And today I remembered I was happy, and smiled...

Random.

I just got back from Jerusalem for a breast cancer walk fundraiser. I walked past a worn down book store and they were selling national geographics for 2 shekles each!!! I freaked out and got like 15 of them. Yesterday I sat for 3 hours in the laundry mat cleaning my clothes. Whoooo glad thats over with... Tomorrow there's a halloween party in tel aviv that the whole yearcourse is going to. I'm dressing up as a garden:) (everyone says thats sooooo jenna haha)
I have to go to dishes, they are piling up.

Love and miss you.

Jerusalem

 (Where Jesus was buried)

 (Armanian restaurant)

Today I went into the Christian quarters of Jerusalem which, clearly, no Jewish/Zionist program would be willing to take you and I had no idea how significant and important that area is to so many people. I was walking with my friend, Max, in the shook (market) and we happened to wonder into the Christian quarters and Max randomly spotted a family friend who was leading a tour through Jerusalem. We got to tag along the tour into this AMAZING giant church/building/holy center and see where Jesus was crucified and the tomb he was buried in!!! You can actually touch the ancient rock where he was crucified on and there were tons of people who just fell down and starting weeping because it was so meaningful. We also went into an Armanian restaurant for lunch(which looked like a museum because of the amazing decorations and artifacts) and walked through the Arab market ( of course I couldn't help myself and bought a long colorful skirt).

Blind

This morning we went to the blind museum that Craig went to a year or so ago. All the guides are blind and you go on an hour and a half excursion with them in pitch black. You can't even see your hands when you wave them in front of your face. First we got to a place that simulated the outdoors- we walked on rocks and grass and heard toads and birds and waterfalls and you walk around and find all sorts of things- benches, puddles, etc. Then we crossed over a bridge and got to a cabin. Keep in mind that this was all in a small, cramped place in a building; it was pretty freaky. We walked around the cabin for a while and I found a bed, a kitchen with teapots and plates, doors, etc. Then we left the cabin and got to a shook market. By sense of smell and touch, we figured out what all of the veggies and fruits were. I also found a scale to weigh things and a bike. Then we went into a carpeted room and they played 6 minutes of awesome dance music. This was the most exhilarating part because you could dance with everyone but no one could see you so I went absolutely nuts dancing. Think about how differently people would dance if no one could see or judge you. It was great. Then we came to a cafeteria and ordered food and ate at a table. This was all in pitch black scary darkness! It was amazing to experience how blind people function and how they view the world and rely on their other senses to live.

 I have gotten the bus routes DOWN and now travel by bus all the time by myself. It's pretty cool because growing up I never used public transportation but here there are little 2nd graders catching buses everywhere by themselves. What a different childhood it would have been. Earlier today I went with my friend Laina to do art in the park and then we had a barbecue with a bunch of people at the park across from my apartment and I ate these awesome veggie burgers that consist of beans, asparagus, and squash (weird I know..) and grilled onions and tomatoes. I have been picking up Hebrew pretty fast and got 100% on my test:). A couple days ago my Hebrew class went to a falafal stand close by and had to order in Hebrew in front of our teacher. The Zionist class isn't very good at all though.. were learning the same stuff I learned at Muss except in a very dull, non connected way. This weekend I was going to go to Tsfat for a love and harmony seminar thing where they take you around and you do a hike and stay at a cool place which I was pretty excited for but then I found out it was 250 shekles (62 dollars) so I'm not going anymore.:( Love you all.

awesome perspective

"every atom in your body came from a star that exploded. and, the atoms in your left hand probably came from a different star than your right hand. it really is the most poetic thing i know about physics: you are all stardust. you couldn't be here if stars hadn't exploded, because the elements: the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, all the things that matter for evolution and for life - weren't created at the beginning of time. they were created in the nuclear furnaces of stars, and the only way for them to get into your body if those stars were kind enough to explode . so, forget jesus. the stars died so that you could be here today" -lawrence krauss

Rwanda update

Our Rwanda group has split up into different committees that consist of public relations, tzedaka(which i'm in), Shabbat committee (programs we'll do for shabbat in the village) and field trips in Rwanda. My committee is in charge or raising the 5,000 dollars that we need in order to go. Basically we'll use that 5,000 to build a new structure there so the village can expand. A lot of the work we'll be doing there is manual labor, but we'll also be putting on programs and getting to know the teens that live there. So in order to raise that moneyI'm writing four different letters that we'll send out to America asking for donations- one letter is to jewish organizations and synagogues which I'll incorporate jewish philosophies like tikkun olam and mitzvot and lessons from the torah, one formal letter to non-religious organizations and corporations, one personal letter to family and friends, and one letter to the parents of young judaeans. So far I've written two! Were also making T-shirts and bracelets and selling them to young judaea participants.

