Questions from our viewers

1. The "really cool minyan which is basically full of really religious hippies that dance around the whole time" on the first day of Rosh Hoshanah - Is this a conservative congregation? or Lubavitch? What makes them different?----- It was an orthodox minyan. It was only different because that is the personalities of the people there, and the Rabbi there. There is nothing specifically different that they do religiously other than more dancing. Not a huge difference, just really cool.
2. You talked about a neighborhood that I love going through where the buildings all have some blue in it. How were they all blue? Were they painted blue? Did they have blue stones or tiles? Why do you think they look like this?------ It was mostly trim on the houses. Just asked my roommate who knows a lot more about colors and what not. In Kabbalistic tradition, the color blue protects you from the evil eye.
3. On the first day of Rosh Hoshana, for the afternoon and evening services, you went with a friend his grandparents' shul and then to their house for dinner. Are the grandparents Israeli? or did they emigrate to Israel? How long have they been living there? Do they or did they work there? What made them choose to live in Jerusalem?------ His grandparents are from the states, but have been living in Israel for about 30 years now. I can't remember what his grandmother does, but his grandfather is a real estate agent. I don't know, but I would assume they chose Jerusalem because it is the religious center.
4. On the Second day, you to Baaka Shyvuni. "It had a mechitza, but was still egalitarian." What is a mechitza? Is it a curtain or wall down the middle? How can you have this and still be egalitarian? Did women participate in leading the service? Did they read torah? How big was this group? Why do you call it a minyan and not a shul?------A mechitza is a separation of men and woman. There it was just a curtain, but in other places it can be different. A minyan can have a mechitza but still be egalitarian, simply by allowing woman participation, but still separating the genders. There was a lot of woman leading and I believe only women read torah. It was a group of about 100 people including kids. I call it a minyan because a minyan and a shul are not the same thing. A shul is another name for a synagogue which is simply the religious building for prayer, whereas a minyan is simply the name for the group praying. For example, this service was in a school gym.
5. Your host's husband "runs a winery in Golan Heights, so obviously we had AMAZING wine for lunch." What kind of wine? Red or white or both? Sweet or dry? Why do you think you enjoyed it so much? Where is Golan Heights? Is it near Jerusalem? Can you visit the winery?-----For Rosh Hashanah he gave us both red and white wine. I don't know enough about wine to say why we enjoyed it as much as we did, but we have had enough wine while here to be able to recognize wine we do and do not like. Golan Heights is in the north. We probably could visit the winery, but I don't foresee us doing so.
6. After was a quiche, carrot cake muffin kugel type food, and 3 different types of salad. Were they vegetarian? or was it a dairy meal for a specific reason?-----They were not vegetarian, but it was a dairy meal partially because one of the people I went with is a vegetarian, but also because they were having a meat meal for dinner with other friends and wanted to only have one that day.
7. On the second night, you went to Scott's friends for another great dinner. Who is Scott? Where is he from? How does he know people in Israel?----- Scott is one of my friends on Nativ. He is from a suburb of Boston. He knows some people from having spent sophomore year here. Also, from staffing a program during part of his senior year. He knew this person because they were staff at one of the Ramah camps, and this person is at school in Israel. 
8. What was it like to be in Jerusalem for Yom Kippur?-----Amazing. Seeing so many people in white, and having the city literally shut down for an entire day was one of the coolest experiences ever.

Future note. If people have questions, don't wait for my mom to send me a million (there were some I didn't answer). Feel free to e-mail me or contact me some other way and feel free to ask.

Desert Surivial!!!

Desert Survival:

Sunday the 16th, we were outside before 6 in the morning to leave for our desert tiyul (trip). For this, we were separated by tracks, so I spent the whole time with the Yerucham track. My track left first to take about a 2 hour bus ride to Be'er Sheva where we prayed in the only conservative synagogue in the city. By about 10 we were done with praying and eating and then were off to the desert. We started off near Mitzpeh Ramon (not sure if the transliteration is correct) where we met our guide Yoav, and guard Sapir. Due to me not having a hat (supposedly they were required) Adi (one of my staff) pulled out a scarf of hers and made me where it as basically a headdress. I'll admit that while I was initially not a fan, I definitely really liked wearing it the 2nd and 3rd days.

