mas de israel

Next day: learning, kayaks on Jordan River, Prince

Today we learned in the morning, then went “kayaking” on the Jordan River in the afternoon. I could lie and say it was crazy white water rapids, as we were expecting from the safety talk and demonstration, but alas it was clearly not. My kayak partner, Inna, and I got into our blow up “kayak” and tried to control it by various paddling techniques. I swear the boat only wanted to do 360s no matter what we tried to do, so we gave up and went in circles down the river…we got quite a scenic view! There were orthodox Jews paddling, and Muslim women in full hijab wearing life vests. As we rammed into one guy’s boat he asked my political opinions on the world…”American!? How Obama? How Netanyahu? How Ahmadinajad?”

There were Israelis smoking hookah right in the water, and there were children attempting to flip over tourists. It was great. Whence we reached the end, a feeling of bonding and accomplishment filled the air. We had pizza for lunch. As usual we were late for everything, so instead of going on a hike in Banyas, we went on a secret hike in the middle of nowhere. As soon as some people saw bees and cows they turned around and headed back on the bus. But not I! Israel is my chance for self exploration and adventure…so I trudged through the bee hives and into the thistles with the Rebbetsen and co. We climbed up this beautiful canopy of trees and rocks only to see….a water pipe! It was a “natural spring,” yeah right….the way back we trudged through waist deep water, but it was great. I won over nature that time.

That evening, we had dinner and heard this famous guy who was an African prince, but found a calling to Judaism. After our session, we all went swimming in the Knerret around midnight. This must be one of the most amazing/dangerous/fun/spontaneous things I’ve ever done. The water was super dark but milky warm. In the distance, we could see the orange city lights of Tiberius to the left, and Lebanon to the right. No matter how far we went out, the water remained warm and fairly shallow. Stars shone as I lay on my back in the water and pondered the meaning of life (ok corny but so true!) It was a magical moment.

Afterwards, we went to a kostor (campfire) that some of our group made on the beach. We just sat around laughing and chatting while the magic of Israel was weaving in and out of our minds, by the stars in the sky and the beautiful views of the Knerret. I truly fell in love.

Friday June 26^th….Tsfat, Israel (Safed)

Today we went to Tsfat, the capital of mysticism in Israel. Here is where the famous Shulcan Aruch was written, and the secrets of Kabbalah permeate the hot atmosphere. We went to a couple of famous synagogues, a candle shop, and heard an American artist who discovered Kabbalah and now sells tooottallllyyy coolllll paintings. He spoke like a California surfer regarding the mystic powers of Kabbalah while our Orthodox Rabbi sat and shook his head. I bought a cool painting about lifting your spirit to do good.

Dan told us about a cool place to have lunch so we shlepped all the way up a hill to a kosher (damnit!) restaurant called Café Bagdad which was breathtaking views of the valley below. Determined to get some shopping done, I ate my falafel platter quickly and took the steps to try and find the artists’ colony below. Per usual, I got lost. But it was the best part of the day. The winding streets reminded me of Sevilla, but clearly much older and more mystical. I ran into Orthodox Jewish children laughing in the streets, a group of Israeli girl soldiers, and Hassidic men asking secular to do tefillin. Though the air was heavy with heat, I had a moment of profound connection to Judaism and Israel. Why had I gone to Spain looking for what was right here in my homeland? Though the shops were closing in preparation for Shabbat (I was like…do they have siesta here? Is that why the shops are closing at 2?) I found more meaning in just wandering and discovering hidden alleys than buying Jewish memorabilia. Glorious.

After Tsfat, I had the shortest 2 hour bus ride of my life (felt like 5 minutes!) and I mentally pat myself on the back again for buying that pillow for my head in NYC. We arrived in Hispin, our hotel in the Golan Heights, where we would spend Shabbat.

