The end of first semester

Note: I began writing this BEFORE finals week, and finished it about a month later.  Sorry for the delay!

Nothing much has been going on in the past week because finals are this coming week.  I’ve spent a LOT of time in the Hebrew U library which is tiring, but really nice, too.  The library at my high school was more of a place to hang out than do work.  The complete silence that you can expect in the library at Hebrew U (and most libraries in general) was essentially non-existent at Gann.  I always had fun in the Gann library, but I rarely got much work done.  Besides the absolute silence of the Hebrew U library, the amount of resources is astounding.  For my final Holocaust paper I’m writing about the Warsaw ghetto.  As I was looking for sources I could use for my paper, I kept getting distracted by the tons of other books I wanted to read, or at least skim through.  The number of diaries from the Warsaw ghetto alone that I saw and wanted to read is probably enough to last me the next few months on Nativ, and I was only looking at a few shelves in one section of one floor of one of the libraries at Hebrew U.

Tuesday night for Erev Nativ the Karmiel group had a Top Chef-esque cookie making challenge.  We were divided into groups of five and given a cookie recipe— in Hebrew.  Each person in the group had a different job and a different restriction.  Person number one had to read the instructions in Hebrew to person number two. Number two had to translate the instructions into English and whisper them to number three but could only talk to number three.  Three had to give instructions to four and five, but he had to do so without speaking or writing.  Four could do whatever he wanted but he had to stand in one spot and not move. Five could also do anything, but he couldn’t use his hands.  There was also someone who was blindfolded, but I don’t remember what number person that was.  It was really funny to watch the first few groups, but eventually people left (once they got their cookies) and by the time my group went (we were last) there were only about seven people left.  It was still a fun night though, and a nice break from studying for finals and writing papers.

So hygienic!

The final product

On Thursday I spent a LONG time writing my final Holocaust paper.  When I got back to Beit Nativ we had our last Poland meeting.  We watched clips of movies that we’ll be watching on the long bus rides through Poland and I think the clips made people realize how emotionally demanding this trip will be.  Later that night I went to the last Café Ivrit.  I talked with Allie Griff, Kayla Reisman, and Jason Kornblatt.  As we chatted in Hebrew, Kayla and I realized that her younger sister, Lianna, and my cousin, Hannah, go to school together in Baltimore!  It turns out that Kayla drove her sister to Hannah’s bat mitzvah party that I was at last June, but neither of us knew each other at the time.  Now Kayla and I are looking forward to visiting Hannah and Lianna when they come to Israel with their school in May.  When I got back to base that night, I hung out with Becca Rosenthal.  She’s played me some of her new music that I’ve been waiting to hear and it is fantastic.  I wrote about her in an earlier post, but I REALLY suggest checking her out on iTunes (and buying her album! Only $5.99 I think).  The first album is called Out of the Box, and I’m hoping she’ll record some of her new songs soon.

On Friday I went to Shira Chadasha for Kabbalat Shabbat.  Completely by chance, I saw Mira Smith, a friend from high school who is on Year Course.  As I was leaving shul, I saw Talya and Ezra Brettler, who I knew were in Israel but still hadn’t seen yet.  After dinner that night a group of Nativers went to see Midnight Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.  Unfortunately, it was closed, but we were still able to see it at a Jews for Jesus church.  It was interesting to read the liturgy because I recognized a lot of it from the services we do every day.  As we were walking back, we ran into some of the British girls who studied in the same Ulpan as the Nativers.  We listened to them sing Christmas carols for a bit (they were very good) and finally went back to base for the night.

Saturday I was invited for lunch at Elana’s cousins’.  As I was walking there, I ran into Benzi Thee from camp.  It was so great to see him and his family for a few minutes and catch up. Hopefully I’ll see them again with some camp friends who are in Israel.  Lunch with Elana’s cousins, Alex and Laura, was great.  All the food was delicious (I’ve come to really appreciate home cooked meals) and almost everything was gluten free!  There was a great salad that tasted similar to one I make at home and Laura bought some gluten free soy sauce that she didn’t end up using and instead gave to me!  Later that night we had a Karmiel girls’ dessert night.  The restaurant where we planned to eat kicked us out because we were only buying dessert.  Despite our best efforts to reason with the manager, we ended up going to a café just next door.  Once we were seated at the café, we were promptly told that we had to move to the table next to us since they one they had seated us at was reserved.  Once we were finally seated and we ordered it was a fun night, but cut short by the fact that everyone had finals to study for and take the next day.

Karmiel girls! (before the manager made us leave the restaurant)

Sunday I took my Silicon Wadi final which I though went well (though we haven’t gotten our grades yet, so I don’t know for sure).  When I was thanking the professor he told me that his Early Sense sensors have already been installed in Newton-Wellesley Hospital, right near where I live.  If anyone is there any time soon, look out for them!  Later that night as I was going to sleep I got a call from a Nativer who informed me that my friend Tali Silverman was at Beit Nativ.  Despite the fact that I had two finals the next day, I stayed up and talked to Tali for about an hour.  It was GREAT to see her and talk (mostly about camp).  On Monday I had my last two finals.  They both went well, but more importantly I was SO happy to be done!

