Roller Coaster Week

There are different kinds of days.  There are happy days, sad days, solemn days, weird days, and typical days.  Sometimes a day is as it is because of what happens, and sometimes it’s a holiday and determined to be a certain way by history.  The time between the last two Thursdays has been a roller coaster in moods of days.  With Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), Shabbat, all of Nativ joining together for a week, joining together to learn about Israel Activism, Yom HaZikaron (day in honor of those who have died in battle and terrorist attacks), and Yom Ha’Atmaut (Israeli Independence Day), this has been a unique week.

Yom HaShoah

On the night of Yom HaShoah we had Nativ programming.  We read personal stories of youth survivors of the Holocaust and then had a presentation and discussion about Holocaust denial.  We all wore white for the night and the day. 

In the morning while we were working, a siren went off throughout the whole country.  I’m glad that I wasn’t with the school at their ceremony where everyone was thinking about the Holocaust already or in a busy intersection to see everyone stop and stand next to their cars.  I was working.  I was walking with Jake to the rabbit cage.  I was talking with Harari on the other side of the fence about the loose parakeet.  And the siren went off and we all stopped walking and talking.  Harari placed the rope he was holding on the ground.  Looking around I saw that some people were looking straight forward, others looking down.  Everyone took this minute to think, to remember.  It was a powerful moment.

That night we went to Kibbutz Lochamei HaGetaot which was founded by Holocaust survivors.  There was a ceremony specifically for youths.  I think there were about 2000 people there.  We sat together with the Karmiel track (the Yerucham track was at a different ceremony in the south), and it was strange to be happy to see our friends we haven’t seen in a few weeks on one of the saddest days of the year.  The ceremony included some songs, a dance representing going to gas chambers, a performance (for lack of a better term) by Habonim Dror (socialist youth group, very influential in the creation of the state of Israel), and singing Hatikva (Israel’s national anthem).  It was very interesting, but I could not understand everything because it was all in Hebrew.  Sadly, I felt I could not fully appreciate this ceremony, or anything else we had done for Yom HaShoah, after being in Poland.  Nothing can compare to that experience, and I don’t have the emotional strength to try to feel more right now.

Then Friday was a normal day.  I stayed at the kfar for Shabbat, so it was relaxing to not need to leave early to go somewhere else.  I’m impressed with myself for almost napping and watching a movie (honestly- I usually can’t find the time to relax like this).

We had nice Nativ services that night, and then joined the whole kfar community for dinner.  It was a closed Shabbat for the students who board here, so everyone ate together in the cheder ochel for dinner, lunch, and seudah shlishit.  Shabbat afternoon, we went for a walk to a spring with some students and a group of high school volunteers from a school in Maryland who are here for 3 weeks.  The spring was actually a very polluted stream, but it was a pretty walk.  I’m glad I finally know about this trail to go running there.  It was great to spend a Shabbat at the kfar again.

Israel Activism Seminar

Sunday morning, a bus came to take us to Maale HaChamisha (the hotel where we spent Purim) for our Israel Activism Seminar.  I was excited to see my Karmiel and Yerucham friends, but I was not particular excited to leave my petting zoo and sit in lectures about politics (far from my favorite subject).  (I was especially excited to room with my friends Dana and Becca, and we quickly learned that there is no possible better rooming situation than the 3 of us together.)  It turned out, though, that the whole seminar was fantastic.

Still, this was a confusing, complex week.  Some things that people think and say about Israel simply disgust me.  How can people say it is an apartheid state when the Arab minority has full political rights and Arabs serve in the Knesset (Parliament) and courts?  Why does Israel get accused of so much belligerence because their death toll is lower than the Palestinians when Israel protects its civilians with things like the Iron Dome and puts soldiers in tanks while Palestinians protect their offenders (I refer to those against Israel) with civilians and schools full of children?  Then there are issues like violence at check points (between West Bank and Gaza and Israel proper and other high risk places), which I cannot justify at all, but I understand how soldiers use violence because it is easy to maintain control, and the check points have proven extremely effective in preventing terrorist attacks.

The first afternoon Neil Lazarus, head of Awesome Seminars who worked with Yossi to create our week, spoke to us, and just from the way he spoke I knew this would be a good week.  We looked at everything rationally (not emotionally), and I’ll tell you about the programs I found most meaningful and interesting.  Among what we learned in this first presentation:

• “If you can’t convince them, confuse them.”
• “Whoever says they want peace the most wins.”
• “Always end a speech/argument with some combination of the words ‘hope,’ ‘children,’ ‘peace,’ and ‘future.’ 
• Example: ‘I hope that in the future there will be peace for our children.’”

first day, with Neil and 88 other Nativers

Our following session was “Dealing with H.O.R.S.E.”  There are simple arguments: [Human rights] it sucks that some people experience human rights violations through things like check points, but more people are protected than harmed.  [Occupation] No one can “occupy” a land that is in dispute/not a sovereign nation, as the West Bank is.  [Racism] Declaring Israel is an apartheid state is delegitimizing the past politically supported racism of South Africa.  [Settlements] Jews and Arabs both get permits to build in the disputed areas. [Extreme force] Israel does all it can to protect its citizens, and it faces a lot of attacks.

