Busy winter.
Mon January 10, 2011 Filed in: Israel 2010-2011
SCOTT’S BLOG
Chanukah Candles Burning in the window of Beit Kadima.
It is winter in Jerusalem. In your average year this means a long awaited rainy season and windy raw weather all around. Well, not so much this winter. Israel is experiencing an abnormally warm and dry winter. There have only been one or two serious rains and the country is in desperate need of the water. Additionally, Israel is dealing with the worst butter shortage it has ever experienced. This is partially due to the fact that cows produce less butter fat when the weather is warmer. It is nearly impossible to find a stick of the good stuff in the entire country! While the Northeastern United States is under two feet of snow this week, we are enjoying perfect and sunny 70 degree days.
The biggest storm thus far this season happened two weeks ago. For the first days of it Aviva and I were in Tel Aviv for Shabbat with my classmates. The program coordinator for the Rabbinical School at Hebrew College organized a really lovely time away. We left Jerusalem on the Thursday after Aviva and I returned from Egypt. Our first stop took us on a tour of Bet Hatefutsot: The Museum of the Jewish People aka The Diaspora Museum. This museum was built in 1978 and became outdated minutes later. The exhibits attempt to tell the story of the Jewish People. In the museum’s current state there are many faults aside from it’s seemingly bizarre mission. The exhibits do not show the full spectrum of diaspora life. They lack the voices of Middle Eastern Jewry, the Jewish Feminist movement etc. Visitors to the museum are fed the idea that the diaspora ends with the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. While the Zionist in me appreciates the sentiment, it isn’t at all the case. The museum is not at all interactive and in pretty poor condition overall.
So why would my teacher drag us there? As it turns out, the Diaspora Museum has a plan to redesign beginning in about two years. The educators there have turned the current museum into an educational tool. Through discussing the current state of the museum and its future potential, some big questions begin to surface. For example, How do we connect our students and ourselves to our rich history and at the same time allow them to see themselves as part of the Jewish future? And, what is the status of Jewish Peoplehood and connection to the land and State of Israel today? At the end of our tour, we had the opportunity to share our suggestions for the museum’s renovation given the questions that had come up during out tour.
After our tour it was time to go get settled into our hotel. Now, our program director only has a limited budget of trips and things this year. Thankfully, we were able to rely upon some old-fashioned Israeli disorganization to help us out on this trip. The hotel chain with which our rooms were booked ended up upgrading us twice to their higher-end hotels due to overbooking. In the end we stayed at the chain’s posh new Art+ Hotel. Each floor of the hotel has a different artistic motif. Before heading out to dinner I enjoyed the artwork and a selection from the complimentary happy hour with my classmates!
The next morning we walked over to Kehilat Sinai, a synagogue affiliated with the Masorti Movement in Israel. Our class enjoyed praying together (something we do not get to do so often in Israel) along with Rabbi Roberto Arbib. Rabbi Arbib welcomed us to his synagogue and told us about some of the exciting work he does there. In addition to being the spiritual leader of the community, he is also the director of Midreshet Iyun, a successful study program based at the synagogue. After services, we walked through some of Tel Aviv’s markets, along the beach and to the town of Yafo/Jaffa for our afternoon activity.
Our group met two men, Ori Rotlevy and Sami Abu-Shadeh, in Yafo. Ori and Sami have been giving tours of Yafo for nearly ten years. However, their approach is somewhat unorthodox. Their tour stops in three places in Yafo and both Ori and Sami give separate presentations. Ori tells the story of Yafo from a Jewish/Zionist perspective and Sami presents the Palestinian/Arab perspective of the same place. Some disorganization and a sudden downpour got in the way of our getting the full effect of the tour. Ori and Sami have a bit of work to do in terms of their overall presentation and processing at the end of their tours. However, this type of tour is quite valuable in terms of teaching the multiplicity of narratives that one can find in dealing with the Arab-Israeli Conflict.
Finally came Shabbat. My class joined the folks at Beit Tefilah Yisraeli for Shabbat services. Beit Tefilah Yisraeli is a spiritual community geared toward Israelis who are looking to reclaim Jewish ritual from the Orthodox who hold the monopoly over such things in Israel. They gather together to pray and incorporate Israeli songs and poetry into the traditional rubric. In practice this is very similar to many NFTY shabbat services I have attended. But the folks at Beit Tefilah do so with maturity and the intention of creating real community. I was fortunate enough to get my hands on one of their siddurim (prayer books) that they use on Friday evenings. I look forward to using this rich collection in the future.
