Catch Up

A lot has happened these last three weeks so I’m going to put this one in bullets…..
The Zoo, what could be better than seeing numerous really cute lovable animals behind glass? SEEING THEM IN ISRAEL!! I know marvelous! My friends Gabe, Jesse, Anna, Liza and I decided to go to the zoo one day after ulpan (slash yeshiva for anna…) and it was sooooo much fun! We got to see all the animals up close because we were the only ones at the zoo- that is except for the boy band that was there….
For Shabbat my room mate and I were invited to go over to our staff Elakana’s house for dinner (he’s reading this to put it on the website so I hope I didn’t spell his name wrong…). It was a lot of fun! We met them at their shul and prayed kab shab with them at a really pleasant synagogue. The women sat upstairs in a really nice balcony section and I actually enjoyed the way the service was set up… plus it was right near the jslum theater so it was close- I think ill go back. After synagogue we walked to Elk’s house where we had an excellent diner (and I’m not just saying that because he’s going to be reading this…) all made by HIM! I know first off he’s a great guy (a GG as lainie would say) but he cooks too!!! Very impressive I know! The night was exceptionally fun; we learned a lot and had great conversations. I can’t wait to go back with Lane-Bear!
On 12-08 Nativ had its Menorah making party! I’ve been excited for this day ever since I saw the Nativ promo video with people making their own Menorah’s! It was loads of fun, I made mine look like an Israeli flag with the candles in the middle….On top it says “I love Israel” in Hebrew and Nativ 29.
The football team won another game this week! And I almost made an extra point! It was very exciting to say the least- who knew a girl like me would have so much fun playing sports! I’m actually really sad to say that we only have two games left, maybe ill be able to start a girls league at college next year…
Speaking of college- Rhyan, Josh O., Stephainie, and I talked to a bunch of college advisors/ high school guidance counselors about Nativ and gap year programs yesterday. We basically said who we were and why we did Nativ. I think we all came off as though we loved the program (which we all do) and about how thankful we are we came (trust me I could talk for hours about how happy I am I came on nativ….).
I had my last JET course and I really enjoyed it I thought mark lazar was a great teacher and I learned a lot. Plus we got doughnuts which is always a plus
Today (12-10-09) I went to MeahSheriam with Liza, Miri, and Laura. Meah Shearim (Hebrew: מאה שערים‎) is one of the oldest neighborhoods in west Jerusalem, Israel, built by the original settlers of Yishuv haYashan. Today it is populated mainly by Haredi Jews. It is the most religiouse area in the world. We just walked around and dressed all frum and relig, it was weird trying to fit in in a place where we clearly didn’t belong. Maybe from now on ill go all Ortho…. Just kidding. But really I enjoyed walking aroudn down there. Very interesting…..

This shabbat Nativ took us to Yerucham and we got to see the town we will be living in. Its LITERALLY in the middle of the desert, were talking camel crossing signs! Its crazy! We were getting a tour and all of a sudden we see three donkeys walk by doing there donkey things… I don’t even know how to explain this place fully. Theres 1 shwarma place, 1 pizza place, 1 hamburger place, 2 (gasp) falafel places, and A TON OF PARKS. The parks there are great! We all went on ziplines and stuff! Sooo much fun! I know our Thursday night activities from now on! While in Yerucham they took us to an Indian concert! It was sooo coool! There were little indian girls dancing and the music sucked (but Nativ made it fun so hey). Mostly it just got us really excited for Yerucham. On the way back to J-slum we stoped by Ben-Gurion’s house and did a tour there. Just like pilgrimage but this time I wasn’t as tired… afterwards we went on a short hike and then came back.
Hanukah here so far has been kinda weird. They don’t do that much. Im used to full out christmas decorations and trees, but in Israel they have Menorahs lighting the way and doughnuts everwhere. Although I must say I have yet to have a latka! Shocker I know! Pam you know what to do when I get home! LATKES! Anyways the holiday here is very low-key. Kids don’t get presents every night and they make it more about the mirical and not the celebrations. Its acutally a nice change and I really enjoy it.
Nativ is having a Hanukah party tonight so we will see how that goes…

