Going Back to Biblical Times

A couple of weeks ago, we had our first official weekly Siyur (trip).  Each Tuesday we will be going on a day trip as a group to experience some awesome places in Israel.  The first trip we took was to Neot Kedumim, a Biblical Landscape Reserve.  Check out their website.  Here we did some team building activities after what felt like going back in time to Biblical days.  As you can see from the pictures below we had quite a lot of fun, especially when we had to herd sheep and goats across a field.  They were pretty stubborn though...  At the end of our adventures we made pitot (plural for pita).  It turns out there was a large group finishing a meal and they gave us all of their leftover food.  It was quite a spread of a few different salads, a delicious dill dip, chickpeas, carrots, rice, and more!

me and my new friends who i am about to herd

pulling up the rear (literally I had to patch them on the tuchas-tap them on the butt to get them moving)

our group herding up the animals

Ruth, Me, and Abby using a mortal and pestle to make Zatar

Tossing our pita dough on the fire

Finished Pita and I'm pretty sure that's dirt on my neck under my necklace... gotta love the outdoors

Rewind: Miscellaneous Adventures

So I've been here 6 weeks now which is about a quarter of the way through my stay and the longest I've been in Israel in one sitting (same as during the summer of 2000).  I'm slowly but surely catching you up on my adventures thus far.  Here are a few more highlights of the past few weeks...

עיר דוד CIty of David- Check out the website for more info about the City of David: http://www.cityofdavid.org.il/index.html

Me in the City of David

The highlight was walking in knee deep water in the dark through Hezekiah's (very narrow) Tunnel.  Who is Hezekiah, you ask?

<When the city was defending itself from the approaching Assyrian army in the 8th century bce, King Hezekiah decided to protect the water by diverting its flow deep into the city with an impressive tunnel system.  "Hezekiah also plugged the upper watercourse of the Gihon waters and brought it straight down to the west side of the City of David.  And Hezekiah prospered in all his works." (Chronicles II, 32:30)
This engineering feat was accomplished by  digging a 1,750-foot (533 meter) tunnel into the mountain.  An ancient stone carving found near the entrance describes this incredible operation.>

Hadag Nahash concert- http://hadagnahash.com/?lang=en

A bunch of us went to this hip hop/funk concert at a nearby awesome music venue.  It was amazing.  I realized I saw them a few years ago back in NYC at Jewzapalooza, a Jewish music festival held in Riverside Park.  I was only familiar with some of their songs, but was so impressed with their musicality.  I fell in love with one of the band members who sang, rapped, and played saxophone, flute, some sort of electric oboe, and more.  And boy could he move! I've never seen a guy make playing the flute look so sexy!  Someone told me where he hangs out in town so I am on a mission to make him my husband!  Wish me luck!

That's my man in the yellow shirt!

Seminars on Jewish History, Zionism, Israeli's Political Parties, Israeli Culture, & the Arab-Israeli Conflict- We really only touched upon some of the aspects of each of those topics but it was enough to put some things in context and incite some questions that we will all continue to think about during our time in Israel.

Machane Yehudah Shuk- I've ventured to the amazing market quite a few times now.  This is a place where you get great prices for fruit, vegetables, desserts, etc.  It's usually pretty crowded but we've figured out the better times to go so it's not so overwhelming. We also spent time there for part of the Israeli culture seminar when we "visited" 4 different countries.  We had Iraqi Kubbeh (minced meat in torpedo shaped fried bulgar shell), a delicious vegetarian Indian dish with dipping sauces, chocolate and cheese bourekas (puff pastry) from a Turkish place, and holistic beverages and remedies from Uzi Eli (Yemenite).

Ethan's reaction after tasting Uzi Eli's medicinal substance as Danit looks on

Dance classes- I checked out a local dance studio and took Hip Hop (with Denise) and Belly Dancing (with Denise, Nicole, and Olivia).   Both were lots of fun but we haven't had a chance to go back yet.

Family- I finally met my grandmother's first cousin, Menachem, and his wife Sara, who live in another neighborhood in Jerusalem. They had me over for lunch and it was really nice getting to know them. Menachem and my grandmother lost touch over the years and I am now putting them back in touch!

