Monday, September 30th, Yom Shani, the Second Day

Spent a lovely vacation day here in Jerusalem. Again hat's off to David and Ilanna Soffer for installing central air here in August. Today it was about 95 outside but I wouldn't have known it.

Spent the day organizing myself, writing, reading. Going to be in Jerusalem for the rest of the week just enjoying the slower pace and catching up on some things, namely my work with ATZUM and a book proposal that I'm starting to write after thinking about it for the last several months. I'm also working on an article for Jewish Family and Life.

Tel Aviv was fun, but I'm happy to be back in Jerusalem where it's hot, but not humid.

Thursday evening, Tel Aviv "Living in Fear"

Living in fear is the greatest gift you can give to a terrorist. As I was walking home this evening up a tree-lined street in Tel Aviv, it dawned on me that I wasn't afraid...sure, I'm not taking the local bus or visiting Machane Yehuda, the shuk in Jerusalem. . .but I'm also not living in a shell. Almost everything that I've done this week has had ample security...the areas that are insecure are those that are public: the bus, outside the shuk, places where security can be exploited. Which is why terrorism thrives on city busses which are impossible to completely protect and in areas that are not guarded. Overall this is an incredibly protected society, given over to the "business as usual" life of everyone's a suspect until proven innocent.

For example, my bags were checked on the way to the Jerusalem Central Bus Station today (x-rayed, to be exact), checked on the way into a Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf in Tel Aviv; my friend's car was checked (including the trunk) on the way into the mall; our car was checked on the way into a parking lot at an art fair; we were checked again before the shuttle bus took us in; checked again at the entrance; and went through metal detectors before we got to the main part of the show. And there were still many guards around.

It feels normal...because you go on with life. When I first got here the fear was almost paralyzing. They I realized, over time, that I had found a way to cope with life in Los Angeles, which isn't exactly the safest big city in the world. My coping skills here are to be smart, to not take unnecessary chances, and most of all, to keep living and not live in fear.

Yom Shelishi, Tuesday

Each year during Hol HaMoed Sukkot (the middle of the festival) the city of Jerusalem sponsors a major walk across parts of the city. Your correspondent thought it would be fun so I grabbed a cab early this morning to Yad Kennedy (the Kennedy Memorial in a JNF forest outside of Jerusalem) to begin my 14.5 kilometer walk across the city. We began by hiking through the forest, a beautiful, mostly clear morning. We descended to a moshav and then back into another trail, coming down by the Malcha neighborhood (where the big mall is and NO, I didn't stop in....), then through the Katamon neighborhood to Gan Sacher, the park next to the Knesset. I finished the walk in about three hours.

When I got home, however, I realized, unfortunately, that I had the symptoms of heat stroke. So I spent the afternoon feverish. Tonight I feel better and will take it easy tomorrow.

Yom Shani, Monday, "President's Day"

Well it's not officially President's Day in Israel today but it *is* the only day of the year that the "House of the President...Beit ha Nasi" is open to the public. It's an annual tradition that he receives the public on one day of the intermediary days of Sukkot. So my friend Gali and I headed over there about noon and after about an hour waiting in line found ourselves shaking hands with Moshe Katsav, the president of Israel. The president here is the head of state, not the head of the government. It is a ceremonial post, chosen by the members of the Knesset. Thus while Mr. Katsav does receive foreign visitors and what not, he does not have the same function as the president in the US or the prime minister in the U.K.

The house was built in 1971 and is about a five minute walk from where I live (as is the home of Sharon and Peres...!) It is surrounded by beautiful gardens that feature artifacts of Israel's archeological heritage. After greeting Mr. and Mrs. Katsav in the sukkah, you enter a large entrance hall where the formal ceremonies of state are held....it has a beautiful painted ceiling, stained glass windows, and a mosaic floor, with displays of important Judaica, political and religious, in cases. Off the right hand side is the formal reception room where guests are received along with their delegations. In the back of the house is the president's private synagogue, a recent addition, and done in the Sephardi style.

After our tour we left through the back...and ran into Nadav Katz a new friend who is heavily involved with Kehilla Har El, the first reform/progressive congregation in Jerusalem, established in 1958. Moving on through the Rechavia neighborhood, we stopped by a machine that for 7 shekels makes french fries...this I had to try...not bad. We moved on and ran into Jonathan Livney (see previous articles), and then another block ran into the hazzan (cantor) from Har El. This pattern continued through the afternoon. . .

