Bubbe, Zayde and Borscht: A Reform Pesach Initiative in Russia

Dear Friends,

Although Passover (Pesach) may seem a long way off, a group of eleven first-year Rabbinical and Cantorial students in Jerusalem at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR), are already planning an important 2012 Passover project.  

These students, including myself, (and one fantastic spouse) will travel to several countries within the Former Soviet Union (FSU) to organize and lead Passover seders and programming with Jewish communities.

• What does Passover mean to you?
• Who sits around your Passover table?
• What would your Judaism look like without Passover? 

Building on the momentum and success of nine years of this initiative, the 10th Annual FSU Pesach Project seeks to strengthen these traditions where they are already in place and introduce them to others in under-served communities. By supporting the FSU Pesach Project, you are helping to celebrate the Jewish story of liberation in a region where oppression is a real and recent memory.

I hope you will support these first-year FSU passionate students and these communities to celebrate our powerful narrative of moving from slavery to freedom through story, ritual, food, reflection and community building.

HUC-JIR, in close partnership with the World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ), which unites and supports Reform congregations worldwide, is thrilled to support the 10th Annual FSU Pesach Project.  This project started in response to a call from FSU Jewish communities for Progressive Jewish education. We work closely with local communities to provide meaningful Passover celebrations for thousands of under-served Jews in the region. For more information on this important project, please visit the FSU Project website: http://fsupesachproject2012.wordpress.com.

Knowing the students donate their time, what are the other costs?  We estimate all the important bits and pieces will add up to about $30,000. Of course, the most significant costs are air travel, interpreters, food for the seders, and educational materials.  As noted, each student is volunteering their time, and forgoing Passover celebrations with their families in the States or seders in Jerusalem.  For us it is one year out of the annual cycle of celebration.  For the participants they report it is unique and important project that strengthens existing communities, and in many cases, introduces children, families, and seniors to Progressive Judaism.  This effort serves to enable these communities to continue observing Passover in the years to come.  

Your contribution will make a huge contribution to making this initiative possible. There are several ways to donate (all donations are tax-deductible):

Online:              http://fsupesachproject2012.wordpress.com

By mail:            HUC-JIR Attn: Christina Gall

            3101 Clifton Avenue

            Cincinnati, OH 45220

*Checks should be made out to “HUC-JIR-FSU Project”, please write the name Jessica Wainer in the memo line.

If you have any questions regarding this exciting project, please email me at jessica.wainer@gmail.com

On behalf of everyone at HUC-JIR, and our partners at the World Union for Progressive Judaism, we appreciate your commitment to making this project a success for us and for the FSU Jewish community.

Thank you very much  

Спасибо   תודה רבה

Jessie and the FSU Team of 2012

Viva la Espana!

Spain (Se-pha-rad) ספרד
Spanish (Se-phar-a-dit) ספרדית
Sangria (San-gri-ah) סנגריה

Over Sukkot break, I was lucky enough to spend time both in Israel and outside of Israel. The first day or two of my break I was in Israel. I spend the first night of Sukkot in a sukkah with some good family friends and then promptly left for the airport to spend the better part of a week in Spain with my good friend Julie. I will spare you the boring details about how my flight was delayed because of the general strikes in Greece, but I will say that Israeli customer service, when it comes to delays is much better than American customer service!

I spent the first day that I was in Spain in Madrid, which is where Julie lives. We went to Templo de Debod which is an ancient Egyptian temple that was rebuilt in Madrid. It was built very close to the Royal Palace of Madrid, and sits on the side of a mountain overlooking part of the city. We didn't do much else in Madrid that first day, as I got in relatively late and we were getting up early the next day to go with the program that Julie staffs to Toledo, Spain for the day. Although, I did have my first real Spanish sangria and I can tell you that it doesn't even compare to that of any sangria that I have ever had anywhere else in the world.

Templo de Debod, Madrid, Spain

Real sangria in Spain!

