"Take Five"

So, most Sundays and Wednesdays, at 1pm when all of the Pardes students are gathered in our Beit Midrash (our main library/learning center) for annoucements, a student is asked to speak about something for 5 minutes. The purpose taking these 5 minutes is for the student to share something with the rest of the Pardes community that is important to them or perhaps something that is going on here in Israel that is impacting them in a unique/interesting way.

This past Sunday, I was asked to speak and my prompt was: If You Had to Describe Your Jewish Identity in One Word, What Would it Be, and Why?

A couple of other students spoke on the same promt during "Take Five" the week before -- one spoke of "Social Justice", highlighting our need as Jews to break-free from laws and tradtions and take a look at the world around us, and the other spoke about "Community", explaining her personal experiences living in various types of communitites and how they have enriched her Judaism. So, when faced with this same prompt, I opted to speak on a slightly lighter note ... hoping to bring some humor to my personal experiences and to shed a bit of light on how Judaism has fit into my life. As my speech was well received by both Pardes students and faculty, I thought I would post it here for you to read if you like. Happy Reading :)

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In thinking about my Jewish identity, I was initially challenged at the prospect of trying to summarize it in one word. As I understand my Jewish identity to be multi-faceted and ever-evolving … how could I possibly capture it all so simply? I mean anyone who knows me would be shocked if I could keep my comments that brief! And then it donned on me … it was so obvious … so Jewish … how could I not have thought of it sooner? Of course, if I had to sum-up my Jewish identity in one word, it would be -“FOOD!” Now, for all of you literalists, I want to add the brief disclaimer that I don’t mean to claim that every facet of my Jewish identity can possibly be explained through the deep meanings and undeniable truths about Jewish foods – I mean we all know that there is so much more to Jewish life than eating, right? But really, when I begin to revisit the formation of my Jewish identity – from my European roots to my parents’ home and now to the beginning of my own family – I realize the indirect role food has played in influencing who I am as a Jew.
To start, does anyone here know what haba-flochen is? Well, haba-flochen was my favorite dish that my Bubby would make for me when I was little. Although my mom and I aren’t sure if haba-flochen is Polish or Yiddish, it means oatmeal – and my Bubby used to prepare it from scratch in a old pot she brought with her from Europe when she and my Zadie immigrated to the US after the war. Now, I know that oatmeal doesn’t seem particularly “Jewish” per say, but for me, the memory of my Bubby using this specific pot to make me oatmeal tells a much longer story. My whole life, my Jewish identify has been enhanced by being the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors; and I think that in her own way, my Bubby was sharing part of this story every time she made me oatmeal.
While my grandparents took great pride in becoming Americans – literally living out the epitome of the American dream – there was part of their Jewish-European history that always found its way to our table. And although both of my mom’s parents came from fairly traditional Jewish homes, especially my Zadie who we understand grew up quite observant, it wasn’t the strict Jewish observance that they embraced as they began their new lives in the US. Rather, they focused on passing down the Jewish culture to the next generations, which was communicated to me through the foods that found their way to our table. Ironically, it wasn’t until my Bubby’s death that I even realized the large impact her Jewish cooking had on my whole family. While sitting with my parents and siblings retelling memories about my Bubby to the Rabbi for her eulogy, the discussion moved to recalling all of our favorite dishes that she made for Jewish holidays. From her sweet and sour cabbage borsht to her homemade kreplach, beef ribs, and chopped liver - everyone had a favorite! And that old pot, which was likely purchased on the black market by my Zadie after the war, has now outlived my grandparents and will someday become a part of my kitchen repertoire – allowing me to continue retelling our family history to the next generation.

