A Failure to Communicate - The Wrath of the Resh

Let's travel back in time to a few weeks ago: 

I went to a Shabbat dinner at a family's house here in Eilat. This family couldn't have been nicer. The dad drove me and my friend from our apartment building to his house since we'd never been there before. There are four sons and one daughter in the family, and still they made room at their table for us :)

My friend and I get into the car and we start making conversation with our host. "Where are you from?" "Do you have any siblings?" "Why did you want to come to Israel?" "How are you liking Eilat?" When he asks me [in English] where in the hotel I work, I confidently answer back in Hebrew, "Ani ovedet ba cheder prachim." In Hebrew, this translates to, "I work in the flower room." 

Being the upbeat, friendly person that I am, I gave this answer with a smile on my face. Besides- it's not like we are talking about world famine... who doesn't find joy in flowers? The reactions I normally receive are either, "Wow! I'm jealous!," or, "So that means you get to work with flowers? Cool!" And then usually a conversation ensues about the subject.

But no, not this time. We quickly moved on to talking about something else. I didn't think much of it until last night.

It is now time to fast forward to last night.

Yesterday, this same family invited me to accompany them to a special Shabbat dinner 20 minutes outside of Eilat where we would be spending the evening with their extended family. I RSVP'd "YES" faster than a shooting star remembering back to the family's warmth and hospitality during the previous time I'd spent with them.

They picked me up and we arrive at our destination. It is a beautiful house in a gated neighborhood in the desert. No grass. No trees. No commercialism. Just dessert and the star-encrusted sky. We make introductions, mingle and then find our seats at the table. 

Eventually amidst conversation someone asks me where I work and what is my job. Being in my mind the Hebrew expert that I am I confidently say to them, "Ani ovedet ba cheder prachim." The father of my host family looks at me as if he has just had an epiphany of epic proportions.

"Wait - like flowers???," he asks me. I couldn't understand why he seemed so stunned since I told him what I did in the hotel at our last meeting.

"When you came to our house last time, it sounded like you said 'pachim,' not 'prachim,'" he began to explain. Subsequently I learned a new word! Apparently "pachim" means garbage. This man thought that with a big smile, I had told him I worked in the hotel's trash room. I'm guessing he was a bit relieved to find out that the foreign vegan girl isn't weirdly happy about garbage after all. :-p

The moral of the story is that pronunciation is key in the Hebrew language.

The Hebrew "R" is the letter "ר" (resh). It's not pronounced like the English "R." Instead, it is slightly rolled, but not like the Spanish "R." It's a bit more silent, but not as silent as the French "R." 

The letter "resh" in all it's glory.

For months I have been practicing my resh and I know now that it's going to take a lot more practice until I master the delicate balance between saying whether I work in the trash room, or the flower room.

I guess I do have an American accent after all...

My First Hanukkah in Israel

An Israeli dreidel. 

Before I dive into this post I want to highlight a small but key difference between Hanukkah in Israel and Hanukkah outside of Israel. To me picture the on the right symbolizes why spending Jewish holidays in Israel is so special.

Dreidels outside of Israel bear the letters: Nun, Gimel, Hay, Shin. Together they stand for, "Nes gadol hayah sham," meaning, "A great miracle happened there." In Israel, the Shin is replaced with a Pey to represent the word "Poh," which in Hebrew means, "Here." To put it simply, when you're in Israel, your standing on top of the roots of the very holiday you are commemorating. For lack of a better word, it's really "cool."

With that thought now out of the way let's move on...

Since the beginning of the month I haven't felt like it was December at all. Every time I check my watch for the date I am reminded that we are indeed in the twelfth month of the year. Why can't I get this in my head!?

Perhaps there are a two main reasons. The first and most obvious: the weather! I would have never dreamed that I would be able to enjoy a warm and sunny day on the beach in December. Where I'm from (Washington, D.C.) it often snows the first week of December.

The second and most primary reason is because I am in a country where the majority religion is not Christianity - it's Judaism! This translates to: no Christmas lights, no Santa Clauses outside the grocery store collecting donations for homeless shelters, no "All I Want for Christmas is You" on the radio, no red and green signs in storefronts, no White House Christmas tree, no eggnog, no "Merry Christmas" from passersby, no Rudolph, no elves, no Grinch, no stockings, no advent calendars, no tinsel. No Christmas.

