Pre Rosh Hashanah Fun – 9/28

Minimester is over! And today I checked my grades and saw that I got an A in my Hebrew class (the other wasn’t posted yet), which means I am moving on to Hebrew Level Bet for the regular semester!
Monday after the exam, we had lots of time just to relax on base.  That evening we had a rotation of Rosh Hashanah lessons with different staff.  Each was on some different aspect of Rosh Hashanah.  I went to one about the Kabalistic/ Mystical interpretation of the holiday, one in which we went over the Machzor (high holiday prayer book) in order to help us know what was going on in services, and another about the symbolic elements of Rosh Hashanah.  There is a definite feeling of preparation in the air here, and this was a really nice way to get us into that mindset.  

After dinner Monday night, each track had their own fun evening program and bonding time.  My track (the Track Formerly Known as Kibbutz) played a live version of the game Angry Birds using water balloons to knock down cardboard box targets.  We were divided into teams to play, and it was really entertaining to watch who on each team was a good target hitter and who wasn’t.  After the game we made s’mores, which is not something that you find in Israel, especially since they don’t sell graham crackers here.  Our smores were made with tea biscuits, but it was still a nice taste from home.  
Tuesday I woke up at 4 am to go on a ‘Slichot Tour’ around Jerusalem.  Slichot is a set of prayers said in the days leading up to Rosh Hashanah- Ashkenazim begin the Saturday Night before, and Sephardim say slichot the entire month of Elul, in the mornings.  A group of 7 of us, including our staff Ira went to two different Sephardic shuls to observe their slichot traditions- we had intended to go to more, but it ended up that we eventually were walking around in between when people do Slichot- either around 4:30 am or 6:30 am.  The two shuls we did go to were quite interesting, but very different from each other.  The first was the shul of the Jewish community of Aleppo.  Their shul had a really beautiful mural on the wall with the names of the 12 tribes.  The second shul was a Turkish shul.  The melody at this shul was really pretty, and here we saw the Sephardic way of leading services- there was no one leader, instead people would decide to lead small sections of the service.  
Tuesday all of Nativ had a really fun day out and about.  In the morning we went to a water park in Holon, near Tel Aviv.  Water parks are also something you don’t really find in Israel, especially since there is a water shortage.  My Israeli staff Ira explained to me that the water parks remain open because there is a shortage, not a crisis, and if the situation were to get bad enough the water park would close.  
This water park had quite a few slides, but only two sections of slides would be open at once, either in an effort to save water or hire fewer lifeguards.  The park wasn’t crowded, so that wasn’t much of an issue.  
After the water park we went to watch a taping and be the audience of The Voice Israel.  The show was really good, with lots of good acts that I’m probably not supposed to talk about since the show doesn’t air until December.  The judges were famous Israeli artists (that I had never heard of), but they also performed for the audience, which was very cool.  The taping did take a lot longer than expected, so we did not get back to base until really late.  We still had our orientation for the fall semester, which starts on Sunday.  Fall semester is different than minimester because we do not eat as many meals at Beit Nativ, instead we are given stipend money to buy/make our own food.  It is going to be nice to eat something else besides the food we are given on base, but difficult to cook without a real stove or oven!  The regular semester is going to be more about independence, and I can’t wait to explore more of Jerusalem in my non class time.  

Tonight Rosh Hashanah begins and we are having services and dinner together as a program.  Tomorrow we will be going to shul, and Nativ has set each of us with a host family for one of our Rosh Hashanah lunches, so myself and to other vegetarian nativers are going to someone’s (a vegetarian!) house for lunch after services.  We will again go to shul on Friday morning, and then Shabbat begins Friday night, so there is a three day chag.  It will be nice to relax and rejuvenate, as well as experience Israeli Rosh Hashanah.  All of the buses here say “Shanah Tovah” on them, and the florists are super busy sending out flowers for the holiday.  

Shanah Tovah!

