Acharai hachagim...

Here is my favorite Israeli phase....for now...

ACHARAI CHAGIM or אחרי החגים

It means...after the holidays...For my non-Jewish readers there are 4 holidays in the hebrew month of Tishrei (which usually falls in September or early October) and one of them is a week long...what does this mean? NOTHING GETS DONE IN THE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER!

So...as September comes to a close so do the holidays, and with the end of the chagim comes what OTZMAnikim call...."real life". Starting Sunday we'll actually be in Ulpan for more than 3 days straight and we'll begin our semi-permanent volunteer placements.

This past week was vacation in observance of the Sukkot holiday. 4 fellow OTZMAnikim and I planned on doing a popular Israeli hike called "Yam el Yam" or "Sea to Sea" which goes from the Mediterranean sea to the Kinneret (the Sea of Galilee). Please note that PLANNED is the operative word here...

We hiked for 3 days, had a blast, met amazing people, laughed, cried, screamed, cursed the land and praised the land but after 3 days and 60 kilometers the girls headed back home.

Michael and I pondering our next move...

So kilometers, hiking and blisters aside it was a nice trip and I luckily I could take the last few days of vacation to relax and explore Tel Aviv.

Sunday it's back to Ashkelon for the "real world"....

I'll keep you posted!

Always playing catch up...

This past week marked the first full month in Israel as an OTZMA participant and what an incredible month it's been.


OTZMA spent Yom Kippur as a group in Jerusalem. We left Ashkelon early on the Friday morning of Erev Yom Kippur for a series of lectures and seminars before the Holiday began. I really have to credit OTZMA with providing such phenomenal educational opportunities. More than the learning that happens on a day to day basis from living in a new country and learning a new language, OTZMA provides us with extremely unique opportunities specific to our situation as Jewish Americans in Israel. I went to 3 seminars on the following topics:


-Writing your own confession
-Yom Kippur and Israeli Secularism
-Torah Yoga with Diane Bloomfield


All of the lectures were equally inspiring and unique. Before the seminar I was having a tough time getting into the mindset of the high holidays. I've really only experienced Israel in the summer, on vacation. September came and it was still hot and I was still here. Although I was in Ulpan (intensive hebrew class) it still didn't quite feel like the beginning of a new school year to me. For Rosh Hashanah I didn't even step into a synagogue let alone spend all day there as I've done in years past. Obviously with new beginnings come change but even so, the markers that never seem to change regardless of occasion or circumstance have indeed changed. In Israel I can't count on the leaves changing, or a brisk wind to tell me it's time to atone. Instead, I can still sit on the beach.

The seminar primed me. It made me stop and look around and realize that the energy in Israel is indeed palpable. I spent Kol Nidre at HUC (the Jerusalem Seminary for the Reform Movement) and even ran into my old friend Alexis (Shoutout to Kvutzah Dekel, NFTY in Israel 2005!) After a beautiful service it hit me:

The streets were completely empty of cars.

Absolutely no traffic in one of the world's busiest cities.

Simply Magical.

I spent the next day adventuring through the old city, slowly making my way to the Kotel (the Western wall) for the second time in a few weeks. The combination of the fast and the Israeli heat exhausted me and I slowly walked back to my hotel to rest for the remainder of the day. It was unlike any of my previous Yom Kippur experiences.

OTZMA broke the fast together and headed back to Ashkelon while Becca and I stayed in Jerusalem for a night on the town with Yoni.

backtracking.

In my brief overview of the past few weeks I forgot to share about an especially beautiful experience:

Monday night (September 6th) at 1:30 am OTZMA boarded a bus to Jerusalem to experience and observe Selichot traditionally. To begin to reflect on the year past, to begin to say sorry and atone before the books of life and death are even opened.

We sat on the quiet dark streets of the old city and listened to stories of Rosh Hashanah, stories and texts about why we welcome in the new year when we do. It was a pretty all inclusive night, a "lailah lavan", and just as first light was showing against the limestone, we ventured to the Kotel.

It had been a year since I was there last, for my twin brothers' B'nai-Mitzvah. I was annoyed and I was bitter. I would spend a year on the Bimah, a pivotal part of dozens of people's celebrations, and for my own family's simcha, I had to stand behind a one way mirror. Fighting, FIGHTING with religious women to get a glance at my brothers. I was really disgusted by the scene. But then they read, one at a time, and I realized, their experience, even if it was without me, was special. Their time at the wall, with all of their uncles and boy cousins was something unrepeatable. I didn't go to the wall that day.

So on Monday, I went to the wall for the first time in 3 years. I went with peace of mind, I went with the things I was atoning for, I went to acknowledge that something greater than me had let me arrive at this season.

Next year will be different from this, this year was different than last.

"And so, if one is standing in the east, one turns toward the west; if one is standing in the west, one turns toward the east; if one is standing in the south, one turns toward the north; if one is standing in the north, one turns to the south. Thus, all of Israel directs their hearts toward one place"
-Talmud

Selichot reminded me that everything is a circle, everything evolves, everything must be flexible, we must be everything while being nothing.

Shana Tova!

Happy 5771 from Israel!

Today marks my 3rd week in Israel and it feel incredible, here's a quick catch up of events:

August 21st- Leave JFK for Brussels, Belgium

August 22nd- Brussels, Belgium for the day for a fabulous bike tour and some chocolate


August 23rd- 25th Tel Aviv, Tiberias Israel to visit Aunts and Uncles and Cousins


August 25th-29th Jerusalem, Israel for OTZMA orientation and tiyul (trip) around the Judean desert




August 30th- Present - Ashkelon (with a few stops in Tel Aviv in between)



For the next few months I will be living, volunteering and learning Hebrew in Ashkelon with 35 of my fellow Otzmaniks. We live in an absorption center for new olim (immigrants) that is a ten minute walk from a beautiful Mediterranean beach. After the holidays (a phrase I now know all too well) we'll begin our semi-permanent volunteer placements, most of us working with at risk youth communities.

More to come soon as the adventure unravels.

May this be a year of happiness, health, rejuvenation, inspiration, hope and spontaneity.

Shana Tova!

August 7th, 2010

After a quick stop home to unload all of my wordly possessions at my parents house I got back in the car and back on the road to Phoenicia NY for my Yoga teacher training. Phoenicia is a beautiful town tucked in the Catskill mountains, close to Woodstock, NY (you may have heard of this or something...).

As per usual for me and new beginnings, I was nervous. Seriously unnecessary questions invaded my mind:

Will they like me?
What if I don't wear lululemon everyday?
What if I can't do every pose?

How ironic. Here I am on my way to a place that will empower me to empower others and I can't even stop worrying about looking good. However, my doubts were pretty heavily destroyed once I got to Menla Mountain Retreat Center and checked into my room where a handful of warm, gorgeous, smiling women welcomed me. All very different people, gathered together to promote change within themselves, and to ignite something within the students they teach.

Going into brief detail about the experiences I had that week would not do them justice, it was hard physically, it was brutal mentally but, some take away points/quotes are:

- "Doubt your doubts and they will disappear, feel your fears and they will fade"

-"Instead of being right or wrong, know that you are a powerful creator of reality"

-“Who you are speaks so loudly I can't hear what you're saying.” -Emerson


Speak the truth and live the truth and last but certainly not least:

do violence to the status quo