Life on the Titanic

Topics!
Barak Ravid
Awkward Shabbat Dinner
Dance Party and The Great Synagogue
Body Work
Eating Actual Food
Ariane and Shai's Sinai Campaign
Patience, the Ultimate Virtue
A photo


Barak Ravid

Last week, Barak Ravid came to speak to the Dorot fellows. Ravid is a pretty big deal here, one of the star reporters of Haaretz, one of Israel's leading newspapers. Before becoming a journalist, he was a captain in the IDF, in the 8200 Unit, which is arguably the most elite intelligence unit. He's pretty far left and I'm pretty far right*, but no matter how you slice it, he's a brilliant, accomplished guy and it was really exciting to hear him speak. He's also a really good presenter, and very candid. He basically briefed us on his view of the current Israeli political scene and what to expect/look out for this coming year.  Most of what he said was off the record, so I'm not going to repeat it here (and you can read his articles if you're interested, of course), but there was one quote from him I liked a lot and think it's safe to share:

"In order for the situation to get much better, it first needs to get much worse. But that doesn't mean you won't have the best year of your life here. I like to say that here we are on the Titanic, and we're just rearranging the deck chairs. But you know, the Titanic was a pretty cool place to be. Let's hope it doesn't sink while you're here. And let's hope, after you leave, we can right our course, and you can come back on the Titanic."

Hear, hear.

Awkward Shabbat Dinner

Last Friday I went with Rebecca to a gigantic community Shabbat dinner, with about 150 people there, mostly new-ish olim (immigrants). It was fun and there was a lot of food and shots of arak. It was also pretty awkward because I was sitting between two interesting characters.

Ariane: So what do you do?
CounterTerroristGuy: I just got out of the army two days ago.
Ariane: Congratulations! What did you do?
CTG: I was in a counter terrorist unit, Duvdevan.
Ariane: Ah. (pretending like she knows what he just said)
LondonGuy: That's the name of his unit. It's a very elite unit. You need to pass a lot of tests to get into it.
Ariane: Oh.
CTG: *waits expectantly*
Ariane: I never really know how to respond. Do I say "that's nice." or do I say "Oh my God, Wow! Look at you! Fabulous!"
LondonGuy: She's saying you're a sexpot.
Ariane: What? No, I didn't say that...
CTG: *eyebrows*
Ariane: I mean... it's not that I... uh... *stuffs challah in her face*
LondonGuy: You should just say, 'that's very impressive.'
Ariane: That's very impressive.
CTG: Thanks.
LondonGuy: I was in the infantry in Nahal.
Ariane: That's very impressive.
LondonGuy: It's not that impressive, actually.
Ariane: I'm impressed, anyway.

These two things seem to happen a lot:
Random Wingmen: They didn't know each other. They just swoop in to assist.
"Elite Units": Pretty much everybody I meet says they were in an elite unit. Is it true? Do I just run into accomplished people a lot? Or do they think I'll just believe them? Because I do believe them, I don't really know what else to think.

Although in this case, I did check, and it seems legit. I looked up his unit and it's pretty intense. If he was in that unit, actually. Who knows? I sure don't.

Dance Party, Religiousness, and the Great Synagogue

Saturday night after Shabbat, I went to my friend Shev's dance party in Nachlaot. It was really fun! But also very different from your average dance party, because almost everyone there was religious. Which means they danced wildly but they didn't touch each other. A sweaty, fabulous dance party without grinding. Really interesting and fun!

It's easy to pick me out at gatherings like that as non-religious because my skirt is a bit shorter than most girls' and my shoulders are showing. And what I found on Saturday night was that people were touching ME much more than they would even at non-religious parties. Lots of dudes' hands on my elbows and arms and the small of my back in passing or in conversation, even extended cheek kisses in greeting or goodbyes. I tolerated this with some vexation, but I really wanted to say "Hey! Just because I'm not shomer negiah* does not mean that I'm a petting zoo! Keep your hands to yourself!"

