Leading Monday services #2

This past Monday morning I led as the cantor for the student led Shacharit services at HUC. My partner was a rabbinical student named Rachel. We began planning this service about 6-7 weeks ago. Let me tell you, those weeks fly by fast!

While I hesitate to say that we had a theme (it's sort of like saying theme in relation to b'nai mitzvah. No, I'm not doing an "under the sea" theme. I'm going to be a bat mitzvah. My theme is entering Jewish adulthood) we had a focus of connections running throughout the service. It sprung from the prayer in the Shacharit (morning) service called Asher Yatzar. In this prayer, we thank God for all of the miraculous connections in our body, for without even one of them functioning we would not be in trouble. We decided to focus on the different connections in our lives: connections to God, our loved ones, ourselves, to music.

A few weeks ago I recieved from the URJ a weekly email called "Ten Minutes of Tefillah." The cantor who wrote it focused exactly on Asher Yatzar and had a mp3 link to Debbie Friedman's setting of Asher Yatzar and Elohai Neshama. Although I'm not particularly fond of her voice, the actual piece is gorgeous. It is a very simple melody that ultimate combines to become a duet. My idea was to include this in my service. However, I wanted to make it a bit more unusual and rather than the second part being sung, I decided to ask one of my classmates (a rabbinical student named Jim) to play the clarinet for me. Rachel is also very musically talented so she added a guitar and our accompaniest played the piano as well. All together the voice and instruments made such a lovely balance. It was so much fun to imagine it in my head and then hear it come to fruition.

Jumping off of the clarinet idea, I immediately though of klezmer music. I was able to find a fantastic opening niggun to use the with the clarinet and I decided to conclude the service with Ami Aloni's Adon Olam. The klezmer sound with such a fun connection to our musical Jewish past and also a generally fantastic way to begin the morning in my opinion. Adon Olam has become one of my favorite pieces now. I kept on expecting an old Hassidic rabbi to pop out from behind a curtain and start dancing.

Another special part of the service was right before the mourners' Kaddish. Rachel had heard a poem called The Lanyard by Billy Collins (read by rabbi) and thought it was the perfect setting for our idea of connections. We read it right before the Kaddish and had many people in tears (I, having heard it in rehearsal many times, also got a bit choaked up). It was an incredible moment. The poem is pasted below.

The Lanyard – Billy Collins

The other day I was ricocheting slowly
off the blue walls of this room,
moving as if underwater from typewriter to piano,
from bookshelf to an envelope lying on the floor,
when I found myself in the L section of the dictionary
where my eyes fell upon the word lanyard.

No cookie nibbled by a French novelist
could send one into the past more suddenly—
a past where I sat at a workbench at a camp
by a deep Adirondack lake
learning how to braid long thin plastic strips
into a lanyard, a gift for my mother.

I had never seen anyone use a lanyard
or wear one, if that’s what you did with them,
but that did not keep me from crossing
strand over strand again and again
until I had made a boxy
red and white lanyard for my mother.

She gave me life and milk from her breasts,
and I gave her a lanyard.
She nursed me in many a sick room,
lifted spoons of medicine to my lips,
laid cold face-cloths on my forehead,
and then led me out into the airy light

and taught me to walk and swim,
and I, in turn, presented her with a lanyard.
Here are thousands of meals, she said,
and here is clothing and a good education.
And here is your lanyard, I replied,
which I made with a little help from a counselor.

Here is a breathing body and a beating heart,
strong legs, bones and teeth,
and two clear eyes to read the world, she whispered,
and here, I said, is the lanyard I made at camp.
And here, I wish to say to her now,
is a smaller gift—not the worn truth

that you can never repay your mother,
but the rueful admission that when she took
the two-tone lanyard from my hand,
I was as sure as a boy could be
that this useless, worthless thing I wove
out of boredom would be enough to make us even.

The service ended and I was immediately sad that it was over. I had such fun standing on the bimah, leading my peers in prayer, praying myself, and making gorgeous music. The kahal (congregation) began singing along altogether during Elohai Neshama and it was an overwhelming moment to hear everyone join in. I half wanted to cry and half wanted to laugh, but ended up just continuing to sing. It was a beautiful moment for me.

It's moments like these that makes me so incredibly excited to become a cantor and to begin a student pulpit next year.

Below are pictures that have absolutely nothing to do with my service. These two pictures were taken by a social worker at Nofei Yerushalayim, the nursing home I volunteer at.

One of the residents began dancing with a nurse. It was so sweet. I must say, it's a bit difficult to sing when you want to cry from joy.

Hope you're having a wonderful week!
Sarah

And look how far I've come...

I've just hit a little over the 5 month mark of living in Israel. How crazy! So much has changed over the past few months that it makes my head spin.

School has been going well. It always takes me a moment to realize, but I have learned a lot since being here both about myself and academically. I now know so much about Jewish music. I can't wait to be in a setting where I have the opportunity to share all of this wonderful information! I keep on imagining different workshops and adult ed. sessions on Jewish music. And it's only 5 months into this fantastic journey! I can't wait to learn more and continue building my repertoire of information and music. My Hebrew has also significantly improved since arriving. The words suddenly just come out of my mouth with much more ease than ever before. I'm still, of course, grasping for words, but I can carry on a conversation with relative ease. It's a great feeling to have.

I've also begun learning and realizing things about myself. Like I said last week, I'm beginning to find that I can pray in almost any setting. Moreover, I really like praying and having the Hebrew words in front of me. Recently in class we learned how to chant the entire weekday amidah. I find this to be such a calming idea. I try every day to read the amidah through. I can't entirely explain why, but it centers me in a really nice way. I really like creating different prayer experiences as well. I'm currently preparing to lead my second shacharit service of the year this coming Monday. I picked out all of the music that I want to use. I also had the idea to include more musical instruments. There's a rabbinical student that plays clarinet and Rachel (the rabbinical student I'm leading with) plays the guitar. They're playing on Debbie Friedman's arrangement of Asher Yatzar/Elohai Neshamah with the piano. Jim (the clarinetist) will also be accompanying a niggun and the beginning of the service and Adon Olam (with a fun klezmer feel) at the end of the service. I'm so excited! The Shacharit service for me is all about waking about and preparing to begin your day. The music that I have prepared seems to do exactly that.

The very first full day I was in Israel, I went by HUC and noticed a posting of all the cantorial concerts this year. I remember very vividly thinking, "Oh my God, what did I just get myself into?" Last night was that concert and I was prepared and did wonderfully. I can't believe how far musicially I have come as well. I can feel my voice getting stronger and more consistent every day. I know that I still have a ways to go, but I'm well on my way.

It's a nice feeling of peace to come to the conclusion that I can live away from home in a different country. It's by no means easy and I've battled with my bout of homesickness. But I know that I've grown and that's a wonderful feeling to have. Shabbat Shalom!

Musings on Shabbat

I have always loved Shabbat. I love getting dressed up to look my best, seeing family and friends and services, praying, hearing beautiful music, and relaxing. I have always been under the assumption though that I could never pray in an Orthodox setting. I don't like the mechitza. I don't like being separated from people I love and the feeling that I'm not worthy to pray with men. And because of those feelings, I made the assumption that I could just never pray in that setting.

Since arriving in Israel, I've had the opportunity to visit different synagogues in Israel. I typically venture to a Progressive/Reform synaogogue. It's where I feel most comfortable. But in my time here, I've also had the opportunity to try out Orthodox synagogues. Tonight for insance I decided to go to the Great Synagogue. The synaogue is exactly what it sounds...great. The sanctuary is enormous with a huge dome ceiling. The acoustics are like none other. The men sit on the ground floor and the women are in a balcony section above them. The cantor there is named Naphtali and has a stunningly beautiful voice. He sings every week with a professional, all male choir. The sound is unreal.

