פעילות תרבותית בישראל

Wow! Ever since my blog was added to the list of Pardes Student Bloggers, there has been an explosion of pageviews! Thanks everyone!

So the title of my blog post is, Cultural Activities in Israel. One of my goals for the year is to experience what Israel  has to offer in music, film, ect. So far I have not been working so hard on this goal. As someone who will hopefully be teaching about Israel when I go back to The States, this is very important. I went to this Jazz performance at The Yellow Submarine, a really cute venue near where I live. The music was just a tad more experimental than I like, which is saying a lot, because I really like experimental music.

Last night I went to Off The Wall Comedy. At first I was a little worried when at 9:15 and I was the only one there. Even though the show was slated to start at 9, it did not start until about 9:30. The show was awesome! There were two Israeli comedians and one American, though I cannot for the life of me remember their names. Even though a few of the jokes were lost in translation, I did not stop laughing.

This is the part where I ask for audience participation: I have found a few places to see and things to do already. However, I would love to hear from you. What movies, performances, museums do you recommend checking out in Israel?

Chag Sameach!

צום קל

   Yom Kippur ended a couple of hours ago, but I cannot fall asleep. Instead, I decided to update my blog. I think that this year has been the easiest fast I have ever had. Last year, I got sick enough that I needed to end the fast a few minutes early. I think I was dehydrated when the fast began so not eating or drinking for another 25 hours was not good. I do have to confess that I have drastically changed my diet in the past year as well. My pre-fast meal consisted of whole wheat/ whole grain challah, tofu and veggies and a combo of lentils and brown rice. The biggest difference is that now I only eat complex carbohydrates, along with foods that are high in protein, and low in fat. This may have had an impact on how easy my fast was.

   I think the key factor in this being an easy fast, was Sod Siach, the Minyan (a group of people who gather to pray) I attended from Shacharit (morning service), through Neilah (ending service). This was exactly like the Minyan I have been attended the past few years for Yom Kippur, but higher energy if that is possible. The services were held in a small space with a low ceiling, and it was packed! By the time we got to the very last part of the service, I felt like I could go a few more hours, easily. I davened with some my peers from Pardes, people I had met from Yeshivat Talpiot, one relative, and someone I went to high school with. It definitely did not hurt that Rabbi Elie Kaunfer, one of the founders of Mechon Hadar, led Neilah. Being surrounded by people I know, who were all contributing, helped to make this Yom Kippur one of my favorites. If I had not decided to come to Israel and Pardes this year, I probably never would have had this amazing experience. I should also mention how cool it was to be able to just hang out in the middle of street in Jerusalem, because there are almost no cars on Yom Kippur. This is certainly something I could never experience anywhere else.  I hope that everyone had as meaningful and as energy filled a fast as I have. If you did not, I hope that you get to experience one like it in the near future. Shana Tova!

סוף השבוע הראשון שלי בפרדס

For anyone who does not read Hebrew, the title is, "The end of my first week at Pardes". Wow! What an amazing week. Great people, great programming, challenging but rewarding work. The one thing that I need to change is the amount of time I spend sitting during the day, it is way too much. My back hurts because of it. I also need to work on my posture, which will probably alleviate the pain. 

So, I should start at the beginning. Last Thursday night, was a meet and greet for new students and my birthday. It was great to finally start meeting people, especially those I had spoken to before. Everyone is really nice. A bunch of people just finished ulpan that day and came right to Pardes from Haifa with all of their belongings. When one of these people heard it was my birthday, she ran to her bag and pulled out a birthday candle and stuck it in a flat pretzel. Sincerely, one of the nicest things someone has done for me literally minutes after meeting. On Friday night, I ended up eating dinner at the home of one of my teachers. I could be wrong, but I don't think there are many schools where this is a regular occurrence, but at Pardes this is.  On Saturday there was a huge potluck lunch on the Tayelet (Has Promenade) for Pardes Students. On Sunday morning (we have class from Sunday through Thursday afternoons) we had the opening circle. Every single person associated with Pardes introduces themselves to the community, this took about two hours. This was very long, but I am glad we were able to do it.  Most of the first day was orientation, but we did have one class. There are also evening classes offered (more like after school activities). I decided to finally, actually learn how to read torah (one of the evening classes). This is one of the ways I am challenging myself this year.

I think the thing that will be most difficult for me is the style we use to learn. I am not talking about Chavruta (working with a study partner or two). I am talking about being giving a text and being sent off the Beit Midrash (literally meaning house of learning). In my limited experience with studying Jewish texts, I have been given a list of key terms and concepts to aid our understanding of the texts. If you don't know much about traditional Jewish texts, they are in Biblical Hebrew, Rabbinic Hebrew, and Aramaic. As you might imagine, learning in these languages requires a lot of trial by error, I usually understand the big picture of what we are learning, but get smaller details wrong. It is only the first week so I am hopeful that after a couple of weeks I will be  used to learning this way. 

The most important thing is that the teachers are inspiring and for the first time I am actually excited about learning Jewish texts. As much as I am feeling challenged I am also having a good time. Shabbat Shalom!