Sukkot in Israel #2: Scott goes north

During Sukkot, it is 'traditional' for Israelis to travel. So in the spirit of "when in Rome..." I decided to take a short trip to Yehudiyah Nature Reserve in the Golan Heights. It was a really nice trip, and a great hike; the pictures don't do it justice at all. Anyhoo, it felt great to get out and about a bit and I look forward to much more hiking this year. I am especially endebted to Yonatan and Anton, two of the rangers up there, who were super cool and helpful.


This is my idea of a sukkah...

This waterfall is one of the main attractions of the upper canyon hike. You can't tell from the picture but there was about 20 screaming and splashing kids running around.

This is a different waterfall, but for this part of the hike one must climb down the ladder you see on the right (about 30 feet or so) and swim accross the little (freezing-ass cold) lagoon. I sat and had tea with Yonatan the ranger on the rocks just to the left of the top of the waterfall before making my way down.

Trying my best to look bad-ass, but failing miserably as usual.

The hike that I did was an upper and lower section of a canyon. The good news was that it was a great hike. The bad news was that towards the end of the hike one must climb back up the canyon. It was steep and rocky and put a stairmaster to shame, but invigorating none-the-less. Of course the very end of my hike had me traipsing through a field full of natural land-mines (aka cow poop) but I decided that this was not pic-worthy.

So hopefully that gives you a least a small sense of my northern jaunt. I only stayed for the one night, but plan to head back north again soon. Hope all is well for whoever is reading this. much love!!

Sukkot in Israel #1

I wanted to share a few pics I took during Sukkot in Israel. Since apparently I can only post 5 pics per blog this will be done in sections. The following were taken around Jerusalem.

This is the inside of the sukkah at the King David Hotel (I wasn't allowed in, so this was as close as I could get)



This is just a normal yard, complete with several family sukkahs. For those who have not been in Israel during this time of year, these sukkahs are all over the place, including at most of the restaurants in the city

This is from the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Mea Sherim. I like it because you can see all the little balcony sukkahs.

This is from the Kotel (Western Wall). This guy was weeping and crying out while he held the lulov and etrog. I was tempted to remind him that this is supposed to be "z'man simchateinu" (the time of our rejoicing), but decided to let him do his thing.

Three little Ortho-kids from Mea Sherim. Check out the awesome peyous (side-curls) they are sporting (something to aspire to Sruli!)
So that is a sampling of my pics from Jerusalem. For those of you who are on the facebook I am going to post more pics there. Otherwise, I will figure out how to send out some more to those who are interested. Stay tuned for Sukkot in Israel #2: Scott goes north. much love all!!

My mind is a-whirl with transient nodes of thought...

The following are just some thoughts I have had over the past few weeks. They may or may not have any connecting thread, they may or may not make any sense, they may or may not be the slightest bit interesting to anyone but me. Never-the-less, here we go....

What does it say about me as a person and as a rabbi-to-be that I feel like some of my most important insights have come from Tom Robbins and not a Jewish/religious book?

There was a report on haaretz.com (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1027741.html) about yeshivah kids throwing rocks at Magen David Adom (the Israeli version of the Red Cross) stations and paramedics during Yom Kippur, to protest their (MDA's) operating vehicles during the holiday. Aside from the fact that Jewish law clearly allows, and even advocates, the violation of restrictions such as driving on Yom Kippur or Shabbat in order to save a life (pikuach nefesh) how disgusting is it that these kids are using this day, which is meant to be one of reflection and repentance, to intentionally inflict physical harm on those who are working to help the sick and save lives (two of the pinacle values in Jewish tradition). I don't care how 'observant' these kids are or claim to be. I don't care how much Talmud they study or how fervently they pray. To me, they are not Jews. They are just thugs.

I was at a Shabbat lunch a couple of weeks ago and there was an Orthodox woman there who, in the context of a discussion about the various streams of Judaism, said that if she didn't believe the Bible was the word of God, she "wouldn't be doing any of this stuff (religious observance)." I found that kind of sad.

