Yom Kippur in Tel Aviv

Yom Kippur is the holiest day in Jewish faith. Most Jews and Israelis will spend their Yom Kippur in Synagogue. The strange thing is the whole entire country shuts down for the day. No one drives their car. Everyone walks to synagogue or rides their bicycle. The streets are completely bare. You can walk down the Ayalon Highway which runs north and south through Tel Aviv and you would not see a car driving. Walking back from Erev Yom Kippur services, you could see the entire neighborhood of Kiryat Shalom hanging out in the street, kids riding their toy cars and bikes, and grandmothers gossiping. I normally would go to services if I were home in Massachusetts, but this time in Israel I decided to contemplate and have a bit of introspection by walking around the dead city that is regularly full of life at all times of the day. For instance seeing Shouk HaCarmel totally dead was something very interesting to see. I am extremely thankful to be spending my year here in this city and in this country. Everyday I find something new that makes me smile and thankful to be here. Looking back on my experience of Yom Kippur, I could not go back to America and celebrate it the same way. Yom Kippur here is special. It is the way the people celebrate it that makes it special.

Tour Day in Jerusalem

 The day before Yom Kippur, we went to Jerusalem for the day to understand the inter-communal conflicts within the city of Jerusalem and in Israel. Driving from Tel Aviv you will see on the side of the road relics of the War of Independence. Hollowed out trucks that did not make it to Jerusalem, which was under siege. Most of these convoys were ambushed by local Arab militias from the hills. It serves as a reminder of how much blood was spilled to keep the city. Having been to Jerusalem many times before, the city seems to always be changing. Now the city has a light rail tram in the street for instance that was not there in 2007, which was the last time I was in the city. Some of the highlights include seeing the house of Eliezer Ben Yehuda, the father of the modern Hebrew language. Seeing where Rabbi Kook lived. Having Meorav Yerushalmi on Ben Yehuda St. Meeting with a city planner t understand the balagan(mess) that Jerusalem can be with its distinctive secular, Arab, and Ultra Orthodox neighborhoods. Then we had a visit with Anat Hoffman who leads a group called Women of the Wall. After that we met with a Haredi(Ultra Orthodox) Rabbi to listen to his perspective of Judaism. We unfortunately did not make it to the Kotel(Western Wall), but Jerusalem is only a 45 minute bus ride so I will be back. Like Tel Aviv, you need to stop looking at how beautiful the city is and start to study the people who live in it. Once you understand the local populous, you will finally understand the city itself. Lehitraot from Tel Aviv.

Day to day life in Tel Aviv-Yafo

Into my third week living here in Israel and I am starting to realize how truly amazing this place really is. It is the little things like the hello from the guy who recognizes you in the market. The freshly made falafel when you order it, they make it from scratch. Seeing a guy on a motorcycle use the sidewalk as if it were the road. Seeing a bunch of guys trying to catch a live chicken from underneath a car that got away from the butcher shop. Making the beach a mandatory Shabbat activity. Being able to go to the shouk and buy everything you would ever need. Listening to the mix of music on the street. The aroma wafting from a local restaurant. Getting amazingly fresh and cheap food on the street. The amazing graffiti on the street. These are things that make living in Tel Aviv-Yafo worth everything in the world. Once you stop and look around and realize what the people are doing you finally begin to understand the place that you are living.  If you head to Abu Hassan in Yafo you will have some very good hummus and for relatively cheap. Its walking up to the shwarma shop and waiting for your meal instead of getting it right away. It is seeing something brand new every day and being thankful to be in this wonderful place. Having a group activity on the roof of the hostel we have ulpan at in Yafo and being able to see Hapoel Tel Aviv play Atletico Madrid at the Blumfield Stadium.To see Filipino migrant workers speaking in Hebrew might sound strange but here in Tel Aviv it is all good and normal. Here the unexpected is expected. Anything can and will happen. Last Saturday for instance, my friend Jeremy and I went to one of the only shwarma places open during the day and had one the best food experiences in the world. Once the cook has the time to make his craft, he takes it. He makes sure that everything is perfect and delicious. He makes sure to advertise his lemonade with mint which is ubiquitous in this country. He makes sure to grill the meat fresh, fry fresh potatoes for French Fries, and makes sure to offer as many fillings as possible. He then made sure that we were enjoying our shwarma in baguette. Even though it looked like every other shwarma stand, it was that delicious because of how we came across it. It is any other place to eat in Yafo, but it was still amazing.

