Life in Jerusalem: I Love Mondays

****UPDATE: less than an hour after originally posting this a siren went off in Jerusalem. Jason and I were both at our schools and took shelter until the clear was given. We're safe back to learning and studying.****

Hi Everyone!

Gavi here, typing away from home while on a lunch break between classes.

I wanted to tell you all about my yesterday.

Mondays have proved to be some of my favorite days ever since I dropped my Monday afternoon classes at the Yeshiva. Don't get me wrong. I love my classes there and the community but an afternoon once a week to be in the city has been a true blessing. 

Last week, after ulpan (my hebrew immersion class which goes from 8:30am-12:30pm) I walked in the rain to pay our electricity bill at the post office and then to the Shuk to do some veggie shopping. It was really nice to be out and about and in the Jerusalem rain (which is seen as a blessing in this dry region). And thanks to my warm raincoat (thanks Remy!) being out during the day was actually pretty fun.

This Monday turned out to be one of my favorite days in Jerusalem so far.

After ulpan I made my way to the shuk. One of the zippers on my boots and broken and I was off to find a cobbler. 

I found a nice Russian cobbler on Agripas Street who agreed to fix the zipper while I waited in his tiny below street level shop. We spoke (all in Hebrew!) about the shoe, my studies, and how I like  living in Jerusalem. By the end of the conversation I had my boot all fixed and many good wishes from my cobbler friend - who told me to come back when the other boot gave out (it did, later that night! how did he know? I hadn't even taken it off in the store!)

After leaving the cobbler I headed up to the shuk to buy some fruits. I made a few laps around - knowing I wasn't in a rush to get to class and with lots of time before I had to be down in the German colony for an errand. I was looking at the clementines and trying to find the best price/sweetness ratio. Just as I was about to put a clementine from one stand in a bag for 5NIS per kilo the guy in a stand across the street announced his clementines were now only 3.5NIS per kilo! Patience for the win! It is the little things that bring me the most joy.

So, with clementines and bananas in hand I headed the long way home past my favorite 15NIS shwarma spot. On my way in I ran into my friend Lisa M. who is also studying at my ulpan and the Conservative Yeshiva who was having lunch with her husband. We chatted for a bit about the wonders of cheap kosher meat wrapped in yummy starch and said goodbye as I went inside to order. I was going to sit outside and eat my lunch but in the last moment I asked the guy behind the counter to wrap up the meal to go (in Hebrew AGAIN!)

As I walked through a busy intersection I saw a familiar face. I had run into Revital Nutkis! My cousin's wife and beautiful member of the Nutkis family in Elazar. She had come into the city to do a little shopping. And thanks to my lack of afternoon classes and being in the right place at the right time we were able to walk around a bit and stop for some coffee and cake. We talked for an hour (mostly all in Hebrew!) about the family and her adorable son and my life in Jerusalem and plans for when we return to the states. After coffee she headed back to Elazar and I ran home to drop off my things before walking down the German Colony to run a few errands. By 5:00pm I had walked back up to the city center with my wonderful husband who had spent the day studying hard at school to buy him a new pair of sandals before our trip down to the Negev/Eilat starting tomorrow with HUC (yes, as of now, the trip is still on).

Over the course of the day I walked about 5.5 miles, and felt like I had accomplished a lot. I got to talk to my parents, see family, friends, speak lots of semi coherent Hebrew, and got to spend some quality time with my husband. The whole day I felt energized. I feel like I really live here. I have a life here. 

This is my home.

I hope this post finds you all well and happy and safe. Jason and I won't have much internet access in the coming days due to our upcoming 4 day trip with HUC. So don't worry if you don't see any posts from us. We're just living our lives here and having fun. 

If you want to stay up-to-date with the situation in Israel (which we pray will be resolved with each new hour) try checking out this live blog which covers all the developments, www.timesofisrael.com. It is one of the sites that Jason and I have been using to stay informed as possible, although there are many others.

Sending warm wishes, hopes for many happy Mondays to come, and prayers for everyone in this world to be able to live their lives in peace and without fear,

Gavi

Update from Jerusalem: Safe

Hi everyone,

This isn't a normal blog post but we wanted to write a quick note to let you know that we are fine.