The next day we had some non-spectacular programming on public speaking and debating, but I think part of its spectacularlessness was due to the leader for my third of Nativ (we were split up into a smaller groups for most sessions) and large content overlap with the Intrapreneurship track of BFL.  Luckily, we had a much more interesting program that evening with the Parents Circle, a group for both Arabs and Jews who lost a family member in the conflicts here to have dialogue about the issues and what they have experienced.  One Arab and one Jew spoke to us about their experiences.  It was interesting to see what they had gone through, and there is no way I can put myself in either of their positions.  I found the Arab woman that spoke to us particularly interesting: she was Christian from Barbados, married a Muslim man, and upon living with him and their children in the West Bank felt more at home there than anywhere else she had lived before.  Her husband was killed in an act of unnecessary and illegal violence by an Israeli, and since then she has felt closer to her Arab community and has started doing things to show that she is part of this community, such as wear a hijab.

Tuesday, we heard from a representative of Stand With Us, which has since been redeemed in my mind (before, I disliked the organization for calling anti-Zionism anti-Semitism, but this presentation did not make such a claim).  I learned a lot from this session.  I learned that the US supports foreign armies, sending the most support to Israel’s army, followed by Egypt’s, followed by Lebanon’s.  I also learned that Dr. Khalil Shikaki performed a study on Palestinian society and found that 70% of Palestinians want to be under the government of Israel.  This was just very interesting.

I think I learned a lot from these 3 days, but still I question statistics and I question intentions and I am not completely convinced of much (note: I do strongly believe the points I made in the  2^nd paragraph of this section).  Unlike many of my friends, I’m not excited to defend Israel at college; as much as I love debating, I get so frustrated by this topic that I don’t like to argue it.  However, I realized this week that I do feel obligated to defend Israel.  I know I won’t change the opinions of the anti-Israel activists, but maybe I can affect those who don’t know what to think.

Yom HaZikaron and Yom Ha’Atzmaut

Tuesday night, once we finished learning about how to advocate for Israel, we went to a Masa ceremony for Yom HaZikaron.  For this day, too, everyone wears white.  This ceremony was in English, but it was not the best kind of ceremony for me.  We heard stories about people making aliyah, joining the army, and dying in service.  A family member spoke to us for some of the stories.  On this day, there is a siren at night and in the morning.  We were at the ceremony for the first siren, and though we were all together and certainly thinking about its significance, I did not find it particularly meaningful.

In the morning, we went to Har Hertzl, a cemetery for victims of terrorist attacks and soldiers.  While walking up from the bus to the cemetery, the siren went off and everything stopped.  It’s amazing how everyone stops at the same moment, in the same way, but when everyone in the area is walking to the same place, we all know the same thought was in each of our heads anyway.  We had some time at the cemetery.  Netanyahu was speaking, but I just heard him in the background as I was walking around with Becca.  One sentence stuck out to me, though: “Kulanu mishpacha gdola echad,” “We are all one big family.”  But, again, I didn’t feel that way.  I felt out of place at Har Hertzl.  All Israelis know someone who has died in a war or in a terrorist attack, but I do not.  I understand the significance of the day, but I cannot relate.

The night when Yom HaZikaron (the solemnity most comparable to that of Yom Kippur) ends, one of the happiest days- Yom Ha’Atzmaut- begins.  People wear white and blue at night and during the day.  Services have some pieces like the final Yom Kippur service, plus some synagogues do Hallel (psalm readings for holidays).  I went to Roz’s Minyan that night, which was incredible.  We started with singing a psalm with a Shabbat tune, then did normal maariv (skipping things my siddur had for Chag Atzmaut).  There is always plenty of time for one to read everything at Roz’s minyan (in many services, everything silent is rushed), but I read the first 2 blessings of the service quickly, before the shaliach tzibur (leader) read the final line of the first blessing out loud (as is the custom).  Having read the following blessing, I did not read it again, but just listened to the room.  The sound of everyone singing to themselves was beautiful, incredible.  I could not have been happier in another service.  Near the end of the service, we sang Hatikva.  Then we sang one more psalm, and danced and jumped and clapped until it was time to leave.

From around 9 pm to dawn, the city of Jerusalem was one huge party.  It reminded me of Purim with candy and toy booths in the crowded areas.  Bars and restaurants were packed.  There were outdoor concerts every few feet (at least it seems that way).  I heard that around 2 am the shuk party (party at the outdoor market) finally began, and this was crazy.  There were fireworks (Israel doesn’t seem to understand that the most impressive part of the show is the end, not 8 individual fireworks spread out over a minute after the most impressive explosions) over Gan Ha’Atzmaut (Independence Park).  I hung out with Nativ friends almost everywhere within a 10 minute walk of Beit Nativ, where most of us were staying.  It was a fun night.

Around 1:45, I returned to Beit Nativ.  Some people paid for rooms for the night, but most of us took advantage of the 3 large rooms (not bedrooms) rented by Nativ to hold our bags, and slept on the floor.  At this time, around 20 of the 60 or so people sleeping at Beit Nativ were there.  I wasn’t too tired, so I stayed up later with my friends.  Finally, around 3 am I settled onto the floor of the room in -2.5 (unlike the 2 rooms in -3, it has a carpet!), and with my sweatshirt as a pillow, went to sleep. 

I did not sleep well on the floor of a cold room without a blanket, but the day of Yom Ha’Atzmaut was a lot of fun despite my fatigue.  We had an optional barbeque, but about 80 of the 89 Nativers were there.  It was a fantastic day to sit in the grass of Gan Ha’Atzmaut, eat a lot of food, and talk with friends.  Everyone wore blue and white in honor of Israel’s birthday, and I doubt the day could have been more fun.

the picnic, me with Lucy, Maya, Julia, Deena, and Maddy

Many people have said that this was the best week of Nativ.

Trivia: Upon returning to the kfar Thursday night, I found that the eggs under one of our petting zoo hens hatched!