Now, when growing up, I didn’t know anyone else whose mom made homemade gefilte fish – from scratch! – for just about every Pesach. I had friends whose Bubbies made it and many friends whose parents/grandparents would sort of “re-cook” the fish that they bought out of the jars – but my mom did the real thing. And every year, we could anticipate that strong familiar smell from the fish heads, tails, and bones that would fill our entire house for at least a couple days. Similar to my parents’ upbringing, I too was raised in a “Conservative” Jewish home that typically emphasized culture over observance. I don’t really consider either of my parents to be very spiritual and our kitchen did not revolve around the laws of Kashrut. Nonetheless, my Jewish identity was strongly influenced by the special homemade dishes prepared by my parents for all of the holidays. Especially for my mom, I always felt that she was able to connect to Judaism and to the individual chagim through her cooking – it was her way of being Jewish and ensuring that her children also adopted a Jewish identity. So our Jewish calendar revolved around the favorite dishes prepared by my parents – for example, for the high holidays, my mom would make home-made kreplach, and my dad was known for his chopped liver and blinzes, and of course for Chanukah, latkes were my dad’s specialty and my mom made home made “pink” applesauce to accompany.
Almost 2 years ago, when Max and I got engaged, we decided to host Pesach in Chicago for my family, which created the perfect time for me to have my official gefilte fish lesson from my mom! In addition to gaining the “know-how” of making the dish, my mom and I spent the whole day together talking – she retold me stories about her family and she reminded me that at the time of her gefilte fish lesson, she told my Bubby that she was pregnant with me – and I got to share with her our upcoming plans for both the wedding and our year in Israel. I am happy to report that the fish turned out great and that I am already looking forward to my kreplach lesson when we return next summer.

Not only did Jewish cooking help to solidify my connection to Judaism as I grew up, but over the last few years, as I have kept my own kitchen, Jewish foods have continued to shape my identity. One new tradition I have adopted is baking homemade challah for Shabbat and chagim. Interestingly enough, I learned how to make challah from my younger sister, who happened to be more interested in baking challah for its own sake than for the purpose of a Jewish celebration. I think we both have distinct memories of taking peanut-butter and honey sandwiches on challah to school and having everyone ask us, “what kind of bread is that?” In any case, my sister’s love for cooking and her patience for my initial inability to do anything in the kitchen helped me to further explore my commitment to Judaism and to Shabbat. And I have to say that baking challah from scratch truly gives you a new-found appreciation for the story of the exodus and the creation of matza!
Now you may have heard that the first year of marriage can be difficult, with couples worrying about issues such as combining finances, deciding on a level of Jewish observance or maybe even starting a family. Well, for Max and me, I can assure you that our problems in the kitchen topped all of these! We were faced with the impossible task of deciding whose family recipes to follow! I mean, matzo ball soup either is made with bouillon cubes and dill or without, and I wasn’t going down without a fight to ensure that my family’s recipes were maintained! Now don’t get me wrong, Max’s Bubby is also a wonderful cook, but for me, my family recipes, the oral traditions passed down to me over the generations, were literally the bread and butter of my Jewish identity – so, what were we to do?! Ultimately, I decided to initiate a new rule in our household to help solve our problem – whoever was doing the cooking got to choose the recipe – and in the end, as long as one of us is designated as sue-chef, Max and are both happily preserving the wonderful world of Jewish cooking in our home.

As we are all looking forward to the upcoming holiday of Chanukah, we will likely spend some time buying candles, reviewing the story of the Macabees or maybe even gearing up for competitive games of dreydal. But when the holiday arrives, I also urge you to take a look at your table and think about what you are eating. Perhaps the dishes in front of you also tell a part of your Jewish story.

Negev Addendum

Just a couple more action shots from our Negev tiyul:

Desert Life

Due to the enormous agricultural and 'planting' operations that have gone on in Israel since 1948 and earlier, many areas of the state are flourishing with vegetation, and it is easy to forget that we are currently living in a desert climate. But 10 days ago we went on a tiyul (trip) to the Negev, the southern half of the state, which is what you would think a desert should look like. Our trip consisted of three days of hiking desert hills, gorges and cliffs, and hopefully the pictures here will do the actual scenery some justice.

