Shuk/Ben Yehuda/Zumba

 Yesterday, Tuesday, was a half day at Shearim. I had to let the administration know that I’m transferring to Neve. I was nervous; I don’t like people to be disappointed or to try to persuade me to do something otherwise…but, there was no pressure at all. The bursar just said I would be a loss, and the admin asked me why out of curiosity, where I gave her a couple reasons and she didn’t push further. Both asked when I would be moving out, since they need room for the influx of girls for Shearim’s summer session, which starts Sunday. I called up Neve’s dorm mother, Brendy, who told me that I could move in Sunday. Perfect. I’ll still go to Shearim for Sunday and Monday class; Tuesday will be at Neve. Brendy asked if I’d like to room with someone in particular. I asked to room with Innessa, a girl from Chicago that I met right before leaving for Israel! It’ll be really nice to know someone J I STILL haven’t seen the new roommate, Tamara! She has been coming and going from out apartment in the mornings and late at night, so I’ve always missed her! I hope I get to see her before I move out on Sunday.

After class yesterday, Dana and I decided to go out and look for some shoes and clothes for her. She’s in shidduchim (dating) and wanted to have a few extra things. She decided that the Ben Yehuda area would be a good place to go. On the way, we stopped at the shuk. The shuk is a crazy outdoor marketplace that sells fruits, veggies, nuts, dried fruits, spices, cheeses, halva, and candies. It was a lot of fun to walk though! I bought a few candied pecans and yellow cherries. Then, we walked on Yaffa Street (runs through west Jerusalem to the Old City) toward Ben Yehuda. On the way, we stopped into every small shoe store and every clothing store. No luck L When we got to Ben Yehuda, it was just full of touristy shops. The actual stores were probably on the side streets, still unknown to us. At the end of Ben Yehuda was a mall. No luck there either, except that it felt good to be in an air-conditioned department store that reminded us of the States. By this time, we had been trekking for close to three hours. We were exhausted. Meanwhile, Laura and Melody had gone to another mall and bought great shells (undershirts). Dana and I thought they were going to buy gifts, so we didn’t go with them.

At night, Laura, Melody, Melanie, and I went to Macarena’s Zumba class in the evening. She switched classes to Sundays and Tuesdays – these days work better for her. I’ll have to find out when Neve’s Zumba classes are. I’d like to keep going to Macarena’s; I love her! I finally called Yelena yesterday; bad bad habit of putting off phone calls L I hope we can get together soon to hang out. I also haven’t seen Jenny since she came to try out Shearim last week…I wonder what she’s up to?

My roommate Dana just got some great news! She really wanted to live with a family because she's older and wants to learn from them about keeping a Jewish home. She was struggling to find a family with a decent financial agreement, and one just came through! A family that lives right next to Shearim! Another girl is already renting a room there, and we were all told the lady is really nice! A girl from Atlanta just came today and she'll be moving into my room instead of Dana. That's why Dana has to pack up so quickly. And I'm leaving Sunday...and Tamara is MIA...what a crazy apartment situation we're all in!

Ahava from Israel!

Elina

Vort/Neve

I went to my first Vort ever yesterday! A vort, in Yiddish, means engagement party. Bina, a girl from seminary (from the States), got engaged to a guy also from the States. He wants to be a rabbi-chaplain in the U.S. army. They’re going to be stationed in Dallas soon. So exciting for her! She met him sitting on the other side of the table at a “kosher” bar on Ben Yehuda Street called Off the Wall. This means that the bar is more like a lounge, serves kosher food, and is more observant-friendly in terms of music and dress. So no Rihanna’s new song (yuck! I still can’t believe she would come out with such a song…) and no miniskirts. As soon as Bina said this, I said, “I’m there! Who wants to go?” Hahaha! Well, even though I’m not ready to get married, it would still be fun to go to a classier kind of lounge. His name is Joey, and he has a Guatemalan-Jewish stepmother and half-brothers and sisters! I don’t know if she converted or is a Sephardi Jew from Guatemala, but she was SO sweet! She and Joey’s rabbi and rebbetzin arranged the vort. They bought beautiful flowers and provided drinks and treats. They made Bina a beautiful cake, too. I was happy for her, since her family couldn’t be there. It was a small gathering at first – the men sitting at the living room table and the women schmoozing in the kitchen (lol). Then, a whole host of Shearim girls showed up and it became crowded. I was very glad that Bina had so many guests J On the way home on the bus, I sat next to an older lady who spoke to me in Yiddish. Another lady helped translate for a bit but then had to move seats, so I was stuck trying to interpret! (I think) she gave me a bracha (blessing) to find a husband and also had me write down her phone number so that when I do get engaged, I can call her for another bracha! Then, she told me she had a (grandson?) in New York. I said “Ani rotza b’Chicago” in broken Hebrew, roughly meaning that I want in Chicago. Didn’t know the word for “stay” or “live.” She understood.

Today, I went to Neve again because it was their last day of classes. Summer session starts July 5^th. On the way to the school, I saw Mrs. Freishtat, the administrative coordinator at Shearim. She said, “You’re going the wrong way!” Oops…I told her the truth, that it is Neve’s last class session and I was interested in seeing what it was like. She asked if I had told anyone. I hadn’t. She told me to let her know next time. So this isn’t a secret anymore. Anyway, I sat a level up this time, Level 9 (they don’t go in order on purpose). We had Rebbetzin Heller for Chumash (Bible)! I was so excited – she’s very well-known and has written TONS of books. She likes doing round-table discussions and had her students prepare dvar Torahs (discussions on the Torah portion of the week (called a parsha). It wasn’t the parsha of this week, so I was quite lost. One girl was very prepared; the others had a little bit of wisdom to offer. But I’m excited to do this kind of prep when I’m actually in-the-know. At Shearim we don’t have assignments or test; at Neve they do. On the one hand, it’s annoying because it’s the summer. On the other hand, information retention is that much better. And you don’t have to be stressed about a grade on these assignments/tests. Speaking of grades, I really hope that I can still get Loyola credit even though I’m between two seminaries. I’ll have to have each of them write something up for me.