On Shabbat morning we walked to a fairly new community called Yachad. Yachad is a breakaway from Yakar Tel Aviv (We have mentioned going to Yakar Jerusalem in previous posts). They made their split after the Yakar in Jerusalem gave them a difficult time about celebrating the marriage of a same-sex couple. The final product at Yachad is a community that is very traditional and very liberal at the same time. I loved this. Men and women sat together, but when Aviva asked one of the women if there would be a problem with her wearing a tallit (prayer shawl traditionally worn by men), the woman said, “people do whatever they want here.” After services we had the fortunate experience to hear from Israeli Parliament Member Nitzan Horowitz. MK (Member of Knesset) Horowitz is a member of Israel’s left-wing Meretz Party. Unbeknownst to us he had been scheduled to pay this community a visit. We stuck around to hear what he had to say. He spoke about what it meant for Israel to be both democratic and Jewish. As a “secular” Jew, he shared his relationship to Shabbat, that he is the only secular Jew that sits on the Knesset’s education committee, that he joins members of knesset on Friday mornings for breakfast and weekly Torah study etc. He used all of these as examples of a values-based Judaism that he lives and thinks that Israel has to share with the world. As a left-wing member of knesset and its only openly gay member, MK Horowitz was very well received by this Orthodox crowd.
One of the other great experiences we had in Tel Aviv was having our Shabbat meals hosted by a pre-army preperatory program in Tel Aviv. These programs (called mekhinot) are elective programs for young adults who wish to take a year before entering the army to learn and do community service. Some of these programs are religious and some secular. In Tel Aviv, this program gathers together a mixture of religious and secular. Together, the participants try to understand each other and create community together. They learn about Zionism and try to understand their connection to their home more deeply. They tackle community service projects together. All of this is part of the goal of being better citizens, soldiers and human beings. It was a pleasure getting to know some of the program’s participants and seeing where and how they live, study and work together.
All in all it was a lovely Shabbat in Tel-Aviv. Aviva and I were surprised by how many serious Jewish communities we came across there. Our assumptions of Tel-Aviv as lacking the Jewish opportunities we enjoy in Jerusalem were challenged. I wouldn’t think twice about heading to Tel-Aviv for another Shabbat soon.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This year I am walking the line between two institutions that are in many ways quite like-minded and in others completely different. I am studying here in Israel as part of the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College but learning Talmud and Halakha (Jewish Law) at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies. RSHC is a pluralistic and unaffiliated rabbinical seminary. Pardes is an Orthodox but non-coercive yeshiva.There have recently been heated debates between Rabbi Arthur Green, the rector of the Rabbinical School at Hebrew College, and Rabbi Daniel Landes, the Rosh Yeshiva of Pardes.
Almost a year ago, Rabbi Green released a book entitled, “Radical Judaism: rethinking God and Tradition.” At the time I was taking a class with Rabbi Green at Hebrew College. For this class we were asked to read and respond to sections of Rabbi Green’s book. In my paper, I rejected Rabbi Green’s universalist views of Torah for my own particularistic, but pluralistic ones. My classmates and I enjoyed this assignment and the opportunity to be challenged and to challenge our teacher.
This past fall, Rabbi Daniel Landes of Pardes released this review of Rabbi Green’s new book in the Jewish Review of Books. In his review, Rav Landes comes out quite strongly against Rabbi Green, his theology and his community. Rav Landes challenges Rabbi Green’s rejection of a personal God, of the Torah as the literal word of God and his broad definition of the community of Israel. Folks in the Green camp were outraged. Not necessarily because of the content of the critique itself, but due to some of the low blows that Rav Landes made in his review.
You can read Rabbi Green’s yet unpublished response here.
Shortly after writing the above response, Rabbi green came to Israel and gave a talk at the Shalom Hartman Institute, where I am also taking a class this year. He spoke to a packed house and was on his game. While I don’t always see eye to eye with my teacher, I thought he spoke seriously, carefully and respectfully. His talk was a reminder to fellow seekers to be honest with themselves. He mentioned that if one is going to disagree with him, they better have a good reason why. You can listen to an audio recording of the talk here.