This evening I, along with several students, had dinner at the house of our ulpan teacher from the first part of the summer...she has a lovely home and filled her sukkah with good eats.

Yom Rishon, Sunday, 9:50

Boker tov from Jerusalem! And Hag Sameach! Unlike in the Diaspora, Jewish pilgrimage holidays, of which Sukkot is one, are celebrated only for one day at the beginning and end, rather than two. So, for the first time in my life, it's the second day of Sukkot and we're already into the intermediate days of the festival where regular life can proceed apace. I'm delighted to be on vacation after completing the summer ulpan. My Hebrew is improving all of the time. Sukkot was wonderful; Friday afternoon Na'amah Kelman took me to a mikva, a ritual immersion spot, up in the hills on the outskirts of Jerusalem. It is part of a monasterey for monks built into the side of a hill. There is a natural spring and they have created a private spot to go in the waters. It was amazing, but physically and spiritually.

Here I go again with the food talk! (sorry Craig!) Dinner was at Na'amah's place and was a great Thanksgiving-style meal, complete with "Fred" the turkey. Lunch Saturday was with friends from the University of Judaism who are now here, which is wonderful to have so many old friends in Jerusalem. Dinner was at my friend Avi Fox Rosen's place in Nachlaot, an old neighborhood that has many fervent black hat-types as well as yuppies. After dinner we went and hung out in his friend's sukkah which was sort of like Venice Beach meets Haight-Ashbury. Seriously.

This morning I'm going to the Greek Colony, near here, to visit with my three-and-one-half year old friend, Yedidya. He used to live downstairs and his family invited me over for lunch. The rest of today is about an old fashioned typical Sunday in the USA....hanging out and doing nothing important.

The news, as you will read today, continues to be tense with most of the West Bank under lockdown and Israeli forces surrounding what's left of Arafat's compound. Bush has war plans for Iraq, according to the NY Times. So....heck of a time to be in Israel, but then again, if you saw how beautiful it was outside my window this morning or saw the moon hanging in the sky last night, you would see why I am able to take my mind off of all of the bad news in the world.

Yom Re-vee-ee, Thursday, around 11:45

A tough day in Israel. Awoke to news of yesterday's hero, a police officer in the north who through his quick wits was able to keep a suicide bomber from doing significant damage--at the expense of his life. Then today during our academic orientation I heard about the pigua (attack) on the bus in Tel Aviv that, as of this writing, killed five people who were doing nothing more than going about their business in the middle of the day and injuring 60 or more. We forget about the injured....but there are thousands of people with physical and psychic scares from the last two plus years of violence in this country. The suicide bombers are not content to kill just with their bombs...they fill them with nuts and bolts, metal pieces, and poisons, such as rat poison.

I heard a story this past week of twins, inseparable, who were on the Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall in downtown Jerusalem last fall when a suicide bomber did his evil work. One twin survived; the other is still in a coma, a bolt lodged deep in his brain. The bolt had been coated in rat poison. The surviving twin and his family are obviously devastated.

But we go on. Even with this amazing pain and this amazingly callous lack of humanity from a culture that promotes exploding into a billion pieces as you kill innocents.

Doing nothing promotes helplessness. That's why for my community service project I'm working with a new small organization ATZUM. ATZUM is dedicated to raising money and giving 100% of the proceeds to three main focii: (1) families where the main breadwinner has been incapacitated by piguim (bombings); (2) the Righteous Gentiles, those people who risked everything to save Jews during the Shoah (holocaust); and (3) providing pro bono legal services for exploited foreign workers in Israel. Already I'm helping with the formal organization in the States and here in Israel, recruiting volunteer lawyers to help with the paperwork. ATZUM has already distributed many dollars to people who were victimized by the bus explosions in Gilo in Southern Jerusalem in June.

I'll have more information on ATZUM later including how you can contribute. If you would like to organize a fundraiser on behalf of ATZUM, please let me know.

On a more mundane note, I'm happy to share that on the last test of our summer ulpan I received an 88. Yes, I passsed and now I'm onto two weeks of vacation including the joy of Sukkot in Jerusalem!

Wednesday 3:15

So one of my old friends (and I mean I've known this guy for over 20 years!) writes yesterday: "David, do you ever have a bad meal?  Spend time with unpleasant company?  Does Israel ever disappoint in any respect?  Seriously, I am enjoying reading your journal daily (both because I enjoy the content, and also because it is good to know that you are all right), but really, is every meal wonderful?  Every person wonderful company, the most accomplished so-and-so in Israel, etc.?  I know you're trying to be positive, but I think you need to balance things a little bit with a little kvetching now and then."