The next class was this week’s parsha, parshas hookas. The rebbetzin who taught it was very animated! Afterwards, Rabbi Bear (yep, that’s his name), taught on davening (prayer). And then I joined Mechina (beginner level) for the famous and beloved Rabbi Katz. I had heard him last year while on Hamerkaz. He is a fantastic rabbi who used to be a film-maker in Australia! Crazy, no? He likes to incorporate terminology and analogies from his past life in his shiurim (lectures) J He is very esoteric! He spoke on the topic of Shabbat. Then, lunch. After, I went to the admissions office where they looked up my application which, thankfully, was still on file. The lady had me write a note to the rabbi-principal explaining my situation. Then, I went down to see the financial director, Mr. Starr-Glass, yet another Scottish Jew! His name really sounds Scottish, too! He told me when he was growing up, the community in and outside of Glasgow was 12,000 people! I couldn’t believe it. He said that it has since been halved. He explained that Jews ended up in Scotland and Ireland and on the British west coast because they were originally trying to get to America but decided to settle in those areas instead. He had a tiny hint of an accent J Tuition for my stay: approx $1400. This includes housing and three meals a day (not exactly happy about this – I like having a kitchen, fruit for breakfast, and salads/fish for dinner...but it’s ok, it’s not for that long. Mr. Starr-Glass said that there might be some work-study opportunities; I’ll have to grab one asap. I went back up to admissions where I found out that I’m admitted to the summer session! Yay! I am very excited and hope that this will be a good experience for me.

I went back to the apartment, put in laundry, went to Ye’sh, the grocery store (where I spoke French with the Tunisian-Jewish lady at the cash register and Russian with the store’s security guard), and then to She’arim for my toranut (duty) (but work-study, in actuality) of cleaning the fridge together with Julie. My, what a wonderful job. We finished in an hour and a half. Went back to the apartment, did 50 minutes of a cardio tape and 15 minutes of toning exercises, made dinner, and am now updating this blog. By the way, we have a new roommate who I haven’t even seen yet! I came back from cleaning the fridge (Melody and Laura had waited for me and came back with me) and was told by Melanie and Dana that there is a new roommate, Tamara, who had come, dropped her things, and gone to the old city. Well, this is interesting! Melody and I were just joking that we will wake up tomorrow and see someone we don’t know in the bathroom haha! I wonder if she’s going to be Sephardi like all the rest of the Russian-Jewish girls? I need Ashkenazi representation here! J

Ahava from Israel!

Elina

Bina and I

Bina's cake

The men (Bina's fiancee is the young man sitting on the left side of the table next to the older man

Moshav Matityahu

Yesterday, I went to Neve Yerushalayim to check out classes. This is the seminary that I was originally supposed to attend, but couldn’t because their summer session starts July 5^th and they don’t take summer students before then. Laura had gone previously to check it out, too. She’s not 100% happy with Shearim. She suggested that I sit in the Level 5 classes, which are the next level up from beginner. I did so for the whole morning until lunchtime. I really liked the classes! The first teacher was Rabbi Smith, who I remember taught our Hamerkaz group from last summer! He started off the class talking about music and its power (this is where I thought of my sister!) Yesterday was a huge cooking day! Laura, Melody, Melissa, and later, Dana, helped cook for Seudah Shlishit – the third Shabbat meal we are going to have at the Shabbaton on Moshav Matityahu this weekend! Wow…none of us knew how many hours this would entail! We stayed after school for 5 hours. We made so much food! Garden salad, tuna salad, cabbage salad, pasta salad, potato kugels, and apple kugels and chocolate chip cookies for dessert. There will also be humus (with zatar!) and matbuka (red pepper dip) (not homemade). And don’t forget the challahs we made with Shoshana! And all this for 45 people! We are all a bit confused why we were given such a huge job. I know Shearim is trying to cut down on expenses, and I understand this, but it’s still way too much work. I am going to ask for work-study hours for this! I am currently at school finishing up dressings and packing into containers and labeling – probably another hour. I’m excited to go to this moshav! It’s probably going to be similar to Har Nof – American baalei teshuvah (people who have come back to the religion). It’s probably all separate homes instead of apartments, like in Har Nof. I’m staying in the same place as I am eating (not everyone has this arrangement) with Laura, Melody, and Shoshana (our communal 74-year-old Russian grandmother!)

The Shabbaton at the moshav was wonderful! Mrs. Migdal and Rebbetzin Sperling both live on the moshav and work at Shearim. That’s a long commute! We all had to take a bus separately to get to the moshav – it took 50 minutes. Mrs. Migdal’s son was the rabbi-tourguide leader on our tiyul! Mr. Migdal talked to us about how the moshav was founded exactly 30 years ago. The mindset was to create a Torah community. They are also very Zionist. There is quite a spectrum of people – black hat and crochet kippot. The moshav 30 years ago  was a big dirt hill that had to be leveled off. To get to it, you had to use a cattle truck and there were 5 arab towns surrounding it. Wow. I wouldn’t have the courage to up and go to such a place, but what they’ve turned it into is AMAZING! Concrete roads, trees, flowers, a playground, a kindergarden, single-family homes, the works! The moshav is about 20% Israelis and 80% Americans. I stayed with Melody, Laura, and Shoshana by the Norden’s, a cute, older couple from the States. It was a very relaxing Shabbat. Unfortunately, it’s more humid on the moshav (it’s closer to the Mediterranean), so we didn’t take Shabbos walks. Shabbos evening, though, we walked around for a bit. They have a huge chess set on the grounds, but no one knew how to play in my group L The third meal was wonderful – I was worried about the food, of course, but people liked it. Shoshana’s challah was a success; everyone got to try it. We had also given a loaf to Yitzkah, the man who takes care of Shearim, cleaning, fixing, doing everything. He had cleaned our oven for the challah very last-minute, so I told him we’d give him a challah! We also had lots of left-overs, and someone found out that there was a family sitting shiva (one week of mourning for a family member that passes away), so we brought over some of the food. I had never been in a shiva home before. There is a blessing to say before and after coming, wishing them strength and only happiness in the future.

We got back after 11pm to Har Nof. We came into our apartment and saw all the lights on. It was freaky! Then, we found out we have a new roommate, Melanie, from England! No one had told us she was coming. She’s very sweet. Laura and I did a quick tape of a few 5-minute toning exercises, and then off to bed.