I saw this as an opportunity. Shortly after the review came out, I asked Rav Landes for a meeting. He was kind enough to invite the Hebrew College students studying in Israel this year to his home for dessert and a bit of learning. A small group of us immediately accepted. Rav Landes taught us a poem by Rav Kook entitled, “merkhavim, merkhavim.” He spoke about his path and what he feels he has to contribute to future generations of learners. We did not talk much about the specifics of Rabbi Green’s book or of their disagreement. I think Rav Landes’ intention was to show our class what a serious spiritual seeker looks like in the Orthodox world, to give us an image to contrast with our teacher Rabbi Green who has made most of his career in the non-Orthodox world. Rav Landes succeeded in doing this and in impressing myself and some of my classmates.
At the end of it all, I am honored to know Rabbi Green and Rabbi Landes and to be a part of both of their communities. Being so affords me the opportunity to experience the best of what each has to offer and to reflect on that in terms of my own beliefs and practices.
For more reading on their debate, I also recommend Shaul Magid’s review of several reviews of “Radical Judaism” that appeared on zeek.forward.com.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Christmas Eve Day in Bethlehem. Waiting on the parade route
with friends Eliana, Lev, Hal and Jena.
We couldn’t be in Israel on Christmas without checking out Bethlehem. Bethlehem is found beyond the 1949 Armistice Line, so on Friday, December 24th we woke up early and took a bus to the checkpoint. Crossing into Bethlehem is fairly easy. We showed our passports and were on our way. As Americans we can do this. Israelis are not allowed to enter Bethlehem unless they are sent there by the military. We passed through the checkpoint and to the other side of the wall built by Israel to keep suicide bombers from entering Jerusalem and blowing up city buses and restaurants. Once on the other side, we only saw Israeli military at the border. From there on out we watched as the unarmed Palestinian police forces kept order. This sounds a little scary, be we felt no threat of violence at all throughout our entire trip. The only moment where we felt unsafe was in a cab with a driver that was taking Bethlehem’s steep hills a bit too fast for our liking.
There was no shortage of taxi drivers wanting to take us to Manger Square where all of the action was going on. In fact, a few of them got into a fight over who had won the right to take us to our destination. Being one of the busiest days of the year, many roads were blocked off and the taxi driver had to take us up and down many of Bethlehem’s steep hills to get to the center of town. Even then, we had to walk a bit as the driver couldn’t drop us off so close to town. While taking a shortcut through a shopping mall, we saw the wallhanging pictured below. Just what everyone wants for the holidays!
I have fond memories of being the age of the boy above and my mother putting plastic machine guns in my hand to take holiday pictures to send to Grandma!
We finally arrived at Manger Square. We stood for a while and watched the parades and celebrations going on in the streets. Groups of boy scouts and girl scouts marched by with marching bands representing various churches and organizations.
Coffee anyone?
After watching a bit of the parade we made our way down one of the local streets to scout out the local shopping. Aviva and I thought it would be special to buy some locally made gifts for our Christian friends in the states. We came across a studio where a craftsmen was making sculptures and other gifts out of locally grown olive wood. We were very impressed with his work and happy to see that the products we were purchasing weren’t made in china. So we picked up some authentic Bethlehem olive wood Christmas ornaments to send back to the states!
The owner of the Christmas House. Jack Giacaman. His family can trace its roots
in Bethlehem back over 400 years.
After our shopping we decided it was time to check out some of the local churches. Just a few doors down from the shop pictured above is the Milk Grotto Church. The Milk Grotto is said to be the place where Mary took refuge after giving birth to Jesus. The story goes that as she was nursing him a drop of milk spilled on the ground. This spot has become a place of prayer, especially for fertility.
Christian worshipers at the Milk Grotto.
We grabbed a bite to eat and then headed to the Church of the Nativity. The Church of the Nativity is said to be the place of Jesus’ birth. As you can imagine, it was packed when we were there. So much so that we did not have the opportunity to descend below the church to see the actual spot where Jesus is said to have been born. The lines were out the door and Shabbat was coming quickly. We did have the opportunity to take in one of the oldest working churches in the world. Among many more interesting things, the Church was used as a hideout by Palestinian terrorists in 2002 who were under siege by the Israeli Army.
