Guests

Shabat lunch guests were really pleasant and interesting....a couple who lives nearby, and 2 young women who are doing the Livnot program. One of the subjects that we touched on was the way that young Jews see Judaism, and Jews, in America. The girls spoke about what I've heard so often....young Jews see Judaism as boring, and see Jews as JAPS (Jewish American Princes and Princesses) who flaunt their wealth.

Aside from a few pangs that I don't have so much wealth to flaunt, it saddened me, because it's not the first time that I've heard that thought expressed. It was brought home even more sharply later in the afternoon, when I hosted 20 teens who are visiting Israel on a teen program through their camp. This is the fourth year that I've hosted them for a short afternoon "get-to-know-a-local-resident", and I always ask them to say a a few words about their Israel experience.

The first year, I hosted 4 kids, and 2 of them said that their parents had chosen to live in an area with few Jews because they didn't want to deal with the Bar/Bat Mitzva year -- they didn't want to have to shell out thousands of dollars for the expected Bar/Bat Mitzva party, so they chose to move their families to places where there just aren't many Jews!

This group of teens, obviously bright and open, went around the circle, each one saying what a great time they were having in Israel, and how much they enjoyed being around other Jews. Which was expected. What they also said, not unexpected, but still depressing, was how many of them had few Jewish friends at home and no real Jewish community. Only now, in Israel, they were beginning to feel the pride and affinity of being Jewish. A couple of them mentioned that, when they attend Shabbat services at home, it's a boring service -- certainly not anything that would encourage a young 16-year-old to look forward to Shabbat.

So, are any of us suprised that when Jewish kids go to college, few look for Hillel or Chabad House, few search out anything (or anyone) Jewish, and many end up with non-Jewish partners?

Lots of work to do.

Everyone gets to be a sucker sometimes

When I made aliyah in 1983, the process was relatively easy and painless. I came with a group that was making aliyah together, and we were welcomed warmly, rushed through immigration paperwork, and met by a representative of the Association for Americans and Canadians in Israel (AACI) which made us feel rather....well, wanted.

Fast forward to 2009, my 26th year, when aliyah from North America is handled by the Nefesh B'Nefesh organization. Not only do they give good advice and guidance to people planning aliyah while they're planning (if I had a nickel for every horror story I'd heard about bad advice given to immigrants who were planning aliyah in previous years...the slichim, emmissaries, used to tell the olim anything to get them to come, whether it had a kernel of truth in it or not)but they offer financial assistance and a lot of support for the olim (immigrants) who are on the way, and once they're here.

NBN brings their immigrants in planeloads, so everyone feels the excitement of being around hundreds of other people who are doing the same thing that they are. Aliyah buraucracy is taken care of on the plane by representatives of Israel's Interior Ministry, and when they arrive in Israel, they already have their paperwork in hand. The planes are met by friends and relatives on the tarmac, which is filmed extensively by NBN, and a welcoming ceremony in the airport is addressed by all sorts of dignitaries.

For the last few years, I've watched the broadcasts, sometimes live and sometimes after arrival, on internet. The NBN PR people must be some of the best in the business, because they insure that everything is thought of, and every smile, wave, tear, and excited comment is filmed and broadcast. I, of course, am a complete sucker for this, and always tear up a bit when watching the immigrants who are coming with the exact same sense of excitement and anticipation that I felt 26 years ago, and that olim have been feeling for hundreds of years.

This morning, while listening to the arrival ceremony while I was working, I thought to myself "I wish that my kids could understand this". They're pretty blase about the things that I get emotional about, and I don't even mention most of these kind of incidents to them any more.

This evening however, my daughter Yochi, who is in the army now, called and told me that she was brought to the airport that morning to welcome the new olim. She was excited to have been part of that day, to have danced and hugged the new immigrants and welcomed them to their new home in Israel, and I was moved to hear that, sure enough, some of my emotions were shared by at least one of my offspring.

I'll bet that she didn't get too teary-eyed though.

Report on Aliyah Flight which landed in Israel July 7, 2009

Maybe we'll see some of them in Safed

Klezmer Festival

Every year for the past 10 years, I've unofficially translated the Klezmer Festival schedule for the city. I do it as part of my work for the Tourist Information Center which, while not officially part of the municipality, is run in conjunction with them. So I usually spend a few hours figuring out how to write the names of the bands and musicians in Latin letters.

This year, I called the city and offered to translate it for them officially. They were quite pleased, especially since I said that I'd do it for free. So I figured that I'd try my new trick.....someone told me about Google Translator, which translates documents within seconds.

Sure enough, I plopped the webpage into the Translator, and within 20 seconds, an English page showed up.

Only problem is, it's illegible. The "Simply Tsfat" band became "Simple Tsfat", the Ma'ayan HaRadum Square, which is known as the Ma'ayan HaRadum, came up as "Dormant Spring Square" (not only unromantic, but unrecognizable to anyone who happens to be looking for a performance there, "Saraya Outside" became "Except Saraya" and the "City Park" became "Garden City". Isn't that in New Jersey?

And that's only the first line of the 3-day Festival schedule.

So, it's my turn. Should be up at Safed-Home site (under "Klezmer Festival") in a few hours. If I can figure out how to make a nice table on my site. Translators shouldn't have to be web-wizards, right?