My visit with Menachem, my grandma's first cousin

Hebrew Ulpan- We had 3 weeks of intensive Hebrew classes (Sun-Thurs 9am-12:30pm).  Somehow I was placed in the Intermediate level ג Gimel/3.  We are only allowed to speak in Hebrew and our teacher only speaks in Hebrew.  It was really challenging for me because it has been over 5 years since I last took a Hebrew class.  We even took some field trips during which we learned about a place in Israel but only by speaking, reading, and listening to Hebrew.

Rachel, Amy, Denise, Me, Dina, & Avi on our Ulpan trip to Armon HaNatziv

Tolerance Monument פסל הסובלנות Armon Hanatziv nearby United Nations headquarters and between Jewish and Arab neighborhoods 

Somehow I got through the 3 weeks and a lot of my Hebrew came back to me.  I understand a lot of Hebrew but it is still very difficult for me to come up with sentences on my own.  I know I need to try more but it's intimidating.  We graduated and now I am in Level ד Dalet/4.  Now we only have it once a week for 2 hours and will have 2 more weeks throughout the program where we have the intensive hours again.  I have been avoiding doing my Ulpan homework for tomorrow's class all week so I think it's time for me to go to sleep so I can work on it before my internship tomorrow.  I'll discuss my internship in a later post as it's still in the early stages of development.

More to come soon!

Rewind: Birthdays

I apologize for not writing more often, but things got pretty busy here very quickly.  It's hard to believe I've already been here for over 5 weeks!  


At the beginning of our second week, we celebrated Ruth's birthday.  Most of our group joined her for dinner at Caffit, a dairy restaurant on Emek Refaim.  The food was DELICIOUS!  I had the Asian Oreganatto which was a mix between a salad and a stir fry.   I can't wait to go back again!

Yummy Asian Oreganatto

Ruth's Birthday Dessert, Josh looks longingly at the cake

After dinner, I joined Ruth, Josh, and Marlowe for some drinks at a nearby bar/restaurant, Selena, to continue the birthday celebration.  Ruth and I have the same taste in drinks- we love the sweet stuff- so we shared a delicious bottle of Moscato wine!  Josh had already become best buds with the bartender, Yehoshua (Hebrew name for Joshua), who gave us free shots of whiskey.  Needless to say, Josh drank them for us.

Later in the week, we threw a Jersey Shore themed party in honor of the multiple birthdays that all fell within a few weeks of each other (Seth, Ruth, Avi, and Vera).  For any of you who are familiar with the TV show, I think the following pictures will suffice for giving you an idea of what this party entailed... including lots of fist pumping!

Nicole mixing up some "Ron Ron Juice"

Ruth, Me, Olivia Jersey Shore-ing it up

Avi's birthday was at the end of September so we all went out to Spaghettim (Hebrew word for the plural form of Spaghetti).  Can you guess what their menu included?  I had a delicious salmon pasta dish as well as a white chocolate mousse dish for dessert!  

Isaac, Me, Birthday Girl Avi, and Olivia

Afterwards, we attempted to go to a dance club but had difficulty because they were only allowing people in who were 24 and up.  A decent amount of people in our group are 22 and 23, so we were told to come back on a different night.  Turns out dancing wasn't even going to start until midnight so we weren't missing out on anything at that point anyway.  Instead, we went to Mia Bar.  This bar has a chill vibe and an older crowd.  We were introduced to this bar earlier in the week when our counselor, Yonit, took us on a bar crawl to show us all of the cool bars/clubs/music venues that cater to an older crowd.  

More adventures coming soon...

Rachelle and a whole lot of Skhug

This is a public service announcement:


Do not eat Skhug!  If you do, eat at your own risk!  