By the time we left the church, Manger Square was mobbed with people. It was nearly impossible to move. We decided that it was a good time to head back to the checkpoint. After hailing a cab, showing our passports again and going through some pretty sensitive metal detectors, we were back on the Jerusalem side of the wall. The proximity of Bethlehem to Jerusalem is pretty amazing. In the picture below you can not only see a bit of propaganda from the Palestinian Authorities (one of a few we spotted throughout the day), but also a sign mentioning that Jerusalem is less than 9 km from the center of Bethlehem.
That night we were invited to the home of Dr. Avivah Zornberg for a lovely Shabbat dinner. I had the privilege of learning with Dr. Zornberg this past semester. After dinner we walked to the old city of Jerusalem to see if there was any other Christmas Cheer being spread. What we found was a lot of Jews walking around in search of Christmas Cheer. So we called it a night and headed back home.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I’ll wrap up this ridiculously long and disconnected post with some photos of some of the visitors we’ve had over the last few weeks. It is winter break in the states, so we’ve had the opportunity to get together with some great friends who have passed through town:
Lunch at Burgers Bar on Emek Refaim with our friend Liz from Rutgers. Liz was
also kind enough to make a delivery to us from her coworker, my sister, Robin.
We sent some things back for the family with Liz as well. Last we heard her bags
were somewhere in Barcelona. We hope they get to her in New York soon!
Our friend Navah spent a night with us as well. It was great to get caught up with
her. She was one of Aviva’s bridesmaids in our wedding. It had been way too long
since we’d spent time together.
We had two opportunities to get together with Andrew Getraer and Rabbi Esther
Reed while they staffed a birthright Israel trip for Rutgers Hillel. Andrew and Esther
were our Hillel directors at Rutgers. You might also recognize Rabbi Reed from
under the chuppah (canopy) at our wedding!
Last, but definitely not least, we had a visit from our dear friends Stacy and Matt
Seltzer. We were able to continue our tradition of having spent the past four New
Year’s Eves with Stacy and Matt.
Chanukah Candles Burning in the window of Beit Kadima.
It is winter in Jerusalem. In your average year this means a long awaited rainy season and windy raw weather all around. Well, not so much this winter. Israel is experiencing an abnormally warm and dry winter. There have only been one or two serious rains and the country is in desperate need of the water. Additionally, Israel is dealing with the worst butter shortage it has ever experienced. This is partially due to the fact that cows produce less butter fat when the weather is warmer. It is nearly impossible to find a stick of the good stuff in the entire country! While the Northeastern United States is under two feet of snow this week, we are enjoying perfect and sunny 70 degree days.
The biggest storm thus far this season happened two weeks ago. For the first days of it Aviva and I were in Tel Aviv for Shabbat with my classmates. The program coordinator for the Rabbinical School at Hebrew College organized a really lovely time away. We left Jerusalem on the Thursday after Aviva and I returned from Egypt. Our first stop took us on a tour of Bet Hatefutsot: The Museum of the Jewish People aka The Diaspora Museum. This museum was built in 1978 and became outdated minutes later. The exhibits attempt to tell the story of the Jewish People. In the museum’s current state there are many faults aside from it’s seemingly bizarre mission. The exhibits do not show the full spectrum of diaspora life. They lack the voices of Middle Eastern Jewry, the Jewish Feminist movement etc. Visitors to the museum are fed the idea that the diaspora ends with the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. While the Zionist in me appreciates the sentiment, it isn’t at all the case. The museum is not at all interactive and in pretty poor condition overall.
So why would my teacher drag us there? As it turns out, the Diaspora Museum has a plan to redesign beginning in about two years. The educators there have turned the current museum into an educational tool. Through discussing the current state of the museum and its future potential, some big questions begin to surface. For example, How do we connect our students and ourselves to our rich history and at the same time allow them to see themselves as part of the Jewish future? And, what is the status of Jewish Peoplehood and connection to the land and State of Israel today? At the end of our tour, we had the opportunity to share our suggestions for the museum’s renovation given the questions that had come up during out tour.
