Blog posts I haven't written-- all combined!

I wrote this on Tuesday night, but decided to postpone after the bomb shelter incident.  Today was the third day of orientation! I have this feeling that this is absolutely the right program for me: everything I learn I'm interested in, all the people around me are just as nerdy about Jewish and Biblical history as I am, my classmates all want to sit around and talk Judaism all day. I've found my niche-- these are my people!

Other things: I've attended some really INCREDIBLE lectures over the last week on subjects which varied from Abraham Joshua Heshel's views on prayer and song, a Shalom Hartman Institute panel on the future of North American Judaism with keynote address by the new President of HUC-JIR along with remarks made by one of my favorite rabbis of all time, and yesterday a lecture by Yossi Klein HaLevi, author of Like Dreamers, who raised excellent points about being a diaspora Jew and how we and Israeli Jews should approach one-another.  If you haven’t read this yet, you should. It’s really interesting.

I finally (FINALLY) got my curtains hung up in my room, thanks to the generous lending of a drill by some classmates. (The Zives also lent me a sheet to put on my mattress because, for the last week, my clothes have been stuck in the washing machine. An update on this—the tech took the door off the machine but everything in there smells horrible because I did the laundry over a week ago, so I will need to re-wash somewhere else until he brings us back the door.) 

Yesterday we took our Hebrew placement exams. I didn’t place quite where I would’ve liked, but I am very confident that this summer of study will allow me to move up and beyond anything I could’ve hoped for.  We also studied some serious text for our first time as a group. I am excited to do more of this, but I also find it super intimidating and overwhelming. I’m excited to learn more and nervous as well.

I’ve also been fortunate enough to spend some time over the last two weeks with Rabbi Gibson. We had time to eat meals, study, talk, sing, and walk together. (We walked just about 2 miles on Wednesday evening. It wasn’t on purpose, but I was really glad to catch up with him!) I also saw all of Sara Stock Mayo’s family (which was lovely!) and am planning to see Rabbi Talve from my grandparents’ congregation in St. Louis. It’s so inspiring to have such incredible Jewish role models in my life and be able to consider them friends and colleagues now. I didn’t realize quite how homesick I was feeling until I said goodbye to JAG on Wednesday night. It was nice to have him here because it was like a little piece of home. We are supposed to be getting comfortable with feeling uncomfortable (except where safety is concerned… then we are supposed to feel exactly comfortable.) I am missing my friends, my family, my friends like family, and Pittsburgh. Today, as I walked home from the bank, I saw a guy in a Pirates hat, which made me smile. I love Pittsburgh, especially in the summer. I am missing all the comforts of home and being around people who I know love me.

I am hoping to start building a community of my own, relying on those who are on this journey with me to become my new friends and support. I am so lucky to have a great roommate who is a like-minded woman with whom I get to debrief and chat about all of our thoughts on Israel and being here. In fact, we just cleaned the floor together! It was really exciting! (Swiffer would make HUGE money in Israel. They should seriously think about coming here. We just spent an hour with soapy bleach water and a falling apart squeegee. Seriously, Swiffer—think about the business you could do!)

As far as the situation here, I want you to know I don’t feel unsafe. I know exactly how to react if a rocket siren goes off. I know how to react if I'm at school, at home, on the street, in a random neighborhood. I know what to do, so I’m not afraid for my personal safety. In Jerusalem, we are lucky because we have 60 seconds to find shelter when we hear the siren, as opposed to the southern 40 km around Gaza that only has 15 seconds.

I haven’t quite gotten a handle on things.  I don’t know that I ever will. I have learned that my idealistic viewpoint as a Western (diaspora) Liberal Jew that “everyone should just sit down at a table and work this out and stop fighting” is naïve. However the Western (diaspora) Orthodox view of Israel and the conflict   “it’s our land and not theirs and we are victims of this attack” isn’t right either. Yossi Klein HaLevi expressed a thought that I found really interesting. He said something along the lines of expecting more shame about the situation from the Orthodox world and less shame from the Liberal world.  That right wing Jews should attempt to identify more with the Palestinians and left wing Jews should be more concerned with identifying with Israel.

 He talked about the two track conversation that world Jewry should be engaged in: that Israeli Jews should express to Diaspora Jews that they understand the human rights concerns and moral issues with war. Diaspora Jews, however, should express to Israeli Jews that they understand and are cognizant of what Israel is up against and how serious the conflicts are here.  There is a double-edged fear here: that there won’t be a Palestinian state and that there will be. One of the other things he discussed is the reaction that we used to be able to get away with that “Jews don’t do…” (Some lies that have been told in the past have been: “Jews don’t get AIDS, Jews aren’t alcoholics etc.) Once those Jewish extremists burned 16-year-old Palestinian Mohammed Abu Khadier alive, we could no longer make the argument Jews don’t kill their fellow humans. Where does that leave us?  I’m not sure, except to say it’s not correct to categorize all Jews as Israeli and all Israelis as Arab-haters just like it’s not acceptable to categorize all Arabs as Muslims and all Muslims as Jew-haters. Each side has an obstacle they must hurdle in order to sit down and make peace again. Palestinians have the “right to return” law to overcome and Israelis have Jerusalem.

Where does this leave me? I’m not totally sure. I do know that I am REALLY excited to learn more, to improve my Hebrew, to put myself out there.  I actually went to a pro-peace anti-racism rally this past week where we sang, prayed, listened to speakers and chanted for peace.  (check out my next post for various pictures.)

 I am praying, praying praying, for peace here. Not just a ceasefire for now, but real peace that comes from within from both sides.  I hope each side is able to recognize the humanity of the other. 

I pray for a Shabbat Shalom, a peaceful Shabbat, here and throughout the world.