My First Passover In Israel

Much has transpired in the last few weeks. This may well have been one of the most eventful weeks of my life.

On March 30 I packed by bags, got on a bus bound for Jerusalem and there I received Israeli citizenship. While in Jerusalem I also met my new landlord to sign my new lease agreement because, by the way everyone, I moved to Haifa!

My plan for now is to attend a five-month ulpan that begins the first week of May. (Ulpan Hebrew’s equivalent of English’s “E.S.O.L.” The word “ulpan” translates literally to “studio.”) Tomorrow I have my ulpan entrance exam to determine into which level I will be sorted.

I was slightly disappointed that I wasn’t spending Passover at home this year but it was okay because I got to experience my first Israeli Passover. I took the train from Haifa to Modiin and spent the holiday with cousins. 

Modiin is one-third of a “suburban” municipality just outside of Jerusalem. The scenery is breathtaking. 

Went for a stroll in the beautiful hills of Modiin with my cousin Avia and her buddy Noel.

Even discovered some ancient ruins!

We had just one seder, as is the norm in Israel. Outside of Israel there are two seders due to the time difference. (Side note: I feel like it should be the same for Christmas. Elijah doesn't have even half as many homes to visit as Santa and yet he has twice as much time. Just a thought!)

In place of the traditional matzah my cousins have a family custom of using these horseshoe-like homemade bread pieces.

The seder was almost exactly the same as what I am accustomed to back in the U.S., with the exception of course that it was conducted in Hebrew. Even though it seems at times like I am worlds apart here in Israel from good old Rockville, it’s nice to have such a sense of familiarity in the traditions and customs here.

I got to practice my Hebrew a lot during my stay in Modiin since my nine-and-a-half-year-old cousin Avia doesn’t know any English yet - or maybe she is just too shy to use it! I told her that one day the extent of her English-speaking abilities will probably surpass those of mine in Hebrew. It’s a little sad because deep down I know it’s true!

Hopefully this ulpan will work on me!

After arriving home to Haifa from seder I packed my bags to get ready for a spontaneous trip to France!!!

To be continued…

A Slice of "Suburban" Tel Aviv Life

It has been a pretty packed week and a half! We will discuss only my most recent Tel Aviv trip in this post and leave the rest of my shenanigans for tomorrow :)

Last weekend I jetted off to Tel Aviv just for a change of scenery; the previous weekend I visited Jerusalem.

I stayed not in Tel Aviv but instead in nearby Giv'at Shmuel. (Side note: If Israel had "suburbs," Giv'at Shmuel would be its prime example.) Envision frolicking children, plenty of parks and people walking their dogs every 10 feet. A friend of my cousin set me up with her former college roommate, Paula.

Sometimes it pays to put a wire out on Facebook ;-)

Paula moved to Israel about 20-or-so years ago and now has four Israeli kids of her own and an Israeli husband and cat to match! I felt so grateful to them for welcoming me into their home <3 Thank you Paula and Avi!!!

Paula even prepared for me some special vegan food!

In Tel Aviv I met up with a few friends- a friend from college who moved to Israel within the last couple of years, a friend I made at the Masa Israel Leadership Summit I attended a couple months ago, and also with my Birthright tour guide. It was good to see some familiar faces in a not-so-familiar place :)

The highlight of my trip, believe it or not, was the few hours I spent babysitting for the family I stayed with, and then my walk to the bus station to set me Eilat-bound.

Left to right: Lahav and his friends- twins Gabrielle and Dotan (hopefully I got everyone's name correct!).

I've realized the best way to get a slice of life in a foreign place is to interact with the children. Let me preface what I am about to say next by saying this: I have done A LOT of babysitting. A LOT. I've been babysitting for more than 10 years. Looking back though I'm not sure why parents trusted me to look after their kids back then when I, myself, was a kid at age 13...

Anyway, I've noticed that Israeli children aren't as shy and awkward as American children and, physically speaking, they're a heck of a lot more active. And don't you worry, I've come up with potential causes of these variations.

Theory number one: social disposition. Perhaps because people in Israel live in much smaller quarters than in the U.S., the children are forced to interact more with other people and hence they gain the social skills that most American children (including myself back in the day) lack. The individual family size in Israel is larger as well. More siblings = more social interaction.

Theory number two: activity level. Perhaps because Israel is a military country, (everyone [both men and women], with circumstantial exceptions, is conscripted at age 18) its population in general is more physically fit. After graduating from the army the practices of exercise stay with the former soldiers and when they go on to have children, they continue these practices. Since kids take after their parents- they see the exercise behavior and they then copy it. 

The three children I babysat--I think they were around age 8 (whoops I forgot the exact age!)--couldn't have been cuter. They played soccer, walked a neighbor's two dogs and ran around the playground like little monkeys :)

Monkey Lahav the bilingual bouncing boy! 

After our playdate at the park I began my voyage back to Eilat.

The day was a Saturday. Saturday in Israel is just called "Shabbat." In order to catch my plane (yep, that's right, I sprung for a flight) in time back to the Land of Sunshine, I had to take the earliest bus after the busses began operating again following the Shabbat day of rest. The bus I had to catch was in the ultra-orthodox neighborhood B'nei Barak bordering Ramat Gan. Paula drove me just to the periphery of the neighborhood since cars are not allowed inside of B'nei Barak during Shabbat. 

The streets were literally blocked off with gates.

No cars are gettin' in to here!

