After Candle lighting, we were given several options of Shabbat activities; going to temple, discussions, yoga. I decided to go off on my own. It was golden hour, my favorite time of day, and I was in the desert. Behind the rooms of the hostel where we were staying is a canyon and it's absolutely beautiful.
I walked along the canyon, and soon ended up by Ben Gurion's grave. The area around his grave is beautiful; a desert oasis. There's grass and trees, and giant stones. I found a nice slab of stone away from the only other people there, an Israeli tour group that was being read an excerpt. In front of me was the canyon. To the right, I watched the sunset. The panorama at the top is an almost 360 degree view of where I sat. I sat there for a while, alone, feeling the desert in me. It was an absolutely perfect moment.
Slightly random topic, considering I’m in Israel. Today’s optional lecture/tour was on African Refugees. It’s not really something that I ever thought of when I thought about Israel. And, apparently, up until a few years ago, it wasn’t something that was really an issue. The first refugees to come to Israel in mass came from Darfur. They had originally escaped to Egypt, but they weren’t treated well in Egypt, and they soon crossed into Israel.
Sudan is a mostly Arab country, mostly Muslim. Not exactly the demographic that likes the Jews. In fact, the Sudanese passports say specifically that the passports are valid everywhere, except Israel (Israel being the one and only exemption. So why would these people escape to Israel. Well, one, Israel is a fairly westernized country. But also, when asked, they responded “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
The first wave of refugees, as stated, came from Darfur to escape the atrocities that were occurring there. The first several hundred were given status in Israel. As for the other refugees who have since come (from Darfur, but also from south Sudan and Eritrea) have not been given any type of status. The question is, what to do to them.
There are two major issues that came up in this discussion. Both trace back to the reason behind Israel being established. We Jews were persecuted. Not only was the government not protecting us, but they were the ones condemning us, without cause. And when we tried to leave, no one wanted to give us refuge. This country was formed as a place of refuge. So how can we let others suffer through what was done to us?
At the same time, Israel was created specifically as a place of refuge for the Jews, since we had no other place to go. If we let in refugees from around the world, how will we be able to have the resources and space to allow Jews to come and take refuge is needed (or, hopefully, to come because they want to).
It’s a difficult question, and, as of now there isn’t really any legislation to deal with the issue.
So, after a conversation with a woman who works at the organization that helps both refugees and migrant workers, we went to talk to a man who came with the first wave from Darfur, one of the few who has actually gotten status. The 30 or so of us who went to the lecture crammed into his small computer store, and listened, enthralled. It’s one thing to hear about it, but it’s completely another to meet someone, to hear his story. I think our hearts all went out to him. All he wants is a place to live where he won’t be in fear of his life. All he wants from Israel is to be given information about how to acclimate himself to Israeli life. How to find work, what is needed to own a business, what the laws are… And, if the situation permits, to one day return to a peaceful Darfur, where he has fond childhood memories.
Today, our mandatory afternoon activity was volunteering. To be honest, it’s kind of nice (coming from the lazy point of you) to be forced to do something good for others. We were given three options. The first was to go to an animal shelter to walk dogs. Apparently the dogs at this shelter are only allowed out of their cages if someone walks them. Sad, but not a dog person. The second option was to go to a children’s hospital and play with kids. This option was only for higher level Hebrew speakers. As a result, they came into my class (since I’m in the highest level) and tried to convince the entire class to come. I do generally like to work with kids, but I don’t like hospitals, and for some reason, I just wasn’t feeling genki (Japanese for peppy). To volunteer with kids, you have to be willing to be upbeat the entire time. While just about the whole rest of my class went, I opted for the third option. So what did I do?
The third option was to work with an organization called Leket (http://www.leket.org/english/). What this organization does is they provide food for the needy. They work with food companies and collect excess food, in other words, food that will expire in too near the future to sell to a store. They also work with farmers. We went to a plot of land that a lawyer owns with the specific person of growing all the food for charity. His biggest expense is to pick the fruit. So we went to pick. And we picked beets.
I actually thought it would be a lot harder to pick a beet than it was. They come out of the ground relatively easily. The hard part is then to rip off the leaves. The bigger the beet, the harder it is to get all of the leaves off in one go. This is also how you very quickly turn your hand (and clothing) purple. We had gloves, although, it was easily 80 degrees. When I took off the plastic gloves to get water, my hands were dripping with sweat. I tried to pull out a few beets with bare hands. It took two in order to turn my hands purple. With the sun beating down on us, it was hard work, but it quickly started to cool, and the going got easier.
At the end of the day, the 30 or so of us had picked 2.5 tons of beets to be given to the needy the following day. I’ve volunteered at random places for a day or two along the way, but for some reason this was different. Working with your hands to make a direct impact, seeing the crates filled with beets that we pick that would go to families. It really felt like we made at least a bit of a difference. And it was a pretty awesome experience. Maybe I’ll go back and pick some oranges.