The 34 of us (30 Nativers, 2 Madrichim (staff), Yoav and Sapir) start going at about noon, and we start hard. We immediately climb up this one hill which must have been a couple hundred feet high and quite steep. We then take a break there for Yoav to give an overview of the path that we will be taking. It was a little over 30 km in 3 days, but that including climbing up at least 2 mountains each day.

The first day's hike went into the dark, I think because none of us were expecting the intensity of the sun, heat, and hike to be as hard as it was, so by the time we got to our campsite, it was basically right at sunset. There was nothing in particular that was very cool to see, just a lot of different hills, mountains, and random cliffs, but it was still such amazing scenery. There was however one very old riverbed that we walked through, which is cool to think about since the desert is now very dry, but that there used to be ocean and river where there is now desert.

The 2nd day Yoav woke us up at 4:30 to very annoying music he had on portable speakers, but what really woke us up was the knowledge of pre breakfast being available. I say pre breakfast because we would pack food to eat at a normal breakfast time even though the food we had for pre breakfast was much more breakfast like. We then left the campsite and once we got to the trail, it was straight up from there. About 2/3 the way up the mountain we stop for a little break and Yoav did more ocean explaining but also showing that there were different fossils from very old water creatures. While also there, we are explained about the Machtash. Apparently Israel is the first place of these. It is essentially a canyon but instead of carved by rivers, it is ground that rose from the tectonic plates, then the sandstone eroded and water filled in, but then went away leaving the hole in the ground. We finish the mountain then go through this very long pass to our campsite. A pretty difficult day mostly because it was the only day that was truly a full day of hiking.

Because we are in the desert with essentially no light pollution, you can see millions of stars. That night we go on a little night hike to this one flat area which is more comfortable to lie down at and have about 20 minutes of no talking and just listening to the sounds of the desert and watching the stars.

3rd day starts bright and early. We walk for maybe an hour without and hills or mountains or anything. It is just straight walking in the desert with literally nothing around. Then we get to the hardest part of the hike. We hit this one mountain which is essentially straight up, to the point where if one person were to have fallen, there would have been no chance for them to not take everyone else out with them. We end up finishing the hike and get to the best part of the hiking, the jeep ride. We then take about a 30 minute jeep ride to the bus and lunch.

All in all, a very good way to spend 3 days of sukkot in the desert. It was a ton of fun and an amazing bonding experience as well.

High Holidays, School Started, Still love the Bears

9/28/11: NOTHING HAPPENED!!!! THE WORLD LITERALLY STOPPED!!!!! (Also, it was Sivan S.'s Birthday. She turned 18. She is also sitting right across and is not influencing this at all. Happy Birthday!!!!) But actually, it was essentially an off day for us. The only things that we did was have a dinner and Maariv service. 

Rosh Hashanah: 

The First day was nothing too special in all honesty. I went to this really cool minyan which is basically full of really religious hippies that dance around the whole time, but I learned that that is definitely a minyan to only go to for a shorter service (i.e. Friday night) because, while fun, they drag out services. After leaving a little early, me and the people I went back with then took a very roundabout way back to base where we passed through this one neighborhood that I love going through. The buildings all have some blue in it, and it is as if it was made to be one giant garden. For the afternoon and evening services, I went with my friend to where his grandparents go and then went to dinner at his grandparents. A cool minyan, but nothing too special. 