After our tour it was time to go get settled into our hotel. Now, our program director only has a limited budget of trips and things this year. Thankfully, we were able to rely upon some old-fashioned Israeli disorganization to help us out on this trip. The hotel chain with which our rooms were booked ended up upgrading us twice to their higher-end hotels due to overbooking. In the end we stayed at the chain’s posh new Art+ Hotel. Each floor of the hotel has a different artistic motif. Before heading out to dinner I enjoyed the artwork and a selection from the complimentary happy hour with my classmates!
The next morning we walked over to Kehilat Sinai, a synagogue affiliated with the Masorti Movement in Israel. Our class enjoyed praying together (something we do not get to do so often in Israel) along with Rabbi Roberto Arbib. Rabbi Arbib welcomed us to his synagogue and told us about some of the exciting work he does there. In addition to being the spiritual leader of the community, he is also the director of Midreshet Iyun, a successful study program based at the synagogue. After services, we walked through some of Tel Aviv’s markets, along the beach and to the town of Yafo/Jaffa for our afternoon activity.
Our group met two men, Ori Rotlevy and Sami Abu-Shadeh, in Yafo. Ori and Sami have been giving tours of Yafo for nearly ten years. However, their approach is somewhat unorthodox. Their tour stops in three places in Yafo and both Ori and Sami give separate presentations. Ori tells the story of Yafo from a Jewish/Zionist perspective and Sami presents the Palestinian/Arab perspective of the same place. Some disorganization and a sudden downpour got in the way of our getting the full effect of the tour. Ori and Sami have a bit of work to do in terms of their overall presentation and processing at the end of their tours. However, this type of tour is quite valuable in terms of teaching the multiplicity of narratives that one can find in dealing with the Arab-Israeli Conflict.
Finally came Shabbat. My class joined the folks at Beit Tefilah Yisraeli for Shabbat services. Beit Tefilah Yisraeli is a spiritual community geared toward Israelis who are looking to reclaim Jewish ritual from the Orthodox who hold the monopoly over such things in Israel. They gather together to pray and incorporate Israeli songs and poetry into the traditional rubric. In practice this is very similar to many NFTY shabbat services I have attended. But the folks at Beit Tefilah do so with maturity and the intention of creating real community. I was fortunate enough to get my hands on one of their siddurim (prayer books) that they use on Friday evenings. I look forward to using this rich collection in the future.
On Shabbat morning we walked to a fairly new community called Yachad. Yachad is a breakaway from Yakar Tel Aviv (We have mentioned going to Yakar Jerusalem in previous posts). They made their split after the Yakar in Jerusalem gave them a difficult time about celebrating the marriage of a same-sex couple. The final product at Yachad is a community that is very traditional and very liberal at the same time. I loved this. Men and women sat together, but when Aviva asked one of the women if there would be a problem with her wearing a tallit (prayer shawl traditionally worn by men), the woman said, “people do whatever they want here.” After services we had the fortunate experience to hear from Israeli Parliament Member Nitzan Horowitz. MK (Member of Knesset) Horowitz is a member of Israel’s left-wing Meretz Party. Unbeknownst to us he had been scheduled to pay this community a visit. We stuck around to hear what he had to say. He spoke about what it meant for Israel to be both democratic and Jewish. As a “secular” Jew, he shared his relationship to Shabbat, that he is the only secular Jew that sits on the Knesset’s education committee, that he joins members of knesset on Friday mornings for breakfast and weekly Torah study etc. He used all of these as examples of a values-based Judaism that he lives and thinks that Israel has to share with the world. As a left-wing member of knesset and its only openly gay member, MK Horowitz was very well received by this Orthodox crowd.
One of the other great experiences we had in Tel Aviv was having our Shabbat meals hosted by a pre-army preperatory program in Tel Aviv. These programs (called mekhinot) are elective programs for young adults who wish to take a year before entering the army to learn and do community service. Some of these programs are religious and some secular. In Tel Aviv, this program gathers together a mixture of religious and secular. Together, the participants try to understand each other and create community together. They learn about Zionism and try to understand their connection to their home more deeply. They tackle community service projects together. All of this is part of the goal of being better citizens, soldiers and human beings. It was a pleasure getting to know some of the program’s participants and seeing where and how they live, study and work together.
