Shabbat in Jerusalem

The Israeli week is a tad different the week back in the States. The weekend is friday/saturday and the work week beings on Sunday. The entire city, (religious and secular) begins to get ready for Shabbat (the sabbath, the Jewish Day of Rest) on Thursday afternoon. Stores stay open late on Thursday and all of the markets, especially the major produce market, are zoos thursday afternoon and all Friday until around 2 0r 3 in the afternoon.

At 2 or 3 the stores start to shut down and by 4:30 or 5:00 the City become more and more quiet as people prepare for Shabbat. No buses run, few restaurants are open and fewer and fewer cars are on the street. It's actually rather remarkable, Friday mornings are crazy, and by 6:00 on Friday it's a totally different place. Shabbat beings a half hour before sunset on Friday night (around 7:00 here) and lasts until about half hour after sunset on Saturday.

By 9:00 Saturday night, the City has once again shifted from quiet to chaos, as quickly the restaurants open and fill up. Cars and Buses start pumping noxious fumes back into the air. Families and Yeshiva boys stroll the streets, HUC students trek out to the bars and street musicians and performers return to the streets.

It really is a remarkable two day transition. Even the change of pace reaches down to the super secular of Israel (which is the majority of the country). Needless to say it's my favorite stretch of the week. (Who doesn't like the weekend best). Yesterday (thursday), I went to a movie, out to dinner and a few bars ... today i slept late, did some shopping, took a walk ... and tonight I'll have dinner with friends. Come on down, Shabbat in Jerusalem, you'll love it.

Check the Situation and Check the Ball

Condi is in the Middle East and she was in Jerusalem today. We went and got a beer and put a note in the western wall together -- earlier in the day we headed off to the Israel Museum and floated in the Dead Sea. We had a nice day, it turns out she's really a nice lady, isn't going to run for president and believes that the Mets will win the world series and thinks Oswald acted alone. She also told me that VP Dick shot the guy on purpose.

Other things for me are going well, I jumped up a level in Hebrew and am now in Kitah Bet, it's a harder placement but the class is bigger and teacher isn't as good. Nevertheless, it's good to push myself and my Hebrew will get better. It’s not too tough, I’ll be fine.

Of course, the news in the North continues to dominate the country and a lot of the atmosphere of our program. Generally the mentality of the average Israeli is that they are behind the actions of the Israeli government (which is unique for the population) and support the actions in Israel in Southern Lebanon. I continue to feel the same way, but it’s a tough one.

Most people recognize that eventually Israeli actions will need to quiet down and Israel will need to withdraw back to the Israeli border. My hunch is that this will happen in the next 1 to 2 weeks, but it’s impossible to tell. The dilemma for many Israelis is that there is a concrete fear about any prolonged presence in Southern Lebanon. From 1982 until 2000 Israel had a major troop presence in Southern Lebanon which quickly became an impossible occupation and disaster for the country externally and internally (it's called the Israeli Vietnam). Many troops died and public pressure from Israeli citizens probably led to the withdrawal from Lebanon just 6 years ago.

That being said, rockets continue to fall on Northern Israel and Israeli soldiers were kidnapped in Israel – so inaction is not realistic.

I received an email from a friend of my mine and he was discussing his internal struggles with the entire situation. He wrote: "If someone came into my house and stole one of my kids, I would go buckwild on them, but then again can you go after anyone who had nothing to do with the matter in the process? Aren’t you causing yourself more problems and more fatalities? It's a tough one."

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I've been playing a little basketball at a park nearby my house. It's actually a great place, both Arab and Jews play at the park and they have lights that enable one to play ball late into the night.

This past Saturday, during the afternoon someone organized a game for other students in my program. I went to the court and participated in the whitest game of basketball ever. Never, Never, Never attempt to play serious basketball with 7 future Jewish professionals. Nice guys, Bad athletes. More shots went over the backboard than into the basket. I don't fancy myself a stellar basketball player -- but I was tough to be seen on the court for some of the plays. On the sideline Doron Sheffer was cringing.


Speaking of Doron, an entire generation of Israelis are growing up not knowing much about the Israeli Ice-man. This my friends makes me feel rather old. For instance, if you ask the average baseball fan under 22 who Dave Steib was, they probably would have, at best, only a slight recollection of this 7 time all-star. In 1985 Dave Steib was a god to me. Well Sheff's a little younger but he is descending into the same sort of status in Israel. He's probably a little more popular than DS (#37), but he's slipping. I think ESPN needs to remedy this by doing some sort of program on both DS and DS – ASAP!

Just an FYI -- Sheff was drafted before Malik Rose, Jeff McInnis and Shandon Anderson and in the same draft as AI, Kobe, Steve Nash and Ray Allen. I hope to run into him shortly.

Notes on the Links ...

I've added a few new links on the side of the page for you to check out if you get a chance.