I had checked in with Rita and Gera before Shabbos. Rita was making challah from the recipe I left her! I was so excited, and so were her boys! It’s very cool that she’s doing this. Maybe it’ll become a tradition J Today, I am sitting in Level 1 classes at Shearim instead of Taste of Torah. In the morning, I did Chumash with Rebbetzin Raff. This means that we took a few “psukim,” verses, from the Torah, read them in Hebrew and translated them. We didn’t get to Rashi commentary (one of the biggest rabbis of all time and the most well known commentator), but it was a great start. Imagine, reading and translating the Torah! But, that was the most interesting thing today. I was bored the rest of the time, and now it’s lunch. Maybe classes will be better after lunch, but if not, I’m going to transfer to Neve. Even though I’m not paying right now for seminary, I will have to pay over $3000 later, when I get a job. It’s like a future contract. So I better get the most out of it. It’s really hard to know which seminary you want to go to…

Ahava from Israel!

Elina

Challah, Pool

Yesterday, Shoshana held a last-minute challah baking class. She wanted oh so much to hold one, but no one organized it, so I decided to do it for her, even though I know how to make challah (I didn’t tell her that). Because the dough has to rise a lot, we decided to make it at 7:30am (class starts at 8:30am) so that it could rise in time for lunch (1pm), when we would invite girls to come watch braiding. It didn’t turn out to be very hands-on. It’s ok, because I still think it was helpful for the few girls who came. Dana, my roommate, came early in the morning with me to make the dough. She doesn’t know how to cook and has always wanted to learn to make challah. Shoshana cemented the idea that flour should be sifted, just like Rita told me to do this past Shabbos. Why had we never done that at my house? Shoshana also said that challah, and dough in general, likes to be treated like a baby – gently! I always kneaded dough very strongly, thinking it would be best to get the air out. This is wrong! It has to be done gently and with love J Also, Shoshana put her yeast into water (lukewarm, whereas I always used quite warm) and then put it into her flour/sugar/salt/egg mixture without even letting the yeast froth! That was surprising, but it worked out. I’ll include the recipe in this post at the end J

The dough rose wonderfully! We started braiding challah during lunch, and a few girls and teachers came over to look. Zahava, who works at school, told us that she knew how to make a 6-braided challah (challah is usually 3 braids). We asked her to show us and I videotaped it! It came out beautifully! Shoshana also made a little “grape bunch.” She made 10 little balls, stuck them together, and put a long piece of dough at the top to hold it all. Very cute.

Then, Laura and I went to a pool we heard about in the Jerusalem Forest. It had women’s hours from 1pm to 6pm. 3 other girls went, as well. But, when we got there, we were told the cost was 50 shekel ($15) instead of 36, as Laura saw on the website. So the other girls left L Laura and I figured that since we made it all the way (taxi to get there the last 5 minutes because it can’t be reached otherwise by bus), we may as well enjoy ourselves. I won’t go again, because that’s super expensive, but we had a glorious time in our bikinis (in the middle of Jerusalem!), swimming and tanning. It was quite funny to see all the other religious ladies in their two- or one-pieces, whereas they are usually very clothed! Yet, they kept their hair covered, which was quite funny. And, there were a couple male lifeguards and the snack shop had a guy running it! I was quite confused…maybe this counts as an instant where they save lives, but they could’ve tried getting female lifeguards and snack shop overseers for a couple hours. Oh well, they stayed where they were and didn’t really walk about. It’s really nice not to be self-conscious at the pool haha! Girls, you know it’s true! Whenever there are men, all you think about is how you look! Here, we just enjoyed ourselves J We shared a taxi with a woman and her daughter to get back to the bus station.

Today, Jenny came to Shearim! Jenny is one of my great friends from Chicago. She just finished a women’s trip called JEWEL and is checking out Shearim to see if she likes it. She didn’t particularly like Neve Yerushalayim. I still want to check Neve out; I don’t want to switch seminaries because it’s a hassle if I’m only staying for the summer, but if I like it A LOT more than Shearim, maybe I will. Neve is where I was supposed to go in the first place.

Today is also Melody’s birthday! She, Laura, Melissa, and Dana are out right now, going to the Mamilla Hotel (my dentist told me about this famous hotel with a gorgeous view of Jerusalem from the top lounge). I’m quite jealous haha, but I’m still at school. I signed up for work-study to help pay my cost just a bit here at school, and I have to help the cook in the kitchen today. Hopefully I’ll be able to come out with the girls later, but if not, I’m sure I’ll make it out to Mamilla at some other time. Zumba tonight as well!

My sister is writing a blog, too. It’s very cute! I’m happy she’s doing it. Funny enough, her writing style resembles mine!

I am on the committee to cook the third meal for the Shabbaton this weekend. Dana, Melody, Laura, and Melissa agreed to be on my committee! I drew up a list of salads/kugels/desserts and we’re going to cook tomorrow evening and Friday morning (salads, so that they’re fresher). Looking forward!

Challah Recipe:

4 cups of flour, 1.5 c lukewarm water, 1 tbsp yeast, 1tbsp sugar, 1 egg, 2 tbsp olive oil, 1.5 tbsp salt, 1 tbsp lemon juice

1. Combine egg, sugar, olive oil, lemon juice (secret ingredient - Shoshana didn't tell me why! She said just to try it!) and salt in a large bowl

2. In a smaller bowl, mix the yeast and the lukewarm water together.

3. Add the yeast mixture to the large bowl

4. Start adding the flour (sift it!) until you put it all in

5. Mix everything very well to get a smooth dough

6. Oil a bowl, put the dough in, and cover and let stay for 1.5 hours, making sure it is in a warm place

7. After the dough rises, knead it GENTLY!

8. Put it back into the oiled bowl for another 1.5 hours

9. Gently cut the dough into strips for braiding

10. Braid 3 or 6 braid challah

11. In a separate small bowl, crack open an egg. Take out a little bit of the yolk (yolk burns!). Mix the rest and brush down the MIDDLE of the challah, not overdoing it.

12. Preheat the oven on 500F for a few minutes so that it gets very hot. Lower to 350 and only then put the challah in. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until golden.