I guess when you live here, you being to realize why people from all over the world would kill to be in this land. To see why people would fight for it. It is a beautiful place and I am glad I made the right decision to come to Tel Aviv. I can do anything here. Tel Aviv is my oyster. Definitely more to come from my experience here in Tel Aviv. Lehitraot!!

Rosh Hashanah

For my Israeli Rosh Hashanah I was invited to come visited friends of my mom's the Druckers. Gordon and Ahuva worked with my mom in the United States at a Jewish overnight camp in New Hampshire. They live in Pardesiya, which is near Netanya. The holiday was absolutely fantastic.For those that do not know, Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year. Jews typically eat apples with honey, pomegranates, honey cake, and other sweet foods to signify a sweet new year. Ahuva is a Yemenite and most of the family is Yemenite as well. The cuisine of Yemenite Jews has a few distinct dishes, while the rest of the cuisine is very diverse and has borrowed elements from all over the world. Since most the people that live in Pardesiya are of Yemenite descent, the services also had a Yemenite flavor to them. They were orthodox, with the men and women seperated. The Hebrew service was very different from the reform Ashkenazi service that I am used to having back in Massachusetts. It was nice to have a very interesting and different side of the holiday.

The food was flowing at every moment. The first night at Ahuva's we had many different types of fruit such of fresh from the tree mangoes, starfruits, guava, pomegranates, and apples with honey. Ahuva's sister made the most delicious pickles I have ever had. Dates and other dried fruits. A bunch of salads with cabbage, crispy noodles covered in caramelized sugar, celery, and diced chili. A beet salad with parsley, finely chopped onion. Cooked pumpkin. Braised beef ribs that was just as good of beef brisket. cousemeh which is kashka in Yiddish. Moroccan spicy fish with chickpeas. For dessert I had the ubiquitous honey cake and other sweets. There were at least 25 people at the dinner. Ahuva's family is very large with many children and grandchildren.

The next day after services in the Yemenite Shul we went to Ahuva and Gordon's daughter's daughter and son in laws house for lunch. We had malawach which is a Yemenite fried dough of sorts which is like puff pastry. it is served with a spicy concoction called zhug, and fresh grated tomato sauce. Israeli salad, and romaine salad. Mullet with garlic and tomatoes. Tehina with pita.

After a nap I went to the beach with Ari and Daleet, the children of Ahuva and Gordon. It was definitely the right decision and way to celebrate the holiday. Then we went to the Ahuva's hometown Elyashiv which is 10 minutes north of Pardesiya. There we stopped by Ahuva's sisters for a bit and noshed on some stuffed grape leaves with rice and ground meat. Then we went to shul and then to Ahuva's brothers Elkhanan. There we had at least 20 people join us for dinner. We had the fruits, black eyed peas, fried leek cakes, fried carp, Israeli salad , tehina with pita, stuffed peppers, rice, potatoes, braised veal, roasted chicken with date syrup, garlic,oil, salt and pepper. Cooked pumpkin. mushroom bourekas. and many cakes for dessert.

For breakfast I had the best shakshouka I have ever had in my life. Shakshouka is eggs cooked in a spicy tomato sauce and you eat it with zhug and bread. You can find it everywhere here and everyone makes it differently.

