Another night out in the Katamon scene: The Tuesday Night Shiur

Last night, with much encouragement from a friend to be social and get out more, I attended the Tuesday night shiur in Katamon. The apartment was packed. So many people came... to learn Torah? Hm, maybe. I knew about two thirds of the guys there and exactly one girl. I recognized many of the other guys, but not any of the girls. This was not at all surprising to me. As I mentioned in a previous post, the social dynamic doesn't seem to allow for girls to befriend each other easily. And what I'm finding to be too true is that guy-girl friendships/relationships here are outright complicated. But anyway... I was intrigued by the shiur. I'm glad so many people work Torah into their week, even if it's just to hit on each other during the break. Then there was the after party. Who knew a shiur could have an after party? A few of us went to a nearby cafe for drinks and shmoozing. Guess I can't make fun of it too much. It's near impossible to put a social life together here. And I guess shlepping out to Palmach an extra night a week isn't the worst idea for me.

A couple anecdotes

I decided to take advantage of my recent publicity (check out http://www.israelity.com/?p=4092 -- they claim I used the word kitsch... not sure I would even know how) and post a couple other stories/observations from the past few days. I suppose there are connections one can make between the two about what people are like in this country. If you care to, leave a comment.

On Friday my brother and I made the obligatory trip to the cemetery to visit the graves of our grandmother's sister, brother-in-law, and nephew. I saw a grave with a sign posted above it (and not just any sign- a nice gold one with clear black letters) declaring that the person laid to rest in that kever forbid any of his relatives from coming to visit his grave until they were chozrim b'teshuvah. Following this statement was a "to-do list" of necessary actions such as giving charity and changing their sinful ways.

Today I received yet another call from the Jerusalem Post. The Post is famous for terrible customer service. I had already expressed my dissatisfaction to the last person who called and requested that they hold off for awhile. Most of my trial issues had not arrived, and I was outright insulted when in response to me saying that I could not afford a subscription, the salesperson asked if I had a relative who could pay for it as a gift. Today when they called and I heard who it was I immediately said "no thank you" and hung up. Now in the US this happens all the time and the telemarketer goes to the next person on the list. Not here. I immediately got another phonecall from them, pressed the reject button, and a minute later had a voicemail with an angry Israeli woman telling me that it is horribly rude to hang up on somebody. Rude. Ha.

Jerusalem through the eyes of a three year old

Every Monday and Tuesday I take care of a three year old boy and his baby brother. Their apartment has a huge window overlooking Keren HaYesod, a main thoroughfare for both cars and buses. We often look out the window and comment on what we see-- cars of different colors, trucks, taxis. Today all we saw was a few police vehicles. Then we got the call from his mom that her bus wouldn't go anywhere near the apartment so she was on foot and would be home as soon as she could. "Why are there no cars?" the boy wanted to know.

How do you explain the street being closed for a rally to protest Annapolis? There were tons of people walking towards town in the middle of the street, and this kid knows we only walk on sidewalks. So what was I supposed to say. "Well, sometimes in Yerushalayim a lot of people want to get together in the middle of a busy street and because of that the police make sure all the cars and buses stay away." "Oh, the buses are sleeping today!" Okay, it wasn't like I expected him to get it anyway.

Once his mother came home he completely lost interest in the abnormalities outside and I came home to enjoy a pleasant evening listening to fun Jewish music from the rally down the street. I guess this is how we express our dissatisfaction here in Jerusalem.

Thanksgiving in Israel

If you want to here all the inefficient, lengthy, and expensive ways to get from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem feel free to ask me, but out of exhaustion and grumpiness I choose not to recount them here.

Last night I went to the Nefesh B'Nefesh Thanksgiving dinner in Tel Aviv. It was good, there was turkey. It's no parade and Thanksgiving football, but it was nice to have a taste of tradition. I took the morning off in solidarity with my friends back in the US. Or because I was tired- whichever you want to believe. These social events are becoming a little less daunting as I take advantage of the three or four friends I've made in this country. Just kidding, it's more like six friends. Thankfully I know a lot of the "cool useful people" like Ted who besides his Wii, also has a car in which I got a ride to the event. If only I got a ride back... but I'm still not going to talk about that.

