Books and Movies

I'm going to use my profile section as a place where I can post about really good books and movies about Israel and Judaism. If any of you have any titles that you really like as well, send a comment or email and I will put them there as well.

I (heart) Turkey!

Thankfully I didn’t have to miss my favorite American holiday! About 15 people from OTZMA got together in Kiryat Gat, another partnership city like Kiryat Malachi, to eat turkey, stuffing, potatoes, and other yummy thanksgiving food. We gathered for the first time since splitting up for the second track. People came from all over the country; from way up north and from Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and us from 15 minutes away. We actually couldn’t even get on the bus. While we were waiting at the stop, a bus pulled up that was jammed packed. In Israel, bus drivers don’t stop filling the bus when all the seats are full, instead people pack in the aisle so they are standing or sitting there the whole ride. Well, this bus had some people standing already when it came to our stop, and than only let in like 3 people before the driver shut the door in some poor girl’s face! As the bus pulled away, things were looking grim for our thanksgiving travels.
Continued...

Since there wasn’t a sherut in sight, we had to get a cab to Kiryat Gat. We packed the car so it really wasn’t that expensive. About five dollars per person. During the cab ride, the driver turns on the light and takes the money we gave him and starts to explain (while lacking to look at the very curvy, busy road and while driving very fast) how to tell if bills and coins are counterfeit. It’s actually neat to look at the bills, there is a triangle on one side that turns into a Star of David when looked at in the light, the face on the money is made up of little tiny Hebrew letters, and some other things. Cab drivers here are so unreal, from making sure we don’t take counterfeit money, to marrying their sons, to getting invited to shabbas dinner, it’s always something weird!

Anyways we arrive and it was so much fun. Everyone made awesome food. My salad was of course super gourmet – candied pecans with garlic infused balsamic dressing and fresh cut strawberries. I also got to carve the turkey!

It was really nice to see so many people from our group, since we really haven’t been separated since we met 3 months ago. We all told stories of our beginning adventures and of course went around the room saying what we were thankful for. We also told our favorite/ funny thanksgiving memories. Since most of the crew are born camp counsels, we always organize activities in our off time as well, which really cracks me up! And yes Steve, I told the story of mono and showing up mostly dead at your mother’s front door.

The whole evening was very nice and I am still full today, a day later. Next week I will post more with adventures of the weeks volunteering. I have internet here so there will be plenty of posts in the future! Happy Thanksgiving!

A New Town And Home

As we grow accustomed to our new surroundings, Kiryat Malachi is becoming more and more like home. In our apartment I have five roommates and so much space. With a living room and dining room, the ambiance is much more home-like than Be’er Sheva was. It looks like I’ll be volunteering with high school and elementary school students in the morning and with an Ethiopian after school programs after that.

Malachi is an interesting town. We are located right next to a military base and keep hearing planes take off. Up in Northern Israel, there have been some attacks from Lebanon and these same planes that are going up there to deal with the trouble. Hearing them all the time is really a bit scary, but at least I’m nowhere near the violence. Malachi has a quite zen feel to it. There is a market every Monday where we can buy all our vegetables. Underneath our apartment complex are a bunch of stores, like a knitting store, clothing store, and small grocery. The group of us have taken up making scarves as an evening activity since the town is not big enough to even have a movie theater. This weekend we are going to be given host families right in town for Shabbat dinner and so I am really excited to be welcomed into a home in town this weekend. Not much else to report as of now, but we do have internet here so more to come!

A Memorial For A Great Man

This week marks the 10-year anniversary of the assassination of one of Israel’s greatest prime ministers – Yitzhak Rabin. The public memorial was held in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv last night and so some fellow OTZMAnikim and I traveled there for the show. We were all very exited because Bill Clinton was going to speak there as well, and not only would he be speaking English, but … sigh, I miss him. The crew jumped into a way over priced sherut and was off to Tel Aviv continued...