Thanksgiving in the Holy Land

As you well know, in 1621 the pilgrims came over on the mayflower and the first thanksgiving was created. In 2009 80 nativer’s and 70 old nativers gathered at 8 Argon Street to teach Israel the meaning of turkey. We met in the synagogue with all the old nativers, staff, and random yeshiva people where we watched a video on nativ (made by Hadley and Joe) and heard about past nativers who have joined the army, gotten married, or made aliyah. Next Kehilla and all old nativers from years 0-23 went in one dinning room and Kebutz and all others went into another. When we walked in there was a surprise waiting for all of us- letters from home. In theory a great idea, but when you give a girl a long romantic letter from her boyfriend that she hasn’t seen in 4 months (sorry for the shout out Jason…) your bound to se some tears…. And by that I mean tears worth leaving the room for. Once my make-up was fixed I went back in and read the others- and then had to leave again because I read my dads….. rough night. After getting over the whole “home-sick” feeling everyone had we ate dinner. Surprisingly Israel does know a thing or two about food- we just rarely see it at Agron. I had two (I wish I could say servings here but ill be honest) plates of turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, ect. And I ate until I could see my food baby showing. It was really nice being surrounded by all my friends, a different feeling than most years but defiantly a good one. We all just talked and laughed until we moved down to the auditorium where we watched another movied about thanksgiving (made by ME!). Everyone laughed and enjoyed it which was really nice/ made me feel good. Then I just crashed in my bed and fell asleep (after skyping with my family and Jason of course). All in all it was a really nice thanksgiving that I will never forget.
Black Friday was spent a little different this year… I went to Tel Aviv with my friends Miri (for her birthday), Ally, Lainie, Razie, Laura, and Shara. We went to an art fair Friday day and shopped/look around. It was nice spending the day being girlie with friends and not having anything to do. We ate lunch at this really cute pizza place where we ordered a TON of pizzas… literally 7- the waitress was like “you really want another”… kinda embarrassing now that I look at how much that was… We met up with two of Miris friends at the restaurant- Dani and Annie, and from there we went to the hotel (since it was Miri’s birthday her mom bought us a suite for the night!) got snacks and had sushi for dinner. A Richard Gear marathon was on TV so for the rest of the night that’s what we did (ps if you haven’t seen the movie Unfaithful, stop reading this and go do it… like now)… That is until midnight when we had mimosas on the beach- it was very cute!
Today (Sunday the 29th of November) I had another great day of volunteering! I teach at the Frankel School (past Hebrew U. on Mount Scopus) in 4th and 5th grade. For one hour I take Israeli children out and one by one they read to me. Any word they don’t understand in English I explain to them in Hebrew- I find it to be a really good trade off. We both learn a lot in the end (or what I can remember). For example today I had a whole conversation with a little girl about the zoo in Hebrew- we talked about all the animals and what sounds they make (very sophisticated and mature- I know). In the 5th grade class I teach three girls who are above there class level. We do worksheets about story making and go over spelling (after being asked five times how to spell “fell” you start to question yourself). And then for a half hour I organize the library. I love going to volunteering- it’s a lot of fun, really rewarding, and I’m getting more involved with the community; I absolutely love it!

The last two weeks

The last two weeks in JSLUM have been really great! Instead of writing a really long post I’m going to do a top five of this week…. So be pumped

1) The foot ball team won BOTH games over the last two weeks! That’s the most the native women’s league has won in the past five year! Some highlights include: Stasha catching a football that bounced off someone’s head and making a touchdown, calling the other team mean names, getting into a fight with the other team…, and Coach Cook getting into a fight with the ref….

2) Last Shabbat was a lot of fun! Ally Turkheimer, David Helfand, Judah Kerbel, and I all went to the synagogue called shira hadasha on Friday night where we all got hosted by a family and ate REALLY good food. Highlights of that night include : not knowing any of there names, one of the guys falling asleep at the table, and a dog named Freddy (the only name we remembered). Then for Saturday morning ally Turkheimer, Brittany Markowitz, and I went to the Italian synagogue where the Oneg was SO GOOD! The synagogue itself was beautiful and the service was nice. The only downside was instead of English on one side it was Italian…. A little confusing but the experience and adventure were fun!

3) We had a women's Rosh Chodesh program last Sunday (ראש חודש‎ marks the beginning of each new month and modern Jews celebrate women on this holiday hence the womens program…). This month we all made truffles together and talked about why we are happy to be a Jewish women (I said so I can guilt people with food). MORE IMPORTANTLY! I was told that if i write i program relating Jewish Women to a Seven Layer bean dip then we would be able to make it! and Ive already written the program, so ladies get pumped!

4) Jesse Lender, Lainie Schwartz, and I went to sushi on emick and it was DELICIOUS- a little expensive but worth it for the good food. I think were going to make it a new tradition. Who knew you could get good sushi in Israel…. Anyways it was sooo good! I forgot how much I loved sushi….

5) I hurt my back last week and Ive been ignoring the pain…. Long story short I ended up going to the Dr. and getting drugs…. But then those didn’t help so I went to the ER and got a shot….. Brings a new meaning to "Thursday night shots" very long story so hope you enjoy the short story….

Moral of the Story- I should’t buy soup nuts because I already ate half the bottle in less than a 24 hour period….. The bottle serves 100

Things I forgot to mention that happened this week:

-My Beit Midrash program was another hit, i went for the free pizza and then stayed for the Torah convo (very unlike me i know). The woman I've chosen to study with name is Yonata (i think...) and shes a rabbinical student from JTS who is now living in Israel (although she hasn't eaten at fruit bar on emick and this really turns me off...). Not only does she agree with me that Israeli pizza sucks, she is really good at explaining the Torah to us.... its a lot of fun and defiantly worth going to. Each week she picks a diffent midrash to go over and talk about, the first week was ethical treatment of animals and last week was fair trading and keeping the peace between neighbors. My friend Leeann goes with me each week so its a lot of fun.

-Jesse Lender's Mom and little brother came in this week and Jarrett (the little brother) is sooooo cute! she took us all out to Cuppa Joe for dinner it was really good! ill have to go back there again!

-My Hebrew is really coming along, Ive been using it a lot in class and im doing really well... at least my teacher (Tami) is impressed.... Yolanda (alright to be honest i don't really know her name thats just what i call her) doesn't like me so much, scratch that- she doesn't like US so much.... but its a fair and even trade...

-Since Thanksgiving is coming up, I volunteered to make a thanksgiving video with my friend Sophie. We had to go around and film EVERY nativer saying something about thanksgiving... I'm now just editing it with Ian and then it should be good to go. Its really funny so i hope i can get it up here so everyone can watch it...

