Indulging with the Future

There is an image of Israel that many are familiar with, but that hasn't been discussed on Kivunim until this point. That image is the one of Intel, Nokia, Google, etc. The tech sector. While independently it's unacceptable to depict a country by its silicone valley alone, when exploring the many faces of Israel, such a side deserves recognition. So we spent our day of "focus beyond" at the Tel Aviv University and Project Better Place.

Pictures of Project Better Place

Nimrod and Katzrin: No Child Left Behind Up North

For a much needed break from the tensions of Jerusalem politics, conflicts, and cold, I bussed up north with six students for a special extended bonding-filled weekend in the Golan. We stayed at an agricultural school called Hermon, located, fittingly, near Mount Hermon, the tallest mountain in Israel. Not too close though.

Pictures of the Golan Heights

The Jewish West Bank

In an effort to better to understand the motivations and opinions of "settlers," or Israelis living in the West Bank, Kivunim took a day-trip in the rainy mountains of Judea and Samaria. These hills are mostly uninhabited, and provide a beautiful landscape. As opposed to Jerusalem, here Palestinians can build freely, and Israeli settlements halt construction frequently.We began in Psagot, a settlement not far from Jerusalem, where we watched a film that defended the Biblical ties of the Jewish people to the land of Israel.

Pictures of West Bank Settlements

Sunrise and City of Nations

The work of a Madrich or Counselor knows no boundaries of time. The week that the students came back from a short stay in Oxford and London, my job began one day at 4am. It was an ER call. Nothing serious, thankfully, but the ride back from the hospital took me under a firey sky. I decided it wasn't worthwhile to sleep through such beauty, so I went to the roof of my hostel and enjoyed the beginning of the day...

Pictures of Sunrise



On Friday, myself, the other Madrichim and my roomate from Muhlenberg, Jon, tried out a tour before offering it the general Kivunim group. It's called Ir Amim, or City of Nations, and it offers information on the current geopolitical situation in East Jerusalem. It's motto is "For an Equitable and Stable Jerusalem with an Agreed Political Future."


Pictures from Ir Amim Tour

A Christmas in the City

Most Americans mark December 25th on their calendars as the Christian holiday of Christmas, celebrating the birth of Jesus. Jerusalem on the eve of the 25th transforms from a vacant network of narrow passageways into a bustling neighborhood, filled with color and light. Pilgrims flood the alleys, services in various languages echo off the ancient stones, and unlike holy days in other religious traditions, when the politics of the region can threaten the atmosphere for the observant that look to a more peaceful future, churches provide a rare haven from these tensions. They require no security checks, and people of all walks of life can share the comfort of acceptance, whether or not they share the same faith.

What many Americans forget, though, is that the Gregorian calendar was not the original Christian calendar. While Christmas is celebrated on a variety of days throughout the Christian world, some Eastern Orthodox communities, such as the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, use the date according to the Julian Calendar. December 25th on the Julian Calendar corresponds to January 7th on the Gregorian Calendar.

Long story short, after all the pilgrims depart, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the Russian Orthodox Compound, and other sites open for a special midnight mass on the eve of the 7th. I arrived at 22:30 to the Holy Sepulcher for an 23:00 mass, but found the gate locked. This was obviously disappointing because I assumed hundreds of people would be arriving. I live close enough to the Christian Quarter, so I raced home and double-checked the times, and by the time I got back the doors had been opened. It was bizarre for me to see the quiet emptiness in front of the doors to the Church. It must be one of the only times all year that a stranger can enter in the middle of the night, and be the only person in the plaza.

I attended the service until 1:30, because I was starting to fall asleep while standing, but below are clips of my experience. I was shocked at the small turnout. One of the representatives of the Greek Church made it his duty to kick out anyone who didn't look like they belonged. Don't ask me how he did that, and according to what guidelines. On numerous occasions, he approached people who had lighter skin, asking if they were Catholics, and then directing them to the Catholic Church, which is in a separate area of the complex. I hid behind my beard, and kept a low profile next to a woman who was worshipping in Greek. This was an interesting ethnical observation to me.

The service I witnessed, meaning through the eyes of one illiterate in Greek with limited familiarity to Orthodox Christian liturgy, had lots of chanting, beautiful robes, a crown, and a ceremony in front of the site where Jesus is believed to have been entombed. Men and woman stood together around the main sanctuary. There were lots of candles, and I'm sure if I had stayed a little longer, those present would have shared the same flame. There was definitely a genuine peace to the place. It was different than the typically vociferous shouts of Santa from his firetruck, or the banal Christmas music. Here, I imbibed the incense as it was carried around the Church, and enjoyed the sight of faces, though few, with their eyes sparked by the light of their candles and the anticipation for the good year this holiday brings.

Pictures of a Christmas in Jerusalem

When the Blums Come to Town

Needless to say that a good night's sleep after two weeks of travel is a blessing. The day after arriving back in Israel, two things had happened before I woke. Winter break had begun on our program, and my father had arrived. We moved in to an apartment above on Ben Yehudah Street, next-door to the Nesher taxi service that arranges transportation to and from the airport and Jerusalem. The bathroom was the size of the urinals in Morocco, and the toaster burned easily, but it was a great place, with hundreds of arabic channels, a beautiful view of the street, and yes, comfy beds. But don't worry. This post isn't about how I slept over break. Because I didn't. Instead, the Blum's continued arriving, and the four of us spent the rest of 2010 as only wild tourists would:

Pictures of Winter Break