can no longer lie to myself about how I observe Judaism. I understand being "culturally Jewish," and believe this is a great thing for many people; however, to get what I want out of Judaism, I know I need to be "halachicly (lawfully) Jewish. If you want to know how this is changing anything for me (I do come from a fairly traditional, typical Conservative background) I do not want to risk offending anyone, so please ask me personaly about specific customs/observances/etc.
Day 2:
Half of the group toured around Lod, an ancient but currently developing town near Tel Aviv. This town is kind of a microcosm of all of Israel in its ethnic/religious diversity. It is a very poor town full of the problems common to most poor towns, and it seems like people are really just starting to do serious work to make things better.
Then we went to Tel Aviv to meet with a social activist who did a lot of work for social justice, including organizing the rally I attended in my first week in Jerusalem.
Finally, we came back to Jerusalem to the Chasidic neighborhood of Meah Shearim, where we had a very bad conversation with a man from this community. We talked about issues in the Chasidic community and conflicts such as the attempt to separate sexes on public buses (Chasidic and other groups of Orthodox Jews are shomer negiyah, which means that they avoid physical contact with people of the other sex who are not their spouse or young children, and on very crowded buses this is difficult to observe and makes them feel uncomfortable. To some people in Israel and out, having women sit in the back is pure discrimination. To me, it is not discrimination but it is not fair for this minority to impose its restrictions on others.), and overall had a discussion in which it seemed no one understood the other’s beliefs.
Day 3 (aka, the only really good day):We had 3 choices for today: heroes (going to Tel Aviv), environment (going to a farm and seeing solar energy stuff, etc.), and technology (seeing some "cars of the future" and other things I don't remember). While I feel I would have had an even better day with environment, I am happy I chose heroes. We spent the whole day in and around Tel Aviv doing this...
First we went to the Deaf and Blind Museum, but we could only go to one or the other. I went to the deaf one, where we had a deaf guide who we could only communicate through acting and signing. It was a lot of fun, and I hope to go to the Blind Museum sometime.
Then we went to the Olympic Museum, which was pure propaganda and made actions like running despite a sprained ankle seem like the most noble thing one can do. Clearly, the whole point of the museum is to encourage Israelis to forget about school and train to be in the Olympics. We had funny videos and fun strength test-type activities.
Then we had a scavenger hunt, for which we had to answer questions, ask strangers for a lot of information, perform tasks, and take pictures with strangers. We also had to get a creative souvenir, so my team (Red) took a roll of toilet paper from a bathroom and wrote, in English and Hebrew, "Holy Sh*t from the Holy Land." We got extra points for this, and ended in second place.
To end the day, we went to Yaffo to meet the other two groups to eat at the deaf restaurant and see Na Lagaat (Translation: Please Touch), a play performed by the deaf and blind. It is amazing how well some of them moved without seeing where they were! The message of the show is "Not by bread alone," so the show starts with them kneading bread and ends with delicious fresh bread for everyone in the audience. This day was long and tiring, but incredible.
We returned to Jlem that night. The next day we packed for our Tiyul Darom (Southern Hike/Tour/I don't like any English translations for "tiyul") and had short orientations for each track. The next day (Thursday) we commenced the tiyul.
Trivia:
What's going on in my life now? I'm on the kfar and love it and can't wait to get around to blogging about Tiyul Darom so I can tell you about my life here!
No comments:
Post a Comment