(Below is the first letter I wrote)

I am writing to you in reference to my upcoming volunteer venture as part of Young Judaea’s Year Course’s Social Action: Rwanda (SAR) project.

In 1994, the country of Rwanda experienced one of the most horrific acts of genocide in history as the world turned a blind eye. The aftermath of the violence left Rwanda and its people in ruins; nearly 1,000,000 lives were lost and 75,000 children were orphaned.

Though the situation in Rwanda is now stable, the future is uncertain: A generation of uneducated orphans scarred by the past and lacking the resources and the support to become succesful and strengthen their country. Agahozo Shalom Youth Village (ASYV) attempts to improve the lives and futures of these orphans. Agahozo literally means “a place where tears are dried.” ASYV’s mission is “To enable orphaned and vulnerable youth to realize their maximum potential by providing them with a safe and secure living environment, health care, education and necessary life skills. To utilize education and service to model and create socially responsible citizens in Rwanda and around the world.”

ASVY, established in 2006, supplies a secure and caring environment in which the children are able to grow, mature, and heal themselves. Through group and individual therapies, the children are afforded the psychological support necessary to advance and mature. In addition, each student is assigned a family which provides a home structure novel  to many of the orphans. Formal and informal educational opportunities provide the students a chance for a succesful future.

We now have the opportunity to repair and revive the damages that we failed to prevent. We are a group of 16 American, British, and Canadian college students volunteering and studying in Israel on Young Judaea’s Year Course program. This year marks the commencement of Year Course’s Social Action: Rwanda (SAR) specialty track and it is our mission to spend this February at ASYV contributing to the well- being of the village and its inhabitants.

 Donating our time, skills, and physical labor is unfortunately not enough. The village runs on the financial support and generosity of outside communities. As a group, we are committed to raising at least 5,000 dollars in order to build a new structure to continue the expansion of the village. We are also collecting new items such as sports equiptment, clothing, musical instruments, towels, and shoes to donate to the village. Donations are tax deductable in the United States.

It is absolutely crucial that we raise 5,000 dollars by January 10^th  2011. Please be a part of our mission by making contributions to Agahozo Shalom Youth Village online.

To donate:

1.    Go to www.jdc.org/donation/donate.aspx?type=ASYV. 

2.    Select program “ASYV in Rwanda”

3.    Enter information and donation amount

4.    Check that the gift is a tribute to someone

5.    From the drop down menu, select “Other” and write Young Judaea.

Anything you can donate is greatly appreciated.  Every penny counts!

Thank you,

            The Social Action Track of Young Judaea

"I've been fighting my entire adult life for men and women everywhere to be equal and to be different. But there is one right I would not grant anyone. And that is the right to be indifferent."                                - Elie Wiesel

This is Tuvias little boy Shalvi.... isn't he frickin adorable? And Chelsea .. the gal I went with to Tuvias:)She's awesome.

sorry it's been awhile..

best lunch ever.. scrambled chocolate banana pancakes with honey, jam, cinamon, pears, and dates. life is sweet:) These are two AWESOME girls that I love hanging out with(and play bananagrams with them). The first picture is a girl named Rachel Aronson who's also coming to Rwanda and the second is Leina who's really into meditation and art. They are coming with me this weekend hiking and camping in Yehudia (where I went before) except this time there are like 10 people for sure going. Tomorrow were going to Haifa to see the famous gardens, the Arab shook market, and go on some hike. I can't wait! I bought a sketchbook and watercolors and have been drawing a TON because we have so much free time. Our classes and volunteer finish at 1.00 so we have the rest of the day free. 

it takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seamingly secure, to embrace the new. but there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. there is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power.