Week of 10-18-09 Whales and Sports

The last week was full of exciting events!
Sunday I went to the school I am going to be volunteering at first semester with my friends Gabe Ciuraru and Jesse Lender and gave them our names and numbers so that they can contact us to let us know when they want us to work…. Aka they still haven’t called and it’s been a week. So if they don’t call by the end of this week I will call them myself.
Nothing happened too much on Monday so ill skip ahead to Tuesday! We had Eriv Nativ again (the weekly mandatory program where we meet from 7:30-10:00 and talk about various topics, usually we have a guest speaker or something). This week we broke down into five small groups and did a בית מדרש‎ (a study hall where you learn about torah and all that jazz). I had some crazy guy named Ethan and we talked about Sea Monsters in the Torah. It was kinda a introduction to what is going to be going on every Sunday. And hey they have free food so I might go, we will see (don’t hold your breath rabbi). Afterwards Gabe Ciuraru, Becky Constinten, and I went to Mcdonalds and got ice cream.
On Wednesday we had our first JET (Jewish Educators in Training) class with Mark Lazar (more about him on the bottom)! This class is open only to Nativ students and is based on teaching us how to teach Judaism to younger children in a classroom setting (or more simply how to become Hebrew school teachers). Since I might go into education I thought I would be a fun class to take. We played some teamwork games and then ranked a bunch of Jewish ideals from most important to least. It was a pretty fun class and I would like to do it for all of nativ. Plus Mark is a really crazy like 70 year old hippie with grey curly hair to his waist and always says really inappropriate things, which if you mix all together makes for a very interesting seminar.
After the JET class the Nativ Women’s Flag Football Team (or the league for girls who want to get a cool t-shirt and get a good work out at the same time) had its first practice. We all went down to the park by the doctors (the same one that Jesse lender and I got lost at going to) and started off running laps with Coach Parritz (yeah the boys make us call them coach…) until we all thought we were going to die and then Coach Mann gathered us around for stretching and an inspirational talk…. It was very funny to hear our nativ boys be all serious and coach like, especially Coach Mann who would yell at us in his southern accent (which is funny until he’s yelling at you to do five pushups because you were dancing… then-not so much). Next we did timed running and had to throw and catch a football… Which sounds easy enough if you have any idea on how to throw such an object, but if you’re a girl who likes air conditioning and not getting hurt than it’s a little harder (aka Coach Cook had to teach me how to hold a football and catch it with out getting hurt…). The night ended with suicides and I felt like we were all in the movie Miracle (thanks to Jason I have watched a sports movie… the things you do for love) because Coach Parritz loved blowing that freaking whistle to make us run faster. All in all it was a lot of fun and I cant wait for the season to start (and by that I mean I cant wait until tonight because we have another practice and our first game on Monday!). I’m pretty sure the NFL is going to be sending scouts all the way out to Israel to watch us play. But I wouldn’t get my hopes up just yet- lets see how Monday works out…. Plus if we win I’ve convinced Coach Cook to let us give him a facial (which of course would make for a good blog post so stay tuned)
Thursday went by like every other Thursday in Jerusalme does… and ill save my parents the heart attack and just skip it.
This Shabbat I went with my friend Ilana Rosenzweig to her grandparent’s house near tel aviv. It was a very fun and relaxing Shabbat- we spent most of it sporcling and talking. I like the change of scenery and of course the delicious food! We even go to go to the beach so I came back with a nice tan!

That was last week in short! Moral of the Story: Whales DO like football!

Mark Lazar has been involved in formal and informal Jewish Education since 1973 and has been associated with the Jewish Agency in Israel, the Joint Distribution Committee, the University of Judaism, and numerous schools and institutions. He has led seminars and workshops in the United States, Israel, England, Australia, Latvia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Germany, Poland and the former Yugoslavia. He is concluding a two year stint in San Francisco with the Bureau of Jewish Education and will be returning to Jerusalem and his community development work for the Joint in Eastern Europe.

Kinneret Camping Trip..... This doesnt give it enough credit....

WARNING: Very short blog post that leaves out too much.... but i just couldnt write it all because i cant even articulate it.... This isnt a great post.... but read anyways?


After a long week in Jerusalem my friends and I were ready to go off on another crazy weekend. This time we had heard of a group that was going camping in the Kinneret (כִּנֶּרֶת) (see fun Kinneret facts below…)! Our other friend Miri invited us (ally, liana, Leeann, Lainie, and me) to go along with her and the other group so we decided that this is what our nativ experience was all about so we might as well do it. We pack all our stuff into backpacks and brought enough food and clothes to last us two days and one night. We then made our way to the bus station where we all got lunches (Ally, Miri, Leeann, and I got really good bagels (cheap too!) from this random place in the central bus staion… If you ever go there for lunch get the bagels, very good….). Anyways we after getting lunch we went to the bus… as we get there we see a crowd of people trying to get on but in the end we all make our way onto the bus (it ended up costing way more that I thought it would for the bus ride, but hey what can you do). Funny thing about Israel busses is that they think they can fit about 30 more people than they actually can. This leads to kids laying in the hallways and sitting in the exits of busses… aka any nativer that takes a bus. So that was alright for the first half hour but then people started to get car sick and it was just not a fun situation. Josh Oral (a fellow camper from Kibbutz) gave me his seat half way through because I was feeling sick, it was a very appreciated move to say the least…. Anyhow after about a three hour bus ride we get to where we think we are supposed to get off…. Turns out we got out at the wrong stop but to make a VERY VERY VERY long and frustrating story short we ended up setting up camp at a random beach/water park place that would let us stay there for 50 ₪ a night. The Shabbat was very relaxing and we were all able to get to know each other a lot better. We lite candles overlooking the kinneret and did kab shab with our feet in the water, it was a great way to spend the weekend. On Saturday we spent the day swimming, sleeping, relaxing, and talking which made for another great day.
Another very long story short my friends and I had to leave the camp site before Shabbat was over, and so we didn’t have a way back home. We ended up waiting at a random bus stop where we all thought a bus was going to come and pick us up. About an hour later we realize that the bus isn’t going to pick us up and we have to find another way to get home to Jerusalem… So we call taxis to take us to Tiberius and from there we all took buses back to Jerusalem….
Very VERY VERY long and frustrating story short- spent more money than I wanted, was able to spend a weekend in the Kinneret with my friends, I have some really funny stories to tell now, and next time I should always make sure we know what we are doing…..

