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05

Feb

The Encounter Continues

Even though the second day of Encounter was technically shorter, it seemed to go on forever! Maybe it was the lack of sleep. The last time Molly felt that tired was at a NFTY event.

Here is Molly’s Top 5 of Day 2 of Encounter:

1. No need to hold back! We started off the day with what Encounter called “The Political Presentation”, which was an overview of current issues in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict with Alex of the PLO’s Negotiation Support Unit. I think Kelly put it best when she said, “I never thought I’d be sitting in a room having a conversation with someone who works for the Palestinian Liberation Organization.” This was actually my favorite presentation, and I found it to be extremely interesting and informational. Alex knows his stuff and he was very articulate. The only unfortunate thing was how many questions didn’t get answered because we ran out of time. I would encourage everyone to go to the PLO Negotiation Support Unit website to check out the maps and fact sheets.

2. After meeting with Alex, we went to lunch at Ochegrap Park, which I believe used to be an Israeli army base that was turned into a national park with a center that works to promote a peaceful solution to the conflict.

3. While at Ochegrap Park, we listened to a panel of male non-violent activists. This was also very moving and similar to the women’s panel in that they all have personal tragedies that could easily have led them towards a violent reaction.

Ali Abu Awwad works with the Bereaved Families Forum, which brings together Israeli and Palestinian families that lost someone due to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. While he told us about the horrible story of his brother being killed, he also shared a story about when he saw an Israeli soldier cry at a check-point. Ali was the first person during the entire trip that really acknowledged that there is suffering and pain on both sides.

Issa Amro works with B’tselem, and shared his story about how he started using a video camera for his own protection, which eventually led to his involvement with B’tselem.

Sulaiman Khativ works with the People’s Peace Fund, and talked about the time he served in jail for trying to kill an Israeli soldier when he was 14 years old. While serving almost 11 years in prison, organizing hunger strikes, his values and approach to how he would personally deal with the conflict changed, and after being released from prison he got involved with the People’s Peace Fund.

4. On a lighter note - singing a niggun during closing circle back in Jerusalem that was not the Encounter niggun, was a welcome surprise.

5. A beautiful end to an overwhelming two days, was sharing Shabbat dinner with other HUC Encounter participants, Dave, Ally, Bethie, Jason, and Fran.

04

Feb

Molly spent two very long and cold days in Bethlehem with Encounter, a program that takes Jewish Diaspora leaders to the West Bank to learn about aspects of Palestinian life. While the educational aspect made the trip worthwhile, the touchy-feely aspect was a little difficult to endure. Before we get to the Top 5, here is Molly’s official count of the trip:
Number of times we sang the official “Encounter” niggun: 6Number of times we were asked to give a “collective head nod” of agreement: 4Number of times we had a “check-in” to “unpack how we are landing”: 7Number of times we did official introductions: 6
Here is Molly’s attempt to fit a lot of information into one very small Top 5 list of the first day in Bethlehem:
1. We started out our day with a visit to Hope Flowers School to meet with Ghada Issa Ghabon, the Program Director of the school. Hope Flowers School was started by Ghada’s father, Hussein, who said that “it is better to suffer for peace than to suffer for war.” What I really like about the school is that it doesn’t just promote peace and democracy through the curriculum, but it also provides psychological support and trauma counseling for the kids and their parents. They believe that it’s not enough to just put the kids in a safe environment at school, but you also need to provide the tools to parents to make changes in their homes.
We also spent time coloring with some of the students! See photo of Molly and Mohammed above.
2. After we left the school, we took a bus tour of the Bethlehem area and the Separation Barrier with Leila of Open Bethlehem. This is about when it started hailing, so every time we got off the bus we ended up jumping right back on. That’s pretty much what I remember from that part of the day.
3. Later that day, we went to the Nativity Hotel for lunch, and then we listened to a panel of women Palestinian activists. The three women had such moving personal stories, and even though they could easily turn their hardships into hatred and violence towards Israelis, they are choosing to devote their lives to work towards a peaceful solution.
Rula works in the media for JustVision, and she told a story about how she couldn’t get a birth certificate for her son in East Jerusalem, where he was born, until he was 5. The short story is that it had to do with her husband’s citizenship, and to get the birth certificate she ended up divorcing her husband. The son has never really met his father, and can only communicate with him through the internet and phone.
Sheerin is a religious Muslim woman, who ended up going to Darfur to work with the UN on human rights issues. She wanted to be on the outside of a conflict for once, and she uses her personal experiences in Bethlehem to relate to the Sudanese refugees.
Suzan works with Bethlehem Fair Trade Artisans and she shared a story from her childhood about her village that chose to protest non-violently. Basically, her father’s shop and her home were raided and emptied, leaving them with nothing.
4. After several more activities, we went to dinner with our host families at the Tent Restaurant. There was a lot of laughing at our table, half out of hilarity, half out of confusion.
5. At the end of our long day, we went to our host family’s home for the evening. Shifra and I stayed with Abir and Freddy, and their three daughters, Gina, Emilie, and Lena. Freddy’s brother and his mother live in the apartment upstairs, so they also came over for a visit and to share their stories.
In case the house wasn’t full enough, there were also three American guests staying there. Krista and Kristen are two Mennonite Christians studying at a small private Christian college in Virginia. They are studying in Bethlehem for three weeks and then in Jerusalem for two weeks. Kurt, a special education teacher from Iowa, was also there (thanks to couchsurfers.com) and is spending the year traveling around the world.
After playing Phase 10 and Dutch Blitz (a vonderful goot game) with everyone, we finally went to sleep!

