Israel is in the past, and the future is.....

Firstly, we apologize for taking so long to blog. A quick summary of the events of the past couple months is the following:

May 31: Pardes classes ended
June 6-12: Jenny, me, Shira & Annie visit Greece from Israel.
July 29: We return to the states, a little jet-lagged and very culture-shocked.

Ever since:
While back here in the states we have been jumping around between parent's basements and friend's couches, all the while trying to figure out what the next step is. We're considering moving to either Chicago, Denver, or the Twin Cities; and hoping that our job searches will aid us in the decision.

Seems sad that this blog is coming to a close, but after all, it is titled, "Jenny and Max in Israel"!

Perhaps we'll start another one on another fun topic, if that topic ever comes around! Until then, Shalom Chaverim!

This is my home too ...

Throughout the last several weeks, we celebrated 4 Israeli holidays - all quite moving and meaningful to us. We also celebrated our birthdays while on a trip up to the Galilee region with Pardes. I just wanted to write a bit about each experience and share with you some of our feelings as we head into our home stretch here in Israel - we have 1 more week of school and then almost one more month after that. We depart around midnight on June 27th - hard to believe!

YOM HASHOAH - Holocaust Remembrance Day - April 16, 2007

We had special programming for this day at Pardes. We heard the stories of an Auschwitz survivor, listened to a lecture from the individual who works at Yad VaShem (Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem) in the department of Righteous Gentiles (individuals who helped Jews during the war), and saw a presentation by the group of students from Pardes who went to Poland this spring. The day was very moving, although I was most impacted by the speaker from Yad VaShem since my Bubbie and Zadie (my mom's parents) survived the war with the help of a Polish farmer. As the focus of holocaust programming is usually very concentration camp heavy, I was pleased to see a presentation regarding the experiences of so many other Jews, who did not go to camps, but rather hid away with the help of non-Jews. It was also interesting to hear from our friends who were in Poland this March - many shared pictures and poems they had written while visiting some of the camps and memorials throughout the country.

At 10am on the morning of Yom HaShoah, throughout the entire country of Israel, a siren is sounded. Everyone stops what they are doing and stands in silence for the duration of the siren. Even cars stop on the streets and people get out and stand outside their doors. It was quite moving and amazing to imagine the entire country participating in this act of memoriam.

YOM HAZIKARON - Memorial Day for all who died while serving in the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) - April 23, 2007

The day before, the dean of Pardes took us to Har Herzl where the IDF (military) cemetery is located. We learned about various groups of people who gave up their lives defending the state of Israel in its almost 60 year history. The cemetery is really nice - beautifully landscaped and on a hillside of Jerusalem. Some of the stories were unbelievable - such young individuals who died in the Old City in 1948 when it was captured and other soldiers who gave their lives protecting the country in the 1967 6-Day War and the 1973 Yom Kippur War. We went the day before Yom HaZikaron in order to avoid the crowds of people who come on the actual day and as a result, we saw members of the IDF lighting memorial candles and placing flowers on every single grave in preparation for the holiday. Just being at the cemetery helped us to have a much better understanding of how united this country is and how even as different as all of the immigrants are who come here, everyone believes so strongly in the existence of the state that it holds the country together.

That evening I attended a memorial "techas" (ceremony) at a neighborhood synagogue with some friends and faculty from Pardes where we heard some singing and experienced the 2nd nation-wide sounding of the siren at 8pm. From there, we headed to the home of Alex Singer, a member of the IDF who was killed in Lebanon in 1987. He was an American who decided to move to Israel and volunteer in the army. His story and family are amazing and helped to provide a more personal perspective to what Yom HaZikaron is all about. Alex's parents actually published a book which compiles his letters and drawings (he was an amazing artist) during his time in college and leading up to and in the Israeli army ... and the sections that I have read are quite inspiring.

On the actual day of Yom HaZikaron we had a day of special programming at Pardes filled with speakers and presentations both about Yom HaZikaron and Yom HaAtzmaut, which was beginning that night. One more siren came in the morning, and Max and I actually went up to the roof of the Pardes building to get a bird's eye view of the scene. Not every single motorist stopped, but for the most part, everyone driving or walking stood silently for the blast. It was fairly surreal - especially when you know Israeli drivers (they are honking and screaming at each other much of the time!).