Moral of the Story: Peace Love and the Fairies will fix everything


The Sea of Galilee, also Lake of Gennesaret, Lake Kinneret or Sea of Tiberias (Hebrew: ים כנרת‎, Arabic: بحيرة طبريا‎), is the largest freshwater lake in Israel, being approximately 53 km (33 miles) in circumference, about 21 km (13 miles) long, and 13 km (8 miles) wide. The lake has a total area of 166 km², and a maximum depth of approximately 43 m At 209 meters below sea level, it is the lowest freshwater lake on Earth and the second-lowest lake in the world (after the Dead Sea, a saltwater lake).

Bu

Bus rides!

Tel Aviv, "should the door close"

After many weekends in Jerusalem watching so many others go out and travel the country my group of friends and I decided we should go off and explore Israel. Our first city of choice- Tel Aviv! After our long adventure in the desert we took a well deserved beach vaca and took a bus to Tel Aviv. All was well and fine on the bus ride, Ally sat with Jesse, Micheal sat with… a random man, Ilana sat will Lainie, Gabe sat with Adam, and I sat with Leeann (making a total of nine of us). It took about 45 minutes to get there and once we got off the bus Jesse told us he had directions to the hostel. We were all relived to find out that at least one of us knew what we were doing but as he pulled out his “directions” we all got a little worried. His directions were as follows:
1) get on bus
2) get off bus
So needless to say after a great laugh the nine of us were still a little lost on what to do, we didn’t want to take another bus because that we would have to wait to long, walking was out of the picture because it was a thirty minute walk with all of our bags, and we would have to take three taxis to fit us all. So in little time at all taxi men were swarming us asking us where we needed to go. Finally we got one of them to allow five in his car and four in another for 10 sheckles each. So we split up as follows: Leeann, Micheal, Jesse, and Adam in one (I’m not sure why we let all the boys go with just one girl but hey she knew the most Hebrew) and Lainie, Ally, Ilana, Gabe, and myself in the other. once we all squeezed in the taxi the cab driver started to hit on Lainie non stop- a very funny sight to see when your squished in the back seat laughing non stop because none of us fit. After a very amusing taxi ride we finally got to the hostel, and very long story short checked in. Next we went up to our rooms and changed. (Don’t worry dad, it was girls in one and boys in another.) All of us had a great day on the beach (we ended up getting there at about 11) and we just enjoyed the sun and legal drinking age (in a very mature and responsible way) until the sun went down. Then we went back showered and got ready for a nice night out in Tel Aviv. The nine of us ended up eating at a gluten free restaurant (because Adam is gluten free, vegan, who is allergic to eggs, some nuts, and corn). It was a really cute place that none of us would go to on a regular night but ended up being really tasty!
We were all exhausted after a long day in the sun, and three days in the freaking desert, so we went back at ten and talked the night away (after I skyped with Jason of course) so we could start the next day off early.
The next day Adam, Jesse, and Ally went to Herzliya and the rest of us stayed on the beach and tanned all day. We didn’t get up except for to get breakfast, lunch, and to go cool off in the water. It was a great day spent listening to music and enjoying each others company! We stayed to watch the sunset and so Leeann could see her long time friend and then at about 7 we started to head back.