On Friday we spent the day in Toledo, Spain. I happened to luck out at the time that I went, as Julie's program happened to be taking a day trip there and they allowed me to join them for the day! Spain, prior to the Spanish Inquisition, was a very important location to the Jewish people. Some of the most influential thinkers have come from Spain, including one of the most famous Rambam (Rabbi Moses ben Maimon). Toledo was known and recognized as being a place of coexistence of Christian, Jewish and Muslim cultures. Throughout the day we visited churches that had once been mosques and churches that had once been synagogues. It was amazing to see how the original architecture and religious influences had remained in the buildings, even after other religious took over them. Additionally, especially in the synagogues, it was amazing to see how much Hebrew truly remained. A lot of the Hebrew was hard to read because of how intricately it was it was designed, but it still remained as a reminder of how the synagogues used to look, before the churches redecorated. One of the things that I had always learned about, both in my Spanish classes at school, as well as my religious school classes, was about how the Moorish and Spanish architecture had influenced the design of synagogues in Spain. This could clearly be seen in the two synagogues that we went to, that had many archways that resembled the keyhole arches that Spanish architecture is known for. While I was in Toledo, I also of course had to try marzipan, which is another thing that Toledo is known for. At first I got a kick out of it because I thought they were talking about rugulah (which was entertaining to think that when I had thought of marzipan I automatically equated it with Marzipan rugulah and not with actual Marzipan). However, at this Mazapan they make real marzipan which was absolutely delicious!

Marzipan in the shape of fruits!

A sukkah for Sukkot at one of the synagogues in Toledo!

Inside one of the synagogues. Can you see the Hebrew at the top? 

The keyhole arches inside one of the synagogues in Toledo

A view of Toledo from outside of Toledo

Julie and I outside of Toledo

We got back from Toledo relatively late on Friday, and promptly left early Saturday morning to spend the next two days in Granada, Spain. I have learned and dreamed about going to Granada since I can remember. There are a lot of reasons for this, but two of the most important are that a) I can now say that I have been to and seen both cities of Granada (Spain and Nicaragua) and b) I have now seen and explored only parts of the Alhambra, which means that I definitely need to go back to see more! Granada is a beautiful city in Spain located in the Andalusian region of southern Spain. Since we had reservations to go and visit the Alhambra on Sunday morning, we decided to spend Saturday exploring  Granada. We went to the Parque de las Ciencias, which had an interactive science museum, as well as a butterfly house that we explored! After educating outselves for a little bit we went to the famous Catedral and Capilla Real where Ferdinand and Isabelle used to worship, and are now buried. I have been to some of the other famous European cathedrals, and they never cease to amaze me with just how much detail and beauty they have intertwined in them. There was gold every way that you turned, whether in the main cathedral, or in one of the side private cathedrals.

Consuming fruits and vegetables in Spain is natural and the ones of Granada are exceptional! 

Albert and I are now on a first name basis

Butterfly at the butterfly world at the science museum

One of the sculptures and installations in the Catedral

The graves of Ferdinand and Isabelle 

We spent the rest of the evening walking around and exploring Granada. We had some exceptional tapas and even got caught in the middle of a social justice protest. I felt right at home! On Sunday, we spent basically the entire day at Alhambra. I knew that it was a large palace, but I had no idea how enormous the ground of Alhambra actually are! I will let the pictures speak for themselves...

Julie and I on top of one of the lookouts at Alhambra

The last two days of my trip to Spain I spent touring around Madrid. Julie was working, which meant that I took a map and for the most part, got myself around Madrid. I only got lost once (which for those of you know me is probably a world record) and managed to find my way back without too much trouble. My first day I spent exploring some of the parks, as well as the Royal Palace of Madrid. Like many of the other royal palaces in Europe, it was ginormous and over-extravagantly decorated.  My second day I spent visiting museums in Madrid. There are three famous art museums known as the Golden Triangle because they are all so well known and contain so many famous artists. I was only able to go to two, the Prado and the Thyssen, both of which had world renowned collections of arts from both Spanish artists like El Greco and Picasso, to Monet and Van Gogh. Julie also took me to see the Retiro Park which is like Madrid's Central Park.

Overall, it was an absolutely amazing trip to Spain! I definitely didn't get to go everywhere that I would have liked, but all that means is that I need to go back to Spain in the near future to keep exploring! And who knows, maybe next time I will actually be able to speak in Spanish in them, as opposed to understanding all of their Spanish and responding to them in Hebrew!
 

