Politics and Israel...

I feel it more in Jerusalem than in other parts of the country... from my apartment on Mount Scopus where I look out toward barbed wire and the Arab village beyond, on the bus heading east through ultra-orthodox neighborhoods and through the Arab sections of town, division, conflict and debate are inescapable and omnipresent.

I can not live here and be immune to it, can not be apathetic, can not avoid forming opinions, questioning them, reforming opinions, wondering about my identity, wondering about the identity and principles of this country. I am a part of it now, and I feel strongly that any action - even buying a newspaper, or getting fruit in the souk - has a political effect and a deeper symbolic meaning.

Perhaps my feelings will change. Surely they will. I can only right now about the present moment, about what I have seen and have discussed.

Two examples from t he last 24 hours.

Less than two minutes ago, a helicopter landed outside my window. MY roommate had noticed snipers and police cars and humvees beginning to crowd the neighborhood. His best guess is that the prime minister was arriving here to go to Hadassah Hospital. As the helicopter landed and Elad and I snapped pictures, a sniper stood with his gun pointed directly at me. I waved, smiled, didn't feel threatened, and yet now realize I think this was a first time even for me... The helicopter retreated quickly and now the traffic circulation is back to normal, the police presence vanished.

The events of last night are more perplexing, disturbing, notable...
A dinner party among graduate students... Innocuous, no?

Hardly... and not in Jerusalem...
The cast of characters included myself, two friends from my grad program (American women), 2 French women, my roommate, an Austrian journalist who is studying here for a semester, and a 21-year old Jerusalemite. Basically, the 21-year-old was explaining to the journalist his reasons for leaving the army and not doing his full service. His reasons were both health related and political. He used words such as "occupation" and "apartheid." On the other hand, my roommate served in an intelligence unit in the army and feels strongly about the importance and necessity of the Israeli armed forces. He was extremely offended by the other Israeli and ultimately everyone had to leave... The 21-year-old isn't really welcome here anymore, and I feel a bit caught in the middle...
I want to be open to anyone being in my house... but I understand the sentiments of my roommate. He risked his life for 4 years, will be willing to do so in a moments notice if called upon, and protects all of the country's citizens - the orthodox, the prisoners, the children, the aged... everyone. And I understand his resentment toward the 21-year-old who had spent his army years "free" - travelling the world. But I understand the pacifist perspective too, and the idea of desiring free choice about one's life.

Even after a mere 3 weeks here, I feel completely confused about where I stand, and how to stand there. I am not at all apathetic, am enthralled and interested, but do now know how to act. I want to help, but don't even know what ends I desire. I see incredibly valid arguments on almost every side..and as a woman who grew up in the protected American society, I question what right I have to even try and imagine, sympathize, or take a stand. Judaism too, is called into question here. I feel ever further from the orthodox world and can't help but question if the fundamental values that drive the religion take a back seat to the tiny details of daily rituals. I can't help but question if the preferential treatment given to all Jews here is at the expense of others...

That's why I am here, though. To ask these questions, to explore them, to figure out my own identity and what my role is within that context.

Here I am last weekend on the Kinneret with some fellow redheads. (gingi in hebrew!)

Whew...
I made it through my first week of graduate school and it is no joke.


First, a resolution. Once the semester starts in full force, I have no idea if I will have time keep doing this, but when I do, I am determined to cut down on my typos. We'll see how it goes. . .


Okay, that's out of the way.
So... there are 15-17 people in my program and we take 4 seminars (each 2-2.5 hours a week) plus 10 hours of Hebrew a week. To summarize what I will say in the next several paragraphs - the people are great, eclectic, smart, interesting, motivated. And there is a near-incomprehensible amount of work to do.

Let's get the less happy stuff out of the way. So, Hebrew is tough, but what I expected. Lots of vocabulary to memorize and grammatical concepts to learn. Luckily there is a lot of time to apply it in my daily life - although somewhat less so now that I am spending so much time at the international school speaking English. The challenge for me here is mastering the material that I learned on my own in a very compressed amount of time since arriving here.