13. Cool on a countertop that is not cold (such as granite). If it is cold, put a towel on it.

Ta-da! You did it!

Golan Tiyul Be'er Sheva

Wow what a beautiful week I have had! I apologize for the lag in blog posts. I haven't been on the internet in forever! Oh, and now there is no more internet in our appartment; the family from whom we were mooching secured their internet. Great. So now, I have to do this at school.

The Golan excursion was very nice! It was Tuesday and Wednesday. On the way up north, we saw camels just hanging out by the road, small Bedouin shacks (real shacks standing on sand dunes! I was shocked...), and sand sand sand.

We did kayaking down the Jordan river, a rocky hike (downwards all the way) for an hour, a stop at an overlook to see the Syrian and Lebanese borders...So close to those who hate us, but everything was so quiet! I have a lot of respect for the people living on the kibbutz that is on the border with Syria.

Our lovely neighbor, Syria

The hike

The hike





Smiling at the border?



We also did a water hike in a beautiful place somewhere in the Golan. The deepest the water was a bit lower than the waist. There were tiny fishies in the water :-)

Water hike

We made a stop at the burial place of Rabbi Yonatan ben Uziel - a place affectionately called Amuka. This site is known for prayers for shidduchim (matches). Unmarried girls, especially, go to ask for a shidduch in the merit of Rabbi Uziel, who said that he would ask G-d to hear the prayers of those praying at his site (we never pray to other beings; only in the merit of them). The custom is to read Psalm  121 from the book of Tehillim (compiled and majorly written by King David) while circling the rooftop 7 times. I did this and prayed not only for myself but for all my friends and for the girls at seminary.



Amuka - circling the rooftop



Tuesday night, we stayed at a kibbutz overnight. It was very nice! They served a good dinner, which was much needed after the kind of travel food we had been eating all day. We sang songs and then made a bonfire (with kosher s'mores!). There was some kind of party going on a bit farther down the kibbutz...I don't know who was partying it up, but it was awesome to have music at our bonfire :-)

Kibbutz



We also made a 1.5 hour stop in the holy cite of Tzfat! I was very much looking forward to this; Tzfat is in the mountains and is SO beautiful! If I wanted to live in Israel, I would probably choose Tzfat for it's kabbalah and greenery. I just don't think I can handle the heat and Jerusalem stone colors of some other cities. I haven't yet been to Netaniya, where lots of French Jews go; it's on the water and probably very nice as well. There was a Rabbi tour guide on our trip who was very good and knowledgeable. He took us to several well-known, beautiful synagogues. We also went to the famous candle factory. Such chef-d'oeuvres they make!



Aaron HaKodesh (where the Torah scroll is kept)





Noah's Ark



Candle Flowers

<>

Candle chess set!

The beautiful hills of Tzfat

All in all, I really enjoyed this tiyul! I got get to know the girls a little more; there was even a girl from W. Rogers Park, Tova, who was at She'arim for a week (she's working now). Hopefully, we can connect back in Chicago, too.

And Shoshana, the 74-year-old lady from Russia, was perfectly wonderful! She came with and did the kayaking and the water hike! She skipped out on the rocky hike, and thank goodness for that! Small word: at the kibbutz, there was a group from an Orthodox junior high school in San Diego on a graduation trip. Shoshana is from San Diego, and who does she see but one of the Rabbis on the trip...her neighbor and fellow synagogue peer! Shoshana is so great by the way...so sweet and caring and yearning to learn! She and I organized a challah baking class tomorrow after lunch because we have half-days on Tuesdays. Well, it's challah braiding and cooking, but it's better than nothing. We can't do the dough with everyone because it has to rise. Shoshana and I are coming into school at 7:30am to make the dough together.

Thursday evening, after classes, I took the bus to Be'er Sheva to visit my wonderful relatives! My grandpa's sister lives there; she has a son and daughter who are my mom's cousins. One has two daughters and a son, and the other has two sons. All except the second son are close to my age, which is fantastic because I never grew up with anyone close to my age except my sister! I stayed by Rita's for Thursday night since Gera's family was at a wedding. We had a very nice dinner and even included my mom and sister in on it; we put the computer on the table. We toasted with wine, they with keifir :-)

Friday, Rita took me to an art gallery (which featured some Ethiopian figures from her own workshop!) which was beautiful. It was in the old city center of Be'er Sheva, which looks VERY middle-eastern. The building architecture is arabic; I can definitely tell the difference. We also went to the big mall in Be'er Sheva, which is famous for being open-air with special wind fans that cool the walkways. The shops themselves aren't open air. We had coffee (ice coffee for me, which is delicious in Israel) and espresso for Rita. Then, she took me to her workshop! Quite a few Ethiopian ladies work with her; they make beautiful figures and animals. Rita gave me three as a gift!



Art gallery - a "competitor" of Rita's




Art gallery




Rita's workshop!



Rita and I at the mall!

Rita's pomegranate tree

  

When we got back from our excursion, we set about making food. I made challah and apple kugel for Shabbat dinner (to be held at Gera's) while Rita made potatos and meat. My challah turned out more beautiful than I have EVER made it! The differences: made in Israel, and we sifted the flour. We never sift the flour back home, but I'll start doing that and see if there's a change. Oh, and the oven was really hot already from other food that was in there. Maybe it's good to super preheat the oven. Shoshana says that she preheats hers quickly at 500F and then lowers it to 350. Dani and Alex, Rita's boys, loved it! I left the recipe with Rita and hopefully she'll make challah sometime for them.



<>

I made challah at Rita's for Shabbat!



It was so nice to be with the whole family there! Grandpa's sister came with her husband, all of Gera's kids were there (Anya is married and doesn't live in Be'er Sheva, so I got lucky! Her husband, Yossi, could'nt come though, and I've never met him :-( ), Lena's boyfriend, Shauli, was there, but he was pretty sick, so that was sad. Dinner was delicious! Ira is a great cook. The challahs and apple kugel turned out well, so I was glad. Dani ate lots of challah :-) Oh, and they have a new dog that is SO cute! Her name is Libby and she looks a bit like Misha because she's part golden retriever as well. They don't know the other part, but they suspect it's a big, white, hearding dog. Maybe it's the kind I saw when on the alpaca farm in Wisconsin! Yup, alpacas are hearded by dogs.