The Second day was really enjoyable. Nativ sets us up for hosts with families in the area, on either the first or second day. I went with these two other girls to a really fun minyan. It was called Baaka Shyvuni. It had a mechitza, but was still egalitarian. I really enjoyed their tunes and the service as a whole. Plus the person I sat next to was very nice and one of the few Americans, so he was able to explain the minyan to me because it was a very new one at that. Afterwards, we find our host and she is super nice right away. She was also on Nativ 11, so it was a cool connection with that. We then meet her husband and 3 kids. Her husband runs a winery in Golan Heights, so obviously we had AMAZING wine for lunch. The lunch in general was also really good. It was 4 courses. First was this delicious cheese and crackers. I don't know what was so special, but the cheese was wonderful. Next was arguably the best soup I had ever had. It was a lintel, coconut, and orange soup. The mixture of flavors was wonderful. After was a quiche, carrot cake muffin kugel type food, and 3 different types of salad. Lastly was a great selection of fruit, apple cake, lemon pie, and chocolate covered pretzels made by her kids. It was a great meal, plus the company was great. They had 2 friends over as well and they were also very nice and interesting. 

Later that night I then went to Scott's friends for another great dinner. It was too bad because I was not that hungry, and due to that I don't remember what exactly was served. I do however remember it being very good and very good company. 

School: I started the regular semester that Sunday (10/2) with Evolutionary Psychology. I liked my professor immediatly by introducing himself as Amir, just like he was a normal person. He also had a pointer which I find hillarious. Best of all, he looks like a monkey. Now in most cases, that is probably an insult, but I feel that in a class based in evolution, that a professor looking like a monkey makes the class that much more legitimate. He also happened to write about half of the extra readings. It is also a good class because it is a 4 hour block, but not all lecture. It is 2 hours of lecture and 2 hours of us getting into groups and researching/presenting a topic from the lecture.

On Mondays I have 3 hours of hebrew followed by 4 hours of The Emergence of Biblical Israel. That is a very difficult time because I get really drained, but it is a super interesting class. We basically analyze the emergence of Israel as a people by looking at the bible from a historical perspective. 

My third class is Anti-Semitism from the 19th Century to the Present. It is twice a week so only 2 hours per day, but those two hours take a long time. The material is super interesting, but the professor is very quite and dry. In a way it is lucky though because the only two grades we have are not based on his lecture. It is a book review and then a term paper based on any topic related to anti-semitism. 

Yom Kippur: This was a really cool experience in Jerusalem. Kol Nidrei/Maariv on Friday night was interesting. A bunch of people went to the Great Synagogue of Jerusalem. The only way I can think of describing it is, that going to the Great Synagogue is an experience that I wanted to have...once. I will never go back. It takes way too long and I didn't like how they ran the service, however the synagogue itself is absolutely gorgeous. Afterwards, all of Nativ went out into the middle of the street by us which is a very busy intersection and starting singing songs from packets/booklets that we have and use ourselves on a normal Friday night, but going to that intersection for Yom Kippur has become a Nativ tradition. Singing there alone was cool, but what really made it amazing was that hundreds of other people ended up coming over and joining us from the city. While we were sitting in a circle, there were hundreds around us joining us in song. Truly unbelievable.
The next day, instead of doing the normal "go to services all day", me and some friends instead went on a "spiritual walk and sit" and ended up at an overlook that actually happens to overlook the Valley of Judgement. I found it much more meaningful. For the afternoon and evening services, I went with one person to the Kotel which was amazing. We helped start the minyan which was pretty cool. For Mincha (afternoon service) it was slightly disorganized, at least in our minyan, and the person who lead took way too long. But then Ne'ila was just amazing. All of the energy at the Kotel was unbelievable, and was one of, if not the best praying experiences I have ever had. O, and Zack D. fainted. In fact, he actually fell onto me, and because it was on me I was able to get him a chair to sit down in. He actually finds it super cool. 

There was then a communal breakfast at the Kotel where I had sooo much food. It was basic cakes, muffins and cookies, but even still, delicious. Later that night, me and Jesse go to this one place and have delicious hot wings. 

Tonight, I will be staying up til 5 in the morning. Gotta love having the Bears play Monday Night Football in the states, but me also not having class til 2:30 in the afternoon.