A couple of the day's activities at Pardes were the most meaningful for me. One of them was a break-out session where I was in a classroom with about 10 other students to discuss questions such as the following: What do you enjoy the most/least about Israel? How has your relationship with Israel changed since living here? Would you ever consider making Aliyah (moving here permanently)? etc. All year, I feel like I have been holding up the minority opinion among my friends here. Although I enjoy Israel and feel privileged to have had the opportunity to come live here, my home is in the U.S. I have always planned to live in America and be a leader in the diaspora Jewish communities. And on top of that, I have also (perhaps) been more outspoken than others regarding those things I dislike about Israel. So I started sharing my thoughts with the group - elaborating first on my dislikes -- about how on often occasion, Israelis are abrasive and rude, about how the Rabbinut (religious arm of the government) seems to have their hands in everyone's business and is creating problems for so many secular Israelis and immigrants, about how Israelis leave trash everywhere and how dirty much of the country is, and about how hard it is to get any service here while in a bank, post office, etc. But then I started sharing about the things I have enjoyed this year ... I spoke about how amazing every single holiday celebration has been, about how supportive and loving the community is that I have found here at Pardes, about how remarkable it is that Hebrew, a language outside of Israel that is only known in prayer, texts and the synagogue, has been revitalized here as the official language, and about how much pride people here have for their country. And as I shared these thoughts and listened to so many others explain why they are so connected to this tiny piece of land, I think I finally allowed myself to become more connected to this place. At the end of our session, I still remained one of the individuals in the room who does not anticipate making Aliyah, but I can say that for the first time all year, I feel that although I don't desire to move here any time soon, I can no longer rule out the possibility that in the future, I may feel differently.

We next returned to the Beit Midrash for a panel presentation of Pardes alumni who have all since made Aliyah. They shared their stories and answered our questions. The 4 panelists couldn't have been more different from each other in their journeys in making Aliyah and in their careers and how they feel about Israel today. A highlight was to hear from Linda (leaving her last name out for privacy, but the famous radio foreign correspondent Max and I have listened to for years) who lives here with her family. At the start of the panel, my all-to-familiar feelings of annoyance that Pardes was deep down trying to hint at how wonderful it is to make Aliyah came to the surface. But as I listened to the speakers and realized how remarkable their experiences have been and how they each connect to the country in a different way, I found my initial disgruntled attitude fading away and I started realizing how I am connected to Israel in a more deeply.


YOM HAATZMAUT - Israel Independence Day in 1948 - April 24, 2007

Following the conclusion of our programs at Pardes, we ventured out on the town for a true Israeli celebration. Parties were going on all over the city, including a huge one downtown where several streets were closed off and tons of people listened to live music, ate and drank in the streets. There was also a huge Israeli dancing party located in the large government center in the city - literarily hundreds and hundreds of people dancing in circles for hours at end. It was fun to try to join into the dancing and of course watching Max try to dance! :) The contrast to the observance of the somber and reflective memorial holiday that afternoon to the celebratory and jovial nature of the nighttime parties was stark. It's as if all of the hardship, pain and sacrifice that has gone into the formation and sustainment of this country explodes in a fervor of pure joy, appreciation and pride! We stayed out late - absorbed the atmosphere and had a nice walk back through town to our neighborhood.

The common practice for the day of Yom HaAtzmaut is barbequing in the parks. Everyone has the day off from work/school, so we jumped on the bandwagon and enjoyed a wonderful afternoon of sun, BBQ and friends at a nearby neighborhood park. It was fabulous. One of the many days I have had this year where I have looked around and realized how amazing it is that we are here, experiencing this country and lucky to be surrounded by friends.

YOM YERUSHALAYIM - Jerusalem Day (i.e. commemorating the reunification of Jerusalem in 1967) - May 16, 2007

The celebrations began the night before with huge concerts in a few of the major city parks. We visited Gan Sacher, the largest park and closest to us, to enjoy a public concert full of (cheesy) music about Jerusalem. Then we spent the night wondering around the city - there were tons of people out - enjoying people watching and the music. Although the younger and secular crowds were out celebrating, it seemed that Yom Yerushalayim was much less celebrated that the other holidays. We actually had a discussion in one of my classes about this. This day carries a lot more controversy than the others because many people feel quite uncomfortable celebrating an event that has created a quite difficult situation for the country. Although the reunification of Jerusalem in 1967, thereby providing Jews access to the old city was quite exciting, the situation in the city remains difficult, as I'm sure you are all aware. In many ways, people feel that the city continues to remain fairly divided today, as East Jerusalem is filled with Arab neighborhoods and the Temple Mount is run by Arabs. I think it is a good thing that many Jews are sensitive to this tension and therefore refrain from much celebration. And yet, fireworks fill the skies and parades march the streets for much of this night and day.