Okay, old friend, here you go:

The drivers here are crazy. They see you in a crosswalk and speed up or even worse intentionally try to almost sideswipe you. There are no catalytic converters on the car and there's diesel exhaust every day. It hasn't rained since I've been here. I've had some greasy falafel/schwarma/insert Middle Eastern food here. It's expensive here. Even with the situation. It's not fun having your bag checked all of the time, but it becomes natural. I'm sad that it feels so natural. I had to take another Hebrew test today. They seem to keep coming. Still don't like 'em. There was no a/c in the place I went for YK in the morning and my tallit was too hot. Speaking of weather it's too humid in Tel Aviv. You can't get good drip coffee here unless you go to Starbucks in Tel Aviv. And then there are the species known as the "Israeli." Sometimes they are downright wonderful, othertimes remarkably brusque and noisy. For example I asked a question in the grocery store because I couldn't understand what the clerk was asking me. I got the answer, but I also got a "hurry the hell up" from the person behind me. You have to pack your own groceries, and they don't give you much time to get them bagged before the next person's stuff is tossed toward you.

Let's see. What else. Well, I'm not enamored with many of the decisions of the government here (municipal and state). The English newspapers are okay, but they aren't the New York Times. I miss Sunday morning brunch. Service is restaurants is so-so.

On the other hand, this *IS* Israel.

Yom Shilishi, Tuesday, 13:15

Yom Kippur is a must experience in Israel--at least once. Rak shaket...only quiet. Television and radio goes off the air, and there are no cars/vehicles on the road, save for military and police vehicles. The streets become filled with children on razor scooters and bicycles (and as the news reports crashing into each other the way their parents do on the roads...) My Yom Kippur was spent with my good friends Jonathan Ivney and Helen Green. Jonathan, the former head of the movement (progressive Judaism) here in Israel met me my first week in the HUC library; he and his wife Helen hosted me for a wonderful gourmet Shabbat dinner a few weeks ago. Jonathan picked me up on Sunday afternoon and together we had a meal before leaving for t'filla (prayer).

Our first stop was Kol Ha Neshama, the major progressive synagogue here in Jerusalem. Part of the outdoor plaza is under construction, so bedlam would be the word to describe it (balagan for those of you who know Hebrew). After a few minutes I couldn't take it anymore and left...Soon thereafter Jonathan and Helen joined me. Jonathan and I walked over to another minyan, an orthodox one, in a school auditorium. It is called "Yedidya" or "Friend". Most of the people there are Anglos/Americans who have made aliyah. The service there was much more comfortable given that the liturgy was what I have grown familiar with at Temple Beth Am in Los Angeles in previous years.

We walked home together and stood in the middle of Derech Hebron, a large boulevard that is usually packed with vehicles...and watched the kids having a great time. Jonathan said that to him this day is what Israel is about. Upon returning home, I continued to pepper him with questions about his experience in the Yom Kippur War and the Six Day War...they are amazing stories. He had the unfortunate responsibility as a Lt. Colonel during the Yom Kippur War to inform parents in Jerusalem of the deaths of their children. The next day, when we said Yizkor for the fallen soldiers of Israel, Jonathan's story make the Yizkor resonate that much more.

On Yom Kippur day we began at Yedidya, went home in the afternoon and returned to Kol Ha Neshama for the afternoon and concluding service. Jonathan is a gourmet who writes about food and wine for one of the major Israeli newspapers, in addition to practicing law and raising money for a number of worthwhile causes. Our break fast began in the synagogue with a small repast prepared by Helen of homemade biscuits, chocolate and hot tea....At home, Jonathan had wonderful multi-grain bread with butter and home cured herring, washed down with Stoli. These folks know how to live.

Helen, by the way, is one of Israel's best surgeons...she is brilliant and beautiful and welcoming and warm and all that....and we discovered that we were both born on the same day...although a few years apart.

We went to a breakfast at the home of Jonathan's ex-wife....I was struck by how normal it felt to get in a car...and then all of a sudden you are driving next to the Old City walls of Jerusalem, listening to Hebrew music on the radio, catching the news once the radio came back to life. We didn't just pray as Jews, we continued to live as Jews....