All in all it was a lovely Shabbat in Tel-Aviv. Aviva and I were surprised by how many serious Jewish communities we came across there. Our assumptions of Tel-Aviv as lacking the Jewish opportunities we enjoy in Jerusalem were challenged. I wouldn’t think twice about heading to Tel-Aviv for another Shabbat soon.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This year I am walking the line between two institutions that are in many ways quite like-minded and in others completely different. I am studying here in Israel as part of the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College but learning Talmud and Halakha (Jewish Law) at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies. RSHC is a pluralistic and unaffiliated rabbinical seminary. Pardes is an Orthodox but non-coercive yeshiva.There have recently been heated debates between Rabbi Arthur Green, the rector of the Rabbinical School at Hebrew College, and Rabbi Daniel Landes, the Rosh Yeshiva of Pardes.
Almost a year ago, Rabbi Green released a book entitled, “Radical Judaism: rethinking God and Tradition.” At the time I was taking a class with Rabbi Green at Hebrew College. For this class we were asked to read and respond to sections of Rabbi Green’s book. In my paper, I rejected Rabbi Green’s universalist views of Torah for my own particularistic, but pluralistic ones. My classmates and I enjoyed this assignment and the opportunity to be challenged and to challenge our teacher.
This past fall, Rabbi Daniel Landes of Pardes released this review of Rabbi Green’s new book in the Jewish Review of Books. In his review, Rav Landes comes out quite strongly against Rabbi Green, his theology and his community. Rav Landes challenges Rabbi Green’s rejection of a personal God, of the Torah as the literal word of God and his broad definition of the community of Israel. Folks in the Green camp were outraged. Not necessarily because of the content of the critique itself, but due to some of the low blows that Rav Landes made in his review.
You can read Rabbi Green’s yet unpublished response here.
Shortly after writing the above response, Rabbi green came to Israel and gave a talk at the Shalom Hartman Institute, where I am also taking a class this year. He spoke to a packed house and was on his game. While I don’t always see eye to eye with my teacher, I thought he spoke seriously, carefully and respectfully. His talk was a reminder to fellow seekers to be honest with themselves. He mentioned that if one is going to disagree with him, they better have a good reason why. You can listen to an audio recording of the talk here.
I saw this as an opportunity. Shortly after the review came out, I asked Rav Landes for a meeting. He was kind enough to invite the Hebrew College students studying in Israel this year to his home for dessert and a bit of learning. A small group of us immediately accepted. Rav Landes taught us a poem by Rav Kook entitled, “merkhavim, merkhavim.” He spoke about his path and what he feels he has to contribute to future generations of learners. We did not talk much about the specifics of Rabbi Green’s book or of their disagreement. I think Rav Landes’ intention was to show our class what a serious spiritual seeker looks like in the Orthodox world, to give us an image to contrast with our teacher Rabbi Green who has made most of his career in the non-Orthodox world. Rav Landes succeeded in doing this and in impressing myself and some of my classmates.
At the end of it all, I am honored to know Rabbi Green and Rabbi Landes and to be a part of both of their communities. Being so affords me the opportunity to experience the best of what each has to offer and to reflect on that in terms of my own beliefs and practices.
For more reading on their debate, I also recommend Shaul Magid’s review of several reviews of “Radical Judaism” that appeared on zeek.forward.com.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Christmas Eve Day in Bethlehem. Waiting on the parade route
with friends Eliana, Lev, Hal and Jena.
We couldn’t be in Israel on Christmas without checking out Bethlehem. Bethlehem is found beyond the 1949 Armistice Line, so on Friday, December 24th we woke up early and took a bus to the checkpoint. Crossing into Bethlehem is fairly easy. We showed our passports and were on our way. As Americans we can do this. Israelis are not allowed to enter Bethlehem unless they are sent there by the military. We passed through the checkpoint and to the other side of the wall built by Israel to keep suicide bombers from entering Jerusalem and blowing up city buses and restaurants. Once on the other side, we only saw Israeli military at the border. From there on out we watched as the unarmed Palestinian police forces kept order. This sounds a little scary, be we felt no threat of violence at all throughout our entire trip. The only moment where we felt unsafe was in a cab with a driver that was taking Bethlehem’s steep hills a bit too fast for our liking.