A few words about Shabbat: Never have I truly experienced the magic of even understood the magic Shabbat brings to peoples’ lives until I met the Jacobowitzs’. They are the holiest family I have ever witnessed, the wife and husband are equal…the husband adoring the wife and likewise. The respect their 9 children have for their parents is unparalleled…and the love that emanates from each smile and glance is clear for any secular eye to appreciate. Here is a family that lives for enjoying life and believe in G-d. They speak of the magic of Shabbat with breathless anticipation, as if talking about the latest gossip or a new love. Rest and relaxation, taking a day to appreciate the wonders of life…spending time unadulterated by modern technology….women bringing more light into the world by lighting Shabbos candles. This is something I will strive to emulate in my life (to soommmme degree).

However, when we saw the boys dancing around and praying, while the girls didn’t…it pissed me off. Even though, the Rebbetsen explained that women are not obligated to pray because we are spiritually higher than men and don’t need an obligation…it smacked of essentialism to me and my feminist anger swelled up. I pulled my modest shawl around my shoulders in rebellion.

After a Shabbos dinner where Lina and I had a great talk about the meaning of life, we had Oneg Shabbat where the program bought us lots of l’chaims and we sat around listening to the Rabbi tell fascinating stories about Judaism and life.

Shabbat in the Golan Heights, June 27^th

I woke up this morning with a pounding headache and nausea. Breakfast seemed light years away as I looked at the clock. 7 am. Great.

Happily I remembered that our hotel had wifi in the lobby, so I went outside with my laptop, walking through the open air courtyard to the lobby. There were Jews already in “shul” (converted conference rooms) praying. Silly little me, no sooner had I plugged in my converter that an Orthodox Jew came over and told me to respect the Sabbath. No email during the Sabbath. Seething with anger, I lamented the fact that I had no clue what was going on in the world, and apparently Newyorktimes.com was not Sabbath friendly.

Trying not to be too mad, I came back to the room, where my fabulous roommates Rita, Inna, and Masha were slowly getting up. As I recounted my tale of Shabbat injustice, they shrugged their shoulders and said I should’ve known better. Perhaps I should have, but I certainly don’t think it’s acceptable to impose your way of life on other people. Clearly, my reform Judaism, which I thought made rational sense to the secular Jew, did not appeal (and my roommates were even rather disgusted by Reform Judaism).

Finally it was time for breakfast, which was again Kosher food I could not stomach. I can stomach anything…anything….but not this hotel Kosher food. Clearly it was not my day so I said ok, time to go back to bed. And I slept the rest of Shabbat. Day of rest, right? In the late afternoon, I took a solitary walk around the water reservoir and playground of the hotel. The wind blew through my hair, and I pondered the meaning of life. It was really one of those moments.

In the nighttime, our program took us to Tferiya (Tiberius) on the shores of the Knerret (Sea of Galilee) for a cruise. We passed by the boardwalk, with its shining neon lights and hanging necklaces, and came to our ship. Where dancing teenagers awkwardly got off to..Time of Your Life….hehe.

Let the Jewish dancing begin! As our ship sailed 10 feet from the dock, and we could see the beautiful views of the light studded hills in the distance, the Orthodox in our group formed two sex segregated horas (circles) and we began swinging back and forth to Israeli music. One of the boat guys formed a drum circle and showed us how to bang on the drums Israeli style as we danced around. It was fabulous! Since basically everyone on the program were friends by now, we smiled, laughed, and hora’d away. Pure kosher bliss.

It was a 2 hour bus ride back to the Golan Heights, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Sunday June 27^th

Today we went to the Banyas, a beautiful waterfall and park, to hike. The views were really beautiful. Afterwards, we drove up to the border between Israel and Syria, and saw the view below. Our guide told us the story of the border establishment, as we looked onto Syria below and heard about their attack during the 6 Day War. I need to learn more about Israeli history to fully appreciate what I saw I think….I know however, that having heard about the Golan Heights only through American media sources, I was astounded at how beautiful and peaceful it was. Again, when you look over at Syria…the land is completely arid and dry, but in Israel, it’s green and cultivated. Also, the Golan Heights represent some absurdly small fraction of Syria’s territory while it is a sizable proportion of Israeli land. Such crap.

