Monday, September 28, 2015

Hi again,

So, no amazing pictures of Israeli landscapes yet (soon, I hope), but I felt the need to make a comprehensive blog post now that I've been here a month and really started doing stuff. So, this is longish, but hopefully not boring.  : )

Thursday night I finally had time and energy to go downtown just to explore a bit, mostly around Ben Yehudah Street. It is very pretty there at night, and Thursday night is a big night for street musicians (kind of like a Friday night in the US, I think), so that was very cool to see and hear.



I got some good food and also picked up a slightly overpriced, but cute, olive-wood travel chess set.




I know many Israelis are into American "culture," but this was almost too much for me to take:

Really?  ; )


I found a cheap bass (about a third of what it would have cost to bring one on the plane with me) on yad2 ("second hand," the Israeli version of Craigslist). So, on Friday I managed to navigate the buses - which aren't so bad when you are not overtired and sick like I was on my first bus attempt - to go take a look and ultimately buy the bass. It was really neat to be able to wish the strangers from whom I bought this, who turned out to be a nice orthodox family, a Shabat Shalom and Chag Same'ach. It's also good to have an instrument in my room.


Friday night I had Shabat dinner with a few other students, and we stayed until 1:00am discussing religion and asking each other questions about our beliefs. I was so tired at Shabat service, but it was worth it.

Saturday afternoon I hung out with some of those students (and others) for a while outside. Though I have been staying away from the cats as we have been told to do, this little guy seemed healthy and is very friendly. He just comes up to people and crawls into their laps, so I let him climb up and I pet him (but did wash my hands afterwards). He took the longest nap on me:



Speaking of animals, coming home the other night, I saw a hedgehog just sitting on the walking path. He was super cute, but unfortunately this was the best picture I was able to get by the time I got to taking it:




Other somewhat random things:
 - Israeli humus is the best and I love it. I have been routinely putting it on grilled cheese sandwiches.
 - I love falafel when made properly.  ; )
 - RavKav cards are really easy to use after you figure out that they really are that easy.
 - The "Green Doritos" are so good - why don't we have these great flavors in the US?!
 - I'm going to get to see the Israel Philharmonic do Beethoven 9, and Matisyahu and Idan Raichel, and maybe Project RnL and פנחס ובניו (Pinchas and His Sons) who you should look up if you don't know them.

I went to the Shuk yesterday to get some grocery items and also Lulav & Etrog, of course. (Pictures of those and hopefully lots of Israeli sukot to come soon.) I also happened across some very cool "Shuk pizza."





Friday, September 25, 2015

Yom Kipur

Shalom,

Yom Kipur in Jerusalem was truly awesome, in the truest sense of the word, באמת. [Kudo's if you get the silly play on words there.]  ; )

Though my plans (or lack thereof) were pretty haphazard and I was not sure where to go when, by God's grace I got to the right places at the right times to experience, witness, and participate in some amazing things.

Tuesday night I went to the "Great Synagogue" in downtown Jerusalem. I actually got there a half hour before the service began and was even able to get a seat. The building is incredibly beautiful, and it was emotionally overwhelming from the moment I sat down. I was very pleasantly surprised that Kol Nidrey was sung by the Chazan (the best I have ever heard) accompanied by a 24-piece mens chorus (which was also quite good). As it turned out, aside from a short sermon delivered by a very charismatic rabbi with an enormous white beard, the entire service was conducted by the Chazan and the chorus. Also, though I am not sure if I could see them all from where I was sitting, I am pretty sure they had 18 Torah scrolls.

I felt it would have been very rude to take any pictures while actually inside the synagogue, but I did take some of the outside. Here are those and some of the inside that I found online:









It was very neat to see how still the streets were. There were almost no cars driving anywhere the whole time, and every traffic light in the whole city was temporarily switched to a constant flashing yellow.


There were some people driving on the main highway though, and on the way back I'm pretty sure I got cursed out by some guy who drove by me, presumably because he could tell I was Jewish from my white clothes and kipah. It was unpleasany of course, and sad to see that happening, but it also felt good to be identified with my people to be cursed by its enemies.