Moral of the story: Whales really do love the ocean

Whales and Desert Just Don't Mix

Lets be honest now, what sounds fun about three days two nights hiking down in the Negev… if your name is Sarah Naomi Ziskend (or Sarin for those who know…) then your answer would be absolutely nothing. Just to clarify, I’m the type of girl who enjoys mascara, couches, food, and air conditioning… not scorpions (yes we saw one), flies (saw too many to count), dirt, and sweat. So there is little need to say how NOT pumped I was for the upcoming desert survival trip. I was actually in such denial that by the time we were supposed to get off the bus I forgot what we were going to do. The first day wasn’t so bad at all (which completely shocked me), we hiked about 4 miles (6km… but im trying to do the conversion in my head so it might be wrong) and it gave me a great chance to talk to Cori (koren), Ilana, Lainie, and Jesse. In the beginning we were complaining the whole way about anything that we could, but then we made it fun by singing and dancing (oh the power of distraction is GREAT). We all laughed a lot hearing Elkana singing Brittney Spears with all of us in the middle of the Negev! We hiked for about two hours and then stopped for lunch in a really beautiful shady area. Everyone passed around cucumbers, bread, tuna, tomatoes, bamba, and various other passable foods. It was a lot of fun having an improve picnic in the middle of the desert! I loved to watch everyone share whatever food they had, it was truly a sight to see! Afterwards we hiked a little more and then stopped again to play games… well let me restate that: Those who were awake enough to play games did… other just watched and slept, it was a well deserved nap though- don’t get me wrong. Soon after we got to the camp sight and all started helping out in different ways. I chopped vegetables for our salad with Stashia, Brittney, Ethan, and Ally… because honestly if theres food then I’m there. Dinner was so good (I ate with my bff Gabe, Jonny, and Michael)! We had chicken, mashed potatoes, soup, veggies, Israeli salad, and Caesar salad. It was all around a great dining experience (and greatly appreciated after a long day of hiking). I don’t know if its right that the food in the desert is wayyyyyy better than base food (no offense beit nativ workers… sometimes its good, but lets be honest here- its not desert survival food). And then we had a bon fire and all went to bed… that was a really abridged version of the night but I can’t fit it all… The next morning started bright and early, and by that I mean that it was still dark when we woke up at 5:00 am. We all stumbled out of bed and waited in line for Becky to braid our hair, the only manageable hairstyle you can wear when hiking 13km. After a great breakfast of cookie crips (Israel style of course) and davening overlooking the desert we started off once again. Except this time it was much much much harder- were talking like vertical distance up mountains hard. There must have been a million times when I turned to Noah (No-bear) and said “wow there is NO WAY I can do that” but I pushed through and made it up all the mountains… and were not talking little kid mounds, I mean huge mountains that require much motivation (a thing I have little of in the desert). We stopped for a mid morning snack under a random tree and we weren’t alone. A scorpion joined us for lunch and we were all amazed. I have never actually seen a real live human killing scorpion up close, and now I never want to see it again. After our scare we trudged on and hiked up more mountains. Other than a fantastic two hour nap, the day was very long and very hard. We all appreciated seeing the camp site when we finally got there. Dinner that night included grilled turkey, hot dogs, pita, hummus, soup, salad, and Israeli salad. It was once again greatly appreciated and devoured within seconds. The next day started even earlier at 4:30 and once again Becky braided everyone’s hair, we davened, ate breakfast, and started our way on our last day of the trip. The beginning 4km were fairly easy since it was still fairly cold out, but once we got to a huge incline it started to get harder and harder to do. We all helped each other and made it up the hard parts of the mountain. The only negative from the hike today (other than being really hard) was getting lost from the group with Becky, Becca, and Lainie. We had to stop numerous times to pee (an actually fun experience in the desert once you get over the initial fear) and by the time we were all done we couldn’t see the group- so we followed the blue and white path until (about five or ten minutes later) we caught up to the whole group waiting for us… sorry about that guys… anyways after that we went up a huge mountain, one that everyone had trouble with. I was so grateful to get to the top that Lainie and I collapsed (after getting out my chocolate sandwich of course) and just over looked the view. Looking down from the top was gorgeous and (almost) worth the hike up. I felt so accomplished by the end! The trip wouldn’t have been complete without an AMAZING jeep ride at the end! It was like a personal rollercoaster! I rode with Lainie, Eric, Ethan, Stashia, and Judah. The guy passed back a ton of wafers for us to eat (they were greatly appreciated) and then we were off on a really fun adventure by jeep! It was so fast and bumpy-ahhhhh I loved every minute of it! I cannot even describe to you in words how much fun it was! I was smiling the whole way and wish I was back on it right now actually… Anyways that was very abridged version of desert survival but I’m exhausted and not in the normal funny typing mood… maybe ill go back and edit this after Tel Aviv (my friends and I are leaving to go to tel aviv in the morning…)… PS. As I side note from the desert adventure I learned that I love Jonny, David, Miri, Becky, Asaf, and many others (*cough* Jesse Turk*cough*).
ilana and me at the top

lainie ilana gabe and me

at the top! day three

Lainie, Ilana, Me, Cori, Leeann, Ally

nap time day two

SCORPIONNN

a mountian we did

camp site for day one

Ilana and me

Judah and his women

for the parents

Roomies in the desert

The Jerusalem Post Take on our Nativ Singing Circle!

"SOME SIXTY members of Nativ, a youth affiliate of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism in the United States, who are here on a nine-month study and leadership program, organized a Kol Nidre night happening in Jerusalem, by way of a kosher Woodstock at the conclusion of Kol Nidre services. Taking advantage of the absence of traffic, the youngsters sat in an enormous circle in the Agron-Keren Hayesod intersection and lustily sang Hebrew songs. People heading home from nearby Orthodox, Conservative and Reform congregations were attracted by the sound, and enthusiastically surrounded the singers who occasionally got up to dance in voluntarily gender-segregated circles. Smiles registered on the faces of the spontaneous audience, many of the people who stood around tapped their feet and clapped in time to the melodies, and some even joined in.
Especially delighted were Holocaust survivors Michael and Lea Klein for whom any sign of Jewish continuity both in the ideological and the physical sense is a cause for joy. Michael Klein, who became a highly respected physicist in America before moving here, owes his survival to Oscar Schindler. The Kleins were still enthusing about the contagious spirit of the Nativ youth the following day."

It must have been the Chocolate Cake

Chocolate cake for breakfast
I knew it would be a great day from the start, after all what can go wrong on a day that starts off with chocolate cake! My breakfast yesterday, as you probably guessed from the previous sentence, included sheep cheese and chocolate cake. And defenitly don’t knock it till you try it- it’s quite delicious! So after my yummy breakfast I went to Ulpan, usually a dull experience but yesterday’s was the best class yet! I should have known it was going to be a great class when I saw that we were switching rooms- we moved from a usually cramped classroom (בכיתה)to a big open בכיתה and the change was very welcomed! Instead of sitting in rows we sat in a circle allowing everyone to see! Anyways the aura of that room was just all together a better learning environment. The whole class was just better all together! It must have been the mixture of sitting next to Max, a very learned man, and the chocolate cake breakfast because before break I had already read and understood a whole paragraph written in Hebrew! I was very impressed with myself too!
Anyways the rest of the day went considerably great too, I had another laundry party with my friend Sophie, I cleaned my room, and I went back into storage! So everything was pretty great yesterday.
AND SURPRISINGLY the trend carried onto today! I had another very good class of Ulpan, where I understood everything that was going on and answered almost all of my question right, and we had a sukkah building party in the courtyard! I love to decorate for sukkot so this was a really great party! There were people painting a making decorations (including an awesome poster made by Ilana, Sophie, and me), people actually building the sukkah, and others just randomly dancing and hanging out with friends. It was a great atmosphere and another memory that I will never forget thanks to Nativ 29.