Unconsciously over time I have built the association in my head between December and Christmas. Christmas has seeped into everyday life in mainstream America. It's unavoidable, kind of like those BP commercials following the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill :-0

Do I miss December in the U.S.? I would be lying if I said "no." It's not the actual traditions of commercial Christmas that I miss, it's the familiarity and the culture of the American holiday season.

But in Israel I have found a different kind of familiarity. I grew up celebrating Hanukkah with my family and friends, and Hanukkah is Israel's Christmas. However it's not exactly celebrated in the same sense of the word.

The main difference is that here, the majority holiday (Hanukkah) is not an overwhelming commercial empire like Christmas is in the U.S. Much like Israel, Hanukkah is humble. It's about the people and not the stuff.

Instead of Christmas lights, we light menorahs. Instead of hearing holiday music on the radio, we sing Hanukkah songs with our friends. Instead of drinking eggnog, everyone eats jelly-filled donuts (though I've yet to find any vegan ones in small-town Eilat, so I haven't gotten to partake in the magic). Instead of "Merry Christmas," everyone says "Chanukah Sahmeach (Happy Hanukkah)" Instead of writing letters to Santa, people play Dreidel and compete to win gelt (chocolate-filled gold coins). Instead of Christmas signage, individual shops display menorahs in their storefronts. Instead of baking tree-shaped cookies, moms take to their potato peelers and fry latkes. Kids get off from school and families go on vacations.

To be quite honest, in Israel being Jewish feels less special since almost everyone around me is also Jewish. It's not a bad thing - it makes me forget how far away I am from home.

It's an amazing feeling to celebrate Hanukkah with people from France, Ukraine and Israel and to all be able to sing from memory for the first time together the same Hanukkah songs. I guess I did learn something in all those years of Hebrew school after all ;)

And with that it is time to transition to the Hanukkah photo shoot portion of this holiday special:

DAY ONE

Spending our first night of Hanukkah on the beach!

It got dark early!

DAY TWO

My hotel (Royal Beach) hosted a special lunch for the employees in the guest dining room. We felt really special!

It was yummy!

My work supervisor prepared special flowers for the hotel's lobby. And check out the menorah in the back left!

Later we went to one of the malls for a special candle lighting and outside I spotted the Hanukkah mobile! A rabbi and his family tour the city each night of Hanukkah to ensure everyone gets a chance to light candles and share in the spirit of the holiday. It's the closest we'll get to Santa and his sleigh ;-)

The rabbi and his two children lead the candle lighting on the ice at the ice rink inside of Eilat's Ice Mall.

And afterward what did they do... you guessed it, they handed out free doughnuts!

Look what were hanging from the ceiling!

DAY THREE

Lighting a menorah with actual oil for the first time ever! My roommate and I got excited and probably poured too much oil into the little glasses... :)

We decided to check out the competition... check out the menorah and candle lighting in the Herods Hotel in Eilat!

DAYS 4-8 ... haven't happened yet!

__________________

And lastly, I think my favorite picture has to be this one:

A gelt wrapper on the ground of a public high school in Eilat. It's a small reminder that I'm living in the only Jewish country in the world.

Happy Hanukkah from Israel!

A Family Reunion and a Jewish Identity Crisis Solved

For me, coming to Israel has in [big] part been about rediscovering my roots. During my recent trip to Jerusalem I had the opportunity to do just this. Reconnecting with cousins after spending generations divided by an ocean is a magical feeling. 

Thanks to my father, Leon Taranto, who for years has been conducting extensive genealogical research, this glorious meeting of long-lost family members was made possible.

Left to right: Cousin Graziella, me and Cousin Natan! I am meeting them for the first time ever!

Natan and his daughter Ela (my seventh (Dad is this correct?) cousins) scooped me up from my hotel, which they informed me is in a new neighborhood in Jerusalem, and brought me closer in to the city to take a walk back in time. Our destination was a Jerusalem neighborhood called Ohel Moshe. 

Entrance to Ohel Moshe neighborhood.

Ohel Moshe is special to my family because there my family has a synagogue that bears the great Taranto name ;-). Once of my patrilineal uncles was the synagogue’s founder in the late 1800s. It is called the Yom Tov Taranto synagogue in his name.

