The Lottery

-Purim!
-Jeep Trip!
-Art & Culture Day!
-Trip North!
-Poetry Slam!
-Random Other Stuff!


Purim

"Purim Sameach" or "Happy Purim"!

This a few weeks ago it was Purim!

Purim celebrates the story of Esther in the Tanakh, a Jewish woman who disguised herself as a gentile and won the heart of the Persian king, then later revealed her true identity in order to stop her husband from slaughtering the Jewish people.

Purim means "lots" or a "lottery" because Haman (the villain advisor) claims he cast lots to determine it was the Jews who would massively suffer first. But of course, we wonder if that's true, and we doubt it was chance at all, but rather intentional.

Similarly, Haman is of the Amalek people, who previously "chanced upon" the Jews wandering in the desert and set about trying to massacre them. Again, by chance?

And Mati made this amazing point that the story of Purim is a bit strange in the Tanakh, because God is really not mentioned in it at all. There appears to be no divine intervention, no conversation between God and people.  The story is purely terrestrial, purely chance, or so it seems. Mati said that the story is told this way to reflect the way our lives look, every day, as if everything is chance, life is a lottery. But is it? I think we read the Purim story in the Tanakh as if God is very much present in it, just behind the scenes, and Purim is a reminder to look at our daily lives that way as well.

Life's a lottery, or is it? :)

The other theme of Purim is, of course, masks. Wearing disguises. Who we pretend to be and who we truly are. So everybody dresses up, kind of like Halloween in the US, except there's no scary/haunted aspect of the holiday, it's just very carnival-esque.

Ariane: I find this holiday so romantic.
Noam: Purim...? Why??
Ariane: Because it's about dressing up and then taking the masks off. Appearances and realities.
Noam: That's what you think the Purim story is about? No, it's about sexual abuse and questionable parenting.
Ariane: Okay that's part of it. But also, think about how nice the holiday is for couples. You get dressed up and go party. And then you come home together and take the masks off and show your real self in an intimate way.
Noam: Oi. You know, in the mood you're in, you'd find ANY holiday romantic. On Holocaust Memorial day, you're probably going to be all 'this is soooo romantic! I want to hold someone's hand during the siren!'
Ariane: Well, actually...

((I can't be the only one whose biological clock ticks faster at holocaust memorials, right? I just think... OMG THEY KILLED 6 MILLION OF US, MUST REPOPULATE ASAP! Nothing would piss off Hitler more than Jews getting it on.  Revenge REVENGE!))

ANYWAY.

There are, as I understand it, 4 special commandments on Purim:

1) Hear a reading of the Purim story
2) Give out gifts to your friends
3) Give to the poor
4) PARTY.

(Seriously).

It's basically days and days and days of parties. And I'm not normally hugely into parties, but I figured, since it's my first purim in Israel, I should go big.

Wednesday night, I went to a rooftop party in Tel Aviv. There was a reading of the story with audience participation, and then a band played and there was lots of dancing and drinking and general debauchery.

I was a bumblebee and Leonora was a pregnant Charedi woman XD

The second night I went to a big party in Jerusalem, at a really beautiful building that used to be a Leper Colony. I love Israel, it's so bizarre.

I met up with a bunch of friends from Ein Prat!

The third night, I went to a bar and kept it a bit lower key :).

All weekend Tel Aviv was full of people in costumes, everywhere! It was crazy. I'm sorry I didn't take more pictures, but I wasn't really in charge of all my faculties much over those days, to be honest...

One night there was a Zombie Parade down my street.

Jeep Trip!

I went with Yahli and his friends on a jeep trip near Beit Shemesh! It was fun. I envisioned most of our time spent in the jeep, but a good portion of it was actually spent outside pushing the jeep and making sure it didn't fall into one of the many gaping holes in the path... but it was still fun!

The countryside was beautiful! And there were lots of sheep

Yahli and Luna!

It took all of us pushing, but we kept it from toppling over!

We made coffee and shakshuka and hung out

I think I look really American.

Art & Culture Day!

Our seminar last week was on Israeli culture, and it was really fun!

First, we met Dana Ivgy, who's one of the most acclaimed Israeli actresses. She's won many awards, and I've seen many of her films, and it was really cool to just... sit next to her and ask her questions. She was really friendly and casual and fun!

She had a lot of interesting things to say. Here are some of my favorites...

"If I have the audience in mind when I'm creating, if I think what will you think or how will you like it... I'm not really giving you something, I'm taking something from you."

"My instincts make me always take the roles that will change me. I ask myself... what can I give to this character and what can she give to me? And if the answers are not very specific, I don't take it."