I'm learning more and more that for me, my most prayerful experiences are the ones that include beautiful music. Beautiful music with a choir, a guitar, a piano, etc. It's the music that lifts me and makes me feel closer to God. So while I don't like being separated from the men in synagogue or not being able to sing at full voice, hearing the cantor hit a beautiful, clear high note makes me feel at peace and happy and prayerful. As long as I can be in that environment, I can pray. It's a personal experience. I'm glad I have found a way to bring in my Shabbat.

Off to dinner. I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Love,
Sarah

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! I can not believe how incredibly fast the time has been flying so far this year. It literally feels like yesterday that it was scrambling for the High Holidays and taking summer ulpan. Suddenly, I know how to lead a weekday morning service, have translated from the Torah, read Haftorah, traveled to Haifa and Tzfat (yes, again), and saw a Yiddish concert! Oy gevalt! Here is an update on what has been going.

School has definitely been keeping me busy. Besides my regular classes, cantorial students are given the opportunity to lead Shabbat services a few times throughout the year. My first time was last Shabbat. I led the morning blessings with the nusach that I've been learning in class (always great practice). Leading services now are getting more and more interesting for me because of all the Hebrew I'm learning. I'm understanding what the Hebrew is saying and it allows me to put so much more feeling into what I'm singing. I found that as I connect more to the words, in return I also get such a positive response from the congregation. It's so wonderful and fulfilling. I got to lead with a wonderful cantor, Michal Shiff-Matter, who is also my voice teacher and vocal coach. We sang a beautiful duet of Sim Shalom after the Amidah. And because I wasn't doing quite enough in the service (catch the sarcasim?) I also read the Haftorah. I left services thoroughly exhausted, but also thoroughly happy.

Mondays, I think I have mentioned, there are student led Shacharit services. Included in this service is a Torah service. I volunteered to read an aliyah. An interesting tradition that HUC has is that after chanting from the Torah, the reading also translates what they just read. At first I was honestly dreading this a bit and ended up pushing it to the side for awhile. But when I finally sat down to figure what exactly my portion said, I found that I loved translating! It helped my a lot with learning the trope actually and transfering from the vowel to the non-vowel side of the Tikun (where you practice reading Torah). The day I read, it all seemed incredibly seamless. It was a lot of fun.

Wednesdays are one of my favorite days of the week at school. We do not have our regular classes, but instead get to use Israel as our classroom. We go on different trips thoughout the country, hear interesting lecturers, and learn things that would just not have been nearly as meaningful if we only read a book. The most recent trip was a day trip to Haifa and Tzfat. In Haifa, we visited the Leo Beck school. They have the first Israeli Reform day school in the country! After getting a tour of their gorgeous building, we sat in on the elementary school's Shacharit service. It was grades kindergarten, first, and second. 5 children "led" the service alongside the rabbi. We later learned that they wrote everything the said ahead of time. All the children wore a kippah and had a children's siddur. Interestingly, they sang many songs that by American Jewish composers such as Debbie Friedman, Craig Taubman, and Jeff Klepper. They sang Debbie Friedman's Mi Shebeirach, but the English was translated into Hebrew. They were all incredibly cute. After the service we got to meeting with some High School (which is completely secular, no Reform aspects to it) students in the Enrichment program. They had incredibly interesting views particularly on Judaism. They all identified themselves as completely secular. One of the girls said, I'm secular, but one of my favorite things to study is school is Mishna(!). I'm beginning to learn more and more that the term secular in Israel is not the same as when people say "I'm secular" in the United States. In Israel (generally speaking) you're either secular or Orthodox. People who are not Orthodox do not want to be close to that category so they automatically box themselves into the secular category, even though they may keep kosher, or celebrate Shabbat. It was an incredibly interesting day. And as always, wonderful to see little kids again.

Another recent highlight was the ordination of rabbincal students from the Israeli program. Rabbi David Ellenson, the President of HUC, came to Israel for the ordination. It was so amazing to see an ordination and think that it will be me someday! The entire morning was really very beautiful. It was particularly beautiful when one student was ordainded with his mother (also a rabbi) at his side. It was very moving.

Thanksgiving! Yes, we celebrated. Our class decided to hold a huge dinner at school. In order to make sure that we didn't end up with 7 stuffing dishes and only 1 turkey, we made a sign up list for different dishes. I opted to try my hand at apple pie. It turned out absolutely gorgeous! (tasted pretty good too, although I have a few adjustments that I need to make). I was very proud of my pie (I have attached a picture of my picturesque pie -- the second picture is with Amy Goodman, my roommate. She is a rabbinical student at HUC). It was an incredibly fun evening with friends. I definitely missed being home though to see friends and family.

I am so thankful for each and every one of you. I miss you so much, especially now around Thanksgiving. I hope you are healthy and happy back at home, or school, or another country. I hope to talk to you soon! Enjoy Turkey and pumpkin pie!

An Update

I realized this afternoon that it's been a very long time (Yom Kippur already!) since I last updated you on my life in Jerusalem. Things have been incredibly busy here, so it's obviously time for an update. Here are some recent highlights:

1. Reunited with my computer

I got my computer back! If you remember, way back in September the hard drive of my laptop decided it would be a good time to die. (It actually was a good time. With all of the holidays and missing classes, I didn't really have so much work to do). It was rather frustrating living without a computer for a month and a half though. I went to the library a lot and had very kind friends and roommates who let me check me email on their computers. I ordered a new hard drive and it went very slowly through the mail to finally arrive in Jerusalem this past week! My friend (and new hero) Josh was incredibly kind and spent several hours yesterday working to fix my computer and reinstall programs that I need. What does this mean? We can talk much more readily again!!! I can't wait! Want to make a skype date????

2. Sukkot Parade, Etrog Shopping, and other Sukkot musings

Over Sukkot break I decided to stay in Jerusalem. One of the main highlights during Sukkot is the big parade! Different Israeli organizations walked down the middle of the road right near my apartment singing and dancing. It was lots of fun. But more fun that that were the Christians who had flown in from all over the world to also walk in the parade (for the Feast of the Booths I think...I'm still a little fuzzy on the details as to why they were here). But they walked down the street screaming "Shana Tova!" "We love Israel!" It was for sure an "only in Israel" moment.

Right before Sukkot began I went the Shuk (outdoor market) to see the big sale of lulavim and etrogim. People from all over the city come to find the best etrog and lulav set for Sukkot. It was amazing watching people barganining and trying to find the best of everything for the holiday. I'm sure there is extensive criteria to look for, but I have no idea what that is. I decided that I wanted to try to make etrog jam this year (well, why not?) and so I bought three etrogim that weren't kosher (the stem is not attached) for discount price. I need to find time to try this. We'll see what happens.

In general, Sukkot is an amazing time in Jerusalem. I'm incredibly glad that I decided to stay here for the holiday. If you walk down the street to Emek Refaim, you'll see that there is a Sukkah outside of almost every restaurant. It's amazing. There are palm leaves left on the side of the road for the top of your Sukkah. During the entire holiday season, Coke bottles wish their consumers "Chag Sameach!" I have come to the conclusion that the best way to describe Sukkot in Jerusalem is to think of the Christmas/holiday season in the States. It's that kind of craziness. To add more to the feel, the inside of a sukkah is decorate with tinsel decorations! It's not the "traditional" corn and gourds and other east coast fall things that are usually hanging in the Sukkah in the states. Definitely a new idea to get used to.

3. Yad Vashem and Mt. Herzl

Last Wednesday classes officially started back up again. However, our first day back was Israel day so it was techinically just a field trip sort of day. A good way to get back into academic life. First we visited Mt. Herzl.

