The Action of America is the Reality of Israel

     After watching several fictional movies about wars, bombings, terrorist acts of violence, and other action themes, I realized something. In America we can say those are fake, we can believe that they don't exist in reality because well they don't exist in America, but for Israelis, that does exist. Every time we Americans see a child crying out of fear or a family running for shelter, we see it as a fantasy. We see it this way because that's what these films stimulate, but mainly because we don't know. We aren't aware of what's going on in Israel, we don't know that people across the world are running to bomb shelters everyday as a part of their lives, and frankly a lot of Americans don't care to know. I can sat from personal experience that it's a lot easier to watch films when you know they're fictional. Being in Israel makes it difficult for me to watch some of these action films, even if I'd seen them previously. It stimulates fear and frustration knowing this is actually happening all the time right here in Israel, in such a beautiful place.

     The same thing can be said about the Holocaust. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that every American knows what the Holocaust is, whether or not they believe it happened, they have heard of the general idea. When I watched movies about the Holocaust in America, I felt sad. Living in Israel, even for only four months is changing the way I see the world and the way I see myself. Now looking back at when I was in America, I can't believe myself. I felt sad, sad doesn't even begin to explain how the Holocaust makes me feel. Sad is not even a word that should appear in my vocabulary when I think of the Holocaust, but it did. Sad was the word that came to mind when I watched those American movies in America. Now, being in Israel words that come to my mind are devastation, and reality. America makes certain realities seem like fantasies and as Americans we view them as fantasies. The hard part about being in Israel is realizing that America is living in a fool's paradise and Israel is the reality.

What It Means to Be A Jew

     To me, being a part of עם ישראל (the Jewish people) means being a community. It means becoming instant friends with the person sitting next to you simply because you are both Jewish. Wherever I go I feel connected and proud to be part of such a small minority in the world because that's what gives me the pride to call myself Jewish and to call the Jew I just met my family. When I was at little outdoor pocket of shops type of thing, I was looking in a small store talking with my friends when a lady taps me and says, "super is cheaper." This was a stranger, a random Israeli that saw a tourist buying a snack and she went out of her way to speak English to me and make sure that I was at the right spot. So was she really a stranger? In my eyes, she wasn't a stranger, she was my family, my friend, and someone I would be proud to represent at home in America.

      In America, I've had people ask me why I wear my Jewish star outside of my shirt rather than hiding it. I have people give me sympathy for being Jewish because there are so many more moral rules and such a small minority now a days. I have even had people tell me they would help me convert to their religion so that I wouldn't go to hell. Here in Israel, I don't have to answer those questions or explain to people what the Torah is, I get the freedom to be Jewish and where being proud is an expectation rather than a shock or an outlier to society. Israel is and always will be my home and I will never lose my Jewish pride.

When the Bullied Becomes the Bully

     I recently read an article about Ethiopians and their struggle to be accepted in Israeli society. This was such a shocking piece to read, especially considering that the Israeli people are the ones that should be the first to accept them considering the fact that they know exactly what discrimination feels like. It just seems so unimaginable that such discrimination is taking place in the one place where the Jewish people are supposed to feel accepted and protected from discrimination. Just like it's mentioned in the Tanakh, the connection between men is more important than anything else, and this 'rule' should be applied to everyday life. Regardless of where they came from or what they believe, they should still feel the safety of Israel and not be discriminated against.

My Family At Home

     I was told to write a post about my synagogue at home. The only problem is that I don't go to a specific synagogue and I don't have a congregation at home, I have a family. It's not that I'm not religious or that I don't feel that I have a connection with God or feel the need to pray, I just don't agree with the idea that going to a temple or synagogue means that I have to agree with their ideology or their practices of Judaism. For shabbat and high holidays my family and I go to our other family's house. I went to a private Orthodox Jewish school for most of my elementary years, and everyone at the school became my family. Wee go to my fourth grade Jewish studies teacher's house for pesach and to the principle's house for shabbat and many many more.They accept what we think about Judaism and are always excited to share their ideas with us. I am so grateful to be a part of this community where I am accepted for what I believe and for the traditions in my family. I feel it's very important to be a part of a community, whether it be a reformed temple, or an orthodox family, it makes such a difference to be involved. I love being a part of this amazing community and I am so happy that I found this family to join.