The rest of the week was pretty low key.  On Tuesday night we had our final Erev Nativ.  We walked to a park somewhere in Jerusalem (I’m not exactly sure where it was since it was dark and we got a little lost) and did boundary breakers.  The way boundary breakers works is one person has a list of questions of different levels of “intensity.”  The idea is to answer the questions with just a few words and to say the first thing that comes into your head without over thinking or explaining it.  We divided into four groups and I led one.  I had never led boundary breakers before, and it was definitely a different experience than just participating in it.

On Wednesday morning I went swimming and people started leaving for vacation.  I was staying in Jerusalem for the beginning of vacation, so I spent time with my friends instead of packing (also because I was procrastinating my packing).  Thursday I finally started packing and realized how much stuff I had accumulated over the first semester.  I also realized that packing to go home may be impossible.  That night I walked to Pizza Hut with my roommate Aimee where we got gluten free pizza! I had gotten some GF pizza at a different place in Jerusalem but it wasn’t very good.  This pizza tasted like real pizza though!  A lot of people tried it when we got back to Beit Nativ and everyone agreed that they couldn’t even tell it was GF.  After getting pizza I went out to ice cream with Ezra Brettler, a friend of my sister’s who has celiac disease and who was in Jerusalem for the week.  He gave me some good advice on things to eat here and what I should cook when I’m in Karmiel.  He also gave me lots of different GF food to try.  After a very long night I finally returned to Beit Nativ to my extremely messy and not yet packed room. 

The next day I did a little more packing and spent a relaxing Shabbat in Jerusalem.  We did Kabbalat Shabbat services on base and had a tisch at 11:30 so we could all celebrate New Years together.  There were also two Nativers with birthdays—one on December 31 and one on January 1—so we sang a joint happy birthday to them in between.  That night I slept in my friend Hilary’s room.  She is one of my closest friends on Nativ and we wouldn’t be seeing each other over vacation or Israel experience week, so it was nice to spend some time together.  I finally finished packing and moved my stuff into storage on Sunday morning.  It was really sad to move out of my room, but I was excited to start vacation and the next semester of Nativ.

The past two weeks

Saturday, 12/4

Saturday night after Shabbat ended, I went to a concert with Tamar Friedman (Timmi), Leah Pollack, and Samara Rosner.  When we were waiting for the bus to go to the zoo the previous week, I saw a poster across the street with information about a Gilad Segev concert (an Israeli artist whose music I LOVE).  I didn’t know of Gilad Segev until last December when my family was in Israel for Marielle’s bat mitzvah and Ilana bought his CD.  (I listened to that CD every day during my drive to school for a very long time.)  On the way back from the zoo I took a closer look at the poster and found out that not only was there a discounted rate for students, but the concert was at Beit Avichai, just down the street from where we live! Later that week I went to Beit Avichai to buy tickets, and I had the entire conversation in Hebrew.  This was exciting, because one of the frustrating things about living in Jerusalem is that people make it hard for you to practice your Hebrew.  The moment you struggle to think of a word or an Israeli detects your accent, they’ll switch to English.  Obviously you can keep speaking in Hebrew, but it starts to feel pretty silly when you know they would understand you better if you just spoke in English. 

The actual concert was GREAT.  It was a really small show, and the audience was mostly adults and people in their 20s.  We sat in the front row and at one point, someone passed up a note for us to hand to Gilad.  On the note was the name of a song she wanted him to play and it said “In honor of my birthday.”  The song happened to be one of my favorites, because the first word is my name! At first he wasn’t sure if he remembered the chords, but eventually he figured it out and played it for her.  At the end of the concert we got to take pictures with Gilad and talk to him a little, which was very exciting, and he even said he might come to the US at some point!  It was a great show, and a great Saturday night.

Leah, me, Gilad Segev, Samara, and Timmi

Sunday

In honor of Hannukah, there was an optional Tiyul on Sunday.  We went to a place that was the site of a battle both during the time of King David and the Maccabees.  Nearby, there was also a battle in the Independence War.  Later that night, we went to an old age home to sing Hannukah songs with some elderly Israelis, most of whom were Russian immigrants.  It was pretty hard to communicate with them, but we could tell that they enjoyed having us there.

Stevie, me, Timmi, and Max

Me and Timmi

Monday

Aaron Lapping’s cousin, Ari Steinberg is on Nativ.  Ari’s parents surprised him by visiting him in Israel, and they also brought with them things for Aaron from his mom. 

Included in the things Aaron’s mom sent him was more gluten free cookies! It was such a nice surprise, and obviously the cookies were fantastic.

Me and Aaron (and GF cookies!)

