What I Learned in School Today

I had more class hours today than I attended in an average week of college. This post is a 'typical day' post, but you might notice this is not a 'typical' school in any way. Here's what I studied:

8:30-11:15 am: In our intro to Mishneh class (early biblical commentary), we studied the 48 qualities of a student, and then in partners, categorized them, identified the top three we have, the top three we consider weaker, and the three we seek in a study buddy. Back in class, we went speed dating, sharing our qualities and what we're seeking, and then we went off to study the beginning of pirkei avot. My first hot date Jessica and I only got through three little grafs of goodness before our time ran out. We worked in the Hebrew and the English and our knowledge really complemented each other. Solid start to the day.

11:30 am - 12:15 pm: In a workshop on repentance, we sat at individual tables and answered 13 top secret questions about ourselves in order to think about what we could do better and what we want to accomplish. A classic, tasteful and interesting personal exercise. I approve.

12:15 pm to 1 pm: A debate on the structure of the Amidah during Rosh Hashana and whether or not the shofar should be blown during Malchuyot, and where Malchuyot should be placed (the answer is in the middle, as all additional or special blessings are put there). I was pretty unsatisfied with the answers from the Sages, and ended up in a complicated dialogue with a peer over why people need to call God the King in a special part of the prayer. If God's the King, he knows it. So what's the purpose of the blessing then? If He is The King, is God also Elvis? These, and other big questions were asked, but not answers.

2:30 pm - 5 pm: In an effort to do what I came here to do, explore my identity and grow as a human, I went to Self, Soul and Text with some skepticism. Our teacher, a rabbi and spiritual retreat leader, informed us the class would be about experiential education, where we would study a text about some sort of personal growth practice, and then emulate that practice. Daniel and I tore apart some divine attributes that people are supposed to try and embody, particularly, the Godly ability to forgive. We argued extensively over the meaning  of forgiveness, if there is a line on what sins are forgivable (stealing a stick of gum or being a mass murder - different, no?), and came up with a practical two step strategy to forgiving people.
Back in the classroom, we discussed whether or not God has a body, (which presupposed a belief in God), and we talked about imagining people you don't like as babies in order to recognize the pure goodness we all most intrinsically possess at one point. Then, everyone meditated and said this mantra and hummed this tune and I couldn't focus and kept opening my eyes and I was trying not to laugh but then I really liked the tune and ahhhhhh, it was a little bit of mindblowing.

So, even though I'd already 'studied' for a billion hours, I decided that I should attend the after-hours class...

5:15-6:45 pm: on Chassidut (the ways of Chassidic Jewish tradition), taught by a Hassidic rabbi named Levi, where he put the word Chassidut on the whiteboard and silently, over twenty minutes, people flocked to the board to throw up their preconceptions and notions about what Hassidic Judaism is. I wrote something about the Rebbe,other people wrote about kiruv (community in-reach) and Chabad and streimels (big furry circle hats) and the Old Country and scotch-drinking. I am looking forward to these stereotypes and assumptions being challenged in all 4 sessions I'm in town to attend. We're expected to have spiritual partners so we can work on that more mystical side of Chassidishism, learning to love our spiritual selves. I have a supercool partner and I think that in three weeks, she might unlock the secrets of the Chassidic masters that are embedded in my soul, I suppose.

So, you could probably say I learned a lot today...

So Much Texting

Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year. Now, this Jewish New Year, 5774, begins this Wednesday! Party! Last night, I went to my school's open class and service on Selichot, the art of repentance. Jews tend to harp on this theme as we finish up one year and begin to focus on how we hope to enrich ourselves for an even better next year. Pardes' study hall was filled with more than 50 people all learning from the same teacher and dissecting the same text. Our ancient scene was a story of temptation, adultery, confession and tragedy. A real Shakespeare meets One Life to Live kind of tale. In pairs and small groups, we examined the very short story, word by word, cracking down and squeezing out the nuances from each pronoun said and linebreak empty.

Through a basic literary analysis framework a la tenth grade English, I got so invested in trying to understand the protagonist's temptations, the identities he and his wife assumed, the confessions they made to each other, and how it all ends so abruptly. The whole story was about 15 lines and I probably could've discussed Rav Hiyya and his wife for hours on end. I geeked out completely.