You can see in the fourth picture that we were very close to the Dead Sea at times, and I have to say it is quite a sight to see a body of water that size in the middle of the desert. Although we have both swam in the super salty water (the lowest body of water in the world!), we didn't get the chance this trip - hopefully we will have a chance to go on our own soon.

Our Keen/Merrel water-shoes (that we had from Hawaii) were ideal substitutes for actual hiking shoes, and we actually waded through waist high water on the third day! Overall, the hiking was both challenging and fun - a fantastic break from the classroom.

Our lodgings (picture 5) were very nice for desert life. We stayed in a Bedouin-type tent on sleeping bags and floor mattresses - sort of like one big slumber party. The hosts were very friendly and always ensured that there was hot sweet tea available.

In addition to all of the hiking, we also had a chance to meet with a Bedouin tracker (those who know me well realize that this was one of my highlights in the trip). The Bedouin are traditionally an Arabic-speaking, nomadic, desert people who live off the land, and who would raise camels to sell as transportation. Nowadays, most Bedouin live in the modern world, but there are still those who live traditionally, in the desert, and it is they who preserve the practice and skills of desert survival and tracking.


The Israeli army makes good use of this resource, employing these Bedouin to aid them in tracking potential terrorists who enter Israel via the Negev. Our group met with one of these trackers on the first day and he gave us a crash course in desert survival and tracking. The final exercise entailed half of our group walking out a couple hundred yards from the rest of us in a scattered manner, while the rest of us tried to find them. I am happy to report that I got a good look at Jenny's sneaker footprint right before she left me and I was able to find her, far away and under a some large brush (teva trek paid off).

Here is a shot of our friend Chaim - we were joking about how small Jenny's head is in comparison ... overall, we were lucky to continue to making good friends on this trip :)

The movie below is of some of us rappelling down a dried-up river chute. The view of the camera doesn't make it look very steep, but in fact it is!


The following is a six minute movie from the trip made by one of our fellow students. Jenny and I can be seen here and there, but it is mostly a general video showing a lot of people and places we went.


One other highlight of the tiyul was visiting the desert settlement of Revivim - established by immigrants before the state of Israel was officially formed. The survival of the settlement under the harsh desert conditions - which included finding ways to create agriculture and to collect water - sent a strong message to the international community that Jews could actually inhabit the Negev. The success of Revivim actually helped to influence the UN to include the area of the Negev in the partition plan presented in 1948, which was a huge victory for Jews as the Negev makes up a large portion of Eretz Yisrael (the land of Israel). Needlesstosay, the residents of Revivim are proud to re-tell their families' stories of how they contributed to Israel's history, and it was certainly interesting for us to learn about their story. It's easy to forget that people didn't used to be able to call up Nefesh B'Nefesh (organization aimed to assist people in moving permanently to Israel) and book a flight to Israel to start their new lives. Rather, people literally had to work the land and prove they could survive in order to make a life for themselves here ... oh how far Israel has come in these past 50+ years. While visiting Revivim, we saw one of the most beautiful sunsets since we have been here ... who would have expected to see the silhouette of the palm trees in the middle of the Negev!?

Since the trip, we have been back in classes, which we are still enjoying. We completed our first full chapter of Mishneh (oral law) and celebrated with a Sium (party) in class today - it is exciting to be able to review our progress and feel accomplished with how much we have already learned this year! Starting tomorrow, we will be celebrating the new month of Kislev - it is traditional in Judaism to recognize the start of each month and Pardes holds special services and bagel breakfasts to celebrate! The start of this month reminds us that we are approaching Chanukkah, and we are already looking forward to the visits of our friends and family over the holiday vacation.

Happy (early) Thanksgiving to you all - we feel a bit far from home when no one here is in "holiday" mode. Luckily, we did come across both cranberries and canned pumpkin in one of the groceries, so our dinner on Thursday won't be without at least some of the American favorites.

Back into the swing....