Today we had an all section sports day tourney. I played 4 pick up games of soccer and then we went swimming at a pool nearby!! Then I had a 7 hour Rwanda workshop thing. I did a presentation/powerpoint on the psycological effects that happen before and during a genocide.I talked about classsification, dehumanization, blindly listening to authority(The Milgrim Shock experiment-if you don't know what I'm talking about look it up on youtube it's shocking) and conformity within a community (look up the elevator conformity experiment on youtube). Then we had a speaker that survived the genocide!!!!! He was a Hutu and his family hid Tutsis in their home during the genocide and saved them. He moved to Israel to get a good education and is studying at Tel Aviv University. We also broke into our committees(i'm on the tzedakah committee that needs to raise 5,000 dollars from the United States by writing letters to jewish organizations, family,friends, making a facebook cause page, selling Tshirts, etc.We also watched Hotel Rwanda which is a great movie and it was even more powerful because we watched it right after the speaker whos experience really transformed the image of the genocide from facts and politics to a personal ,closer to the heart tragedy. The thing that pissed me off the most about the movie was how little the Western World intervened.The only group that was there from the beginning were the UN Peacekeepers who were utterly useless because they couldn't fire on anyone or "take sides". But that is almost worse then not doing anything at all. "We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented." -Eli Wiesel. The entire genocide was discussed and talked about in the Western media but instead of acting quickly and getting involved, they argued over trivial things like, "Should this be considered a genocide? How many genocidal acts does it take to make a genocide? yadda yadda yadda... call it whatever the hell you want but there are thousands dying this very second so get your asses over there and stop it. People watch the news of terrible atrocities and say "oh my g-d thats so sad" but then they turn it off and go eat dinner and continue their normal lives. One of the reasons for this, I think, Is because Africa seams like such a far off place and most people feel no connection to it at all, but rather think of it as a problem happening on the other side of the world that doesn't effect them whatsoever. I think it's absolutely terrible and the most disgusting part of it all is that its happening ALL over again this very second in Darfur and Americans hardly give a shit about it and I'm in Israel swimming in the ocean and dads on his computer playing backgammon and my friends are learning happily at college at people are getting wiped out on the other side of the world. Why isn't Darfur the center, most important thing to us right now? I know that ultimately, its the government and the government only who can really make a difference and stop whats going on but people have seam to have lost interest in the subject and when there's no pressure on the government, they don't feel that it is imperative for them to intervene completely. Why are we still buying from china when they're supplying all the weapons that are killing masses of people1?!?!?!

Tomorrow I'm GOING TO TUVIA's for SHABBAT!!!! He lives all the way in Binyamina which is like 3 hours from Bat Yam but I'm going with my friend Chelsea from Atlanta because she went to Muss on a different time that I did. I can't wait to see him and pontah:)) Shabbat Shalom parents

Dad will be happy..

I joined the yearcourse SOCCER LEAGUE!! I just finished my first game and its a mix of boys and girls( we have 5 boys and 2 girls on our team) and we play on the pavement by our school for about an hour and a half. We won 7 to 3 and I scored 2 goals!! One of the guys,Yossi, is an Israeli scout and he got SO intense and was freaking out at everyone and yelling at us if we made mistakes. (reminds me of nikki.. haha) I guess there's someone like that on every team. It was really funny because I am so passed that stage and I was just playing for pure fun and it was the most fun I've had in a while.. it completely takes your mind off everything and your in a whole other world I love it. I was playing pretty intense though because it was against guys so the level was definitely higher. We play once a week! Miss playing soccer with you daddy