I learned this the hard way.  One night, down near Ben Yehudah Street, Denise, Carolyn, Nicole, Danit, and I stopped to grab a bite to eat at a Kebab place.  When you get falafel, schwarma, or kebabs, you get to pick and choose what you want in your pita (or in my case a lafah which is a delicious Iraqi flatbread used to make a wrap)--hummus, tahina, cabbage, onions, mushrooms, fries, etc.  There is also some sort of spicy topping which is generally referred to as charif חריף (Hebrew for spicy).  I asked for a little charif which is normally just the right amount to add a little kick to whatever it is I am eating.  I sat down and began to eat.  After thoroughly enjoying my lafah kebab wrap for a few minutes, I must have hit a spot with the charif.  Immediately my mouth was on FIRE!  My lips, around my lips, inside my mouth, EVERYTHING was on fire.  


Denise realized that the charif at this place must be the REAL stuff, Skhug, which is a Yemenite hot sauce made from hot peppers and a variety of other spices.  She was smart and did not ask for any on her pita.  Despite how intensely spicy my food was, I could not let it go to waste because it was sooo delicious.  I took breaks in between bites and tried to wash it down with water (though that might have made things worse), stuck it out until the end.  Afterwards, I rewarded myself with delicious gelato from Aldo/Max Brenner.  I was tempted to stick my entire mouth into the cup of ice cream, but I restrained myself!  


I don't think I'll be requesting charif any time soon!

High Holidays in the Holy Land

This post will describe how I spent my first Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and Simchat Torah in Israel.  Please note that Jewish holidays begin at sundown.

Friday, September 17th: 

In Jerusalem on Shabbat, all public transportation stops, there are minimal cars on the roads, and almost all stores and restaurants close.  However, on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year, ALL stores and restaurants close, and there are ZERO cars on the streets (besides of course any non-Jewish businesses and people).  Being that this was our first Shabbat on the program, we thought the program organizers would have planned something for us, but this was not the case.  They figured everyone would want to observe Yom Kippur in different ways (some people would be fasting, some would want to be in services all day, and some would want to sleep) and did not want to make anything mandatory as they would do so in future group Shabbatot together.  So a bunch of us took it upon ourselves to plan something.  We all gathered for a pre-fast meal, though it was more of a bring your own food but sit together kind of thing.  Then, a group of us walked to the Kotel (Western Wall).  The walk took around 35-45 minutes.  Though I was engaged in some conversation during the walk, I also used this time for some self-reflection.  I thought about the year past and the year coming, my family and friends, and how amazing it is that I am finally in Israel for more than just a quick visit.  

Surprisingly, there were not a lot of people at the Kotel.  I guess I had figured that on the holiest day in the Jewish Calendar, everyone would flock to the holiest place in the world for the Jewish people, but I was wrong.  I guess most people preferred to attend services at their respective synagogues.   Regardless, the girls and guys separated and went to our respective sides of the wall.  I went up to the wall, did some prayers (only some because I did not have the appropriate siddur-prayer book- with me) and then sat to listen to the tail end of a sermon that was being given in English to a large group of people.  The man (possibly a rabbi) was standing on a chair on the men's side so that he could be seen and heard by the women as well.  

The next morning I, along with some other WUJS people went to services at Shira Chadasha, an Orthodox Egalitarian congregation (mechitza-partition to divide men and women, but women are able to lead services and read torah) that meets in a local community center.   Unfortunately we went too late, missed the torah service, and services ended pretty early.  I later found out this was because they started at like 7:00am.  Afterwards, I went home and took a nap to pass the time (it's not fun to be awake with not much to do when you're fasting).  I intended to wake up to go to services again, but this did not happen as I wasn't feeling too well.  I regret not waking up and going to the Kotel for the Neila service which concludes Yom Kippur and includes the blowing of the shofar, because apparently it was an amazing experience and there were an insane amount of people there.  I guess I'll just have to come to Israel for another Yom Kippur in the future to experience that.

Wednesday, September 22nd:

As part of the Shabbat B'Yachad (Shabbat together) committee, I helped to organize our first Chag (holiday) together- Sukkot.  Earlier in the week, I helped to decorate our own Sukkah where we would later have our holiday meal.  

Ruth, Ayelet, Yonit, Me, Isaac, and half of Suri - It's not a Sukkah without paper chains!

Nicole's beautiful artwork.  Chag Sameach means Happy Holiday!

Right before the holiday started, our group took a walk to Yemin Moshe, the first neighborhood built outside the walls of the old city.  With a beautiful view of the old city in the distance, we shared some poems and stories related to Sukkot.  

