Everything I learned in Hebrew School is wrong...

Hello everyone!

Happy Thursday!  It has been a great week so far!   My Hebrew ulpan class went to the Jerusalem Bird Conservatory, which was completely random but also a lot of fun.  It was great to get out of the classroom and enjoy being outside, even if I didn't understand entirely what I was doing there.  The tour we got was entirely in Hebrew, but I was really happy that I understood most of it.  The birds were beautiful and the grounds itself are really nice, so I hope to get back there soon and spend more time.  Wednesday was the longest day ever--we had two tests in one day!  I had a Hebrew exam that covered basically everything we had learned so far, which was a little overwhelming.  I don't know how I did yet, but I am hoping not terribly!  Then we had a Biblical Archaeology quiz, which wasn't so bad except that our teacher did not tell us really what was going to be on it, so I ended up over-studying by a lot.  I suppose its better than being unprepared!

Today our class went to the Israel Museum for a Biblical Archaeology trip.  I had been there before and have really enjoyed it, but it was cool to go with my teacher who is incredibly knowledgeable about all things relating to the Ancient Near East.  In class we talked a lot about the Exodus from Egypt and whether or not based on historical findings, it could have actually happened.  There are a TON of examples where the biblical narrative doesn't match up at all either chronologically or geographically with historical or archaeological research.  For example: Egyptian history is usually divided up into three parts: the Old Kingdom (approximately 3000-2000 BCE), the Middle Kingdom (2000-1700 BCE), and the New Kingdom.  Based on archaeological findings, carbon dating, and research done by biblical scholars, it appears that the pyramids were built during the time of the Old Kingdom.  The problem is, if that's true than there is no way the Israelites could have built the pyramids, because we weren't around then.  Another example: Historians have found mentions of Ramses the 2nd as the Pharaoh during the time of the Exodus.  During his reign, Egypt also had control over the land of Israel, which means that if the Jews did in fact leave Egypt during Ramses' reign, presumably they were just going to another place controlled by Egypt.  There also is NO reference in Egyptian history to the enslavement of the Israelites specifically, although there are times when it discusses foreigners who were slaves.  Also, there are a lot of narratives depicting the capture of slaves who tried to escape, so it seems unlikely that 600,000 Jews could have just walked right out of Egypt and gotten the hell out of there with no problems.  All of this is really interesting, but also somewhat troubling.  If the Exodus narrative that I grew up learning in Hebrew school is wrong, then what does that say about the rest of what I know to be Jewish history?  Also, if this huge narrative that basically defines the Jewish experience isn't totally accurate, than what does that say about the Jewish people?  How can I, as a Jewish leader, help facilitate conversations about God and about the history of the Jewish people if I am not sure any of it is true?

The famous author Ahad Ha'am wrote a beautiful article that talks a lot about "historical truth," which is the idea that even if a biblical narrative is not entirely factual, the fact that it serves as a building block for religious education and a way for the Jewish people to identify with religion and ritual practice, then that's all that matters.  It doesn't matter if Moses actually existed, if the Jewish people use that narrative as a way to express and relate to their faith than who cares?  In some ways I agree with this, because while I don't think the Bible is divinely inspired, I do think its important for Jews to know and understand the ancient text.  But at the same time, I'm not sure I'm comfortable just saying "who cares."  History is such an important part of the Jewish people and if we got it wrong, then we should probably figure out what the truth is.  It's a little overwhelming to be hearing all of this as I start my journey to be a Jewish leader, but I suppose that's the point.  How can I be an effective leader if I don't understand the confusion and contradictions that exist within my own faith?  How can I help other people gain fulfillment from the texts if I don't totally understand them myself?  However, how can I possibly grasp all of the contradictions and reconcile all the apparent historical inaccuracies in the Bible?  I know that this is what this year is about, and the point of this course is to challenge my notions of what is true and what is not, and also to decide if it really matters.  It's fascinating stuff either way, but its also confusing and a little unsettling.  All those years I spent reciting the Passover story with finger puppets and plastic plague figures clearly was not entirely accurate!  It's a little bit like finding out that the Tooth Fairy doesn't exist, and that its really my mom putting a dollar under my pillow.  I am sure as the year goes on I will be able to answer a lot of my questions and figure out whether it matters that there are inaccuracies and contradictions in the Bible.  But in the meantime, I will just soak it all in and be okay with my current state of confusion.