The holiday itself is not about being in services all day I have come to find. It is about being with your family and enjoying yourself and the company. There is always too much food and Ahuva made me take home leftovers. It is time to bring in a sweet new year with the people you care about. It is about eating so much food that you feel like not eating for the next week. I did not take any pictures of my time because it is hard to capture the holiday in pictures. It is a holiday that you need all of the senses. You need to see, hear the Shofar, smell and taste the food, and most importantly to feel the warmth of the friends and family you have. It would have been a shame for me to take pictures of Rosh Hanshanah. It is something that I cannot describe through the lens of a digital camera. It is something that you have to experience for yourself. I wish every Jew can experience the holiday here in Israel. It is like nothing else. With that I sign off. Tomorrow is another day Ulpan and volunteer visits. Lehitraot.

first shabbat in Kiryat Shalom

The first Shabbat in my new home was fantastic. Friday night the apartment had a lovely Shabbat dinner together. I strangely did not contribute to cooking the meal because my roommates wanted a shot at cooking this times. We had delicious sweet potatoes, baked eggplant, and salads which were from one of our roommates work. We then had some people from the program over to have drinks and hang out on our roof. It was a great time with great people and great music. Today was very relaxed. I did not set an alarm and it felt great to get up when I wanted to. For the past week, I have been on a schedule with volunteering visits and ulpan classes so not having to set an alarm was a breath of fresh air. Some of my roommates and I decided to head to the beach for the day. Since the buses do not run on Shabbat and the city bike sharing system was too complicated, we walked to the beach. It took us about a half an hour to get to the beach, but it was well worth it. On our way to the beach we say a chameleon which was awesome to see.We met up with some of the other people in the program from Jaffa. The beach was gorgeous. The water was the perfect warm temperature. Hanging out on the beach is a very popular thing to do in Tel Aviv for Shabbat. Since there is nothing open and nothing else to do, going to the beach makes perfect sense. For lunch some friends and I went to a little beach cafe where they serve fish and chips, schnitzel, hamburgers, and salads. I found it interesting though that the menu had shrimp and calamari which are not kosher, yet Tel Aviv is a secular city so it is to be expected. the fish and chips were good, but it was just the act of eating at the beach which made the experience. To cap of a great day at the beach some friends and I stopped for some frozen yogurt. It was pretty good with fresh mangos, pomegranate seeds, and passion fruit.It was a great time and a good way of recharging the batteries for the coming week. Tomorrow is Erev Rosh Hashanah and I am heading north to Pardesiya to visit our family friends Gordon and Ahuva. I have not seen them in quite some time so it will be a great time by all. Here are some pictures from the beach and around Tel Aviv-Yafo. Enjoy and Lehitraot!

week two so far

After one week living in Tel Aviv, I have already gotten to love the city. Our apartment in Kiryat Shalom is great so far. All of the people living in the apartment are great. My roommate Sam is very different from everyone else. As a Jew from Alabama, he loves his American football. He loves the Alabama Crimson Tide and says "Roll Tide" all the time. I am going to have to tell him to cut back on the "Roll Tide" though because quite frankly I really don't care about college football. Besides living with a Southerner, life in the apartment is great. Everyone gets along with each and looks out for each other. We are one big happy family. The kitchen might be the hottest place in the apartment. Whenever someone is cooking it becomes awfully hot. My first meal that I cooked was lemon chicken. It was delicious. All of the food I have had in Israel and in Tel Aviv has been amazing. Everything is very fresh, colorful, and full of flavor. I have not been eating a lot of pasta and potatoes, but i have been eating a ton of pita with hummus. Hummus is served with everything here. It is sort of like the Israeli ketchup.

We have started our Ulpan, which is Hebrew immersion classes. I am in the beginners class even though I know everything we are going over. After this week I might join the intermediate class. Our teacher Dina is very nice and takes her time with the class because many of the students have not learned Hebrew before.

