The Beauty of Grandeur

Wow… I live in Jerusalem… what a blessing. I have been in Israel for about one month now and I am alive, at peace, I can breathe. With each breath, I love and become vulnerable to the beauty of the holy city which surrounds my physical being and expands my soul. The depth behind each person and the unbelievable universal connectedness and consciousness is amazing, indescribable. Israel is such a unique diverse place yet I feel such a sense of belonging. I walk the streets of Yerushalyim and encounter people traveling from different corners of the earth expressing different fashion senses, different religious beliefs, different languages and different purposes for existence…yet we are all here in Israel, the Jewish State, adding love and power to the center of the world. I stand at a bus stop waiting for the 19 to take into town and I hear the rhythmic chants of the Muslim call to prayer. I watch a man’s soul be lured to attention as he immediately places his jacket on the cement sidewalk and begins to prostrate himself, showing devotion and love to G-d and prayer. I marvel at the young women, my age or younger, with their hair pulled back and covered, pushing strollers in which young children are buckled in and playing with their tiny toes and pondering about their purpose. The bellies of these women protrude with beauty and the knowledge that another all knowing Jewish child will soon enter this world and grow into a soul who will spend a lifetime adding to the fixing the shattered vessels. In the shuk (market) I see and old wrinkly man shuffle through Machneh Yehuda on a Friday afternoon dragging a wheely bag full of overflowing oranges and veggies that will be used on the Sabbath behind him. On the bus I see an old woman slouched over in her seat slobbering all over her fingers as she engulfs an entire sunflower seed in her mouth and maneuvers the seed out with her tongue just as an anteater would capture his supper. I stare at these older people with such amusment because I know they have a story, each of them their own story with their own paths and experiences. I know that the older woman on the bus with the skilled tongue not only can manipulate the seed from its shell but that that tongue probably knows several languages probably even Yiddish, the language of my grandparents, my ancestors, my history. Shalom… Shalom… is truly the harmony, the mantra that flows within my body everyday, every morning as the breath of life is breathed into me. I wake and inhale the fresh brisk winter air of Yerushalyim, smile and thank G-d. I am so happy to be here. To spend a marvelous semester in such a holy place. I look forward to my journeys and adventures.

In a more physical world…Overall… things are great! I live in a very small two bedroom apartment on campus (Har Tzofim) with three other girls in religious housing (Idelson Dormitory). It is definitely tight living quarters, but livable. Basically, we have two bedrooms with two of us in each room, a very small kitchen, a very tiny toilet room, a tiny shower room and a barely existent mirpeset (porch/balcony) not quite sukkah worthy but good for drying clothes. My roommates and I get along very well and we are all each on a religious journey of a sort, which is exciting. All three of my roommates are Israeli; which is such a great opportunity for me to practice my Hebrew! Two of them (Shanit & Oshrat) are best friends from the army. Shanit is from Haifa and Oshrat is from Kirat Shmoneh. My other roommate, who I literally share my room with, is named Frida. Frida was originally born in New Jersey but her parents made Aliyah when she was 2 years old, so she speaks perfect English which is helpful. She now lives in Rehovot and is actually family friends with my madricha from JLI (Ilana) who also lives in Rehovot…small world.

Class is good… I am in Ulpan right now, which is intensive Hebrew class. Basically, I have Hebrew every day except for Fridays and Saturdays from 8:30am- 2pm… it is hard but I am learning a lot. I start normal classes in about 3 weeks. I am taking a course called ‘Contemporary Spirituality in Israel and the US’ which I am so excited for! I have heard such great things about this professor (Eliezer Shore)… we will be reading great texts by Shlomo Carlebach, Aryeh Kaplan, Avraham Joshua Heschel, Arthur Waskow and other amazing scholars. Another class that I am taking is called ‘Readings of the Zohar’ which even the name sounds fantastic. I am also going to be taking a Jewish Education course in which 30 students meet weekly to discuss the problems within North American Jewish Education and how we can initiate change through formal and informal education. This class has a “hands-on component” which means each student is required to participate in an internship. I did some research and it looks like I will be interning (hopefully) for an organization named Derech HaTeva which is like and Orthodox Observant Outward Bound… totally excited for that! So that is pretty much a summary of what has gone on over the past month. So from now on my blogs will be more specific to unique experiences or personal thoughts. I hope you all are well… miss you much…

<3car