I found I enjoy more the hard text study than the mushy gushy guitar and storytelling session that followed, but I totally appreciate that everyone connects in his or her own way. My cherry-red sunburn also started to really heat up at that hour, but I tried to focus on the exuberant joy of a tiny, tanned and wrinkled woman in her eighties, with giant bug glasses and a sequined beret. She was clapping and bopping and having the time of her life. If I'm going to confess, I wish myself as much happiness as she was feeling last night.

Today included a first day of classes where I was able to geek out over the book of Jonah, the history of Jewish commentary, and the origins of the noises a shofar makes. Mom, I took notes! That's huge! I'm suffering through every biblical Hebrew word I don't know but relishing in the joy of each syllabic triumph so much more. The hardships and the sweetness reflect what life is like here. Making aliyah (moving here forever) makes sense to me now.

Don't worry, I still have full intention of returning to America and geeking out over consulting frameworks and informational technology strategies, but even the tomatoes are much stronger and sweeter in Israel than America. Speaking of tomatoes, I went to a budget grocery store and bought all the things I need to make kindergarten lunches: apples, granola bars, PB&J and chocolate milk. Who says in my last month of pre-adulthood I can't regress my diet to age 5?

And to anyone who thinks school isn't fun, they haven't seen me at Pardes.

Sights and Snackin', a photoblog of Jlem living

No filters, no resizing, and generally terrible lighting document my first week in Jerusalem!

Burgers Bar, meatfest for the first night in Jerusalem

As good as Waffle Bar, the
dairy competitor restaurant

That kind of Old City beauty

Halva! So much Halva!

From the secret women's cave on the side of the wall...

This view always reminds me of the Lion King:
 look to the horizon, Simba!

A model of the Holy Temple, in
case you're planning to rebuild it 

My unofficial city guide Mitzi, 

in my local park, 

Jerusalem's version of the highline 

Shalom L'Kulam (Hello Everyone!)

I've been a bit out of touch, but not for lack of thinking of you all - I'm just either sleeping or running around Israel, and running into everyone everywhere. Also, I'm busy contemplating enormous lessons of land, Torah, life and identity. 

Sounds good, right? It is. I enrolled in the Pardes Institute's Elul Program, a one-month Jewish studies seminar at this unique egalitarian yeshiva. You can read more about it on their website, Pardes.org.il .

The people at Pardes create a warm, but certainly eclectic community that is open-minded but not pluralistic. There is an emphasis on understanding Jewish law, but liberal enforcement of how it is observed: no dress code, no mandatory services or prayers - just a will to study rigorously and think thoughtfully. 

At our opening circle, about 60 of us, faculty and students, went around and answered where we've been, where we're going, and one thing not on our résumé. We had bluegrass musicians, fourth year students, and the Monopoly champion of the Bronx. My fun fact: I haven't slept in the same bed for over a week in eight months. This is my eighth country in that time...and I'm really excited to be settled in Chicago.

But for now, I'm here. So what have I been doing that I'm too busy to blog each day?

Eating many Marzipan rugelach, which are mushy for the bakers pour hot sugar on top.

Bought groceries, read: bread, pickles, turkey and yogurt

Explored the shuk, sipping lemonana (mint lemonade) and not being overwhelmed because this market is tiny compared to Istanbul's

Had a banana chocolate waffle

Listened to the Muslim call to prayer while standing on the Women's section looking at the Kotel.Ran into three camp staff at a restaurant, a bakery and a street corner

Watched a Ted talk and learned relevant Jewish texts at the program orientation

Painted a bottle and turned it into a vase, while playing Jewish geography with other Pardes students

Got sunburnt having a picnic potluck at the tayelet (overlook) with 55 Pardes people, and a few days before, spent midnight there with two Germany friends, watching the city lights and talking about deep things.

Watched the sunset on a friends rooftop overlooking the city and counted three stars, signaling the start of a great week.

Some things I've been thinking about:

Why people cry at the Western Wall, and why I don't

Why America feels the need to attack Syria, and why I'm more annoyed than scared

Why men and women maybe probably should pray and study separately

Why I can't stop eating those rugelach

I have this amazing phone plan where I can call America for free, plus unlimited text call and data for just $15 (Verizon,you're seriously the worst), so I am able to be way too connected while here. But the nature of my program puts me in a classroom for ten hours a day, deciphering Hebrew texts word by word, starting tomorrow morning. This will be a challenge, as I never formally studied Hebrew and realized this week that I can't say more than three-word sentences. I'm struggling to reconcile my knowledge of Judaism with the lack of Hebrew. Hopefully, this program will begin to close the gap and ameliorate the dissonance.