We actually had classes on Yom Yerushalyim so we didn't attend many of the city's daytime events, but we did have a inspiring lunch period. One of our teachers shared his personal experiences when he left his university and came to Israel about a week before the 1967 war broke out. He basically felt that he believed that the state of Israel was not going to survive the conflicts that were arising and felt that he wanted to be here to die with those defending the country. He shared stories about how he helped out driving trucks around the country and within the Old City and about the variety of people he met during that intense time. He also remarked that these experiences greatly impacted his life and continue to do so today. It was quite moving to hear of his connection to this country - his parting quote was "Your big decisions stay with you." - quite poignant for us as we are trying to decide our next steps.

Around the time of Yom Yerushalyim, we experienced two other events related to this 40th anniversary that are worth noting. The first was that Michael Oren, author of "6 Days of War", came to speak at Pardes. He was incredibly dynamic and spoke about the similarities and differences (both personally and for Israel) between the 1967 6-Day war and last summer's 2nd Lebanese War. He had also just been in DC advising our government (or as he put it, "all of the people we dislike in Washington") about the situation in the Middle East. He had quite interesting things to say about the Iraq War as well as the current and future situation here. Need less to say, I hope to find time to read his book - he was quite brilliant.

Second, Max and I attended a student event for MASA, an organization that provides scholarship money for individuals studying in Israel on long-term programs. (The trip we took last fall to the north to clean up bomb shelters in Kirat Shemona was also through MASA and we have attended various events run by the organization throughout the year). This event basically commemorated the 40th anniversary and also boasted a few speakers, including current Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. As many of you probably know, Olmert is not that popular right now and many want him to step-down. He even received a few boos at this student event. In any case, it was interesting to see him and hear him speak (he spoke in English) - he kept his words light and focused on the celebration of Jerusalem and the future of the Jewish people. The best part of the event though was probably the fireworks, which were set-off directly above the walls of the old city - they were magnificent and well awaited, after sitting in light rain during the entire program.

BIRTHDAYS

Max and I celebrated our birthdays while on the final Pardes tiyul of the year. We were up in the western part of the Galilee region, hiking not far from the Mediterranean coast. This picture is from the second day's hike - overlooking an old crusader castle I think. The trip continued into Shabbat - we stayed up in Peku'in, a Druze village, and had the opportunity to meet and hear about the Druze religion and their relationship with Israel. On Friday night, Pardes had a large Tish (Shabbat celebration with singing, eating and drinking), which they also turned into a large birthday party for us and for another friend of ours who was also celebrating his birthday. They had cake and lots of treats, and some of our friends even sang the song "Ob La Di", changing the words to talk about the 3 of us. We also had the opportunity to share a few words with our school - it was nice to be able to briefly speak to the whole community about how we were feeling as the year is beginning to wind down. That Saturday on my birthday, I read Torah at services, which is something I had been wanting to do all year, and it was remarkable how much my improved Hebrew and my familiarity with the text influenced my ability to be able to lein from the Torah! All in all, we had great birthdays, the only damper being that I got my first ever bee sting on our first hike, and my left hand remained painful and swollen for several days :(

That Saturday night was Lag B'Omer (the 33rd day of the Omer counting period which goes from Passover to Shavuot), which has become synonymous in Israel with bon fires. While up in Peku'in, we had the chance to visit the cave of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, traditionally thought to be the author of the Zohar (the book of radiance), who was believed to have died on this day. Anyway, we were exhausted from the weekend and so opted to return to Jerusalem after Shabbat ended instead of attending a bond fire on the way home. We arrived in a city filled with smoke and ashes - we even had the chance to drive by Gan Sacher (the big city park) and see the celebrations in action - it was quite crazy how many fires were going ... the poor poor Israeli environment!


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Whew ... that's our update for now. We just finished celebrating the holiday of Shavuot, which we hope to write about soon. Otherwise, we will soak up our last week of school before we head to Greece with a couple of friends at the beginning of June!

