what a journey this has been. i have seen & done & felt so much in the past week. climbed masada, floated in the dead sea, left my prayer in the crevices of the wailing wall, witnessed the holocaust museum in jerusalem, rode a camel, seen the place rabin was assasinated, seen his grave, the tomb of kind david, repelled off cliffs, & slumber partied with soldiers. the organized portion of my trip is finally over. i am grateful for the birthright organization's existence. it is amazing. what other race/religion has such a gift? my character is not one that agrees well with being confined by or identified with a group of my peers. i have succesfully avoided it for the majority of my young adult life so far. as i got on a southbound train to visit my cousin on my own dime, on my own time, i felt o so ready for autonomy & freedom of range of motion. i am ready to experience israel without american bubble wrapping & babying.
i had not been away from the group for even 24 hours, & already had a lunch of curry soup, crackers & hummus interrupted by sirens.
my cousin aliza lives in a little settlement in the negev dessert near the city of bersheeva with her husband moshe. their home is a simple bungalow built by the government. it is in an all orthodox (though they call themselves simply "religious" & dislike the term "orthodox") neighborhood that was once a kibbutz. the original homes were bull dozed by the government at some point in recent history in attempts to make peace with palestine by destroying & evacuating jewish settlements near gaza. the settlement is 20 miles from gaza, & 15 miles from the spot the rockets actually landed after the sirens went off yesterday. so many of my friends are telling me to "be safe", & i am not sure what exactly they mean by this. don't visit my cousin? i am within rocket range. but i am with my family experiencing an important part of my journey through israel & exploration of the jewish faith.
as i type this, i am breaking the rules of orthodox shabbat. moshe & aliza are worshiping god at services, & i am worshipping wifi. i arrived friday morning, & the jewish sabbath is from sundown friday to sunday saturday. aliza spent all day friday cooking enough food for the next 24 to be full of deliciousness & bounty. we talked about her wedding & her faith.
i learned that both aliza's brother gavi & his wife shalvi are musicians! the songwriting guitar playing kind! they are hassidic & live in jerusalem. i was elated to find this out, as i was getting nervous that none of the young israelis i was meeting knew any traditional music of any kind. i really want to take some hebrew songs back to the states with me in my fingers in my mouth in my heart. it is an eery feeling to be in a country where most of the youth worship american pop culture, while i, an american, abhor it. to my delight, not only is my cousin-in-law shalvi a musician, her mother is a midwife who lives in the ancient mystical city of tsefat!
also, aliza & i talked about the rules of shabbat: no turning on or off lights, no work of any kind, no tearing toilet paper, no no no no no.....
yes relaxation, yes delicious food, yes prayer, yes reverence, yes lovely clothes, yes family, yes community....
i was confused as to if i needed to cover my head while staying in this community, & i don't because i'm not married. aliza insisted i could even wear my pants if i wanted. nobody expects me to observe their laws here, & they welcome guests.
shabbat dinner was gorgeous. so many courses of amazing food. aliza is a wonderful cook, & there is so much love & reverence in the preparation of the food, you can truly taste it. their neighbors & best friends nehava & aaron joined us for the sabbath meal. nehava has a friend in jerusalem who has been a doula since before the profession & term doula existed. she is religious & a mystic & holds community dinners on the sabbath.
yet another light on my path!
i feel so fully so richly so gratefully on it...
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