I don’t know if anyone saw it on TV, but it was quite a scene. Thousands and thousands of people were gathered in the square and the surrounding streets. People were carrying huge signs saying shalom akshahv (peace now) and looking sadden and somber with thoughts of the fallen leader. A little after 8pm the memorial began. There were many speakers including the new leader of the Labor Party and Yitzhak Rabin’s grandson and in between each speaker was cheesy Israeli folk music that they all love here (think Od Yavo Shalom Alienu). Some of it was really good though and there were subtitles on a big TV so we all sang along which was a lot of fun.

Unfortunately I still hardly know any Hebrew, so most of the speeches were lost to me (I really thought I heard one the speakers say Clinton and Rabin loved each other every night, but I feel like that can’t be right). However Clinton came up to speak towards the end and was very eloquent as usual. He spoke of how not a week went by since Rabin’s assassination that he did not think of him. He spoke of how he had many years left and they were given up in his quest of peace and because of this we could not let his death happen in vain. Later all the speakers came on stage with a large group of singers and all sang the Israeli national anthem together. Clinton came out with both Hilary and Chelsea, both of whom I have never seen in person, so that was very cool. We were all desperately hoping Clinton would whip out the sax and jam along, but that didn’t happen.

The whole show was very moving. There were many tears in the crowd and at the end they played Imagine, which is one of my favorite songs ever. I felt very fortunate to have been able to participate in this event, as it was quite an experience.

Kiryat Malachi Here We Come

In the next week, we will be moving to new cities. OTZMA is broken into 3 different tracks, Be’er Sheva was the first, with a group of 30 that focused on getting us to learn Hebrew, integrated with the community and living in Israel. For the second track we are split into smaller groups and move to remote towns in the periphery of Israel to focus more on volunteering. The periphery pretty much includes everywhere that is not Tel Aviv or Jerusalem and five other people and myself are moving to a town called Kiryat Malachi

Last week we got a chance to visit and check out some of the things we would be doing. Mostly the work involves working with students in school and after school activities. I will probably volunteer in an Elementary School in the morning and with at-risk children in the afternoon. We are there to help them with their English and be supportive older (but still cool) role models continued...

The population of Kiryat Malachi is about the size of Eugene and has around 40% Ethiopian immigrants. This has had a huge impact on the community of the town. We were told about 20 years ago or so things were really looking up there. Jobs were plentiful, the community center was a booming place, the youth were all involved in a huge student government project, and growth and progress was all about. Then the Israel government brought the Ethiopian immigrants to Kiryat Malachi, which has the highest population of Ethiopians than any other Israeli city. The problem with this is that the government has not extended the same rights they give to other immigrants to the Ethiopians. Normally when one makes Alyiah, they are given money to start up, a place to live, classes in Hebrew, and other benefits. None of this was done for the Ethiopians. So thousands have just been dropped off in towns like Kiryat Malachi, almost all not knowing how to read or write in any language and inside of the support given to other immigrants, if they are of the age of 3rd grade, they are placed in 3rd grade whether they are able to function there or not.

As you can imagine, this has completely crushed the school structure and community in Kiryat Malachi. Jobs are gone, and most people who lived there have moved away. There is no one our age in the town. Just families and older people. One thing I found amazing was the attitude of the people in Kiryat Malachi, Everyone was so positive and upbeat and they were living there because they wanted to help change and fix up the town. So I am excited about joining and doing what I can as well.

Also, the apartment we are staying in is so sweet. It is like a house. I have never seen an apartment so big in my life. It has a washer and dryer in it; which I have never had since I left home, a DVD player, bathtub, full kitchen and oven, toaster & microwave…yes!, and this huge dining room and living room so we can have people over to visit. Yeah! Living in style here I come!

Tonight I am traveling to Tel Aviv to see Bill Clinton, yes you read that right – Clinton! He’s speaking at the memorial for Yatzhak Rabin, so I’ll write all about that soon!