MARCHing forward!

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Well, the beginning of March was Purim. Purim is a big party. It is similar to Halloween, in that everyone dresses up in crazy costumes, and there are parties, but that is where the similarities end. Purim is actually a religious holiday. Traditionally, you go to synagogue to hear the reading of the “Megillah”, the scroll telling the story of Purim, the defeat of our enemy Haman, and the victory of the Jews. Other than this, Purim is essentially a big party. You are supposed to celebrate life, and it is actually a “mitzvah” (good deed) to get drunk on Purim. I went to a party with some of my friends. Everyone was dressed up in outrageous costumes, and there was live music, and it was a lot of fun. Some of my other friends went into Tel Aviv for Purim, and I wish I had as well. They said that people were just partying in the streets, on the bus, everywhere you went. This didn’t surprise me, since Tel Aviv is a party city, but I am sorry I missed it. Next year!

One Shabbat, I went to my religious cousins for the weekend. I do not know my religious cousins very well, and most of them don’t speak English, so I had been hesitant when they first extended an invitation several months ago. I had really wanted to go before, but just hadn’t gotten around to it until now. Thankfully, my Hebrew was much better and I knew I would be able to communicate normally with them. I got there Friday afternoon and the family immediately welcomed me. My cousin’s family has 4 children, 2 older teenage daughters and 2 younger boys. Shabbat night started with the men going to synagogue, and then a huge dinner. At the end of the meal, the kids sang a bunch of Shabbat songs, and then everyone went to their rooms. I went out with the oldest girl, Adi, and her friends. We just walked around town, because everyone is out in the streets Friday night, meeting up with their friends. I guess I should explain how religious they are. On Shabbat, they don’t use electricity. One or two lights were left on in the house, in the kitchen, so you could eat, and see where you were walking. But you don’t touch any of the electricity, you don’t turn on or off anything. The toilet paper was pre-torn. Of course, if you can’t use electricity, this means no tv or computers, etc. Saturday, I slept until about noon, my usual for a Saturday. Soon after, the men returned from their morning services, and we had yet another huge meal. They kept trying to feed me more, but my stomach was ready to explode! The afternoon is meant for relaxation, and relax I did! Everyone went to sleep or read in their rooms, and I did the same. I spent the entire afternoon reading. It was the quietest I ever remember myself or my surroundings being. Even more quite than the desert or the mountains. I don’t ever remember feeling so relaxed. It was a really great feeling, to be so relaxed and peaceful and to not be worrying about anything. I read an entire book in these 24 hours, which for me, is a rare occurrence! I’m not a big reader, hehe. Shabbat ended after it was dark, and we ended it together, doing the Havdalah service, where you say goodbye to Shabbat, and welcome the new week. I hung out with my cousins another few hours, had a light dinner, and then went home. I am so glad that I got to spend this Shabbat with my cousins, because I got to know them a lot better, and we had a lot of fun. The kids are a lot of fun and really sweet. Also, experiencing a “true” Shabbat was really a great experience, and something I could definitely enjoy! Of course I am a bit obsessed with my computer, but I think I could handle occasionally giving it up, hehe. I doubt I will take part in a religious Shabbat very often, but it certainly is a very relaxing, mentally healthy experience.

A week later, we had yet another family gathering, but this time even bigger. One of my cousins (who I had met only once, for about 2 minutes) got married. The wedding was kind of 2 parts. First, was on Saturday at the Synagogue, and its called the Uf-roof, or something like that, in Yiddish. Basically, the whole family comes to synagogue, and the groom and all the men in the family are called up to the Torah, and say a bunch of prayers and stuff. We then went to the mother of the groom’s house for lunch. The whole family was there, and of course we had lots of great food, as we always do. I got to spend more time with my religious and non religious cousins, and even met yet another cousin I hadn’t met before. Ironically, she lives in NY, but I had never met her before, and she was just in for the wedding. Then, the official part of the wedding was on Monday night. It was at this beautiful reception hall/indoor garden place. The “chupa” (wedding canopy) was outside, and traditional. My most religious cousin, who is a rabbi, performed the ceremony, and the bride and groom were beautiful and happy. Israeli weddings seem to be a little bit more low key then the typical wedding in the US, but the party was certainly a good time. There was even more amazing food. There was lots of dancing, and it was great to have some party time with my cousins, and see how much fun they can be, even the religious ones! I had such a great time, and was so glad I could be part of the night.


