From Ithaca to Tzfat

I realize that this post occurs chronologically before the previous post.  However, my journey is, I think, important and interesting to understanding where I am right now, and what I am doing.

I got out of bed at 3:15 last Wednesday afternoon; my Mother and I drove and picked up Rabbi Eli at his house, and the three of us drove together to the Syracuse airport.  We easily made our 6:00 flight to JFK, and I slept for the whole hour we were in the sky.  We had several hours before our flight for Israel left, and Rabbi Eli wanted to daven Shacharit, so we took a taxi to the closest Chabad House, which happened to be the Ohel.  We fulfilled our obligation, I read a little bit of the book that Rav Ami and Eliana had recommended to me, and we met a couple of Israelis who were also driving to JFK, and so they drove us.

Back in JFK, we met up with Adam (the only other student whom I already knew), and passed through the tightest security I have ever encountered, for El-Al airlines.  Because I can't speak Hebrew, the guards didn't trust me, and asked me a series of questions that only a Jewish person would know, such as "what was the most recent holiday, and how did you celebrate it?" and "what is your Hebrew name?"  At least half of the other passengers were Charedi.  On the plane flight, I met Ben (another Cornell student) and Alex (an Ithaca College graduate), finished Josephus's Jewish War (which I had begun on Birthright), read most of The Thirteen-Petaled Rose, and slept about an hour or two.  We touched down at what must have been four or five o'clock in the morning, local time, in Tel-Aviv.  We stumbled outside, and all of us hopped into the car of the elderly Chabad driver, Eli, from Tzfat, who tells me that he lived for a couple of years in Monsey, New York.  He played a CD of Chabad tunes very loudly on our three-hour journey to Tzfat.  I read as much as I could without

On the way, we decided to make a detour to Tiberias, to Rambam's gravesite.  You can't miss the curving metal monument from the road, and Avishai had pointed it out to us when my Birthright trip drove through Tiberias.  There were groups of people standing around and reciting the book of psalms around his grave, and around other nearby stone tombs, which bore the names of other famous Jewish sages, including some Tannaim, such as Yochanan ben Zakai.  Rabbi Eli was kind (and passionate enough) to translate some of the signboards describing Rambam's life and works.  (Today's quote is in his honor.)  Still awake, we arrived at Tzfat before noon, and met the Rabbis at the Tzemach Tzedek Yeshiva where we'll be staying.  I began to meet the other students, and we luckily had arrived in time to attend the last couple of classes for the day, Rabbi Pasternack and Rabbi Gorenstein both teaching classes, and Rabbi Eli sitting down with me, and trying to prompt my Hebrew, which is quite feeble.  I'm sorry to say that I began to fall asleep in front of Rabbi Gorenstein, but previous conversations with him make me think that he didn't take it to hard.  I refused to take a nap all day long, and eventually went to bed at 9:30 at night, local time.  I was very happy when I finally got into bed!

OK, more adventures next time.  You are all great people!  Also, please e-mail me or send me private message on FB for details, questions, or anything else.

~JD

"[Jewish men] are commanded to acquire a wife before marrying her: either by giving her something [of sufficient value]; by giving her a document [of marriage]; or by having marital relations... only marriage by means of relations has the validity of a Torah commandment" (Rambam, Sefer HaMitzvot, Positive Commandment 213).

Birthright Journal I

I've decided to publish a slightly-edited and highly-expurgated version of my journal from the days I spent in Israel, on the Birthright program. I realize that they are quite banal, but I still hope that they are at least somewhat enjoyable. These first entries last from the day we flew to Israel, until Erev Shabbat.

Sunday 1/8/2012-Monday 1/9/2012

I was out of bed around 8:00 on Sunday, breakfast with parents, read took a 1-hr. run in the snow. Shower, then, 25 min. later, had a good ride to Philly airport with my parents. Found Sam Moss in airport. Hugged & kissed goodbye, then -- off. Security etc., bought a new pair of shades. Slice of pizza with Sam, discussed France and Washington, respectively. Read a lot of Josephus, not much water, on the plane ride (10 hours) to Tel-Aviv. Surprisingly good vegetarian food. Tel-Aviv passport and customs took around 90 minutes of waiting (well into bk. 2 of Josephus). Very thirsty, but got water and cell phone as we left. Drove to hotel with guide Avishai, and we had about an hour to move in. Rooming, coincidentally, with 2 Cornellians, Aaron & Andrew. Mediocre dinner, with people I haven't yet gotten to know. After dinner, much better. Played Spoons and B.S. (I did quite well). New friends: Becka (CU), Chloe, Jake, Will, Alex, Clarissa, and Jess, among others. Had to leave around 10:30, tired. “Florus acted herein as if he had been hired, and blew up the war into a flame, and sent some to take seventeen talents out of the sacred treasure, and pretended Caesar wanted them” (Josephus, The Jewish War, 2.14.6).

