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:

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

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

Hello again,

No more pictures yet, and nothing super interesting in particular as I am sick and in the second round of attempting to force myself to take it easy.  ; )

But, here are some miscellaneous thoughts on things I am really liking about being here, etc.

- Ulpan is the coolest class ever, if for no other reason besides the incredible diversity of students just in my particular class. There are students in their teens to students in their forties, from France, Germany, Portugal, Belgium, England, Poland, Russia, Argentina, Peru, Korea, Jordan, several of the United States, and probably some other places of which I am yet unaware. Also, both of the teachers (each class has two teachers since there is so much to do) are really great. It was also very neat that we were wished "Shabat shalom" by the teachers at the end of last week, rather than something one would normally hear in the US like "have a good weekend."

- It is also nice (though difficult when it comes to transportation) that everything here really does revolve around Shabat actually being observed in very real practical ways.

- I love the fact that all the יציאה (exit) signs in Israel are green. They seem to say "Yes, feel free to leave through this exit if you'd like" rather than a red "Exit if you dare!" : )

- It has been great to get really good produce fairly cheap here. I have been enjoying lots of great fruit!

- Speaking of food, the meals on ELAL flights come with actual "Certificates of Kashrut" (in Hebrew and English). Oh, I do actually have pictures of one of those:

- I realized that I inadvertently gave this blog an apropos (and perhaps a bit prophetic) title. "Noach in Jerusalem," if one were to read my name as its Modern Hebrew homonym/homophone, would mean "Comfortable in Jerusalem."

- Going to the Kehilah on Shabat has been great. Both times so far I have felt absolutely in the right place, more than anywhere besides home. It's a great group of people and exciting things are happening there.

Shalom,

Noach

Hello,

I've been here for a whole week now. It's starting to feel like I am actually here.  : )
Blog posts will probably be less frequent from now on, but that will mean that they may be more interesting as I will be spending more time going and doing and exploring . . .

For now, I thought I would share some pictures of what I get to see every day walking to class:

The view immediately after leaving the Student Village on the way to main campus.

(Closer shot.)

(And a little closer still.)

We also walk right past the British War Cemetery; solemn yet beautiful.

 Shalom,
Noach

Hi again,

I went to the Shuk (the main market in central Jerusalem) yesterday for some more groceries. I finally found carrots, and they are huge!

גזרים ענקים (Huge carrots)  :-)

So far, I have been living on PBJs, pita and humus, fruit - good fruit - carrots, and a few stops at באגט הפעמון (Baguette Bell). I have not had a chance to explore 'real' Israeli restaurants yet - soon. Also, I now have coffee, tea, and means to make them in the dorm; so far just making coffee Turkish style.

Since, due to lack of space in the Undergraduate Ulpan, some of us (including myself) have been placed in the Summer Ulpan (which had already been going for a month when we arrived), we have some extra make-up classes. So, tomorrow will be long as I will have Ulpan from 8:30am to 2:15pm (with some breaks, but not much).

And . . . more pictures:

My school ID card.

My school gym membership card.

Shalom,
Noach