Which brings me to a general woe I have here, regarding where I fit on the spectrum of religiousity.  I think in America, being "religious" has mostly to do with your belief.  You could be a religious Christian and still sin all the time, if you passionately believe in Jesus. But in Israel, being religious has really to do with your behavior.  So you can be religious and have serious doubts about God, but if you keep kosher, keep Shabbat, are shomer negiah, etc, then you would be classified as "religious." Whereas I, who believe in God and hold Judaism very dear to me, but I don't observe modesty rules or touching rules (beyond my personal ones) would basically be classified as "secular" here. It's just awkward because I don't think I'm secular at all. I think I'm pretty religious. But I'm not in the Israeli sense.

And certainly not in the Orthodox sense. One guy leaving the party asked if I wanted to go with him to a midnight service at the Great Synagogue. (Only in Jerusalem, right?) So I said sure, because I've been meaning to go inside. It's a gorgeous building and the service was lovely, with a 30-person choir (very unusual in Jewish services) and a really talented cantor. But I was standing on the women's balcony (in Orthodox services women have a private level from the men) surrounded by women in wigs (click here for details on THAT!) that were very nice and offering to share their prayer books with me, but still I got extreme flashbacks to the miserable divided services of my childhood and I kind of had a panic attack and fled.

So I'm not religious... but I'm not secular... another identity crisis for me!

Body Work
I met with Michal, my new instructor for... I don't know what to call it but Body Work. Michal is AWESOME. She's half Japanese (we can speak Japanese together, it's fun :) ) and was raised in Jerusalem. She's 36 and just had her first baby with her boyfriend and they have this huge Bohemian type house in Arnona, a gorgeous neighborhood south of the Old City of Jerusalem. In her house she has an art studio and a kind of dance/yoga studio. She's a dancer and choreographer and teacher, and with me we're going to be doing a mix of dance/yoga/other kinds of exercise + assignments on exploring Jerusalem + related reading + related writing, talking about body image issues, body ownership issues, etc... I'm really excited. Our first session was great, I'm really looking forward to working with her.

Eating Actual Food

I've been consuming a lot of actual food.

"But Ariane," you might ask, "What else would you be eating?"

Welllll in the states, I ate a lot of things that came frozen, dehydrated, or in a box, that involved a microwave.

Not only does Israel lack my artificial, lazy food of choice, but my apartment doesn't have a microwave. Israel also lacks really almost ANY appealing junk food. Their junk food is really very strange.

So what am I left with? Well... actual food. Like vegetables. And more vegetables. And eggs. And sometimes tuna. But I've started eating cut up tomatoes and cucumbers drizzled with olive oil and salt as a SNACK. My body is freaking out about what to do with all of these vitamins. How is it supposed to operate with actual materials after nearly a decade of running on processed cheese and chocolate?

Ariane and Shai's Sinai Campaign

For my fellowship, we were paired up and assigned a major conflict in Israeli history to research and present to the group in five minutes or less. I was paired with Shai, and we were assigned the 1956 Sinai Campaign, which was a pretty absurd thing, I now understand.

You should google it before you read what we made or it might not make that much sense.

But Shai and I decided to create the campaign as if the major players had facebook, and here it is. (Ignore the Latin on top) We got lots of laughs from the other fellows, it was fun :).

Patience, the Ultimate Virtue

I think the biggest thing I've learned so far this trip is about patience.

When you move to a new country, you're going to be uncomfortable. Adjusting to new water, new food, new time, new people, a new language, new laws, new customs. And adjusting to a lack of what you'd had before - close family, a home, a routine, a title, a purpose, a community. And I think I was in denial a bit at the beginning about the fact that I was going to be uncomfortable. Because I love Israel, and I already have friends here, I think I subconsciously insisted to myself that everything was going to be super smooth. But what that meant was that I tried to convince myself that I had it all figured out and I tried to rush a lot of the adjustment and creation and connection process that needs to happen more slowly, and it didn't really work.

I need to be patient and lean into the discomfort and enjoy it. Discomfort means that new things are happening and I'm learning and growing.

A Photo
There are no pictures in this post! I need to take more pictures, I realize. So here's a handy dandy infographic my friend from the IDF spokespersons unit gave me to help me figure out what the different units are so I can feel less awkward at Shabbat dinners.

From the IDF Blog.




*In the US, I'm pretty left.  In Israel, I'm still left on social issues, but I'm right on diplomacy issues, and diplomacy seems to take precedence here when you're describing your political affiliation in one word or less.

*Shomer Negiah - a level of observance at which people do not touch a member of the opposite gender other than their spouse