On Wednesday I went to the Western Wall. I actually hadn't made it there yet, but it was very special to be there for the very first time on Yom Kippur. After praying at the Kotel for a while, I decided to try to find my way back to the Great Synagogue. I made it in time for most of Neilah and to hear the shofar, though it was standing room only and all the machzorim had already been taken by the time I got there. So, I was a bit lost in terms of the service, but it was still great to be there. Everyone joined together singing Avinu Malkenu towards the end, which was very neat and I of course sang along with that. After the service concluded, the chorus led all present in "HaTikvah" which I participated in as well. This was actually the first time I had sung or heard the national anthem since arriving in Israel - no better time than in the Great Synagogue at the close of Yom Kippur!





I can't remember ever being as sad about Yom Kipur ending as I was Wednesday night when, on my way back, I saw all of the traffic lights return to the regular, tri-colored operations.


Rosh HaShanah

I realize I did not make an actual blog post about Rosh HaShanah here. I got a good mix of different experiences. The Kehilah had their Rosh HaShanah inservance, a full Torah service and shofar service, on the Shabat prior to the chag. On Erev Rosh HaShanah, I attended a nice Conservative synagogue just a bit down the road from the Student Village. The next day I accidentally slept in (which was probably for the best, as I needed the sleep), went to friends' big family dinner, and stayed overnight at one of their homes. I didn't really get any pictures of all that, but I know that some pictures from the family dinner were posted by others on Facebook.

I did get this beautiful round chalah for in the Shuk, just because I couldn't resist:


Saturday, September 12, 2015

Shabat Shalom

Hi again,

Today/last night was already my third Shabat in Israel - wow. It was a good one.

On Thursday I bought a bottle of wine for the very first time, and a bottle of Israeli wine in Israel at that!


(Dry red wine, of course) יין אדום יבש


Yesterday I cooked a real, full, Erev Shabat meal, and had a couple guests over. This time I didn't accidentally delete all the pictures.   ; )

(Chalah) חלה - No, sadly, I did not bake this . . . 

(Wine) ייו

(Lemon, garlic, black pepper chicken breast) חזה עוף עם לימון, שום, ופלפל שחור

(Carrot, red cabbage, and yellow bell pepper with orange and honey) גזר, כרוב אדום, ופלפל צהוב עם תפוזים ודבש

(Spicy potatoes) תפוחי אדמה חריף

(Cucumber) מלפפון


(And ice cream, of course) גלידה

At least the ingredients were in Hebrew.  : )


We decided to walk to kehilah for the Shabat service this morning, which was nice. As we passed through an Orthodox neighborhood on the way there, it was amazing how quiet everything is on Shabat. You go from one side of the busy highway where there is tons of traffic, and then on the other side there are no moving cars in sight and everything is still aside from a few people traveling on foot. Here are some photos from that:










Yes, they do have parks in Israel:






And a few more miscellaneous pictures:

The obligatory blurry picture of local "wildlife."  ; )

Why did the dove cross the road . . . ?


Although many Israelis find them to be a nuisance, I am kind of enjoying the fact that there are cats everywhere. They all know what to do in the heat too.

Shalom,
Noach

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Pre-Rosh HaShanah

So,

I still haven't gotten around to much more exploring. However, I have been taking advantage of the time being too sick to do much, but still functional, to do some composing, figure some things out (including what to do for the Holy Days), and make more-frequent-than-expected blog posts.  ; )

Here's something small but neat: Whenever you get a coffee to go at Aromah (basically the Israeli version of Starbucks, but with way better coffee!), they give you a little chocolate to go with it. I happened to stop in for an espresso today, and discovered that they apparently change the chocolate wrappers seasonally. So, in friendly letters complete with an accompanying pomegranate image, the chocolate actually said "Shanah tovah"!


Very cool!


Chag same'ach, shanah tovah um'tukah, uk'tivah v'chatimah tovah!
Noach