On an unrelated but important note: our first alma mater game day kick-off isn't for a few hours, I'm ten hours ahead of California and won't be staying up so there is only one way to end this post:

Go 'cats! 

How I spent my first 36 hours in Israel...

Hopped off the plane at TLV with a dream and a neon zip-up. The dream? Spend one amazing, life-changing, unforgettable month in Israel. 

First step: take a taxi. At 4 am. To a place I've never been that basically rhymes with Banana. I used what I call 'camp Hebrew' to communicate with the driver. I've learned numbers from page-calling in services, and I know directions from a totally annoying song 6 year olds sang for two months straight. I arrived to Raanana by 4:30 and after giving up on arguing about being a block away from the destination, I rolled my suitcases right up to the Peleg house. Seeing Maya's shining face, in all of our tired glory, made me so happy! To land on a plane doesn't make you feel totally at home, but to be welcomed into someone's arms surely does.

I spent the subsequent several hours sleeping off the sleepless night (I couldn't resist Iron Man 3, and the flight was worse than RyanAir - loud, cramped and bumpy). Around 11 am, Maya and I made moves to the bus station toward Herzliya - a beach city about 15 minutes away, but an hour by bus. We caught up on the 48 hours of camp I missed, and swam around on a perfect empty stretch of ocean. Clear turquoise warm water, nice light waves, and enough sun to maybe make me not glow in the dark with paleness. Back at home, I organized myself and enjoyed family dinner with the Pelegs, shakshuka and nachos, the logical combination for an Israeli family who had lived in Mexico. 

In the morning, another camp buddy, Rena, picked me up and I got to spend the morning with her and her 4-year-old cutie. Through a boreka and coffee, and a trip to pick her boys up from school, I got a glimpse of what moving to Israel looks like. Don't worry, it's not a serious consideration yet. She dropped me at the bus station which was so amazing because I couldn't have walked my 40 kilos of stuff a whole kilometer by myself. 

This post makes it clear that, I love camp, working there was a great decision, and everyone from camp is just like a fairy godmother to me.

This trend continued when I arrived in Jerusalem (fast forward about 3 hours), and I was walking down Rivka street with all my junk, and I run into my camp friend Dita on the corner. Yes. Third camp sighting in a day. She helped me with my stuff, and to find Candace, my Northwestern friend who I'm staying with while here. Coincidentally, they are in the same year-long study program at the Pardes Institute for Jewish Studies, where I will be doing a three-week program while I'm here.

We got to Candace's apartment and I went into an unpacking frenzy, excited to suddenly feel settled somewhere for more than a few nights. In my organized chaos, I met Candace's roommate Molly, a Barnard alum who seems superchill and excited to start the Pardes program, too. It's lovely to be in the company of people who all have the same passion for learning, and I'm so lucky to have had that in Germany and again now in Jerusalem. 

Speaking of Germany, I was delighted when my friend from the Germany trip, Mitzi, asked if I had dinner plans. I did not. We coordinated to meet on Emek Refaim, which coincidentally translates to 'Germany Colony' and is the happeningest boulevard in this part of town. On my walk, two wonderful things dawned on me:

1. All of these restaurants say Kosher because they are Kosher and I don't have to menu-scan! I can eat everything! Omnomnom!

2. These buildings, they're made of stone that's beautiful and so old. Thousands of years old. I'm at the epicenter of humanity's history. Cool.

We settled on Burgers Bar, an American classic on Emek. Splitting lamb sliders and a schnitzel wrap was arguably the best decision I have jointly made in a very long time. Oh, the satisfaction of a serious meat meal in such warm company! Mitzi is just the most kind, adorable, understanding and thoughtful human and she was such a good sounding board for all of my excitement and anxieties about being here. 

We walked home, across a converted train track that's now a park, and then I had tea with Candace, made my bed, wrote this blog, and realized I am again, exhausted. You might even be exhausted, too, after reading this. 

Things I didn't mention yet, in pairs: 

There were two very smelly men on the bus in Jerusalem, so I changed seats twice. Foreigners and deodorant have a weird relationship.

My morning playdate had two shokos (delicious chocolate milk) today, and she's therefore the luckiest four-year-old in the world.

How I struggled to go through a turnstile with my giant duffel, a rolly suitcase and a tote bag (I ended up getting both in AND out. 

All of the ridiculous questions security asked me on the way to Israel, and the zero questions asked on the way out of the airport....

My reactions to either Miley Cyrus' VMA performance and/or how I feel about Syria right now.