My birthday! Well, very early morning, on March 24, my 24th Birthday, I went to the airport to pick up my cousin Lisa (from the US), who was traveling from her semester abroad in Denmark, to come visit me! She arrived at 4:30am, after successfully having her luggage lost by Lufthansa (it seems to be a normal occurence with them, they lost mine last year too!). We went back to my friends house and went right to sleep, seeing how it was 6am, and neither of us had really slept that night. When we woke up in the afternoon, we walked all over town until the end of Shabbat. Then we bused it to Tel Aviv, where we had a great birthday dinner! Also, the Israel/ England Soccer game was on, as a qualifier for the Euro 2008 games, so everybody was out watching this game, including us! We got very cool hats. The game ended is a 0-0 tie, so that was a bit anti-climatic, but very good for Israel's team. We spent the rest of the night, walking around the beach, and the city, and eating some very delicious ice cream, before heading back home for the night. Lisa coming to visit me in Israel, her first time here, was the best birthday present ever! I had a great birthday, and thanks to all for the emails and phone calls, etc.

Sunday, we headed to Jerusalem for a couple days, where we went to all the popular tourist and religious sites. First and foremost, the Western/Wailing Wall in the old city. We also did a couple things that I had not done before, or had not done in a very long time. We went to the Church of the Holy Seplechure, which is on the spot where they say Jesus was resurrected. The church was gorgeous, and I had much more appreciation for it this time, than when I saw it 7 years ago. Also, there was some service going on, I think it was the Armenian Church. We weren't sure whether it was for upcoming easter, or just a normal sunday service, but it was very different then any church service I had ever seen, and very interesting. We also went to the 4 Sephardic synagogues. I don't know how I had missed this, as I had passed it many times before. Basically, it is 4 connected, but very different Sephardic/Mizrachi synagogues, that had been there for centuries. In 1948, during the War of Independence, Jordan captured the old city and destroyed these beautiful synagogues. In 1967, during the 6-Day War, Israel reclaimed the old city of Jerusalem, and found these synagogues. They restored them to their original beauty, and they truly are unique. We also took a trip down to the Dead Sea, which is about an hour outside Jerusalem, for a short dip in these extremely salty waters. Always fun bobbing around in the water, and it does wonders for your skin! Monday night, we wound up going out with a few guys we met at the hostel we were staying at, and it was a very interesting evening, with 3 completely opposite, but very entertaining guys.

We headed back to Tel Aviv for a night, on Tuesday, but then woke up early the next day to travel up north. We went to Zfat and Tiberias for a couple hours each. It was a great time, and I was very happy that 2 of my favorite places in Israel, became 2 of Lisa's favorites also. Then it was back to my friends house for wednesday night. Thursday we spent enjoying the beautiful city and weather of Tel Aviv and Jaffa. We had some of my favorite food, and walked to Jaffa, to the old city and the artist colony. I also tried to get Lisa to eat this arabic dessert called Malabi, but she wasn't a big fan. Its kind of like a custard, but she said it tasted like shampoo. Doesn't sound so appetizing like that, but I like it. hehe. We walked back along the boardwalk to Tel Aviv, and got to see one of my famous Tel Aviv sunsets. That night, we went out to celebrate my acceptance to grad school, and our great week together, and had delicious desserts and wine. Aren't we becoming so grown up?!

Friday was Lisa's last day with me, after a great week. We went to the markets of Tel Aviv, both the everyday food market, and the artist market I always love, called Nachlat Binyamin. Then we headed back to our hostel to pick up our luggage and take Lisa to the airport. When we arrived at the train station, that would take us to the airport, we discovered that it was not 12:30 as we thought, but 1:30, and that daylight savings had occurred overnight, and we had no idea! Thankfully, we still had plenty of time at the airport for Lisa to get through check in and all that stuff. I had such a great time traveling around and showing Lisa Israel. It was such a great birthday present, and really a great way to end my 9 months here (for now). This upcoming week is Passover, and I am so excited to be here for the holiday. But more on that later.

Happy Passover! and Happy Easter!

Oh, and I realize I missed several birthdays lately... so
Happy Birthday to...

Leah Lopez
Lisa Shulman!!
Cousin Chloe Benson
Toni Bonhivert!
Cousin Clare Harris!
Steph Mertz (my birthday buddy!)

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Photos

me and cousin Lisa
on my birthday! wearing our cool hats from the Israel vs England football match!

Comments

[Lisa]

Yay!
Yay for Lisa's visit! Yay for yummy ice cream! And YAY for my birthday shout out (I had been waiting for it, so its better late than never). I am a little disappointed that England did not score a single point agaisnt Israel (only because I thought they were a good team). Sounds like Israel might do better in Euro 2008 than they did in Euro 2004! Where are the having Euro 2008?