Tuesday

In honor of Hannukah we had a “party” during Ulpan.  The party consisted of a few Hebrew classes sitting together in one of the bigger lecture halls while a woman played piano and tried to teach us some Hannukah songs.  She wasn’t very successful, but was a nice break from class.  Later that night for Erev Nativ, we went to a light show at David’s Citadel.  To get there we had to walk through Mamilla, an upscale shopping area, and the Hannukah lights there were gorgeous.  The light show itself was also really cool.  I didn’t follow the storyline very well, but the graphics were very impressive.

Wednesday

Ever since I joined the YMCA a few months ago, my friend Hilary and I have been talking about going swimming there.  Finally, on Wednesday morning we went!  It was so nice to swim again (I hadn’t gone swimming since I was at camp) and I’m hoping to go again this week.  Later that night we went to the Hebrew University Hillel production of Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat.  Hilary and I had been anticipating this night since we found out they would be putting on the play.  We listened to and sang songs from Joseph for weeks leading up to the show, so when Wednesday night came we were ecstatic.  The cast did a fantastic job, and it was really fun to see some Nativers perform in it. 

Thursday-Saturday

These were pretty laid back days.  I spent a lot of time reading a book called The Wall (by John Hersey, the author of Hiroshima) about the Warsaw ghetto for my final paper for my Holocaust class. It was a really great book, and I definitely recommend it.

Sunday, 12/12

On Sunday my “business team” presented our business plan to the class.  Our product is purified bottled air.  People laughed a lot (understandably), but our presentation went well and it has been a fun idea to pursue for our class (though I think it would be a pretty ridiculous product to actually create).  

That day was also EXTREMELY windy.  According to my friend Yael, who is currently in Arad, there were sand storms in the south, but in Jerusalem there was just exceptionally strong wind.  Because of the weather I planned on staying in that night, but I ended up braving the wind and going out to dinner with Eric.  We went to Japanika, a sushi place that a lot of Nativers like.  I had never tried sushi, but I decided it would be a good thing to try because it is generally gluten free and everyone loves it.  I planned on getting something with just vegetables, but Eric said that vegetable sushi isn’t “real sushi” and I had to go big or go home.  I know nothing about sushi so I went along with it and got tuna, cucumber, and avocado.  Though I was really hoping I would like it, when the sushi actually came, I was very apprehensive about actually trying it.  And when I did try it, I didn’t love it, to say the least.  My least favorite part was the seaweed which was really hard to chew and didn’t taste very good.  (My sister later told me that the seaweed is something you have to get used to.)  Though I didn’t really like it, I’m glad I finally tried it, and hopefully I’ll eventually find some sushi that I like. 

Monday

My roommate Aimee’s birthday was on Monday, so Roshana and I bought her a cake and decorated the door and the wall outside our room.  Later that night I played piano for the first time in a while, which was very relaxing.

Leah, me, Eric, Debra, and Aimee

Birthday girl

Me, Aimee, and our decorated door/wall

Tuesday

For Erev Nativ we watched a documentary called Trembling before God, about being homosexual in an Orthodox Jewish community.  It was sad to see how many peoples’ families cut off contact with them when they came out and to hear about their respective struggles to find where they belong when the world in which they used to live no longer accepts who they are. 

Wednesday

Wednesday was a long day.  I had been sick for a few days, so I finally went to the doctor and got some much needed Sudafed.  Later I had my Holocaust class.  Our teacher was at a conference on Monday, so to make up for the class we missed we had a double class on Wednesday.  We were supposed to finish class at 7:30, but instead we finished at 8.  Immediately when I got back to base, we had a meeting for everyone going to Poland in January.  By the end of the night, I had been studying the Holocaust from 4:30-9:30.  It was a lot for one day, and I was pretty exhausted by the end of it.

But my night still wasn’t over!  Elana Pentelnik’s birthday was the next day, and since a lot of her friends wouldn’t be in Jerusalem on Thursday night to celebrate, we celebrated on Wednesday night instead.  We went to Waffle Bar and everyone had a great time, despite many of us being exhausted and sick.

 

Maya and me (Wellesley sisters!)

Me, Elana, and Eric

Thursday

We had our second B’Yachad seminar on Thursday. (B’Yachad is the group of people who are in Israel for the year who are going to be counselors at Jewish summer camps this summer.) When I got on the bus I was really surprised and even more excited to see a group of my camp friends!  I knew that we would be with people from other programs for this seminar, but I didn’t know what other groups we would be with.  It was so nice to see them and catch up, and I’m really excited for our next seminar with them.

Friday

I planned to go to Shira Chadashah with Hilary for Kabbalat Shabbat services, but when we got to the lobby we found out that a group of Nativers was going to do their own service in the park right by Beit Nativ (Gan HaAtzmaut).  We decided to join them and stayed for Mincha and Kabbalat Shabbat.  When we got back to base, we ran into Dave Yedid, Samara Rosner, Zoe Kronovet, and Daniel Lewis, who were going to Kabbalat Shabbat services at Jerusalem’s Open House (LGBT group).  We decided to tag along and joined them for our second Kabbalat Shabbat service of the night.  Both services were really nice, and it was a fun, spontaneous thing to do. 