Although it's been two weeks since the end of Sukkot vacation, a lot has happened in that time. Jenny assigned me to do this blog entry because there is a lot to cover, and I'm a little more concise than she is. :)

Several of our teachers live in a neighborhood called Gush Etzion, on the east side of the green line. We were invited to a day of hiking to learn about the settlement and to eat dinner in the sukkahs of our respective teachers. The hike was in and around many arab villages, which were full of olive tree plantations. The path we walked was also very ancient as it used to be the path used for pilgrims to Jerusalem, and we saw remnants of Roman mile markers and other structures.

During Sukkot vacation we spent two days at the beach of Netanya. Some friends of ours organized it and we spent a good deal of time relaxing, Israeli style. We lounged in the sun and played paddleball by day, cruised the outdoor Netanya city center by night, and navigated the Israel inter-city buses in between. I remember the beaches of Netanya from my trip here 9 years ago, and I'm happy to report that the Mediterranean hasn't lost any of its splendors.

Jenny's parents visited during the last few days of Sukkot and for about a week after.

Despite not having many things planned for them, we actually did quite a bit, including walking all over the city, visiting the newly rebuilt holocaust museum Yad V'Shem, touring The Israel museum, riding in a city-circumscribing bus tour, seeing the biblical zoo, and probably the highlight of their visit: having them spend a full day with us in classes at Pardes. That day during school they attended our Mishna class in the morning, our Niviim (prophets) class before lunch, and elected to join Jenny in her afternoon class on modern Jewish thought (Instead of my Midrash/Aggadah class? Well, I can't blame them.) From what I gathered, they were very impressed with the school and the quality of the faculty, which felt very good and a little redeeming to hear. In addition to being so active during their visit, we actually had a lot of downtime together to relax, play cards, and catch up in person.

Last week we went on a train ride to Akko with a large organization called Masa. Masa is a very large and generous program that helps to fund a variety of year-long Israel programs for students around the world. This trip was a kind of rally for Masa, and despite the day being very long and the traveling a little arduous, the trip was fun and it was cool to see the old city of Akko and to travel a bit. The following picture is up on their website. Perhaps you can sense a little hesitation in my expression?

The next bit of news that we can report is that we finally have our washing machine. After many conversations with our landlord, the awkward conclusion that came was that I had to install it myself, without any prior experience, without tools, and with the knowledge that my tampering was going to void the warranty on this new machine. Nevertheless, some of the instructions were in English and I successfully installed it. Due to the European size of the washer, we have been running it constantly for the past week in order to get through our laundry. However, it can’t be understated how good it feels to have that project crossed off the list.

The last week of classes contained two afternoons of special programming. The first was a Yom Iyun on Exploring Jewish Identity (The word Iyun comes from Iyin, or eye, so a Yom Iyun is a day of focused, or special learning). We watched a documentary film about people who had left far-right Hassidis communities. There was a guest speaker, Steve Cohen, (you may heard of him - he wrote the book “The Jew Within”) , who gave a very interesting lecture on his research on American Jewry. And then we had breakout sessions. Having Yom Iyuns are typical of any Yeshiva-like schools and we had one last month on the topic of the high holidays, but I felt it was very Pardes-like to have one specifically devoted to such an abstract topic as Your Jewish Identity. The second special afternoon was devoted to the Yartzeit (annual memorial) of Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin, who was assassinated in 1995. That afternoon consisted of a video presentation and a faculty panel, of which (and to our interest) some political opinions were revealed by people we normally only see in classroom settings. So that was fun. :)

Finally, last night Jenny and I went to our first reconstructionist/renewal Friday night service. The service moves locations and this week it was a potluck in someone’s home (we made a sweetpotato pie and a salad) During Kabbalat Shabbat they played guitar, drums and sang a lot of one-line, trancey, spiritual songs. I felt a little uncomfortable because I felt like I was in the presence of a shaman or something. But they also had invited a Christian pilgrimage group from France and some Sufi leaders to the meal, and it was very interesting to hear them speak (mostly in Hebrew) and to have a comfortable cross-cultural experience.

Ok, that gets you up to date. We will try to be more punctual about blogging in the future – two weeks is too much to report on at once!