Parents Week For Everyone

     March 17 was parents week. Although my mom didn't come then, (she came at the beginning of April instead) there were so many other parents that wanted to take me to dinner or to the grocery store or simply be like a parent to me since mine were not there with me. It was this week when I felt so happy to be here, surrounded by so many Jews that are here for the same reason I am. it was this week, when I felt proud to be a part of such an amazing community that I'm not sure I would find anywhere else or even in another religion. Everyone treated me like family and acted as if they'd known me all their lives.

     Throughout history, Jews have shown time and time again, that we are Jews, we will be a nation, and we will fight for our right to be Jewish, whether it be reform, conservative, modern orthodox, ultra orthodox, or a convert, we will stick together when the hardships come and we will all be Jews. In the Holocaust for example, the strong didn't ask the weak how religious they were before helping them. When no one has the right to dress how they want or the way they believe, say prayers whether it be 10 minutes or 3 hours, when you take away the details, all you have left are Jews.

A Purim with meaning

     My first Purim in Israel was almost 2 months ago. I still remember it, because it was when I finally learned the true meaning behind Purim. I used to not even think of it as an important day, just another one of those holidays where you dress up and have fun. I later found out it was so much more. It represents the story of when the Jews were threatened with their lives, yet again, and yet again they didn't give up. They fought for what we have today and they overcame that obstacle.

     Jews have shown so much resilience, over and over again, and no matter how many times history repeats itself, and despite the amount of anti-Semitism, and regardless of the fact that we are such a small percentage of the world, we survived, and we fought for what we believed was ours and we won. For the first time in my life, Purim was not about finding the best costume or having some great party, it was about remembering another one of those times when Jews refused to give up and gave me the life I have today.

Women: Pure or Lucky - Impure or victimized

     Daf Yomi analyzes a page of Talmud every day. A recent page, was on the topic of women being raped in prison/jail and if they are pure for their husbands or not. It clearly states that once a woman has had sexual relations with anyone other than her husband, even if she is forced into it, she is considered impure and her husband cannot 'be with her'. It shows that if a women is sent to jail for her husband crimes, usually for debts, she is less likely to be raped considering the fact that a man is less likely to pay for an 'impure' wife. However, if a woman is sent to jail/prison for her own crimes, she is more likely to be raped noticing how many of their husbands were disgraced by their wives and no longer cared about them or if they were pure, and especially recognizing that many of the women involved in these crimes, were not married. I think the system explained here makes sense, but it should not be happening in the first place. It seems so unfair that a women who was victimized to such an extent would then be punished and humiliated by their community, and they are no longer allowed to be with their husband because they are considered impure.

Prepared for a fantasy

     The Etgar Keret story "What Do We Have In Our Pockets" tells about a man who was everything you could possibly need, in his pockets. His ideology was that if there was a girl at a pay phone that needed some change, he would have it and they would fall in love and his life would change forever. I think this is only applicable in certain situations, and without meaning to I find myself putting one of everything in my purse or backpack even if I know I personally won't use it. It seems flawed at the second part where your life will change if you are that prepared, almost like a fantasy.

     Another way to view this story, is how it relates to Jews in the sense that in the past, Jews had to practice professions that were easy to pick up and move, such as a doctor (knowledge stays with you anywhere you go) or someone who sells jewelry or pearls because that is also easy to move. They had to be prepared for every situation just like man in Etgar Keret's story.

