High Holy Days in Israel

Wow.

I am so behind on my blog.

And there is just so much to write about.

Let's start with the High Holy Days (henceforth HHDs).

Generally, I strongly dislike the HHDs. They're hard for me theologically, and the thought of spending all day in services reciting words that I don't agree with is annoying at best. This year, though, I was determined to change my attitude and try to enjoy the experience of having the holidays in the Holy Land.

So, what can I do? First, I started by making an epic Erev Rosh Hashanah dinner (read about my cooking excursion here). It's hard to be away from my family on the HHDs, so making food just like my mom and playing host to some hungry friends was about as close as I could get. And it. was. AWESOME. Thanks to my foodie friend Benjamin, and the contributions of my lovely chaverim (חברים=friends) we absolutely feasted after services that night.

Some well-fed and festive friends.

The next morning, I joined some of my classmates for a trip to Tzur Hadassah, a community not far from Jerusalem that has a progressive congregation. We went to services (Israelis love getting to services just in time for the Torah service, which is an hour into services usually) and got to sing along with Emma, who is doing her T'ruma project (volunteering) there this year. After services I went to a Hebrew-language study session, where, unsurprisingly, we talked about tzedek chevrati (צדק חברתי=social justice) which was what we talked about all through ulpan this summer with the tent protests and calls for change in Israel. After the study session, we were hosted by different families in the community.

Absurdly huge sweet potatoes

This is where the world shrinks: I was hosted by an awesome family, and I had actually already met one of the members of said family. Ready? During ulpan, two of the classes went to the Jerusalem Bird Observatory to practice our Hebrew listening and to learn about some of the environmental efforts being made in Israel. We went at the end of July (briefly mentioned in this post) and one of the people who worked there that we met with, Alen, was actually one of my hosts! Jerusalem is a small, tiny, itty bitty world wherein all sorts of networks continually collide. Anyway, Alen and her partner, a reconstructionist rabbi, have two awesomely rambunctious kids. It was really a great day!

what's a holiday without za'atar pita chips?

One of the very coolest parts about my Rosh Hashanah experience was the afternoon of RH. I was sitting in my room with all the windows open, and I could hear shofars being blown from throughout the city. I live across the street from a hotel, and I could see an orthodox man standing outside of the hotel blowing the shofar for families as they came out of the hotel. We are commanded to hear the shofar on Rosh Hashanah, and this guy was making sure everybody got their commandments taken care of that day. It was really awesome!

Then we had all those fun days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. School was still very much in session, and there was so much last minute HHD stuff to attend to! I led shacharit (morning) services the Thursday between RH and YK, which was a great experience. Then, I had to prepare for leading a service on Yom Kippur with Jeremy and Rachel. More on that soon.

Now, for the last few years, I have either been helping lead Yom Kippur or just generally dreading it. I don't recall having a meaningful Yom Kippur in recent years; basically, I spend the day being as miserable as everyone else and just waiting for break the fast. But this year was something different.

For Kol Nidre, Friday night, I joined my class (and a lot of other people) for HUC services in Blaustein Hall--this room has an incredible view of the Old City, and it was a great place to have HHD services. I am always amazed at how talented our cantorial students are, and Kol Nidre was a great showcase of that talent. Before services, I had been at Jeremy and Sarah's for a pre-fast dinner with some friends, and at 4:30 the chag (holiday) siren went off, alerting everyone that the holiday had started. 4:30 probably seems early to you--it is--but it's because every year between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Israel goes through Daylight savings time so that it becomes dark earlier in the day and so the fast on Yom Kippur seems shorter. This is one of the craziest things about Israel--the calendar is so Jewish and so religiously affected. Anyway, I was shocked leaving Kol Nidre services at the absolute silence that surrounded us. Sure, you could hear people still in services, but there were absolutely NO cars on the streets. We literally walked down the middle of the road, and eventually some of us decided to go to the Western Wall.

Normally I like going to the Wall, but this time was a little off. There was a woman sitting near me and her phone went off, and the ringtone was Usher's "yeah!" so that was distracting. It was great seeing everyone in their holiday whites, and I was reminded of a few of Yehuda Amichai's poems. This one in particular:

On Yom Kippur 5728, the year of forgetting, I donned Dark holiday clothing and walked to Jerusalem’s Old City. I stood for quite a while in front of the kiosk shop of an Arab, Not far from Shchem (Nablus) Gate, a shopfull of buttons, zippers and spools of thread Of every color; and snaps and buckles.

Brightly lit and many colored like the open Holy Ark.

I said to him in my heart that my father too Owned a shop just like this of buttons and thread. I explained to him in my heart about all the decadesAnd the reasons and the events leading me to be here now

While my father’s shop burned there and he is buried here.

When I concluded it was the hour of N’eilah (“locking the gates”).He too drew down the shutters and locked the gate

As I returned homeward with all the other worshippers.

Having Yom Kippur here is also an interesting issue, because for many Israelis the day is not just a religious obligation--it is also a war memorial. It's an interesting interaction between religion and collective memory.

Saturday morning I walked (in the streets) to services, where, for the first time in memory, I had a meaningful Yom Kippur. We had normal morning services, then the musaf (additional) service immediately after. This was what Jeremy and Rachel and I put together. It was a nice break from the heavy traditional melodies of the HHDs; we used a guitar and sang some more contemporary versions of things. It was a nice complement to the morning service, and I really felt like it provided a feeling of home and familiarity. It was nice to be able to contribute! After musaf we had a couple of hours to rest, followed by study sessions, afternoon services, memorial (yizkor) services, and ne'ilah (locking of the gates). While of course Yom Kippur is not traditionally a happy day, this one felt refreshing and meaningful. While we had break the fast in the moadon (our student lounge on campus) I really felt like I was ready to start the new year.

Then, in the blink of an eye, it was time for Sukkot.

four species

I'm telling you--living by the Jewish calendar is unbelievable here.

Sukkot is the festival of booths, and it is maybe the most outwardly strange Jewish holiday. Basically what it entails is these temporary hut structures being built anywhere and everywhere--on the sidewalks outside of restaurants, on the sides of apartment buildings, on top of hotels--you name it, there's a sukkah there. So weird!

sukkah deocrations

For me, sukkot has always been a holiday of youth group programs (pizza in the hut) or fun study sessions, but it was never a holiday that we really celebrated at home. Thus, I really looked forward to seeing how Jerusalemites celebrated! We watched a movie called Ushpizin in Hebrew this week (learn more here) which was fun. Then, Wednesday morning, I went with some classmates to the shuk, where a special temporary shuk had been set up. There, we learned about the different rules and regulations for the lulav and etrog (lots of unfamiliar terms in this post, sorry guys--more info here). I have never seen anything like this shuk. There were hundreds of people trying to find the most perfect plants for their lulav, inspecting each leaf, and, sometimes, using a ruler to actually measure what they were buying.

It was totally awesome.

So, I have to say, it has been a wonderful experience getting to feel the Jewish holidays in Israel. Sure, there's something to be said about hanging out in a sukkah in the states, but there is absolutely nothing like having to dodge oncoming traffic in order to walk to class because of all the sukkot on the sidewalks.