Friday, November 5, 2010

Good Stuff in the World

"We hear every damn day about how fragile our country is -- on the brink of catastrophe -- torn by polarizing hate and how it’s a shame that we can’t work together to get things done, but the truth is we do. We work together to get things done every damn day." - John Stewart

I like this quote. It reminds me to be positive and cultivate amazement about all the ways people are suceeding all the time. Parents raise their children, incredible organizations help people in need, books are written, songs are sung, planes takeoff into the air, friends give each other advice, love is shared, 3-year-olds have birthday parties (like the one I attended this morning), and each of us wakes up each morning.

Let's celebrate our successes!

Sunday, August 15, 2010

The Amazing Waffle Iron


My mom bought a waffle iron when she and my dad were living in a greenish duplex in Greenlake in Seattle, before I was born. It was $1.00 at a garage sale. This waffle iron has been cooking waffles for us for 28 years. I'm in a nostalgic mood, being home after adventures across the country and across the world. It's nice to know that as so much changes, there are simple delicious things that stay the same. Here's to blackberry waffles, maple syrup, warm sunday brunches, and beautiful Northwest mornings with people you love.


Thursday, April 15, 2010

Longing

I'm in a serious longing state right now... longing for community, for home, for partnership, for true friendship, for peace/wholeness, for connection, for looking into eyes that I say "I know you", for nature's embrace... many things which seem just out of my grasp at the moment.

I feel it's important to find a balance between recognizing the longing- living in it, loving/embracing it, and then working to make it come together. Ebb and flow... perhaps it's all one and the same. Different sides of the same coin. Different views of the same glorious mountain. Without all the views, all the perspectives, we wouldn't have a whole.

But how do I settle in the balance?


Desert Rainbow, all part of the oneness:

Monday, April 12, 2010

Remembering

I've noticed that a lot of my fellow bloggers have already written about it, but I'm adding in my experience. Today was Yom Hashoah- Holocaust Remembrance Day. For all my struggles to find a Jewish community, feel comfortable and at home within Judaism, I have never had trouble connecting to stories of the Holocaust. Reading both Anne's diary and Number the Stars in 6th grade deeply affected my life and when I visited the Anne Frank Museum in Amsterdam 7 years ago, I cried pretty much from the moment I walked in until I left.

I often take issue with how the Holocaust seems to be a crutch for many Jews- the penultimate victim narrative that we just can't seem to move beyond. And what I see as an excuse for Israel to do things I do not agree with. But to be here for Yom Hashoah was a moving experience. At 10 am, sirens were sounded, and for a few minutes, everyone just stopped. I looked out a window at Pardes onto a busy street and I all I could think of was that Improv Everywhere stunt where a group of people suddenly freeze in the middle of Grand Central Station. It was surreal- things started to get quiet just before the siren started, then, suddenly, the wail of the siren began and people froze on the sidewalks, cars pulled to the side of the road, taxi drivers opened their car doors, got out and stood still. It was eerie, as time stopped in remembrance for a few moments.

Then just as soon as it had come to a halt, life picked right back up again. People slung their backpacks over their shoulders, hopped on their bikes, and continued on their way. Cars continued on the road, everyone went about their business.

Of all the communities devastated by World War II, Jews are the only one who have not yet recovered their population. We were 18 million prior to the Holocaust, and today we are 13 million.

I heard a survivor speak today. Soon there won't be any left. I will remember, and I will tell stories.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

What is culture?

What makes us different? Why are those differences important? Why is it important to maintain cultural heritage/traditions/rituals? Specifically I'm thinking about Judaism, but I think these questions could be applied to anything. Judaism has existed for a long time. Why is it important that it keep existing? (There is the whole argument that Torah is truth, which is a huge huge one, and I don't mean to discredit it, but for the purposes of this line of thought, I'm putting it aside for now.)

