Chayim Chofshim

Now that Dafna's a fancy social media editor working for the fabulous Omanoot.org-which you all MUST check out-I get to tag along to some cool concerts. She interviews the artists and I get to take some pictures! Some of which even turn out okay.

Here's Mosh Ben Ari performing in an exclusive, intimate concert at the Jerusalem Theater last Saturday night. It was an amazing, amazing show. Ja is one. Dreadlocks are cool. Read Dafna's interview on the Omanoot blog, coming soon. Did you know that Mosh Ben Ari likes Lily Allen? We also saw Mercedes Band at the Yellow Submarine in Jru. Loud, sweaty, Israeli teenagers.





Last Friday we went dancing in the streets. It was a beautiful moment of unity and coexistence. All Jerusalemites joined hands, put their cultural and religious differences aside for the sake of r'kudei am in Gan HaPa'amon.




My chofesh (freedom) from Pardes is going great. Relaxing and music-filled. I went to Haifa with a couple Pardes friends this week, hung out at the lovely beach chof hacarmel, made some new, random Israeli friends and visited the Leo Baeck School to chat with Rabbi Ofek Meir, absolutely one of my favorite people. Ofek runs the progressive/reform elementary school and teaches in the high school.

Can we stop bopping around between cities? No. In Tel Aviv yesterday around Shenkin Street Dafna and I met a man who seemed to be saying that he is the Messiah. When we asked him if he is in fact Jesus, he answered, "Kind of." What?



A Marder store in Tel Aviv near Dizee Dizee Dizengoff Center


You know what else? Soccer is a big deal and apparently Jerusalemites are better at it than Tel Avivians! Beitar Jerusalem beat Maccabi Tel Aviv in the national cup a couple days ago. Exciting game to watch.

Today, back in Jru, it's raining men and water. We went to a lovely little crafts fair in Baka at the Young Judea/Hadassah Center. The artists all use recycled materials to make their jewelery, lamps and wallets. I bought a beautiful little copper necklace. Dafna's going to make the artists famous on Omanoot.



We're spending Seder with Dafna's family in Nahariyah and then we're off to the Negev for some hiking and mud hut living! Happy Passover! Careful with your matzah intake.

March Madness

I just worked for close to an hour on a blog post--these pictures take a while to upload--and it's all gone. Deleted. So don't go into this recreation of a posting with high blog expectations. The energy it will take to recreate it is heroic.

Hello! Salaam and good evening to you. Please, come in, come in. Closer, closer. Oh. A little too close. A little too close.

Here are several life-changing fact for you: Hummus Ben Sira is open till 2 am every night. There is a 24-hour supermarket on Ben Yehuda. There's a wise female figure in the Talmud who speaks occasionally named Ima Shalom (Mother of Peace). He who controls the Golan controls the Kineret, the fresh-water source in the region. That's why Syria won't be getting it back any time soon.

Subliminal concert sponsored by Masa in TA. Pure fun. Pure joy. Loud Israeli hip hop. Catchiest of lyrics.



The concert was held on the namal, the dock. They had portable toilets. Dafna totally used one.


Sarah Lauing had a swanky birthday party at the Mamilla Hotel's Mirrors Bar last week. So fancy and famous. Cool bathrooms.


Went on a Golan Tiyul with a Pardes group. Our Israeli guides said it's the best time of year to visit the Golan because it's so green and most trees and flowers are in bloom. We went hiking and hung around some waterfalls. I liked interacting with the Israeli and American school groups. I even bumped into a group from Gideon Hausner Day School from Palo Alto, CA!







Saw some ruins of old synagogues and Talmudic villages (400 CE). People were shrieking on the bus: "YAYEEEEEE!" so excited were they for a Talmudic village. Lots of young families moving to the Golan and starting farming communities. Careful of the jackals and mines. But in all seriousness, it's unbelievable beautiful there. Who wants to run away with me and join a moshav?



Wine tasting, Golan. Got a free bottle opener. Delicious.


Saw a huge praying mantis at the winery. Davening jokes were made.


I have to mention that I bumped into some awesome Avodahniks last Friday night. They are on NFTY's Eisendrath International Exchange program. I can't wait to see them again.