The first one is a bio on Doron Sheffer, #11 -- for whom this page is dedicated

The second one is a friend of mine the Off Color Commentator who writes a blog on the world of sports and news that may have slipped between the cracks. Even if you aren't a sports fan, you'll find the blog enjoyable.

The third is a link to Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper. This is the English version.

The forth is a rather cool intreactive map of Israel. Can give you a sense of the layout of the country a little bit.

The fifth is the blog of a friend of mine who is living in Alabama for the summer and doing anti-deathpenalty work. A northern boy moves to a southern city

What am I doing over in these parts?

More than once I've asked myself the same question. I'll try and give you a little background on everything.

I'm attending a school called Hebrew Union College (HUC), which has three campuses in the States (Cincinnati, NYC and LA) and a satellite campus in Jerusalem. HUC is the only school of higher learning for Judaism's progressive (Reform) movement. The individuals that are in my program in Jerusalem fall into one of 4 groups they are either studying to be 1. Cantors, 2. Jewish Educators 3. Rabbis or 4. here just for one year of study and will not receive an advanced degree. Most people are studying to be Rabbis or Jewish Educators.

After the year, in Jerusalem everybody from options 1 - 3 will return to one of the campuses in the States to finish his/her degree. People from option 4 will do whatever they damn well please (maybe they'll end up being Yak herders or running for Congress). When I return I'll continue at the New York campus ... I'd rather shove rusty nails into my hands then be forced to go to Cincinnati for an advanced degree (Jesus analogies are totally accidental). It's not mandatory for students to spend year number 1, in Israel, but it is encouraged and most people do it. To be honest, I can't imagine why someone wouldn't

HUC in Jerusalem is also has programs for Israelies that are studying to be Rabbis, Cantors or Educators. The Progressive movement in Israel is, while growing, rather small and the program has different components than to the one I'm currently in. Hopefully in a future blog we can discuss (by we ... I mean I) a little bit more about the progressive movement in Israel. But not now ...

One of the best things about HUC is that it has an amazing campus. It's got great buildings, a museum on archeology, many gardens and is in a fantastic location ... 5 minutes from the old city, 5 minutes from downtown, 5 minutes from cool movie theaters (you get the idea, it's 5 minutes from everything). I'd be happy to give anyone a tour.

There are about 60 other North Americans (two canucks) in Jerusalem with me now. Ranging from just out of college to 45+ years of age. A few families are here and one woman brought her dogs over. 12 hours on a plane nearly killed me, I think she gave her Lab some ambien. Most people had been to Israel before and about 7 or 8 had been living in Israel before starting the program.

Hopes this sets my environment a tad better. Thanks for all the feedback. Love from Jerusalem ... Peace to all of your neighborhoods.

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3000 Years of Beautiful Jewish Tradition ....

Thanks for checking in. Can you finish the sentence above?

Despite the ongoing "situation" which I've talked about in the last couple of posts, my life has entered some sort of routine. Jerusalem remains on high alert, but I am safe, comfortable and, I promise, being careful. Once again, I swear to you, my life doesn't resemble the images on CNN or BBC. My money says that more people have died due to the heat wave that has gripped the US than do to Israel's current conflict. Stay Cool.

I have started my Hebrew courses. I'm in the lowest level of 5, even though my Hebrew is not that bad and I speak better than most students 1 or 2 levels ahead of me. I speak well because I’m able to “throw caution into the wind” and am not afraid to make mistakes, so what if you get it wrong? (The fact that I act like an idiot most of the time, helps alleviate some of the fears that come with looking like an idiot when you speak poorly) My reading and writing need a lot of help, I may move up a level in Hebrew in the fall when the rest of my classes start.

One thing to be cautious of is that the many words are very, very similar to other words in Hebrew, "receive" and "terrorist" are only one letter apart -- a good one not to mess up. A less serious example: imagine if a foreigner were to arrive in the US and tried to say, "I am a very important person back home" and said impotent instead of important --- it would take on quite a different meaning. Well, I'm sure I've made many of those mistakes. When I was living in Chile I'm once said "estoy caliente" which while technically means, "I'm hot" actually translates to "I'm aroused." (wow, impotence and arousal in the same sentence -- maybe this war is getting to me). One quick story that made me chuckle to myself and also question how I ever made it past the 5th grade, occurred when I learned that the past tense of the verb to sing (for a female) is pronounced ... shart. Yup, I thought that was the funniest thing ever ... I can't believe they let me in either.

I'm still iffy on many of my classmates, I'm starting to find the people that I like the most ... but it continues to be a process. Don't get me wrong, I like a lot of people and am confident I will have good friends, but many people, especially the men, take themselves quite seriously (something I've never been accused of doing … see above). As a group it seems we really like to hear ourselves speak -- a trait that I am quite aware is not foreign for members of the clergy. I hope to provide some more anecdotes on individuals (names will be changed to protect ... my ass) and the program on the whole. As always --- questions, comments and anecdotes are encouraged.