After the Chaggim

After the Holidays (a-cha-rei ha-cha-ggim) אחרי החגים

In Israel they have this saying "After the Holidays" or "אחרי החגים". This is because for the period of about a month there are at least 4 major holidays for which everything in Israel closes down. Because of this, there are generally a great many things that people just put off until after the holidays. Even though I have had a fully functional computer this entire time I have been slacking on keeping up with my blog postings, using the excuse that I will post after the holidays so that I can do one all-encompassing post of the chaggim.

Slichot


In Ashkenazic tradition Slichot begins on the Saturday night before Rosh Hashanah (unless Rosh Hashanah is on a Sunday, Monday or Tuesday, in which case it is the week before). We had our services at HUC that night which were led by a few of the different Rabbis and Cantors on faculty, as well as our high holiday choir which included cantorial students and a few rabbinical students. I had only been to Slichot services a few times before this, so it was really nice to get a sense of different types of services that were being led. There were some songs that were sung, a quick group discussion, and that was about it. Since our Slichot services ended relatively early, a group of us decided to explore an additional Slichot service at the Great Synagogue. The Great Synagogue  is an Orthodox synagogue, but I decided that it would be interesting for me to see what the difference was between a Reform and Orthodox Slichot service. Needless to say there were many differences, as their service started at 10pm and when we left at almost midnight the services were still going.

Rosh Hashanah


Rosh Hashanah was an interesting experience here for many reasons. First of all, Rosh Hashanah is the only holiday where Israel also celebrates 2 days (as opposed to holidays such as Passover where in Israel there is only one night of Seder instead of 2 in the Diaspora). Because Rosh Hashanah happened to begin on a Wednesday night this year it meant that stores closed relatively early on Wednesday afternoon and did not open again until Saturday night. You can only imagine the madness that ensued at both the shuk and the grocery store. By the time that we got to the grocery store on Tuesday night I felt like I was going grocery shopping on Thanksgiving day, the store was so picked over. However, we managed to find everything that we needed and managed to make it out of the store in one piece. For Erev Rosh Hashanah Rebecca and I went to a good family friends house, who happens to be the home for the wayward OSRUI alums in Israel. It was great to see old friends, and be reintroduced to people who I worked with at camp many years ago. I would have to say that the highlight of the dinner included an explanation of the Rosh Hashanah seder complete with a singing fish instead of a fish head on our table!

For the first day of Rosh Hashanah, HUC did not have services, but instead encouraged us to go to different congregations around the Jerusalem area. A group of students, including myself, went to a congregation called Kehilat Tzur Hadassah in Tzur Hadassah. Generally, when I think of a traditional Reform high holiday service, it includes everyone showing up on time, dressed in their "Sunday Best" since for many people this is one of the few times a year that they might go to synagogue. In Israel, it is completely the opposite! Most people come to the service half way through, in time to hear the Torah being read of the sounds of the shofar being blown. At the beginning of the service there were no more than about 20 people in the room and by the peak of the service there were maybe 50 people present. The dress code in Israel is generally different than in the States. Here people regularly wear a pair of jean and a top to services, a wedding, or generally for any day events. It has taken a little bit of getting used to to realize that one does not need to wear a fancy dress in order to pray.

The second day of Rosh Hashanah I chose not to go to services in the morning, mostly because it was my birthday and I wanted to be able to sleep in! We went back to our family friends house for an open house Rosh Hashanah luncheon and that night (which also happened to be Shabbat) we had a Shabbat dinner at our place. It was really nice to have a group of our friends gathered together to celebrate Shabbat and also relax after a few days filled with services!

