Yom Ha'zikaron and Yom Ha'atzmaut

In preparation for Yom Ha'zikaron (Remembrance Day for Israel's Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terror) we went to Mount Herzel this past Sunday, which is Israel's famous military cemetery located adjacent to Yad Vashem. The cemetery is absolutely beautiful. All the graves are identical like most military cemeteries but unlike Arlington Cemetery, for instance, which is rather stark, Mount Herzel is full of trees and flowers. The most emotional part for me is when we arrived at the graves of the soldiers who have died most recently (including those in the recent Gaza war). They are almost all my age, or younger,and many of the graves have pictures of the men placed there. The wars and conflicts sometimes seems so far away, but seeing their graves and their pictures really hits home. Yom Ha'zikaron started Monday evening at sundown with a 1 minute siren that sounded throughout the country. Everyone stands up..people driving stop and get out of their car. It is actually quite eerie, as well as incredible, when you realize that for that one minute the entire country is silent, and at a complete standstill. No other nation in the world sounds a siren and holds it collective breath for a few minutes to honor the memory of its fallen as Israel does. I went to an absolutely beautiful, and very heartrending, memorial ceremony that night on Ammunition Hill, where the battle of Jerusalem was fought in the Six Day War in 1967. There was beautiful music, prayers, lighting of Yizkor candles, and the stories of 7 brave men. Their families spoke of the loved ones they lost, and there were video clips showing their stories. One story in particular really hit home with me, because this young man was from the states (made aliyah) and was exactly my age when he died:
Michael Levin was born in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. From a very early age Michael sensed that his fate was bound up with that of the State of Israel. He first visited in 2001, when he attended the Alexander Muss high school semester program for American students. After returning to America to finish school Michael wanted to make aliyah and join the army, but for his parents sake he spent a year in Nativ, the Conservative Movement's program for high school graduates. He made aliyah in 2004, attended ulpan on Kibbutz Yavne to learn Hebrew, and enlisted in the IDF as a paratrooper. The Second Lebanon War broke out while he was in the army. Michael, who was visiting his family in the USA at the time, returned to Israel to take part in the battle. He fought in Lebanon and was killed in combat, fighting Hizbullah in the village of Aita a-Shaab on August 1, 2006.
His best friend spoke, and there were video clips of his parents speaking about him. His parents also attended the ceremony. I also found out the next day that my ex-boyfriend's brother was very good friends with him. It is very tough stuff. The flags were at half staff the entire day. The siren also sounded for two minutes the next morning.
Tuesday at sundown, Yom Ha'atzmaut started, which is Israel Independence Day (Israel's 61st birthday!). It is quite odd how instantaneously Israel goes from a day of somber remembrance to joyful celebration. But it is no mistake they place those two days right next to each other. We went to Ben Yehuda Street in the center of Jerusalem last night, where they closed off a large section of the area to cars. There were tons of people, DJs, shaving cream, and silly string fights, etc. Today we went to a BBQ at a huge park. The park was full of people BBQing, playing soccer, frisbee, etc. It was very "all-American!!"
Tomorrow morning I'm going to Eilat, with a few girlfriends, which should be great fun. I will blog about Eilat when I get back, as well as blog about my internship in the next couple weeks.

Shabbat at the Kotel

My roommmates and I have been wanting to go to the Kotel (Western Wall) on Shabbat since we moved here, so this past Shabbat we finally did it. It's amazing to live so close that you can walk to the Kotel. It's about a 45-60 minute walk from our apartments (or a ten minute bus ride). It's hard for me to put into words what the experience was like. I can try my best, but I feel that it is something that everyone truly needs to see for themselves. The Kotel was obviously crowded, with the men's side (which is also like 3 times the size of the women's side) being much more crowded. I made my way to the wall and touched it, then stepped back a bit and just stared at it and prayed my own prayers (as opposed to praying from the siddur--I find it more meaninful for me sometimes to pray whatever I'm thinking). My roommates all started crying a little, and I actually started crying quite hard. Since it's not uncommon for people to be overcome by emotion at the wall, I must have been crying abnormally hard, because one lady asked me if I was okay as I was leaving. And then she told me I was beautiful! So that was nice. My friends and I then walked over to stare at the men's side through the metal grates. You just see a sea of men davening (praying) with such intensity that all you can see are strimmels (the large fur hats the Haredi wear on Shabbat and festivals) and black hats bobbing backwards and forwards. Everyone is muttering the prayers to themselves, so you just kind of hear this hum of Hebrew. Some men in the back are singing and dancing. I always wished that I could go to the men's side, but on Shabbat especially! Then we all went to another free Shabbat dinner that didn't finish until 1 am! Those crazy Jews...
On Wednesday night I had a free meal at the King David Hotel (one of the nicest hotels in Jerusalem) with a rich American man and one other student. Just us three, and it was probably the most awkward two hours of my entire life. I got the impression that this man was very wealthy (flies to Israel first class every for weeks "just because he loves it") and likes to treat American students in Israel to holiday meals. So it was a great meal, extremely fancy, but just very awkward! It didn't help that the other boy I was with was really inappropriate (like one of those people who don't understand social decorum!). Another interesting experience here. But it is really amazing how I can get free holiday and Shabbat meals--I honestly can get Friday night and Saturday lunch meals for free every single week.
I went to Yad Vashem (the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem) with my program today. It's a very emotional experience. Beautiful museum--amazing architecture, extensive information and moving exhibits, including a beautiful memorial to the 1.5 Jewish children who were murdered. The pope will actually be there in just a few weeks.
I go back to work tomorrow. Pesach break went by way too fast! It's hard to believe I have been out of the office for almost two weeks. I suppose it's back to the grind.