Our group with the Old City in the background

We then went to our Sukkah for a fabulous holiday meal prepared by all of us.  I made an apple kugel using my mother's recipe and got lots of compliments!

Apple Kugel before I put it in the oven

I led the Kiddush (blessing over the wine) and during the dinner spoke about a Sukkot custom that I had only recently found out about, Ushpezin.  Ushpezin is the Hebrew word for guests.  It is customary that on each night of Sukkot, we invite one of the seven shepherds of Israel--Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joseph, and King David (some traditions include Sarah, Miriam, Devorah, Avigail, Hannah, Huldah, and Esther)--into our Sukkah.  Speaking of guests, my friend Sari joined us for dinner.  Sari is a friend who I met in NY through Livnot U'Lehibanot events.  She is in Jerusalem for her first year of Cantorial school at Hebrew Union College.

The next day, we came together for what was supposed to be some sort of learning seminar, however my committee struggled to agree on something to teach/study and had trouble finding material.  Instead we decided to make this a time when each of us could bring something that we would like to do in the Sukkah.  I brought a book but ended up playing bananagrams (similar to scrabble) with some people.  It was fun but I realized I am not very good at that game. (We actually didn't stay in the Sukkah because it was so hot, and preferred the air conditioning inside... but it's the thought that counts, right?


Later in the week...

I saw a lot of Sukkot living in NYC, especially near my job in Flatbush, Brooklyn, but being in Israel was quite another experience.  Everywhere you go, you see Sukkot.  Restaurant outdoor seating as well as apartment balconies and rooftops each turn into a Sukkah.  

Restaurant Sukkah in Mamilla Mall

Rooftop Sukkah in Yemin Moshe

Another rooftop sukkah in Yemin Moshe

Yemin Moshe Sukkah

One night, a bunch of us went to a Sukkot Festival in Safra Square.  The theme of the evening was 25 years of Ethiopian Jewry in Israel.  There were crafts and artwork made by Ethiopian people as well as a wonderful concert featuring a variety of performers.  

Huge Municipal Sukkah

Beautifully decorated ceiling

Inside the Sukkah

spontaneous drum/dance circle (hard to capture but it was pretty cool- people of all ages were dancing)

Ayala Ingedsat (1st Ethiopian born Israeli singer to get a major record deal) & Shiri Maimon (runner up on Israel's version of American Idol)

Wednesday, September 29th
In Israel, Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah fall on the same day.  For an explanation on why this is the case, click this link.  To celebrate the holiday, a bunch of us decided to do some synagogue hopping in our neighborhood.  We started at Shira Chadasha where I had attended services for Yom Kippur.  We jumped right into the many circles of women singing and dancing with Torahs, as this holiday celebrates the end of the cycle of reading the Torah and the start of the new cycle.  After a few Hakafot (rounds) and a brief moment during which I held the Torah, we ventured to another synagogue, Yakar, in the nearby neighborhood of Katamon.  We caught the final Hakafa (there are 7) which was outside in the streets (reminiscent of my past few Simchat Torahs on the Upper West Side of Manhattan).  We also got to hear the torah reading, though it was a little difficult to hear/see/pay attention with the mechitza (partition) because in this synagogue, the torah reader was not in view of the women's side.  The next night, after the holiday ended, the celebrations continued in the streets of Jerusalem.

Josh jumped into the circle of men dancing in the streets

Rewind: Week 1 Part 2

Thursday, September 16th

Today was our first Tiyul (trip) with the Tel Aviv group.  We woke up early to head southeast to Ein Gedi for a hike and visit to the Dead Sea (the lowest place on earth).  We were told the hike would be pretty easy.  I guess in retrospect it was pretty easy compared to other hikes I've been on, but being that this was the first hike I had gone on since July 2009, it was pretty difficult for me.  I kept wishing my dear friends Shira and Tehila were there to keep me company and cheer me on.  (Shira and Tehila are the lovely Israeli girls who were doing their National Service by working with Livnot U'Lehibanot, the organization that sponsored my Israel trip last summer.  They both made hiking look so easy and it seemed like they could hike with their eyes closed if they had to.)  Luckily during this hike, there were only a few steep uphill spots and plenty of other level sections for me to catch my breath.  Also, it was an extremely hot day so that made things much harder.  I only brought 1 bottle of water with me (left the other bottle on the bus), thinking I'd want my 2nd bottle later.  I learned my lesson; rationing out my water was not fun.