Yom Kippur marks the end of the Yamim Noraim (days of awe) and now I can, along with all Jews, turn my attention to Sukkot, Zman Simchatenu, the time of our rejoicing. It is a very happy time after the awe of Elul and the Yamim Noraim.. There are sukkahs on almost every hotel balcony around this town and they are sprouting by the minute....Next week Jerusalem will be a city of shacks!

Meeting wonderful people like Jonathan and Helen are part of what makes this year here so extraordinary.

Yom Rishon, 12:30 a.m. (Sunday)
24 HOURS+: SHABBAT IN JERUSALEM.

Friday is a lovely day of the week. . .time to prepare for Shabbat and take in some of the splendors of this place. Friday morning my friends David and Laura and I took in a concert at Beit Ticho (Ticho House) in downtown Jerusalem. It was a performance by a mother/daughter team--four hands on one piano keyboard. Russians, in a word, rock! After we had brunch on the lovely front patio surrounded by beautiful foliage.

As Shabbat approached, I embarked to meet classmates at a minyan, Shira Hadasha that meets alternatively at the ICCY (International Cultural Center for Youth) and at Machon Hartman (The Shalom Hartman Institute.) When I arrived at ICCY I met someone on his way out who said that there was no davening there that night and perhaps it was meeting at Hartman. So off I went to Hartman. Unfortunately I didn’t have the phone number of the people that I was suppose to meet there (and go to their house for dinner!) What to do! Arriving at Hartman I found that, alas, there was no minyan. . .but I also ran into two of my classmates who had the phone number of another classmate who was staying with the people I was suppose to meet (you following?)

I called her and told them to meet me at yet ANOTHER place to pray, this time the “Egalitarian Minyan” that meets in the high school building next to Machon Hartman. There I ran into an acquaintance from Los Angeles who is doing his third year at Machon Schecter, the Conservative rabbinical seminary here in Jerusalem. After lay lead mincha and kabbalat Shabbat, I volunteered to lead maariv. All in all a wonderful evening after all of that buildup (and about a dozen shuls to choose from!). But wait! There’s more.

I then went to dinner at the home of Kim and Micha, a married couple. Kim is studying in the education program, Micha the rabbinical school. Joined by other classmates we had a wonderful evening of food, drink, dessert, singing, talking, laughing. Perfection.

Shabbat morning I went to Congregation Har-El which is located near the city center. Har El is the oldest progressive synagogue in Israel and while it attracts a small crowd right now, it is sure to grow because of its dynamic rabbi and cantor. I was honored with the fifth aliyah! It’s wonderful getting called to the Torah, and it’s especially wonderful being called to the Torah in Jerusalem!

Lunch was at another classmate’s home, Dan, along with his spouse Ruth and their two kids Gabe and Sarah. Sarah wasn’t feeling well, but Gabe was his usual robust self…it’s like having a conversation with an 11 year old going on 30. He’s delightful, as is Sarah. Ruth, in addition to making the best challah I think I have ever had (well, of course next to my mom’s) is studying Hebrew while Dan and her kids are in school. Today we spent close to an hour together in Torah study. Dan and Gabe then walked me back to my house.

After a brief (30 minute) nap I was off to Kol HaNeshama, another progressive congregation which I joined as a student last week for a whopping 100 shekels (approximately $21.00). They were having a new member reception, and while I knew that I wouldn’t understand, oh, around 90% of what was being said in Hebrew, I figured it was good to go anyway. On the way I walked through a park near my house where there was an Ethiopian wedding (trilling, dancing, singing). . .and watching was a young Israeli man with his 16 month old baby and a couple of Palestinian kids. Apparently I was in the kids’ way because they asked me to move…or at least gestured to that effect.

The reception at Kol HaNeshama was lovely…I got to know some people better…and afterwards got put to work helping to schlep chairs between the two floors (there’s an elevator) to get ready for Kol Nidre. We did havdalah together…which was very nice. While waiting for my ride home I had the opportunity to speak with Paula, the rabbi’s partner in life, who makes documentary films.

Just another day in Israel. . . Shavua tov v’gemar hatima tovah. (Have a good week and may your fate be finished for good, which is the traditional greeting given as Yom Kippur draws closer and we hope to be written in the Book of Life for the new year).

Today I’m sharing this space with my teacher and friend Rabbi Na’amah Kelman, who wrote these words over the summer:

Jerusalem: Reflection on the past year and hopes for the new one….