Yom Kippur


There is absolutely nothing like Yom Kippur in Jerusalem! Yom Kippur, which is the Shabbat of Shabbats, is truly treated that way here. Beginning early on Erev Yom Kippur everything began to shut down. By the time that the siren went off to indicate that the holiday had started, you could barely hear any traffic or movement outside. By the time that services ended around 8pm there was almost zero traffic. The city shuts down to the extent that all street lights are set to stay a flashing yellow, as no one would actually have to wait for the traffic to pass. One of the greatest things about the observance of Yom Kippur in Jerusalem is that everybody is out and walking around in the middle of the streets! It was truly amazing to see how so many different people observe this holiday. Since our services ended so early, a few of us decided to walk to the Western Wall to see what the old city would be like on Yom Kippur. I have to say that it was not much different than any other day except for the fact that people were all dressed in white (one of the traditions of Yom Kippur). We also noticed something funny, which was that many of the ultra-orthodox men were not wearing shoes. This was not to make a fashion statement, but rather because leather is traditionally not worn on Yom Kippur. For many people I know, this allows them to wear gym shoes, sandals, crocs, or just generally something more comfortable. However, in the Orthodox community, the alternative shoes that they wear are not supposed to make them feel more comfortable. For this reason there was a tshuvah (response) issued that people should not wear crocs (a shoe staple in Israel) on Yom Kippur. Instead, men just chose to go bear footed throughout the city.

Sukkot

Sukkot in Israel is a great experience (even if I only had one night of it). Beginning a few days before Sukkot hammering could be heard all throughout the city, a telltale sign that people are putting their sukkot up. However, it was not only personal households that put up a sukkah but also hotels and restaurants. It was hard to find a street where you could walk down and not see a sukkah. The morning before Sukkot began we had an optional tour of one of the markets that sells the Arba Minim (Four Spices). We talked about what constitutes a kosher Etrog, Lulav, Hadass, and Aravah, as well as different traditions that people have about how one is supposed to shake them in the sukkah (namely whether one shakes it in all of the directions with their feet firmly planted on the ground, or whether one physically moves to face each direction). We then entered the market and were able to have a look around. It reminded me a little bit of a Christmas market in which everyone has their own booth or table where they are selling their specific items and people look around and take hours to find the perfect thing that they are looking for. As I stood there looking around it became evident to me just how important this holiday is to people, and how much it means to have just the right Lulav and Etrog.

Men measuring the Hadassah to make sure that it is long enough and has enough leaves on its stem.

This bag says "Kosher Hadass" and is indicating to people that they have already been checked for the correct length and number of leaves. 

Etrogs (Citrons) of all different shapes and colors!

Sukkot Break in Spain! 
Blog update and pictures from Spain to come soon!

שנה טובה ומתוקה

Year (Sha-nah) שנה
Good (To-vah) טובה
Sweet (Me-Tu-Kah) מתוקה

I realized that it has been an extremely long time since I have posted here, so bear with me, as I have a lot of things to say! The two main reasons that I haven't posted to my blog is that I had two major technological catastrophes: my computer battery and charger dying both within the same week, and spilling some lovely milk on my computer. Luckily, my computer loves me and is still functioning!

We are now into the think of our fall semester. I am finding all of the classes really enjoyable, and all of the professors are really great. One of the nicest things about being in a small class, and on a small campus, is that each of us really gets the opportunity to know our professors on a much more personal level than I ever had the opportunity to do at Indiana University. It is not that I didn't have great professors at IU, because I most definitely did, but here we are able to sit and have one on one discussions. There are even times when our professors come and spend their lunch hour sitting with students and getting to know us, rather than staying among the faculty. I know that these are people that will some day be my peers, but it still amazes me that they are willing to take the time out of their busy lives to spend time learning about us!

Two of my favorite classes are the History of the Zionist Movement and our Israel Seminar class. The history class is meant to discuss Zionism from before there was even a word for Zionism, all the way through the present times and what Zionism means today. I think that I find this particularly interesting because I spent the past year working for the American Zionist Movement, which is the American branch of the World Zionist Organization. I think that until I was done working for the AZM last year, I didn't realize how much of a Zionist I really was. No, that doesn't necessarily mean that I will be moving to Israel any time in the near future, but it does mean that I care very deeply about Israel, and will continue to develop what my connection to Israel really means. As a part of our Israel Seminar class, which I will talk more about in a minute, we have monthly meetings where we answer a prompt and then discuss this within our small groups. The first prompt had to do with the land of Israel, and I chose to write about my struggle to connect to the physical land of Israel. You can read the response here, for anyone who is interested.

