I've been so busy recently that I haven't had a spare five minutes to sit down and eat a full meal, let alone write a blog post. I really need to go to bed right now, but I'll update quickly:
-The security situation here has calmed down somewhat, although it's still not ideal. There's still quite a bit of extra security presence in and around Jerusalem, and conflict has continued in the Western Negev. For a few days there we thought war was inevitable, but it's calmed down a little bit and we're back to an uncomfortable stalemate. Things change every hour here, though, so we'll see what happens...
-Two weeks ago I spent Shabbat at a moshav in Modi'in known as the Carlebach moshav, as it was famously home to the rabbi/cantor/liturgist Rav Shlomo Carlebach. The moshav is known for being a community of religious hippies, and it's situated on this BEAUTIFUL hill overlooking the Jerusalem hills on one side and the coast on the other. The weekend I was there was warm and sunny, and there were flowers blooming and birds chirping, and I had a great time running around exploring the moshav. Other than that, though, I have to say that it was an incredibly uncomfortable weekend. Everyone there visiting for Shabbat was SUPER religious (all of the boys and most of the girls were shomer negiya, meaning that they don't touch members of the opposite sex), SUPER right-wing, and spent Shabbat talking about the ways in which HaShem speaks to them. I have no problem with that, but I felt incredibly out of place (especially when one guy gave me a dirty look for having my elbows uncovered), and I was very happy to come home to my little family of Aardvarks.
-I started my new volunteering position, and I LOVE it! I am officially an intern for the Jerusalem Post! I work on a section of the online paper called the "Premium Zone" which includes a number of special magazines and features for paying subscribers. Right now I'm mostly editing and learning to format the website, but I've been encouraged to start writing, as well! I'm so excited!
-Some of my most recent cooking endeavors include: a tomato lentil curry stew, whole wheat pasta with chili peanut sauce and green onions, and chewy peanut butter cookies with Nutella centers. I'm starting to panic about having to live in a dorm next year where I don't have my own kitchen!
-Today our siyur was to Hevron, which is a highly controversial city in the West Bank. Hevron is home to the cave of the patriarchs and matriarchs (Ma'arat HaMachpelah), and is known to be the oldest holy place to the Jewish People. However, in modern day Israel, it is located in the Palestinian Territories, and the city is only about 20% Jewish and Israeli controlled. The other 80% is all Palestinian, controlled by the Palestinian Authority, and off-limits to Jews. The Jews who live in Hevron today are known as zealots; religious far right-wing Zionists who are notoriously racist and violent towards the Palestinians. Our tour today was led by one of these Jews, and so we were presented with an extremely one-sided view of the situation. However, it was still pretty easy to see how the conflict there goes both ways: all the Jewish settlers carry guns, and they refer to the Palestinians as "savages". The Israeli government builds more homes, the Palestinians shoot into Jewish areas, the settlers shoot back, someone dies, there's an uproar, more shooting... and this is how it goes. It was an interesting day, but I had an awful lot of opinions I had to keep to myself. :)
-I will be back in Boston in NINE DAYS for Pesach break. I'm SO EXCITED!!! I'm not actually sure who's reading this blog, but I want to see all of you while I'm home, so give me a call/email me/Facebook message me and we'll make plans!
On that note, I have to be awake in six hours, so good night!
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