Women of the Wall

     Yesterday we went on a Jewish History tiyul to the Kotel and joined the women of the wall. It started as it normally would, then without anyone taking notice, a man passes a small Torah from the men's side (he opens the gate and shits it quickly) and U.S. Women continue to pray and begin using the Torah. Once the men realize what has happened, they open the gate and men come rushing in physically pushing their way through women on the women's side of the wall. They were screaming things in Hebrew and yelling הספר שלי (the book/Torah is ours) and women were shouting back הספר שלנו (the book/Torah is ours). It went on like this for about 5 mins with shouting and pushing and men trying to take back the Torah before the guards showed up and got all the men back on their side.

     I grew up in a private (orthodox) Jewish school, and I had an modern orthodox bat mitzvah. I had it at 12 and instead of reading from the Torah, I recited the ashes chayil with translation. Everything I was taught about Judaism is against the idea of women reading Torah. Many of the people that were there think of how terrible the orthodox men are and were acting, and in some sense I can understand why they are mad at them, but thinking deeper about the topic, they have a right to be angry. They have the same right to their belief as we do to  ours. All they saw was a bunch of Reformed Jews taking a Torah from the men's side and reading it with all the women. This is against the entire base of their beliefs and of Hal'cha. I don't know if I can agree or disagree with what happened yesterday 100%, all I know is that I am so happy that I was there to witness the first time a Torah was brought on the women's side at the Kotel. I can't help but feeling an outrage of pride and joy for being there on a very important day in Jewish history/

To Love Responsibility

     After reading an article on Michael Oren, an author, and past Israeli ambassador, I questioned myself. Michael Oren grew up with dyslexia, and was faced with many anti-Semitic challenges that made it difficult to achieve his goals. With his determination and love for responsibility, he got himself moved to an honors English class, and learned Hebrew. I am so blessed to have good health, an amazing family, and an amazing opportunity to be studying in Israel, the Jewish state that so many people don't have the privilege of visiting, but am I taking it all for granted?
     I look at myself and think that I've worked hard and earned the wonderful life I have, but the truth is, without luck I would not have been where I am now, and Michael Oren didn't have the luck I do, but he earned his life. He studied as hard as he could, set his mind on something, and fought to get it, no matter the challenges. Reading this article made me realize that I have been taking my life for granted and every opportunity in it. Someday soon, I hope to push myself as hard as I can, become the person that I know I can be, and find the same love for responsibility that Michael Oren found at such a young age.

Revitalizing Jewish Prayer

     An article about revitalizing Jewish prayer discusses how discovering better ways to pray will keep us from losing a core of Jewish religious life. From my point of view, the core of Jewish religious life will be lost if we continue to change the ways of Jewish prayer. I can understand the concept of wanting to adjust our beliefs, and some of the laws of הלכה, to adapt to the modern world, but adapting to the modern world and completely changing the base of our religion. The idea of revitalizing Jewish prayer is flawed simply because of the way it's defined (according to this article). It states that revitalizing Jewish prayer is a way of altering what each of the laws mean. I would define revitalizing Jewish prayer as adapting the practices of  הלכה to apply more towards the modern world, while still keeping the basic laws and beliefs that can still be practiced in the modern world. For example, the sacrifice of animals is no longer an applicable law to our current day and age, but saying a short blessing before eating something is something that can still be done today without negatively affecting our daily lives. I personally say a prayer before anything I eat or drink to constantly remind me to be thankful for the life I have, and although I do not follow some of the other rules of הלכה, that does not mean that I don't understand the concept and relation in in faith to God.

Yemenite The First

     I had my first Scphardic Passover Seder in Israel with some family friends. Being Ashkenazi, I found it really interesting to learn about their traditions and how they differ from ours. The family I visited was also Yemen and every time they said a hebrew prayer, they said it again in a different Yemen language. It was exciting to taste all of the different Yemenite foods. We had a cilantro based soup with potatoes and chicken, grilled chicken, and my favorite was chicken stuffed with beef, rice, olives, and beans. It felt somewhat strange to eat rice at a Seder during Passover, being that's only a Scphardic tradition. I was also amazed by how many similarities there were dispite the completely different language. I also enjoyed spending time with the children and was amazed at how mature and intrigued they were with all the prayers and traditions. I had an exciting and memorable first Seder in Israel and can't wait to have another one.