Molly spent two very long and cold days in Bethlehem with Encounter, a program that takes Jewish Diaspora leaders to the West Bank to learn about aspects of Palestinian life. While the educational aspect made the trip worthwhile, the touchy-feely aspect was a little difficult to endure. Before we get to the Top 5, here is Molly’s official count of the trip:

Number of times we sang the official “Encounter” niggun: 6
Number of times we were asked to give a “collective head nod” of agreement: 4
Number of times we had a “check-in” to “unpack how we are landing”: 7
Number of times we did official introductions: 6

Here is Molly’s attempt to fit a lot of information into one very small Top 5 list of the first day in Bethlehem:

1. We started out our day with a visit to Hope Flowers School to meet with Ghada Issa Ghabon, the Program Director of the school. Hope Flowers School was started by Ghada’s father, Hussein, who said that “it is better to suffer for peace than to suffer for war.” What I really like about the school is that it doesn’t just promote peace and democracy through the curriculum, but it also provides psychological support and trauma counseling for the kids and their parents. They believe that it’s not enough to just put the kids in a safe environment at school, but you also need to provide the tools to parents to make changes in their homes.

We also spent time coloring with some of the students! See photo of Molly and Mohammed above.

2. After we left the school, we took a bus tour of the Bethlehem area and the Separation Barrier with Leila of Open Bethlehem. This is about when it started hailing, so every time we got off the bus we ended up jumping right back on. That’s pretty much what I remember from that part of the day.

3. Later that day, we went to the Nativity Hotel for lunch, and then we listened to a panel of women Palestinian activists. The three women had such moving personal stories, and even though they could easily turn their hardships into hatred and violence towards Israelis, they are choosing to devote their lives to work towards a peaceful solution.

Rula works in the media for JustVision, and she told a story about how she couldn’t get a birth certificate for her son in East Jerusalem, where he was born, until he was 5. The short story is that it had to do with her husband’s citizenship, and to get the birth certificate she ended up divorcing her husband. The son has never really met his father, and can only communicate with him through the internet and phone.

Sheerin is a religious Muslim woman, who ended up going to Darfur to work with the UN on human rights issues. She wanted to be on the outside of a conflict for once, and she uses her personal experiences in Bethlehem to relate to the Sudanese refugees.

Suzan works with Bethlehem Fair Trade Artisans and she shared a story from her childhood about her village that chose to protest non-violently. Basically, her father’s shop and her home were raided and emptied, leaving them with nothing.

4. After several more activities, we went to dinner with our host families at the Tent Restaurant. There was a lot of laughing at our table, half out of hilarity, half out of confusion.

5. At the end of our long day, we went to our host family’s home for the evening. Shifra and I stayed with Abir and Freddy, and their three daughters, Gina, Emilie, and Lena. Freddy’s brother and his mother live in the apartment upstairs, so they also came over for a visit and to share their stories.

In case the house wasn’t full enough, there were also three American guests staying there. Krista and Kristen are two Mennonite Christians studying at a small private Christian college in Virginia. They are studying in Bethlehem for three weeks and then in Jerusalem for two weeks. Kurt, a special education teacher from Iowa, was also there (thanks to couchsurfers.com) and is spending the year traveling around the world.

After playing Phase 10 and Dutch Blitz (a vonderful goot game) with everyone, we finally went to sleep!

03

Feb

Sick day for Molly and Bess on Moshe Hess :(

02

Feb

Galilee Diaries: Galilee Encounters

Dear Marc Rosenstein,

We have long suspected that even though most of our jokes fall flat-to-the-floor with you, that you secretly like us and read our blog with a devotion likened to Dave Mendelsson. Our suspicions proved true, since you obviously read and GRANTED our January 27 request to have a shout-out in your next Galilee Diary! We realize you used general terms like “HUC class” so as not to offend, but we know who you’re really talking about.

Maybe one day you’ll agree to a video blog….