Sunday, September 25, 2011
The Track Formerly Known As Kibbutz
Tuesday was a very big day for the ‘Track Formerly Known as Kibbutz.’  After our second Erev Nativ, all of Kibbutz track was called into a meeting with Yossi, the director of Nativ.  We were told that instead of going to Kibbutz Ein Tsurim; which is in the center of Israel, slightly near Gaza; we are going to a place called Kfar Hasidim; which is north, about 20 minutes from Haifa.  Kfar Hasidim is an agricultural youth village.  There are a couple of Youth Villages throughout Israel.  These youth villages mostly serve children who are new immigrants to Israel, mostly from Ethiopia.  On Kfar Hassidim we will work in similar jobs that we would have on the Kibbutz, such as in the dairy or in the fields.  There is also an opportunity to run after school programs with the kids on the Kfar- there are about 600 students in the school there, 200 of which live there, although most eat all their meals their and only return home to sleep.  The Kfar sounds like it is going to be a wonderful experience, even though it is not what we originally signed up for.  
The rest of the week was pretty routine, with Ulpan, Jerusalem Class, and Nativ evening activities.
This weekend I went to a Noam Olami Shabbaton on Kibbutz Almog, along with about 20 other Nativers.  Noam is the youth organization for the Masorti (what Conservative Judaism is called outside the US) movement, similar to USY.  This Shabbaton had kids from US, Canada, The UK, Israel, Argentina, and Brazil.  I had already met the kids from the UK since they had stayed at Beit Nativ when they first arrived in Israel a few weeks ago.  At the Shabbaton we talked about what Judaism and being conservative is like in our respective countries.  Noam throughout the world is structured more like an Israeli Youth group than USY.  Kids are involved with Noam from a very young age, and by high school they serve as counselors.  In general it was just a really fun weekend, and nice to get away with a small group from Nativ.   We learned some new songs and made friends.  Everyone there is on some sort of long term gap year program, although the South Americans are in the middle of their year instead of just having begun it.  
I am really hoping to get involved in a Noam chapter near Kfar Hassidim next semester, and I would love to stay connected to the other people, especially the brits that I met this weekend.  
When we returned from the Shabbaton on Saturday night, all of Nativ headed out to various Slichot services.  Slichot is a service that we recite beginning the Saturday night before Rosh Hashanah.  It is traditionally recited at midnight, although many synagogues have moved their services earlier.  We had the choice of going to a variety of different services, although I was slightly limited by my need to go to bed early to prepare for the final.  I ended up going to part of the service at Mosheret Yisrael, which is literally right next door to Beit Nativ.  I don’t particularly like the services there, mostly because it feels like I am back home in the US, and while in Israel I want to experience something different.  After a bit of services there, my friend and roommate Lucy and I walked across the street to listen to the beginning of the services at The Great Synagogue.  The Great Synagogue is much what it sounds- a huge building built to look like the Temple.  For Slichot the place was packed, and there was a beautiful choir.  But, Ashrei (the first prayer) took nearly ten minutes, so we only stayed through that.  
Today (Sunday) I had my first college final! It was for our Jerusalem class which we have been taking throughout minimester.  It felt very much like an IB exam, which made me super thankful for all the hard work and stress of Diploma.  I feel pretty confident, but we will see next week how I did!
Tomorrow I also have my Ulpan final, both to determine my grade in the class and to determine if I will move up into the second level for the regular semester.  I am a bit worried about the exam, since there are a variety of grammatical structures, including past tense for different verbs and various conjugations.  It is nice that on Nativ we are all basically on the same schedule right now, so all of us in Ulpan at Hebrew U were studying tonight for the finals.  We even had a little study session with help from the staff.  
The minimester ends tomorrow after the Ulpan final, and we have a bit of a break before we begin the regular semester, although much of that is taken up by Rosh Hashanah.  
Tuesday all of Nativ is going to a water park and then to a taping of the Israeli version of the TV show The Voice.  Wednesday we have all day free until the beginning of Rosh Hashanah on Wednesday night.  We will spend most of Thursday and Friday in Shul, with I believe many different options of where to go to services.  Nativ has arranged that all of us are being hosted (in groups) by families for lunch one of the two days, and I will be enjoying a nice home cooked meal on Thursday along with two other girls from my track.  
I am really looking forward to experiencing the Chagim in Israel, and trying out various synagogues.  This past week I had to purchase my own set of Machzorim (High Holiday prayer books), since most shuls in Israel don’t provide them.  It will be nice to read through them in Shul this year, and then remember that experience with them in the future (next year in Walla Walla?).

Shanah Tovah Umetukah!
A sweet and Happy New Year

Love, Julia.