Love For Judaism

     Our tiyul to the Israel Museum was amazing. We saw ancient Dead Sea Scrolls, the model of the second temple in Jerusalem, and the breathtaking אוהב sculpture. Students from our class created characters from each of the four sects we learned about: Sadducees, Pharisees, Zealots, and Essennes. It really helped me understand the actual stories and ways of life. One group that really caught my attention was the Zealots. The way they gave up their lives to themselves and each other rather than letting the Romans have the satisfaction of killing them. They burned all their buildings to prevent the Romans from enjoying what they had, but they left a sufficient amount of supply to show how good they had it. This shows their resilience in fighting for Judaism and for what they believe to be true. Although this was what the Zealots decided upon, it's knoe that two women and five children escaped from there even with the eight Roman camps surrounding them. I really enjoyed learning about these four sects on the talk to you later and it was interesting to know that the Pharisees were the surviving sect, being Rabbis and scholars.

To Jew or not To Jew

     In ancient times, Jews struggled to keep their religion prominent in their lives while being surrounded by Roman, Greek, Hellinistic, or Christian cultures. They sometimes felt obligated to lose certain aspects of Judaism in order to fit in or to please the rest of society. For example it was a conflict to decide weather a Jew should go to the Roman gymnasium and participate in the Roman society or to go to a Yashiva to study and keep that Jewish root. This relates to the modern world we live in today and still faces us with those challenging descisions. For example, there is a big party at your friends house on Shabbat. The conflict is presented whether to prioritize Judaism above all and Keep Shabbat, or to let the media influence you and go to the party desiring to fit in or become liked by the society around you. This is just one example of conflicts in the modern world, and there are many more. We can succome this by remembering our God and by believing that being a righteous person is more important than being exactly the same as everyone else in society. It mainly comes down to your faith in God and what you believe needs to be followed from the Jewish Laws and which ones are more important than others.

Gadna in 10 Seconds

     First, we hiked in Masada, learned from our jewish history teachers, and swam in the Dead Sea. It was so cool to float in the water and cover each other in the Dead Sea mud. When we were supposed to go to Gadna on Sunday, there was a big flood in the desert that blocked up all the roads that caused us to leave a day late. When we finally arrived at Gadna, we adjusted to our new living circumstances and began learning how to run in ten seconds. That day I also relieved a blue string to show that I helped הסמל in leading our groups and in giving our all everyday. The first two days were mostly just running in short periods, gun lessons, and a hike. The hike was eye opening to everyone in Gadna (NFTY People). We stayed silent the entire time we walked which showed the amount of respect we had for each other and those above us. The second to last day was my favorite because we got to shoot an M16 and we had a competition between all of our groups for running, push-ups, wall sits, drinking water, carrying stretchers, and crawling.

     Although it gave me scrapes and bruises, the competition was my favorite experience so far. It taught us more teamwork than any sport team I've ever been on, more responsibility than school has ever forced, and more motive than any reward could provide. It taught me that a smart person knows their limits and that a wise person knows they have none. We found power we didn't know we had, pain we didn't know we could endure, and togetherness we forgot we needed. The last day we had a ceremony in which I returned my blue string. I was really pleased with my experience in Gadna and although it was very tiring I've already begun to miss it.

Iran's Nuclear Power

     A large issue for Israel, and a lot of the world, is Iran's nuclear power and whether or not they should be allowed to have it. From my eyes, it seems quite risky to allow them to hold a nuclear weapon seeing as they have threatened to use it in the past. Nuclear power would not only give Iran power that is unnecessary, but it will also cause headache for other countries around the world, like the United States of America. Currently, Iran states that they will not use the nuclear weapon, but if that is true, then why do they need one? Some people might believe that prohibiting Iran's possession of a nuclear weapon is like taking away their freedom of speech, however others tend to disagree. Giving Iran nuclear power sends a message to the rest of the world that it's acceptable to threaten surrounding countries with nuclear weapons, on the other hand it looks as though we should not allow Iran to hold that power in any case. It seems quite foolish to think that Iran would ever use the nuclear weapon on Israel being that it would basically be comiting suicide.

