Orientation has been quite an eye opener. Yesterday we did an icebreaker that could be summarized as "how do you feel about yourself in Israel?" Numbers 1-10 were on the walls, and after particular questions or statements were said, we stood near the number that corresponded with how ____ we felt about the particular topic or idea. The questions included, "How comfortable do you feel with Hebrew? "How did you like the intern's D'var from that day?" "How strongly do you rate your skills right now at this moment if you were put into a pulpit?" and so forth. It was not only interesting for myself to see how I rated myself, but also to see how the rest of the class feels. While some people demonstrated more confidence in specific issues, like Hebrew, getting used to the Israeli culture, and so forth, the general thing I noticed is that my class is well aware that we have quite a long way to go in order to become Jewish professionals. The other great thing about this exercise is that we can learn from those who are more confident in specific skills and help our classmates who are less confident in their own.
Orientation Week ended on Thursday with a special Shabbat coming up this weekend. Three really great parts of the Orientation occurred off-campus. On Wednesday afternoon, we divided up and visited the houses and areas of a number of the faculty. I went to Abu Tor where Nancy Lewitt, the Head of Student Services, resides. We were joined by faculty members Cantor Evan Kent and Rabbi Don Goor who also shared their experiences living in a mixed area with Arabs and Jews. The few of us on this particular trip were amazed by the mix of the cultures in certain areas like the park where the children play together, and yet the separation of the neighborhoods often by one side of the street versus the other. From Ms. Lewitt's house we had a terrific few of the entire area, and were not too far from a terrific few of the Old City. It was a wonderful expereience, and Ms. Lewitt made delicious cookies. I also found out where the road to Bethlehem is, so it looks like I got Christmas plans!
Second fun off-campus adventure: on Thursday we were split off into groups to explore neighborhoods on our own and ask the local people about their neighborhoods. I was sent to Musrara/Morasha. This neighborhood is also mixed, but this is more as a result of the 1948 war where some of the Arab population fled and some stayed. Due to its proximity to the armistice lines, it was a no-man's land where only the poor tended to live. Now that it's completely surrounded by Israel, it's a beautiful residential area. There were a few things I saw with my group that interested me. First, there was a street named "Black Panthers Street" named in honor of the Mizrachi Jews, Jews from Arab countries, who sought more freedoms and to get more exposure to their problems. Across the street was "'They're Not Nice' Alley" with a picture of Golda Meir painted on a tile next to the sign. Golda Meir, Israeli Prime Minister from 1969-1975. Golda Meir met a delegation of these young people and felt they weren't nice people. These street signs are a statement about the generation gaps.
The third fun off-campus trip was called "Yerushalayim Sheli," or "My Jerusalem." Friends of the HUC offered to lead trips to various parts of the city to show something interesting that perhaps a tourbook would not. My trip began with a nice dinner followed by a trip to the Israel Museum. We looked at some of the art, particularly the Judaic rooms. They had a few galleries of some transported sanctuaries from all over the world: Suriname, India, and Venice. It was great how these rooms were set-up and one could easily see the individual Jewish cultures from the world. After this gallery, we went to a dance party at the museum. Yes, a dance party. The catch was every one had a headset, so it was a silent dance party. While we danced, occasionally we took our headphones off and were startled by the quiet movements of the dancers. Sometimes if it were a song worth singing, you could hear the dancers singing along to no music. It reminds me of the silent rave they had at Rutgers a few years back. At one point, we started doing the Electric Slide (doing it wrong, I might add) and got a lot of the Israelis to join us. We had such a great time and stayed until the after midnight.
Israel Museum at night!
Shabbat is on its way, and that means I have food shopping to do. Have a good one!
"Dancing With Myself" was originated by Generation X in 1980. The band included Billy Idol, who rereleased and remixed the song in 1981 to success.
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