All I can think about right now is, well, not a lot anymore because I'm physically and mentally drained and as so many others, this blog will now end with a comment about how I am falling asleep.

Feeling Pragroovy

I can officially put the wacky fun attitude back into my writing. Whee! Thanks to recommendations from Sally Kaplan and Jess Feiwus, I found myself heading to Café Lucerna for some creative beverage drinking. I took two trams on my way to Wencelas Square, which isn’t far away at all, but I have a terrible blister between my big and second toe and couldn’t bear to walk on it extra. 

On my second tram, I was surrounded by the Breakfast Club of 2013, a collective of college students speaking about fratty and sarcastic things in American accents. I asked them if they were studying abroad, and was hit with a frantic wave of tragic jealousy. As they got off, I wished them a great semester and told them it will blow their mind. They have no idea what’s coming. Then, I realized I’m kind of mini-studying abroad, and in this year, I will have spent 3.5 months abroad anyway.

When I got off the tram at Vasclavke Namesti, I saw no Café Lucerna in sight, just a cavernous creepy indoor mall hallway labeled Palac Lucerna. After following it a short way, I ended up in a grand hall of marble and cupid moldings and stained glass, oh my! At the epicenter of this domed mythical consumerist mecca, an enormous statue of an upside-down horse with a man riding it straddling it’s tummy is suspended by ropes. It’s quite odd, but likely famous. Though all the shops are closed, many tourists waltz in to snap a quick picture, and two security guards mull about the place, looking utterly bored.

I ascended a marble staircase to Kavaza Lucerna, the palace’s coffee house. Wham, I’m in the 1940s. Pleather chairs, people smoking, and funky mini chandeliers littering the dimly-lit bar.

The cutest waiter in all of Prague, with shaggy wavy hair and thick black rimmed glasses locked eyes with me when I came in. I had this fleeting thought that we would run away off to the Black Sea and frolic in the waves. It’s a rainy day here, so it seemed like a great idea. I half-apologized when ordering 

from him in English, but my Czech is still non-existent.

I grabbed a table with a good view of a painting, the bar and the giant hanging horse. I ordered an Italian hot chocolate with homemade whipped cream.  I checked in to my flight to Israel for tonight. I chose pictures to make a photoblog for each city, and then I wrote this blog.

Every time he walks by, I think I fall more in love with his doofy smile and lilting accent. He looks genuinely happy to work alone in a largely-deserted ancient coffee shop that attracts mostly tourists. 

Maybe I’d be happy just staying here, staring at that big dead horse too. Maybe it’d be better without the horse.

I feel like I got my groove back ‘cause this place is the ultimate groovy. 

Updates from cafe #2, called Bakeshop: A young man sits across from me with a soup and a chicken skewer. He asks me if I know where to buy crystal souvenirs. I say no. He asks me where I'm from. I ask him where he is from. He says Iran, but studying in Australia, and went to a conference in Krakow. He asks me what I know about Iran, and I say I once I watched a video about public transportation there. I am reminded of my friend Adineh who is also from Iran, but now living in Chile.  He asks  if I know anyone who was affected by September 11. I tell him I do know people who were killed, and that my whole community, and whole country was and is deeply affected. Then he asks me if I am comfortable with Australian accents. I tell him I like them. He informs me that he has a hard time with them, and that there is little nightlife in suburban Australia. I am no longer interested in conversing. He keeps going.

I do not tell him I am going to Israel tonight. The world is a complicated place.

Picturesque Prague

Me in the grotto gardens of Wallenstein Palace

Owls!

Pinterest for my future home

Me, feeling right at home

Emily, I'm redoing our apartment like this...

This is how you make an entrance.

The Senate estate, my future summer home

I will replicate all of these idols
and make them for my summer palace.

My other summer palace.

The view from my writing nook.

There is a castle in a cloud.

Breakfast from Paul in the Platz

The Wildcats over the city

Just a usual golden eagle duo.

It's just so breathtakingly fairytale-like...

Attention. This is my favorite cathedral ever!

Europe's best cathedral St. Vitus

St. Vitus in your face

Guards looking bored

Everything looks like a palace.

Writing on the wall - names of all the
Czech Jews who disappeared

Prague's hottest boyband!

All the palaces are collapsing on me!

View from my apartment - tres chic!

Old Town Square

Jerusalem Synagogue, the first thing
 I would randomly see

Cliffs and towns on the way to Prague

Trains in Europe, man...