Tuesday 1/10/2012

Today’s theme: Temple. Up at 4:30 a.m., read for about 2 hours in the hotel lobby, Josephus, because I couldn’t sleep. Surprisingly good continental breakfast, talked with Sam (not Moss), Margo, Matt, and others. Bus to the Hasse Promenade, a beautiful overlook of the city. Saw a lot of foliage I didn’t recognize: I wish Dad were here to identify it all. The city has 3 divisions: East, Old, and West. We bussed to the Jewish Quarter in Old Jerusalem, within the 16^th-century Ottoman fortifications. Visited the archaeological site of the Southwest corner of the Temple’s retaining wall. Herod built so much, even sewers! Said Kiddush on the steps ascending to the Temple (and hamotzi), saw an old mikvah, and an old בית for a trumpeter. 570-ton blocks! Incredible! Walked over to the Wall. I cried, but not as much as I thought I would. Put my little note in the crack, near the left. A Chabad guy got me to put on tefillin, and I touched the Wall while reciting the Shema and following 2 paragraphs in Hebrew, wearing tefillin. We had more time than I needed (2 hr.s) for eating & shopping -- I didn't spend any money. But I had another good conversation with Margo, who has just converted. Eventually, we walked to David’s Tomb, just above the “Room of the Last Supper.” Both, obviously, apocryphal and spurious. Throughout, Avishai offered numerous helpful comments on current religio-political events, and how they related to what we were seeing and experiencing. Back in hotel, just a few pages of Josephus (into Bk. 3 now), then yoga stretching in a group, and discussion of visit to Holocaust Memorial tomorrow. Yom HaShoah is on the day of the Great Warsaw uprising, apparently. Dinner, and game of Bananagrams, then workshop with artist Tamar. Crafting Mezuzot with clay from Israel. I made a little Sefer Torah for mine. Feeling really tired, I helped to carry out everything. Bed around 11:30.

Wednesday 1/11/2012

Today’s Taglit theme: Holocaust. Up ~ 6:50, down for breakfast. In the hotel, talked with Bryce, Jon, Sam & Sam, etc. Very chilly: rode off to Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum. We met our guide Elizabeth, and she took us to the Children’s Memorial, a circular black hallway of mirrors and candles. We entered the Museum, which, with the tour guide, was one of the best history museums I have visited in a while. Pre-Holocaust Europe, eras of anti-Semitism, photos of bodies prepared for immolation (and what was in their pockets), the rise of Hitler and the growth of anti-Semitism in Germany, the Nuremberg Laws, the racism, the shopsigns & yellow stars, the ghettos, the blitz, the piles of Judaica for a future museum, Operation Barbarossa, the defense of Poland, Poland and Hungary, shoes, cast-off clothing, mass graves, “extermination tourism,” the gas chambers, Father Dubois, sinister used clothing, old photos, malnutrition in post-liberation (50k didn’t make it), renewal of life and Aliyah, the 2 million unknown names. Afterwards, documentary on Ovadiah ____, “Let my memory be love,” on the survival of a Saloniki survivor of Auschwitz and his wife Aliza. At ~12:10, I became super-grumpy/miserable, and remained so for most of day. To market for an hour (too stingy to buy lunch) walked around with Sam, Andrew, Becka, Karyn, Karen. Saw a dreidel with a פ. Jewish eco-seminar, mediocre. Cold and wet, but seeing the cornucopia of Israeli goods quite fun: sights and smells! Also, free ruggeleh. 10-min. walk back to the hotel, 1-hr. nap, dinner. Heard Margo’s description of her direction of “The Dybuk,” almost painful. Also talked with Jake, and heard Avery talk about DMT. Shabbos prep. In lobby (4 B’nai Mitzvot); looks like Friday, I’ll be leading Shalom Aleichem, Kaddish, Mi Kamocha, Aleinu, and, on Saturday, Ashrei, Kaddish, Mi Kamocha, and Aleinu. Afterwards, “Crazy Moses” -- received 2 leis, in order to “get laid.” Great. Then, eco-game about consumption of resources. Shower, wrote this, bed before 11:15.