Yesterday, after shabbat had started an alarm was sounded in Jerusalem. Soon after, two rockets fell not in Jerusalem itself, but near Gush Etzion (where Gavi's family lives), about 8.5 miles from the city. No one was hurt.

We're fine. We happened to be away for shabbat near the Kineret on a trip with the Conservative Yeshiva. We returned back to Jerusalem tonight, spooked, but happy to be home.

We've spoken to our parents, they know we are safe. And after shabbat we got a call from Gavi's cousin who lives in Jerusalem to check in. We're having dinner with him tomorrow and he said he'll walk us through what Israeli's do in times like these. Where to go if another siren goes off... etcetera.

The truth is, we don't know what happens next. We pray the situation calms down, we pray for peace, but we also pray for calm in the face of scary situations and circumstances and reactions we can not foresee.

For me (Gavi), this changes things a bit. Last week I was reading about sirens in towns closer to Gaza in my ulpan (hebrew intensive) class. We talked about the towns where they only had 15-30 seconds to find shelter after a siren went off before a rocket was expected to land in the area. They were told to at all times be at most 15 seconds away from shelter; school was canceled and daily life disturbed to the core. Someone asked if the rockets could reach Jerusalem. We looked at the map together and discussed in broken hebrew that it was highly unlikely. We continued to discussed that this problem was a serious one for our neighbors and our country, for our friends and family in the army, for am yisrael, but not one for our day-to-day lives in Jerusalem. We were wrong.

I spoke to my Israeli aunt before shabbat. She asked how Jason and I were handeling the news from the south. I told her that I was realizing that despite threats of danger in this country, life goes on. She responded "You noticed?"

So life goes on. We wish we could tell you more. But that seems to be all there is for now.

We want to sincerely thank all of you how have sent emails, facebook messages, and tweets to inquire how we are. It was very nice to feel your love and support during a strange and difficult time. Both of our programs are staying current with all of the security information and are in regular contact with us about what is going on and how it will affect our daily lives here in Jerusalem. We have been very appreciative of HUC's outreach as many professors and administrators have sent kind notes of support, context, and comfort. At the bottom is a note that our Year-in-Israel Director wrote to a student to share with family. He then passed it along to the rest of the class us to share with family and friends who were concerned.

"I can appreciate that from afar and with the news as seen from overseas, the situation might cause some worry. The current situation in this part of the country, whilst of concern does not in our opinion call for any dramatic decisions. The college continues to monitor the situation and is in contact with the Situation Room of the Jewish Agency which receives regular updates from the military and other security services. We are in consultation with them about our upcoming field trip and we will continue to monitor the situation as it unfolds. We have no ability to predict what will happen in the coming days; for example although reservists have been called up and many of them are making their way down to the Gaza region this does not mean that there will be a ground incursion into the Gaza Strip. This may just be a tactic applying pressure on Hamas. 

So, in the meantime, there are no changes in our programming plans but of course will keep abreast of developments and take all the security service recommendations into consideration. 

Your welfare and those of all students remains our key concern at this time. I am confident that you are letting her know that we are doing everything we can to keep you safe and secure."

We hope you will stay up to date with the news (be sure to read stories from multiple outlets) and we will do our best to keep you posted on life here.

We hope this is the only post of this nature that we have to write. In the meantime, we will continue our prayers for peace:

עושה שלום במרומיו הוא יעשה שלום עלינו ועל כל ישראל ואמרו אמן

Chag-tober Fest Part II

Keep reading! There are dragons in this post!

Aaaaand we're back!

In case you missed the first post, it's been a near-eternity since our last post, so there's lots and lots to catch you up on. In the first post, I recapped our experience for the holidays and a little shpiel on school and expressed my feelings about life here while Gavi is in America (in short, it sucks).

So, while Gavi is on the plane flying back to Israel, I have free license to rant and ramble about what's been going on here and share all of the lame puns that I can come up with! (In theory, this would good be a good place for one such pun, but I've got punner's block...hopefully I'll redeem myself later). In this post my plan is to talk about some of the interesting things from Jerusalem over the last few weeks and, as per the custom of the Fenster blog, tell you about some of the key delicious things from the past month.

Chag-tober Fest!