After dinner I skyped with my friends Joel and Hanna, neither of whom I had talked to in a very long time.  (Thank you Joel for finding that missing comma.)  Then I skyped with Marielle who brought the laptop around the house so I could see the new carpets and take pictures of my room.  She was very patient with me and moved the computer to the perfect angles for my many pictures. Eventually, my mom and dad joined the conversation, and after an hour I finally went to sleep exhausted.  I got a lot of sleep though, and am feeling a lot better, which is very fortunate since finals are in a week!  That’s all for now… feel free to COMMENT (that is directed at you, Marcus family).

Lions and tigers and bears...and elephants and toucans and monkeys and hippos

(This was written on December 3)

Last Friday, after a pre-Shabbos visit to the shuk, I went to Talpiyot to spend Shabbat with Gabi Remz, Sam Forman, and Maya Lee-Parritz.  It was their last weekend in Jerusalem before they moved to Bat Yam (they’re on Year Course and live in three different places over the year), so I really wanted to see them before they left.  For dinner they had a Shabbat/Thanksgiving potluck with some of their Year Course friends, and Forman was making the turkey.  He had never made a turkey before, but the one he made was probably the best turkey I’ve ever had.  Everything else was also really good, and I was really impressed at how well the meal came together.  Though there were some initial setbacks (no tablecloths, not enough bowls, etc.) everything worked out and it was a really nice dinner.  At one point Gabi said, “Think about it, there are no parents here; we did this all on our own.  I couldn’t have imagined being able to do this in 8^th grade.”  It really was very impressive and it made me even more excited to move to Karmiel in February and be more independent. 

On Saturday morning, Gabi, Forman, and Maya went to a Kiddush at their Rabbi’s house and I walked back to Beit Nativ from the Year Course apartments.  It was nice weather outside, and it felt good to be able to find my way back to Beit Nativ without any help.  Later that day I went to a Kiddush hosted by my friend Samara’s parents.  Samara’s sister has celiac disease, so her family knows lots of gluten free recipes.  It was a refreshing change to go to a Kiddush where I could actually eat something, and all the gluten free desserts were really delicious.

Sunday was a busy day for my Silicon Wadi class.  We began the morning at 9:30 with a visit to the Intel factory in Jerusalem.   Intel is the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturer. The first part of the visit consisted of a lecture/conversation with Ariel Wasserstrum, the manager of the Intel Jerusalem branch that we visited.  Ariel gave us some background about Intel as a company and the role of Intel Israel in the company as a whole and in Israel’s economy.  Intel has about 80,000 employees worldwide, and 300 facilities in 50 different countries.  The company has three main pillars on which it focuses: energy efficient performance (less power for more performance), connectivity (find a way to connect all computers one day), and security (embed security features within the chip).

After talking to Ariel, we had a tour of the factory.  Somehow, I wasn’t on my teacher’s email list, so I didn’t get the message that we had to wear closed toed shoes that day and wore sandals.  I was really upset that I wouldn’t be able to tour the factory, but Ariel called someone and they brought me a pair of boots to wear.  We were also given full white bodysuits, and had to wear plastic, sock-like covers on our shoes to get rid of any static electricity.  After putting on a pair of safety goggles, we were all ready to see how the chips are made.  We saw the process of cutting the chips larger circular “wafers.” The wafer has all the information on it and is then cut into the chips that are in our laptops, netbooks, etc.  Each chip on the wafer has different strengths and weaknesses, so they are grouped based on certain criteria, and are used in different electronics.  We saw how the chips are cut, washed, and removed from the wafer, and we were even given key chains with (defective) chips in them!  Though we didn’t understand all the details of the chip making process, it was still really interesting to learn about it and see the actual chips being made.  It was also cool to come back to base, open my computer, and see a little sticker that says  Intel Centrino (Centrino is one of the chips that Intel makes).  I had never paid any attention to the sticker before, but now that I know what it is, it’s a lot more exciting. 

When we got back to Hebrew U we had a quick lunch before hearing a lecture from Saul Singer, co-author of Start-Up Nation.  To be honest, the excitement of hearing Saul Singer was more exciting than the actual lecture.  He talked a lot about what was written in the book and what we had talked about in class, so there wasn’t much new information presented, but it was still exciting to get my book signed and take a picture with him.

Me and Saul Singer!