Thursday 1/12/2012

Up at 6:45 in Jerusalem Gold Hotel, finished packing, breakfast with some of my favorite Birthright people, then everyone on the bus, headed South, for the Negev. We discussed the politics of Israel and its surrounding states, and the wars of 1967 and 1973, and the events of the ‘90s, 2000, 2005, and 2009. We picked up 7 Israeli students & soldiers at an ארומה: Adar, Or, Gal, Tanai, Nimrod, Yonatan. Adar and Or are both a lot of fun. We drove, and continued the discussion of war and politics. We also stopped for lunch, where I sat and ate with Margo, Bryce, and Sam not-Moss (I had a sandwich I had made at the breakfast buffet). We stopped also at a ridge overlooking the Gaza Strip, and, later, at Sderot. Sderot is a border town, where the police station had rusted rockets (€500 to manufacture), sirens, reinforced playground structures and bus stations, IronShield protection, etc. We continued to the Bedouin campsite for camel/donkey riding Pushier people got their rides first, the rest of us walked. Sam not-Moss and I walked out together, along with 4 other guys, and Jess. Way back, Bryce and I rode a camel (I was in front). Bryce & I had a great time on camelback, and I didn’t fall off. We had some time to chill around the camp, and attended a “lecture” of sorts, on Bedouin hospitality: tea & coffee, the Ur, and explanation of the ways things have changed. Synergy yoga in a circle. Sam not-M and I were partners. I fell backwards on him, and he dumped me on my head. We could laugh about it, though (accidents both, but funny). We went to our dinners, sitting around common dishes of pilaf. The only Bedouin tent in the world with soy meatballs! I had the veggie meal with 4 girls. Bonfire! S’mores! Bed late! Tent well-heated.

Friday 1/13/2012

Up at 4:35 a.m. in the Bedouin tent. Bussed to Matzada, which we hiked. Sat with Margo and Sam-not-M, very cold, at the top, waiting for what was the most beautiful sunrise I have seen, ever. The clouds brilliantly changed color, from red to orange to golden. I really, really wanted to kiss a girl at the exact moment of sunrise, but clearly don't have anyone. Avishai led us on an excellent tour of the palaces, cistern, swimming pool, (breached) fortifications, and synagogue, where the suicidal choice was made. Avishai really did an excellent job: then the freezing group descended the snake path. Descending wasn’t bad for me, but it really hurt some people’s legs. Step by step, the air became warmer, and I was feeling quite ready for swimming by the end. We ate breakfast in the Matzada tourism center, then hopped back on the bus, pressing some truly incredible landscapes on the way to the Dead Sea. (We visited this stupid Dead Sea store beforehand, which sold cosmetics products.) When we arrived, it was chilly again, and the Sea was too choppy for swimming; we were, however, allowed to enter the hot springs, which we did. Super-sulfurous, so all of my hand chappings inflamed. Suddenly, Shereen announced that flash floods were coming, so we needed to hit the road before it closed. We all scurried out of the springs, and got off in a timely manner, in the rain. Small floods cropped up. We arrived at the hotel: I was with Matt and Sam M. They slept, and I excused them at services that night, of which I led about half. Oh, and I led OK, too. Shabbat dinner at 7:00. Hey, I had a good time, though (can’t remember quite with whom -- Jess, maybe). Afterwards, stayed up until midnight or so in the lobby with most of the Taglit kids in my group. Beat Grand and Or in chess, played kings, and spoke with Priscilla. Went to bed super-happy.

There will be more soon, I promise.

~JD

"On vit Quasimodo debout sur le parapet de la galerie, qui d’une seule main tenait l’écolier par les pieds, en le faisant tourner sur l’abîme comme une fronde. Puis on entendit un bruit comme celui d’une boîte osseuse qui éclate contre un mur, et l’on vit tomber quelque chose qui s’arrêta au tiers de la chute à une saillie de l’architecture. C’était un corps mort qui resta accroché là, plié en deux, les reins brisés, le crâne vide" [They saw Quasimodo standing on the parapet of the gallery, holding the schoolboy by the feet with a single hand, and swinging him over the abyss like a sling. Then, they heard a sound like that of a bony box shattering against a wall, and they saw something fall, which stopped a third of the way down on a projection from the facade. It was a dead body which had caught there, bent in two, its kidneys shattered, its skull empty] (Victor Hugo, Notre-Dame de Paris).