Ela and me in front of the synagogue! That plaque up top says my last name in Hebrew!

Yom Tov (my uncle from way back when) never had any sons, or perhaps any children at all. Instead of bequeathing the synagogue unto a person, he mandated that the synagogue be forever existing as a synagogue. 

Standing in the very room that I know in which one of my family members more than 100 years ago stood is a weird feeling. There is almost a forced sense of familiarity. I should add that it is slightly troubling when I ponder about whether Uncle Yom Tov would approve of my lifestyle and way of thinking… not that I need his approval. 

The synagogue consists of one small room and lacks a place inside for women to worship. Instead there is a bench outside for the women. I respect that orthodox congregations separate men and women - however I do believe in the availability equal worshipping facilities. I am of an egalitarian mind. (So I guess I am saying I do not approve of the lack of availability of indoor seating for women at my family’s congregation.)

Seen on the right - the bench from where women are welcome to worship.

Following the our visit to the synagogue Natan and Ela took me for some yummy vegan eats at a nearby natural bakery where my eyes and nose were aroused like never before. We picked up a few different pastries and then headed a few shops down to sit and sip homemade apple and pear cider. Public Service Announcement: If you have not yet tried pear cider, you need to jump on the bandwagon immediately!

Inside the bakery. (Just had a thought: why is she touching her hair? That's a bit unsanitary....)

YUM!

Left to right: green apple cider, pear cider, red apple cider.

Then on the way back to the hotel I got to meet Natan's mother Graziella who was born in Greece and later lived in Italy. We communicated in multiple different languages, it was amazing!

After my mini family reunion I returned to the leadership conference I had been attending in Jerusalem. Speaker after speaker, we as participants were challenged to answer the question: What does being a Jew mean to you?

To me, being Jewish is not about the religion or any type of spiritual connection with a god. Rather, to me, being Jewish is about my heritage and family. I believe that Judaism just so happens to also be a religion, a governing system, a set of guidelines for eating, etc… In my opinion, to be Jewish one does not need to subscribe to the religion and rules of Judaism.

(And I must add: by the word “family” I am not just talking about my family. In my opinion  just by being born unto someone Jewish you are automatically a part of the Jewish family. It is a worldwide family- Kazakhstan, Australia, Ethiopia, Yemen, Chile, Bolivia, Sweden, France, India, China, and the list goes on… As a Jewish person, I know that if I was in one of these countries and there were some kind of emergency I would automatically have somewhere to stay, just in knowing there is a Jewish community in existence.)

Participants from my summit. The people pictured are from Russia, the U.S., Poland and Israel; at the conference there were also people from Argentina, Ukraine, Sweden, France, Bulgaria, South Africa, England, Canada, Chile, Venezuela, Brazil, Kazakhstan, Italy, Romania, Spain and Australia, and probably more that I am forgetting!

However — when I think about calling myself “Jewish,” in my head I am divided. In general when I think about religions I feel that religions divide people, which is why religion is a tough topic for me to think about. I wonder, am I being a hypocrite by putting religion down but then also calling myself “Jewish” and associating with “the Jewish people?”

I struggle with this thought. And then I remind myself that there can be two types of Judaism  ethnic Judaism as a race and ideologic Judaism as a religion. 

Anyone can be a Jew in ideology. However not everyone can be a Jew ethnically. I am an ethnic Jew but I am not an ideologic Jew. Every ancestor before me has been Jewish. Because of this I can't make myself un-Jewish. I do not need to practice Judaism to be Jewish. The thoughts in my head are not necessarily in line with the tenets of the religion of Judaism, and that is okay.

For me the phenomenon of meeting my long-lost cousins coupled with my attendance of the convention has assisted me in defining what Judaism is to me specifically: It’s not a religion, it’s a family.

Another cousin, Tal, from the same branch of the family. I wasn't sure where to include this picture in this post so I am including it here! We are the same age!

Time to Re-Lod!

Did I mean to say “re-load” instead of "Re-Lod?" No, I did not! Lod (pronounced “load”) is a city in Israel and Re-Lod is the name of a project whose mission is to revitalize the city through the power of the people.

