Home Sweet Home

After a long weekend in Jerusalem I'm back in the desert and so relieved to be here. I am surprised at how much I have fallen in love with it. Not that I didn't have a great experience in Jerusalem, but it's definitely not the same. We came back with the new students, so there was a lot of anticipation and excitement around the Israelis and Palestinians finally joining us. Even better, we came back just in time for Succot, so we went to services and are eating in the Succah all week. And to top it off, I went for an amazing hike this morning with ten other students. (We took the Rosh Hadag trail, which translates to "fish head") It felt so natural to be here. I can't describe how or why it feels like home here - especially since I grew up around trees, water, and mountains. I love breathing in the fresh air and the feeling of freedom that I get when I'm in the middle of the barren, rocky hills.


Rosh Hadag - can't you tell?

Before I get lost in the nostalgia of the desert, I'll try to give some highlights from Jerusalem. It was one adventure after another, so I can't do it justice in this post, but hopefully I'll be able to at least get started.

I left on Wednesday morning to get to Jerusalem in time for the last meal before Kol Nidre. The meal was served at 3 pm. We didn't get to Jerusalem until about 2, only about an hour before public transportation stopped running. We had to get from the Central Bus Station to the Old City and then to the hostel before everything shut down. Getting to the Kotel was easy, finding our hostel was not. We had an address, but no one seemed to know where it was. It kept getting later, and shockingly, I started freaking out a little and worrying that we would miss the meal or not get a bed or something. Needless to say we eventually found it with time to spare.

Let me take a moment to explain where we stayed and the type of service we attended. It is a free hostel called Heritage House which is funded by Aish HaTorah - something I didn't know before arriving. For those of you know about Aish HaTorah, it was as scary and uncomfortable as you might imagine. For those of you who don't, their website is www.aish.com, you can also check out the Wikipedia entry.

There are two houses that are gender segregated, so poor Eric was left to his own devices for a large portion of the holiday. We ate our last meal separately, and then when we went to services, not surprisingly, there was a mehitzah. I've been to numerous gender-segregated services, but I've never sat through one where I couldn't see the Ark or the Hazzan. To make it worse, at the beginning of the service, the "ladies" were asked to make sure to walk behind the men when going to our section so as not to disturb the men who were trying to daven. Excuse me. If men don't have the self control or adequate concentration to continue praying when a woman walks in front of them, they have some serious issues that hiding us won't even begin to address. OK, I'm done for the moment. It also took some time to get used to the strong Ashkenazic influence - tav's were pronounced as an "s" and "oh" was "oy."

Heritage House locks its doors for much of the day and they kicked us out pretty early for Yom Kippur. We had to be out by 7:15 am. They didn't force us to go to services or anything, but what else are you going to do on Yom Kippur in the Old City so early? Needless to say, it was painful. We stayed for part of Shachrit and then Elizabeth and I went to the Kotel. It was quite moving to go, but by 10:30, we had had enough. And the Hostel wasn't reopening until 1:30.

I usually try to go to services for most of the day on Yom Kippur, but it became clear quite quickly that this was not going to be spiritually fulfilling or meaningful in a way that I was hoping for. I mean, I don't count as part of a minyan, I'm hidden behind a big curtain, and I can't see the Torah (so why did we bother even standing when the Ark was opened?). I also couldn't stand the hazzan's voice or the constant oy's that punctuated the prayers. I decided that I could get a lot more out of the experience as an intellectual and sociological exercise.

After our high holiday adventure and the fact that we were locked out of the building at 9 am the next morning, we decided to go to another hostel for the rest of our stay - Friday to Sunday. We found a really cheap one, the New Swedish Hostel, on the road leading to the Arab Sook. It was cheap for a reason. The beds were so narrow that we were all afraid we would fall off. There were signs all over including "Do not wash clothes in the sink!" and "Please - Put Your Toilet Paper in the Bin, Not in the Toilet Or It Will Be Closed." I felt as though I was in an airplane when I was in the bathroom. I couldn't stand up straight because the ceiling slanted, and I could barely shut the door because the space was so small. I thought it was pretty hilarious, but Eric wasn't so amused.



The story continues, but it will have to wait for another day. In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy the unusual weather - it is too cloudy to see the sun right now. It's also pretty windy. Maybe we'll get some rain? That is something I miss...the rain. Perhaps, deep down, I am actually a Seattle-ite...

-M