Moral of the story- ALWAYS have chocolate cake for breakfast
*even better- today I studied with my staff (slash BFF if your reading this) Cori, and did really well! Ive already decided that if I get an A on the test tomorrow im going to make photo copies and post them randomly around Beit Nativ… so look out for them..

Bad- no package yet… but don’t worry family! You can replace that by sending me mail at:
Sarah Ziskend
8 agron street
P.O. Box 7456
Jerusalem, 94265 Israel

Another good- ive discovered how great the olives here are and now im eating a million a day… maybe that’s not so good…


(making our sign for the sukkah)

(Me and Sophie doing laundry)

(Ilana, Me, Jonny)

(ilana, sophie, and me)

(ilana, Shosh, Leeann, and me)

(Ilana, Me, and Ally)

Singing in the Streets.. יוֹם כִּפּוּר (not so funny... but hey neither is forgiveness)

My יוֹם כִּפּוּר (yom kippur) in Israel was amazing! My chag started off early Sunday morning when I woke up for tefilot at 8:30 and then we had different classes on different subjects all relating to יוֹם כִּפּוּר. I went to Shosh’s session about what we cant do on יוֹם כִּפּוּר (other than all the stuff we cant do on Shabbat we also cant shower and put makeup on, wear leather shoes, eat, or have marital relations….)and Noah’s on… something else about the Holiday (lets be honest- my attention can only be held for so long). Afterwards Lainie, Sophie, Ilana, and I went to go get Burgers Bar before the fast… it was an awful story that does not end in me eating a Delicious burger before my fast… instead we went to the sketchy falafel place across the street where we could taste the forborne illnesses…. Nothing can replace the taste of botulism. Anyways dinner was at 3:30 and the fast started at 4:50 (the last thing I ate were Reeses Pieces, so we knew the holiday was going to be awesome after that).
Kol Nidre (Hebrew: כל נדרי) was spent with Ally, Ilana, Leeann, Sophie, Britney, and Lainie. We all went to services and then came back to find everyone singing in the middle of the street singing in a circle! All 84 nativers were sitting literally in the middle of one of the busiest intersection in Israel singing ruach songs. Before long we had attracted a crowed of at least 100 people from all different backgrounds watching and singing along with us. There were black coats (well white on יוֹם כִּפּוּר… but still) and secular Jews, elderly and children, couples and familes all lining the streets to come and join us in our songs. It was a special and great way to start the Chag. The experience was amazing and just one of the many that I will never be able to experience in the states but only a place like Israel.
This morning I woke up to go to a Nature Museum service with Ally, Leeann, Ilana, and Alex…(the whole walk there we were able to walk right in the middle of the roads with literally no car in sight- it was the coolest thing ever! All we knew was that it was right of of Emik so we thought we would just be able to find it… Well we were wrong and ended up following the signs to a Nature Museum for about 20 minutes… turns out ‘nature museum’ in Israel really means natural history museum that is locked with no service going on… so we walked to Kedem (a conservative synagogue close by) and did services there. It wasn’t as moving as singing in the streets was but hey at least I got to ask for forgiveness… The rest of the Holiday was pretty uneventful…until break fast where I went out to Burgers Bar for real this time and ate a very satisfying hamburger with Lainie and Noah…

So all in all I would give this יוֹם כִּפּוּר two thumbs up!

Sorry to Judah who I forgot to mention in my last blog post:
Last shabbat Judah and I went on a very nice shabbat walk to my favorite place in the world! You guessed it Yemin Moshe! We talked about very classy issues and looked out at the amazing view this location offers. It was a memory I will never forget with a friend I will have forever, “Judah Judah best”!

It only took two bars of pop-rock chocolate

Higlight of my day:
"now that i came through your window can i be in your blog???"
-ilana


So on Friday morning I was convinced into going to do a Selichot (Hebrew: סליחות‎) tour... at four am…. All it took was Cori, one of my staff, to tell me she would give me two bars of pop-rock chocolate. (Honestly I thought Israeli chocolate couldn’t get any better, BUT THEN they added pop rocks to it! It’s like a carnival in your mouth!) So I woke up at four and did סליחות around Jerusalem… turns out it wasn’t much more than walking around to different synagogues between the hours of four till six thirty am and sitting in for one or two prayers. And negatively the womens section got progressively worse as the morning went on, it was kinda a let down. On the plus side we got to see many people stubbing home from the bars in the earlier hours (actually a very strange contrast- on one side of the road were all the partiers and on the other all the prayers… not many people can say they’ve seen that). But it all turned out to be worth it when Elkiana bought us all marzipan for breakfast!
After סליחות I came back and slept for another four hours, and then went to lunch where my friend Leeann and I had the best idea to surprise our staff Cori with a birthday present! So we collected money from everyone who was still on base and then went out and bought her some candle sticks. Wanting to make it a great presentation, we enlisted the help of Noah and Shosh. The whole plan was complete with code names! Cori was little bird, Noah- Medium Bird, Ilana was Kola Bear, Leeann was Lizard, and I was big bird. Our plan was ingenious! We were going to have the security guard yelling at us from outside the gate pretending to not let us in because we didn’t have our I.D.’s and then call cori to come and get us! Sounds so easy right! Well it was very difficult to convince cori to come down and get us out…. So that was the first flaw. Second flaw she was LIVID when she came out and she almost refused to take the package that the guard was handing her… bad because we had wrapped a million boxes and put them all inside one another(original I know). Once she finally took it and opened it she was very happy with the gift, although she did say that wasn’t funny-which it soooo was!
The rest of the day I just hung around with Lainie, Sophie, Ilana (the best blog follower ever, if only she would actually follow), Gabe, Micheal, Jesse (MY NUMBER ONE FAN!), and Leeann. It was a very relaxing שַׁבָּת to say the least! After שַׁבָּת a bunch of us all went out to Aldo, the best ice cream in the entire WORLD, for David’s birthday. It was a lot of fun, and we all ate a lot of delicious food which always makes everything fun!