Should Judaism be maintained just because it's been around for 3,000+ years? There are other things in this world that have been done for a long time that I don't think should continue. What does it mean for something to have cultural value? How does culture enrich our lives? 4 years ago in France I participated in an intercultural training for young adults from over 10 countries. As others shared their customs and cultural stories, I found little in "American" culture that was meaningful in my life. So my default for speaking about my traditions/heritage/etc. was Judaism. That's where I felt I had something meaningful to add to the conversation, to share in an exchange. Ok, so there's value, so these practices do enrich our lives. But what does that mean for how we treat other people?

It seems we need to belong to something in order to live comfortably in this world. We search for a town, an ethnicity, a club, a religion, a school, a family, a cause, an organization that we can feel an affiliation with. These communities form our identities, we feel lost without them. Yet, continually, over and over, throughout history and everywhere today, these affiliations perpetuate judgment through an us/them mentality. "I'm a democrat and if you don't agree with me, you're wrong." We belong to something to be able to say the other side is less than us.
What is a world without affiliations? Is it a meaningless colorless world? How do we get to a place where we are all looking out for the other? Where we don't shove aside someone in trying to get to a holy site? Where we don't make half-joking-but-still-cruel comments about members of our own community behind their backs or even to their faces? How do we get beyond our insecurities?

I have some ideas, but I'm really curious to hear what you think.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

What to write? About a Palestinian wedding


SO much has been happening the past few weeks... it's difficult to find the time to write, let alone choose what to write about.

A couple weeks ago I had the honor of attending a wedding in Bethlehem. The bride was the sister of a friend of mine from Seeds of Peace (a facilitator at camp last summer). I found out about it at the last minute and I hesitated a bit in deciding to go only because the wedding took place on a Friday night. I had decided in coming here to do what I could to be shomer shabbat. But I decided the wedding was an opportunity I just couldn't pass up. However, it was very weird to light the shabbos candles, then walk out dressed nice like everyone else, but instead of going to shul, I went to the bus stop to take a Palestinian bus into Bethlehem.

The event was so fancy! Lots of food, video cameras, fireworks, lights, music, more food, lots of people, fog machines and fake snow! The dancing was pretty much divided between men and women. The style of dancing was different than I'm used to. I tried to pay attention to what other women were doing so I could at least pretend to fit in. There were 4 of us (non-Palestinians) who came together and I don't think anyone would ever have thought we fit in, but at least I could try not to be offensive...

The feeling of community was so strong, everyone supporting this bride and groom as they start their lives together. Such great communal excitement and celebration! The legal and religious ceremony was very small and had taken place a couple weeks before so this was the time for everyone to gather. There was a great diversity in terms of women's dress- conservative with hijabs to sleeveless cocktail dresses. And no alcohol (because Muslims don't drink)- this was different from most American weddings.

There was a beautiful candle ceremony with all the girls. There were aspects of the wedding that were just like any other- stress to get everything to look just right, cameras everywhere, congratulating the bride and groom, cute little girls dancing with flowers in their hair... I just kept thinking, what a vibrant and lively culture!

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Peace and Purim

Here is something I wrote right around Purim (a week and a half ago).

I’m debating being political... What isn’t political anyway? So, here goes. Last week, someone made a comment to me that aggression from Jewish settlers towards Arabs around Purim increases. I didn’t understand why at first, but I thought about it more. The story of the origin of the holiday of Purim is documented in the Book of Esther (one of the books in the Hebrew Bible). In the story the entire Jewish population is about to be annihilated because the King’s right-hand man, Haman (the quintessential villain), issues a decree calling for it. With the help of two Jews, Mordechai and his cousin Esther (who happens to be Queen), the Jews are saved and Haman is hung. A reverse decree gives Jews the right to defend themselves on the day they were set to be killed. (The story is much more nuanced and detailed but that’s the very basic idea.) One of the customs of Purim is to get so drunk you can’t tell the difference between good and bad. So the problems between Palestinians and settlers around Purim is that these Israelis look at Arabs as Haman or those who sided with Haman and decide to “defend themselves”. Obviously this is horrible... But what I want to focus on here is a particular way this reapplying of the Purim story to modern day really troubles me.

