5 months in... 3 weeks to go

Life in Israel is so fascinating... intriguing... different. I live 10,000 miles away from my family, friends, loved ones. I live 30 minutes from the Temple Mount on the West Bank in a town called Tekoa. How did I wind up going from Bakersfield, California to the West Bank? I wake up some mornings and can hear the Muslim call to worship. I think to myself... how did I get here again? The pull of living in Israel overcame me and still overcomes me. Everyday that I spend living in Israel makes me feel more and more connected to my heritage, culture, faith, and nation. I have personal and spiritual clarity here that I could never find at home. Things that used to cloud my mind and make me unsure of life's purpose and why I am even here are now becoming more and more clear to me. The mundane life of animalistic instincts has no appeal to me. Get up... get ready for work... eat... work... eat... work... eat... see people... maybe do something outside of the norm... maybe not... sleep. Routine monotony had taken over my life. I was marginally happy. Mostly happy that I was surrounded with wonderful people... family and friends. I was successful. I never had a problem working hard and making my way to the top of any endeavor I took on. On the surface, things were good. On the inside I was screaming for meaning... purpose... connection.

With 3 weeks left in Israel before I head back to the states I spent my Shabbos in Tekoa (like I do most Shabbats). On Saturday, Shabbos day, I was hanging out with some friends and talking. We spoke about the history of Israel, politics, and religion. Interestingly enough religion and politics were two things that I would steer clear of in conversations back home. When you're the only Jew that most people know AND happen to be a bleeding heart tree hugging liberal, who happens to live in a predominately Christian community of right wing Conservatives... well, there's not much to say when it comes to religion and politics (as I'm sure you could imagine). Here the leftists and the right wings talk and talk and talk. Their insights and reasonings are so intriguing to me.

One of the people I was talking with last night said something that was truly impactful to me (and I'm paraphrasing this): 'You know the secular and the religious Jews might not agree on much, but one amazing this is how they unite without division on the big issues.' For example, 'the boat that tried to deliver "aide" to Gaza was 100% deemed wrong and it was within the rights of the IDF to stop them.' Let me expand on this statement a bit. Gaza is a section in the south western coastal region of Israel that was given to the Palestinian government during a peace talk negotiation less than 5 years ago. Gaza is currently governed by Hamas which is an extremest branch of Islam and is one of the dominate terrorist organizations right now. Gaza has been under blockade to stop imports into this small section of land. The blockade is meant to ensure that no materials are smuggled into Gaza that could potentially be used in bombings or terrorist attacks. The flotilla ship that was attempting to deliver aide to Gaza was outright defying Israeli blockade and knew they would be stopped by the IDF. Instead of this "humanitarian organization" attempting to deliver aide appropriately through the Israeli Defense Federation, the flotilla ship decided to take matters into their own hands and were ultimately stopped. How do Israelis feel about this? They were all behind the IDF. From the secular to the religious and everything in between... agreed. Could you even imagine if Americans had such unity on the important issues? Hash out the minor details on a day to day basis, but complete unity when it comes to the big rocks. I found myself completely intrenched and engrossed with the information. Here it is, Saturday night... Shabbos just ended and I'm sitting on the patio at my friend's house talking about all of the things I always avoided talking about at home.

I had a bit of a cold this Shabbos, but initially I had thought of going to Hevron the weekend. My friend's family went for the entirety of Shabbos and camped out near Machpelah. Machpelah is also known as the Tomb of the Patriarchs. This is where Adam & Chava (Eve), Abraham & Sarah, Isaac & Rivkah, Jacob & Leah were all buried. In case you were wondering Rachel's plot is between Jerusalem and Bethlehem... she's the only one not buried in the family plot. This past week was the portion of the Torah where Sarah Emanu (the mother of the Jewish people) passed away. To honor her Yartsite (anniversary of her passing) thousands gather in Hevron to spend Shabbos. It rained on and off all of Shabbos, so since I was trying to kick a cold I'm glad I wound up staying home.

Hevron is a highly disputed area of the West Bank. Muslims and Jews claim the holy land of the forefathers as their own. Our cousins, the Muslims', father is also Abraham... their mother is an Egyptian princess (who left to become a maidservant for Sarah) named Hagar. The tension is very high in Hevron. Extra IDF and police is brought in for the weekend's festivities. Jews celebrate the life of Sarah together while camping out. Yes, there are Muslims that live in Hevron. A lot in fact. Is it brave that Israelis go there to spend Shabbos honoring Sarah? I think so. It is our land. Of course there are precautionary measures in place and of course I wouldn't have gone alone even if I was feeling up to it. Next year... I'll give a full first hand report of what it's like to spend a Shabbat in such a holy and coveted place.

I did go to the Kotel before the sun came up on Friday morning. Into the tunnels as close to the Holy of Holies as you can get. I brought my cousins with me and showed them the special place that women can go to pray that is the closest to the holiest spot on the Temple Mount. Yes, the women have a special place that the men don't go too.

There's so much I want to do before I go back to the states. I've been taking an incredible seminar in Nachlaot (a section of Jerusalem) for the past week. One of the assignments for the seminar was to do something out of the norm of what I would normally do. My dear, and slightly crazy, friend came up with an amazing idea. There is graffiti in Nachlaot that says (er said), "Love Israel Hate the State" and another that says (er also said) "Love People Hate the Police". So she got some spray paint and the 2 of us took out the "Hate"... did I mention it was 4pm when we did this? Traffic time! This was also the same day as my participation in the first Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in Jerusalem. Soooo I raised some money and then wiped out some graffiti! Pretty productive day if you ask me. The tagging now says, "Love Israel [White Blob] the State" and "Love People [White Blob] the Police". People were thrilled that we did this. They were chatting us up and telling us how happy they were about what we were doing. A M A Z I N G ! ! Spray painting is fun, but don't worry I'm not about to go be a tagger or anything.

I'm also going to be learning how to make short pro-Israel videos this upcoming week and am so thrilled to have the opportunity to learn a different form of media that I know absolutely nothing about. I feel like I'm burning the candle at both ends, but I am so excited to be able to be learning so much and doing so much and experiencing so much. Classes. Seminars. Writing. Traveling. Only 3 weeks to go and then I'm back stateside. Lehitraot! (See you later.)