Not much else has happened on this side of my world… So until next time I hope you all have an easy fast!

Ps i know i forgot to mention how AWESOME ilana is!!! YOUR THE BEST!! and i think your nose is falling off


yummy aldo ice cream!

Everyone for Davids Birthday

Judah, Me, and Leeann

You had me at “swinging chickens”

The day started off fairly normal, I had tefilot, breakfast, and then another day of Ulpan (with teacher Shelly, it was a little hard after missing yesterday… and I have a lot of homework….). I had been excited all week to go to Caparot, so when I got back from class that’s all I was talking about (except for the fantastic three hour nap that I took after lunch- I wasn’t really talking during that time…)!
For those of you who don’t know, and I had no idea what it was until this week, Caparot (כפרות‎, in heberw meaning atonements) is a traditional Jewish animal sacrifice that takes place on the eve of Yom Kippur. Classically, it is performed by grasping a live chicken by the shoulder blades and moving around one's head three times, symbolically transferring one's sins to the chicken. The chicken is then slaughtered and donated to the poor, preferably eaten at the pre- Yom Kippur feast.
Anyways what doesn’t sound fun about swinging a chicken over your head! I wasn’t really a fan of the whole ‘lets kill the chicken’ idea but hey I enjoy a nice chicken nugget here or there and I’m not dumb enough to think they grow off trees so I thought I would just deal. I also had the foolish idea to think that the slaughtering part wouldn’t be the first thing I saw when I walked in…. Well I guess Israel doesn’t have a P.E.T.A. because this was the most awful experience of my ENITIRE LIFE! Worse than the kotel experience on Rosh Hashana (just kidding… that was pretty bad). Let me try to explain the scene for you:
You walk in and there’s a fence inclosing the entire place so you don’t realize what you’ve got yourself into- all you hear are the violent screams of dying chickens and random chicken feet lining the street. You entire the gates and the first thing on you left is a slaughtering machine! Literally there is a guy chopping the heads off and then putting them in a machine that de-feathers and drains them of their blood. If you don’t want to barf and become a vegetarian for life then I will continue- blood was splattering everywhere, to the point where people were leaving with blood on them, and people were stepping in the blood and guts puddles (even me…). I instantly wanted to leave so I Jesse, Ally, and I all left and then went to the shekel and a half store….

So moral of the story: swinging a chicken might sound fun, but finding out where your shitzle comes from- not so much

Sarah's Sickly Adventures

After five days of not feeling well I decided enough was enough and forced my friend Jesse to take me to the doctors this morning. Sounds easy enough ehh… well it wasn’t. Aside from feeling like I might die at any moment (no one said I wasn’t over dramatic) the easy 15 minute walk there turned into a 45 minute hike. I bet your wondering how, well I will indulge you- As you all probably know by now I am not exactly known for my fantastic sense of direction. (I actually had to get a GPS just to get around East Cobb, and I’ve been living there for 10 years. Even worse if Jason wants to surprise by taking me somewhere all he has to do is drive left out of his neighborhood for ten minutes and I wont know where I am…) So it came as a shock to me when Noah, one of my staff members, told me that it was a fairly easy walk with only two right turns. Still I was hesitant so I dragged Jesse out of bed to take me there (plus I hate the doctors and I needed someone to fight them off if they even thought about using a needle on me).

We left at 7 am so we could get there early and he/we, if I thought I was feeling better, could make it to class by 9am. We walked out of beit nativ and we came to the intersection where we were supposed to turn. Easy enough- minus the fact that the street names were Raman and Ramad (very easy to get mixed up at 6:45am when Noah is telling you how to get there and you don’t feel well). We took what we thought was the right street and just started walking. As we kept going farther down we realized that we should have turned by now and that we were lost. Good thing we made a dead end at a school where people spoke English and could give us directions. After much hard work and many hills we made it to the doctors at 7:50. Nothing to fun happened there (as expected) except for running into Shosh, another staff member, who had taken another nativer to the clinic… obviously the unnecessary morning hike could have all been avoided if we had just known she was going. Very long story short the Dr told me I have a viral infection and early signs of a sinus infection so he gave me some meds and told me to come back on Friday if I didn’t feel better. Oh and the walk home took less than 15mins when I went back with Shosh….
The rest of the day I slept and lounged around my room, only leaving for meals and to help Jesse with his laundry (an apparently equal trade for taking me to the doctors). I also finally saw the movie American Beauty and now can ‘be a member of society’ as my friend Gabe tells me…

Oh and Jason- that makes post number four…. See I can keep a blog

I know... A lot in one day....

But really... this video is just like my Ulpan Class....

http://www.jakeandamir.com/search/Hebrew

ראש השנה and more!