Whirlwind Tour of Israel

We are sorry for not posting in a while ... we are just starting to catch our breath and get back to our life in Jerusalem. We spent much of the last 6 weeks enjoying visitors, celebrating the holiday of Passover, and traveling around Israel. We had some time off from school for the holiday, which enabled us to explore some new parts of the country as well as to take our families to some of our favorite sites. We also had a 3-day trip with our school to the North in the middle of our vacation and in the middle of our family's trips. Another highlight was that Max and my brother played on the Jerusalem team in a frisbee tournament in Tel Aviv, which was quite exciting for me as I have never seen them play together and because their team actually won the whole tournament!

Anyway, instead of boring you with all of the details of our travels, we thought we would present 10 of our favorite spots that we visited during this time. But we want you to know that it was hard for us to even narrow it down to this list as there were so many wonderful places in this tiny little country. Oh, and if you are interested in seeing more pictures, we have now provided a link on the right side of this page to a Picasa site that is hosting them.

#1 - Caesarea

While my mom was visiting, we spent some time on the Mediterranean, and one of the most beautiful and interesting spots we visited was the city of Caesarea. Built by King Herod and named after his patron Octavian Augustus Caesar, the city was a great commercial center during the Roman empire and even became the headquarters of the Roman government in Palestine in 6 BCE - over 2,000 years ago! And the history is of course more extensive than this as the city was captured and recaptured, built and rebuilt by various groups over hundreds of years after the Romans abandoned it. The city has contained temples, theaters, markets, residences and much more - all carefully planned out and built upon the bay. The ruins also include a Roman aqueduct, located a bit up the beach, which is mostly buried under sand but is fairly spectacular nonetheless. We were mostly taken by the beautiful views of the sea as well as the massiveness of the city that used to be there.



#2 - Sea of Galilee (aka Kinneret) & Hamat Gader Hot Springs

The largest of Israel's fresh water sources, the Sea of Galilee is located in the north of the country, not far from the Jordanian and Syrian borders, and sits at about 200 meters below sea level (compared to the Dead Sea, which is about 400 meters below). It's a beautiful area for hiking, a key component in ensuring Israel's water supply, and is known for its numerous mentions in both the Old and New Testaments. When traveling with my mom and her friend Robin, we stayed right on the eastern shore of the sea for a few nights and enjoyed beautiful sunsets. We also ensured to bring my brother and Max's parents here to enjoy the views and test out the water.

While driving around the north with my brother, we also made a stop in Hamat Gader to enjoy the natural hot springs, which are located just southeast of the sea. I could not believe that the hot springs were entirely natural as the pressure and heat were amazing ... another incredible phenomena that results from Israel's placement on the African/Syrian rift. The site is known for the ancient Roman spas that were found here ... the Romans really thought of everything.


#3 - Mt. Bental - Golan Heights

In the 6-day war (1967), Israel captured the area known as the Golan Heights from Syria. Over time and additional fighting, this area, which consists of the northeastern most part of the country, stretching along the border with Syria from the southern tip of the Sea of Galilee towards the Lebanese border, was ultimately formally annexed by Israel. It is one of the most beautiful parts of the country and starkly contrasts to the dry, brown and very hot Negev desert in the South. The Golan Heights consists of green hilltops, beautiful wildflowers in the Spring and even receives enough snow for a ski resort up on the Hermon mountains. In addition to its amazing views and hiking spots, this area is of great strategic importance for Israel as it's elevation allows easy viewing into the Hula Valley and Galilee regions as well as into its neighboring countries. However, as Syria still desires to reclaim this territory, the Golan Heights remains a bargaining chip in Israel's quest for peace.

Mt. Bental (around 1200 meters above sea level), located in the Golan, provides great views of the Golan Heights and of Syria. We thought these signs told much of the story ... from this spot, we were only 60 Km from Damascus and 135 Km to Amman. I also never expected to see Baghdad and Washington D.C. on the same sign ... Up on this mountain there is a bunker, originally built by the Syrians, taken over by the Israelis in the 6-day war and then manned again by Israel during the Yom Kippur War (1973), which is now open to the public. Inside the bunker, there is a simple exhibit of the living quarters, kitchen, communication room, etc. utilized by the Israli soldiers. Walking through and peering out towards Syria from the bunker gives you a whole new perspective of what it means for this land to be a part of Israel. We spent time with my mom, my brother and Max's parents driving all throughout the Golan Heights during which we had great views of Mt. Hermon, the tallest peak in Israel standing at 9,069 feet -- see all the snow!