This dome is is the site of the celebration of Israel's indendence. Every year there is a choir that sings in the dome. Hundreds of people come and watch the ceremonies. It's supposed to be spectacular. This is also where Theodore Hertzel is buried.

This is the grave cite of Golda Meir, the first woman prime minister of Israel. I'm currently reading her biography. It was unbelievable to stand by her grave.

This is the grave of Prime Minister Rabin.

After exiting the museum of Yad Vashem, this is the beautiful panorama you immediately see of Israel. The museum is designed in such a way so that you can't see outside the entire time you're in the museum. The only natural light is from a very thin strip from the ceiling. This very strikingly juxtaposes the end as you walk out onto a porch to face Israel.

4. Halloween in Jerusalem?!
Well, yes. We're all North Americans at heart and it felt very weird to not dress up. So the Kef Va'ad (Fun Committee) organized a Halloween party. I decided to go as Minnie Mouse. It was actually very impressive to see the different costumes people were able to scrounge up. Among the people in attendance: Eve (as in Adam and Eve), James Bond, a Philistine, a Yankee, Luigi (no Mario though), Sarah Palin, facebook, and the three blind mice. We all had tons of fun and got to do a bit of relaxing together which is always very nice. Below is a picture of me as Minnie.

Me as Minnie Mouse!

From left: Rachel (as a Canadia bear), Me, Jaclyn (as Sarah Palin - very funny!), and Rachel (as a Yankee)

5. Nofei Yerushalyim

Every week or so I go to a nursing home in Jerusalem called Nofei Yerushalyim. As I'm sure you know, I very much enjoy going to visit the elderly. I visit with a woman named Audrey who is very sweet and I like very much. This past week her brother came to visit her. It was a particularly wonderful reunion for them because the last time they saw each other they thought it would be the last time forever. This is her brother's first time in Israel.

I go with another cantorial student, Nancy, and a rabbinical student, Sara. After meeting with the residents for about half an hour I break out my guitar and we do a song session for a little while. This most recent week we added in a bunch of Yiddish songs. They were all so happy and excited to hear them! One man was smiling and singing along the whole time, another man started crying, and another woman clapped every once in awhile. It's really just so touching to be able to do that for them. It's one of my favorite parts of the week. Interestingly, Tumbalalaika is a hit both in the US and in Israel!!

6. Shabbat
This past Shabbat I was asked (along with Faryn) to go and sing for a visiting group from New Jersey. I wasn't originally all that excited. All we had to do was sing a few blessings and sing some songs after dinner. It turned out to be so much fun though! It was a group of people about 60-80 traveling for 10 days in Israel with their synagogue. Everyone was so nice and incredibly appreciate that we were there. They asked us all kinds of questions about what we were doing in school and Israel and about our program in general. We sang tons of songs with them and it turned out to be very nice company. It made me all the more excited to begin my student pulpit next year. A few of the women decided to come to HUC services the next morning as well so I got to see them again. They were so excited to see us. We exchanged email address and I hope very much that I'll be able to visit and see them again some day.

Well, that's it for now I suppose. I love and miss you!

Sarah

Yom Kippur aka "The biking holiday"

In the days leading up to Yom Kippur, my professors would tell us about how unique Yom Kippur is on the holidays. Everyone either goes to synagogue or stays home. Even secular Jews fast on Yom Kippur- a pretty unbelievable thought coming from the states. They told us that no one drives on Yom Kippur...the streets are carless. Because of this, kids have a chance one day a year to go and bike in the middle of the street without fear of getting killed by crazy Israeli drivers (you thought Boston was bad??? You have seen nothing till you meet and Israeli driver). I couldn't wrap my head around this concept. It just doesn't happen in the states unless there's a blizzard.

Despite my doubts, I walked out of synagogue on Kol Nidrei and found that there was NO ONE on the road. We went outside and found that we could walk in the middle of the street. So what did we decide to do? Go for a walk! We walked down a street that is normally incredibly busy. Jews seemed to keep emerging from the woodwork to go outside and see their friends. You would think that there was a fair outside or someone was giving away free chocolate based on the amounts of people outside, but it's just the tradition in Jersualem. People go outside and find their friends and atone. So why is it called the "biking holiday"? Because all the kids are outside on their bikes! I think I maybe saw 2 cars during the entirety of YK. If you ever get the change to travel to Israel on Yom Kippur, I'd say definitely take the opportunity. It's a wonderful experience.

My actual Yom Kippur experience was rather difficult this year. Something about the fast was harder than usual. Perhaps because I was singing a little more than usual or I was nervous or simply the different Israeli climate. However, in the long day of services I had a chance to sit and think. The choir was placed in the synagogue in such a way that we were facing the entire congregagation which meant that I was able to sit and watch my new friends the entire time. It was so comforting to see their faces and realize that in the short time that I have known them, I have made some truly wonderful friends. There was also an obvious absence for me of friends and family from home that I miss with all my heart. To the old and to the new, I apologize if I have hurt you at all in the past year.

The other exciting part of my week, (what? there's more, you ask? You had time to do more between RH and YK?) was that I led the first student led services at HUC this past Monday! I, along with two student rabbis, bravely decided to sign up for the first Shacharit service of the year. It was a bit of an insane move on my part I realize in retrospect. I put an enormous amount of effort into the service practicing non-stop it seemed. But in the end, the service was beautiful. Everything ran smoothly and my nerves didn't get in my way too much. I included a lot of week day nusach plus a few "new" tunes as well. I sang "Yihiu L'ratzon" by Rosenberg after the Amidah and I arranged "Achat Shaalti" for 4 voices. Both were beautiful and I got a really good response from my friends and teachers. It was incredibly exciting. Because the service was between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, there were additions to the Amidah as well which drove me nuts, but I'm ultimately kind of glad that I had to learn them. We set the bar high I think, but I have ever confidence that my classmates will reach the bar and continue to set it higher. My next service is in December and already I can't wait!

So with that I leave you. Gamar chatimah tova!

Jerusalem smells like kugel

I went for a walk yesterday around Jerusalem and realized as I walked past many of the apartment buildings that I was getting very hungry. Because I hadn't eaten yet? No. Because people were cooking in preparation for Erev Rosh Hashanah and all the smells were wafting out of the building. It was a very delicious smelling walk to say the least.

The holidays in Israel are really quite spectacular. I ran around like a crazy woman the day of trying to clean the apartment, cook, and get ready for services. When they finally arrive it was all the more beautiful. Services were held at HUC in the Blaustein Synagogue. The synagogue faces the Old City and there are all glass windows so everyone can see out during the service. It's spectacular, particularly when the sun setting. I had the honor of starting the service and lit the yom tov candles. I must say that it was one of the must out of body experiences of my life. I felt so relaxed as I struck the match to light the candle. I closed my eyes and began the blessing. Everything about it felt so right. By saying the blessing I felt that I truly began the new year.

I've been thinking a bunch of the past few days about the past, present, and future. More so than most years, my life has changed a very significant amount. I graduated Brandeis and left a wonderful community of friends, I found that I love working with the elderly, I moved to a new country, I began cantorial school, I've watched my friends begin new jobs and new schools, I've made new friends. It's a lot to take in. But through out all of the crazy changes and chaos, I've somehow finally reached a sense of calm with this new year. A fresh page to begin writing on as I live in Jerusalem for the year. I look forward to continuing to develop my life as a cantorial student in Israel as well as to maintaing my connections to friends and family at home.

Shanah tova! May this be a year of sweet blessings for you all!

I've been remiss...but I also lack a hard drive

I'm very sorry that I haven't updated in awhile. I actually have a good excuse though. The hard drive of my computer died. Yes, died. Therefore, I do not have a functioning lap top at the moment. I have been depending on the library and the kindness of my roommate to let me borrow the computer.

