The Four Month Mark... Trying to Be American in Israel!

These last three weeks since I returned from Istanbul have certainly been busy and exciting! We are finally into the swing of things at school, and believe me, the work has definitely picked up! Of all my classes, I'm really enjoying History of the Zionist Movement, Israel Seminar, and Cantillation (way of singing/chanting the Torah portions). My history class is taught by a terrific Brit turned Israeli teacher who is so excited about the material and so amazingly smart that you just can't help being excited by the subject. Israel Seminar is the class in which we spend one day a week examining the history and current issues that affect Israeli society. We have been on all kinds of trips, including excursions to the Galilee and Golan Heights, Tel Aviv, neighborhoods of Jerusalem, and most recently, Qumran (where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found) and Masada. I love my cantillation class, perhaps because it's the most musical thing I get to do here... the class is taught by a cantor and the class is filled mostly with cantorial students, along with a few other musical rabbinic students. The most exciting part is being able to connect my past cantillation experience, newfound knowledge of biblical grammar, and of course, modern Hebrew, with all of the trope (musical markings in the Torah) that I'm learning.

caves at Qumran where many of the scrolls were found

the view from atop Mt. Masada

Outside of class, I have spent another few days at my community service internship at Kibbutz Gezer. Harrison, the other student I work with, and I went out to Gezer a few weeks ago to finally do BOTH parts of our program. In the morning, we worked with prisoners from a nearby jail- they came to visit us at the Kibbutz, where we had a discussion on the weekly Torah portion, picked 70 kilograms of olives, and just got to know each other. It was a very eye-opening and humbling experience for me, even though I have some background in prison work from my time in the social work program at OSU. After the prisoners left, Harrison, David (the head of the education center at Gezer), his wife Miri (the Rabbi at Gezer), two other visitors of theirs, and I went out to lunch at "our place" in nearby Ramla, called Samir's. We also took the olives to be made into olive oil at a shop where we sampled freshly made halva and tahina (both made from sesame seeds). Harrison and I relaxed and studied for a test at Miri and David's in the afternoon, and then lead music for Shabbat evening services at Birkat Shalom, Miri's congregation on the Kibbutz. The congregation really seemed to like our music, and I even got to have a nice chat with some congregants who are recent immigrants from Peru... EN ESPANOL!! It was WONDERFUL to get to lead services again, and I'm really looking forward to going back soon. We finished out the evening with an amazing dinner at Miri and David's with a guest of theirs and their daughter.

In an attempt to connect with the American lives we left behind, the Kef committee sponsored the HUC Halloween Bash of 2008- since Halloween was on Shabbat, we celebrated a day early! Jillian graciously volunteered her apartment and mirpeset (porch) for the party, and Ari and Joel, who were spearheading the event, spent an entire day shopping, decorating, and making food and drinks for the party. Leslie had a bunch of us over for a pre-party finger food dinner, which was delicious as always. We spent the rest of the evening at the party with "witches brew", candy, popcorn, and a costume contest. Jaclyn won the contest with her very convincing Sarah Palin, while I came in a close second as Facebook.

me as Facebook!

The weather all of a sudden turned from summer (85+ degrees everyday, very dry, and sunny) to winter (60 degrees for most of the day, somewhat cloudy, and damp and rainy) almost overnight. As a result, I've been trying to be a little more physically active, especially so I don't get the "winter blahs" by sitting inside too much. I have been taking a Tae Kwon Do class taught by a fellow student, which has been a lot of fun and good exercise, though it's frustrating not to remember much from those many years of Tae Kwon Do in middle school! I also joined the HUC flag football team, called the Wise Guys (after Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, who founded HUC)... we lost our first game last night, but to be fair, we were missing half of our team due to illness, had had one practice prior to the game, and played a team that's been together for years. We still had a great time, though, and despite pulling several leg muscles (really, seeing me walk right now is super interesting) while warming up, I managed to pull off a GREAT play in the second half- 7ish yard catch that turned into another 40 rushing yards!! I unfortunately may have to leave choir, which I have been enjoying, to play football, but I really am enjoying running around outside since I spend so much of every day sitting in class. I am getting my singing taken care of in cantillation and at Kibbutz Gezer, so I should be okay.

Last weekend, I hit the four month mark... since I'll be spending around three weeks at home in January and leaving in the last week of May, the end of December will be halfway! It's been a great adventure so far, but I'm definitely missing family, friends, Sean, and of course, my life in the States. Luckily, I've been getting lots of emails and phone calls, the occassional piece of mail (that's really the Israeli post office's fault), and even flowers!!

"Flowers from Flowers"... Sean sent roses for our anniversary :)

The big event of the last few weeks, however, had to be last night's election. I took a nap from midnight until 1:45am, and then woke up to watch election coverage with Joel and Ari in my living room! We watched yucky Fox News on mute on the TV (it's the only news channel we get) and CNN/MSNBC on the slingbox that's hooked up to Sean's cable in Columbus. We had a GREAT time watching the election, drinking coffee, coloring in maps, and of course, toasting Obama's win with champagne at 6am!! By the way, I received my absentee ballot at the LAST MINUTE yesterday, just in time to stick it in the mail to be counted! Luckily, my wonderful state of Ohio (and even my usually Republican Hamilton county) went for Obama anyway, so they didn't even need me! After the election, we all headed to school on almost no sleep to meet our friends, the majority of whom greeted us and each other with cheers and hugs! I am truly proud to be an Ohioan and an American today... it's about time that this country opted for something and someone new and fresh, and it's DEFINITELY time we elected someone different to the White House- I am proud to be part of a country that can elect a Black man to be president, especially a man that is running against an white, protestant, male war hero. It just goes to show that the American people wanted change, knew who the right man for the job was, and wasn't afraid to vote for him despite lingering racism in this country. I'm optimistic about the next few years in the States, and I'm excited to see what the future brings.

Joel updates our HUC classmates who are in the airport on their way to Berlin, while I stick my head through the divider between my room and the living room to show off Joel's electoral map!

Joel, Ari, and me toasting President-elect Obama at 6am!

Congratulations America!