Our Israel Seminar is a class that we have once a week. The purpose of this class is to explore, in greater depth, different aspects of the history of Israel, as well as contemporary issues in Israel. One of the things that I like most is that at the beginning of every session, we have an opportunity to discuss the ongoing issues within Israel. That can be anything from the social justice protests to the Palestinian's application for statehood in the UN. These are all issues that can tend to be incredibly complex, and while some parts of it may be easy to understand, in a world where everything can change at the drop of a hat, it is nice to have some Israeli insight! One of the other reasons that I particularly enjoy this class is because it is not just lecture based. Every week we either go on a field trip, or have speakers some to talk to us. These speakers are not just your average run of the mill Israelis (although they are perfectly interesting to talk to) but instead they are people like Natan Sharansky. So far, we have had two field trips. The first was a look at Jerusalem, based on walking along one particular street, King David Street. We talked about the pre-Israeli military forces and what they did to try and get the British to leave Israel. We also go to walk up to the top of the YMCA in Jerusalem, which a)used to be the tallest building in Jerusalem and b) was built by the same architect who built the Empire State Building.

A view from the YMCA sign from the top of the YMCA tower.

The second trip that we took was to Tel Aviv. I was not particularly looking forward to this field trip, as we were leaving early and I had been to all of the places that we were going, but by the end I found it incredibly interesting. We spent the day working our way through the history of Tel Aviv, from the time that it was first established as a city through the Tel Aviv of today. One of the most interesting places that we went to was Rabin Square. Unfortunately, we were not able to enter the actual Rabin Square as it is under construction, but we were able to sit outside and discuss the events surrounding Yitzhak Rabin's assassination.

Part of the graffiti that memorializes the place where Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated. 

I found this particularly interesting because the day that we were there was 9/20, the day that the Palestinian Authority was supposed to decide whether they were going to submit their bid for statehood to the UN General Assembly or the UN Security Council. I found it particularly interesting that on the day that we were sitting there talking about a man who gave his life trying to make peace in Israel (and the one that has been the closest yet to making peace with the Palestinians) Israel was facing some major implications based on the decisions of the Palestinian Authority. Of course, nothing has been decided yet, but here, it is definitely something that people are constantly talking about. There is a lot of general speculation, but no one will really know what will happen until decisions are made, or votes are taken.

In a time when many things are uncertain, we can do nothing more than to watch and hope that decisions are made that can appease both sides, and help everyone to move onto a new chapter in their lives, one which involves a peaceful existence.

 שנה טובה ומתוקה - May you have a sweet and healthy new year, and may you be inscribed in the book of life.

10 Years Ago Today...

Ten (eh-ser) עשר
Today (ha'yom) היום
Change (l'sha-not) לשנות


10 Years Ago Today I...
- was 13 years old and in the 8th grade at Percy Julian Middle School
- thought that I wanted to go to Washington University in St. Louis and become a doctor like the rest of my family
- was beginning to learn about the US government and study for my constitution test
- was celebrating the fact that my birthday just narrowly missed falling on Yom Kippur
- was beginning to think about the next year when I would be a freshman in high school at OPRF
- could go to an airport less than an hour before my flight and still get to the gate before boarding time
- was sitting on a bus when another student told us that the third world war had started (this was her interpretation of the events on 9/11)
- was sitting in all of my classes watching the news unfold, watching the towers collapse one after another, and doing math because our math teacher refused to let us watch the news
- had no idea who Al Qaeda, the Taliban or Osama Bin Laden were and thought that terrorist attacks only happened in Israel
- didn't understand why groups of people around the world could hate each other so much that they choose to kill themselves and others over it


Today I am...
- a graduate of OPRFHS and Indiana University - Bloomington with a degree in Jewish Studies
- studying to be a rabbi at Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion
- thinking about all of the work that I have to do before the high holidays in a few weeks
- living in Israel for the year
- learning about people who have such a strong connection to the land of Israel that they are willing to fight and die to protect their homeland
- celebrating the fact that my birthday this year falls on the second day of Rosh Hashanah
- listening to the events occurring in the Middle East with a heavy but hopeful heart
- not understanding how it is that groups of people around the world can hate each other so much that they choose to kill themselves and others over this hatred