Our wedding pictures are up on FlickR!

Holy moly! It's been a near eternity since our last blog post. Since you last read, the rest of the chagim have come and gone, we did a little traveling around the country, took care of lots of post-wedding tasks (thank you notes are written and pictures are up!), visited some new minyanim, and, of course, ate lots of delicious things (some made by us and some by others). A day-by-day breakdown may be a little much at this point, and since I (Jason) am writing this on my own, I'm going to go wild and change the format and instead am going break things into a few themes: Holidays are Awesome, School is busy, Jerusalem is...Jerusalem, and Food is Delicious. So let's get to it! Oh, but before we do that, you should be warned. This is a Jason post, so there isn't anyone to edit out my lame jokes. Readers beware.

Shana Tova! Our September Update

Wishing you all shana tova amd gmar tov!

Shana tova from the Holy Land!

We can't believe that so much has happened in the time since Fall classes and the high holidays began. There is a phrase we have heard a lot in our three months in Israel: "אחרי החגים" or "After the holidays." Time in this country ticks around major Jewish holidays, and while the academic year starts at the end of August/early September, it seems nothing really starts until after Sukkot.

So, we've been up to a lot, settling into life of the Fall semester, but just enough so that we can change from school to holiday mode in not much time.

Pan y Miel: Our European Honeymoon!

Happy September friends and family!

Curious where we've been the last few weeks? Desparate for details on our super awesome honeymoon vacation? Just looking to stalk some photos of your favorite Fensters in the Holy Land? Well, then this is the post for you! Enjoy!

August 20: Gavi spent most of the day at her friend's house in the German Colony, she brought over Aroma coffee which comes with little chocolates. Israel is magical. After exploring Ben-Yehudah street  on a search for super cool travel money belts (those fanny-packs that go under your clothes). We ate Korean dinner and reminced about our favorite place to catch dinner in DC (Mandu). It is funny that BimBimBop should taste like home, but the dish contains happy memories of long dinners with good friends in the city where were first built a life together.

Gaining New Perspectives

We're on a roof! You'll have to read to August 15th to learn why.

Warning...very long post! Plan to read in two parts if necessary.

Shavua Tov from Jerusalem! A whole 13 days have passed since our last post and many exciting plans have developed since then! We left off when Jason was in the kitchen making super good smelling chili. That leads us to...

August 7: After school we attended a beit cafe (coffee house) at HUC. It was a really amazing evening organized by the students to raise money for Yad Sarah, a great organization that provides free and reduced rate services for those who are sick, disabled, or elderly and for their families. All the students participated by bringing a Tex-Mex dish (our "Fenster Five Alarm Chili" happened to be very popular, no leftovers!) and many offered services that were auctioned off in a silent auction. Some of the items included "45 minute massage," "a guitar lesson," "personalized poem," and "shave my beard in design of your choice" (the last made for some particularly competitive bidding). We auctioned off a chance to come on a "Not-a-third-wheel date" with the two of us, and Jason additionally offered a "day of self-affirmation" to the highest bidder (Jason will follow you around and tell you how great you are all day). While at the auction we did a little bidding of our own and won a dinner with one of Jason's professors and "baked good of the month" from the best baker in the class (don't worry we're sharing that prize with another couple).

Look at Us! We're Social!

We're typing the blog together!

Time is flying...August 3rd marked two months of being married! It's hard to believe time has gone by so quickly. But, in the meantime, SO MUCH has happened. With classes in full swing, we are starting to really see what our life will be like for the next year. We will be busy, but there will be lots of fun to be had, lots of learning to do, and lots of new experiences to partake in. With that in mind, here is an update on the last two weeks!

July 25: After spending a week and a half learning new words, a lot of grammar, and all of the nitty-gritty details of verb conjugation, it was time for Jason's first Ulpan test (and first test for a grade since college!). Thankfully, fire and brimstone did not reign down from the sky, and he survived the examination in one piece. After classes ended, Jason met up with the BYOT (Bring Your Own Torah) group and studied the weekly parsha. Meanwhile, Gavi went on a tour of the Musrara neighborhood of Jerusalem with CY as part of her "walking tours" class.