#4 - Hiking in the Golan Heights

We had some of our best hiking experiences in this part of the country and wanted to share some of the pictures. and with Max's parents (see waterfall below)
In addition to hiking in the Banias Nature Reserve (located in the northern most part of Israel, close to Lebanon) with my mom , we went on a 7 hour hike through this region with Pardes one day. We basically followed a river the entire way - climbing over rocks, through the water and along the banks. It was quite a challenging experience due to the terrain and the fact that there was much more water flowing through than usual. We were also with at least 50 other people and so keeping the whole group moving through the often difficult path was quite a task! In any case, we saw some amazing waterfalls and enjoyed the day (see us next to waterfall). With my brother, we hiked throughout Yehudiya Nature Reserve (located in the lower part of the Golan, closer to the Galilee) which involved us swimming across a mini-lake in the middle of the hike! I can't even express how cold the water was ... we actually found out that our friends who tried to do the hike just a few days after us were not allowed since there was risk of hypothermia from the water temperature - yikes! Going to and from the river valley were the most beautiful wildflowers, which made the hiking even more enjoyable.


#5 - Nimrod's Castle

This national park consists of a huge fortress located on a hill in the Golan, which was build by Crusaders and largely dates to the 13th century. Although Max and I did not visit the castle together, I took my mom and her friend Robin and Max later took his parents, we had similar experiences there. We both ended up exploring and climbing around much of the castle by ourselves and were really impressed with the immense structure and the beautiful views. There were tons of areas to explore - rooms on top of tunnels and passage ways and various lookout points. I guess Max actually managed to climb his way outside of the fortress and ended up having to scale a wall to regroup with his parents ... I think I'm glad that I was on my own for that one :)


#6 - Tzfat/Sefat

A town located in the north in the hills, Tzfat is known as one of the 4 holiest Jewish cities in Israel.
It is the birthplace of what one thinks today of mystical or kabalistic Judaism and continues to be a strong center for Jewish learning today. We spent time visiting the Synagogue Quarter, which contains many 16th century shuls where well known Jewish thinkers/writers used to pray, and the Artists' Quarter, which was taken up by a collective of artists in the 1950s. Tzfat also has wonderful views of the Galilee region and great Judaica shopping. These are just a couple shots of a beautiful wooden Torah Ark in one of the synagogues, one of my favorite statues from the Artist Colony and some Israeli soldiers (very common to see them walking around in all cities) strolling through the town.


#7 - Golan Winery

A pit-stop on our Pardes Tiyul to break up all of the hiking was to the Golan Winery where we had a tour and a tasting at the famous Israeli (kosher) winery, located in the city of Katzrin. Kosher wines are typically thought to be poor wines relative to the wines produced by the rest of the world, but this winery has begun to change that stereotype by winning top awards in France for their various wines. As I had never visited a winery before, I really enjoyed seeing the whole wine-making process in action - from the stainless steel holding containers to the oak barrels and finally to the bottling. We even got to taste a few different wines and received a token wine glass to take home. I was excited that they made a Gewurztraminer wine (my favorite!) so we treated ourselves to a couple bottles, which we later happily enjoyed during Passover. Max opted to take his parents back to the winery on their trip up north, and in addition to tasting many of their classic wines, they got to taste one of the dessert wines actually made from frozen grapes. Max says that this wine tasted almost like a cold shot of sweet, fruity brandy ... yum!


#8 - Old City of Jerusalem / City of David

We just wanted to highlight a couple fun things we did closer to home over our vacation.

Western Wall Tunnels -- With my brother, we took a tour to see the excavation of the Western wall, which was quite amazing. Archeologists have actually uncovered much of the entire wall that used to stand around the Temple Mount (in the old city) during Roman times. Most people are only aware of the small portion of this wall, known as the Kotel or Wailing Wall (see photo during night time), that has been designated by Jews over centuries as a sacred spot due to its proximity to the Holy of Holies, which is thought to be up on the Temple Mount. During this tour, we actually walked (underground) along the length of the wall and it was incredible to see the unbelievably enormous stones used in the building. It's hard to imagine how anyone today, even with equipment, could move these masses of rock, let alone how it was done over 2,000 years ago when all that was really available was slave labor.

