Sleep? Who needs it!

All is relatively quiet here in the Judean Hills of late. The kibbutz's harvesting season is over for the moment and all the festival holidays have passed, so there's very few tourists running around. The only real excitement is that the NFTY-EIE Parents Pilgrimage is going on, so a bunch of my peers' parents are here to visit. Now, for a recap since my last post:

After Simchas Torah, when we finished the last Parshah of the Jewish year and began reading from the beginning of the Torah again, I put my nose to the grindstone and resumed our regular (that is, if you consider my schedule by any means normal), and studied my little butt off to kick some midterm tuchus (Yiddish for buttocks). To brag a bit, I ended up getting an 83 on my Hebrew midterm and a high B on my Jewish History midterm, as well as pretty good grades in my other subjects.

Anywho, surprise surprise---it was time for another tiyul (trip)! Monday, October the 16th, our group travelled to the city of Ramleh to learn about Islam. Part of the course of study involves learning not only about Judaism and its origins, but the origins and practices of the other major religions of the world and the Middle East, and having already gone into depth with Christianity, we got to learn all about the Muslim religion from the man in charge of all the Islamic affairs in this region. We mosque-hopped for a few hours, then went to see a gigantic underground cistern used to supply the ancient city of Ramleh with water, and shortly thereafter, returned to our normal class schedule.

Before I go on, permit me to go on a slight tangent. The whole conflict in the Middle East is based on the Islamic extremists, namely Hamas and Hezbullah. Their basis for driving Israel into the sea is from the Quran, derived from a commandment to convert all the world to Islam. If someone won't convert, they may live peacefully as long as the area they are in is not under Muslim rule; in an area under Muslim rule, the rules are "convert or suffer the consequences." The Quran mentions five types of Jihad, meaning "holy war/struggle", the least of which being the Jihad "of the sword." This is the type of Jihad that the Palestinians in this country are waging on the Jews and citizens of Israel, and is the cause of most of the Middle East conflict. These extremists are also responsible for the 11 Kassam rockets that have been fired into Israel from the Gaza Strip in the past four days. None of the violence is evident in Jerusalem, but "the politics of the Middle East are a big time bomb waiting to explode after thousands of years of build-up," as one Jerusalem Post columnist wrote. To be honest, I'm not too worried---there isn't a mall or public place in the country without an armed guard, and overall, I feel safer here than I do in the States. The violence is always in the background, but is something to keep in mind. Alright, tangent over.

Thursday, October 19th, we went on another Tiyul, this time to Belvoir and Tzfat, to learn about the Crusades and Mysticism. At Belvoir, we saw a well-preserved Crusader castle overlooking the Golan Heights, Jordan, Lebanon, and the rest of Israel. There, we had the once in a lifetime chance to storm a castle, only to be beaten back by madrichim with buckets of freezing water, and also got to learn about the Crusades and their effect on the story of the Jewish people. There's a great deal to say about the Crusades, but I'll save that for anyone that wants to hear all about them and how Jews used the blood of Christian babies to make their matzah...kidding, kidding, that's known as the Blood Libel, and is in no way true. After Belvoir and lunch at Kibbutz Akifim, we arrived in Tzfat, a town we slept below during Yam L'Yam. This city is set on a hill overlooking the hills in the extreme northern region of Israel, close to the Lebanese border--so close, in fact, that Tzfat was a secondary target for Ketyusha rockets to strike during the Lebanese war. After the Crusades, the small remaining Jewish population of the world fled to all parts of the world, while one tiny group came and settled on this hilltop. These were the founders of Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism, a sect of Judaism dealing with bringing the Messianic Age as quickly as possible. The basis of Kabbalist thought is that through Tikkun Olam ("repairing the world"), we may be able to bring the Messiah and be ushered into the time of the Messiah when everyone will be happy and the world will become perfect. There will be more on Kabbalah once I read through a book borrowed from Josh on the subject, for it is a very interesting set of beliefs.

That evening, we watched the sun set over Mt. Meron, which--for those of you taking notes--was the mountain we climbed on Yam L'Yam and is the highest mountain in Israel, discounting the Golan Heights. Then, after some nice shopping time and one particularly ugly run in between me and three Orthodox men who got angry about me filming an alleyway where a woman was praying, our group sat down to a lovely dinner of humus and pita, pasta, pizza, and every other Middle Eastern delicacy you can imagine. I'm still burning off all the calories from the night.

Friday morning, we went into Jerusalem and helped out at a soup kitchen in the poorer neighborhood where many Orthodox Jews live. The place is run by a husband and wife, and they recieve no financial help except for donations, so helping out was a rewarding experience for me. This soup kitchen serves a Shabbat meal to those who can't afford their own, can't get to the store, and even lone soldiers who have no where to go for Shabbat. My biggest good deed: shoving my hand into a clogged drain in the ground up the the elbow in order to finish cleaning the floors. Not to self: don't ever do that again.

Friday night, for Shabbat services, I chose to go to a synagogue near Tzuba in the town of Mevasseret Tzion. This congregation refers to themselves as a kehilah (community), rather than a congregation. Their building isn't even finished yet, but the feeling of welcome and compassion was evident all the same. From both inside and outside, the synagogue looks amazing: the architect made it so that both inside and out, it appears that a huppah (a piece of fabric spread over a couple when they get married) is spread over the congregation. Indeed, I felt a huppah of good vibrations throughout the service, and took away some ideas I think will carry over once I return.

The rest of my weekend was spent sleeping, except for going to the Azreili Mall in Tel Aviv last night. The mall is in a high-rise and has three floors...it's pretty darn big. Somehow, I missed the shwarma stand, but I was able to get my Aroma fix. Aroma is sort of like Israel's version of Starbucks, but infinitely better.

For now, I'm off to classes again, but I'll be sure to keep up to date, I've been slacking off with keeping this blog going. And don't forget, mail and e-mails are always appreciated.

--Aron

aronaltmark@aol.com

Aron Altmark
NFTY-EIE High School
Kibbutz Tzuba
90870 D.N. Harei Yehuda
ISRAEL

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