Yesterday with the conference I am currently attending I and about 30 others visited Lod as part of a guided service-learning tour. Our tour guide was Yuval Bdolach, CEO of the Re-Lod Project. The Re-Lod project facilitates student villages in Lod where university students can have a more unique student community experience, dedicating part of their time to servicing their community.

First stop on our tour: some really old ruins in Lod! Circa 1000 years ago I think?

Bdolach told us that Lod is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world, having been resided in, to this day, for 8,000 years. Lod is one of the only cities in the world where the same building houses Jewish religious services and Islamic religious services. It serves as a working model for coexistence. (Side note: this theme of coexistence in Lod reminds me of the same in Haifa. Remember this?)

Thirty minutes southeast of Tel-Aviv and about one hour northwest of Jerusalem, you would think that because of its central location in Israel, Lod would be full of young professionals and middle-to-upper class families. This is not the case.

In Israel Lod is known for being a more run-down area and is comprised approximately of 70% Jewish Israelis and of 30% Arab Israelis. 

Anthropologists and sociologists often theorize that a city will prosper when a strong population moves in. This theory is the basis for the Re-Lod project and for an organized network of orthodox religious families who believe that just by living in Lod they are helping to strengthen the community and the city. The families think that just by demanding more out of their everyday services and schools they can make a tangible difference in the quality of life in Lod. 

They claim it’s working. One woman told us that in the last three years the cost of housing in Lod has increased by 300 percent. (Wow! Right?)

This orthodox woman has a well-paying job as a scientist. She and her husband can afford to live in a "better" area but they would rather be the change they wish to see in Lod. She told us that by calling to complain when the trash removal crew is late, and by demanding for better education for her children in public schools she can help make Lod better for everyone.

Rather than a trickle-down system that focuses first on getting more government funding to revamp the city’s infrastructure, the individuals we met practice a trickle-up system that starts with Lod’s residents and its youth.

Bdolach chose four sites in the city that he wanted to show us. He didn’t ask for our money. All he asked is that we tell people about Lod.

We visited two community centers, the site of an excavated building and the first and only Cafe Cafe (like an Israeli Panera) in Lod.

The Chicago Community Center is one site where Re-Lod houses its student volunteers. The students are comprised 70% of Jewish Israelis and 30% of Arab Israelis in order to proportionately represent the city’s demographics. The students host events for school children in the neighborhood, they watch movies and play games - it’s really up to the kids to decide what they want to do. 

About to enter the Chicago Community Center in Lod!

A few years ago (I’m not exactly sure of the exact year) when the project first opened its doors there was not an immediate success. Five students came at first, and then those five brought another five and so on, until eventually the project was well known around town.

But there have been bumps in the road. One of the participants in my group asked Bdolach: How did the Summer 2014 Operation Protective Edge affect the Re-Lod project?

Bdolach’s answer: Initially it raised tensions between the two factions. Many of the Arab residents have family living in Gaza, and many of the Jewish residents have friends and/ or family serving in the IDF. During the operation, Re-Lod did not cease its programming. Instead it kept its doors open, a symbol of hope that there is a chance for the community to stay united even in challenging times. 

The last stop on our tour (and the yummiest) was the Cafe Cafe in Lod. This particular Cafe Cafe isn’t just a Cafe Cafe. It’s the red ribbon symbol of what is yet to come in Lod as a result of the blood, sweat and tears contributed by Re-Lod and the Lod community.

The only coffeeshop in Lod.

I am excited to visit Lod in five or 10 years (probably sooner though…) and see how the city has changed. After meeting such committed and invested community members, I believe in Lod. 

Staging a Silent Protest; This Vegan is in Jerusalem

Yesterday I arrived to Jerusalem for a five-day leadership conference sponsored and organized by an organization called Masa Israel. I have met people from all over the world here. I'm guessing there are about 200 participants. But more on that in a later post.

One of the planned activities for today is taking place in the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo right now as I write this. Instead I am in the hotel. Yesterday I mentioned to one of the staff members that I didn't feel comfortable going to the Zoo. He told me that at the Zoo we wouldn't see the animals, we would just be going to use the space for our activities.

The Zoo is less than a mile from our hotel. I joined the group for the walk to the Zoo, but when I got close to the entry gates, I simply couldn't enter. There were banners in the front of the Zoo with pictures of nonhuman animals' faces. I couldn't go in.