Shabbat was very calm, of course. Gera walked me to the nearest synagogue; a Sephardi one. I wasn't flustered; I'm used to that since I went to one in Paris :-) I really liked the women's seating area: a balcony with a one-way glass. We can see the men; they can't see us! I personally think that this is the best variation.

Lunch waited for a bit while Gera came back from the gym. It was very delicious, as well. Ira made a sort of sour yogurt with oil and hyssop (a middle-eastern spice) that was delicious! I couldn't believe it, since I'm usually really weird with dairies. It had a hummus-like consistency. I'm definitely getting that recipe.

All in all, I'm VERY happy I went. I can't wait to go again. This Shabbat is a trip to a moshav, which is sort of like a private village. This is for people who want to own privately but live in a separate community outside of the city. I even think they have their own schools. So after the moshav shabbaton, I hope I can go back to Be'er Sheva. And my mom is coming July 4!

Yesterday, a former She'arim alumni from a few months ago got married! Her name is Ilana, and she invited everyone to come dance at her wedding. This is a common custom in religious circles; you come to dance to make the bride and groom joyous on the wedding day. Girls came from the seminary Neve, and there were also random junior high girls. I even saw some girls on JEWEL, a girls program that my friend Jenny is currently on. I recognized Carly from Hamerkaz last year!

Bride having fun!



With my Chicago roomies!



Chuppah outside!

Ahava from Israel!

Elina

Life

The squash turned out GREAT and one squash ended up feeding three people for 1.5 days! Today was the second day of class. Had fabulous teachers all morning and afternoon, until the Halacha class where I was the only one. Either everyone else ditched (not that many people, anyway) or had private tutors during that hour. It was kind of awkward. The rabbi wasn’t very interesting, and he spoke very quickly. I’m actually hoping to get a private tutor myself, for Hebrew! Ani rotza lilmod ivrit! I want to learn Hebrew! It’s really helping that I can read it, thank goodness! A couple tidbits from what I learned today: In “Exploring Torah,” I learned that the Torah was given outside the land of Israel so as not to connect the Jews to a land. What connects the Jews is Torah and other Jewish people; this is how we were able to survive the exile as a nation without being in our land; this is why there can be so many Jews living in so many parts of the world without losing themselves. Usually, a nation has a land, but we weren’t tied to one. Yes, it’s a reward to live in Israel, but it’s not necessary for our survival as a nation. In “Ethics” we had a substitute, Shani, who is just wonderful. She is very young and has a two-year-old daughter. We read from a book called Striving for Truth. The chapter we read was on giving and taking. It says that at any given moment, we are either givers or takers. But we can’t be both. There are two types of taking: selfish, maximum profit for yourself with the minimal effort; and, taking in order to give back to others, such as taking tzedakah (money for charity) or taking “knowledge” in order to perfect our souls and teach others. To be a positive taker, you have to ask yourself the question, “Am I taking in order to give?” To see if you’re slipping up, ask “Am I giving in order to take?” I think this is a hugely important concept! Shani said this book is part of working on our “midos,” or character traits. Judaism is huge on that!

In the Siddur, our prayer book, we read a portion from the Shmonei Esrei, the personal prayers said three times a day. In the part where we pray for G-d to gather everyone in exile together, Rebbetzin Appell pointed out the word freedom in the portion, in Hebrew, also means engraved. What’s the connection? G-d engraved our mitzvot (commandments) on stone. Engraving is more permanent than just writing. This makes the Jewish people One with the mitzvot and the Torah. Contrary to what many may think of religion, it does make us free to live spiritually. Otherwise, we get enslaved to physicality. In my opinion, no rules = more freedom doesn’t really hold true in most cases. People get lost, get hooked on unhealthy things, get depressed, don’t know what to do with themselves…whereas some rules in life can actually be very healthy!

In other news, I signed up for some kitchen duty twice a week as a work-study because I can’t afford to pay the seminary tuition. The way it’s supposed to work is that you pay them what you can or you pay later in life (I’m hoping!). I thought that I’d do what I can right now, so I’m glad I found out about the work-study. Also, I was able to get a hold of my relatives in BeerSheva. I talked to Gera and Rita and Lena. I’m coming this Thursday evening to spend the weekend! Well, unfortunately, not the full weekend, because in Israel Sunday is a workday due to Friday off or half-off. Darn! But I’m SO excited to see them! And my mom called, which was fabulous! And my grandparents called yesterday night, which was also fabulous! J

Tonight, Melody, Laura, and I went to the school where a Chilean Jewish girl, Macarena (yep, that’s her name!) was holding Zumba class. She’s actually a professional! It was VERY good! An hour long – just perfect. Shower and bedtime, right away. Tomorrow, we’re leaving at 7am to go to the Golan! It’ll be a fun two days! On the schedule is a hike (including a water hike) and the holy city of Tzfat, as well as fun stuff in between!

Ahava from Israel!

Elina

First School Day

Today was my first day of classes, though it wasn’t a normal day. Ironically, today was Integration Seminar day. This was meant for girls who have been studying for a while (term is ending this week). A few teachers would lecture on topics that are pertinent to keeping your Judaism alive as you leave the cocoon of seminary. So, this wasn’t super pertinent to me, as it was only my first day! The seminar started at 11:30, whereas normal classes start at 8:30 every day. Today was no different; we had several of the normal classes in the morning. I had three teachers who were all very good. The first taught us about King Saul, the Prophet Samuel, and (King) David, though we didn’t get to the part where he did anything as king yet, just to where he got anointed by Samuel HaNavi (the Prophet), to the astonished eyes of his father. The second teacher talked to us about Avraham’s family tree. Did you know that Sarah was his niece?? Yep, daughter of his brother Hanan and sister of Lot. Sarah’s name was Yiscah (Jessica). When she married Avraham, she became Sarai, which means My Princess. And, when G-d came to Avram (that was his previous name), He named him Avraham and his wife Sarah! The third teacher talked to us about Miriam, Moses’s sister, and a prophetess. Miriam was 86 years old when the Jews left Egypt! She saved Moses when she was only 5 years old (and she was already helping her mother as a midwife!).