Our teacher, Avner, with Saul Singer

On Monday we had yet another field trip, this one for my Holocaust class.  We went to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum in Jerusalem, for about six hours.  I’ve been to Yad Vashem before, but this time was pretty different than in the past.  For one thing, after two months of learning about the Holocaust, I knew a lot more that I did on previous visits, which allowed me to get more out of the museum.  But I was also looking at it from a more educational perspective, thinking about what would be useful for my paper.  Additionally, though six hours at any museum is a long visit, I felt like I was rushing through each exhibit.  It’s obviously impossible to take in every part of the museum, but I definitely plan on going back before I leave Jerusalem, because there is so much more to learn there.  The biggest difference though, was that I was really amazed by the museum itself.  Last year, my grade made our own “museum” about Jewish life in Central Europe (specifically the Austro-Hungarian Empire) leading up to the Holocaust.  I hadn’t thought much about our museum until I was at Yad Vashem and I realized how much work that must have gone into designing it, gathering information, and putting it all together.  It really deepened my appreciation for the actual museum.

For Israeli movie night that Monday we were watching Noodle.  The movie is about an Israeli woman who helps a young Chinese boy reunite with his mother after she is deported from Israel.  It was a really touching movie, and the little boy was adorable.  While we watched to movie we had a competition to see who could write down the most Hebrew words and their translations (with help from the subtitles).  I wrote down about 40 words and I won… a piece of bazooka gum!

Tuesday was a GREAT day.  After 3 hours of Hebrew, I came back to Beit Nativ and got an early start on my Hebrew homework.  It was really nice out, so I decided to work outside, though that is a definite guarantee for distractions.  I did get most of my work done though, and I had a conversation with Aaron Sherman, one of the Yerucham madrichim, about different kinds of pens, pencils, and markers, and what size lead we like in our mechanical pencils.  As I was finishing up my homework a group of Nativers was leaving Beit Nativ to go to the zoo.  I had wanted to go to the zoo for a while, so I ran upstairs to drop off my backpack and joined them.  I wasn’t expecting the zoo to be anything special, but it was SO cool.  I think part of the reason it was so exciting for me is because I haven’t been to a zoo in a very long time, but regardless, I had a great time.  We saw an adorable red-faced panda, two leopards chasing each other (one of which only had three legs, which we didn’t notice until later), baboons cleaning each other, a whole array of beautifully colored toucans, and elephants, giraffes, an ostrich, hippos, zebras, lions, peacocks, owls, and more.  Of everything we saw though, my favorite was definitely the chimpanzees.  To start with, one of the first things one of the chimps did was pick up some dirt and throw it at the glass where we were watching from.  It was also really cool to see how acrobatic they were and how human like many of their movements were.  After a long and very fun day at the zoo we headed back to base for Erev Nativ.

Me, Zoe, Leah, and Becca

Leah, Eric, and me

We started Erev Nativ with a game of Hannukah bingo.  It was a really fun time, especially when almost everyone in the group got bingo on the same turn.  To settle this, and to determine the winner of a gigantic bag filled with shoko (chocolate milk in a bag) we first had a dance off, and then we had to dive for a pen in the middle of the circle in order to answer a bonus question to win.  After our intense game, all three groups joined together to make Hannukiot, which we’ve lit every night of Hannukah so far.  Making the Hannukiot was really fun, and the whole night was a great way to get ready for Hannukah.

My Hannukiah!

Thursday was a pretty typical day—no field trips or anything special—but before I left school, I got a dress and a scarf.  Every Thursday at Hebrew U there are clothing stands set up near the escalator.  I’ve never stopped to look at the clothes because I always want to get home, but this week I didn’t have anything to do back at base so I decided to look around with my friend Leah Pollock.  It was fun to look around and take our time going home, rather than rushing home like I usually do.  When I got back to base, I went to the shuk with my friend Aviva Pollack and relaxed for the rest of the day. 

Later that night, I went to the Science Museum with some friends.  For the month of December, there is an event called Chamshushalayim in Jerusalem, during which there are all sorts of discounts on museums, shows, and restaurants in honor of Hannukah.  Admission to the museum was free, as was entrance to an exhibit called Deep.  The exhibit, which is about sea life very VERY deep in the ocean apparently came from Paris and is only in Jerusalem for a few more weeks, so we were really happy that we got to see it.  There was also a cool section in the museum with optical illusions, and a kids’ section with a carousel that moves when someone pedals a bicycle.  It was a cool museum, but definitely doesn’t compare to the Science Museum in Boston.  It was a fun night and nice to do something different, and I can’t wait to go to other museums for free, thanks to Chamshushalayim.

Me and Elana on the carousel

Aviva, me, and Elana

Some more Thanksgiving pictures



Surprise letter from my family! =)

 

Me and Matt Javitt



Me, Sean Haber, and Seth Fineman

 

Kaya Reisman and me

Be'er Sheva no more--Nativ takes on the North!