We live in painful and confusing times. Our thoughts go round and round in endless arguments. We are filled with pain, fear, hope and loss. Listen carefully to our poet/prophet Yehudah Amichai, from his final book of poems, “Open, Closed, Open”:

“…In Jerusalem, hope springs eternal. Hope is like a faithful dog. Sometimes she runs ahead of me to check the future, to sniff it out,
Then I call her: Hope, Hope come here, and she
Comes to me. . .”

I feel like a pendulum—swinging back and forth. Sometimes it takes days or sometimes weeks. Often we wake up with dread, spirits lifting as we set out on our business, only to sink into rage, and then settle into quiet fortitude. In the words of Amichai:

“. . .There are days when everyone says, I was there,
I’m ready to testify, I stood a few feet from the accident,
From the bomb, from the crucifixion, I almost got hit, I almost got crucified.
I saw the faces of the bride and groom under the wedding canopy and almost
Rejoiced. . . “

We live in denial, we are split. We live in dual realities. On a given day, I get up, walk to work, passing the rebuilt MOMENT CAFÉ, with the makeshift memorial. Arab workers built it back up, stone by stone. I walk further: I stop to chat at the “Peace Now” table. I continue, walk down toward the King David Hotel, where soldiers have created a road block. A single soldier stands over Arab day workers checking their papers. They look bored and bemused. Finally I arrive at HUC, greeted by one of our 100 pre-schoolers. Waiting in my office is one of our 30 Israeli rabbinic students, eager to talk to me about a healing service for Russian olim.

What should I remember and what can I forget. I live at the epicenter of the epicenter. There is not one explosion that I haven’t heard with my own ears. Except this week, when I was in NYC. But believe me the world hear this one!

A group of Palestinian Christians met with some of us rabbis. We plead with them to condemn these acts, morally. “But it’s the occupation!” one of them shoots back. Then one of our rabbis (David Rosen) pounds the table, “You guys just refuse to accept our presence here.” Tensions rise, we grasp at anything that will allow us to build small bridges to one another. In the words of Amichai:

“. . . Sometimes Jerusalem is a city of knives
Even the hopes for peace are sharp, to cut through
The hard reality. After a while, they grow blunt or brittle.
Church bells keep trying to ring out a calm round tone
But they grow heavy, like a pestle in a mortar pounding
Artillery shells – muffled, leaded, trampling sounds.
The cantor and the muezzin want to sweeten their tune
But in the end, a piercing wail cuts through the din:
The Lord God of us all, the Lord God is
One, one, one (Chad!). . .”

There are days I wonder: Is there one God? We read from Isaiah through these weeks. He has no moral fuzziness; it’s all black and white. We are bankrupt, phonies, cheats. He admonished us: “. . .Zion b’mishpat tipadeh” [Zion will be redeemed in justice.] I agree, but who, how and with whom? It is not so clear as Isaiah makes it out to be. Moses had it right in these Devarim speeches, they are long and disorganized. He takes us up and down. There is black, white and gray. These are the two great prophets we are reading these weeks, but with a difference. Moses was a political leader and general. Devarim is long, unedited, rambling, you own the land, God tells us, but you have to earn it. It is messy, as is life, passion, fear, fragility and certainty. Moses is desperate to give us the blueprint, our marching order. Both Moses and Isaiah agree: it all boils down to how we treat one another. Amichai talks about the duality in which we live:

“. . .Why is Jerusalem always two, the heavenly and the earthly
I want to live in the Jerusalem in the middle
Not banking my head on top or stubbing my foot below
And why is Jerusalem in the plural like hands and feet
I want just YERUSHAL
Because I an only one and not two. . .”

As we are preparing ourselves for Rosh Ha’Shana, I pray that we succeed to focus on life and not death, hope and not fear, that despite the terrorist assaults, we will continue to enjoy cultural events in Jerusalem with thousands of participants, that we will continue to build in Jerusalem a Jewish community striving for peace and ready for when peace comes. I will conclude this reflection with the words of Amichai:

“. . .Why Jerusalem, why me?
Why not another city, another person?
Once I stood at the Western Wall
When suddenly a flock of startled birds soared up
Shrieking and flapping their wings like bits of paper
With wishes scribbled on them, wishes
That flew out from between the massive stones

And ascended on high. . .”