Ein Gedi Hike 

I kept up my motivation by reminding myself that we were heading to a beautiful waterfall.  We made it to the waterfall and had some time to relax and cool off in the water.  

Waterfall in the middle of the hike

The return hike was not so bad, just hot.  I was grateful for the water fountain at the end of the trail.  Afterwards, we drove to the Dead Sea where we were given lunch.  I ate lunch with my friend Ruth and then went down to the water.  This was very exciting for me.  Although this is my 4th time in Israel, I have only been to the Dead Sea once and that was over 10 years ago.  During that visit, I did not fully immerse myself in the water because I had a skin irritation on my legs.  My counselor at the time, Lisa, advised me to stay out of the water because the saltwater would really burn.  I remember standing in the water up to my knees, accidentally getting splashed, and screaming because only a few drops burned so much.  This time I did not know of any cuts or other skin irritations, and also figured I was a little braver as a 26-year-old than I had been as a 16-year-old, so I went right in.  The floating part was really cool.  It was difficult to control my body as no matter how I tried to position myself, my feet always rose to the surface.  This occurs because the high levels of salt in the water make the water very dense.  Anything that goes in this water is extremely buoyant.  I also discovered I did have some cuts on my toes from the hike, but the pain was minimal and hopefully the dead sea minerals were helping to heal the cuts.

first time floating in the Dead Sea 

On my way back to the bus, I took one last look at the Dead Sea and Jordan in the distance.  Sadly, the Dead Sea is shrinking.  The diversion of water from the Jordan River through dams, reservoirs, and pipelines limits the amount of water that reaches the Dead Sea, and the water lost through natural evaporation does not get fully replenished.

Beautiful Dead Sea/View of Jordan

Rewind: Week 1 Part 1

In this post, I will do my best to fill you in on what went on during my first week here.  I've definitely forgotten some details, but I think you'll get the gist. 

Tuesday, September 14th:

We started the day off with an info session regarding logistics of the apartment, health, and security.  Ya know, the usual stuff: emergency numbers, no drug use, don't ride transportation that goes through any of the territories, don't sit in the front of a cab if you are traveling alone, stay away from suspicious objects (Chefetz Chashud), do not leave your belongings unattended or else it will be considered Chefetz Chashud and probably blown up.  Yes, that's what happens.  They don't mess around here. 

We then walked down to an adjacent neighborhood, Talpiyot, where we were introduced to the drug store, Superpharm, and to the supermarket, Supersol.  You will learn from my posts that Israelis love to put the words "Super," "Mega," "Deal," etc. in the names of their stores.  We grabbed a few things at Superpharm which carried a decent amount of American brands.  Going grocery shopping was another story.  I am normally an extremely careful shopper.  I prefer to buy items that are on sale, I spend a lot of time comparing prices of various brands, and almost always use coupons.  Here I was, without coupons, without the ability to quickly convert shekels to dollars in my head, and without the ability to fully read and understand the language, and yet I was expected to purchase necessary items so that I would not starve, or at least so that I would not end up eating out at restaurants every day.  Needless to say, I gave it the old college try but left feeling pretty overwhelmed.  I definitely did not get everything I had intended to purchase.