Last Sunday, we had a speaker in my business class.  The speaker, Dan Halperin, is an expert on US-Israeli relations and was the Israeli economic minister in Washington a few years back.  He is also one of the founders of the BIRD Foundation (“BIRD is an acronym for Israel-U.S. Binational Industrial Research and Development. The BIRD Foundation's mission is to stimulate, promote and support industrial R&D of mutual benefit to the U.S. and Israel.” – www.birdf.com) and is the father of our teacher, Avner Halperin!  He was an interesting speaker and it was especially exciting because he was directly involved in negotiations between Israel and the US regarding US aid to Israel.  At the end of class we found out that we would be hearing from yet another speaker next week (tomorrow).  The speaker tomorrow is Saul Singer, co-author of the recent book Start-Up Nation.  I loved this book, and it was actually one of the main reasons I signed up for the class, so I was thrilled to hear that Saul Singer will be coming to speak to us tomorrow.  We’ll also be visiting the Intel factory in Jerusalem tomorrow, so it will be a very exciting day.

Monday is always my busiest day, but this past Monday was even busier than usual.  The morning started out as usual with my first two classes, lunch, and a four hour break until my last class.  Usually I spend my break in an empty classroom pretending to do work, but this time I decided to explore the Hebrew U campus a little.  After walking up a staircase that I walk by everyday but have never taken, I found a really nice patch of grass with a beautiful view of Jerusalem.  After an hour relaxing in the sun there, I walked around some more and found the outdoor amphitheater.  It is a really magnificent place and the view is fantastic.  I was going to take a picture but I haven’t had a chance, so I’ll try to do that this week.   

Towards the end of my break I was in the café when I saw someone from my Battle over the Bible class, John.  John lives in Vancouver (I forget where he is from originally) and has a business (he’s probably somewhere in his 30s I would guess?) but is studying at Hebrew U and running his business from Israel while he’s here.  John is the “Christianity expert” in our class—our teacher often turns to him to clarify certain details and stories about Christianity.  I’ve wanted to talk to John for a while simply because he seems like an interesting person.  I want to know what he thinks of Hebrew U, of Israel, why he is in Israel, and much more.  While we were both waiting for our coffee, my chance came.  He asked me what I thought of the class and I told him I like it, but I often wonder how it would be if taught by a Christian or Muslim professor.  He agreed that there are certain biases since the class is taught by a Jewish professor and said he sometimes feels a little uncomfortable with the way his religion is portrayed.  I was in a rush to get to class, but I found out that John is here because he thinks of Israel as his home, and that he is a Christian who follows the laws in the Torah such as keeping Shabbat (on Saturday) and keeping Kashrut.  I forget exactly how he described his observance, but it sounded very interesting, and I told him I’d love to talk to him when we both have more time. 

That night we had our third football game.  After winning our first scrimmage, we proceeded to lose our first two games by the mercy rule (that means that if the other team is up by a certain amount of points the game ends early because it is so unlikely that the other team will catch up).  We later found out that we had played the two best teams in the league for the first two games, but we still needed a little confidence boost.  That confidence boost came in our 38-0 win against a team of girls who looked no older than my little sister, Marielle (8^th grade).  It felt great to finally get some touchdowns and interceptions, despite the fact that our opponents were about half our size.  After that ego boosting game, I ran back to Beit Nativ with one of the Kibbutz madrichot, Maya Dolgin.  Maya went to Wellesley College (where I’m going next year) so she’s been answering all my questions about the school and I asked her lots more on our run.  After a quick shower, I left Beit Nativ again to see Harry Potter 7!  The movie was great (it actually stuck to the story without adding random, made up scenes), but the best part of the night was when we were waiting for the bus back to Beit Nativ.  I was waiting to ask a bus driver whether his bus went to our street when I heard someone call my name.  I looked around and saw Maya, Gabi, and Sam Forman!  I sat with them on the bus ride back and they invited me for a Shabbat/Thanksgiving dinner at their apartment.  Seeing them was a great end to an extremely busy, but very exciting day.

The next day was less busy, but definitely not less exciting.  I finish class at noon on Tuesdays, so I decided to get a start on my homework and everything else I needed to do.  Despite my good intentions though, I did about half a page of Hebrew homework before my friend Sean Haber came and asked me if I wanted to go on an “adventure” to Mea Shearim.  Mea Shearim is an extremely Orthodox neighborhood in Jerusalem.  I’ve heard stories about women having stones thrown at them for being immodestly dressed, so I was pretty unenthusiastic to join Sean on his “adventure.”  In fact, when he asked me, my initial response was “absolutely not.”  But then I gave it a little more thought and decided to go—my homework would get done, and when else was I going to go to Mea Shearim?  It’s a place I’ve heard about a lot, and I was curious to see it for myself.  So despite the heat (yes, it is still shorts weather here at the end of November), I put on a skirt and long sleeved shirt and headed to Mea Shearim with Sean, Aaron Gillman, and Seth Fineman.  As we walked there, Sean and I talked about the reputation of Mea Shearim, and he said that the only people who would actually throw stones at someone are the uneducated extremists and that they only make up a small minority of neighborhood. When we got to Mea Shearim, there was a sign at the entrance of the neighborhood asking visitors to be respectful of the standards of modesty they follow.  I didn’t have my camera with me, but I found a picture of the sign online (below).  Overall it was an interesting experience.  It didn’t feel significantly different than any other orthodox neighborhood I’ve been to (not that I’ve been to so many), but I’m glad I went and saw it for myself.