She said that often when artists go abroad to work or create, they're treated bitterly by the Israeli public and press. "It's not that you want to go somewhere else, you want success! You want as many people as possible to see your creation. What's wrong with that? People say 'oh, they'll be back.' We're like a woman with no confidence who's worried her man is straying."

"[Israel] is a very comfortable place to live in actually. Everything's so close and it's warm."

Next we did a gaga class. It was my second gaga class and I'm really enjoying it, I think I'm going to continue. If you don't know what gaga is, click here...

Then we went on a tour of Southern Tel Aviv, to galleries and looking at street art.

The highlight for me was going to Yuval Caspi's studio. He's working on a graphic novel and cartoonizes Biblical characters which is TOTALLY up my ally. 

And we finished up the date with discussion and playing with clay :)

I made the cherubim from the ark of the covenant because I'm a nerd <3

Trip North

I did a day trip last Friday with JNF to some spots in the Galilee. It was fun and I met some cool new people.

First we went to Atlit Prison/Transit camp. A long story somewhat shorter, before the founding of the modern State of Israel, the British were in control of the region and severely limited the number of Jews who could immigrate. But of course, during and after WWII, LOT'S of Jews wanted to seek safety in Israel, so the ones who persisted on coming anyway on illegal transports were often caught and the British stuck them in a camp like this or in a similar camp on Cyprus until they could figure out what to do with them.

You can imagine that Holocaust survivors were perturbed when the first thing they did at the camp was go into this disinfection center and have a shower and hand over all their clothes to this giant industrial laundry machine.

Barracks

Next we went to Ein Hod, and artists' colony near the sea. It was totally gorgeous... like Gilmore Girls but artists. Everyone in the town is an artist, you have to be to move in. The entire place was quirky and cute, and there were so many galleries.

However, I was a little disturbed that nobody really mentioned that it used to be an Arab village, and all of the Arabs were expelled during the war for independence in 1948, and that a bunch of those Arabs stuck around and tried to come back in, and when they couldn't, they founded a neighboring village called "Ein Hawd." I only know all of this because my Hebrew teacher told me and then I looked it up. Shit happens in war, and tons of Jews have been expelled from Arab areas, as well. But I don't think just totally glossing over reality is helpful.

In one of the galleries, I spent a long time admiring a triptych of Jerusalem, and this guy came up to me and said "I think you like this painting." And I said "Yeah, I do." And he said "I painted it!!" So we took a selfie.

Poetry Slam

Last month I went to a poetry/story telling slam and I really enjoyed it, and I decided I wanted to try it. So this month, I competed!

I told a personal story to fit the theme of the night, "Turning Points." I've decided to be more open with my writing so I'm going to put it here... but just be warned, it's personal :)

I got an average score of 9.66 and got first place! So I'll move onto the final round in the fall, which is exciting.

Sam did a really amazing job as well! You can read about us on the organizer's blog here. 

It was a really great experience. It was my first time performing something creative I made. I mean, I've done talks before, but mostly academic or debate-y. And I've acted, but in other people's stuff. I guess other than improv and plays I wrote as a kid, I really haven't put my stuff out in this way. Mostly it's because I didn't want to attach a point of view to my name, I think. What if I feel differently later? What if I want to do something serious later? What if I apply for Mossad and they find a video of me talking about dating? Yeah I have a novel coming out, but I can always hide behind the fact that it's fiction. Or I can use a pen name. Or both.

But actually I was inspired by one of the other fellows, Elisheva Goldberg and of course, Lily Ross. They're both people who are really honest in what they put out there in the public and have reputations for that, and I suppose it some ways it might limit them, but in most ways it seems to open them up to the world.

And I think I've been operating on the "I'm still developing as a writer, I'm still growing, I'm still figuring out what I think, I should wait..." plane for a long time. Way too long. Of course i'm still growing/developing, hopefully I'll always be growing and developing, but now I also hope I have the guts to do that where other people can see the fruit of it in the meantime. Which I guess is a little ironic given the subject of my story. 

Anyway, aside from the fun of performing itself, it was great that so many of my friends and both of my advisors and my roommates came! I felt really loved and supported. Louisa even brought flowers <3. It's a really beautiful thing to do something you love and be surrounded by people who want to see you succeed. Especially so far away from home and my usual support systems. So, thank you everyone <3.

Random Other Stuff

Tel Aviv graffiti!

Other graffiti!

Random art installation... that is a MOUNTAIN OF TREASURE. WHERE IS THE DRAGON?!?

Matat came to town! We had coffee on my balcony!

