Molly and Bess on Moshe Hess

We think we’ve uncovered the truth about why there are so many cats in Jerusalem. Don’t believe those stories about needing to import cats to take care of a rat problem. Once upon a time, Jerusalem was a city made of gold (they don’t call it “Jerusalem of Gold” for nothing) and some genius fell for the marketing scheme known as “Cats for Gold”.

Consider this a warning: whenever you see the claim “As Seen on TV”, run far away….

Thanks to Dave Mintz for sharing this classified information with us.

Jerusalem Cat Photo of the Day!

Thanks to classmate, Josh Beraha, for sharing this photo. And yes, that is an animal carcass in his mouth.

We know you’ve been waiting on the edge of your seat for the next installation of our video series to support our fundraising efforts for the FSU Pesach Project. The purpose of this video is two-fold: to educate YOU, our devoted blog readers (and future donors!), about the FSU Pesach Project, and to provide useful pointers to our classmates who are also knee-deep in fundraising efforts.

Together we need to raise $5000, and as you learned in the video, every little bit helps…we REALLY appreciate your donations!

Click here to donate now! (or visit http://www.pesachproject.com/FSU_Pesach_Project/Donate_Now%21.html)

In case you managed to miss the internet sensation that was our last FSU Pesach Project video, you can watch it here!

March in Protest of Woman Arrested at Western Wall!

We were lucky to be able to participate in this rally in response to the arrest of a woman for wearing a tallit at the Western Wall, amongst other things. It was amazing to see so many people there - Israeli or not, young and old, Reform, Reconstructionist, Masorti, Progressive and more!

There has been little to no press about this protest, but you can read more in this Ha’aretz Article.

As you all know, Molly has been on a mission to experience a different synagogue in Jerusalem every Shabbat. This Friday, she was supposed to go “Hovevei Tzion”…but most likely ended up somewhere else entirely. Hovevei Tzion Street is a total of 3 blocks, but Molly could only find one synagogue, and she’s pretty sure it wasn’t the Hovevei Tzion with the amazing kiddush everyone speaks of.

That being said, Molly had a lovely Shabbat experience at Beit HaKnesset Hatzvi Yisrael (on Hovevei Tzion Street). It was an orthodox synagogue; the chazzan had a really beautiful voice, familiar melodies, and most of the people were in their 20s…but no kiddush!

Highlight of the evening: Walking up to the synagogue and finding a 2 year old boy sitting in his stroller outside. No parent to be found. The kid is just hanging out in his stroller. All of a sudden the kid gets up, walks to the middle of the entrance patio, pulls down his pants, and starts peeing. After he’s finished he puts his pants back on and goes back to his stroller. Still no parent. Ain’t no thang.

Happy Birthday to our classmate, Jodie Gordon!

1 week ago

Jerusalem Cat Photo of the Day!

Who says being homeless means you can’t enjoy the morning in style? This cat is sitting down to a pastry and tea.

Um, cat? You have food on your face.

Happy Birthday to David Mintz!

1 week ago

Our #1 fan (which is convenient because we’re HER #1 fan), Rabbi Jackie Koch Ellenson, shares the Ellenson family’s Top 5 (or 6) places to eat while traveling in Israel.

Jerusalem Cat Photo of the Day!

Oh hello there. Did you know that Molly and Bess are traveling to the Former Soviet Union (FSU) to share the joy of Pesach and help lead celebrations with Reform and Progressive communities? Well it’s true!

We need to collectively raise $5000 by December 31 and we need your help!

Check out this video of Rabbi David Ellenson speaking about the importance of the FSU Pesach Project.

Visit the FSU Pesach Project website, or heck, why not just go straight to the donation page at: http://www.pesachproject.com/FSU_Pesach_Project/Donate_Now%21.html

Thanks for your support!

In honor of his birthday today, Rabbi Ellenson read Haftarah beautifully at Shabbat services!

Continuing with her mission to check out different synagogues of Jerusalem, Molly went to the Jerusalem Great Synagogue for the Friday night Shabbat service.

Here is Molly’s Top 5 of the Jerusalem Great Synagogue:

1. It’s a short 5-10 minute walk from the apartment, right next to Supersol!

2. I sat next to a lovely episcopalian from Indiana, Dee, who is visiting Israel for three weeks.

3. Since the Jerusalem Great Synagogue is so large and open, you can actually see what’s going on while sitting in the women’s section.

4. The cantor’s beautiful voice - this is an Ashkenazi Chazzan, so it was different than Sephardic Chazzan I heard last week.

5. I didn’t get yelled at for crossing my legs.

For Shabbat dinner, Molly was invited to Shabbat Sh’soup (Shabbat of Soup), hosted by David Singer and Jessica Shimberg.

As you might have guessed, it was an amazing Shabbat dinner consisting of different soups. Each soup had a different story, and they were all delicious, so Molly wants to share the 5 soups that she enjoyed at Shabbat Sh’soup:

1. 6 Onion Soup - courtesy of Jessica’s friend Sara, a classic Rostolder family recipe

2. Sweet Potato and Butternut Squash Soup - courtesy of the NY Times

3. Curried Red Lentil and Pumpkin Stew (in honor of this week’s Torah portion, Toldot) - courtesy of Jessica’s friend, Jodi Balis of redlentilconsulting.com and fooditude.tv

4. Mushroom Barley Soup - courtesy of David Singer’s stepmom

5. Not exactly a soup, but we started the evening with a yummy tehina honey sauce

…all enjoyed with some hearty bread. Thanks David and Jessica for a wonderful Shabbat of Soup!

Israeli Rabbinic Ordination

Today we had the privilege of attending HUC-JIR’s rabbinic ordination for the Israeli Rabbinic Program. We’ve uploaded a short video of the ordination. It’s not such a great video (we were sitting pretty far back) but the first section is of Dalia Tibon Lagziel being ordained as a rabbi, to give you all an idea of what it means to be ordained (we’ll let you know in 5 years what secrets Rabbi David Ellenson is sharing in front of the Torah) and the second section is of our HUC-JIR choir singing “Samachti”…and if you’re LUCKY, you’ll get some nice shots of the back of Uri Regev’s head.

It was a beautiful service and here is our Top 5 of the Israeli Rabbinic Ordination:

1. Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel - This was a wonderful reminder of what we’re doing here at HUC-JIR and how extraordinary it is that we’re here studying in Israel to become rabbis.

2. Celebrating with the ordinees of the Israeli Rabbinic Program. It was extremely festive and emotional during the processional when the students walked in with all the faculty. What a gift to be studying with these amazing people.

3. Spending some quality time with Rabbis David and Jackie Ellenson and their daughter Hannah, discussing our favorite phenomenon of Israel, namely, the Jerusalem cats.

4. Molly randomly running into her friend, Stephanie Hanna, who she travelled to Ghana and Ukraine with during the summer of 2004 with AJWS (they haven’t seen each other in 5 years).

5. Seeing Marc Rosenstein, of “10 Minutes of Torah: Israel Connection” fame

Click here to read about the ordination and the ordinees!

Molly and Bess on Moshe Hess

Fine Folk

Cats for Gold

Jerusalem Synagogue Adventures

Jerusalem Great Synagogue

Shabbat Sh'soup