Later that night we had Erev Nativ.  The Kibbutz and Yerucham groups went out into Jerusalem for their programs while the Be’er Sheva group stayed at Beit Nativ and had a discussion about Kashrut (after watching videos of animals being slaughtered).  But the real excitement that night wasn’t in watching the unhalachic shechita (ritual slaughtering done in a way that does not comply with halacha, Jewish law) done at an Agriprocessors plant or even in hearing my roommate Aimee tell us about Temple Grandin, a doctor of animal science with autism (https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Temple_Grandin).  It didn’t come until after the official program, when our director Yossi Garr came in and drew a big map of Israel on a whiteboard in the room.  It was then that the K1 (Kehilla 1) Be’er Sheva track became K1 Carmiel—the first ever Nativ group to go to the North for the second semester.  It turns out that the absorption center in Beer Sheva in which we were going to live during the second semester had been closed, and the other one was full.  After considering many different options, Nativ decided to send us to Carmiel, in the Galil and near Haifa and Acco.  Though the change was a HUGE shock to everyone, I could not be more excited to go to Carmiel.  It sounds like a really nice place to live, with great hiking and a nice community.  According to the Jewish Agency for Israel 40% of the population of 50,000 people in Carmiel is made up of immigrants from 75 different countries.  Additionally, we will be living in an absorption center with Russian olim (immigrants) ages 17-22 who decided to leave their homes and families to join the Israeli army.  It will be so cool to be living with people so close in age to us and hopefully to develop some really interesting relationships with them.  Though it’s still weird to call the group Carmiel now instead of Beer Sheva, and it is hard to think about being three hours away from the rest of the group instead of 40 minutes, I think living in Carmiel will be a really great experience, and I am very excited for second semester.

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Karmiel

View of Carmiel

Carmiel City Hall

Wednesday morning I looked on the website of the Celiac Association of Israel to see if there were any stores that sell gluten free products in Carmiel.  It turns out that there is a store just a five minute walk from where we’ll be living!  I called the store and the woman was extremely nice, telling me all about their gluten free section (which sounds really big)  and asking me what I’ll be doing in Carmiel and for how long I’ll be there.  She even told me to call her when I get to Carmiel so she can show me around the store.  That night, I went to Ben Yehuda Street with some friends where we met our friend Aviva Pollack’s dad who bought us all ice cream. Then I played basketball for the first time in a few weeks.  It felt great to play again, even though my blister that finally healed came back. 

Thursday was Thanksgiving.  Though the Canadians on the program couldn’t care less about the holiday, the Americans had been talking about it all week.  Thanksgiving is a big deal on Nativ.  We have a big meal and all the Nativ alumni who are living in Israel are invited to join us for dinner.  The Thanksgiving Vaad (committee) made a slideshow and a video about the first three months on Nativ and the acapella group sang two really nice songs.  The best part of the night was the surprise before we went into dinner: on a table next to the door was an envelope for every Nativer with his or her name on it and a letter from his or her family.  It was a really nice surprise and everyone loved getting a note from their families.  After dinner some people went out, and some people stayed at Beit Nativ and watched every Thanksgiving episode from the popular show Friends which were being shown in the auditorium.  Though it was a little sad to be away from our families for Thanksgiving, everyone had a great time with the Nativ family and a really fun Thanksgiving.



Me, Amy Shuman, David Keren (our Jerusalem class teacher from minimester, and former Nativ director), and Zoe Beiner at Thanksgiving dinner



A vegetarian, a vegan, and a celiac (and this past month on Nativ)

To summarize whats been going on since my last post:

Sunday, November 7

My friend Aaron Lapping has cousins who are gluten free.  His mom, Debbie, was sending him a package with a friend visiting Israel, and she made him some homemade cookies.  I had jokingly told him to ask her to make some GF cookies not thinking he would, but I was wrong and Debbie sent some GF cookies for me!  They were REALLY good, and didn’t taste GF at all (though I’m not sure how Aaron’s cookies tasted).  The only downside is that it is a secret family recipe so I’m not sure if I’ll ever have them again.

Monday

On Monday I got a package from the Lippers.  They were in Israel for a family simcha and brought me some things from home.  It was really nice to get a package J

Tuesday

For Erev Nativ on Tuesday night we had a speaker from AIPAC, Jonathan Kessler.  He talked to us about developing relationships with our new congressman and senators, and told us about AIPAC.  There were also some kids at the talk form Aardvark, a new gap year program in Israel that I was considering doing.  It was interesting to ask them about the program and hear how it’s going.