Birthright

Spent a good part of the day looking down into the wadi, watching the forest fires burning. There were 3 different points, so it was pretty clear that it had been started by someone. The news also noted fires in other areas of the country....purely depressing. The one outside of Tzfat was put out by evening, but the destruction is awful.

I had a guest who stayed in my guest room last night from Australia. I didn't have much time to speak to her, but she told me that her father was Jewish, but the family never knew it until after he died. She is in Israel connecting to her heritage. For some reason, in a a number of different ways, I've heard this story several times just in the last week; not always people discovering their Jewish ancestors, but people discovering their heritage which, because of disinterest, neglect, fear, or pure ambivilance on the part of previous generations, they'd been distanced from.

A co-worker who is transcribing the evaluations of the last Livnot program that just finished (a Jewish experience program that I work with) noted that a new theme that she sees is how many participants say that they've been embarassed or ashamed of their Judaism. After the program, they feel proud and want to continue to connect, but one wonders.....how many other Jews out there are feeling the same, but don't have an opportunity to look at their Judaism with pride and understanding (not to mention a bit of knowledge)? Another depressing thought.

But since it's Wednesday July 1st, and everyone is healthy and happy around here, i want to close on a high, so I'm going to share this video that my friend Mikimi sent to me. Few videos actually make me laugh out loud, but this one did.

The Divine

One might ask why I am awake at 11:30pm. when
1. I'm tired
2. I need to wake up at 7:00a.m.

I decided to "get ahead" a little bit by cooking the Shabbat chicken early (Tuesday) and freezing it. I do that whenever I am organized enough to think about starting Shabbat preparations early in the week so that I'm not frazzled on Thursday -- especially when I know that I'm having company.

I haven't cooked a whole chicken in a long time -- the kids don't like chicken, and if I buy chicken, I usually buy the breasts. But this time I bought 2 chickens (guests this week) and, being little Suzie Homemaker, covered the pan with tin foil to "keep in the juices" while it was cooking(all right, a secret....I usually just shove the pan into the oven, and when the chicken gets a bit dry, try to disguise it with more gravy).

So, when I went to take out the pan at 10:00p.m., figuring that 1/2 an hour of cooling would bring me to my bedtime, I saw that somehow, covering the pan prevented the chicken from baking as quickly as it usually does. It was half raw. So back in the oven it went, and here i am.

These last few weeks I've been noticing something interesting in my little neck of the woods. It's nothing new, but I never really thought about it before. It's about some oft-used phrases that one hears a lot around here.

Religious Jews often use the phrase "Baruch HaShem", "thank God" when talking.

How are you? Baruch HaShem. How's work? Baruch HaShem. What's the exchange rate today? Baruch HaShem.

Also, there's a lot of "B'Ezrat Hashem", if God wants.

Will you be at the library this afternoon? B'Ezrat HaShem.

Etc.

Well, all of a sudden, I started noticing that EVERYONE is using these expressions. One expects it of the Holy Rollers, but I started noticing that it's a phrase that people whom I wouldn't expect to give much thought to The Heavens use too. Women in clothes that you'd expect to see on a beach, men with earrings and tattoos.....everyone seems to be invoking His name when planning for the future or noticing that things in the present are OK.

It could be something new -- a new feeling of spirituality. But I suspect that all along, the very people whom are sometimes dismissed as being far from tradition are those who are quite close, and less likely than some others to take their spirituality for granted.

Chicken's cooled. I'm gone.

Return visitors

I hadn't had guests for a Shabbat lunch for quite a while, but today we had a full table. Margalit invited several of her friends, and there were some grown-ups too for me....an old friend who came with his daughter and lady-friend, 2 people who are presently doing a Livnot-volunteer program, and a Tzfat neighbor.

In the afternoon, I took the dogs out for a long walk around town. When I'm feeling energetic, we walk up to Biriya, a forest just to the north of Tzfat. The roads are fairly empty at that time, so I don't have to worry too much about people being frightened of the dogs....who happen to be two of the most pathetically scardi-cat-canines in the city. But there are always people who act as though the mere presence of a four-legged creature is going to give them a heart attack, so I try to walk them at times and places when we won't meet too many of these folks.

While walking, even along empty streets, I kept meeting people who I know. And, of course, each meeting demands a bit of "stop-and-talk"....by the time I'd finished with my one-hour walk, almost two hours had elapsed.

Living in a small town has its ups and downs.

Dog Days, Dog Nights

Shortly after we moved to the Artists Quarter, we got a dog. Sparky was a little terrier that I found wandering outside the city, and I brought her home. We became the only people in the neighborhood with a dog, and our reputation was "the family with a dog".

Fast forward 20 years, when there are more people around here with dogs than not. Aside from our two (Sparky and her sidekick Angora are no longer with us, but after a number of strays passed through our doors, we are now settled with two new ones, Jenny and Mica) there are about half a dozen other hounds on the block, most mutts like ours. There are still plenty of neighbors who look at dogs with horror, but most are, if not happy, accepting.

Every evening, one of my neighbors and I meet out at the local public square to let the dogs have their last fling before settling down for the night. We're often joined by other neighbors, both with dogs and without, and it's a nice way to end the day. The dogs roll around with each other while the kids play on the side and the grownups drink their coffee and review the day.

There are plenty of evenings that I have to drag myself out there -- after going non-stop for 12 hours or so, I have little energy. But after a hot day and plenty of work, it's a good way to unwind and I look forward to those last 15 minutes.