In the evening, we had Rabbi J talk, and in the wee hours. Rabbi J, Vitalik and I talked about the existence of G-d until 2 am. Rabbi J astounds me in every way, he appreciates intellectual honesty and really has instilled in me this feeling of Judaism saying that Jews must KNOW G-d exists through questioning and study, while others “believe” in G-d. Really a profound thought, and an exercise in understanding Judaisms’ unfailing emphasis on scholarship. Though the Rabbi and I disagree on many things, and I couldn’t really take as fact most of what he said, it was truly interesting to hear his views. We talked about evolution vs. creationism for more than 2 hours. I’d love to hear more scientific/religious views like his…where the two don’t contradict (in the Jewish version) and also, he kept saying that “science” was just as much a religion as anything else, and you had to take more leaps of faith to believe science than Judaism…that is, if you accept the Torah as undeniable fact…..problematic.

I went to sleep thoroughly cognitively exhausted. Even talking to the rabbi was a struggle as I was so unbelievably tired and exhausted…but I saw the opportunity as completely unable to be missed…and it was worth it.

Monday June 28^th

Kfar Kedem is a place that seeks to provide visitors with a sense of what life was like in Biblical times. Our fabulous guide made us wear Biblical costumes (made us look Arab!) and then we made our own pita. We sat down and had a tasty Israeli lunch…Israeli salad, tahini, pita, hummus, and shish kebabs.

After, we went on probably the craziest hike of my life down Mt. Arbel, overlooking an Arab village. The views were astounding, however, we had to not only climb in the midday heat, but use a cord connected to the mountain, clinging to life as we walked on a cliff ledge before climbing down the mountain. A first (probably last) for me. It was challenging and fun, and a popsicle was definitely in order afterwards. Along with a nap for the 3 hour ride back to Jerusalem.

Tuesday June 29^th

Today we heard a lecture of Judaism and archeology, from an archaeologist Rabbi. Dry stuff…hehe. Then we went to this amazing place outside of Jerusalem called Har Radar, a big triumphant arch memorial to the soldiers who died in 1948. We had lunch in the midday heat (kosher!) and some climbed on tanks. We climbed up the arch, where you can clearly see Ramallah, Jerusalem and the Green Line. The Green Line is RIDICULOUS. You can literally see it because, again, Jewish land is green and Arab land is….undeveloped. CRAZY. I remember reading about this in Exodus, but really seeing it in real life affirms any doubts from before. Then we checked out some Maccabean graves and a park before going for….dum dum dummmMMMmm! Repelling. Our Israeli repel guide explained all the rules before leading us to the cliff. I was trying to calm myself and say….you can do this, you can do this. I let others go before me to build up courage, and then I put on the harness and helmet. My mind was quiet as I tried to take a step down the mountain, listening to my Israeli guide the whole time. But I couldn’t do it, and I made the mistake of looking down. My body swung over and struck the side of the cliff, and my knees buckled. The Israeli guide tried to convince me to go…”Everyone else did it!” and the funny expression, “If everyone jumped off of a cliff…would you do it too?” expounded in my head. Suddenly I realized, I did not want to do this in any capacity. And had no reason to. Though the Israelis tried to make me feel ashamed for failing, I couldn’t care less. A little embarrassment yes, but really very little.

During our bus ride back, I got into another heated argument with Max, the Orthodox organizer, about the merits of Reform Judaism. He would just not leave me alone and I was already cognitively exhausted from the repelling incident. Then he told me I had to tell the Rebbetsen about Yeshivalite. Background: I was supposed to do this Russian Trip for 2 weeks, coming in a week late due to graduation. Because I was paying a lot less for a scholarship, Max talked me into doing this other girls’ only Yeshiva program run by the Rebbetsen. My understanding was that I would join after the Russian trip but Max told me I had to leave tonight. No way. I was soooo mad at him because I really respect the Rebbetsen and in NO way wanted to let her down, so I asked him to talk to her, but he refused. Fuming, I tried to calm myself down, eat a little something, and talked to the other 2 girls in the same predicament. We decided I’d talk to the Rabbi and Rebbetsen first. Everyone in the group was aware of the situation and clearly did not want us to leave, as we were quite close now. I approached the happy couple with trepidation, my heart pounding!