Around election time there were a lot of protestors on my street

And people camping out

And people marching up and down it singing "All we are saying is give peace a chance."

Aaaand the "next step" deliberation continues. I've started looking for jobs in Israel. I feel like I should keep pushing while I have momentum. But we'll see. It's pretty exciting to think of holding an Israeli ID card! And being Israeli! 

Matat and Ariane, 2012, Masada

Matat and Ariane, 2015, Mirpeset

A Tale of Two Shabbats

Topics!
-Shabbat in the Settlements
-Shabbat in Jerusalem
-Bonus Chapter: The Holocaust!


Shabbat in the Settlements
A few weekends ago, Rivka invited me to Shabbat at her parents' house in the West Bank. It snowed here in Israel (which it does, a few times a year). And the hills were just gorgeous, like it was a totally different world.

Rivka: This is considered a dangerous road.

Geva: Most Israelis from Tel Aviv would never drive on it. They wouldn't come here at all.

Rivka: Yeah, sometimes people are shot by snipers on it. This particular Arab village we're passing now is considered pretty hostile. 

Geva: So... why are we here??

Rivka: Because we want to see the snow! And everybody loves the snow. Nobody kills anybody when it's snowing.

It was really windy and cold up there, so we had to bundle up for once!

Always silly

During the drive we stopped by a Samaritan village. 

IT WAS SO BIZARRE.

I'd really only heard of the Samaritans from the "Good Samaritan" proverb in the Christian Bible, and never really thought about them much. But their story is pretty fascinating.

As it was explained to me, when the Jews were exiled from Eretz Israel by the Babylonians, the Babylonians brought in new people, including the Samaritans, to populate the area. These Samaritans had a hard time getting anything to grow, so they consulted with a few Jews who remained, and the Jews told them that nothing will grow in the land if it's planted by people who don't follow the Torah, so the Samaritans adopted the Torah.

They follow Torah strictly, without paying attention to later scriptures or revisions, and feel they are true Jews.  That said, they resent modern Jews because the Jews have not accepted, and never did accept, the Samaritans as actual Jews. There are two main populations of Samaritans. One group lives in Holon, a little city outside Tel Aviv, and is fully Israeli. The other group lives in the West Bank, and have the option of Israeli citizenship but are really more autonomous. They don't like to marry jews because of the resentment above. so they often marry Christians, and in fact frequently import Russian brides, and sometimes marry Arab Christians, so they're sometimes blonde-haired blue eyed, sometimes very dark, sometimes a mix... 

The main street of the West Bank village

Their main temple. They observe Shabbat, and it was close to sunset, so we had to poke around quickly and get out before they shut the gate.

They walked around wearing garb like this!!! This isn't my photo, it's from google, because I felt weird taking pictures of them. But I was basically gawking, not going to lie.

The symbols are for the tribes of Israel, and all the script is in ANCIENT Hebrew.

If my Torah knowledge serves me, we have... Gad (tents), Naftali (deer), Dan (scales), Benjamin (wolf), Asher (tree... or maybe that's wheat, in which case Joseph...), Zebulun (ship)... the flower in the above pic is Reuben

Back at Rivka's house, the power went out, so we made our own fun.

In the morning, we had chamin... which is this delicious stew with meat, eggs, yams, all kinds of stuff... that you make the night before Shabbat and then leave in the oven on low to eat in the morning. YUM.

Alright, so... where Rivka lives, Karnei Shomron, is considered a legal settlement. That means that the Israeli government considers it Israeli territory. The international community has various conflicting feelings about these settlements, but in Israeli national eyes, they are on government approved property.

Then there are "illegal" settlements, which even the Israeli government does not approve of, much less the international community. There are various stories for what these settlements are doing here, but for the most part, they're people with extremely strong religious convictions, who feel that this is the land of the Torah and Jews belong there. We had some time on Saturday so we checked one out.

This house is technically illegal... basically this one guy built it there right after 1967 on top of the highest hill he could find in the area. Now most of the people in the surrounding settlements are somehow related to him.

Illegal settlements are frequently forcibly disbanded by the IDF and the people are kicked out, so they don't usually bother to build permanent structures, they just set up temporary trailers. We were invited into them, and I have to say it was a lot bigger and nicer on the inside than it appears. There were about a billion children inside (okay... maybe 8) having a purim party so they were all in costumes. The people were really friendly and hospitable.

This particular illegal settlement is called Ramat Gilad (Gilad Heights), because one of the sons of the dude who owns that big hill house above, named Gilad, was driving through the West Bank and was shot and killed by some rogue Palestinians.  In response, religious groups built several illegal settlements named after Gilad to send the message that murdering Jews won't get them out of the West Bank. I legitimately don't know how I feel about this.