Yom Hamishi, Thursday, 12:20

Quick but humbling entry on learning. I've been taking Hebrew now for almost a year and I can have pretty good conversations (albeit with limited vocab) here in Israel. On paper, however, that's another story. I'm still struggling with the tests and today got another test result that was, to be gentle, less than what I hoped for. Nonetheless I look back on the past year with a great deal of pride over how much Hebrew that I've learned knowing that, no matter what I know now, there's still quite the journey ahead.

In point of fact, this is a good life lesson. What do you *REALLY* know? What do you *THINK* you know?

Yom Shani, Monday, 10:35 p.m.

With Sukkot right around the corner today our class took a “tiyuul” (field trip) to Neot Kedumim, the Biblical Landscape Reserve in Israel (www.neot-kedumim.org.il) Our tour took us through the laws and regulations of Sukkot as seen through the nature of those from Biblical times and the later rabbis who had to interpret how to enact what’s in the Torah.

It was fascinating walking through the reserve and seeing the various species that are in the Torah and later. I would have to say the highlight of the day was our opportunity to try to “herd” some goats and sheep in a lesson in leadership (after all, Moses was a shepherd!) Let’s just say it was amusing and leave it at that. I did, of course, think about the fact that those sheep could make some nice sweaters. . .

Lunch was wonderful---all foods represented in the Bible. If you haven’t tried honey from the date palm, you haven’t lived….also hummus, cheeses made there, yogurt, and more…After four very good meals over the weekend, this was a nice way to keep it going!

I’ve been thinking over the last few days how my relationship to Israel began when I was very young…in Manchester, NH at Temple Israel and with my family. . .For example last week was the 30th anniversary of the Munich massacre. I remember, at age nine, attending a memorial service on the front steps of the Manchester JCC.

In our synagogue was a poster celebrating Israel’s 25th anniversary—I hadn’t seen that poster for years until I was in the Westside JCC in Los Angeles and there it was!


Of course the ever present blue box for the Jewish National Fund was a prominent part of home and synagogue life, as was planting trees in Israel (I’m still looking for mine. . .)

And I was connected to the narrative of our people at a very early age through the stories of Joel and Ann Klein, whose stories about the Nazis and my early exposures to important books was seared into my memory. I vividly remember Rabbi Klein talking about anti-Semitism in pre-war Hungary where he would have to kneel on the floor on corn kernels during the Christian prayers.

More on this theme later but it’s important that I share the deep sense of attachment I feel to this place and the sense of great fortune I have to be alive when the dreams of our people can be realized in the modern state of Israel!

Yom Rishon, Sunday night, 8:50 p.m.

Rosh HaShana ended about an hour+ ago and I was truly impressed with how fast the busses and taxis get back to business here. For the most part it was very quiet around the city over the past two days, with streets that are normally teeming with traffic largely empty....although the few drivers who still were on the road had their normal mania.

I made an important discovery this Rosh HaShana....that the Israeli Progressive Movement provides a comfortable theological framework for me. What does that mean? It means that while there are changes to the liturgy, the changes are done mostly for theological reasons and not to "reinterpret" texts. Put another way, Progressive Movement in Israel provides familiar davening (praying) environment in a non-halahic (legal) framework. So why is this important to me? Well the Conservative Movement in the United States, with which I had previously been affiliated, views itself as a "halahic" movement...that is, that the people who call themselves Conservative Jews view themselves bound by Jewish law as interpreted by their rabbi and the movement's Committee on Jewish Law and Standards. It has been my experience that most Conservative Jews in practice, however, exercise free choice, that is, they choose to do what they will do and don't see themselves bound by Jewish law, per se.

Given the Conservative Movement's position on gay and lesbian issues, it is simply impossible for me to live in a halahic framework as set forth by the movement. Therefore I turned to the Reform movement which has made inclusivity one of its hallmarks over the past several years. Most reform practice in the US, to my taste, did not resemble the prayer environment that I had become familiar with. Here in Israel, Progressive Judaism seems to combine the best of all worlds: progressive, egalitarian, traditional-flavor, non-halahic, inclusive.

Yom Shishi, Erev Rosh HaShana, Erev Shabbat, Friday
1 p.m.

The couple who own my apartment, David and Ilanna, are wonderful...and today David took me for our second private tour in Jerusalem. This time, at my request, we visited Har Herzl (Mt. Herzl) which in addition to the tomb of Theodore Herzl and his family also holds the leaders of the state (Golda Meir, Levi Eshkol, Yitzhak Rabin. . .) and most movingly the military cemetary. The cemetery is against a hill in part of the Jerusalem Forest, surrounded with natural landscaping that adds both to the dignity of the place and the sense that it is part of the living Israel.