Early Shabbat Shalom and love to you all!

Another week, another post

Hello everyone!  Happy Monday!  I am still getting used to this whole having class on Sundays situation, but its happening slowly.  There are times when I find myself not actually knowing what day it is, which tends to be a bit of a problem. 
Ulpan (my hebrew class) is going well, I have been scoring consistently high on my assignments and quizzes, which makes me happy.  Clearly all that Brandeis Hebrew paid off!  I was nervous at first, I switched into a higher level class and I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to do it, but I can!  Tomorrow we have a field trip to a bird conservatory (I have no idea what that has to do with anything we have learned or are learning, but I'm just going with it...)
We also are doing a cantillation class to learn how to chant Torah.  Its great, because I never really learned the trope.  I memorized my Torah portion for my Bat Mitzvah (shh, don't tell anyone!) and so never got the chance to learn how to chant without a wonderful cantor singing it on a tape.  The cantor who is teaching us is great, and very patient, which is necessary since most of us have no idea what we are doing. 
My biblical history class is also going well, although its a little confusing.  We went on a trip the other day and I wasn't really following the narrative that my teacher was telling.  It didn't seem to be in any chronological order, which is how I tend to learn best, so that was a bit of a problem.  He also handed us a topographical map (which to me looked like a piece of paper with lots of squiggly lines on it) and asked us to fill it in with the various landmarks of Jerusalem.  I had no idea what to do, so I just stared at it for a while and hoped the squiggly lines would magically become coherent.  I am pretty sure I was not the only one confused, so hopefully we can ask him to explain at another time.  The trip was interesting though, and made me realize why I love learning in Israel so much.  It's one thing to learn about an event or a historical figure sitting in a classroom, but its another thing to literally be standing where the event took place or the historical figure lived.  I have always loved that, and when I was here in high school on Alexander Muss, I found myself falling in love with the history of this place.  It's complicated and messy but so rich and unique, and I am so excited to be here.  (Don't worry mom, I am not making aliyah!) 
My classmates are fabulous, and so interesting.  Each one comes here with a different story and perspective on Judaism, and as I spend time with them I am gleaning little bits of who they are.  It's pretty incredible.  Several of my classmates are second career students, meaning they did something else for several years before they came to Israel.  One was a criminal defense attorney, another was an engineer, we have a rocket scientist who worked with the Navy, and someone else who worked in real estate.  Amazing! 
Jessie and I are enjoying life in Israel, even as the homework is starting to pile up!  We have set up a regular Hebrew study group, so we meet almost every day and do our homework together.  It's been great! 
Ok--time to get back to my biblical history readings!  Love you all.
Rebecca
 

Getting in to the swing of things...