10 years ago, events happened that changed the United States of America, and the world at large. While 10 years is a long time, and many things have changed, at the same time there are some things that have changed very little. For my generation, this is the pearl harbor, or the assassination of JFK. We will always remember exactly where we were when we first heard of these terrorist attacks, and for the most part, will remember exactly how our days played out. Generations before us have experienced the same thing, whether it was hearing of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the assassination of JFK, or any other tragic event. These are events that have become a part of our collective memory, and it is important for people to be able to tell their personal stories so that when generations to come feel that they may have no connection to a specific event that happened prior to their birth, they have people to turn to that can remind them of what life was like: prior to that day, on the day, and after the day of these sorts of events. 


As we remember the events of 10 years ago, we not only remember the actions of the terrorists, but those that gave their lives to help and protect others. This past weekend my classmates and I spent a weekend in the north of Israel. One of our speakers spoke to how life is an obligation, not a choice. For the people who fought valiantly on the plans so that fewer people would be harmed, for the policemen and firefighters who bravely entered the burning towers, and for anyone who did anything to help a fellow human on 9/11, they all lived their lives as an obligation not a choice. We can only hope that the rest of us are able to live up to the standards that were set for us 10 years ago today on 9/11/2011. זיכרונם לברכה - May their memories be for a blessing. 

A Day in the Life of a Rabbinical Student

Class (ki-tah) כִּתָּה
Lesson (Shi-ur) שִׁעוּר


This will be a quick update since we just got back from a trip to the North for the weekend. I have officially completed my first week of my fall semester of my Year in Israel program at HUC-JIR (could they have come up with longer name?) Here are a few highlights from the week:


1.) We have a new Hebrew teacher, Rivki. She seems really great so far and is having us speak a lot more in class, which is really nice since many of us have noticed that one thing that we really need to improve upon is our spoken Hebrew.


2.) My Bible teacher, Sima, is an incredibly entertaining woman. She is a chain smoker (who smokes so much that she teaches class with an unlit cigarette in her hand at all times) and actually Hebrew incredibly properly (including pronouncing all of the letters differently which in today's rhetoric most Israelis do not do). 


3.) My Israel Seminar class and History of Zionism classes are being taught by two Brits, Dave and Jeremy. They are both incredibly interesting and entertaining people to talk to, and I can't wait to learn from them throughout the year.


4.) Even though we are all graduate students we still like to have fun. This past week during one of our lunch breaks our "Sportazia Committee- That's Hebrew for Sports" (that is the full name of the committee) set up a four-square court and we had a riveting game of four-square! 


In case anyone was wondering what classes I am taking this semester, here is a list:
Modern Hebrew
Biblical Grammar
Bible
Second Temple History
Rabbinical Electives (the first 6 weeks is a course called "Why Am I A Reform Jew")
Liturgy
History of Zionism
Israel Seminar 


We also have other various programs that are required through the semester. Basically this means that I am in class every day from 8:30-4:00 or 5:00! The last time I was in classes for even close to that amount of time was when I was in high school. It is definitely an adjustment, but I think that once I find a balance between class, homework and everything else that life should get a little less hectic! 


PS- I apologize for any and all grammar and spelling mistakes. I, along with a number of my classmates, have found that as our Hebrew improves, our English worsens! 

To each beginning there's an ending

Break (cho-fesh) חופש

Trip (Ti-yule) טִיּוּל

Train (ra-kevet) רַכֶּבֶת


This past week has been my break from our summer semester before we begin our fall semester tomorrow (Sunday). It is hard to believe that at this point I have been living in Israel for over 2 months. This is almost half of the time that I spent in Israel when I studied abroad here in the spring of 2009. While sometimes the days (especially Hebrew class) seemed to go very slowly, it is still amazing to me that while I have looked forward to attending HUC for a very long time now, I am already finished with my first semester of classes and moving on to my first full semester of classes.


Since I was on break this past week I decided to explore Jerusalem and other parts of Israel, along with begrudgingly studying for my two finals that I have next week. Last Sunday I decided to take the light rail for the first time. 