A word about hummus: While I'm still super eager to try new hummus places, I have learned that the best hummus comes few and far between. When I get a hankering for hummus sometimes I just feel like relying on the old favorites rather than trying something new, even when it comes with a recommendation. Usually that recommendation is wrong. So be careful. It's serious business. Anything less than incredible is disgusting.

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Pesach Sameach!

How about a nice little drash I recently heard?
Your Pesach seder should be filled with questions and conversations regarding the going out of Egypt and the laws surrounding the holiday. Use your "Pe" (mouth) to make some "Sach" (conversation).

Yes, we're still here

Hi guys. It's me again. (I know, I know. Cue the sustained, audible sigh: Dafna writing again? Why??)

Well, I'll tell you why. Thanks to the upswing of blog-related work at Omanoot, I'm learning a bit about the ways to successfully keep a blog audience. One of those ways is posting more than once a month, as you might imagine. Rachel leads a waaaay busier life than I do, but soon she'll show her face around these parts. I promise. Until then, you can just ignore my posts or be so bored at work/school/on your iPhone while driving that you read them.

Anyhow, speaking of Omanoot, here's the new website: www.omanoot.org. Generally, when a post isn't attributed specifically to someone, that's me blogging! It's pretty fun, and I'm learning a lot about computer things, art things, and even computer-art things.



Can I digress for a bit? If you don't live under a rock/in this country, you know that MARCH MADNESS is upon us. This year my beloved UConn Huskies didn't make the tournament (after going to the Final Four last year...) but I realized that's okay. Why is it okay? Because I can't seem to get any of the games here, so I couldn't watch them anyway.

That was really anti-feminist of me, because as it happens, the Women's team has been undefeated the last 73 games, ranked #1 in the country the entire season, and have won every game by double digits. Statistics like that are absurd, but boring to most people because they are girls. Which is unfortunate. Winning the tournament is sort of a sure thing, but what a crazy upset if they lose.

Okay that's it. This weekend I'm interviewing Mercedes Band and Mosh ben Ari. Mosh is probably #2 on my list of Israeli musicians, so it's safe to say that I am very excited.

Shalom!

Mishe mishe mishe mishe..

Howdy ya'll. I've got a confession to make. I did a terrible job visually documenting Purim in the Jeru. (Was it Jeru or J-ru that I was trying to make happen? Now I'm confused. Can someone remind me?)

I also didn't wear a costume. I dressed like myself, and when people asked I said I was going as someone who didn't dress up for Purim. That seemed to satisfy the majority of inquiries. Rachel, on the other hand, was a cowgirl. Or cowlady. Cowwoman? Let's go with cowgirl. Sunday night we searched for the party and ended up at Hummus Ben Sira, quite literally one of the only places open. Nothing like a bowl of hummus and cauliflower at 1:30AM.

Monday morning we hopped on over to hear the Women of the Wall read the Megillah! Sarah Lauing, my favorite HUC student-who-is-also-Rachel's-friend-but-not-her-roommate (don't want to offend anyone here), was there too!

The cow girl/lady/woman and Minnie!


I really am beating myself up for not taking more pictures, because Monday Jeru/J-ru was teeming with people in at times elaborate, at times hilarious and at times horrifying costumes. We stopped in at Mamilla to see what was up and found a lot of kids and circus-y things. I took some great video but can't seem to quite upload it. Let's just say there was juggling, plate-spinning and tic-tac-toe. There was also a trip to the Gap, expensive but a little slice of home. There was also this:

Monday night, Rachel's friend Fievel was kind enough to host a Purim Seudah, the highlight being the British man dressed as Santa Claus offering up the following pearl of wisdom: A Hassid is someone who does not puke on the porch. As Santa opened the porch door. In the spirit of Purim, there was much drunkeness, merriment and meat.

Anyway, I leave you with one conclusion: the Mishloach Manot, in sheer variety, quality and availability, truly put to shame any ideas I had about giving gift baskets on Purim.

Some day I'll get the video to work, and you can enjoy some footage of Megillah reading/circus training. Until then, so long from Tel Aviv!

WAIT. I think I promised you all video of my brother on the Martha Show. Here it is, and it is glorious:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1H6axYaIIU

(I know, three blog posts in a row from me. What do we think? Should Rachel grace these pages with her presence?)