At 1pm, they served lunch. Cucumbers, some kind of vegetable root, rice, couscous, and asian-style tofu with multicolored peppers. It was ok…I do wish there were some kind of fish. And the tofu was very salty. I took a walk afterwards with the remaining half an hour I had left. It’s difficult to sit all throughout lecture, sit for lunch, and then sit again until 5:30pm! It’s worse than high school! I didn’t end up sitting until 5:30pm. At 3pm, after another Integration Seminar lecture, Laura, Melody, and I decided that it wasn’t really pertinent and that we should go shopping for food items and items for our upcoming trip to the Golan with the school. We walked to a shopping strip not too far away, bought cheap crocs for a water hike, some nuts as a snack during the trip, and food items at the grocery store Remy Levi. I got squash mmm!

After we came back home (took a bus for the first time!), we did a yoga series from the same work out tapes. It was really good. Then, we made dinner. Laura made delicious salad from cucumbers, tomatos, red cabbage, and chickpeas, as well as brown rice, while I made two-part squash. One part is savory with garlic, and the other part is sweet with cinnamon. We’re still waiting to see how that’s going to turn out!

Ahava from Israel!

Elina

Shabbat in Har Nof

All of my roommates made Shabbat plans outside of Har Nof. Melody and Laura went to a friend of theirs in the Old City, Dana went to Ra’nana to be with family, and Shayna and Joanna went somewhere together, not sure where. Melissa, a woman from England who came for some of our communal meals, got set up with me to have Shabbat dinner at Mrs. Shaul’s, Shearim’s Administrative Director, and lunch at Mrs. Rottman’s, the apartment Dorm Mother. Melissa and I went to synagogue (shul) together Friday night (there is literally a synagogue on every corner). After davening (prayer), the men sang really beautifully, and we felt very lucky to have gone to a synagogue where people like to sing J Dinner at Mrs. Shaul’s was very nice – she has 5 kids – the eldest is married and has an adorable 2.5 year old boy and a baby girl of 3 months. Mrs. Shaul is originally from Philly and her husband is from Cali (but he was actually born in Bagdad!). Mr (or Rabbi) Shaul has a solar panel business in California. That is quite interesting. I know that solar panels are also very much used in Israel. The eldest daughter’s in-laws have a sukkah business that is thriving in England and the U.S. too. They also supply the etrog and lulav (holiday of Sukkot items). They get to travel to the places where they procure the items, so they have been to China (of course sukkahs would be built in China…) and Morocco (to get the etrogim). I wonder where else? Oh, and I must get Mrs. Shaul’s pumpkin kugel recipe – it was wonderful. I took a nice walk outside after dinner to digest. It seemed like most of Har Nof was walking outside. Never mind that it was close to midnight – couples, girlfriends, guy friends, baby carriages…you name it, they were all outside, enjoying the evening weather when you can go out and not die of heat.

The next day, Melissa and I went to a different shul to hear morning/mussaf prayers. Here, they didn’t sing much. But, there was a Bar Mitzvah going on, and we threw candy after the boy finished reading his parsha (torah portion). I liked this shul because women got to sit on the balcony, where the service was more visible than last night’s, where we were at the same level but had a curtain separating us. (Men and women sit separately in Orthodox shuls – I like this concept; it helps concentrate on prayer. But, I especially like it when the women can see the men but not the other way around ;-) ) The Kiddush (wine prayer and some food) after the service was in honor of the Bar Mitzvah boy. Wow, was it fancy! The family is from England, and Mrs. Shaul (who was there) told us that we could tell. Israelis would never put on such a fancy show. There wasn’t a lot of food, just some sushi, mini mini sandwiches, dessert, and fruit. But wow, was the setup fancy! The desserts were beautiful – definitely an artisan chocolatier. Lucky that we got to be there haha! Lunch at Mrs. Rottman’s was very nice, too. She’s from Belgium, so I couldn’t help but say Bonjour and a few words in French. If it were just her and I, I would have taken advantage, but it would have been rude in front of the others. Nevermind, I’ll make it up when she comes to school J Her husband looks Sephardi and gets that all the time, but in fact he is not. They also have 5 kids. A married son and a married daughter – the latter was there with her husband, cute 3 year old boy and almost 1 month old baby girl (pattern anyone??). We spent some time chatting after the meal – it was nice to get to know Mrs. Rottman!

Melissa was very tired (and dehydrated – she realized she wasn’t drinking enough water! I’ve been making sure to drink every half hour or so) so she went back to her host family. I was bored and didn’t have much to do, so I read and slept. I got up to do Havdallah (end of Shabbat ritual) by myself, since everyone was, of course, still gone. I showered and then went out for a very nice walk around Har Nof. Many people were out, again. I love that the neighborhood is so safe! Life resumed as normal – buses, cars, cell phones…even the local ice cream parlor next to Ye’sh, the grocery store, was open. I took  my camera along for a nighttime shoot. See below!

Ahava from Israel!

Elina


Shabbos morning synagogue



Beautiful view from Har Nof

Ye'sh, the grocery store and sometimes hangout

Apartments up on the hills!

Shavuout

Shavuout. Three words. Walk. Sleep. Eat. Sleep. Eat. Ok. 5 words. This was the craziest holiday ever to celebrate in Israel. But thank G-d I was able to do it! This is how it went…we waited until sundown to light our Yom Tov (holiday) candles. Just before sundown, I was outside right by the entrance to our building, and I saw the most beautiful sunset and landscape before my eyes. My building is quite high up on the hills (Har Nof, the suburb, is known for its hill-iness), so I had this wonderful view of other hills (really, something in between hills and mountains) and other towns dotting them. As well as the most gorgeous sunrise – a red sun with a pink shade spreading across the sky. I am so blessed to have such a view from outside my apartment!

