Jerusalem, again

This past week was quite a good one, with lots of new, very exciting things going on.

On Monday, I started my volunteer service project.  I’m working in a community center in Qiriat Hayim, which is a suburb of Haifa, with a group of kids ages 10-about 15 and helping them to learn English. The suburb is one of the poorer sections of the area around Haifa, and most of the kids are either immigrants or Ethiopian Jews, but they’re really outgoing and eager to learn, which will make the project a lot of fun. This week, we mostly just did introductions and played some games with the kids to get them warmed up to the idea of having us around. My kid, Yaniv, is about 12, and he hardly speaks any English at all, but between my broken Hebrew and what little English he knows, we’re getting on pretty well. He’s a pretty rambunctious kid, but I’m confident in my ability to help him work on his English, although I may have to think of some more creative strategies. I have to say, between having to explain everything in Hebrew and learning about the kids’ lives, I think that this will definitely be as much of a learning experience for me as it is for the kids, if not more so.

Tuesday was very relaxing. I don’t have any class on Tuesday (which is so nice) so I ran some errands in the morning, and then went to the Hecht Museum, which is a combination archaeology/art museum in the student center on campus. The collection is really extensive and thorough, with a beautiful collection of art, pottery, artifacts, and jewelry from all over the Middle East (although the collection focuses mostly on Israel). It’s set up to be interactive, with certain parts set up like archaeological digs that you can walk through. The highlight of the collection, in my opinion, is the preserved remains of a 2000 year-old merchant vessel found off the coast of Israel, that is intact enough to be displayed as a ship (the entire bottom half of the ship’s planks were still remaining). Absolutely astounding that they would find something like that so well preserved.

On Thursday afternoon, I skipped classes to go to Jerusalem for a Jewish Leadership Conference. The program is sponsored by MASA (the people who gave me my scholarship) and draws college and post-college students from all over the country to talk about practical strategies for implementing projects to help the Jewish community in some way. Included in the group were some immigrants, as well as Israeli civilians and a group of soldiers who were also working on implementing projects in their community, and having their voices there really made the conversations about Jewish identity that much more deep and complex. It was a really amazing group of people, and a lot of fun. We had a bunch of guest speakers in to talk about their methods of leadership (including a former Chief of Staff for the Israeli Army). Much of what the speakers had to say about Zionism and the state of the State was very controversial, and it really got us thinking about Israeli politics and how we relate to Zionist ideology.

Thursday night, MASA sponsored a concert with Idan Reichel, an Israeli musician famous for having a very international group of musicians and incorporating lots of different musical styles and traditions into some really georgeous contemporary music. I was absolutely blown away by the level of artistry and skill with which the group wove together so many disparate elements to create a unified whole, and also with the skill of the musicians themselves. If you are interested, here’s the website: http://www.idanraichelproject.com/en/. It’s really impossible to adequately describe the music; you have to hear it for yourself.

Friday was a looooooooooooooooooong day. First we went to the Herzl museum, which is a multimedia presentation set up to teach about the “father of Zionism.” I’ve been to the museum before, and, quite honestly, find it a little bit cheesy, but it is important to learn about Herzl when talking about Jewish leadership, since he is the consumate modern Jewish leader. Afterwards, we toured Har Herzl (Herzl’s Mountain) which is a military cemetary and burial site for many of Israel’s prime ministers and presidents. It is such a hard thing to come to see Har Herzl when one is traveling with Israelis, because everyone knows someone buried there. Our guides were telling us about friends from high school, acquaintences, who were buried there. And, as we were standing there, a middle-aged Israeli woman comes up to us and starts telling us, in Hebrew, the story of her son who was also buried there, and how it was important to remember every soldier who died, not just the army heroes. There aren’t words for how incredibly sad and precious that woman’s story was for me.

On Friday, we also toured the Menachem Begin museum, which is a walkthrough biography of one of Israel’s most celebrated and controvertial Prime Ministers (he’s the one who signed the peace agreements with Egypt). And, when we got back to the hotel, we heard from a Jewish community organizer, who served as a very left-wing counterbalance to the rather right-wing views of the former IDF Chief of Staff, for better or worse. We also heard from our Israeli soldiers about making ethical decisions in the army and about how they saw the leadership of their unit. Sprinkled throughout this were group discussions on Jewish identity and what makes a good (0r effective) leader.  Friday night, I volunteered to lead Reform services; this is the first time I’ve ever lead an entire service more or less by myself. We didn’t get that many people, but the singing was enthusiastic and I think that next time (there are three of these weekends) there will be a much better turnout.

Saturday was more presentations and discussion panels. We heard from a woman who had founded, completely from scratch, two very successful centers for boys at risk in poorer Israeli nieghborhoods. We also had more discussions about our Jewish identities and how they are formed, and took a critical look at our personalities and skill sets and how they help, and hinder, our leadership potential. After so much discussion, learning, and panels in one weekend, I’m going to have a lot to think about over the next three weeks or so until the next retreat. It was a great chance to get out of Haifa and meet new people who are thinking about the same sorts of challenges of leadership that I am, and also to make some important contacts (since many of the people there are a good deal older than me, and are already established somewhat in the Jewish world).

I’m going to try to write again this week, since Monday night is Purim, and my first chance to celebrate a major Jewish holiday in the state of Israel. Yay Purim! Yay dressing up! Yay acting like a lunatic!