Despite this snafoo, life here has been incredibly busy, but very good. We just got back from a trip to the North to visit the Golan Heights and the Galilee. It was absolutely gorgeous and I relearned tons about the area. I forgot how much I love the north and all the scenery. One our last night there we had maariv (evening) services by the Kinneret. The way the sun hit the mountains made it look like the ground was covered with skin. The way the light played of the shapes of the mountains were just unbelievable. I loved it.

Now I'm back at school and trying as hard as I can to keep up with my massive amounts of work. First and foremost is preparation for the High Holidays. I will be singing with the choir and have a few solos as well. I'm also going to be singing a duet with another cantorial student. Of all my solos I think I'm most excited to say the candle blessings at the beginning of the service on Erev Rosh Hashanah. I find the candle blessings to always be very meaningful and I'm so honored and excited to be singing. The other big preparation right now is for a service I'm leading on October 6th. During the year, services are held on Saturday mornings and are all student led. The two rabbis that bravely signed up for the first service of the year didn't have a cantor and asked me if I would be interested. Being a person that finds it hard to say no, I said yes. So I've been very busy learning the weekday nusach (melodies) and preparing music. It feels like a lot of pressure, but I'm very excited. I think it's going to be a beautiful service.

So now I'm home, trying to relax, and beat my cold before the holidays officially start up. I'm well on my way and have stayed home during a bunch of classes to sleep. But soon the weekend will be here and I'll be able to just sit and relax.

I hope you're doing well at home! The best way to stay in contact with me till my computer is fixed is via email. Miss you!

My first week of classes

I did it! I finished my first official week of classes in cantorial school. I have to say, I'm exhausted. I'm not used to classes starting every day at 8:30. How did I do this in high school? And without coffee?

Here is what my week looked like:
Sunday Yom Rishon (yes, my week starts on Sunday. My weekend is Friday/Saturday. It's been very weird to get used to):
8:30 - Biblical Hebrew: Unlike Brandeis, this class is taught entirely in modern Hebrew about biblical Hebrew grammar. It's a lot to all keep straight at 8:30 in the morning, but my teacher is wonderful. She's a little m'shugenah in true Israeli teacher style. Sima is very excited about what she teaches. So excited in fact that she occasionally would start screaming in class in order to make a point about something. Really. Screaming. It was a bit disconcerting at first and she must have realized that because she switched to English and said, "I'm not screaming at you, I'm just screaming." She'll be great though. And I'm very glad that I've had the class in English before to help me more now.
Break
11:15 - Coaching: My vocal coaching is with a cantor named Mikhal. She's wonderful. The point of the session is to work on liturgical music both for services and in general. It's a good way to work on repetoir. Mikhal is also my voice teacher.
Break/Lunch
2:00 - History of the 2nd Temple Period: This is a lecture for only the first half of the semester and it's exactly what it sounds like. My professor is good, although he's no Sarna.
4:30 - Nursing home: Every student this year is required to do a community service project. What better for me than to volunteer at a nursing home? I'm going to visit with a woman named Audrey who is originally from the United States. Her daughter made aliyah about 30 years ago. When Audrey's health began to fail, she moved to Israel so that she could be closer to her daughter. Unfortunately, Audrey doesn't speak Hebrew so she is bored a lot of the time at the nursing home. So I'll be going a few times a month to chat with her. Another cantorial student (Nancy) and rabbinical student (Sara) are also coming for this project. I think Nancy and I are going to be doing some musical stuff as well.

Monday Yom Sheini:
8:30 - Tefillah: Tefillah will eventually (in November I think) be lead entirely by students. It consists of P'zukei D'zimrah, Bircot Hashachar, the Torah service, Aleinu, and mourner's kaddish. I will be leading a service with my friend Rachel in December on a Monday and later in February I'll be leading a Kabbalat Shabbat service with my friend Meredith.
10:15 - Liturgy: This class will be studying the liturgy of Shabbat, weekday, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Passover. My teacher is the rabbi at Kol Haneshama, a Reform synagogue in Jerusalem. He's wonderful. I"m incredibly excited to study with him. However, he is no Reuven Kimmelman. I really wish I had taken that class...Oh well.
12:00 pm - Modern Hebrew: This class moved very fast the first day. I was so excited to be in a Hebrew class where I really felt as though I had to work to keep up. It was great! My teacher is fantastic and I think will really help me to improve my Hebrew. It felt exactly like being in a Brandeis Hebrew classroom. Very, very good.
Break
4:15 pm - History of Jewish Music: Cantor Eli Schleiffer teaches this class. He is the cantorial Papa of HUC in Israel. He has been here for many many years (ask almost any cantor in the Reform movement and they will have studied with Eli). He is a musicologist as well as a cantor. It is really an honor to study with him. It was a fantastic first class. I know that I'm going to learn so much from him.
7:00 pm - High Holiday choir rehearsal: We're getting closer and closer to the High Holidays! We ran through Kol Nidrei with Eli as well as a few other pieces. It sounds beautious!

Tuesday Yom Shlishi (This is my ridiculously long day):
8:30 - Modern Hebrew
10:15 - Modern Hebrew
12:00 pm - Music Theory/Ear training: This class I've been taking since the summer. It's kind of hard to describe how exactly our teacher runs the course. We do a series of exercises for about 20 minutes that help us with perfect pitch. I can now hear middle C in my head. It's incredible. It's kind of crazy what Bat-Sheva does with us, but it seems to be working. Then we run through a few sight-singing exercises from a book. By the end of the class I'm always exhausted from the amount of concentration that I've put into the class. I'm very excited to see how much I've improved though in just a few short weeks.
Lunch
2:45 pm - Cantillation of the Bible: I know how to read from the Torah, so I'm going to mostly likely place out of this class. A few things I'll need to come back to learn, but every once in a while I'll have a free hour and a half to relax/do work!
4:30 - 6pm Cantorial Workshop: Last class of the day! This is where we work on the daily service. We're learning how to chat a traditional weekday service. A lot of it sounds familiar to me, but I don't know the theory behind it at all. I'm very excited to take this class.

Wednesday Yom R'vi'i:
Israel Seminar: This is a day to purely learn about the state of Israel. Israel is our classroom. We will be taking many field trips, watching movies, reading the newspaper, learning about the culture of Israel. It will be a great resource if I'm someday in the position to lead a congregational trip to Israel (or if family and friends want to come visit me...)
The rest of my day was filled with music. We had another High Holiday rehearsal and I did some practicing on my own. It's a relatively low key day.

Thursday Yom Hamishi:
8:30 Hebrew
Break
11:30 Voice lesson
Lunch
1:15 Hebrew
3:30 Israeli Folk and Popular Music - I actually ahven't gotten to this class yet. I'll tell you more about it later!

My days generally end around 6. They're long days. I'm always exhausted by the end, but I think I'll eventually get into the rhythm of things. I like my classes for the most part though and I'm getting more and more excited (and less and less overwhelmed) as I realize more that I'm really going to be a cantor!!!!

Chofesh b'Haifa v'Tzfat!

I just got back from my Haifa/Tzfat vacation. Why a vacation you may ask? I just completed summer ulpan and they decided to give our brains a rest between ulpan and regular classes. Therefore, I decided it was time to explore the country and bit more. My friend Lauren (also a cantorial student) and I decided to travel together to Haifa and Tzfat for vacation. We found hostels, made vague plans, and off we went!

*This is long...feel free to skim*

We got on a bus which was a little crazy, but fine once we were actually on the bus. It was about a 2 hour drive - a good nap. We got off the bus, waited for a taxi, got ripped off by said taxi, and arrived at the hostel "Port Inn." It's a really nice, clean, and fairly inexpensive hostel w/breakfast included. We got ready for Shabbat and took a cab to meet Rabbi Edgar Nof (more about him in a sec). The cab driver was great! We talked in Hebrew the entire time. It was such good practice and he was incredibly helpful and nice. I don't always find that is the case in Jerusalem. It is much more frequent that I'll start a conversation in Hebrew, but the Israeli at some point will switch back to English. It's frustrating and was nice to only have a Hebrew option in Haifa.

