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...
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...
posted by S. @ 7:11 AM
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