Thank you kindly,

Molly and Bess on Moshe Hess

01

Feb

Happy Birthday to our classmate, Rene Pfertzel!

Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the Union for Reform Judaism

Professional development sessions just keep getting better and better! Tonight we got to spend one very special hour and a half with Rabbi Eric Yoffie, President of the URJ.

Here is our Top 5 of the evening:

1. Rabbi Yoffie’s challenge to us to take a moral inventory of ourselves

2. Rabbi Yoffie speaking about creating (not breaking down) community through the internet and blogs!

3. Rabbi Yoffie’s reminder of why supporting Progressive Judaism in Israel is so important (shameless plug: don’t forget to support Molly in the Ride4Reform, the 5-day bike ride to support the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism)

4. Not gonna lie - cheese pizza with onion

5. Rabbi Eric Yoffie tried with all his might to get out of recording a video for the blog, but we’re pretty charming.

31

Jan

What's Better Than a Broken Shower?

A Brand. New. Shower.

You can control the temperature and everything!

30

Jan

The bad news is that our shower is a broken disaster.
The good news is that our landlord is buying a dryer for our apartment!

The bad news is that our shower is a broken disaster.

The good news is that our landlord is buying a dryer for our apartment!

29

Jan

Happy Tu B'shvat!

It’s a two-fer holiday: Shabbat and Tu B’shvat! This Shabbat we had HUC-JIR services, led by our classmates, followed by a Tu B’shvat Seder.

Here is our Top 5 of the Tu B’shvat Seder:

1. Enough fruit and nuts to constitute an entire meal.

2. But we still had room for Jonah’s amazing peanut sauce noodles.

3. Experiencing the Tu B’shvat Four Cups of Wine. Turns out it does not taste good to combine white and red wine, but we do what we are told.

4. No retelling the Exodus story = less waiting for food.

5. It wasn’t really part of the seder, but our classmate Jodie Gordon’s D’var Torah was absolutely fabulous!

28

Jan

Happy Birthday to our classmate, Alison Lopatin!

27

Jan

Galilee Encounter

Longest. Best. Israel. Seminar. Day. Ever.

If you ever need to know how to get through a 12-hour day without Dave Mendelsson, just come ask us…we have first hand experience. And we’re not bitter at all.

Here is Molly and Bess’s Top 5 of Israel Seminar Day:

1. Starting off the day at Shorashim with Marc Rosenstein talking about Arab-Jewish relations in the Galilee. We’re hoping to get a shout-out in next week’s 10 Minutes of Torah…what else would he write in his diary?!

2. Meeting with Iman Kadah, a 21-year old religious Muslim woman from the Galilee. Iman has 16 older brothers and sisters (17 babies in 25 years…talk about population growth)

3. Most of our class ate a delicious lunch together prepared by Kamla Musa.  We say most of the class because Molly was exiled to another room with those classmates who chose to bring their own lunches.  In other news, Bess ate her weight in grape leaves.

4. Going to Zippori and seeing where Mary (that lady that gave birth to that nice Jewish boy, Jesus) was born.

5. BLAUPLUNKT

26

Jan

The Syrian Bride

It’s יום שלישי סרט - movie day! Today we watched The Syrian Bride, a movie focusing on the family dynamics of a Druze family living in the Golan Heights.

25

Jan

Law & Order: Division of Field Investigation

Molly’s highlight of the day was definitely watching Law & Order: Division of Field Investigation (that’s the Russian version of SVU) in Russian with Hebrew subtitles. If we’re going to go to the trouble to learn Hebrew, we might as well collect some information about the Russian justice system while we’re at it…you never know when that will come in handy.

24

Jan

Happy 3rd Birthday to Bess’s niece, Emma! (And to Emma’s Uncle Dean, too!)

23

Jan

A Lovely Shabbos Day

Even though Molly is sick, she didn’t let that stop her from enjoying the beautiful sunshine on this lovely Shabbos day. Here is Molly’s Top 5 of the day:

1. Visiting the Mayer Institute for Islamic Art, which was interesting on the whole, but had two captivating collections (see below).

2. German photographer Helmut R. Schulze’s exhibit, “Afghanistan - Travel’s Beyond the Horizon” was an amazing collection of photographs of the landscape, culture, and people of Afghanistan.

3. The Sir David Salomons Collection of Watches and Clocks - there is no way I can describe how beautiful and unique these watches and clocks were, but you can see a few examples on their website.

4. The second adventure of the day was going to Lev Smadar, a movie theater and coffee shop. Before the movie I frequented Smadar, the coffee shop half for a nice cup of tea.

5. After visiting Smadar, I went to Lev (the movie theatre half), to see “A Serious Man” (or in Hebrew it’s called “A Good Jew”). Let’s just say I was less than impressed with the Coen brothers’ rendition of the Job story.