Tiberias

I went to Tiberias with three girlfriends to spend a couple days hanging out. Tiberias is a city in the north, situated right on the Kinneret (Sea of Gallilee in English). The trip got off to a rocky start. Our gate at the bus station in Jerusalem was absolutely packed, mostly with young people who were more than likely all heading to Tiberias for vacation. My roommate Leora and I missed the first two buses, because there were just way too many people. So we made sure to stand at the very front of the line, right where the buses pull up. But when the bus pulled up, everyone just converged all around us--dozens of people pushing and shoving to get into the narrow bus door. Israelis obviously don't believe in lines, or any type of priority given to whoever was waiting first! Leora and I were being smashed from all sides, I had a gun shoved into my chest (from one of the many soldiers there who all wear their rifles slung across their body!), and we were falling all over the place. We were falling onto this one girl's luggage, and she is screaming at us in Hebrew. Like we are choosing to fall on top of her! I started getting claustrophobic and I was so close to just giving up and going home!! It was awful. We somehow managed to get on the bus and get seats, but about ten people didn't get seats. They were forced to stand or sit on the aisle for the two and a half hour bus ride. (The inter-city buses are all like Greyhound type buses) It's pretty ridiculous. In the US, paying for a bus ticket for a long trip and not getting a seat would not be okay. In Israel I guess it is!!
So we finally got to Tiberias. We were a ten minute walk away from the lake, but there weren't really any beaches that we could find. The only beaches are really small, full of rocks, and you need to pay to get in! So after walking around for a while, we eventually just paid a hotel right on the water 40 shekels to let us use their pool for the afternoon! It was fun and relaxing with a gorgeous view of the lake. The next day we went to some hot springs and another pool. The scenery was beautiful--green hills on one side of us and a large lake on the other side surrounded by more green hills. One night we went on a boat cruise for half an hour around the lake. Tiberias seems to be more of a family friendly place with lots of shops, restaurants, and a fair like atmosphere--everything open until late.
Many restaurants in Israel stay open during Pesach and just convert into Kosher for Pesach. Instead of bread, they serve matzah! They also serve pasta made out of potatoes (it was good!), and pizza and sandwiches, etc made out of matzah meal! So it's pretty interesting. All the grocery stores are open, but they put paper or covering over all the none Kosher for Pesach items.
I'm going to Yad Vashem--the Holocaust Museum here in Jerusalem--on Sunday, and I start work again on Sunday. In two weeks I'm going to Eilat, which is the southern most city in Israel right along the Red Sea.

Passover Seder in Jerusalem!