Church of Holy Sepulchre -- Although Max and I had been to the church previously this year, he and his parents actually visited again the day before Easter.
The church is the heart of the Christian quarter of the old city and is believed to be the place where Christ was crucified, laid in his tomb and was resurrected. During past visits we were able to move about freely and see all of the stations within the Church, but during Easter weekend Max said that it was so crowded with pilgrims that simply walking anywhere was difficult. However, the place was pretty incredible to see: people were bearing huge crosses on their shoulders - reinacting Jesus's path along the "via dolorosa", packs of nuns were trying to push their way through the crowds, not to mention that an AV system was trying to be setup inside the Church in preparation for the globally televised "midnight mass". All of these things and more contributed to the frenzy inside and out of the Church - good thing they went relatively early!

#9 - Petra, Jordan

All we knew about Petra, Jordan before last month was that "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" was partially filmed there. Although that fact is true, the ancient city of Petra has now certainly become one of the highlights of our trip this year. The city is over 2,000 years old, and rather than existing as a site of ruins, it has been preserved virtually untouched until today. The city's uniqueness lies in the fact that it was built inside a sandstone ravine, and every structure exists as a "cut-out" from the walls of the ravine. A picture certainly is worth a thousand words in this case, so we tried to post several. Walking through the city simply means descending gradually though the gorge (the same one Harrison Ford travels through on horseback at the end of the movie). We went on a Friday, a day that Arab schools are off, so the area was packed with Jordanian school groups. There were many opportunities to haggle and buy keepsakes, of which we are quite guilty. Aside from the city of Petra itself, the excursion was significant because it was our first time in an Arab country. We are used to seeing Arabic written everywhere in Israel, as it is one of the three official languages along with Hebrew and English, but in Jordan there was surely no Hebrew to be found, which was a little unnerving. Also, when you leave Israeli customs and enter the Jordanian crossing point, you are welcomed by huge pictures of the King of Jordan - smiling at you! Funny how that is normal in their culture - imagine if every time you entered the USA you saw a 30'x20' picture of George Bush!

#10 - Eilat

The southern most city in Israel, Eilat has mostly be developed recently as a touristy beach town. Although not known to be one of the "must see" spots in Israel, we had a wonderful time just relaxing at our hotel as the conclusion of our travels. And of course it was exciting to dip our toes in the Red Sea - a new Ocean for me - since it feeds into the Indian Ocean! From our hotel rooms, you could see the shores of the city of Aqaba, Jordan to the east and the Sinai mountains of Egypt to the west - pretty spectacular!


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Overall, in addition to seeing/experiencing so many wonderful places during these trips, I also really enjoyed being able to drive around the country - it gave me a whole, new sense of what it means to live here ... to learn the laws of the road, to deal with Israeli drivers, to know my way around practically the entire country ... it was quite a feeling!

So, now we are back in Jerusalem, getting back into classes for the last few weeks. This past week has been very exciting in Israel since we are in the middle of celebrating 3 Israeli holidays - we will plan to write more about them soon! Happy Spring to everyone.

Jerusalem 10k

We enjoyed probably one of the most "Israeli" experiences today - as we joined some hundreds of Israelis on a 10k race through part of the city! The 10k was in conjuction with the 15th annual Jerusalem 1/2 marathon, which 3 of our more daring friends ran. Max actually decided to run with me at the last minute as a girlfriend of mine who had signed up with me became fairly ill this last week ... lucky for him, we had a great race and a great experience! From using our Hebrew (more than we usually need to) to pick up registration packets, to listen to annoucements, to understand the award ceremony and to check our bags ... we really felt like we were participating in an Israeli event ... and of course, if you know that Israelis can't even form lines to check-out at the grocery store, imagine trying to line up with them at the starting mark of a race :)

During the run - which Max and I did without walking once! - we were surprised to see many people walking and stopping. Confirmed by our friends who ran the 1/2 marathon, we concluded that unlike these types of races in the U.S. (my reference is Chicago), many Israelis didn't seem to train and therefore didn't know how to pace themselves. Rather, many seemed that they were just out on race day for the fun of it. In contrast to these types however, as I always experience when I run races, there were several runners who finished the races in "record" times - and not surprising, the Ethiopian Israelis made quite a showing securing the top honors for both races, and for both men and women.