Entry gates to the Biblical Zoo in Jerusalem

I found a staff member and she tried to assure me that a lot of the animals are either in the process of being rehabilitated before being reintroduced to the wild, or, they are on the brink of becoming extinct. I haven't decided how I feel about human animals intervening in the existence of other animals- BUT I do know that I don't believe nonhuman animals should be forced to exist to serve as a form of entertainment for human animals. Perhaps if they were able to give consent then I would not be opposed ... but who knows if we will ever be able to communicate with nonhuman animals in the same way that we communicate with human animals.

The point is: I would not want someone to take me away from everything I know as normal and then put me in a confined area where I can't leave, with little-to-no privacy. I'd feel like I was living in a glass house. What kind of life is that?

So alone, I walked back to the hotel and, silently, I protested.

And though my protest is silent in decibels, it will be heard with more strength than a loud revolt. I am getting inside people's brains. Other participants at this convention are are probably wondering, where is Rebecca? And when they ask me later tonight where I was, I will have the opportunity to explain to them why I didn't feel it was appropriate for me to enter into a this type of 'prison.' And so the seed is planted.

The seeds in their heads will grow. They will ask more and more questions. We will have a dialogue, and not because I brought it up in conversation (I will never bring up my views on this subject out of the blue), but because they did - they want to know. People are intrigued by other people who break from the norm - especially when the norm is their norm.

Later in the week or the month I imagine that at least one person from this convention will in their own time look more into veganism and the movement for recognizing the inalienable rights of nonhuman animals. And to me, if I can just spark a little interest in one person, I, along with others who are doing the same, can change the world. We may be small, but we are mighty. Rome wasn't built in a day ... right?

It would have been easier for me to turn a blind eye and say, I am just one person - what does it matter if I go in there? But that is the problem, I would know. And I would not be able to forgive myself. And I am not just one person, I am my person, and so I have to do right by me.

So I didn't go to the Zoo.

The Iron Dome is in My Backyard!

Having a stress fracture of the foot in Eilat has been quite challenging considering I have to use public transportation to get anywhere (my dear car, how I miss you!), BUT I would say I am now 85% of the way to being fully recovered from my injury with just a two to three weeks to go until I can kick back into running and hiking.

Speaking of hiking... this week my group went on an organized hike of one of Eilat's tallest mountains, which just so happens to be directly behind my apartment building. I had to sit out :( However, rest assured that I made sure to find some sort of adventure. I waited for the group at the base of the mountain. And this mountain wasn't just any old mountain. This mountain houses the IRON DOME!!! That's right, the Iron Dome is in my backyard!

That small brown square on the bottom left base of the mountain is the Iron Dome. There are about 12 of them spread all over Israel. Eilat has two.

So while my group climbed, I sat about 100 feet away from one of Israel's most famous defense devices. Is this real life?

The soldiers who guard this particular Iron Dome battery told us we could not take any pictures of the machinery from up close, otherwise I would have posted a much better picture! Up close it looks SO COOL! For the hour or so that my group hiked I sat and conversed with one of the soldiers in Hebrish/Engbrew about what life is like for him now that he is in the army. He has been in the army for about a year, so I would guess he is 19 years old. Let's call him "Shmuel."

Shmuel's diet while on base consists mainly of bread, cheese and boxed tuna. Shmuel stands guard for four hours, and then has eight hours off, and then repeats this schedule again and again. Shmuel has never left Israel despite having family in a a couple other countries. Shmuel gets bored quite often because his post is not frequented at all, with the exception of occasional hikers. Shmuel and his fellow soldiers like to give the hikers a small scare, [harmlessly] questioning them and their motives, when they get close to the guarded area, since he said it is so boring to stand guard all day. I laughed but told him I wouldn't find it very funny if I was on the other side of the joke... Shmuel couldn't remember the word in Hebrew for "cable car" despite being a native Israeli - I knew it though! It's: Ra-kev-el :)

There they go!

They are as small as ants up there!

Some cool facts about the Iron Dome here.

You can now all rest assured knowing I am neighbors with the Iron Dome and that my neighbor is protecting my friends and I 24/7 from any and all airborne threats that could potentially be posed. Because that's the reality of the situation...

Goodnight from Israel 8-)