The video posted below won second place in the Nefesh B'Nefesh "Israel in a Minute" competition. The video that won is pure aliyah propaganda-- a bunch of smiling olim from different countries with their voices overlapping saying how happy they are to finally be home together in the Jewish land. Not surprising to me, everyone liked the second place video better. It's simple and funny, and captures an aspect of our new lives in Israel that we all agree with and can appreciate. I think most of us get past the idealism really quickly and realize there's only so long you can laugh about things like bank accounts being inaccessible and sporadic floods under the sink. Yes, we're happy we're home. It's great. We did it. Yahoo. But it takes a lot of effort to calm myself down and be truly happy about being here. Thankfully I at least see things like this to make me laugh once in awhile...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=XL6VPom3I1Q

Happy Birthday to me

I finally have my medical insurance card. My bank account seems to be working, though I have yet to receive the PIN for my ATM card. Thankfully I have cash coming in from two babysitting jobs. I can complain that I don't earn enough and I don't work enough hours, but I get to play with two great sets of brothers. This morning I went to the breakfast following Ben Zion's upsherin-- an occasion which even after knowing him for only a few weeks I was really excited about. When the various relatives heard who I was they all told me that they heard only great things. That made me feel pretty good. I am enjoying my learning at Nishmat. I finally recovered after getting sick two weeks in a row. Finally I feel like I'm living my life here.

And today was my birthday. Well, it ended almost an hour ago, but things were so hectic following my party that I only have a chance to write this all down now. Tonight I brought out the Play Doh from my party two years ago and had a whole new bunch of friends over to play with it. Everyone got into it, and everyone had fun. I had such a great time with everybody. My roommates made me the coolest Fenway Park cake and people brought me all sorts of fun little presents. It really felt great hanging out with everyone. So happy birthday to me, and thanks to everyone who made it happen. I think I'm doing okay now.

Lots of things

I am writing this to keep my mind off the raucous outside. The demonstrators are back in front of the Labor Court, which is "conveniently" almost directly behind my building, protesting the teachers strike (or at least the causes of the strike). They've been there for a couple weeks now-- high school students have been out of school for at least a month. This past Tuesday night they went past their usual end time of 6 and continued their screaming, singing, and honk-encouraging behavior until midnight. At midnight they belted out Hatikvah and went home. I guess it is a good thing they still want to sing in honor of the state, but I wish they could, I don't know, just silently hold up their signs and people in cars could wave and smile as they drive by.

I came back an hour or so ago from the Wolfson Medical Center. Thankfully I scored an appointment with a competent doctor who wrote out a prescription for strep throat medicine. On Wednesday I thought my ears hurt because of the demonstrators, but when the pain continued I decided to go in. I got there at 7:45 for the 7:30-9 walk-in hours and was given an appointment for an hour and a half later. Go figure. Overall it was one of my more positive medical experiences here. I ran into my 11th grade Navi teacher, they had good magazines to read, and as I said the doctor was competent. Based on past experience I thought she might diagnose me with a stomach virus or something. Oh wait, that was last week.

That's right, this is my second week in a row being sick. It was also the second week I babysat for Ben Zion and Refael, Refael being an adorable baby with drool and germs spewing out of him. He has also been sick the past two weeks. Coincidence? I think not. Hopefully I didn't infect any other kids I played with this week. I have started a carefully regimented diet of chugging OJ (I splurged for the stuff that actually tastes like juice) and actually eating normals meals- a habit that somehow got lost in the shuffle. Thankfully in this country you can buy prepackaged meals of ziti, tofu bits, and vegetables in the freezer section. Everything I need for a healthy meal and it only takes five minutes in the microwave. What I have not found is good soup. Not the instant powdered junk, but good thick nutritious soup. They don't have canned or frozen soup here, much to my despair. If anyone knows of such a thing please tell me!

Anyway, speaking of kids, I am now employed by three different families for a total of 14 hours a week of babysitting. Not as much as I wanted, but really I can't complain after two hours when it's time for me to ditch the kids and go home. I have various comments to make about the children, but for risk of their parents coming across this blog you'll just have to contact me for details :-). Overall it is going well. Ben Zion who I mentioned before is having his upsherin on my birthday (his birthday is a couple days before that) which I am pretty excited about.