Boston and Haifa are sister cities. When I realized that I would be in Haifa, I emailed my rabbi in Boston to ask for a connection and he gave me Rabbi Nof's name. Rabbi Nof picked us up and brought us to his synagogue, Or Hadash. The synagogue is beautiful and very big for a Progressive synagogue in Israel. The synaoggue has been in existence since the 1960s, but hte building was built in the 1990s. They have a huge focus on social action/tikkun olam. Among their many projects, they help immigrants/refugees from Darfur who have escaped. They have a support group for mothers who have lost children in suicide bombings. They building is handicapped accessible. They run a beautiful preschoo, they have a youth lounge. Most striking was their bomb shelter which they were forced to use a lot during the second Lebanon war. At first I didn't realize that it was a bomb shelter - it looked like a very nicely decorated gym or auditorium area. Rabbi Nof explained that they often had to hold B'nai Mitzvah services in the bomb shelter. The Conservative congregation in Haifa didn't have an appropriate shelter so they needed to come as well and it became the first Reform/Conservative congregation.

Rabbi Nof is a spectacular rabbi. He acts as the rabbi, cantor, and educator at the synagogue. He is originally from Argentina, but made aliyah many years ago. He started at JTS, but left when they decided that women can not be rabbis and started studying at the rabbinical program at HUC in Jerusalem. he got his doctorate as well and is now in his 18th year of being a rabbi. He is one of the most humble people I have ever met. He is a just spectacular.

Rabbi Nof invited me and Lauren to sing in the services, which we agreed to right away. I had brought along B'Yado by Craig Taubman and was able to play on guitar. He also invited us to sing the candle blessings and Ahavat Olam. About 2 minutes before the service began he said, my daughter who usually sings is not here tonight - so sing with me the entire service! So we did :) It felt so wonderful to be on a bimah singing again. It was wonderful.

The next morning was our first full day in Haifa. We got up and had a delicious Israeli breakfast with two girls from Holland and then we were off to the beach! It felt a little early (10, 10:30ish) but we decided to go anyway. The beach was gorgeous. We found a good spot in the shade, laid down our blankets and read. Glorious. We took turns going into the water. It was a lovely blueish green color and was just cool enough to be incredibly refreshing. I even had a beer on the beach! Sooooo relaxing. It was great. After a lovely tuna salad lunch, we continued our reading and going in the water cycle.

Our last day in Haifa was spent sight-seeing. We took the subway (Carmelite...because it goes to Carmel!). I'm pretty sure it's the only subway in Israel. When we got there we first went to the Mane Katz museum. Mane Katz was an artist and sculptor. He did a lot of work in France. Particularly in the 1940s he made sculptures of Jewish musicians. He also had a huge collection of Judaica from antique shops in Paris. He eventually bought a house in Haifa which is now the site of the Museum. In the museum are the artifacts he collected (rugs, chests, other Judaica) as well as his artwork. After lunch we went to the Ba'hai Gardens! The Bahai faith is a bit complicated. It's a relatively new religion (our guide stressed that it is not a cult). They believe that there is only one god, but many messengers of God (Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, etc). They belive above all things in equality and justice. Their founded Bab, is said to be buried in the mosque at the gardens which is why it's a holy site. The gardens surrounding it are not as important or significant as the mosque. The actual gardens are beautiful. They are very symmetrical which again represents equality and justice. All the workers are volunteers and of the Bahai faith. There are 7 million people of the Bahai faith in 250 countries around the world. Interestingly, they only accept monetary donations from people who are Bahai. The guide said they don't want someone (like Bill Gates, for example) to donate $1 billion and then turn it into something else. Also, our guide was Israeli, not Bahai. She said they don't want it to feel like they proselytize and try to convert people. It was all very interesting -- and the pictures are gorgeous!

For the first time since arriving in Israel, I really felt like I was IN Israel. I used my Hebrew more in the two days I was in Haifa that I have in the 2 months I've been in Israel. It's was fantastic! It's also a much cleaner city than Jerusalem...hardly any trash at all. And I loved being so close to the water. I'm very much looking forward to returning to Haifa this year!

After Haifa, Lauren and I traveled to Tzfat together. We dropped our stuff at the hotel and went for lunch at California Falafel (supposedly the best in Tzfat...it was really good!). We decided after lunch to go sigh seeing. It turns out that Tzfat is fairly difficult to navigate. The streets are not laid out well at all. Eventually we found the artists' colony which was lots of fun and walked through. I found a necklace there. It's beautiful. I forgot to haggle though...oops. After shopping we went to find Safed Canles and Eliezer's books. It took us about 1 hour to find it. It was ridiculous, but eventually we got there and I got a few sets of beautiful Shabbat candles. We also found Haari Synaogue in the area. The colors were beautiful. It's apparently still in use today as well. At dinner overlooking the Mts and sunset, I found that I had mixed feelings about Tzfat. it's a beautiful city, but rather frustrating to get around and not nearly as fun/interesting without a guide. I also didn't feel like I could be myself. It was like there was judgement constantly about how I practice Judaism. I felt it more than I ever had in Jerusalem. It was a little disappointing, but I still had a great time with Lauren.

I miss you all very much!

My love,
Sarah

And I know things now, many valuable things...

I shall begin with an anecdote and then tell you more about my Shabbat.

Today after Shabbat morning services and lunch with friends, I came home to my apartment. As you may (or may not) know, I have an elevator in my building. I try to avoid the elevator on Shabbat, but as I was wearing heels and my feet hurt I decided to take the elevator today. I got in with an armload of stuff and a pressed the button to go to the second floor. After moving briefly, the elevator suddenly stopped and all the lights went out in the elevator. Great. The following thoughts immediately went through my head.

Oh no. This is bad.
Don't move.
If there's no power in the elevator, will it plummet to the ground?
I really should have taken the stairs.
This is the first time I've been trapped in the elevator...it's a shehechiyanu moment! (really, I thought that. You know you should be a Jewish educator when...)
Where's my phone and who can I call?

There was a bunch of cursing going on in between these thoughts, but this is a public blog so I'll spare you. I called Nancy (who is such a blessing!) and she said she'd come right over to help me and suggested that I call my landlord for help. Rivka (my landlord) called one of my neighbors and they where somehow able to get me out. It was only about 20 minutes I think that I was stuck, however still very scary. I have now found a new appreciation for stairs.

This weekend was filled with lovely people from home. Temple Beth Elohim from Wellesley, MA is here in Israel on their congregational trip (this is the synagogue where I taught first grade). There are 60 people including 30 children. I don't know how they have managed to organize such a trip but everyone looked incredibly happy and excited when I saw them.
I went to their hotel down the street from my apartment for dinner. Two of my students from this past year, Jonah and Danny, were on the trip. I had told Mara earlier that I would bring Moshe the Turtle with me. When Jonah heard about this he apparently could not stop talking about it all week. So of course, Jonah was thrilled to see that I had brought Moshe with me. We sat and talked for a little while after dinner and he told me about all the different things he had done so far in Israel on the trip. He told me a new word he learned in Hebrew (glidah - ice cream...very important for a 7 year old to know!) and consistently said todah (thank you) to me when he got up from the table. Jonah was also wearing the kippah he made the first day in class which he decorate with the words "I love being Jewish." It made me so incredibly happy and proud to see my student embracing Hebrew and Judaism and to know that I had helped in doing that for him. I really enjoyed being with TBE for my Shabbat evening. It was a special experience to be with them.

