Out of Sync

24 October 2006

I'm still without computer, although the good word is that it's on its way tomorrow. Whether the data has survived is another question. I somehow think that Israeli computer repair folks are less charitable about preserving data than their American counterparts. I will take a lesson from the venerable Reb Zalman and his parable on the computer crash as Jewish mystical development. Look out for the "Emmes DOS" pun.

In any case, thanks to my fellow fellow GW, I've got a bit of computer access and thus can try and get up to speed, a bit. What's been happening:

- A lovely holiday of Sukkot came my way, along with a visit from the best Mom ever. We navigated much of the length of the country in our rental car, visiting two kibbutzim, four sets of cousins, and learned to take our bathing suits off in the middle of the Mediterranean. Back in J'lem, we co-built a wonderful sukkah, hosted meals and parties, danced with the sefer Torah, prayed for rain, and ate more meat than I'd eaten in weeks. Mom got kudos for being the "coolest mom ever" for accompanying me to parties and classes without ever seeming like an old fogey. (These words of praise could be about you, O Readers--come visit me!)

- Classes have now started in earnest, and I've dived in headfirst to my superTalmud class. Assignments for the next seven classes total about 11 dapim; that's about six sides of a page to learn per week. Even in my high-school-10-hrs-of-Talmud-per-week days, I don't think I made it through that much material, and this is mostly to be prepared on my own. I've taken to sitting in coffee shops with my books spread around me, learning a bissel Gemara while ignoring the stares from the chiloni and dati customers alike.

- I'm also taking a Magen David Adom training class to be an EMT, which I must say is such a struggle for me. On the one hand, it's great to be learning someting that is so outside my comfort zone and area of expertise. On the other hand, I bristle at the possibility that someday I'll be using this knowledge, be it on an ambulance here or in the States, or in some unfortunate accident of daily life. I am fascinated by the world of medicine, but also so, so scared--we shall see what becomes of this in my life. Add to this my general worries about my Hebrew--could I serve on a Hebrew-speaking ambulance?--and the couple of very annoying people in my class, and I'm in for a stressy ride each Tuesday and Wednesday nights.

- On the upside, our fellows' days have been going great, and last week I discovered the mythic Jerusalem Boogie! As Myrrh describes it, "it's two hundred people dancing like they are dancing alone in their living rooms." Thanks to JT for pointing me its way.

...So I guess newsy is easy to write, insightful less so...more to come when I'm wired again (and maybe even some pics). In the meantime, keep praying for rain--we all need it.

ok computer

17 October 2006

Sorry folks for the long radio silence. My beautiful MacBook has experienced some malfunctions and is now living in the Yeda shop (Israeli branch of Apple) in Rosh Ha'ayin. I hope to have it back home in the next week or two. On the upside, I learned how to navigate Israeli industrial parks and learned the Hebrew words for "keyboard" and "crash."

More to come soon...

Ofanei HaKodesh

4 October 2006

A quick hello from this side of the Day of Repentance. I'd begun to post before Yom Kippur started, but as way led on to way, that post got abandoned and here we are, with the gates of teshuva closed once again.

I'd entered YK without much introspection or hope for a spiritual day. Despite all the preparations here--the stores closing at 11 am, white clothing on sale, the barrista wishing you a "gmar chatimah tovah" with the change from your latte--I was not so ready for a day of full spiritual onslaught. In truth, I've been doing so so much introspection since deciding to come to Israel that I'm a bit "emoted out." I planned for myself a day of full attendance at various services, hoping to get some good singing, a bit of the fasting rush, and perhaps a tiny snippet of time with the One Upstairs.

As it turns out, it was a lovely day, about on par with my spiritual expectations but rather transformed with regards to my political feelings about living in a Jewish state. In Jerusalem (and I'm told in most other Jewish Israeli cities), the roads are entirely bereft of cars. None. All the children--secular and religious--come out with their rollerblades and bikes, riding down the major thoroughfares in prime rush hour time. To steal from one of the Hav wordsmiths, I can make a joke about ofanei ha-kodesh, the holy revolving spheres and the modern Hebrew word for bicycle. These children can participate in the religious day of not-riding in cars, but more than that, they can participate in the political day of having streets of our own, where traffic can stop because the Jewish state decides that this is a day of no-cars for everyone. (One might make the point that this is another instance of the uniformity of practice imposed by the Rabbinate, but that's for another post.)

In any case, no good spiritual awakenings, but I did learn a couple terrific tunes and missed my rollerblades a whole lot. If I'd not been groggy w/no food, I'd have cut a figure 8 or two with the hippie kids in the street.

Other snippets of life here:

- Being the only woman in my MDA class wearing pants. I'll write about my nervousness about becoming a medic in a later post, but being that this is a religiously-focused post (in a good time for sinat chinam), I'll just mention that this was the first time I saw everyday folks with orange pro-settler ribbons on the bags.

- Trying to buy a prefab sukkah and lulav in the shuk. Yesterday was an information-gathering day, and today I return with my male kippah-wearing friend and my long sleeves to try again. I think we'll be in luck, but we may have to pay a pretty penny--this'll be my first time indulging in a prefab kit. Wonder whether I can ship it home to the US?

- The weather is changing--almost too cool for sleeveless except in the midday heat. I'm told that the skies open up as soon as Sukkot ends, coinciding perfectly with our prayers for rain.

- My MOM comes tomorrow! Hooray! We are off traveling next week, to Tel Aviv and Haifa and Kibbutz Be'eri and perhaps the Akko theater festival. All the rest of you who are considering coming, prices on tix are falling, falling...