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The Wall
Okay, so I'm a little taken with the place. Don't worry, different photos are coming! Here are men Saturday evening at the close of Shabbat. I'm actually lucky I didn't get stoned for taking this photo. Shalom, y'all!! Hope everyone had a good holiday weekend. There was actually a July 4th celebration of sorts in Tel Aviv. I guess I'm not surprised since there are many expats and tourists from the States here. Anyway, closing in on the end of another week... my is the time flying! Have a great rest of the week...
Monday, July 07, 2008
I imagine these writings will become fewer as my days become more routine. At least, they’ll be routine until this session ends and the next one begins. Most of the people I have met during this session are going home but more will take their place for the second session.
Arlette is here for another week and then flies to the States to take care of business there before returning in late August. So, I’ll have the apartment to myself for most of next week until the other subletter, Judy, arrives. I can’t believe this session ends next week already. It feels like we just started…
Shabbat this past weekend was full again. For what is supposed to be a day of rest, we sure keep busy! Services, potlucks, dinners, oy!! But I love
Our own prayer circle
Here's the group of us blazing our own trail in the midst of orthodoxy at the Wall plaza. it. Most everything shuts down in Jerusalem, making it relatively quiet for 24 hours. My street is pretty noisy as would be expected for living close to city center but I’m getting used to it. Cars, buses, taxis, locals walking down the street in conversation, you name, I hear it. People like to use the car horn, too, which can be unnerving when one is trying to sleep!
So anyway, Shabbat is blissfully quiet on the streets. Indoors is another story. Lots of singing, whether at shul (synagogue) or at someone’s home. It’s especially lovely after being in services for a couple hours to walk down the now silenced streets and to be accompanied by voices rejoicing with Shabbat song. I think it’s becoming my favorite part.
Dinners last well into the evening, probably because the sun doesn’t go down until later. I went to services Friday night followed by dinner where we fell in line with everyone else and sang ‘til well past midnight.
Up early Saturday morning and went to services again. I’ve resolved myself to experience different services while I’m here, especially since I am finding out that they are different than what would be expected at home. For instance, the Conservative service I’ve been attending at the yeshiva is like a Modern Orthodox service in the States, so I’ve been told. And a Reform service here is more like a Conservative service in the States. In other words, everything here is bumped up a bit in observance, ritual, and halacha (Jewish law) than in the States. Although, I went to what is supposed to be the leading Reform synagogue in Jerusalem (I’m not sure if in all of Israel) and it was, besides being almost all in Hebrew, very “renewal”-like. Lots of singing mixed with meditations. And ironically enough, it took me going to an actual Renewal service to hear anything familiar done in ways familiar to me!! I was pleasantly surprised and plan to attend another one of their services, which only happen once a month. This weekend, I plan to attend an Orthodox service that I hear has some wonderful singing.
Saturday evening a group of us went to the Kotel to end Shabbat. We did our own service on the plaza before the Wall (otherwise, we’d have to split up men and women) and sat in a circle singing songs. It was moving and unnerving at the same time because I suddenly felt like a group of typical American tourists being loud in a sacred space while also defiantly claiming what does not only belong to the ultra orthodox. Several people joined us in the singing, so I know we weren’t too obnoxious!
After Shabbat, the city comes alive again. The metamorphosis was incredible. Shops and restaurants opened and people were suddenly everywhere. We walked from the Kotel through this pedestrian mall linked to the Old City to a restaurant and just bewildered at how many people were now out whereas a couple hours ago all was silent. It was like a Saturday night in the States except most of those people would have to start the work week the next morning, Sunday! I, at least, could sleep in later because Ulpan doesn’t start until 9.
And speaking about a new week, classes began again yesterday. I’ve decided to skip morning prayers at the yeshiva and instead do yoga here at the apartment. I’m not giving up on the Conservative way of praying but I do want to do something that is meaningful to me to start my day and I like yoga. So, I’m doing yoga and then going to class. I love the Ulpan - the class is flying. And I also love the Tanach class on the prophets. That mix of history and religious ideology is awesome. It’s also amazing to me how differently Jews and Christians read the same text. But that’s another story!
Regrettably, I dropped the Psalms class because it’s too much Hebrew for my skill level. In fact, all of the aleph students dropped it! We just don’t have the grammar or vocabulary necessary to be reading original Hebrew text. Not yet, anyway!
Other than class, I’m just living in Jerusalem. Someone made the comment that doing things here takes a lot more planning and thought than we take for granted in the States, esp. when we walk everywhere. Trips to the market are more frequent for me since I live on the 5th floor without an elevator, so I have to limit my purchases to what I can carry either in a bag or in my backpack. Usually a combination of the two. My legs are getting a work out, that’s for sure!
Oh, and we had a bit of excitement towards the end of last week. Not sure if it made the news back home. A Palestinian drove a bulldozer through a crowded downtown street, killing 4 people and injuring about 40. He was actually working for an Israeli construction company and had a visa or permit to work here, which makes this sort of tragedy all the more tragic because he was just like everyone else in this city trying to make a living. He could be anyone here. It’s any wonder Israelis can trust anyone at all. So we’ve been given the security pep talk about not going to certain places but at the same time to continue life as normal. Israelis are good at carrying on as usual. They have to be…
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