Is it better to do something out of a sense of obligation, or because you have chosen to do so?

Who is going to develop a new system of government for the US, because I don't think ours works anymore.

No one should be denied health care or education because of money.

"Brave New World," "1984" and "Fahrenheit 451" are disturbingly relevent in today's society.

If the Jewish community (at least in America) does not remove the Holocaust and anti-Semitism from the center of our communal identity we are doomed.

I find the idea of assigned seats for High Holiday services distasteful. If you aren't going to show up until two hours into the service, then too fucking bad, sit wherever there are open seats. Let the people who care enough to show up sit towards the front. Oh yeah, and shut up, no one gives a damn about what you have to say. If you are going to talk throughout the whole service either go outside or stay home.

I think it is incredibly symbolic that when walking around Jerusalem it either smells wonderful or like shit.

That's enough for now.
Shabbat Shalom and a good weekend to all.

Making friends and influencing people...

So last week on the second day of Rosh Hashanah, I decided to go to a park near my apartment (Liberty Bell park for those who know the city) and juggle. It was a beautiful, sunny day and having spent all morning and early afternoon in shul, I wanted to celebrate the new year a bit with some outdoor fun. So I packed my juggling stuff in a backpack and made my way over to the park.

I was surprised to discover that the park was very crowded, primarily with Arab families, and so I looked for a sunny, out of the way spot. Since I am not an especially good juggler I try not to draw attention to myself (for a change), which is why I tried to be as inconspicuous as possible. The problem is that juggling is not such an inconspicuous activity unless you are at a circus or a Phish show (kind of the same thing, right!), so after about ten minutes I started to draw a crowd of kids who had come over to watch. I soon discovered that these kids barely spoke Hebrew and definitely not English, and since my Arabic is non-existent we encountered some early communication difficulties. I had stopped juggling when they came over, but they made it quite clear through hand gestures and the occasional Hebrew word that they wanted me to continue...so I did. While I had not intended to put on a show, once I had an audience I couldn't help myself so I busted out my 'big ticket' item, namely a set of very large (but not at all sharp) knives. They were all very excited by this, and after I juggled those for a bit, the kids started taking my stuff and either trying to juggle or just goofing around. I couldn't understand anything they were saying, but it didn't really matter, they were just having some fun with the clubs and balls and stuff and I was having fun enjoying the randomness of the moment. I'm pretty sure they were making fun of me at one point, and I think one of them tried to have me repeat a Muslim declaration of faith (something about Allah and Muhammed, but I wouldn't say it) but all in all it was a good time.

Soon they got bored and went back to whatever they had been doing before, but soon a new group of kids came over and after watching me for a bit, one of them indicated that she wanted me to come show her dad. So before long I was hanging out with a group of random Arab kids and their parents. One of the kids spoke some Hebrew and asked me if I could breakdance. I have never been able to breakdance, and the one thing I could kind of do (the worm) has been retired after my sister's wedding (I busted my chin on the dance floor). This kid was pretty good though, and was doing all sorts of flips and handstandy things. He kept asking me to do something, so eventually, and against my better judgment, I attempted some sort of one-handed handstand thing that ended up with me falling on my head. Bruised noggin aside, it was a lot of fun.

As the sun started to go down, the families began to depart, but a few kids hung around. Unfortunately a couple of these kids had a severe case of douchebagitis and decided it would be hilarious to try and steal my stuff, and when I busted them, they engaged in a game of keep-away. Fortunately this only lasted for about ten minutes and I was able to get all of my stuff back with only minor frustration. This did not put a damper on what was a really fun and random afternoon and reinforced the importance of bringing my juggling stuff wherever I go (the last time I was in Israel it got me fed when I didn't have any food on a camping trip).

To add to the randomness of the day, I had a religious guy stop me as I was walking home from the park to tell me that he liked my jeans and wanted to know where I got them. And later in the evening, the girl I bought my bed from grew up in Akron.

Shanah tovah l'kulam!!