After the shopping trip, we had an activity to help us learn about the different neighborhoods in Jerusalem and even played a game to test our newfound knowledge.  Then we met Mike, the director of our program, before venturing out for a neighborhood tour conducted by Liyan, a university student in Jerusalem.  After the tour, Ruth and I explored Emek Rafayim (a nearby main street full of various shops and restaurants) in search of dinner.  We ended up grabbing delicious veggie/dairy sandwiches at Cafe Cafe which I think is a chain restaurant here.  (In case you don't know, most restaurants here in Jerusalem are Kosher and are either classified as dairy or meat restaurants since we cannot mix meat and dairy.)  On our walk back to the apartment--Ruth had to get back because her cousin was picking her up to take her BACK to the airport to get her luggage.  Yes, she was one of the unlucky ones affected by the airport strike--we ran into a friend of Ruth's, Aviva.  Ruth knew Aviva would be in Jerusalem this year but hadn't made plans to see her yet.  Turns out Aviva is from Princeton Junction, right near Ewing, and we even went to the same day camp most likely at the same time.  We also have loads of mutual friends on facebook because Aviva also lived in NYC.  Speaking of mutual friends, Ruth and I became facebook friends prior to getting to Israel and discovered we know many of the same people.  Ruth was a Jewish Campus Service Corp (JCSC) Fellow for Hillel after college; I have many friends who served as JCSCs across the country.  Oh the wonders of Jewish Geography!

Wednesday, September 15th:

We had some more info sessions about the program, services available to us, etc.  We met Keren, a representative from Merkaz Hamagshimim, the Young Judaea aliyah absorption center.  (Aliyah is the term used to describe the act of permanently moving to Israel.  This word is literally translated as "ascent."  Moving to Israel is considered an act of going up.)  The center hosts events such as plays, parties, etc. and can be a resource to us if we want to plan an event.  We also met Dan Krakow, the Director of Young Judaea Programs in Israel.  As a side note, Young Judaea is the Zionist youth movement in which I was involved from 8th-12th grade (through my synagogue, conventions, and sleep-away camp).  It's exciting for me to be participating in a program today that is also a part of Young Judaea.  Also there are 3 other Young Judaeans on my program, Danit, Ethan, and Rachel Z.  The 3 of them were campers when I worked at Young Judaea's Tel Yehudah Camp in 2004, though they weren't my campers so we didn't know each other.

My roommates and I took a trip down the street to Mega- a sort of hardware, home appliances store to pick up some extra kitchen utensils (we were only given the bare minimum in our apartments), a bathroom rug, and hangers (I forgot to mention that I purchased a make-shift closet, clothes rack thingy at a store literally called Home Center, but kept running out of hangers.)  Afterwards, we met with the rest of the group but split up into our tracks.  The WUJS program has 4 tracks in Jerusalem:  Intern, Arts, Peace and Social Justice, & Learning.  I am on the internship track.  Most activities are for all 4 tracks, but our regular day-to-day responsibilities will be somewhat different from each other.  Next we came together to lay out some ground rules for our group, specifically related to social dynamics and how we should treat one another.  Everyone agreed that respect for each other's differences in extremely important in group settings especially since we are going to be living together for 5 months and will inevitably engage in discussions with sensitive topics.  Our group is extremely diverse.  We've got people from NJ, NY, CA, CT, OH, Mexico, Russian, and Ukraine to name a few.  We range in age from 22-31.  There are 5 guys and 20 girls.

Next we met Rachel Goldberg (Rachel #4 as our group already consists of Rachel G., Rachel Z., & Rachelle B.), an educator who will be our Judaism expert during the program.  Rachel gave us an amazing lecture entitled "Everything you wanted to know about Judaism but were afraid to ask" in about 45 minutes.  The lecture focused on some texts related to the high holidays.  I am looking forward to the monthly classes that Rachel will teach on various topics in Judaism during the program.

We divided up into committees: Green Team, Birthday Committee, Shabbat B'Yachad Committe, Shabbat B'Yachad Food Committee, Tiyulim (hikes/trips) Committee, etc.  I volunteered to be on the Shabbat B'Yachad Committee and the Birthday Committee.  I couldn't be in 2 places at once so I joined the Shabbat B'Yachad committee first and never made it to the birthday committee meeting.  Throughout our program, we are going to have 3 times when we will spend Shabbat together as a group instead of having a free weekend.  The first time is actually not Shabbat but Sukkot, an upcoming high holiday.  Danit, Josh, and I discussed, with the help of Rachel Goldberg, how we want to convey the meaning of the holiday to everyone while having an enjoyable, positive group experience.   You'll hear about how it turned out in a later post. 


I have to stop here to study hebrew and go to sleep.  More to come soon!