Over the past couple of week’s Ive done a lot more in Israel! With my Jerusalem class i learned about the Islam (we were supposed to go up to the Temple Mount be we were unable to because it was Ramadan), the Ottoman Empire where we went to Jaffa Gate, viewed Four synagogues in the old city (all of which are built underground because when they were built the Muslims forced us to build them below the mosques so they could be above us, literally and figuratively), and went back to Yemin Moshe. I was able to learn about the history of my favorite place on earth- ill share an abridged version with you now: basically where the village is now there used to only be fields where all the criminals hung out and bad stuff went down so this guy named Moses Montefiore and decided to build it up as a solution to the overcrowding and unsanitary conditions inside the walls of the old. At first no one wanted to live there because it was a dangerous location and it was so far away from the city (why live in suburbs when you can live in NYC?). So Montefiore started marking down the prices lower and lower until finally people came out of pity. Ironically a couple of years later a plague broke out in the old city and many fled from its walls seeking safety in neighborhoods just like Yemin Moshe. It has now become a very upscale area where many writers and artist take residence. A windmill was built in Montefiore’s honor and now stands as my favorite place in the entire world… good story ehh? But trust me i haven't only be in class learning (i know shocker right?)... In the past week and a half Ive gone on a night run through ben yehuda with my friends Jesse and Becky, had the best ice cream in the WORLD (better than haagen Dazs- i know even more shocking ehh daddy!) at a place called Aldo (not the shoe store), had a laundry party with my friend Sophie as we did our laundry together at Beit Nativ, bought new Machzorim for the holidays (which i am absolutely in love with! just ask my friend Leeann... i bothered her all through out ראש השנה services which i will talk more about later), decide i wanted to get a new Siddur for services (an Art Scroll one because i really like those... i just have to do that), Went to an Art Fair on עמק רפאים‎ with some friends (i bought a really pretty belt there that i love to wear- Debbie you are going to be so jealous when i get home), and even so much more than that! ראש השנה (Rosh Hashanah for all my non Hebrew speaking friends out there....) in Israel was an amazing experience (well most of it... Ill get to the rest later...)! It started out with a really great Friday night. All of Nativ spent erev rosh hashanah together as we davened in the basement of Beit Nativ. The ruach and passion that filled the air was unmatchable to anything i have ever done before. I was in a room full of people who believed what they were singing and felt it deep in their לֵב (heart... see i love אולפן again with the Hebrew :) ). Not to sound lame but it was a very moving and deep experience. I loved being in a room and having everyone know the songs and the tunes and sing them with such conviction... its was very comforting... anyways after prayer we all went upstairs and had the best food EVER (well not as good as moms but way better than anything else Beit Nativ is ever going to serve us...). They had chicken, turkey, beef, rice with raisins and almonds, glazed sweet potatoes with walnuts, cooked carrots glazed with honey, and a million other yummy foods! We all ate until we thought we were going to explode- it was a nice change from our usual feelings.... after i just hung out with friends and enjoyed the night! The next day the קְהִלָה group went to a conservative shul called Maynot (actually it was a 45 min walk... but it was fine I talked with my friend Judah the whole way...) and after the service we were all hosted by different people. My roommate lainie and I were hosted by a French Israeli family (strange mix I know...) and had a lot of fun playing Hebrew clue (called רמז) with her children. After Maynot we came back for mariv services and then everyone just hung out…. It was a not so relaxing (sleepwise) day but a lot of fun…. Now comes the exciting part…. The second day my room mate and I deemed it a great idea to go to the kotel to do our own services. BAD IDEA…. Very very very long story short… that if your really interested in you can email me for… she and I got very lost within the Arab quarters (a very dangerous place for two Jewish American teens to be) and had a hard time getting out… I have never been so scared in my life… but really it was horrible…. anyways that was my ראש השנה....

Also the window to my room is broken… and since it leads to a community porch people think its funny to come in that way and scare Lainie (my roommate) and I when we are sleeping…. Its actually not funny at all…. I promise you would be scared too if this happened to you…

The list of people who have come in through the window so far:
Laura
Michael
Jesse (he comes through all the time… he doesn’t even use the door anymore…)

Not much has happened since then and ill be sure to update more often so the posts aren't so long... any ways i hope everyone has a happy and healthy new year!
-Sarah


Isnt this ironic...

Jesse coming through the window....


Lainie and Jesse.... in our window

The windmill that is dedicated to Moses Montefiore

More windmill, i honesty think its one of the most beautiful places in the world.... my wedding will be there so start saving up now...

Ally and I at the Kotel during the soilder thing (i wrote about it in the other message)

My friends Ilana and Leeann at the kotel

The First Week...

After we arrived in Israel we had a 30 minute bus ride from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and Yossi Garr (the director of Nativ) pulled us over to a random rocky area and gave us an opening speech. He talked about how we started the trip not at the kotel or over looking the city because the next nine months are not about sight seeing or tourist attraction (although he did urge us to go and do all that fun stuff too) but instead about us and our journey and travels. After that we came to Bet Nativ and got our roommates, rooms, and phones (all of mine are great). The night was pretty much over because all we did was unpack our sheets and go to bed. The second day we had orientation and then everyone went out and had a fun time out on the town that night. The third day we did a three hour intense hike and went to the mall for lunch. Me and a bunch of my friends had pizza at the mall and it was surprisingly good, although not as good as Capozzies back home. By then it was Friday afternoon and we got ready for Shabbat. We did kabbalat Shabbat at Yemin Moshe which is my favorite spot in the entire world! It overlooks the old city and has an amazing view. I also went to the synagogue there for Saturday morning services. We had a relaxing Shabbat getting to know everyone. The next week we had class where I have been learning Hebrew and its been a lot of fun! I also started taking a Jerusalem course where we go around the city and learn about different things. So far we have learned about the second temple period, Israel as a whole, and Christianity in Israel (my favorite course day so far- it was very interesting). Other highlights of my week included the Israel army fair in the middle of Ben Yehudah street where me and my friends got to take a million pictures with very good looking Israel solders.

Shabbat Shalom!