Racheli, a Romanian Jewish (!) girl who has been living in England for a while and now wants to make aliyah, went with me to the Winacours, our hosts for Shavuout dinner. They turned out to be Scottish Jews! Never even knew that there were any…Mr. (or Rabbi? You never know…) Winacour definitely had a small, yet detectable Scottish accent. Thank goodness! Or else, you never know if you can understand those Scots or not! They had 4 kids ranging from 18 to 4 years old. The 16 year old girl had her friend from school over and they wouldn’t stop giggling and messing around. It was quite funny. The friend had 5 bracelets that said “I love Boobies” on them. I stared and asked if that was allowed at her religious high school?! She said that they were breast cancer awareness bracelets, and that everyone in the US had them. Really? Never seen those before. Shavuout is a holiday where most people have a minchag (custom) to eat dairy. Mrs. Winacour made a delicious quiche and homemade cheesecake. The boys (18 year old and 12 year old) were unhappy about this. Such men! Although I, myself, am looking forward to meat on Shabbat. Meat and fish are expensive, so the school doesn’t serve this for lunch. I’ll be buying fish again, just like in Paris. It really is a Paris repeat! Plus, my internet sucks here, too! I totally thought I was done with that. But I’m not too surprised – we’re stealing it from the neighbors.

Ok, that was a tangent. Anyway, after the nice dinner, we headed over to the seminary for some shiurim (lectures). There is a custom to stay up all night and learn Torah. This is because the Jewish people fell asleep as they waited for Moses to come back from Mt. Sinai, where he received the Torah. Sleep! When they were about to receive the most miraculous gift ever! So, in order to make up for that, we have this custom. We had three speakers who were very good. I was ok because I had those 17.5 hours of jetlag sleep. Then, at 3:45 am in the morning, we embarked on our arduous journey to the Kotel (Western Wall), a 1.5 hour walk. I had to make sure that I didn’t get lost from the group, because there were only a few people who knew how to get to and from the Kotel. As we walked, we were joined by other Jews! It was very cool. There weren’t waves of them yet, because we were quite early compared to most. But still. The city was quiet – the only cars we saw were on the few main roads. It was quite tiring, this walk. But it was good to have others to support you.

It was about 5am as we approached the Kotel, there was a huge amount of people there already. There was even security to go through, though it wasn’t very tough because of the amount of people pushing to get through! I stayed with a few other girls, meditating and waiting for 5:33am, the earliest we could say the morning prayer. We saw the night get light as the sun rose from behind the wall – it was magical to be there. People were standing and praying on rooftops near the Kotel, and the sun slowly illuminated them. Of course, we couldn’t get to the very Wall, but we stood close enough. I took my time, saying the whole Shemonei Esrei in Hebrew (I usually do half Hebrew half English). By this time, I was exhausted and hungry. It was even hard to comprehend the magic of the moment due to these bodily troubles. A Shearim alumni living in the Old City invited all of us to rest and eat breakfast in her apartment. This was so nice of her, and she was even expecting a baby any moment and STILL did this for us!

The hardest was the walk back. We started at 7:30am and made it back by 9am. Couldn’t have done it alone. Thank goodness I was with others. My feet were aching...straight to bed we went. Woke up somewhere in the afternoon to have lunch. Went back to sleep. Then, woke up for a really nice communal dinner with two other Shearim girls. We stayed up until past midnight, talking. Went to bed. Woke up at 11am. Had another communal meal. Took a walk around Har Nof. Played Bananagrams (with a new, fun version!), chatted with some girls who came. Had dinner. And, finally, ended the holiday. VERY long holiday. Plus, Israelis only keep one day of Yom Tov while the rest of us have to keep two. So while we were out, buses were running, people were driving, cells were out…it was unfair haha! After everything, Melody, Laura, and I did one of the workout tapes that Melody’s personal trainer from Chicago burned for her to take to Israel. It’s called P90X. It was 50 minutes of intense workout – we were tired, sweaty, and happy by the end. We resolved to work out a few times a week with different tapes. I hope we pull through – we could be quite in shape if we do! But wow, are we going to be sore tomorrow…

Ahava from Israel!

Elina

**Getting ready for Shavuout!

First Crazy Days

8:30am flight to Tel Aviv through Toronto (Chicago doesn't have enough Jews who want to go to Israel). I made friends with my seatmate right away, Eti (short for Esther), who is from Lombard (no Jews, she says).  Eti is Israeli of Turkish descent and married to an American. She was traveling with two sons and hadn't been back in Israel for two years! She and I chatted up those 1.5 hours and we quite surprised when the pilot announced landing already. So, from 11:15am to 1:15pm (boarding El Al for Tel Aviv), I got to be in Canada for the first time. It was quite hilarious to see all the Canadian flags and paraphernalia in the gift shops. Canada seems like such a calm, nothing-ever-happens-here place!! Eti and I realized that we would be sitting almost behind each other on El Al. As soon as I got on the plane, I felt like I was in Israel already. Jews. Jews. Jews. Making noise, laughing, getting excited to go back home. El Al’s slogan is appropriate: Home Away from Home.

I made friends with the guy sitting across from me – Adam – who made aliyah from New Jersey and spent a good deal of time talking to me about the positives of making aliyah. I wasn’t convinced, but he gave some good arguments. He works for a special volunteer force of reserve IDF soldiers (already having completed army) that protects the citizens of… and …He seemed like a really solid guy to me and even invited me to come spend Shabbat in his town, not far from Jerusalem. Maybe I’ll take another seminary girl with me after I understand the terrain a bit more, although Adam said it’s just one bus ride away from the Central Bus Station in Jerusalem. This is exactly what I did when I went to BeerSheva, which was further. It may be a good glimpse into how people live outside of Jerusalem and outside of seminary and outside of all-American neighborhoods (apparently, my neighborhood, HarNof, is one such). Adam said he could even set me up for Shabbat with some French-speaking Jews. But it’s still a maybe, we’ll see…it’s good to have contacts anyway! I hope I can spend Shabbat by Celine, one of Danielle’s daughters (remember Danielle, my Parisian host mom?). Celine lives in a suburb of Jerusalem called Beit Shemesh. Adam told me something super crazy – there are a few women in Beit Shemesh (not representative of the whole community) who wear clothing similar to Muslim women and even cover their faces so that only their eyes show! Eeek! LAMA?