Here is a pic of us after we finished - it took us about 1 hour and 6/7 minutes to run the 6.2 miles, which was partly due to the fact that the entire course was up and down the hilly streets of the city (it's so much easier to run in Chicago!). We enjoyed fruit, popsicles, and fresh bread at the stadium (where the race started and ended) after we were done!

Maybe the most exciting part of the race was listening to the cheers from the Israelis that were both working the race and the spectators along the path. Hearing "B'hatzlecha" (good luck) or "Kol HaKavod" (well done) and many other expressesions that we didn't even know just made the experience so unique! And it was a wonderful sunny day in the 50s ... perfect weather to enjoy the run, which took us through the big city park, Gan Sacher, up to the Israel Museum and to some great look-outs of the city.

Yay to the 5 of us from Pardes who opted to enjoy day away from school to experience a different aspect of life in Israel!


After returning to Pardes for afternoon classes, we then officially started our Pesach vacation -- so for the next 3 or so weeks, we will be traveling, enjoy guests (my brother comes Friday and then Max's parents at the beginning of April) and soaking up the approaching Spring weather as we anticipate the holiday. We are actually leaving tomorrow morning for a 3-day trip up North and will surely have more to report when we return!

Purim, Purim, Purim

Jenny's mom, Millie, arrived to Jerusalem last Thursday, ready for what was sure to be her topsy turvy 'round 2' in the holy city. And how could it not be? As we've mentioned before, Purim has all the right ingredients of a colossal holiday: the costumes of Halloween, the eating of thanksgiving, and the drinking of St. Patrick's Day & New Years combined! - not to mention the mitzvahs of sending gifts to your friends and to the poor.

All of Jenny's practice during the past 3 months paid off when she read her portion of megilla beautifully on Sunday night, surrounded by the Pardes community, the press and other guests. The public reading of the book of Esther is done both on the evening of the holiday and the morning after. The 10 different readers, one for each chapter, were all very different in style and performance. Some readers, who had a lot of dialogue in their chapter, read their portion in several different voices: low and authoritative for the king, high and soft for Esther, etc. - all contributing to the funny and light atmosphere of the holiday.



Following the reading on Sunday night was our school's Purim Shpiel in which students perform different humorous acts and skits. Many people thought Jenny has been dressed that night as a ballerina, but she was actually dressed as Carrie Bradshaw, from "Sex and the City", in order to act in a certain skit. I was dressed as Spiderman. Yes, I know. I just couldn't find a Batman costume, so this had to do. Not only that, but the costume was the size of a small boy, so you can see that it was 'forced' on a bit - made for good laughs. In addition to the shpiels, I emceed a service auction to raise money for students at the school. I was a little nervous going into it, but I received a lot of good feedback afterwards - I guess I had drunk the appropriate amount in order to be funny and not sloppy!

After the next morning's reading, Jenny, Millie and I walked around the neighborhood of Baka. We found a nice coffee shop and spent some time relaxing before the following rounds of celebration. Next we were off to the home of my gemara teacher, Meesh, who hosted the traditional Purim 'seudah' (meal) for the entire school. Those 3 hours consisted of a lot of food, alcohol, and singing - not to mention explaining to Meesh's children why grown-ups act so weird when they drink.

Next, we ventured to another party at our friend, Marni's, house. It was nice and low-key, save for a friend of ours who was dressed as a cohen gadol (high priest), and had drank himself silly. You can see in the picture that I had pity on him and had to be his dance partner.


Upon returning home from Marni's, we heard the sound of singing and drum-beating from our next door neighbors, so we decided to stop in, dance a bit, sing a bit, and take pictures with their cute daughter, Yonit.



You would think that by now we had had enough Purim and were ready to crash, but we instead we mustered our strength and headed into city center to see a free concert. The band was called, "Ha Dag Nahash", which means, "The SnakeFish". They were pretty cool. I'd liken them as the beastie boys of Israel. The scene downtown was very young and hip, and we surprisingly saw a lot of our friends there! Who would've known?

So that was our Purim. Jenny and her mom are traveling up north this week to see the Golan and the Kineret sea. I meanwhile, due to being home alone, get to be the brunt of jokes at school such as, "Did Jenny leave you an allowance while she's away?, "Are your shoes tied correctly today?" I guess it means I have a lot of friends.