The other 4 classes are interesting - Community Psychology, Philanthropy, The Third Sector and Civil Society, and Organizational Theory of Non-Profits... The profs are from the school of social work at the University and teach similar classes to the Israelis studying non-profit management. They have impressive credentials - 3 of them have already been flying back and forth to the states for conferences in their fields at Columbia, UPenn etc... The philanthropy prof is a CEO of a major Israeli foundation. They know their material and are excited to be teaching in the new program. (My program, by the way, is called Community Leadership, Philanthropy Studies and Non Profit Management.) So what's the downside - well, there's one copy of each book on campus in one of three libraries so this week has been a frenzy of making photocopies for everyone in the class. It's time consuming, expensive and a bit of a scavenger hunt all in one. But we've broken up into teams of 4 and plan to spend all day on Sunday making readers for the entire semester.

Then there are the papers! Each class has at least 1 project and at least 1 paper - 15 to 50 pages... except for one class that has a test. And of course, that will probably all come to a big old crescendo at the end of the semester! Can't wait!

Okay, no complaints - it's grad school. This is the point. Reading and writing. The subject matter is interesting and so are the people...

My class is a very interesting mix... there are three of us with backgrounds in urban education. Several people are coming from the for-profit sector. Everyone is between 22 and 29. Three women come from backgrounds working with the Jewish Agency and Otzma. But it is definitely not a program that is focusing on Jewish Communal Leadership, specifically. (I was worried this might be the case.) We have a few observant Christians, a Palestinian lawyer from Ramallah, and women from Amsterdam, Moscow, and Buenas Aires. The only under-represented group is men! There are only 2 in the program.

This weekend I am headed to a nearby town called Qadima for shabbat. I am going with a girl named Emily who is amazing- has spent time at Isabella Freedman, is a vegan, shares many of my loves...

MY ROOM:




I’ve been in Israel now for about 6 hours and, predictably, I’ve experienced a month’s worth of excitement. Most of the things I expected to be difficult logistically were, but I’ve been able to bear the lines and red tape by smiling at just how typical Israeli it all is.

More remarkable than the expected yelling and curt responses that Israelis are infamous for, however, has been the serendipitous sequence of events that have unfurled one after the other in the past 24 hours. Jerusalem is magical - and after only a few hours I remember why its so hard not to believe in a higher power at work here. Despite the honking cars, the barbed wire, the constant signs of stress and tension, people here seem t possess a certain amount of spiritual awareness. Perhaps it comes from an acceptance, even among the most secular people, that life is not all in our control – so people freak out about small things where they feel they can exercise their control, and when wild coincidences occur, no one is surprised. Admittedly I am still in the naïve stage. So be it. I’ll enjoy this while it’s here!



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Finally … at 2:30, I arrived at the brand new graduate dorms ready to move in… I wrote my name on a list and settled in to wait for the 10 or so people in front of me to get their room assignments. Three hours later, I actually saw my room. In the meantime, I enjoyed chatting with some other students. I met people from Argentina, Mexico, and of course Israelis and Americans. It’s so nice to be in the brand new dorms and to know that everyone around is a graduate student. The graduate students here are a bit more serious about their studies, although going to class here is apparently not quite as required as in the states.

My apartment is beautiful! I walked in to a sparkling white room, with billowing peacock feathers on our coffee table to greet me. My roommate, Elad, has incredible taste in décor and wines from what I can tell so far. He is very keen on cleanliness and he set the some house rules straight away. I appreciate his directness and he and I had an awesome evening together.
He is studying law and accounting and comes across as extremely intelligent. He speaks German and English fluently but soon I will have to crack down and make him speak to me only in Hebrew. He grew up on a moshav in central Israel that is known for its honey. He is the eldest of 5 kids. When we talked about his time in the army, he said he couldn’t really discuss it. I guess he did some intelligence work, but whatever it was, it was specialized enough that he is forbidden from visiting several countries (Jordan, Egypt, Russia) for quite a few years.
He gave me a great tour of the student village and the nearby shops. We enjoyed a dinner of hummous, pita and cucumbers with some Israeli jelly donuts and rugelach for dessert. (and of course some good wine!) I’ve mostly unpacked and plan to spend today taking care of logistics at school and with the bank, cell phone etc… Then I need to study Hebrew for several hours. Tonight, I am meeting a friend in the city. I am ridiculously happy!