Row after row of graves from the War of Independence are laid out, many with only headstones saying the name, age, and place of birth of the missing person. About six graves are in the shape of a parachute, including that of the famous poet Hanna Senesh (O God, O God, I pray that these things never end, the sand and the sea, the rush of the water. . . "

David spoke movingly of his son's best friend who was killed in Lebanon five years ago.

It is impossible to visit this place without being moved. It is because of them that I can be here.

Shana tovah.

Yom Hamishi, The Fifth Day a.k.a. Thursday
9:30 p.m.

Tonight I adventured out to the DVD store for the first time only to learn when I came home that my computer won't let me watch DVDs that are zoned for the European/Middle East region! I take these developments in stride as the "little things" that actually make living here more interesting. How's THAT for a good attitude (that was in Hebrew, fyi)

Walking home I took my favorite route down Balfour Street past the home that is the official home of the Prime Minister, a wonderful 1930s Streamline Moderne home that has a *few* guards around it, including one who stands under a sun blocking tent thingy with a weapon that I can only imagine its power....Anyway, in one of those "only in Israel moments" I decided tonight, after walking past them several times and saying nothing to say something: "L'shana tova v' b'shana haba b'hatzlacha" (a good year and success in the year to come). Well, this VERY serious guard broke into the most wonderful smile that I've seen....and I felt once again why being here is so important. It's not just about writing a check: it's about interacting with people who make the Jewish State their home and who put their own lives at peril for the defense and protection of the country.

So anyone in the States know what the build-up is like for 12/25. Here it is very special as Rosh HaShana approaches; there are signs on street poles wishing "Shana Tova" (good year) with honey dripping...the sign of a sweet year. I've bought bottles of honey to bring to my hosts over the next few days which I understand is an Israeli custom. On the radio, in the streets, everywhere, people are wishing each other well for the year that will begin tomorrow night.

And with the new year comes a glimmer of hope...whether it's based in reality or not, a new beginning is a new beginning and most, if not all Israelis will be happy to have this year behind them. A sobering reminder came today as soldiers were killed in Gaza and in the north of the country the army discovered a vehicle with a 1,300 lb. bomb that they exploded safely: it would have been an unprecedented disaster.

Today at school we had a "l'chaim," literally "to life" and used as the Hebrew for a toast. Overlooking David's Citadel and the walls of the Old City we toasted the new year and shared apples and honey along with the staff and faculty of the College-Institute, the World Union of Progressive Judaism, and the Israeli Progressive Movement. We then went to the auditorium for a songfest where each kitah (class) from the ulpan did a holiday song, followed by singing happy birthday to Rachamim (a name that means mercy) who has been HUC-JIR's longtime person in charge of campus maintenance. His smile, as we surprised him with a few cakes and some singing, was from ear to ear. For Rachamim and his family, this will be a difficult holiday: his brother was killed on the bus bombing in Gilo in June the week before I arrived in Israel. I had the opportunity to speak with him privately earlier this week to tell him that I was thinking about him and his family during this difficult time.

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Yom Revei, The Fourth Day aka Wednesday
12:05, during my 15 minute second break from Ulpan

Hebrew, Hebrew, Hebrew. One more day this week then we have Friday, Saturday and Sunday off. As Rosh HaShana grows ever closer, I reflect upon the change in my life from last year until now. Each year at Rosh HaShana, for example, I absolutely PROMISED myself that his would be the year that I would learn Hebrew. And of course, it became an annual pledge. Now here I am writing to you from Jerusalem taking a break from Kitah Gimel, from a place (not just the classroom) where I am having semi-fluent conversations with people and actually understanding others. If you have ever thought about learning Hebrew, I encourage you to even take the baby steps (no matter your age) to learn a little...Think about this: do they speak Latin in Rome? Heard any Babylonian lately?

About 100 years ago when Ben Yehuda was scorned as being crazy for saying that we needed to have both a country and a language he unleashed a modern miracle. The liguists out there can tell me, but I'm not sure I know any other language that fell into disuse for thousands of years in daily life that is now the basis for communicating in a modern country.