In the morning, I went to synagogue at HUC because I was reading Torah. The aliyah went incredibly well! Perhaps one of my best readings in awhile. I was nervous to not only chant in front of TBE folks (Danny and Jonah's families came to hear me...so sweet!), but in front of my classmates and professors as well. I want nothing more than to learn as much as I can while I'm here from all the people I can. I found that everyone was incredibly supportive and kind. The potential of my fellow cantorial students to be caddy was entirely non-existent. I feel so luck to be studying with such a kind class of people.

After the elevator escapade and a nap, I went with my classmates to visit Rabbi Michael Marmur's family in Talpiyot. He gave us a general tour of Talpiyot and then led us back to his house. We sat for about an hour and discussed the different minhagim (traditions) that we liked best about Shabbat and how they will play into our lives this year and in years the years to come in this very special profession. Some people loved being with friends and family for dinner; that made Shabbat special for them. As the discussion continued, we discovered different traditions in eating at home or eating out with friends. If we eat out, does that break Shabbat? someone asked. Do we have a responsibility to our future congregants to have explored being shomer Shabbat before handing out advice to congregants? It's a question that I have often thought about and grappled with. How do I tell my congregation about keeping kosher or keeping Shabbat rituals or about t'fillah when there are parts that I myself have never explored? Rabbi Marmur responded that he didn't think we had a "responsibility" to be shomer Shabbat. However, he did emphasize the opportunity that we have this year as students in Israel to explore different possibilities and minhagim. Through this exploration we will be able to become better and more enriched community leaders.

I hope that you have had a wonderful weekend! Keep in touch!
Love,
Sarah

Parallel Lives

Throughout the year, there are different activities offered to HUC students which allow you to connect to the greater Israeli society. I have decided to participate in a program called Parallel Lives. HUC students are joined by a group of Israeli soldiers for a day of activities. Today's opening event was about making initial connections.

The day started HUC where we met the 7 Israeli soldiers who have chosen to participate. They all have amazing English. They made it very apparent that they do not mind speaking in Hebrew (despite our slowness and many mistakes) with us. It will definitely be a fun opportunity to practice Hebrew. After basic introductions we got on the bus and went to Ein Kerem. We visited a monastery and our tour guide made the point that there are many parallels between religions as well as people. The monastery was beautiful. Very ornate.

After we went to a garden were we sat in small groups that included one soldier and a few HUC students. We had the chance to ask them questions about the army: Were you scared going into the army? Do you think it's fair that girls don't have to serve as long as guys? Do you want to be an officer? What do you want to do after the army? What sort of unit do you belong to? Their answers varied. The soldier I spoke with had been nervous to enter the army, but it seemed to be such a natural part of life that it didn't matter. He is very glad to serve his country because if he didn't, Israel wouldn't exist. Although he couldn't provide a lot of details he was connected to the paratrooper unit and said that he had jumped out of a plane 5 times. Where you scared? Yes. Every time a little more.

We then went to a nearby spring and had dinner and had more time to sit and chat. It was a very low key day, but very good overall. I was happy to meet them and I can't wait to sit and talk with them more. Hopefully the next time we'll be able to talk a little more about why we're at school. One of the soldiers was curious about our choice to become rabbis because "it had never occurred to me that it was a choice." I think it will be a great year with them.

More soon,

Sarah

An update before a Shabbos nap

I started writing this post on Tuesday. Really! However, time got away from me and I never got to finish writing my thoughts. I apologize. Here we go:

Tisha B'av, a Jewish holiday normally not so prominent in the states, was very pronounced in Jerusalem. I spent twenty-four hours fasting, studying, and praying. It was quite the experience. It began as Shabbat ended on Saturday night. Our Rabbinical interns led ma'ariv services and then led a creative reading of Eicha (The Book of Lamentations). There are five chapters in Eicha. The first chapter I participated in. I chanted the first two verses and then continued with a soft niggun. As I sang the niggun another Rabbinical student, Rachel, read a translation in English. I closed by singing the last two verses in Hebrew. It was a very cool affect. The second chapter was a text study, the third chapter was read by Rabbi Kelman, in place of the fourth chapter each of the interns gave their personal views about Tisha B'av, and the fifth chapter was time for personal reflection.

After the service ended I walked home and did a lot of reflecting. I have fasted in the past, but with more of a feeling of obligation than a specific reason. I realized that this bothered me. I personally needed a reason. One of the reasons given for the destruction of the second temple in 70 AD is because of sinat chinam (senseless hatred). This prompted me to think about hatred in our world and in my life. I feels rampant in the world and I can only hope that some of my work now and in the future will help to lessen it. It also made me think of gossip and the large amount of it that surrounds my life. I don't like that I gossip, but also find that there is a blurry line surrounding it. In the coming days I hope it's a line that I can begin to elucidate and then eliminate from my life.

The next day included a day of study and more reflection among my friends and future colleagues. It's so enjoyable having intelligent conversations with friends on topics that I have loved for years. I'm suddenly no longer the "only one" who wants to have conversations about our personal ideas of Judaism, kashrut, God, prayer, observance, Israel, etc. I love it.

The same thing happened a few nights later when I went out for a sushi dinner with Jillian. Our entire dinner conversation was about school and Judaism and life...it was fabulous conversation and I had a great time! Not to mention that it's always fun eating sushi. Yum!

Thursday we had a day called "Masoret Day" which involved a series of workshops on different traditional rituals. The workshops included learning how to lift the Torah for hagbah, learning how to properly call someone for an aliyah and also be called for an aliyah, the choreography of a service (ie. what's with all the swaying, bowing, standing, sitting, kissing, etc?), and learning to put on tefillin. It was an interesting day. Although much was a review, I learned the reasons for a lot of things which I always love. It's good to have the reason behind an action.

Now we're at Shabbat! Friday afternoon I cleaned (Amy and I have a deal. I clean the apartment, she goes grocery shopping. I love it!) and then went shopping with Rachel. I got two fantastic summer dresses. I feel one step closer to being Israeli now. It's great! I went to services at Kol Haneshama and then over to Nikki's apartment for Shabbat dinner with friends. I really enjoyed everyone company. The food was absolutely delicious as well. After dinner we sat talking for awhile and then pulled out the guitar and sang for at least an hour. My fingers ached so much afterwards and still do actually. It was lots of fun though. I love singing and playing guitar. We finally left around 1 am and then I crashed. This morning I went back to Kol Haneshama because Amy read Torah! She did great. Hearing my classmates slowly begin to lead services and participate more is so exciting! It's all slowly coming together. In that respect, it's going to be a great year!

And now, my favorite part of Shabbat....a nap!

Tzur Hadassah: A special Kabbalat Shabbat evening

This Friday I chose to join 20 of my classmates at Tzur Hadassah, a small moshav right outside of the West Bank, for Kabbalat Shabbat services and then dinner at a synagogue member's house. We arrived and met with a member of the synagogue who gave us a tour of Tzur Hadassah and a brief history of their community. The community was establish in 1960 and has grown today to have around 4000 families. Our guide explained to us that he arrived back in 2000 and found that he and his family yearned for some sort of Jewish religious experience, particularly around the High Holidays. Because there was no established synagogue in Tzur Hadassah, he would go to a Conservative synagogue in Jerusalem but found that he didn't like how strictly they followed halacha (Jewish law). He decided to create his own kabbalat Shabbat services in Tzur Hadassah and found the his community also loved the idea. Slowly it grew and became a permanent part of their community.

The actual location of Tzur Hadassah is gorgeous. Lots of mountains surrounding it with foliage and plants and flowers everywhere. It reminded me very much of the Poconos -- small and quiet and peaceful.

