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Showing posts from July, 2007

A Day of Love - in Jerusalem and Jersey...

Tonight was the first time I genuinely missed my Home. Not Fort Wayne, Indiana, a place I once called home. Not Knoxville, Tennessee, the place my parents most recently began to call home after a 20 year exile... And not Bloomington or Washington, DC, either. Beginning at sundown tonight is Tu B'Av - essentially like Valentines Day - a Day of Love. This day falls after a period of time in the Jewish calendar specifically set aside to commemorate various moments of destruction in Jewish history - such as the fall of the Temple in Jerusalem and in modern times, the Holocaust. On this day, Tisha B'Av , and in the preceding days, weddings do not generally happen in Jewish communities. Tonight I was walking to a birthday party Beer-Luck (we're working on the wikipedia entry at press) and passed the courtyard to Jerusalem's " Great Synagogue. " You'll be shocked to know that "The Greatest Synagogue," the "OK Synagogue" or "Not as G

I Guess We're Not in Starbucks Anymore...

Israel is a funny place - most easily compared to the only coffee beverage I can successfully order. Cafe Ha-fuch - translated simply as "Coffee Flipped/Upside Down" - is neither latte nor coffee, nor espresso by its lonesome. What is it? Tasty. Caffeinated and cheap if purchased from the HUC lounge. Really, I'm not even sure what it is - but I do know how to order it. I'm a huge fan of iced coffee - the beverage of choice that I injected into my veins via syringe in order to stay awake throughout my various post-college jobs - a true Starbucks rat, if you will. Alas, my desire for iced-coffee faces two extreme challenges in Israel. First, there's simply no ice in Israel. If you ask for a cup of ice water, you get a cup of water. That's it. It's so hot here that even if ice cubes did exist, they'd melt immediately in order to cool themselves down. (I'm envisioning a new pixar film.) The second glitch frustrating my coffee habits: freshly grou

Officially a Rabbinical student...Holy Cow!

Today I finally reached my lifelong goal - or dream - if you will. I officially became a Rabbinical student - a true-blue card carrying member of the Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion. It should be noted that an HUC ID card has little value in Israeli society, will hardly hold court at a student travel agency and could be easily mass produced by merely drawing a smiley face on an index card (best wishes if you are looking to start a business to assist Rabbinical student imposters...) It's wild to see myself joining in the long line of Rabbinic tradition of the Jewish people. At the end of morning services, we sang Shechiyanu to commemorate the beginning of the five year journey at HUC. I was surprisingly touched. Who am I to stand in this line of tradition? I'm 24 years old. I still call my mom every morning before school in order to eliminate the pit in my stomach. I occasionally fight with my brother and sister and really hate unloading the dishwasher.

Targeesh Tov - Feel Better: the Hadassah Hospital Pediatric Oncology Ward

At Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital , Arabs, Jews, and Christians are united towards one common goal - becoming healthy again. This morning, I visited the Children's Oncology wing with a group of NFTY in Israel participants who have spent the past week doing Mitzvah projects throughout the Jerusalem area. We spent a morning with residents at Keren Or, a home for blind and severely disabled youth; visited with the elderly workers at Yad L'kashish - Lifeline to the Old - who spend their mornings creating beautiful and intricately painted Judiaca; and did craft projects with residents at a nursing home. The NFTY participants learned how to twist balloon animals and I joined them each day to help them sing with each community they visited. Lacking a common language, singing, smiling, and laughing served as our only means to communicate. Spending time in the Children's Cancer Ward was particularly special. Most of the Israeli children who spend extended time in the ward were away