In my Tanakh class at Pardes we’ve been reading the Megillat Esther for the past 5 weeks. We talked today about not letting the story fade from our memory. It’s true that I don’t have the same feelings about the Holocaust as someone who survived a concentration camp. Memories slip away and often lose their meaning when we’ve no longer lived them. So how do we make sure not to lose them? By applying them to our current lives. The Torah is absolutely beautiful in this way- we can take things that happened thousands of years ago and apply these situations to our lives now. Torah continues to be actively lived and is what arguably connects us all as Jews.

So we look at the Megillah (Book of Esther) as applicable to our lives today. We call our enemies Haman. Haman who, seemingly out of nowhere, orders all Jews to be “massacred, killed, and destroyed.” (Ch3v13) We want to go after him/them as the Jews did in the story. We think it’s important to stand up for who are. Preserving our identity is worth killing for.

However, this means we are continually caught up in the binary of good and evil. If we say “the Jewish people will always have enemies,” then we’re going to find or create those enemies, whether or not they existed in the first place. I think we need to take note of how the Megillah gives us a more nuanced portrayal of Haman- we can see his weaknesses and his enormous insecurities. Why is the text written this way? Why do we get this window into what makes him tick? During his ultimate humiliation, when he has to parade Mordechai, the man who represents everything he is not, around as a hero, I almost feel sorry for Haman. He’s driven crazy by his obsessions with image, power, and money. Haman, as a person, becomes just sad for me, rather than a threat.

So what do we do about this “enemy” dilemma? The perpetuation of an us/them mentality isn’t getting us anywhere- and it just makes it easy to dismiss those we disagree with and/or don’t get along with, as opposed to trying to engage them or understand why they feel the way we do. By examining the character of Haman, we can see the importance of understanding who we call our enemy. Perhaps this may be a way to work towards a more peaceful world.

Article referencing violence on Purim:
http://www.jpost.com/Home/Article.aspx?id=169801

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Musings of the week

Hey! So last week was amazing. Full of so many awesome experiences, and here's some info about a few of them.

Sunday- the Hebrew month of Adar began and we had a festive service at Pardes (Pardes is the school where I'm studying). Adar is when everything gets turned upside down and nothing is as it seems. People wore funny costumes and we sang loudly...

Monday last week was Yom Iyyun Shel Hesed (day of loving kindness) for the Pardes community. Here's a great description of that day by another Pardes student, plus a picture of me!
http://theseandthose.pardes.org/?p=234

Tuesday I went to Ramallah with a friend. I got to see some Seeds of Peace people and just experience the city. It's very commercial, very busy, lots of people, and has a very different feel than Jerusalem. It feels like a completely different country. I got to meet some activists working for ISM and hear about the demonstrations they attend and how they document what's happening for the Palestinians. I admire what they're doing, even if it's not the kind of work I feel drawn to. I'm looking forward to revisiting Palestine soon.

Thursday night I went to Tel Aviv. It was fun to be in a light, easy-going city. To visit an art gallery, see the sea, palm-trees, eat chinese food. Jerusalem is very heavy, and I certainly became aware of that when I was gone from here.

Friday I went up to Tzfat for Shabbat to the Livnot campus. Livnot was the beginning of my return to Judiasm and my spiritual journey in a lot of ways. Being there is so rejuvenating for my soul. It also makes me realize how far I have come.

And now it's tuesday again. Purim is upon us! The crazy holiday where everyone disguises him/herself and gets drunk and we listen to the story of Esther. It's also about giving to the poor, giving food to friends, and eating a bit meal. Plus I have 2 days off of class! Should be fun...