This shabbat I am going to Emily and Marc's apartment in Modiin where I will be joined by Nate & Naomi and Aaron & Ilana (and tummy). I think I have to marry another UMD alum by shabbat to fit in, but I am excited nonetheless. This will be my second trip to Modiin this week-- I was thrilled to finally fit in a playdate with Ruchama, Raphi, and Zechariah.

That's all for now... especially since Harriet the Spy keeps jumping up on my lap and smacking my face with her tail. And the demonstration continues outside... I am never going to be a high school teacher, and my kids are going to private schools. And maybe when I'm in grad school the universities can go just two years without strikes of their own.

A Special Day

This morning was the Bar Mitzvah of Gershon Brickner, a very special boy whose family made aliyah to Jerusalem from Newton a year ago. But before I get to him, this is what happened on my way to the bar mitzvah.

Just two minutes from my apartment there was an elderly lady trying to get out of her parking lot, but the gate had been broken. She asked me if I would hold up the gate while she drove under it, and I of course was perfectly willing to do so. She then asked if I needed a ride. She was heading to Wolfson, the exact direction I was going in, so I gladly got in the car with her. Yeah, this would never happen in America. Her name is Eva Weintraub, and she works with old maps for a living (Alan- you must meet her). She also tries to publish some of her husband's writings that he left behind. Most of her work is done on the computer- good for her! I was actually surprised at how little she told me about herself, but I guess that's how it works in Israel when you give total strangers a ride. She did tell me that if I ever got bored, I should feel free to visit her. Her husband passed away two years ago and she spends most of her time at home alone. On the way she pointed to a street and said she lived there for many years, and that it's good to see where you used to live and remember how wonderful things were then. I took down her number and needless to say, I will definitely be making a visit.

Now about Gershon. Gershon was born with Canavans disease which is a debilitating neurological disease with a low life expectancy. This has changed slightly thanks to medical research and treatments that are still in experimental stages. And today Gershon, to the delight of so many people, got to celebrate his bar mitzvah. Gershon cannot talk, and my guess is for the brachot on the Torah he pushed a switch that activated a voice recording. We showered him with Hersheys Miniatures (drool....) and sang mazal tov.

After davenning two students from his school gave divrei Torah, one in Hebrew and one in English. It clearly took a lot of confidence for these kids to get up in front of everyone, and while it was hard to understand them I'm sure they said something special. Then Gershon's mother spoke, holding back tears the entire time. She compared herself and husband to Avraham and Sarah who waited until late in their years for a son. She then compared Gershon to Yitchak saying that although she did not have to give Gershon as a sacrifice, by having Gershon as a son she and her husband had to make so many sacrifices in order to raise and love their child. The comparison was perfect and beautiful. She continued telling us about how much Gershon loves being part of a community and celebrating shabbat-- helping his mother light candles and humming along to kiddush. Even if he cannot talk and can barely move, he clearly celebrates as much as anyone else.

The divrei Torah were followed by another treat for me- bagels. Hersheys miniatures and bagels- best morning ever. I got to catch up with other families that made aliyah from Newton, kids here for the year (aren't they bar mitzvah age themselves??) and good friends and neighbors from Newton who flew in for the simcha. It was truly a wonderful simcha to be apart of.

Boston Red Sox: World Series Champs twice in my lifetime

This past Sunday night I once again set my alarm for 2am, and tried to get a quick nap before game four of the World Series. Harriet the Spy was at first happy to see someone awake, though quickly fell asleep again on the floor beside me. She only woke up to the cheering following homeruns and other big plays in the game. Around 5am, at the start of the 8th inning, I woke Alissa up to watch, and shortly after Sam arrived for the final few outs. Guess not everyone can be as dedicated as I am. Wel, we did it. The Red Sox once again won the World Series. Even without the drama and anticipation of 2004, it is still amazing. After the last out Sam and I sleepily hugged and high fived each other, and then I went back to sleep. No, I did not make it to Nishmat in the morning this time. Monday evening I watched the parade on live feed courtesy of NECN. I missed Boston more than ever, wishing I could be there dancing with Jonathan Papelbon. Hard to imagine that almost six years ago I attended the first victory parade in Boston in decades, for the 2001 Patriots, and since then I have missed two more Superbowl Championship parades AND two World Series Championship parades. They'll just have to do it again.