My goodness ...

The situation in these parts continues to get worse; Lebanon today reined rockets on Haifa, Israel's third major city and its primary port in northern Israel. There is no doubt that Israel is at war. However, despite what you read on the news, or what you watch on CNN, I am not running for cover or hiding in a bomb shelter most of the day. Jerusalem remains quiet and for the most part my daily life is as close to routine as I ever will have.

I'm remaining in Jerusalem and will not go to the north of the country. There is a heightened security presence in Jerusalem but I went to the movies yesterday, have taken buses and am pretty much living life as normal as possible. Thanks for all of the concern from friends and family, I'll continue to keep everyone posted.

One of the things that is most tough for me is that even though I tend to be a left winger on most every political issue, (even dealing with Israeli politics) it's hard for me to be objective. The initial act of the current conflict dealt directly with the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers, in Israel. What's Israel supposed to do? What would be the appropriate response? The situation between Israel and Hezbollah/Lebanon is very different than what is going on with the Palestinian territories. Is there any country in the world that wouldn't respond when soldiers were kidnapped, ships attacked or train stations blow-up? I don't think Israel should be let off the hook completely -- and I think they need to be strategic in any action, but how else should the respond? (opinions, thoughts, etc... welcome and encouraged) What's almost as hard for me to fathom in the entire situation is that when I listen to the news I find myself agreeing with W and Condi -- strange bedfellows for a liberal New Yorker.

School started today and the summer will be devoted almost completely to Hebrew. I have class for about 4 - 5 hours a day. I'll try and bring some more lighthearted nature to the blog, probably what you are more interested in reading anyway.

Notes from a conflict zone ...

As one of my friends emailed me "I picked a hell of a time to move to Israel." Couldn't have said it better myself. The Situation, as most Israelis like to call it, has heated up. As you probably have been following in the news, Israel is now in major combat (if not all out war) on two major fronts.

One is in the Gaza Strip, where a 19 year old Israeli soldier is being held hostage by the military wing of Hamas, and despite no Israelis or Jews living in Gaza, Israel has invaded Northern Gaza to prevent rocket attacks on Southern Israeli cities and kibbutzim. Earlier today, 7 Israeli soldiers will killed by Hezbollah in Northern Israel on Lebanon border and 2 others were kidnapped by Hezbollah militants. Israel responded by attacking targets in Southern Lebanon and for the first time in over 6 years, Israel has an active military force in Southern Lebanon.

Hamas and Hezbollah are demanding the release of hundreds of prisoners in exchange for the release of the IDF soldiers. Currently, Israel has said they will not negotiate with terrorists and will not swap prisoners. Israel has called up reservists and is preparing for what could be a full scale war.

This is my 5th time being in Israel and except for a brief stretch that concerned control of a tunnel in Jerusalem (in 1996) this is the most tense the "Situation" has been while I've ever been in Israel. In fact, I've been blessed to have been in Israel for periods of calm and safety.

Despite the tenseness of the "Situation", I feel very safe in Jerusalem. I noticed a heightened police/army presence in the City - but nothing that made me feel uncomfortable or unsafe. Jerusalem continued as normal, people were in bars and restaurants, attending the Jerusalem film festival. I went to orientation programs and walked around the City.

I am safe; Jerusalem is very far either Gaza or Lebanon border. I will be careful ... I promise.

Checking in and Kicking Ass

I've been in the mother country for 10 days now and after a stretch touring around the homeland, I've plopped myself down in Jerusalem. I'm living in the German Colony, (Jerusalem has an insane amount of neighborhoods that are marked by other countries = Russian Compound, Greek Colony, French Hill, American compound, etc ...) which is a nice area and only about 15 minutes from my school. Someone called it the Park Slope of Jerusalem, I hope that doesn't mean there will be a ton of strollers.

My apartment is rather nice, I live on the 3rd floor of a building and am sharing it with, at least for the summer, a girl named Allison who is from someplace in Jersey. After the summer I will either 1. Absorb her rent and live alone, 2. Move out, 3. Find another roommate. I'm hoping for #3, but probably will not start the roommate search until August.

I have not yet started school, tonight I'll meet most of my classmates for the first time -- we'll see.

In other news ....

I have decided that my first major purchases will be a basketball and a grill. I need hangers and soap as well, but they'll come second.

As this blog is named after the greatest Israeli basketball player ever I feel that a basketball is essential, how else am I going to find Doron. The average Israeli plays a rather ugly form of basketball, lots of chucking and traveling, a good deal of hacking and an ability to whine about every call or non-call. To their credit -- professionally they are much better -- but the when you live on the street, you play ball on the street. (don't know what that really means)

I do have a balcony, not a huge one to host major parties or moving screenings, but one big enough to deem a grill necessary. This no doubt will add a nice feel to the apartment.

Thank you for checking in, I'll try and post more often.