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

New Food

I ate a delicious felafel yesterday. I'm trying to enjoy all the awesome fruits and vegetables here (they really are especially delicious and very cheap). Unfortunately I have yet to get to the shouk (the large outdoor market), where there are so many foods to buy and things to see. I know, it's crazy that I haven't been there since I arrived. But it's far! And I'm in class all day nearly every day. I'll get there soon. Some things I've been enjoying: persimmons, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, and dates. The only problem with dates is that for some reason I think they look like cockroaches. What a horrible association! I still eat them anyway.

I also have to yet to go into the old city... for many reasons.

However, I did go to east Jerusalem last night to a fun restaurant with Seeds of Peace friends. It's crazy how you can be in a neighborhood where everything's in Hebrew, then turn the corner and suddenly you're in a whole incredible new place. Different people, different atmosphere, Arabic everywhere in place of Hebrew. I love experiencing the different cultures, but it's amazing how segregated it feels.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

lo ivrit?

First of all, I attend the Seeds of Peace binational seminar this weekend at Neve Shalom. I'm exhausted, but it was an incredible 2 days. Seeing some of my campers from last summer made me so so happy, even if I didn't really have much time to talk to them at all. Hopefully I'll be seeing many of them again soon on a more individual basis.

The point of this blog post is just to say that it is infinitely frustrating for me to not speak the language here. I firmly believe that if you're going to be in a country for more than just a couple weeks you need to make every effort you can to meet the culture you're living in at least halfway. While I am learning a little bit of Hebrew in my classes at Pardes, it's not modern conversational Hebrew, and I'm spending the vast majority of my time around English speakers speaking English. And I'm not in an English speaking country!! Yes, it is true, most people here speak English. But not everyone. Not necessarily the checkout lady at the grocery store or the cab driver who took me home this evening. And I may be able to manage sometimes with just a couple words, but it's not because I understand what's being said, it's because I'm picking up on social cues. When the cab driver turns to me and asks a question and the only word I understand is "yerushalayim" aka Jerusalem, I can figure out that I need to give him the name of the street where I want to go.

However, I am building my vocabulary. This weekend I gained a bunch more Hebrew words (yay for being around Israelis!), and I even learned a few new Arabic words as well (yay for being around Arabs!).

More to come... lilah tov!

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Jaywalking, or How I've Become a New Yorker

Here in Jerusalem, people wait for the green walking man before they cross the street. Even if there are absolutely no cars coming. And sometimes you have to wait for for 3 green walking mans- for example on Derech Hevron (a major road I live near) where the street is divided into 3 sections. This means crossing the street can take a long time. I have to cross stop lights at least 4 times on my way to school, this equals about 10 walking mans. Years ago I would never have thought that waiting for the walking light to appear before crossing the street would be strange. But after living 3.5 years in New York City, where no one EVER waits for the light to change, I find this Israeli custom severely annoying. Heck, in NYC no one even looks at the light- if there are no cars, you just cross, and sometimes even if there are cars you cross (at your own risk). It doesn't seem like jaywalking to me- it's just being logical. But New Yorkers move at a faster pace than most of the world I think. And I hear that people actually get tickets for jaywalking here. So I'm trying to be more careful... But standing there waiting when I'm late for class just seems ridiculous. This is how I've become a little bit of a New Yorker.

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Israel?

So I left New York City. I came to Israel. It was Tu B'Shevat this weekend, also called new year for the trees. We have a seder and drink wine and are thankful for nature.

This was used in a seder I attended. I really like it.

Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlav's Prayer

Master of the universe, grant me the ability to be alone;
may it be my custom to go outdoors each day,
among the trees and grasses, among all growing things,
there to be alone and enter into prayer.

There may I express all that is in my heart,
talking with God to whom I belong.

And may all grasses, trees, and plants awake at my coming.

Send the power of their life into my prayer,
making whole my heart and my speech
through the life and spirit of growing things,
made whole by their transcendent Source.

O that they would enter into my prayer!
Then would I fully open my heart in prayer, supplication, and holy speech;
then, O God, would I pour out the words of my heart before Your presence.


Rabbi Nachman was a pretty cool dude.