So it was about this time last year that I went to Rosh HaShana tefilla at Beth Am in Los Angeles and heard the moving words of Rabbis Elliot Dorff and Jacob Pressman. Walking home to lunch I said to Rabbi Susan Laemlee that I had been thinking about rabbinical school for years. Now Susan is normally an extremely calm person...but at this she became extremely animated: "You've got to do it!!!"

During lunch, at which two HUC students were present, I came up with my myriad of excuses: the house, the dog, living in Israel, the car, money, etc. etc. etc. Susan said: you can deal with all of it.

Five days later I had my first meeting at HUC.

September 3, 2002
Yom Shishi (the third day)
1 a.m.

Don't ask me why I'm up this late on a school night. And oh yeah, don't ask me why I haven't spent enough time on Hebrew the last few days. I figure it's been around for thousands of years so a couple of days won't hurt. . .

I'm reminded by the emails and phone calls that I've been receiving here about the number of "selves" that are in Jerusalem with me. There's the early days from Manchester, NH....I'm delighted that there are people who have known me from Day One that are with me on this journey through reading this journal. Then there are those in my travels from Manchester to California (the first time), Washington State, and Boston. And of course, there are all of the memories from the past 13+ years in Los Angeles...so many people, so many experiences, so much growth and change.

Tonight as I was coming home from the gym I walked through my favorite park right at the best time of day to see what Naomi Sherer called in her song "Yerushaliym Shel Zahav" a/k/a Jerusalem of Gold. The sun, on its way down, hits on the walls built by Suleman the Magnificent in the 1500's on top of Herod's remains....the walls that surround the Old City. My view is of the western wall of the Old City (not THE Western Wall....that's in the Jewish Quarter....) Anyway, the sun hits the buildings and the Jerusalem stone and it simply glows in a way that you have to experience to understand. It is magical.

Yom Rishon, 7:50 a.m. (Sunday morning)

Boker tov! A new week in Jerusalem....last night walking home I was again struck by the unique fragrances given off by the fauna and foliage around here, combined with the Jerusalem air....heady stuff. Okay, I'll admit it: Jerusalem is under my skin in a big way.

Thursday evening my friend Alix from Tel Aviv and I were guests of Bernice Weston, my friend Douglas (from LA's) mother who lives at the Sheraton Plaza on the 19th floor...a fabulous view of all of Jerusalem, including HUC. She had about ten guests over for a b-b-q on the patio downstairs....it was a fleishik fest....a wonderful evening in the warm evening Jerusalem air. It was the last b-b-q of the summer as they now start building a sukkah that could house a small city!

Friday morning I went to a concert in Ticho House; first I had a lovely breakfast in the courtyard restaurant, then, for $6 an hour piano concert by a Russian virtuoso. Lovely. Friday evening was Kol Ha Neshama followed by dinner at the home of Jonathan Livney and his wife. Jonathan is a longtime activist in the Israeli progressive movement (the equivalent of reform in the US). Fortunately for me (and unbeknownst to be ahead of time) he is not only an attorney, but the writer for Yediot Achranot on food and wine; we also share a love for late 19th Century romantic music. It was one of the best meals I've had anywhere in a long, long time. And he has a wine cellar, so I had a lovely Burgandy with the duck that he made.

What was nice about shul on Shabbat morning was people are starting to recognize me as a regular. During the davening and after people were beginning to come up and introduce themselves to me, and, being the shy person that I am, I went ahead and introduced myself.

Another lovely meal over Shabbat lunch at the home of Naamah Kelman-Ezkanizi and her husband, Ilan, along with their three children. Incredible meal, incredible company.

In the evening, what began as a small get together with a friend of mine grew into Seuda Shlishit (third meal on Shabbat) with six guests! After some nosherei, we left for HUC for a briefing on the evening's Selichot service at the Jerusalem Great Synagogue (imagine, if you will, the Metropolitan Opera House turned into a synagogue and you will get the idea of the architecture here.) The selichot service is very old Eastern Europe Ashkenazi, with a male choir and a Hazzan in the groovy hat. I stayed for the first half hour...it was like a very slow moving opera.

Before hand there was a small impromptu memorial service to the vicitms of the 9/11 tragedy....a woman spoke to us who is with an organization of terror victims....her daughter was murdered in an attack here in Israel six years ago. Our philosophies are exactly in sync: to give the terrorists a victory is to stop living, to stop coming to Israel. Our presence here is that much more important than in other years.

Now it's 8 am and I need to be in class in 30 minutes....gotta run!

Shavua Tov!