Hello everyone!  I apologize that it's been so long since my last post--I have been so busy with classes that I haven't had much time!  This summer we have three classes: ulpan (hebrew immersion), cantillation (Torah chanting), and Biblical Archaeology.  All three have been great, and I really like my teachers.  I keep reminding myself that we are learning things that will serve as a foundation for the rest of our careers, and it is so exciting!! 
Yesterday a bunch of us went to Tel Aviv for the day.  It was great to be out of Jerusalem and just relax.  We went to the shuk, (outdoor market) and to the beach, which was beautiful.  Then we joined up with a local congregation that does outdoor beach services every Friday night during the summer.  Hundreds of people were there, and there was a lot of singing and dancing.  It was beautiful to see the sunset over the Mediterranean.  Tel Aviv is so different than Jerusalem, partly because its a much bigger city with a lot more people, and partly because it is a lot less religious.  I felt like I was in any big metropolis while I was there, whereas when I am in Jerusalem I know I am in a place unlike any other in the world.  I love Tel Aviv and look forward to spending more time there when I need to get out of Jerusalem, but when I came back here I found myself appreciating the beauty of this city even more. 
I recently learned about a protest that is happening in several cities throughout Israel relating to the affordable housing crisis.  We talked about in ulpan, actually!!  There are hundreds of people who are living in tents in the street and in parks to protest how expensive the housing is here.  Some of the people are students, some are homeless, and some are just individuals doing it for solidarity.  There was a newspaper article that we read in class profiling some of the people who were there, and I found myself fascinated by the whole situation.  For the past year I have worked to try and find affordable housing for individuals who clearly needed it, and I rarely had any luck.  Affordable housing in America is scarce for a lot of reasons, but there still are lots of buildings and programs available. Additionally, many cities have housing authorities that work to create affordable or subsidized housing. In Israel, it's not like that at all, and most of the housing is incredibly expensive.  I don't think the idea of section 8 exists here!  I am not sure what kind of solution the people who are protesting are looking for, but it will be interesting to see what comes of it. 
Tonight I am leading Havdallah for a birthright group, and I am very excited.  It's great to see young people (although I suppose I still fall into that category!) experience Israel and try to understand its many complexities.  I love it here and am having the best time on my program, and haven't been so happy in a long time!  I hope everyone is doing well and please email or skype me if you have time!  I miss all of you lots!

Eretz Yisrael Sheli

Hello everyone!  Happy Bastille Day to those who are celebrating! (the only reason I know this is happening is because I live down the road from the French Consulate) 

Rather than re-cap my entire week, which has been simultaneously exhausting and incredible, I am going to focus on one particular event that stood out to me.  This week has been orientation, so every day we have lectures and programming that relate to both the land of Israel and our time at HUC.  As part of forging a connection to Israel, we had a program this evening entitled "My Jerusalem" where we were divided up into groups of about 8 people and paired with an Israeli.  Each Israeli had a connection either to the college or to a person who worked there, and each one planned a different program.  My "guide" for the evening works for the Israeli Religious Action Center, run by Anat Hoffman who is also in charge of the controversial Women of the Wall minyan (more about that in another post!).  The IRAC (a very unfortunate acroynm in this particular part of the world) focuses on social justice issues within Israel and raising awareness both in the country and abroad about injustices that take place every day.  One such issue that they are particularly focused on is segregated buses.

A brief history: In the last few years there have been pushes from the Ultra Orthodox community in Israel to make certain public city buses segregated (women in the back, men in the front).  In 1999 there were only a handful of public buses that were segregated, but by 2010 there were 60 bus lines that were segregated.  The Israeli Supreme Court ruled in 2011 that this goes against Israeli law, and mandated that all buses post signs saying that you can sit anywhere you want regardless of your gender.  They also ordered the bus company to publish ads in all the newspapers in the country saying that the bus lines are no longer segregated.  Some Ultra Orthodox papers refused to publish the advertisement, and when they were forced to, added their own disclaimer at the bottom of the ad saying that people should still segregate.  Now, there are only 2 bus lines in Jerusalem that are still considered segregated, even though legally people can sit wherever they want.  There are more unofficially segregated buses throughout Israel, but thanks to the work of the IRAC, this is declining.  IRAC has started having volunteers go on these particular bus lines and challenge the segregation.  There have been about 500 such events in the last few years, with volunteers both Israeli and otherwise coming to support the cause. 

So, as part of our program, we took a taxi to a very Orthodox neighborhood in Jerusalem and then rode one of these segregated buses.  There were 8 of us total, three men and 5 women, and all of us stood in the general vicinity of the front of the bus.  When we first boarded, some of the men sitting in the front yelled at us and said that this was a segregated bus and we (the women) needed to sit in the back.  One man got so angry he got off the bus at the next stop!  Some of the women on the bus also told us that we (again, the women) had to sit in the back.  One of my male classmates sat in the "women's section" but people didn't seem to make as much of a scene over that as they did to the females sitting closer to the front.  We were on the bus for about 20-25 minutes, which was a good enough amount of time to get a sense of the issue.  For the most part nobody said anything to us, although we did receive some strange looks from some of the passengers (both male and female). After we got off the bus, we took taxis back to the city center and had dinner and debriefed our experience. 