Before they could even speak, I prefaced myself…I told them that in nooooooo way did I want to disrespect them because I truly appreciated and honored them so much, but that there had been a misunderstanding. They listened to me intently, and agreed without a second doubt. A huge wave of relief and excitement hit me as I walked away from the table, leaving them. It was only after I learned that they didn’t let the other two girls off the hook like me, that I started to have doubts. Honestly, I think they let me go because I was too opinionated…always during the Rabbi’s talks I asked him questions and stood up for my beliefs on a number of occasions. The Rabbi loved this and gleefully answered all of my questions, calling me smart and intellectually curious. However, in the Yeshiva, I don’t think this would have flown. But I was happy…now another extra week in Israel. Tyeta Toma asked me each day how the brainwashing was going, and laughed when I told her about the Yeshiva. Eh…oh well.

That night, since the other two girls were leaving, we decided to go out and celebrate. We went to Ben Yehuda in Jerusalem, and had drinks to celebrate new friendships. I also had my first “nargilla” in Israel which was not that great at all.

The rest of the trip’s highlights are learning to make Challah and the amazing Jeep ride in the Judean desert. When I was standing overlooking the Ashkelon Valley, in that moment I felt G-d. I think I will always remember that moment connecting me as a Jew to the Land of Israel. Brainwash or no brainwash, this trip really made me think about my Jewish identity, and connect it to Israel. Nowhere else have I felt such a connection to land (me? Nature?) even moreso to the people, who I don’t really understand. Israeli culture baffles me…even when I look around and constantly remind myself “Everyone’s Jewish! He’s Jewish and she’s Jewish…and he’s jewish….etc” Israelis look different than American Jews, act different, and have different values. It’s hard to find a balance between loving Israel but not Israelis…more to come…

Shalom de Israel!

Wednesday June 24, 2009 Knerret, Israel

I arrived in Israel two days ago by saying goodbye with my present reality and looking forward. This trip was supposed to be (for practical reasons) a good opportunity to meet Russian Jews in Chicago for social and professional reasons and (for spiritual reasons) an opportunity to explore the role of Judaism and religion altogether in my life.

So, extremely mentally and physically exhausted, I boarded my flight to Tel Aviv via Rome on Sunday with no thoughts but to get some sleep on the plane. The flight was fairly turbulent, but I had two whole seats to myself so that was nice. My first nudge towards religiosity came when the flight attendant double checked to make sure I had explicitly ordered a kosher meal. Right.

In Rome, I felt a sense of familiarity (the whole 2 hours I was there) and smiled happily upon seeing a plane from Uzbekistan airways, a reminder of my journey to the past last summer. When I arrived in Tel Aviv, dazed and tired, (oh yeah make tuna with kidney beans, corn, and salsa…delicious!) I waited for my bags about an hour. Upon realizing that alas they were lost (per usual) I hurriedly walked towards the Alitalia counter to make a claim that my baggage was in fact lost. Another hour of frantic waiting ensued, altogether exacerbated by the fact that I knew that beyond those doors, a member of my family was most likely worrying to death that I had not arrived.

Finally, I made my way through the doors into the frantic tears of my Tyeta Toma, who had the whole airport alert on my disappearance. She was so shaken up, I couldn’t help but laugh at how similar she was to my own Mama, not only in appearance, but in character and franticness.

I went with her to H&O (that’s right, use your imagination) to get some new clothes for my impending trip, and then we went to her small settlement, Alfe Menashe. She explained to me that they were right on the border with Palestine (and when I was right, I mean look to the left Palestine, right Israel) and had built a house there because, in true Russian Jew style, the land was cheaper. She pointed out a taxi in front of us with a green license plate as being a Palestinian cab. Not scary at all for my first 2 hours in Israel. My cousin and uncle greeted me, and we went for my first meal in an Israel strip mall…shish kebab and Israeli salad. Yum!

Then we drove to Jerusalem to meet my group. As we drove I called the hotel to make sure everything was ok, and they claimed not to have any American groups…per usual. But in the end it was the right hotel. At this point, there was no emotion processing and I could only think of my bed, even as we entered and there were Orthodox women running around everywhere at a wedding.

