Jewish Princess and her sukkah

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Ok, so I’m crazy. This I know. But get this: I’ve decided to do another random, crazy event because well….that’s me.

I’ve joined the “Jewish Princess? Odyssey”. What in the world is that you may be asking yourself? Especially when you picture me and all my very non Jewish Princess ways. I’m that girl that rolls out of bed, wears practically no makeup, makes sex remarks like a guy and is a firefighter for god’s sakes. I’m definitely no princess.

But with the tongue-in-cheek name, it actually is an event that when I explain it, you could actually picture in your head “Yes, Jessi is just that weird and random to do that.”

I digress.

Here we go: I will be fund raising a God-awful amount of money in order to participate in the desert “trek” we’ll call it. I’m talking I won’t have a bed or tent for 8 days and 7 nights. I’ll be sleeping in a sleeping bag in the Negev desert with the stars over top of me. I’ll be digging my own latrine (toilet for those of you not in the know) in the desert sands, I won’t have a shower until every 48 hours (Mexican shower anyone?), night-vision goggle expeditions, Jeep commandeering obstacle courses, timed team challenge/hike up Masada, and various other boot camp tactics that our Ex-IDF Major will be putting up through.

I’ll be smelly, sweaty and gross for close to 10 days straight. All with 12 other “Princesses” from England. Why England? Because only those wily English folks could come up with this idea to raise money.

What charity does this? Emunah UK in conjunction with Emunah Israel. Emunah is a network of people that run, build and maintain over 6 facilities. One of the most noted is The Sarah Ronson Crisis and Intervention Center in Sderot. After last years war with Lebanon, they found that many children have remained traumatized and with the current rockets still raining down on their town, the children are frightened and suffering. Parents are never sure if their children will make it home from school and families never know if they will sit down to eat together again.

Other notable programs are located in Akko, where Emunah is refurbishing a Day Care Centre for over 90 children in a poor immigrant neighborhood, where most of the families are on welfare. The Sarah Herzog Children’s Centre in Afula is home to over 150 children suffering from various degrees of neglect, abuse and dysfunctionality. Several years ago, a petting zoo was set up there which has achieved amazing results with the children, who relate to the animals in a way they cannot do with people.

So how much money do I have to raise? Hold onto your pants and hope you’re sitting down in a comfortable position in case you faint.

5,000GBP = $11,000USD = 40,800NIS!!!

No joke.

So I’m reaching out to whomever I have ever known in my life, Jewish or not. I’m reaching out to businesses, federations, Taglit:birthright Israel, anyone who has ever written an article about me, sat on my bed or gone to the bar with me. Because let’s face it. That amount of money is huge and I need all the help I can get.

So if you know anyone at all that would like to sponsor a decently cute blonde (if I do say so myself) firefighting female who made aliyah to this beautiful country and is Jewish to boot, please do send them my way! If they’re single men, I’m also available 😊

Any donations are tax-deductable as Emunah is a registered charity - I can provide all the proper information needed.

I can’t promise pictures because well…that would just be stupid to bring a camera to this event, but I do promise a blog chock full of what we did and how I fared. You can count on that one.

Check out the website for more information.

So with that out of the way….onto a daily update of my life here.

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Holidays: This month has been one holiday after another. It has come to my mind that Jewish people really shouldn’t be as unhappy as they stereotypically are for some reason. The jokes are all there about Jewish mothers, guilt-trips, etc and yes, for the most part it’s true. But there are so many holidays to celebrate its ridiculous.

This month alone has been 3, one right after the other. Granted, one of these was Yom Kippur which is the day of atonement which involves fasting (ie: starving yourself) for 24 hours in order to get into the good book of God. Now, I am respectful of the tradition of fasting and I even managed to do it for about 5 hours, but then I got incrediably hungry and gave up.

Look. I don’t have my curves for nothing here. I don’t handle fasting well. Or else I’d be skinnier. Enough said. BUT…..I did make the effort and wandered out into Tel Aviv to see the spectacle.

Imagine NYC Times Square with no cars, no motorcycles, no motorized scooters, nothing. Imagine people walking in the middle of the road with people on bicycles converging in the streets to talk to one another. Now imagine those same people on bicycles riding up and down a major highway.

Welcome to Tel Aviv and Israel on Yom Kippur. It is actually against the law to have any type of motorized vehicle being operated on this Holy day, unless you are in an emergency vehicle (firetruck, ambulance, police, etc) or you have a medical emergency that requires the usage of your vehicle (ie: giving birth, arm/leg falling off, etc). So what is the effect?

A very surreal city with practically no noise, people in the streets like it’s a block party, and a sense of limbo. I didn’t actually feel like time was moving, I actually felt like I was violating some bubble of space and time. It was odd, but also really cool. I called my friend Jen clandestinely on the cell phone to tell her to come out and see and she actually said she was scared to go outside. I got off the phone as quick as I could because I was getting dirty looks and I didn’t know if that was disrespectful or not to be on the phone.

Crazy stuff. I made aliyah here so that’s my huge mitzvah for umm…..life. If THAT doesn’t get me into the good book, then I don’t know what does. 

Now, it’s Succot/Sukkot. The holiday where you build a succah/sukkah - however you want to spell it.

A succah is a 3 ½ sided “house” that you build with no roof. You put palm fronds or some other type of natural leaves to cover the top of the structure and you have a door way that remains open or has a sheet over it to close the door. You can decorate it however you want and citrus is paramount in this holiday. You eat your meals and sometimes even sleep in your succah. It reminds us of when the Jews were exiled from Egypt and had to live in makeshift booths or huts. There is also the tradition of the 4 species, which involve shaking a palm frond, some prayers and thanking God for his bountiful fruits and foods he gives to us.

Hah. I just impressed myself with that last paragraph. The fact that I knew that was great. I myself am not religious and therefore did not build or even sit in a sukkah, but they’re all over the place which is funny to see in Tel Aviv. I think of a sukkah being in a surburban setting, not here.

So what did I do? I cooked. Like a good Jew. I also had my “family” over. What I used to do in the States was cook meals for my friends who didn’t have family on certain holidays and get together, I cook amazing food, they bring the wine/liquor/beer and deserts and we just hang out and be with one another. It’s really cool and I love it.

I cooked Merlot Portobello mushrooms, white and brown rice, fresh salat with Bulgarian cheese and lime infused chicken with cinnamon. We had tiramisu, toffee, grapefruit and lemon ice cream for dessert (they were all separate thankyouverymuch) and a great Chardonnay wine to drink. We listened to music in my now Zen-ed out room and just relaxed.

So all in all, very good holidays so far.

That’s all I have for now. Next time I’ll have to write about what I found funny yesterday. Let’s not kid myself, I find something funny everyday about living here. Thank god for this blog.

Chag Sameach!

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Photos

Emunah
Charity I'm throwing myself into the desert for

I'm in the army now...
I still need to buy boots for this Odyssey come to think of it.

Fasting
Hey...I at least made the effort.

Yom Kippur Bikes
Dizengoff Center and the utter lack of cars. It was kinda creepy in a way. Photo courtesy of another blogger who made aliyah and feels the same way.

Woah
This sukkah is kinda beautiful.