Tels of Judaism

     Today we went to Jerusalem and explored the old city. We saw the tels of Jewish civilizations and how advanced their housing and war defense systems were, even without our modern day technology. For us to find the oldest civilizations, we have to destroy the layers at the top of the tel. In certain scenarios, major conflicts are raised, for example with the 2nd Temple (Bayt Hamigdash). It's questioned whether it's logical to destroy the 2nd temple to find the remains of the 1st Temple. Is it worth it to destroy for something to find something even cooler that may or may not be there? I think this relates to what it means to be jewish and to how religious you are.

     Some people may believe that being reformed is just better than nothing, but for me it's not a settle, it's a choice. In order to follow a commandment in our modern wall, sometimes we first have to break another that no longer makes sense to practice. Although some commandments are higher than others, that doesn't mean that some have less moral importance. I think it's important to recognize that they were there at some point for a specific purpose and that they all have a lesson to learn if not a rational rule to follow. From my eyes, orthodox believe that it's not worth the risk to destroy the first layer in order to get to the second layer that may or may not exist. It seems as though reformed Jews take that risk however, they're not always right and that can sometimes leave them further behind than where they started.

Iran Hosts Holocaust Cartoon Contest

    Iran recently hosted a holocaust cartoon contest. This brings up major conflict in questioning if this is an acceptable contest and if it's morally correct. So why is it such a big deal to some and not to those presenting it? It bothers me a lot to think that this is actually happening. People could always argue that it's the freedom of speech and that it should be allowed considering the other cartoons made representing Muhammad and other cartoons along those subjects. One major difference is that we don't strongly care if you mock our religious leaders or prophets, but mocking our dead family is incomparable.

    If it's considered racist to disagree with this contest then call me racist, but we're not going to burst into your office shooting you and your colleagues dead with AK47s or rocket propelled grenades. It's straight up murder! So at what point is it no longer morally and legally correct to promote murder (which I needn't mention, is also against the law)? At what point is it unacceptable to break one law and consider it another? At what point is it okay for there to be piles of dead Jews with Iran being a flamingo with its head stuck in the ground? That's the fundamental difference. 

The Story of Noah

     In the Tanakh, the story of Noah is told two different ways. This raises the question, what really happened and did it in fact happen at all? The answer could either be simple or complex depending on ones religious beliefs. Someone could simply say that they are two different stories that were fiction, written in a book along with a combination of other fiction and nonfiction stories. However, a more complex answer would state that the story of Noah was lost in translation when being recorded in the Tanakh. I personally, do consider myself to be a religious person in the sense that I believe in God and that the Tanakh, which is said to be written of Gods word, is exactly that. For the less religious, it may seem like a book of short stories pasted together with tales that have morals and nothing more. Thinking more on the topic, it seems ridiculous to assume that a very large group of people would just drop their lives and agree to study and devote their life to something that they have no idea is true. It would require a large enough group of people that say one thing to convince another group to trust in such a commuting religion.

     If you believe that the Tanakh is just a book of tales that can be tossed out the window and replaced with a history book, because it doesn't have the evidence and has gaps, then isn't that the same thing? In my eyes, if the Tanakh is just a book for the Jewish religion, then doesn't that rule also apply to a history book considering it's based on the birth and death of Jesus? If the Tanaka should not be read because of the evidential gaps, then why should history books be read if they're not 100% correct? According to history books, about 1/3 of the information is not substantially correct! Just as science continues to be proved as wrong and mostly guesses, why should we believe what's in those books? Because it's considered a fact, or because it's been believed for many many years? Isn't that enough reason to practice something? Tradition! Even then, without the substantial evidence, the Tanaka represents the world that Jews live in and the word of God. If that's what we have faith in and if you have faith in the same type of thing for a different religion, then why should the word of your /my God be questioned.