Week in Review

Our first week of ulpan (intensive conversational Hebrew class designed for new immigrants) was exhausting. Yesterday I learned the phrase 'tavlineem bli kemikalim'--spices without chemicals--so I'm already priming myself for ethnobotanical excursions. Afternoons were spent in seminars. I learned that:

*my friends have a sense of humor
*no country surrounding Israel has been a sovereign nation-state for much longer than Israel has (Jordan in 1942, Saudi Arabia in 1938, etc.)
*the two official languages of Israel are Hebrew and Arabic, yet Israeli children learn English, not Arabic, in school
*you should not pay more than 250 shekel for a tabouka (small handdrum) at the Bedouin shuk
*the American Jewish community is trying to hide the results of a reputable study that shows a huge decline in the numbers of Americans who identify as Jewish (if i recall correctly, about 1 million people in 20 years). In consequence, the largest Jewish community today exists in Israel
*Israelis are bitter about the huge waves of Russian immigration that happened in the 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union, but without them there would be a much more severe danger of Jewish Israelis being the majority of the state

The week was replete with a meaningful Rosh Chodesh (celebration of the new moon and new month in the Hebrew calendar) gathering hosted by my dear roommate Nellie, yoga, capoeira, a visit to Soroka Hospital for a booster shot all by myself, Hebrew flashcards, and my first night on the town at ArtCafe, overseeing a friend's wooing of a French oleh (new immigrant).

Yesterday we woke at 7 to walk to Beersheba's Old City to the Bedouin shuk (open-air market). Some vendors were still setting up, others were already yelling into their megaphones. Muslim women covered all in black hauled bags of kitchen supplies home. Bedouin men, some in white robes and headwraps, others in tight jeans and t-shirts, smoked together in the shade before shopping. Israelis shopped determinedly for clothing and housewares. I bought an AM/FM radio for 30 shekel and another supply of cashews and dates for my stash. I haggled for headbands in Spanish, and when the 10AM sun began to sear our skin we hopped in a taxi back to Merkaz Klitah Ye'alim.

After ordering a dulce de leche birthday cake for my buddy Jerrin, also in Spanish, we boarded our group bus to a new agricultural settlement near Ashkelon, in the desert near the Mediterranean coast. We spent the afternoon transporting potted orchid plants in a greenhouse that was 1 of 40 to be relocated from Gush Katif, Gaza. The settlers there had built the largest greenhouse complex in the Middle East, we were told, but it had only been possible to relocate half of it, and the former settlers needed all the help they could get. The indoor irrigation system used long hoses that ran the entire width of the greenhouse, with a tentacle stuck into the soil of each potted plant, so as to drip water right at the roots. Fans circulated air throughout the greenhouse, about as large as two soccer fields, and multiple screens protected the plants from the desert sun.

We spent the sunset at Delilah Beach in Ashkelon. A beautiful quiet would have closed the week had Nellie, Jerrin, Stephanie and I not bombarded this civilized family beach with yelps and howls at the beauty of the orange fireball dropping into the sea. There was not quiet, but here, with army kids teaching each other how to front-handspring, and extended families cooking dinner in sandpits and playing the tabouka, there was peace.

For Shabbat, I'm visiting Diane and Raffi's family, just outside Netanya. I've already cleaned the fridge out of everything that never walked or swam; don't worry about me. And the Kraft Macaroni and Cheese was more of a hit than I could have imagined.

"This is what it means to be created in the Divine image: to know that one's image is Divine, that no opposites exist, and that there is no other."
-Jay Michaelson