Since I have no family in Israel, myself and another guy from my program requested a host family to go to together for the Passover seder. In the Diaspora Jews observe two seders and 8 days of Passover, but in Israel they celebrate one seder and 7 days of Passover. Gabe and I were set up with an Israeli family. The father picked us up from our apartment and brought us to their house, and then dropped us back off afterwards. They live in a settlement right outside Jerusalem and in extremely close proximity to the West Bank. We had to go through a checkpoint leaving Jerusalem and reentering it. From their backyard you can see the security fence (a large stone wall with barbed wire on top that goes on as far as the eye can see) and Arab neighborhoods. They had a beautiful home--the nicest I have seen in Israel (although granted I have not seen many private homes here!) Much of their extended family was there--kids, grandparents, aunt, cousins--and then Gabe and I! But they were very warm and friendly to us. They all spoke English, some better than others, and while they spoke to us in English they spoke to each other in Hebrew and the service was conducted in Hebrew. So I was lost through most of it, but it was still fun! The Hagaddah was entirely in Hebrew, but it was written with vowels so I could follow along. Everyone went around the table reading paragraphs and I even read two paragraphs (extremely slowly!!) and everyone clapped when I finished. :)
The language barrier can result in some amusing stories for sure. For instance, when we met one of the aunts, we were informed that she worked at "checkpoints". So Gabe asked if it was randomly determined who had to work on the holidays and she said that no one was working. We said "No one?? Is it safe to have no one working at the checkpoint??" And they said "Oh, of course, it's fine." So Gabe and I were naturally quite worried about this (and quite shocked!), but they didn't seem worried so we moved on. When the mother came back into the room, she re-introduced us to the aunt, and mentioned how she worked at a telecommunications company called Checkpoints in Tel Aviv!!!! So Gabe and I cracked up and explained to them what we had been thinking and we all shared a laugh :)!!!
Yesterday Gabe and I explored the Old City. We went to the Kotel, but the rest of the Jewish Quarter was quite empty--no stores were open--because it was Yom Tov (the first day of Passover). So we wandered around the Christian Quarter. In a narrow passageway that weaves its way through many small shops, we were all of a sudden ordered by soldiers to stand to the side, and then witnessed as a huge contingent of Christian monks walked past us, with one man in front holding a giant cross. It was really amazing and kind of intimidating to see. I'm not sure if this is a regular occurrence, or a special event because it was the day before Good Friday. We then wandered through some of the Muslim Quarter. Israeli soldiers wouldn't let us walk through one particular part ("Muslims Only"), but we did explore other parts. There is no real delineations or barriers between the different quarters (except for the soldiers guarding that one passageway) and we were never quite sure when one Quarter ended and another began. The Muslim Quarter was distinguishable though because of all the Arabic and the women in hijabs, while the Christian Quarter was distinguishable because of all the crosses! And of course bread was being sold in these two Quarters!!
Another really cool thing to see was that throughout Jerusalem on Wednesday morning, there were small fires (right along the road) and people were burning all their hametz (bread products..not kosher for Passover).
It's hard to believe this is already my eighth Shabbat in Israel. On one hand I feel as though I have been in Israel forever, but on the other hand it has gone by quite fast.
I leave for Tiberias on Sunday!

Haifa

The whole program went to Haifa yesterday. Haifa is Israel's third largest city. Situated in a broad natural bay between the beautiful Mediterranean Sea and the inspiring Carmel Mountain, the city's terraced landscape offers a rich variety of breathtaking panoramas. Haifa is home to 250,000 inhabitants, members of five different religions, living side by side in harmony, peace and mutual respect. Secular, Religious and Ultra-Orthodox Jews live side by side with Christians, Muslims, Bahai and Druze. It's really remarkable and being there one can't help but wish that the rest of Israel and the Palestinian territories (and of course the surrounding Arab countries) had this mentality. We started the day off in a beautiful monastery with gorgeous views of the sea. We then went to the Ba'hai gardens. The garden consists of 18 absolutely breathtaking terraced gardens with another beautiful view of the sea. The Ba'hai temple is situated in the middle of the terraces. The gardens are meticulously taken care of--beautiful grass, flowers, fountains, running water going alongside all the stairs (dozens of them connecting each terrace). The Bahá'í Faith is a monotheistic religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in nineteenth-century Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind. There are an estimated five to six million Bahá'ís around the world in more than 200 countries and territories. Religious history is seen to have unfolded through a series of divine messengers, each of whom established a religion that was suited to the needs of the time and the capacity of the people. These messengers have included Krishna, Abraham, the Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad and others, including most recently Bahá'u'lláh. In Bahá'í belief, each messenger taught of the next, and Bahá'u'lláh's life and teachings fulfill the end-time promises of previous scriptures. Humanity is understood to be involved in a process of collective evolution, and the need of the present time is for the gradual establishment of peace, justice and unity on a global scale. Mount Carmel, sacred to Jews and Christians alike, is also well known for its significant importance to the Bahá'ís, and serves as their spiritual and administrative centre. I think it's a pretty cool faith. We then hiking a short ways to Elijah's cave. According to tradition, Prophet Elijah resided in this cave while running from the wrath of Ahab, king of Israel. We then went to an Achmedim mosque.The Achmedim is a sect of Islam that rejects all forms of violence. An Achmedim Muslim spoke to us about how Islam has been perverted by radical Muslims, and reiterated to us the fact that that is not what Islam is about. Everything he said was dead on in my opinion. He told us that he would not die for land or for stones, or kill for land or for stones. Religion and faith are more than just land and stones.
Work started to get better this past week. I think I'm becoming more comfortable with the staff. Except for the CEO and CFO, I think the entire staff is in their 20s! So that's pretty neat. They have been giving me a lot of responsibilities and work to do, but have also been giving me some very positive feedback, which is always nice to hear! I only have 3 days of work this week before Pesach break. :)