I’ve now been Israel for a couple of weeks, and let me just say, I don’t seem to have the best of luck right when I move somewhere new. When I arrived in Israel, I stayed with Ken for a few days. The first couple of days, I was deliriously tired. While it took me a whole almost 24 hours to arrive, I hadn’t slept in closer to 36 when I got here. And I didn’t manage to sleep well the first day. I therefore spent the second day sleeping. And then I got sick. It took me a week before I learned this, but it ended up being bronchitis (or some other fun infection in my chest). And, of course, the weather turned cold, but I’ll get to that.
The first few days I spent in a moshav near Tel Aviv. I was having a hard time understanding the concept of a moshav, but it made sense when I got there. It’s basically a neighborhood where people have fields and do agriculture. Different from a kibbutz in that everyone owns their own house/ land… After a few days, I headed to Jerusalem to stay with Sarah. A friend that I had met in Italy, and lived with in San Diego. We did a little bit of sight sighing at the shook, and Ben Yehuda street. And then it started to rain. And Jerusalem gets COLD. It was actually supposed to snow a couple of day (thankful no snow). I say thankfully because I was sick and cold and didn’t have the clothes for snow. It could have be interesting to see Jerusalem in snow.
My program started, and it was a little bit like being on birthright again. We’re about 90 people and it was slightly intense. The people, as a whole are nice, though. So, I won’t go into detail on everything we did during orientation, but the highlight, for me, was the Kotel (Western Wall) Tunnel Tour. I never realized what a small portion of the entire wall we actually see. The tour took us through tunnels along some of the underground part of the wall. You could see the way the stones were originally carved. There were models that showed exactly how the temple looked, and what we now see as the Kotel. You also get to a spot that is the closest you can get to the Dome of the Rock (which was once the holiest spot in Jerusalem for the Jews), and there are even columns along the road that used to run along the wall. Way interesting. I TOTALLY recommend it.
The rain stopped on Saturday, although Jerusalem was still quite cold. We returned to Tel Aviv on Sunday, and the temperature went up and up. The first night, I went out to dinner with four people, and it was so nice to not be part of a giant group.
I've gotten into a fun cycle of Ulpan (Hebrew classes) and lectures. We got out to bars in the area sometimes. The location of my apartment is AMAZING, the room is nice, but there have been problems. The biggest of which are the heater was broken (it finally got fixed yesterday). Our wall was leaking (hopefully fixed this morning), and our bathroom light still doesn't work. It's not that the light is just burnt out. We've tried changing bulbs. It's the wiring. We've been taking showers with the door open. The other day my roommate set off the smoke detector with the steam from the shower. I bought a candle, so it's not pitch black. Where is Craig when you need him?
As I sit here at the Heathrow airport, waiting the several hours before my flight to Israel. Neither at home, nor at my destination, I can’t help but reflect on how I got here. Anyone who knows me knows how ridiculously (sometimes almost painfully) indecisive I can be. So how is it that, for the third time, I find myself off to live in another country, completely different than my own. And how, while I do spend hours and hours thinking about these decisions, does everything happen so quickly once I get to the point where I decided to go all in? With Italy, I spent a few years trying to decide where to study abroad. I spent hours in the Study Abroad Office. And yet, once I got Siena in my head, it was a matter of weeks before I decided, applied, and was accepted and well on my way. With Japan, when I finally decided to apply, I sent in my application, had two interviews, and was well on my way within a month or two. Granted, the whole placement and process took a few months, but on my part, it seemed almost instant. And now, probably the most intense. I’d been wanting to spend some time in Israel for as long as I can remember. Given my parents growing up there, and still having family there, and, as practiced as it may seem, being a Jew, it’s something that I’ve always wanted to do. I started thinking about ways to make this a possibility only a few short months ago. I first heard about this program at the end of November, applied in the beginning of December, and now a short month later, I sit in the airport prepared to go.
People have been asking, “Are you excited?” The obvious answer is yes, although, the weird thing, even though I am sitting at the airport more than half way there, it still doesn’t seem real. I still can’t believe that I am once again heading off on quite probably one of my most random adventures yet. I’m wondering if it is because everything has happened so quickly.
And then part of me wonders what on earth I was thinking when making this decision. Not in a bad way. I’m beyond excited, looking forward to it, expecting an amazing experience out of it, but as several people have recently pointed out, I’m not getting any younger. I will soon have to start thinking about getting married and having babies (in that order). But I know this was the right decision for the moment. There’s not a shred of doubt in me. And, as my wise younger sister pointed out, if all I feel is excited (not nervous or anxious or scared, as would be completely normal in this situation) I must have made the right decision.
I go into this, however, with a feeling that I haven’t had in the past adventures. That this will be my last really big move. Don’t get me wrong, I will always love and desire travelling. I already have several trips planned in my head that I plan on doing one day. If I have a job that allows me the flexibility to spend a few months backpacking, wild horses couldn’t stop me. But as far as uprooting myself, making a move to another world, I’m confident that this will be the last giant adventure.
That said, to be 25, to have lived in the US, Italy, Japan, and soon to be Israel. To have traveled to Canada, the UK (although only London specifically), France, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands (again, only Amsterdam), Greece, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Macau, China, Thailand, New Zealand, Australia, French Polynesia… No complaints out of me!
Behind the rooms of the hostel where we were staying is a canyon and it's absolutely beautiful. 