All in all, the trip was really eye opening, and provided me with a glimpse into a community that I don't get to interact with very much.  Obviously there are a lot of Ultra Orthodox people in Jerusalem, but going to an area that is very clearly defined as "theirs" was different than seeing them in the Old City or other places near the center of town, mixed in with all the tourists and other more secular Israelis.  Also, so much that is done in Israel is controversial, and so many people protest or riot or make statements about things that are happening both on a state level and in their communities.  However, rarely do I feel like these statements make much of a difference in terms of policy change.  It seems often that protests or rallies tend to only serve to raise awareness about a cause, which while vitally important, doesn't necessarily mean anyone's opinion will change.  The issue of segregated buses was one that I assumed would fall into this category.  What difference would it make if I sat in the men's section of a segregated bus?  No Ultra Orthodox man is going to see me there and suddenly decide that segregation is wrong and that women should be able to sit wherever they want solely based on my presence.  However, this has been done enough times and the IRAC has made enough of an issue out of it that policies really have changed.  Obviously its going to take time, and there will always be buses (just like the one I was on tonight) that will still remain mostly segregated, even if legally they aren't.  But the pressure from the IRAC has already caused so much progress to be made regarding this issue, and I felt excited and exhilarated to have been a part of the process to create positive change in Israel. 

Tomorrow is a much more uneventful day, although it is my little sister Emily's birthday so I will definitely have to call home at some point.  I am planning on sleeping in and then relaxing before services at HUC.  My time in Israel so far has been outstanding, and I have felt happier and more at peace here than I have felt in a while.  I am so excited to continue this journey and learn more about myself, the country I live in, and the Jewish tradition.  An early Shabbat Shalom to all of you, and look out for another post soon!

xoxoxo
Rebecca

First Shabbat in J'lem

Hello everyone!  I hope you all had a restful weekend.  This post represents the end of my first official week in Jerusalem.  It’s been seven days of learning, meeting new classmates, and exploring this incredible city.  Shabbat has always been one of my favorite times of the week, and if anywhere knows how to do Shabbat right, its Jerusalem.  On Friday afternoons around 4pm, everything shuts down.  The busses stop running, stores and restaurants close, and there are significantly fewer cars on the street.  A siren sounds indicating the start of Shabbat, and the city goes quiet.  I thought it would be a bit eerie, walking around without anyone on the street, but it was actually quite peaceful.  There were definitely people around, walking to and from synagogue and being with their families, and of course there were plenty of non Jews also out and about.  Friday night a group of classmates and I went to Kol Ha’neshama, a Reform synagogue not far from HUC.  I had been there once before on Alexander Muss, but it was nice to be back.  The service was mostly in Hebrew, but the rabbi did translate some of the things he was saying in to English.  Jessie and I saw a bunch of people we knew at services—a former camper who was on a summer trip in Israel (and who’s father is coincidentally the president of HUC), a former counselor from OSRUI, and a rabbi that used to also work at camp and who lives in Jerusalem with his wife and two sons.  It was great to see some familiar faces, and it made the synagogue feel much more like home.  Kabbalat Shabbat (the singing before the main part of the Shabbat service begins) was beautiful, and there were a lot of tunes that were unfamiliar to me but that I would love to learn.  At one point they did a song to the tune of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and it took a few minutes for everyone in the room to make the connection, but once they did there were ripples of surprise and laughter.  

After services Jessie and I went to a classmate’s apartment for dinner.  It was delicious, and her apartment is beautiful.  She lives about a twenty to twenty five minute walk from my apartment, but it’s a lovely area.  Her neighbor was not happy that we were being so loud, and came down twice to yell at us in broken English.  It was pretty entertaining, but also a little scary because she was filled with a vengeance I hadn’t seen in a while!  If she could, I am pretty sure she would have cursed us!  The next morning we had services at HUC, which were also wonderful.  Then I met up with a friend of mine from college and we had lunch together, before I headed back to HUC. 