It's always sobering to look at the view from these settlements. Those skyscrapers in the not so distant background are Tel Aviv. Approximately 15 km (about 9 miles) away.  You can imagine how easy it would be to fire on Tel Aviv if you were so inclined. This is a complication I think a lot of people urging Israel to vacate the West Bank don't consider... the West Bank is the high ground, and strategically pretty scary to launch rockets from. 

Even though the settlements like these are not government condoned, the IDF is stationed at them to protect them. Partially this is because there has been violence against them by Palestinians, but also because if the IDF doesn't protect them, they tend to arm themselves and protect themselves, which is definitely illegal and extremely dangerous.  So usually some poor kid on reserve duty has to spend a few days here. Like this guy, who was basically playing on his cell phone and looking really bored. I like the scarecrow of a soldier you can kind of see next to him.

The settlers put up this GIANT star of David to send a pretty clear message. At night it's lit up and you can see it for miles and miles. It's pretty intense.

Annnnd there's still a ton of mines all around that haven't been removed from '67, so you have to watch your step.

It's complicated. Oiiiiiii.

Shabbat in Jerusalem

Then last weekend, Yahli took me with him to Jerusalem to spend Shabbat with his Mom at their beautiful home in the suburbs there.

Yahli and his mom!

Yahli's mom is really sweet. She's a psychiatrist at Hadassah hospital. She's really smart and thoughtful and we had a lot of interesting political discussions

Yahli had to wash his uniform so I got to inspect his insignia

Ariane: The sword and the olive branch is for officer's school, right?

Yahli: Yep.

Ariane: And the wings... paratroop training?

Yahli: Nah, it's my specific unit. The wings... uh... well, L2 means level 2, as opposed to level 1.

Ariane: What do the levels mean?

Yahli: Like... what kind of project it is. But I can't say what my project is.  And the wheels mean we make everything work, I think. And the arrow... uh... and the diamond...

Ariane: You don't actually know, do you?

Yahli: No. And the stripes are the second Lebanon War.

Ariane: What do the colors mean?

Yahli: The red in the middle is for the people who died, and the white and blue is for Israel and the green and orange... um... yeah I don't know.

After dinner, a bunch of us went out to the bar

Then we took silly pictures around Jerusalem

At one point we found ourselves under the famous Jerusalem string bridge

The boys found this absolutely amazing

On Saturday, we went for a little stroll with Yahli's mom near this dam/reservoir thing near Ein Kerem. It was really pretty!

There were lots of nice flowers!

Somebody had a small watercraft out. The Israeli idea of what designates an actual body of water, as opposed to a large puddle, amuses me.

Then we went to this place, in Abu Gosh, and Arab town near Jerusalem, which is famous for having arguably the best Hummus in Israel. As you can tell from this blog, lots of places in Israel claim to have the best hummus. 

I still think Abu Hassan in Jaffa is better, but it was tasty!

Bonus Chapter: The Holocaust!

The most recent Dorot seminar was about the Holocaust, focused on how descendents of survivors in Israel are dealing with being "second or third generation" survivors. It turns out that there are a lot of things these survivors have in common.

-Their survivor parent/grandparent hoarding everything... food, supplies, clothing, foreign passports and money...
-A pressure to be extremely successful (More than even most Jewish children...)
-A pressure to be extremely happy... no excuse not to be cheerful and grateful all the time, considering what their parents/grandparents went through
-Overall a feeling that they need to make up for the loss their surviving relative experienced

I also learned that although survivors are now somewhat treasured here in Israel, when they first came here at the beginning of the modern nation, they weren't generally treated so well at all. Native Israelis (or earlier settlers) often were critical of them for "going like sheep to the slaughter" and not fighting more than they did. Inversely, they were scrutinized because in order to survive a death camp, people often had to do questionable things to beat out their fellow prisoners. So they were double shamed for being victims AND for being survivors.

I see this so often... the way A-bomb survivors were treated in Japan (Terribly) the way Vietnam vets were treated in the US (Terribly) the way Chernobyl survivors were treated in Russia (Terribly) the way sexual assault survivors are treated everywhere (terribly). What's with humanity and being cruel to the people who most need our care? What's with that?

***

Also, a total non-sequiter... Schopenhauer. This guy is hilarious. Am I right??? I think he meant to be serious, but he cracks me up. I haven't read many essays that are funnier than "On the Suffering of the World." It laughed out loud multiple times per page. Highly recommended pick-me-up.