Services were held in a tiny building. It was explained that the original synagogue were actually two large storage boxes that had been welded together! You would never know to look it though. There were lots of colors and paintings in the room. It had a very homey feel. The service was absolutely lovely. Like the rest of the country, it was very casual and laid back. Things flowed from one to the next like it was the most natural thing in the world. Between the Kabbalat Shabbat and Maariv service, the rabbi explained that it was their tradition to have a short study session with a large question. Tonight's question went as follows: Most Progressive (Reform) Jews believe that the Torah was written by many authors and not written by Moses (from God) at Sinai. If this is true, then is the Torah still holy? The congregation then began to participate and discuss this topic. I don't remember everyone's opinion, but the consensus was that the Torah is still holy. It's part of our tradition and it's part of our history. And more than that, it has seen b'nai mitzvah of generation and generation of children and at other significant moments in the generations of the Jews. That makes it holy. I found it an interesting discussion, although at times hard to understand because people mostly spoke in Hebrew. It took a lot of my concentration.

After services I went with Joel and Meredith to a family's house for dinner: Ido and Galit with their children Dolev (13), Lilach (8), and Naama (6). We arrived at their house and were introduced to the entire family (only Ido had gone to services). I asked Naama one question about her dog and we immediately became best friends. We sat on the couch for 5 minutes and then she took me upstairs to explore her bedroom. She showed me her treasure box of special objects and papers. She spoke to me in Hebrew very fast and rarely pausing for a breath. I maybe understood 60% of what she said, but as long as she didn't ask me a question I could generally get by in the conversation. And like any other 6 year old, she LOVED to talk so it didn't matter so much that I didn't do so much Hebrew speaking. She just wanted someone to listen. We talked (or she did) for awhile and then we started to play cards. We played "Milchama" or war. She was so cute. I kept on loosing my hands and I would make a face and she would giggle and giggle. It was very cute.

We said the blessings at dinner and while we munched on veggies and challah, Ido conducted a little study session on texts of Tisha B'av. The kids would read and answer his questions. It was really very nice. I got the feeling that something like this happens every Friday night at dinner. Dinner was fantastic! Chicken and potatoes, rice and meatballs, roasted veggies, and salad...delicious! The conversation at the table was wonderful as well. Their family is just charming!

After dinner we sat on the couch for a little while and sang a few songs on guitar and had dessert. Lilach wants to be a singer when she grows up. She had a beautiful voice. I wish I had been able to speak with her more. She seems like a very sweet girl. Before we knew it 9:30 arrived and so we had to go back to the bus. We were all very sad to have to leave such a lovely family. We're already planning our return to Tzur Hadassah so that we can visit again.

Beit Cafe: Bereshit

The first official Beit Cafe of the year was a huge hit! The theme of the evening was "Bereshit: Getting to Know you." The plan was to have a nice relaxing evening for our classmates to display their talents in a casual setting. In addition to fun, we also wanted the evening to have a tzedakah component to it as well. As I mentioned in a previous post, I was one of the three organizers along with Joel and Daniel. We decided that for this beit cafe all of our proceeds would be donated to the International Movement of Progressive Judaism. I was in charge of organizing the talent show portion of the evening. I put together a program of different acts. They included everything from a dramatic of "The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe, to a performance of "Tribute" Tenacious D, to an original poem, to a performance of West (Jerusalem) Side Story, and more. Everyone worked so hard on their acts. It was really nice to see. We have really talented members of our class! Our MCs for the evening were Meredith and Ari. They wrote a really cute song to the tune of "Under the Sea" from the Little Mermaid. I'll post the lyrics below. They were incredibly amusing.

In the middle of the evening was an auction to help raise money for the IMPJ. Some of the items were from students last year that wanted to sell things from their apartment like a hairdryer, heater, map of Jerusalem, a cooking bowl, a shuk cart, etc. These were auctioned off in a silent auction. In our live auction there were services donated by current students such as dinner, a yoga lesson, guitar lesson, etc. Some of the items went for more than 200 sh'kalim! I also happen to be the proud owner of 4 guitar lessons. I can't tell you how excited I am to start brushing up my guitar skills formally.

Everyone seemed to have a wonderful time and did a great job when performing! But the most successful part of the evening for me was that we raised 2400 sh'kalim (approximately $675!) to be donated to the IMPJ. Not bad for one evening of fund raising!

A quick note to those interested: My m'karer (refrigerator) is now fixed! I have cold food again! Life is good.

M'karerrrrrrrrrrr

M'karer is Hebrew for refrigerator. Freshman year I sat in my dorm with Helaina (Matt, too maybe?) memorizing vocabulary words. We decided to come up with different mnemonic devices to help us with memorization. We got to m'karer. Here was my idea: At night when the house is quiet all you here is the buzzing of the refrigerator going rrrrrrrrrrrrr. That's how you remember refrigerator. M'karerrrrrrrrrrrrr. Of course, the story is much better when I tell it in person, but you get the idea. Never did I think that m'karer would come in helpful in my daily life. I was proven wrong. My m'karer appears to be dying. Despite the fact that we have it set for a cold temperature, the m'karer is warm. This is the second time it has done this. Luckily we were able to save the food and put it in a neighbor's m'karer. I shake my fist at you m'karer! The landlord is fixing it tomorrow.

Today was a tremendously busy day. It was one of the first days in Ulpan that I did not feel on top of the material we covered. We studied different prepositions and when to use them with certain verbs. It's a concept that I've never been very good at in the past. It was a fairly frustrating so a classmate and I decided to meet later in the day to review it. Good. Immediately after class I went to a meeting and then choir. Choir was lots of fun as always with Jay. I still find it amazing how caring he is about our vocal health and at his apparent abundance of patience. This is how a music director should be! The music is also fantastic. We sang a setting of Ashreinu by Bonia Shur. It's a relatively simple tune, but very beautiful for a choir. After choir I review Hebrew (definitely a good thing) and then worked on music theory for awhile. It was a very long day, but I happily went home and had sushi for dinner with Amy. Yum!

Tomorrow is the Beit Cafe! Beit Cafe (translated to coffee house) is sort of like a cabaret. We'll be having food, a talent show, and an auction with all of the proceeds going towards the Israeli Movement for Progressive Judaism (IMPJ). They are in a lot of debt and so our class is very excited to help our future colleagues in Israel. I'm one of the three organizers of the evening. It's shaping up to be a fantastic night! It's been a lot of work, but I'm incredibly excited. I think it will be well worth all the extra meetings, emails, and phone calls.

Shabbat this past weekend was wonderful (as always). I went to the southern side of the Kotel on Friday night to pray with Rabbi Medwin's congregation (our intern Dan Medwin's mom). The southern side of the Kotel is where people would go to enter into the Temple. As Rabbi Medwin said, "they can have their mishigas [craziness] with the Western Wall. This is just as holy a spot, if not more! This is where the kohanim entered to go to the Temple." Sitting on the steps overlooking Jerusalem was spectacular. The service consisted of mostly English readings that Rabbi Medwin had compiled from different sidduring, writers, and liturgy: Mishkan T'fillah, Gates of Prayer, Psalms, the Talmud, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Yehuda Amichai, and more.
It was a spectacular compilation that I will keep for further use.

In the middle of the service, I noticed a congregant who appeared to be on the older side. I caught her eye at one point during the service and we smiled. I decided to introduce myself after the service. I went up to her and told her what a beautiful smile she has and we became immediate and fast friends. We spoke for maybe 5 minutes before we had to go our separate ways. Those 5 minutes were probably the holiest I felt that entire Shabbat. I still find it so spectacular to meet and connect with the elderly -- being in maybe a hundred feet away from the Kotel only heightened the experience for me. What a wonderful gift to have met Rachel that Shabbat.

Dig, Dig, Dig, Hold your hammers low...