This weekend was an alumni weekend, and so rabbis from all over the country were in town visiting their alma matter.  It was incredible to see such distinguished and well known rabbis all in the same place, and to have the opportunity to learn with them was also wonderful.  T

here were study sessions in the afternoon, including a panel discussion that was led by two professors at HUC.  They both talked about the issues surrounding Israel’s relationship to North American Jews.  One specifically spoke about intermarriage, and how this is an increasing problem regarding these couple’s (and their children’s) relationship to this country.  Apparently there are studies that show that there is a much lower percentage of individuals who come from interfaith families that go on Israel trips or visit Israel at any point in their lives.  Combined Jewish Philanthropies, an agency in Boston, did one such study and found that 1% of kids from interfaith families went to Israel, whereas 20% of kids from families that were Conservative Jews went to Israel, and 15% of kids from families that were Reform Jews went to Israel.  This study was specifically for Boston, but according to the professor, this was the norm in other cities as well.  He said that the only way to truly decrease this problem was to welcome these families into synagogues and Jewish life and to make sure that their children had an investment in Israel.  I appreciated the sentiment, because at the beginning of his talk I began to get worried he was going to say that intermarriage was something that needed to be prevented.  The other speaker talked about youth in North America, and how they don’t have much of a relationship to Israel.  He basically said that it’s important to teach kids from an early age about Israel and get them to come here so that they can see for themselves what they are learning about in the classroom.  I agree with that, I think its true that many kids today don’t have much of a relationship with Israel, at least not a tangible one.   I think exposing youth to Israel is definitely important, but it should obviously be their choice, not because they were forced to come by their parents or educators. 

At one point, someone in the audience said that he had trouble with North American Jews’ investment in Israel in the first place.  He said that he lives here, and he feels like its important for him to have a say in the decisions and policies that are made here, but he doesn’t see why North Americans who don’t live here and don’t experience the day to day Israel should feel like they have as much of a stake.  I had honestly never thought of that before and it was a perspective that I definitely need to consider.  I do think that North American Jews should be invested and care about Israel, but I can see from this participant’s point.  If an Israeli was consistently trying to have a say in what was happening in America, I might get frustrated and say that they don’t live there, so its hard for them to truly know what goes on and the complexities of the situation.  Life in Israel is messy and complicated, and it’s not something that is easily understood by someone who may have been here once or twice.  I definitely still don’t understand it—but hopefully I will a little better by the time I leave.  Reading the New York Times and Ha’aretz are great ways to keep up with politics and the general goings on in Israel, but to live here is a completely different experience.

 After the panel discussion, we broke off into small groups and had discussions with various HUC faculty.  The discussion I went to was called “Ohev Yisrael..then and now.”  It focused on the pluralism and peoplehood of Israel and how its often hard to somehow unify an entire country when everyone comes from different perspectives and viewpoints.  One really interesting point that the faculty member (who is the vice president of the college—his name is Rabbi Michael Marmur, for anyone who is interested in google-ing him.)  made was that even the language in Israel reflects a pluralism that doesn’t exist in English.  For example, the words for water and life in English are singular, and when we say them we think of one ocean or one person’s life.  However, in Hebrew, both of these words (mayim and chayim) are plural.  This reflects that there is a fluidity to life in Israel that may not exist elsewhere, that there are always multiple perspectives and opinions to take into consideration in every situation.  It’s a vague concept, but the idea was pretty powerful. 

Towards the end of the discussion, Rabbi Marmur noted that many Hasidic rabbis around the turn of the century would not be known by their names, but rather they would be called by the name of their most famous piece of writing.  To demonstrate this, he turned to a man sitting at one of the tables and said “so you would be known as “Putting G-d on the Guest List.”  At that moment, I realized that this man who was sitting two seats away from me had written this incredible book that I had not only seen in bookstores all over the country, but had studied and read from in some classes in college.  It was a pretty intense moment and I felt very much in the presence of greatness!  It made me even more excited to spend this year learning with such incredible faculty, and I began to get anxious for classes to begin already!  It’s going to be a phenomenal year, and I can’t wait to share more of my experiences and stories with you! 