Something else I loved about being on a plane full of Jews is that people gathered together in the back of the plane by the “kitchen,” and just chatted away, letting the flight attendants by every now and then! No one was told to go back to their seat…everyone just happily gathered into groups where no one knew each other but just started chatting and playing Jewish geography. One woman, Daliah, told me that she and her husband used to live in Vernon Hills but now live in Long Grove. They used to belong to Vernon Hills’s Reform Synagogue, Ohr Shalom, but found it to be uninvolved with Israel and too religiously reform for their taste. They now go to a traditional synagogue a walk away from their home. She, two random ladies, Eti, an Israeli girl, and I formed a rather funny group and talked about everything from Daliah’s botox to the Israeli girl’s five years of selling Dead Sea Products in the States, to the other lady’s 25 years of living in Israel and 20 years of living in the States (first 25 years because her son woke up one day (he was 16) in San Diego (where they lived) and asked her what they were doing in this non-Jewish country. Wow. That’s quite mature. So they moved!).

When it got dark outside, I asked a lady sitting in an aisle seat if I could sit in her empty seat near the window because I liked to look at the illuminated cities at night. She looked at me like I was weird and said she doesn’t speak English, only Hebrew. I detected a Russian accent so I asked in Russian. She let me sit, still looking weirdly at me. I looked out, trying to see the cities from underneath the plane wing. I had picked a bad seat. I saw some and loved the view. Then I turned to her, trying to spark up conversation. We ended up talking for a while; Katya lives in Israel but her only son married (a Russian girl) and lives in Toronto. She had been visiting him. She showed me photos and we talked about other things as well. She told me she was glad to talk to me because she had been sad about leaving her son. I was glad I sat next to her, too.

Rabbi Weissmandl from Shearim said that he would meet me outside of customs. He told me to call him and keep my laptop open so that we could email each other (emails reach his phone) before he gets to Tel Aviv. He ended up not being able to come because of traffic and he had had to stop on the side of the road and help someone who had had a stroke! (He is also a medic) I got lost looking for a sherut (taxi that fits a lot of people for a cheaper rate), with some Israelis looking at me weirdly when I said the word “sherut,” not understanding…?! Finally found it, but it left without me and another guy who was waiting, having been all filled. The guy and I waited for half an hour. I asked him to ask the guy manning the stand how much longer it would take. The guy said he didn’t know – it depended on the next flight. So we chatted, and I found out my waiting partner was from Paris and going to yeshiva! So we chatted some more, in French, because his English wasn’t good and my Hebrew was nonexistent. It was fantastic to speak French again! He and I ended up splitting a cab to Jerusalem; neither of us wanted to wait longer. His yeshiva was on the other side of the city from Har Nof (where my seminary, Shearim, is), but the cab driver dropped us off, respectively. I can’t believe I negotiated the price of a TAXI! Who does that? Apparently, Israelis do. The driver wanted 180 shekel each, but we paid 140. I don’t know if I could’ve done better, but it was annoying to have to bargain – I hate doing it! But, I’ll learn, like every good Israeli. The French guy wasn’t good at it either.

I got to the seminary apartment, where Melody was waiting for me. She showed me around and gave me my key. There were little posters that said “Welcome Elina! Can’t wait to get to know you!” That was so sweet. There were 4 other girls in the apartment – Laura (from Chicago), Dayna, Shayna, and Joanna. I’ve never had so many roommates – it’s going to be fun! I’m sharing a bedroom with Dayna. I had to get ready and shower – there was an annual banquet at Shearim for all the girls who are leaving after being in seminary for a year (or more). All the hustle and bustle of meeting her girls, looking this way and that…it was crazy for someone so jetlagged and tired! The food was delicious – the girls made it themselves. They also decorated very nicely. Between courses, some would stand up and honor the teachers/tutors with a poster with personal messages on it. There are 3 other Russian speakers – one girl from Baku, who is leaving next week, another from Uzbekestan, leaving in a few months, and Shoshana, a woman in her 70s from San Diego. Shoshana is amazing! She adores Shearim, loves the girls, and they love her back. She even told me that she “wasted” a month at Neve. I don’t know if that’s fair, but I guess it wasn’t a good fit for her. I think Shearim might be smaller and more like a family. It was really nice to sit in a room with all the girls who go to seminary – I do like the family feeling. Shoshana made the fish course, which was delicious. She said she is a REALLY good cook, so I told her I’d love to learn something from her sometime. I hope she’ll take me up on it.

Toward the end, I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer. It was 4pm and I was ready to go to bed. But no, I told myself I’d go to bed around 7 or 8pm. I wanted to get on a normal schedule. Before leaving Shearim, I called IsraelPhones and ordered a phone (discount for Shearim). They said they’d deliver that evening, but they didn’t. I’ll have to wait until after the holiday, probably Friday. Their office is closed today (Tuesday). The girls and I walked down two flights of stairs to get to the nearest grocery store to buy some food for Shavuout. The girls are cooking lunch and dinner for tomorrow. Tonight, we are going to host families for the holiday meal. The grocery store was expensive; Melody and Laura said that there is a cheaper one that is a bit further away that they go to. The girl in front of me in the checkout line invited me for Shabbat already J After shopping, my roommates were getting ready for a tihel party they were throwing for Shayna, our roommate who is getting married. A tihel is the headscarf/covering that a girl wears at home/outside when she is not wearing her shetl (wig). Each person who was invited was asked to buy one for Shayna. This was so nice! The girls decorated with balloons, party favors, and bought snacks. I didn’t join the party – I was just too tired. I went to bed at 7:30pm and slept through the whole thing, including their singing and music! I woke up at 6:30am to go to the bathroom and slept until 1pm, when I was awoken by Dayna, who was worried about me that I was sleeping so long! Hmm 17.5 hours of sleep. Not bad! Tonight is the beginning of Shavuout, the holiday that culminates the 50 days of counting the Omer after Pesach, ending in Hashem giving the Torah to the Jewish people. Tonight, I’m going with Racheli, a girl from seminary, to a host family’s for the festive meal. Then, we’re staying up for some learning. Then, my roomies and I are going to walk to the Kotel to daven. Then, we’re having breakfast at an alumni’s by the Kotel, then we’re coming back to sleep. I am very much looking forward!

Ahava from Israel!

Elina

At Shearim's annual banquet

View outside my building

Our backyard