We went on an archeology tour today of the City of David! It was an exploration of the water workings of the city from the Middle Bronze age through the Iron Age. Different parts of the tour featured different time periods. We toured some tunnels which served as a water source to the city. The water system of Jerusalem is very important and gets it's source from the Girshon Spring which is very nearby. In general, a good city requires good fortification, a water source, access to fertile ground, and water. Jerusalem (translated Temple of God Shalem, not City of Peace) has decent fortification and water. It was built in an area to prevent other people from using their water. So today what we saw were the remains of fortification walls and how water got into the city.

It was a very interesting day, although I must say extremely hot! There is at least a 10-15 degree difference between the sun and the shade. I got home from the day and crashed very hard. It was a lot of walking up a lot of hills. Everything in this city is uphill. I don't really understand how that works, but I rarely seem to walk downhill...only uphill. The positive side of life, my calves look amazing!

I have made two special friends at school (besides my HUC colleagues). The first is one of the security guards named Igor. I would see him sitting at the front desk most afternoons and always said shalom or l'hitraot to him. Then one day I decided to introduce myself. Now we're great buddies. We say goodmorning every day as I pass him going to school. I think it makes his day as much as it makes mine. There was one day that I was walking out of school and he offered me a cigarette. I, of course, turned it down. However, I think that offer was vaguely like a peace offering or a gift of friendship. Igor is fantastic. My other friend is an older gentleman (in his 80s perhaps?) who sits in the student center during lunch time. Last Thursday I came back from one of our trips hot and sweaty and he came over to me to ask a question. We started talking and we have formed a lovely friendship since. I see him almost every day. He seems very excited to know that I'm studying to be a cantor. We go back and forth between talking in Hebrew and English. He's sort of like the Israeli version of my friend Paul from the Abramson Center in Philadelphia.

This week I also signed up for a program called Parallel Lives. HUC students will be put into contact with Israeli soldiers. The idea is to get together and make connections and learn from each other. There was a soldier there who participated this past year. She could not say enough good things about the program. I think it's going to be another fantastic way to get more involved in Israeli society. I'm starting to get to a point here where I'm itching to dive more into Israeli culture. It's been fantastic this past month getting to know the area...now I want to know the people.

I miss you tons and wish you were here to share these fantastic experiences with me.
Love,
Sarah

A long awaited update

This past Thursday we had our first Israel field trip day. The first day was a trip to around Jerusalem starting with the Tayelete and leading to the Kotel in the evening. It was an early morning. We arrived at a spot which overlooked the entire city and had Shacharit (morning) services led by Lauren (cantorial), Faryn (cantorial), and Dara (rabbinical). It was a beautiful service and they all did a great job! It's very exciting to see these beginning steps towards becoming professionals in the field.

Lauren leading services.

In the middle of services a friend leaned over to me and we had a conversation that went something like this:
Friend: You know Jeff Klepper?
Me: Yeah...
Friend: Well that's him sitting over there.
Me: Woah...

It was pretty cool. After the service I met him and we had a conversation! It was pretty exciting. After the service, we all had breakfast together. It was a good time and gave everyone a little more time to wake up.

Following breakfast we began our tour of Jerusalem entitled "Jerusalem in Poems and Psalms." My group was led by Rabbi Wilfond but better known around the HUC community as Gingi (Gingi is what Israelis call people with red hair). He first gave us a visual tour of the area. I will try to do the same more or less through my pictures.

This is a view of the security wall. It it my hope (and others as well) that someday this wall will not be necessary any more.

In this picture you should be able to see three towers. The one of the far right is the Church of the Ascent were Jesus is thought to have been buried. In the middle is Augusta Victoria and on the far right is Mt. Scopus.

We stopped our tour around noon (hottest part of the day. Thanks HUC!) to take a rest, but of course "this is not an easy year!" This meant that I had several more cantorial meetings to go to and really only got about an hour and half worth of rest/nap time rather than the 6 hours that I wanted. However, I did get to go to a workshop with Jeff Klepper. I didn't want to be "that girl" and take a picture with him, but I did get a picture to document the experience.

The day ended with a trip to the Old City. As the sun set I got to see "Y'rushalim Shel Zahav" Jerusalem of Gold. It was pretty spectacular. I took a picture, but I have to tell you that it's much better in person.

Friday we traveled to Tel Aviv for a fun day of shopping and the beach! We arrived and walked around the open market of crafts for a little while. However, it was packed (Friday is a day off) and a bit overwhelming so we decided to just go and find lunch instead. We found a cute little restaurant with HUGE salads. It was delicious! I love myself a good salad. After lunch, we headed down to the beach. The water was so incredibly blue and even more wonderful, warm! Imagine the temperature of the Atlantic in late August and then up it by about 10 degrees. That's what the water was like. Very much like the Caribbean. I did a little walking along the shore line and then went to read for a bit. I finally decided that it was way to hot to sit in the sun and went into the ocean with Aviva, Amanda, and Deana. As I got in they were very excited to tell me about a game they were playing. They would stand with the backs towards the waves so that they would be surprised when a wave finally arrived. Sometimes there would be little waves, sometimes large. The large ones were obviously the best because they would knock me over. After 30 minutes or so of enjoying the water I went out and basked in the sun and read my book. There are few things in life that I love more.

After the beach we went to Shabbat services on a pier. The seating was set up so that you could watch the sun setting over the water. It was spectacular watching the sun set and the skying changing to different colors. There were three parts of the service that were particularly moving for me. The first was more silly than funny I guess. We sang "What a Wonderful World" in Hebrew. It felt a bit bizarre. Amy pointed out that this would be another wonderful addition to our new musical "Shacharit: The Musical." The next moment packed a greater punch. As we prepared for the Shema, I closed my eyes in the moments of silence before we began singing. I listened to the sounds of the waves, people talking nearby, and seagulls squaking. It made the first word, shema -- listen! all the more poignant. And then we got to the second word Yisrael and I almost started crying. It's particularly amazing to be praying in Israel and to remember that I am actually here! In Israel! The final moment was right before the Amidah when we sang Eli, Eli. The words are (translated into English)

My God, My God
I pray that these things never end.
The sand and the sea
The crashing of the water
The lightening of the sky
The prayer of people's hearts.

Sitting and praying on this pier in Tel Aviv and explicitly seeing all of these things in Israel suddenly provided a new layer of Hannah Senesh's poem. For me, it was the perfect meditation before entering into prayer and beginning this week's Shabbat experience.

Saturday morning I went to services at Temple Harel, the oldest Progressive (Reform) synagogues in Jerusalem. It was a fantastic service! Both the Rabbi and the Cantor were spectacular...very warm and welcoming. The Cantor has an amazing voice and seems like such a wonderful person. I really want to go back and try to form a relationship with the congregation. A synagogue "home" in Jerusalem. There was a bar mitzvah and it was one of the most moving I have ever been to. The bar mitzvah was very well prepared and (from what I could translate) gave a very nice speech. The aliyot were the most moving though. First to be called to the Torah were his maternal and pateral grandmothers. They stood and recited the blessings and shared a tallit as they sang. I find one of the most wonderful things in Jewish life is when an elderly woman takes an aliyah. Many times, it's so against their nature because of the way that they grew up. The second aliyah were the grandpas and the subsequent aliyot were other members of his family. Contrary to the tradition of only the bar mitzvah and parents giving speeches, all grandparents spoke to their grandson as well as his father. Another nice tradition that I would love to bring back to the states was throwing flowers (rather than hard candies) at the bar mitzvah. It seemed so lovely to shower him with sweet smelling flowers (that don't hurt when they land on you).

The rest of my Shabbat was very relaxing. I took a nap (fabulous), took a walk (also lovely), made black bean soup (yum!), and did homework (yuck). Now you are up to date. I'll try not to take so long next time to update. Shavuah tov!