In Tel Aviv, I have taken the bus everywhere, or I have walked to where ever I need to go. Soon I will be hopefully purchasing a cheap used bike to get around. We have started going around to visit the places where we might be volunteering. Some of the places look amazing and I am definitely interested in volunteering there. Other places have been not what I am looking for.

The market culture here in Tel Aviv is very interesting. Most people will say that the HaCarmel Market in the city center is the best, but I have found it too touristy. There is a market in Hatikva neighborhood that is authentic and you will not find tourists there. Everything is fresh and delicious at the shouk. I went to a place where they had ready made food. They had moroccan cigars, which are cigar shaped pastry filled with meat. They are delicious. Chicken schnitzel was delicious as well. The best though was the kibbe, which is fried bulgar wrapped around a meat filling.

A couple of nights ago my friend Ian and I went to Red Hot Chili Peppers in Hayakron park. It was well worth the money we spent on the tickets. Since it was in the park, there was no assigned seats and it was a free for all. Everyone was dancing and singing and having a wonderful time. Over 50,000 people were crammed into this small area in the park. It was a wall of people. The only words Flea said in Hebrew were L'Chaim and Mazel Tov. The band members were grateful to play in Israel because their first guitarist Hillel Slovak was from Haifa. They dedicated "Otherside" to Haifa. They played all of their classics. Hey Oh(Snow), Cant Stop, Around the World, Californication, Higher Ground, Under the Bridge, By The Way, Suck My Kiss, and Power of Equality for instance.

It is going to be Rosh Hashanah soon and I will be heading to my family friends up in Pardesiya near Netanya. It will be very interesting spending the holidays here in Israel. I cannot wait. More to come soon so stay tuned.Lehitraot!

Touring South Tel Aviv

As part of our orientation to living in South Tel Aviv, we took a tour of the neighborhood. Kiryat Shalom is very different from the rest of Tel Aviv. Most of the residents are religious, and on Shabbat most of the stores will be closed. The unique part of the neighborhood is the presence of Bukharan Jews from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Many of these Jews emigrated to Israel after the USSR was dissolved. The history of the Bukharan Jews is up to debate. Some claim they are one of the ten lost tribes of Israel. While others claim that they traveled to Central Asia after the Babylonian Exile and never returned to Eretz Yisrael. We stopped at a Bukharan bakery that makes sambuscas. Sambuscas are sort of like bourekas, but made with a dough that resembles bread dough. There was spinach and onion, mushroom, and meat and onion. I got the meat and onion. Sambuscas are a great snack to hold over ones appetite before lunch or before dinner.

We then headed to the Central Bus Station to get bus passes. After that, our program coordinator let us have free time. Hearing that the Red Hot Chili Peppers were coming to Tel Aviv, some of my new friends and I went to get tickets. Going to see them tomorrow. I am very excited about seeing one of my favorite bands. We then headed back towards Kiryat Shalom and stopped for lunch at a shwarma/shakshouka/falafel place. It was delicious. I got the mixed lamb and turkey shwarma with all of the fixing in a lafa, which is a larger flatbread that does not have a pocket like pita. After that we strolled through the HaCarmel Market. I am going to love going there for all of my food shopping.

We then went hiking near the location of the battle between David and Goliath. It was extremely hot,but worth it because it was gorgeous. We went through a vineyard and snacked on some raisins from the vine. You could taste the sunshine and the earth in the raisin. We then went into some of the caves that were used during the Bar Kochba Revolt. Very dark and scary, but worth it.

We then headed south to Kibbutz Gal On for program orientation and Shabbat. Gal On is absolutely beautiful. While there I got to find out where I could be volunteering and what level of Ulpan I will be in. I am in the beginners Ulpan which I am disappointed in because I am not starting from ground zero. I have studied Hebrew before so there might be a medium level class to come.

Today we are starting Ulpan and going to the Bina Center. More to come from South Tel Aviv in the coming days. Lehitraot.