Friday/Saturday

We had a closed Shabbat, but it was not at Beit Nativ.  Instead, each track went to a different place in Israel.  The Yerucham group went to Yerucham, Kibbutz went to Modi’in, where our director Yossi Garr lives, and Be’er Sheva went to Ma’alot, where our assistant director, Elkana Cohen, grew up.  Shabbat was really nice.  I was hosted with Zoë Kronovet, a vegetarian, and Ariel Lubow, a vegan.  At first we were all pretty confused about this grouping.  Since I can’t eat gluten, one of my staples is meat, the very thing they don’t eat.  Elkana explained to us that the people we were staying with are the nicest people he knows and that they had agreed to make a meal that would accommodate each of us.  Elkana was right, and the family we stayed with was very nice and accommodating, making dishes that we could each eat.  It was a really relaxing Shabbat and the whole community was very welcoming.  It was also a nice change of scenery from Jerusalem, and we all had a great time.

Sunday, November 15

On Sunday, I left Jerusalem right after my class ended to meet Nancy and Gary Brandeis in Tel Aviv.  The Brandeises were in Israel for the week and had brought some clothes and my winter boots for me from home.  We went out to a very nice dinner (the restaurant was very accommodating of my GF diet) and it was great to catch up.  I went to school with Julia Brandeis from kindergarten through 8^th grade and we stayed in touch throughout high school. She is visiting in January, so seeing her parents made me all the more excited for her visit. 

Tuesday

For Erev Nativ we were divided between boys and girls (within our track).  Each group did a bonding activity and ours was really nice.  We did some personal reflection as well as writing messages to other girls in the group.

Thursday

On Thursday we had our first B’Yachad seminar.  B’Yachad is a program run by the Avichai Foundation for students on gap year programs in Israel who plan to be counselors at Jewish summer camps.  The goal of B’Yachad is for the counselors who spent the year in Israel to bring their experiences back to their camp and share it with everyone else.  The seminar was fun, though it started off on a shaky note for me.  I had missed the email which said that the bus would be leaving at 4:15, and I thought it was leaving at 5:00.  Consequently, I missed the bus, and had to find my own way there.  I got there just as they began the first activity though, so everything worked out.  Later at dinner though, I asked the chef what I could eat that didn’t have gluten in it.  He told me I could eat the meatballs, but then another man told me that they did have gluten in them (after I had already eaten them).  Another chef then told me I could have them, but I had already eaten them, so it was irrelevant by then.  After all the programming for the night I called my dad (it was his birthday) and talked to him until my phone died (I had forgotten the charger).  The next morning, after a FANTASTIC breakfast where there was an omelet chef, we did more programming and then headed back to Beit Nativ for Shabbat. 

Friday

I had planned to stay at base for Shabbat, but then the Leshems called me and invited me for dinner that night! It was perfect, because I was able to spend some time away from Beit Nativ and have a home cooked meal, but I came back that night was able to relax for the rest of Shabbat.  At dinner, Eli Leshem was talking about a book he read in Hebrew.  The more tired I get, the less I pay attention to the Hebrew that is being spoken around me, but I caught on to what Eli was talking about and realized that it sounded very familiar. It turned out that he was talking about Predictably Irrational, by Dan Ariely, a behavioral economist who currently teaches at Duke.  I read the book and loved it, so I was really excited to hear that Eli was talking about the same book.  What was even more exciting was when he brought me his copy of the book—in Hebrew!  In Hebrew the title is “לא רציונלי ולא במקרא”, which translates as “not rational, and not by chance.”  I read some parts of the book and was very excited that I could understand a lot of what it said. After a great dinner, Rachel and Eli went to the movies (but not before they had given me some food to take back J ) and Uri Leshem drove me back to Jerusalem.  I really enjoy riding with Uri because he helps me practice my Hebrew and tells me a lot of interesting stories in the process.  By the way Uri, “to settle a bill” is a real expression, you were right!  It means to pay the bill, or to agree on the price of the bill.

Saturday

The next morning I did something I’ve been waiting to do since I’ve been in Israel.  One of the Israeli TV shows that I really like, Srugim, takes place in Katamon, a neighborhood in Jerusalem.  I’ve wanted to go to Ohel Nechama (Nechama’s Tent), the shul where the characters pray every Shabbat, since I’ve gotten here, and this Shababt was the perfect time.  I went with the Kibbutz madrich Aviv, Joel Mackler, and Tamar Friedman, fellow Srugim fanatic.  The shul was closer than we thought, and we were so excited to find it!  Though the congregation was much older than in the show (in the show they’re all in their 20s and 30s, and in real life they were closer to the 60s and 70s age range), it was still cool to be at the shul in person.  The rest of my Shabbat was really relaxing—I did a lot of reading which I haven’t done much since I’ve been here, and caught up on some sleep.  I led Havdallah to close Shabbat, and later my friend Hillel Lehmann came over to hang out before meeting up with some friends.  It was a really nice Shabbat and exactly what I needed to relax.