Or here!

Walking through B'nei Barak I discovered a whole different world that I never really realized existed. I've heard about these religious communities before, but I've never seen them with my own naked eyes. I was the only woman in sight waking around in pants. (In more religious sects of Judaism women are required to wear long skirts.) I felt like I was in a parallel universe.

It is needless to say that I felt a bit out of place. Though I was raised Jewish, my family's Jewish was a very different kind of Jewish, where the religious aspect of our lives did not govern everyday life. I must say though that I do respect those who choose to live their lives following such specific standards. It is difficult and requires a lot of discipline. 

Also, I just remembered as I was writing this and am unsure of where to add it in, I went to Shabbat dinner at the house of some cousins in Modiin, a "suburb" of Jerusalem. This was the real highlight of the trip! It was so nice to be with family, even though I only just met some of them that night. One of the daughters who is a few years younger than me made for me vegan challah (it normally has egg), vegan cookies, vegan chocolate cake and vegan sachlav, a milk-based traditional Arab dessert drink that usually is accompanied with coconut and cinnamon.

I wish I took pictures with the cousins and of the food but I was so in the moment that I neglected even to think of this blog.. eek.

On that note... not to end too abruptly or anything... here is a picture of some cool statues carved out of bushes in Giv'at Shmuel:

**Cue ending credits here.**

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!

Countdown to Israel - 1 MONTH

Disclaimer: This post is going to be a bit heavier emotionally than will be the rest of the blog. I probably will not speak this openly again about my feelings on Israel's existence and the Jewish people as a whole.

Once upon a time there was a young lady named Rebecca. This young lady traveled to a land far, far away from her home. Rebecca grew very fond of the village people and their customs. She returned home, instantly planning her voyage back to the foreign land. Despite a rival kingdom's constant plots to seize the land and drive its people into the sea, Rebecca's mind remained unchanged. She admired the courage and steadfastness of the villagers. And so here the story is only just beginning -- with a one-way ticket to happily ever after..!

One month from today I will be embarking upon the real-life journey from DC to Israel where I will partake in a five-month hotel management program sponsored by Masa Israel. In June of this past year I visited Israel as part of a 10-day all expenses paid trip with 39 other young American adults. I had been to Israel before, but for some reason this time was different. It's as if I was colorblind before, and now I can see all spectrums of the rainbow. Stemming from the experience there has been a complete dissonance inside my head. I feel as though I belong in Israel. Do I leave everything I know and love in the Land of the Free just because of a fleeting feeling of belonging? Do I really belong there? That is what this experience will help me to see!

On my trip back in June we visited Israel's military cemetery, Har Herzl, with actual Israeli soldiers on the same day we visited Israel's Holocaust museum, Yad VaShem. This day was enough to make me rethink my entire existence. How can it be real that if I were to time-travel 70 years back to WWII Europe that I would almost certainly be put to death just for being born unto Jewish parents? This is CRAZY! The population of Jews in the world today would almost certainly be double its current 13 million if not for the genocide of two-thirds of Europe's Jews.

While it's not in anyone's best interests to dwell on the past, we NEED to plan for a brighter future. We can argue: if the Jewish people had had an organized military by which to defend themselves, would they have been able to defeat the Nazis and prevent the inhumane slaughter of millions? The world will never know. What we do know is that we do now have an organized military. We have a state, one state. If Israel should fall, there will be no army in the world to defend the Jewish people. If this happens, it will be a struggle for us to exist.

To introduce you to your author for just a moment so that you can understand the mind from where these thoughts escape... At the innermost of my being I believe that we are all just living beings of the Earth. We all share the same basic rights to exist and be happy. However we are not all the same. We come from a collection of past experiences that have led us to become the individuals we are. I am not Jewish in a religious sense. I am Jewish in the sense of my identity and my heritage. I enjoy the traditions and customs, but I do not believe in a god. I am Jewish just as much as I am an American. But before I am Jewish or an American, I am a vegan. I believe that nonhuman animals are entitled to all the same rights that human animals have. The genocide (I know this is technically incorrect grammar to use the word 'genocide' since the word applies to the killing of humans, but I wasn't sure what other word to use..) of nonhuman animals throughout human existence is a wrong that boggles my mind.. but I digress.. and will save this for another post.

We (the Jews) have been persecuted for centuries and centuries. I exist today as a product of survivors of oppression. I am descended from immigrants from Eastern Europe circa the time of the Pogroms and from Spanish Jews who fled the inquisition to keep their lives. We have survived throughout history because we have each other. Israel, only just the size of New Jersey, must continue to exist as a home for the Jewish people. One can argue, but there are many Jews in America.... Yes, the area in which I currently live is heavily populated with Jewish people. Yes, there are probably 20 synagogues within a 10 mile radius of my house. Yes, in school we got off for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Yes, we sang Hanukkah songs in my public elementary school. Yes, our weekend is conducive to Shabbat. Yes, we are allowed to practice Judaism publicly and freely. BUT- can we really say that if aliens came from outer space and threatened to kill all the Jews and their friends, that the gentiles living among us would defend us? I don't know the answer. I would certainly hope so. I do know that in the case of World War II the answer was no.

Right now I feel the need to be in Israel. We, the Jews of the diaspora, have the chance 2000 years from our dispersion to reunite in our home land of Israel. Why not go? And so off I go!

This video pretty much sums up my thoughts.

Goodbye for now!