Arrived in Israel!

Hello friends and family!  I am sorry it took me so long to write a new post, but settling in has been quite the process.  Also, we don't currently have internet in our apartment, but we are working on it.  If I am not responding to facebook posts or emails as quickly as usual, please know I will get to them soon!  Now for some updates:


  The flight:
The trip to Israel was relatively non-eventful.  However, one pretty ridiculous story did come out of my journey.  I was in the airport in Chicago and going through security, when a guard came to tell me that they needed to search my carry-on bag.  He takes it over to the table and opens it up, pulling out all my books on Talmud and Midrash.  I am pretty sure at this point he thinks I'm either some kind of religious zealot or totally insane (or both!). Then, he pulls out my mezuzah (a Jewish prayer box that goes on the doorpost with a little parchment inside inscribed with a prayer.) and asks what it is.  I tell him that it's a Jewish prayer object and he goes "Oh my gosh.  I am so sorry.  Is it okay that I touched it?"  I thought that was pretty hilarious, and afterwards came up with lots of good responses.  However, rather than make him more uncomfortable than he already clearly was, I just said that it was fine.  Another security person came over and asked what had been in the bag, and he goes "its a mesusha..did I say that right?"  I just nodded my head and tried hard not to laugh.

Arriving in Israel:
I was met at the airport by my uncle David, who took me back to Renanna.  Renanna a is a suburb of Tel Aviv, one of the major cities in Israel.  I was greeted with warm hugs and kisses from my family, which was wonderful and a welcome respite from the challenges of leaving home and starting a new life in Israel.  I spent the weekend with my aunt and uncle and cousins at a beach hotel about an hour away from their home.  It was beautiful and a great way to relax and get over jetlag before getting to Jerusalem.

Jerusalem (aka my new home):
I got to J'lem Sunday evening, and met Jessie (my fabulous roommate) at our apartment.  The apartment definitely has character, but its really nice and has two balconies overlooking the city.  My bedroom is big and has lots of closet space, so that's all I really care about!  Monday was fourth of july and we had a big HUC bbq at one of the parks near our apartment.  It was really great to meet everyone and get a sense of who is in my class.  Everyone is SO nice and amazing and beautiful.  After the bbq some of us went to a coffee shop nearby and sat and talked for about 3 hours.  It was fabulous.  We talked about everything from Talmud to our hometowns and our favorite TV shows.  Tuesday Jessie and I and a few of our classmates went to the shuk (an outdoor market) that has lots of great fruits, vegetables, and basically everything else you can think of.  We bought lots of groceries that were really cheap, and definitely fresher than the stuff at Jewel in Chicago!  After the shuk, Jessie and I went back to our apartment and took a nap (which has now become a daily ritual) and met up later with some classmates for dinner and gelato.  Today a bunch of us went on a walking tour of Jerusalem, taking pictures in the old city.  I always forget how beautiful it is here, and since I haven't been back since high school it was really special to return. 

Jerusalem is an incredible city, filled with people of all religious faiths and traditions.  Some are secular Israelis and some are black hat Orthodox, (hasidim) which only adds to the colorful flair of the area.  Some things I have noticed since being here/this is my attempt at an "you know you are in Israel when..." list:
-the bus drivers smoke cigarettes while driving buses
-if there is a lot of traffic, people drive on the sidewalk
-nobody jaywalks (in fact you can get a ticket for doing so) because otherwise you will die.  Israelis will not stop for you unless you are already in the middle of the crosswalk, in which case you have a better chance of making it to the other side.
-everyone speaks English--which is a problem because I really need to practice my hebrew!
-the old city is still as magical as I remember from high school
-birthright trips are EVERYWHERE
-it is incredible easy to spot the tourist

It's been a wonderful adventure so far--check out my blog for more updates. Orientation officially starts on Sunday, and then we have ulpan (hebrew classes) and a biblical history course that starts after that.   Love you all!

xoxox