The next morning I woke up in a room with three other Russian Jewish girls. When I asked them how the trip was going they said, “eh. It’s ok” This made me a tad bit nervous as their lack of enthusiasm seemed a bit daunting. Luggage or no luggage, I made my way downstairs and met the rest of my group, which was quite nice. I fit in quite well, and really liked the girls on the trip. The first lecture was a Chasidic rabbi who claimed he was not proving the existence of G-d, which in fact he was. But he was alright and a funny speaker. Soon after, my luggage arrived (thankfully!) and we took a bus to the Negev desert for a “hike.” Ladies and gentlemen, let me tell you that taking a hike over a steep mountain covered in desert sand and rocks in 95 degree weather the day after not only your graduation but an 18 hour journey…is not a good idea. About halfway up I began to get the usual signs of heat exhaustion, and decided to not be that girl who passes out in the Israeli desert on the first day by making my way down the mountain and back to the air conditioned bus. Israel 1, Stella 0.

Afterwards, we drove through the desert windy roads to a Bedouin oasis to ride camels, my Camel Buddy, Masha, and I named our camel Moshe…and he was a wily one! The desert was absolutely stunning in its enormity and the beauty of the sunset over the sand dunes. Sitting on the camels while they stand up and sit down is not an easy task. Nature’s own roller coaster?

Bedouin dinner was served in the tents and was a plov-like dish with shish kebabs. At this point I was keeling over in tiredness, and soon after the Bedouin hospitality (tea and music) I hobbled over to our sleeping tent and passed out. What seemed like a few restless minutes later, I heard screaming and woke up to find the girls giggling and scrambling around. Apparently there were bugs everywhere and a fox jumped over one of the girls, Lina. Paying no heed I turned over and fell back asleep. However, the girls had other plans. Being finicky Russian Jews, they decided the tents were not meant for human sleeping, and shlepped mattresses onto tabletops in the moonlight. I was NOT going to be the only one in that infested tent, so I took to the tabletops as well. By this point it was 1 am and our wake up time was 4 am.

We got some sleep and woke up at 4 am to go see sunrise at Masada, an ancient fortress in the middle of the desert where thousands of Jews committed suicide one night, rather than be Roman slaves. We were of course running late, and had to shlep up the mountain in lightning speed to catch the sunrise. Usually this is not my thing, but boy let me tell you. It was AMAZING. We could see the Dead Sea and mountains in the distance, and desert everywhere. There was a feeling of friendship and camaraderie amongst everyone after the Bedouin tent debacle, and I don’t know what it was, but there was something special in the air at Masada.

We toured around Masada and heard the breathtaking story, then funiculared our way down (Snake path down the mountain? Pass!) to the bus. Soon we were on our way to the Dead Sea….I had my first scuffle with the Orthodox staff upon our arrival and announcement of separate sex beaches. Seriously? But then again, as one of them pointed out, we payed a lot less than we were supposed to so we had to follow the sexist (in my view) rules. The girls beach was tinnnny in comparison with the boys, and a little wall led not enough out to the sea to swim. The poor Orthodox women had to float like 8 inches from the rocky ground to not risk being seen by male eyes.

I loved it! The warm felt milky warm but oily in texture. Things started burning everywhere because of the salt, but the view and feeling was breathtaking. After a while, the burning (don’t ask where) got too much and we made our way out. Aggressive Russian saleswomen tried to sell us overpriced creams before we managed to make our way out to the gift shop and to the bus. It was 10 am and we had already hiked Masada, had breakfast (Kosher of course) and swam in the Dead Sea. What’s next? Hike of course!

We drove to Ein Gedi, a waterfall filled climb up a mountain with natural springs. Again, hiking=not my forte, but as soon as we jumped into the waterfall spring area, it all became worth it. Although it wasn’t too large and there were a lot of people swimming, it was super fun. The water felt perfectly cold and in stark contrast to the hot Israeli sun. It was glorious! After hiking down the beautiful mountain, we got on the bus for three hours to a small city by the Knerret, the biggest freshwater lake in Israel.