Monday, May 7, 2012

Tales of Green Cholent

 This past Shabbat, I was invited by a friend to spend shabbat in Bat Ayin, a small, religious-zionist yeshuv located about 45 minutes outside of Jerusalem. It has a diverse blend of communities—Carlbach, Chabad, and Breslav just to name a few. It is known for being a very spiritual, holistic, “crunchy” place, which indeed it was. There were dirt paths galore and I saw a donkey tied up next to a house.

Welcome Sign to the Midrasha
The truth is, I had wanted to visit Bat Ayin for a while because I was interested in its midrasha (a place for women to study Judaism). My friend had actually studied there for a year and arranged for us to spend the weekend in the midrasha dorms.

And so, Friday morning the journey to Bat Ayin began. And yes, even though Bat Ayin is not so far away from Jerusalem, it is still a journey. Just as I believe in “Israel Time” (explained in the previous blog entry), I am also a proponent of “Israel Space.” How else could you explain the vast difference between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, a one-hour bus ride? Or even, between Mea Sharim and Nahlaot within the capitol city itself?

To get to Bat Ayin is quite a trek if one takes a bus. Luckily, there is another option: tremping, or hitchhiking. Miraculously, the first driver we asked was able to take us all the way to the gates of Bat Ayin. From there we walked to the grocery store to pick up breakfast and snack food, and then tremped once again to the midrisha. Bat Ayin residents are astonishingly friendly, kind and giving; on the short tremp from the store to our sleeping accommodations, my friend secured a potential Shabbat meal invitation for the future. In fact, we had more meal invitations from local families than we could eat.
  
Food was healthy, like green drink healthy. And holistic, like homemade green drink holistic. A nice change from the standard Shabbat food (a lot of meat and dessert) and definitely from ulpan grub. The food highlight for me was cholent on Saturday lunch. Any cholent is a good cholent as far as I'm concerned but this one was special. Normally cholent comes with beef chunks, barley, beans, potatoes and maybe some other legume or vegetable. It is a heavy, brown dish and not for everyone. However, cholent Bat Ayin style involves black beans, barley (well, it is cholent but I am sure that it was somehow extra-healthy whole-wheat organic free-range barley), asparagus and turkey neck. It was delicious! And seeing a green vegetable in cholent was a unique, oddly inspiring experience.
 
For reasons other than just “Israel Space” Bat Ayin feels quite removed from life in Jerusalem or really anywhere else in the country. It is located on the Judean hills between Jerusalem and Hevron. It is part of a string of small yeshuvs, but Bat Ayin is unique because of its lack of fence. For some people, this is frightening, even a reason not to visit the community, as there is no protection from outside the village (in fact, there was a Palestinian militant axe attack on a group of children in 2009; one child was killed). But as my friend explained, for others the lack of fence is a religious and political statement—the land was given to Jews and the land is settled, not in a defensive, closed position but rather in a natural, secure, thriving, even G-d given way. 

Hills surround the city, which is so small that basically everywhere you look you have a breathtaking view. It is fun to explore these hills, which I did a little on Shabbat in between my numerous Shabbat naps, meals and study sessions. On my short trek, I passed a mikva from the second temple period and an ancient building that was presently being used as a small yeshiva. Incredible.

Nearby are several Jewish Yeshuvs and Arab villages and one can even see Ashdod (which once again made me realize how small Israel is). At night, the cities light up and it’s beautiful and during the day the hills are all ocher and forest green, dotted with little trees and farm animals. Bat Ayin is truly a special place.


House in Bat Ayin Overlooking the Judean Hills




Friday, May 4, 2012

Independence Day and Night


Life in Israel is more intense than anywhere else I have lived. I believe in “Israel Time”-life here is simply at a different pace. Not necessarily slower or faster, just denser. Suddenly one finds that another week has ended and it is already Shabbat, and then time stops completely.

The month of April was full of excitement and sped by. Vacation days included: Passover in Israel (always a treat), the Moroccan post-Passover feast of Mimouna, Holocaust Remembrance on Yom HaShoa, Memorial Day/ Yom haZicharon.

Yom ha’Atzmaut, Independence Day, was the last of the holidays for a while. Like their American counterparts, Israelis can’t resist a good barbeque to mark the creation of their state. More on that later.

The day before Independence Day is Yom haZicharon, one of the solemnest days of the year here. Unlike in America, no matter who you are—even a new oleh—you can’t help but feel the loss of those who died serving the state. Yom haZicharon begins at nightfall like all Jewish/Israeli holidays. I went to a ceremony in my neighborhood at the promenade overlooking the Jerusalem hills and the Old City. At 8 pm prompt there was a memorial siren and everyone stood still, quiet. Two minutes later, the ceremony recommenced. Sad songs were played and names of the fallen were read, many of whom have been memorialized in the names of nearby streets.

The next morning, I attended another memorial ceremony with Ulpan Etzion at a local high school. Another siren, more silence. So much respect for the fallen, even at a high school. Complete silence, perhaps one of the only times you will ever hear something of the sort in Israel.

During this day, the air is so heavy, so thick, so damp with sadness. Last year, even the days leading up to Yom haZicharon affected me, got me down.


Live Concert in Downtown Jerusalem
But sunset comes as it must, and everything changes so fast. Typical “Israel Time.” And now it is Yom ha’Atzmaut and it is time to celebrate the creation of Israel. The city comes alive. One can find special lectures and prayer services, dancing, music till late hours of the night. Everyone takes to the streets, from the most secular to the most religious, from new olehs to people whose families’ presence in Israel predates the state itself.

Families in Gan Sacher Park, Jerusalem
On to the food. Like all Jewish holidays, there is a lot of food on Yom ha’Atzmaut. During the day, there are a lot of barbeques. Even my ulpan had a barbeque! Sounds like the Fourth of July, and in many way it is, except with kebobs. However, Israelis are a social lot and congregate in public spaces throughout the country. This year, after ulpan’s barbeque I joined another barbeque in Gan Sacher, one of Jerusalem’s biggest and most central parks. There were a lot of international students at the barbeque and we were surrounded by Israeli families cooking on small, portable charcoal grills.

It is something special to celebrate all together, to ride the waves of emotion from sadness to joy be’yachad, as one.




Thursday, May 3, 2012

מוצא חן בעיניי: So What Does It Even Mean?

בענייני חן מוצא (pronounced Mozai Chen BeAinii) is an Israeli way of saying that something is nice, something is pleasing. Literally, that something is found beautiful in one's eyes.
For me, Israel is home. I moved on up as they say and made aliyah (literally, went up) in January, though I’ve known since I way 16 that this is where I belong. What a feeling to get from a sightseeing trip with the family! But there are tons of stories like this—people come on a ten-day birthright trip and want to stay forever. Love at first sight.

Life in Israel is beautiful in my eyes. Undeniably, Israel has its fair share of problems (not least among them its perception in the media) but for me, it is a country full of welcoming people, warm summer nights, windy allies, Mediterranean beaches, hiking paths galore. 

Dear Reader, this blog is a way for me to share all the beauty of my life in Israel.

Beach in Tel Aviv at sunset