There was no shortage of taxi drivers wanting to take us to Manger Square where all of the action was going on. In fact, a few of them got into a fight over who had won the right to take us to our destination. Being one of the busiest days of the year, many roads were blocked off and the taxi driver had to take us up and down many of Bethlehem’s steep hills to get to the center of town. Even then, we had to walk a bit as the driver couldn’t drop us off so close to town. While taking a shortcut through a shopping mall, we saw the wallhanging pictured below. Just what everyone wants for the holidays!
I have fond memories of being the age of the boy above and my mother putting plastic machine guns in my hand to take holiday pictures to send to Grandma!
We finally arrived at Manger Square. We stood for a while and watched the parades and celebrations going on in the streets. Groups of boy scouts and girl scouts marched by with marching bands representing various churches and organizations.
Coffee anyone?
After watching a bit of the parade we made our way down one of the local streets to scout out the local shopping. Aviva and I thought it would be special to buy some locally made gifts for our Christian friends in the states. We came across a studio where a craftsmen was making sculptures and other gifts out of locally grown olive wood. We were very impressed with his work and happy to see that the products we were purchasing weren’t made in china. So we picked up some authentic Bethlehem olive wood Christmas ornaments to send back to the states!
The owner of the Christmas House. Jack Giacaman. His family can trace its roots
in Bethlehem back over 400 years.
After our shopping we decided it was time to check out some of the local churches. Just a few doors down from the shop pictured above is the Milk Grotto Church. The Milk Grotto is said to be the place where Mary took refuge after giving birth to Jesus. The story goes that as she was nursing him a drop of milk spilled on the ground. This spot has become a place of prayer, especially for fertility.
Christian worshipers at the Milk Grotto.
We grabbed a bite to eat and then headed to the Church of the Nativity. The Church of the Nativity is said to be the place of Jesus’ birth. As you can imagine, it was packed when we were there. So much so that we did not have the opportunity to descend below the church to see the actual spot where Jesus is said to have been born. The lines were out the door and Shabbat was coming quickly. We did have the opportunity to take in one of the oldest working churches in the world. Among many more interesting things, the Church was used as a hideout by Palestinian terrorists in 2002 who were under siege by the Israeli Army.
By the time we left the church, Manger Square was mobbed with people. It was nearly impossible to move. We decided that it was a good time to head back to the checkpoint. After hailing a cab, showing our passports again and going through some pretty sensitive metal detectors, we were back on the Jerusalem side of the wall. The proximity of Bethlehem to Jerusalem is pretty amazing. In the picture below you can not only see a bit of propaganda from the Palestinian Authorities (one of a few we spotted throughout the day), but also a sign mentioning that Jerusalem is less than 9 km from the center of Bethlehem.
That night we were invited to the home of Dr. Avivah Zornberg for a lovely Shabbat dinner. I had the privilege of learning with Dr. Zornberg this past semester. After dinner we walked to the old city of Jerusalem to see if there was any other Christmas Cheer being spread. What we found was a lot of Jews walking around in search of Christmas Cheer. So we called it a night and headed back home.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I’ll wrap up this ridiculously long and disconnected post with some photos of some of the visitors we’ve had over the last few weeks. It is winter break in the states, so we’ve had the opportunity to get together with some great friends who have passed through town:
Lunch at Burgers Bar on Emek Refaim with our friend Liz from Rutgers. Liz was
also kind enough to make a delivery to us from her coworker, my sister, Robin.
We sent some things back for the family with Liz as well. Last we heard her bags
were somewhere in Barcelona. We hope they get to her in New York soon!
Our friend Navah spent a night with us as well. It was great to get caught up with
her. She was one of Aviva’s bridesmaids in our wedding. It had been way too long
since we’d spent time together.
We had two opportunities to get together with Andrew Getraer and Rabbi Esther
Reed while they staffed a birthright Israel trip for Rutgers Hillel. Andrew and Esther
were our Hillel directors at Rutgers. You might also recognize Rabbi Reed from
under the chuppah (canopy) at our wedding!
Last, but definitely not least, we had a visit from our dear friends Stacy and Matt
Seltzer. We were able to continue our tradition of having spent the past four New
Year’s Eves with Stacy and Matt.
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