zionism

Theodore Herzl created Zionism to protect Jews from discrimination and he believed that if every Jew moved to Israel, we would no longer have that problem. Maybe I'm biased because I'm living in the diaspora happily and I'm comfortably assimilated into American culture and way of live, but I disagree on his theory because I think its safer for the Jews to be in a diaspora then to all be confined to one place. I think antisemitism and discrimination in general derives from people's unfamiliarity and confusion of a certain group of people. For instance,  most misconceptions of Jewish people sprout from people who only know of Jews from stereotypes. Once when I was in Wisconsin during a field trip from Herzl Camp, we met a group of people and starting chatting to them and told them we were from a Jewish summer camp. A couple of them said, "Wooww we've never seen jews before you guys look so ..normal" and they asked to feel our heads to see if we had little bumps that resembled horns. They weren't trying to be rude at all but they genuinely had no idea. The reputation of the Jew is in danger unless we spread  out and expose ourselves to the world and also to be good advocates for Israel. I feel like I'm accomplishing a lot as a Jew living in America because not only have I argued and defended Israel countless amount of times, but people that know me know I'm a Jew and hopefully think good thoughts about me which could translate into good thoughts about Jewish people as a whole. Also, Israel relies on America so much for financial aid and support and the Jewish push on the American government also helps Israel. If all the Jews lived in Israel, peoples imaginations would go wild and we would be helpless and doomed to destruction.

amazing joni mitchell

camping trips

Sooo.. because I already explained every detail to you guys I'm just going to briefly say what I did because I have repeated this adventure to so many people that its just annoying now. I got to the campsite with Aron, my new hick/redneck/farmer/republican friend. We explored the old, torn down village and on the way back was stuck in the middle of a cow field surrounded my cows staring at us (I thought they were going to charge it was scary) but we managed to get by and got to our campsite and cooked a can of beans on the stoveburner. We were still hungry after that and our lovely gay neighbors made us food(unfortunately most of it was chicken and meat but i got some great salad). Then we explored the campsite and met a bunch of people and then we hung out with our new gay friends and they gave us vodka and snacks and we played games with them. Then we went to sleep under the stars with a full stomach, sleeping bags and a whole lot of excitement. I woke up at 5.00 in the morning to 100 flies sitting on my face.I looked around at the mountains and smiled. I wish I could wake up to nature like that everyday.. it just makes my soul feel so full and alive. It's so much more natural waking up to the sun and a couple of bugs then a cold dark room with an alarm clock. If I could take a bag and live in the outdoors for the rest of my life I would.(welll.. maybe just a couple of years) but I am the happiest person alive when surrounded by nature. Anyways.. We had breakfast, filled up our waterbottles, and took our first adventurous step into the unknown. It took us a half hour to walk to the first waterfall.. it was a breathtaking, abosolutely draw dropping view, and it's amazing when your walking through a huge mountain and you feel like your the only living thing in the world and you feel so small and insignificant but its a great feeling to know that your such a small part of a immense, tremendous world because all of your silly worries and problems all of a sudden become trivial, unimportant things that you can brush away in an instant. Anways.. so arrived at the waterfall and because we were sweating like pigs we jumped right in the freezing water and we swam for a while and then I climbed up the waterfall and JUMPED OFF A 20 FOOT CLIFF!! i was shaking I was so scared but It was so much fun and it reminded me of the time in Africa when dad jumped( "I'm still a young man!!")Hahah. So we kept going and had to cross many rivers and go down a steeep 30 foot ladder down a waterfall and met so many awesome people on the way. Every half hour or so we'd jump in another pool of water to keep cool and we took a couple of lunch/water breaks. The last hour was definitely the hardest because it was straight up the steps of the mountain and pushed it really hard was boookin it up the mountain (mostly to impress the 2 Israeli commander soldiers that were with me) and they were telling me that for army training they were given a map, memorized it, and had to hike 5 hours through the mountain alone with just a compass and a jug of water!! (I would get lost in the first 5 minutes...) So we finally finished the hike me and Aron passed out in the shade for a couple of hours and then woke up 2 guys that worked at the mountain gave us a ride alll the way back to Tel Aviv. It was exhausting but ALL WORTH IT! One of the most exhilarating experiences of my life. Then the next morning I went with 60 kids to the Kinneret and camped out, and then the next day went on a 4 hour water hike through this awesome river. Sorry this is bad writing I'm just babbling as fast as I can because I need to shower. I was just at the laundry mat for 3 hours in the hot, hot heat because there were so many people and then went grocery shopping and made eggs,potatoes and onions all together !! Yum. Love you all





"There is pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society where none intrudes,
By the deep sea and the music in its roar;
I love not man the less, but Nature more!"
— Lord Byron