What the front of the light rail in Jerusalem looks like

This one line of the light rail, complete with approximately 10 stops, has been over a 10 year work in progress. Most people in Jerusalem didn't even really believe that it would ever open, saying things like "The light rail will open when the Messiah comes" and other similar quotes. However, it has finally opened, and while I am living in Jerusalem no less! It is free for about the first monththat it is open, which means that everyone wants to try and ride the light rail as much as possible, which made for some very interesting experiences, including seeing men have their inner boy show.

Men and boys crammed at the front of the light rail to watch the driver "drive" the light rail.

The purpose of us taking the light rail was to go to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial and museum in Jerusalem. The last time that I went to Yad Vashem was when I studied abroad here. This is also the first time that I had been back to Yad Vashem after having visited Prague and Poland, including Auschwitz- Birkenau. I was there last summer staffing NFTY in Israel. Prague and Poland themselves were beautiful countries, and visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau was a necessary part of that trip, although not enjoyable. While it is not a place that I would necessarily choose to ever visit again, I think that it is important that everyone who is able to go should see one of the concentration camps. It is a place that is indescribable in words. 

The one way train tracks into Auschwitz

Yad Vashem has a completely different feeling after having been to some of the places that are discussed. I suppose that on one hand I have been lucky because I have grown up learning about the Holocaust. From a very young age I can remember my favorite book being The Lily Cupboard. However, sometimes having grown up, being privileged to hear a number of holocaust survivors speak, and seeing the awful pictures from that time period have left me feeling somewhat desensitized to seeing and hearing about the Holocaust. However, after last summer's experience I no longer feel that way. It is important for everyone to learn about the Holocaust, and all of it's atrocities in the hopes that something like this never happens again.


Somehow, in all of the darkness of these awful events, we can still find the light that leads us through. Now, I don't only see the tragedy of what happened but the strength of the survivors and their families for being strong enough to tell their stories so that people will forever remember what happened. In the Jewish calendar, the month of Elul has just begun. This month is the month that we spend preparing for the high holidays, Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur. The Jewels of Elul offer a daily dose of inspiration and words of wisdom in this month before Rosh Hashanah. This year's theme is "The Art of Seeking Light." I don't know what could describe this better than the following image that I was able to observe while in a room filled with memorials for specific victims of the Holocaust. 

Lest you think that all of my break was spent contemplating such deep things as the Holocaust, don't worry, I also spent three glorious days in Haifa with my friends Rebecca, Elle and Lenette. We took the train up to Haifa which was a great experience. Upon arriving there, we decided to explore Haifa a little bit before going to dinner at Elle's family's restaurant. This led us on a visit to the Haifa zoo. This this is no Brookfield Zoo, they did have a lot of great animals to watch, including some really entertaining sassy flamingos and monkeys! 

While we were in Haifa we decided to rent a car so that we would be able to explore the city, as well as some of the site outside of Haifa. Those of you who know me well know that I have the worlds worse sense of direction. I am pretty sure that if you put me in a paper bag and shook me up, I wouldn't be able to find my way out. To that end, we decided to rent a GPS which was a wonderful and amazing move considering that just about every other block there is a round about (or rotary for those of you from the east coast). After having spent a year driving in Chicago, driving in Haifa was a walk in the park. The second day that we were in Haifa felt very "grown up." We got up early and ate breakfast at the hotel before heading off to Caesarea. 

The amphitheater at Caesarea

A view of some ancient Roman baths and the Mediterranean Sea

After driving back from Caesarea we went to the Ba'hai Gardens. Since I traveled to Haifa last time that I was hear this was my second time seeing the gardens, although their beauty and symmetry never ceases to amaze me. 

Rebecca, Elle and I at the Bahai Gardens

Our day culminated with a late afternoon at the beach. I think that I will let the pictures speak for themselves...

It is hard to believe that just as quickly as my summer semester has ended my fall semester is beginning tomorrow. I am beginning to get a glance at what it is like to be in graduate school as opposed to college. I will basically be in class every day from about 8:30 until somewhere between 3 and 5:30, and then will have homework and studying for tests, as well as a Trumah project (more on that later). So for now, I am heading back to studying for my Biblical History final. Wish my luck in trying to figure out how to remember 3000 years of history by Wednesday!