All the delicious things Gavi ate this week (and other stuff too)

Greetings from our living room!

Gavi here, Jason is busy learning about biblical history and I did my ulpan homework during lunch today. So I get to write this post and take this funny picture of myself pretending to be quiet because Jason is studying in the background.

It has been another fun filled and busy week in Jerusalem.

July 18: The temperature in the city climbed to 102F (39C if you will). Luckily, the Conservative Yeshiva (CY) is air conditioned (our apartment is not). I spent the very warm morning with a fellow HUC SO (Hebrew Union College Significant Other) whose wife is in Jason's class as a cantorial student. Ben V. and I walked up to the shuk together (bubby carts and water bottles in tow) and had a wonderful morning introducing each other to our personal shuk favorites. I was quite proud to introduce Ben V. to both kabbanos (made with kosher beef, not pork - duh - this is Jerusalem!) and bourekas (potato is the best kind, but I'm partial to any starch wrapped in starch). He showed me a yummy home-made trail mix place and we walked back on the route that passes by 15 Shekel shwarma in a lafa. $3.75 for a HUGE yummy wrap of fresh flatbread and kosher meat?  YES PLEASE! This country is magical. Ben V. is a really cool guy, we come from different backgrounds but are both here for the same reason. The people we love found what they want to do and we are here to support them and have our own adventure and Jewish discoveries at the same time. Ben V. and his awesome wife also got married just before moving to Israel this year. It felt good to spend the morning with a new friend.

Finding a Rhythm

Getting ready for Orientation Shabbat!

And we're back! We left off the last post as we were running out of the house for Shabbat. It hasn't even been a week since then, but it feels like a month's worth of things have happened. So, let's get to it!

July 13: Orientation Shabbat at HUC. We started with a very interesting talk from Rabbi Naamah Kelman, Dean of the Jerusalem campus, about בנות צלפחד, the daughters of Tzelafechad. We talked about the role of women in text and how the rabbis raised up these exceptional women in the commentary.

Playing Catch Up: Part 2

Here's our July so-far update. It's hard to believe we've only been here for three weeks!

July 1: Gavi's first day at Conservative Yeshiva and Jason's first day as a househusband. After a slightly delayed start to her orientation, we were given a tour by the head of the Yeshiva and received a very nice welcome from the staff. Gavi signed up for two TaNaCH classes, a class on Conservative Respona taught by Rabbi Joel Roth, and a social justice class taught by Rabbi Elyse Winick, whom we know from Brandeis Hillel and Gavi knows from Ramah Berkshires. At dinner Jason said a shehechiyanu over his first attempt at schnitzel.

July 2: We got a tour of the HUC campus which happens to be BEAUTIFUL. It will be a fantastic place to get to learn. Later that day we went for a walk to the Tayelet which (as you can see here) has some incredible views. The day wrapped up with a Brandeis Alumni event where we found some old friends and met some interesting older alumni who were very excited to talk to a newlywed Brandeis couple.

Playing Catchup: Part 1

Ok! Let's get started. The blog is up and running, the internet in our apartment works, and we know how to walk to the shuk and back. Here are some quick quips from our first few weeks in the Land!

June 21: Arrival day! After taking two separate flights (which meant we were apart for 18ish hours), we both made it to Jerusalem. Gavi was greeted by her Dod (uncle) Reuven and cousin Yoni. Yoni office happens to be on our street! We live on George Washington Street which happens to intersect with every American's favorite street to say...LincoLIN. Craziness happens when you try to transliterate. Anyway, that night we had dinner with a fellow HUC married couple. We socialized, playing Cards Against Humanity with some early arrival students until the fact that we had been awake for about 36 hours set in.

The Honeymoon Begins!

The past few months have been quite the exciting and busy time. We left our jobs, moved out of DC, moved into a basement, got super duper married, and then moved across the world to start an incredible adventure. Actually...we're starting a few adventures.

Adventure 1: Jason is starting the rabbinic program at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (read: Reform Movement's Rabbi School), and Gavi is spending the year studying at Conservative Yeshiva.
Adventure 2: That first year takes place in Jerusalem! (Just for the first year...after that we get to have a 4-year Manhattan adventure)
Adventure 3: Celebrating our first year of marriage.