For Israel Seminar this week we met with three people to hear their perspective on some of the contemporary issues concerning the Arab-Israel conflict.

Here is Molly’s Top 5 of the day:

1. Aryeh King (Yes, his name is ‘Lion King’) is a soft-spoken guy (at least by Israeli standards) and we met with him outside in a courtyard of the City of David, so it was difficult to hear a lot of what he was saying. That being said, it was hard to miss his comment that he thinks there should be an end to democracy, a return to kingship and a rebuilding of the Temple.

2. Our second speaker, Orly Nir, works for Ir-Amim and took us to Sheikh Jarrah to talk about Jewish settlement activity in East Jerusalem.

3. Yossi Klein Halevi was our third speaker and he was amazing. Probably one of our best speakers of the year. He represented the “far-center” which he believes is the majority position in Israel. You can check out Yossi’s articles at: http://labs.daylife.com/journalist/yossi_klein_halevi

4. When asked about Diaspora-Israel relations, Yossi articulated exactly what I’ve been feeling and haven’t been able to express, which is that American Jewry is missing the maturation that has already happened in Israeli society, which is a multi-dimensional relationship with Israel and the conflict. Challenge accepted.

5. Yossi Klein Halevi’s personal HUC tour given by yours truly. It was probably about as informative as Jon’s guided tour during the summer.

How to collect the most unofficial data of the public opinion in Jerusalem’s neighborhoods: send a bunch of American HUC-JIR students in jeans into religious neighborhoods. Oh wait….I thought the mission was “how to turn off religious Jews and send them fleeing into their apartments so there’s no one to talk to”?! Mission accomplished…

In this week’s Israel Seminar, we studied the rise of the Third Sector in Israel and the decline of the centralized welfare state, specifically looking at social justice and environmental issues and the role of NGOs in effecting policy in Israel.

Here is our top 5 of the day:

1. Our first guest speaker, Naomi Schahter, from Shatil, spoke about the place of the Third Sector in the weakened welfare state and specifically about the organization she works for, Shatil, which is the New Israel’s Fund’s Empowerment and Training Center for Social Change Organizations in Israel.

2. For the second part of the day, we split up into two groups. We know everyone will be shocked to hear that Molly chose the group that discussed environmental issues and lobby work in Israel. This group met with Dr. Alon Tal of the Ben Gurion University of the Negev. Dr. Alon Tal is also a political activist and a leader of the Meimad/Green Party in Israel. Visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHICEBGWrcE for a video introduction of Alon Tal.

3. Dr. Alon Tal solved the great mystery of what to do with our aluminum cans in this country…and no, the answer is not to throw them away.

4. While Molly was learning about the Green Party, Bess was learning about how the NGO BeMa’agalai Tsedek (Circles of Justice) works on issues such as disability and poverty in Israel.

5. The highlight of Bess’s group was when they took turns trying to navigate Emek Refaim (a popular street full of shops and restaurants) in wheelchairs. There were many obstacles such as cobblestone streets which sometimes had holes, but the most difficult obstacle turned out to be all the cars that park on the sidewalk - another charming feature of life in Jerusalem!

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

Welcome back to Israel Seminar! It’s been a long month without our boys (Dave, Paul, and Jeremy) but we’re back to business here at HUC. This week’s topic for Israel Seminar was “Gender and Sexual Identity in Israeli Society”, and here is Molly’s Top 5 for the day:

1. Anat Hoffman, Executive Director of the Israel Religious Action Center and former Jerusalem councilor started off the day. She won me over by using adorable phrases like “it was raining giraffes and hippopotami”…how does she know I have a weakness for giraffes?!

2. My favorite line from Anat Hoffman’s speech - “Israel is too important to leave to the Israelis.”

3. Visiting Jerusalem Open House, an organization that provides direct services to the LGBTQ community and advocates for social change.

4. Part 2 of the day - the changing representation of women in Israeli film. As always, I love a good film session with Jeremy Leigh.

5. Jeremy Leigh made reference to THIS blog in his lecture! The amazing thing was that he didn’t say “Molly and Bess’s blog”, but he referred to it as “THE blog” and everyone knew exactly which blog he was talking about!

This week’s topic: Recent Immigration Waves from the Former Soviet Union and Ethiopia. How topical considering our recent discomfort with the Mevasseret Absorption Center.

Here’s our Top 5 of the Day:

1. Our first guest speaker, Professor Steven Kaplan, from the Department of African Studies and Comparative Religion at the Hebrew University. Steven spoke about “the Immigration of Jews from Ethiopia: Some Historical Background and discussion of the Challenges facing State and Community in embracing the new arrivals.”

2. Steven brought a student, Esther, along with him to “keep him in check” or something like that. Esther didn’t speak much, but when she did it was passionate, interesting, and realistic.

3. Our second guest speaker, Sveta Roberman, from the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology at the Hebrew University. Sveta spoke about “the Immigration of Jews from the FSU: Immigration and Identity Patterns.”

4. Watching the film “The Name My Mother Gave Me: A Documentary Film” with the Director/Producer, Eli Tal-El.

5. Finishing the day by lighting the Hanukkah candles together as a class.

Everyone should know by now that Wednesday is the famous Israel Seminar day! This week’s session was about Haredim and the Shas, complete with a visit to Meah Shearim.

Here’s our Top 5 of Meah Shearim:

1. Having our first latke of the Hanukkah season

2. NEW fun fact (for us): Did you know that the Haredim have “kosher” cell phones? They can’t receive/send text messages or access the internet.

3. Going on a walking tour with Avraham Tsvi Shav-Aretz

4. Visiting Beit Bracha, the Girls School of the Karlin Hasidim, to meet with Rabbi Jakobovits, Dean of the HaRav Lord Jakobovits Torah Institute of Contemporary Issues.

5. Brainstorming our future project with Jeremy Leigh (get excited)

As future rabbis, we think it’s important to experience all types of Jewish practice, as genuinely as possible, so keep a look out for our newest project - coming soon!

This was our last Israel Seminar on the topic of “The Undermining of Labour’s Hegemony”, and this week’s focus was “Between Collectivism and Individualism, Hi- Tech and its Impact on the Economy.”

To get some “first hand experience”, we went to visit the Numonyx Hi Tech Plant and met with an executive to discuss the impact of Hi - Tech on Israeli society and the economy. We’ll be honest…Molly was pretty excited to be walking through the halls of a technology-based corporate business. There’s nothing wrong with missing the Microsoft cafeterias…

As a little preview to Wednesday’s Israel Seminar, we had a guest speaker, Dr. Paul Frosh from the Department of Communications at Hebrew University. Paul spoke about the changing nature of Israel’s media.

Here are the Top 5 Interesting Points of Information From the Evening:

1. Televisions were not introduced to Israel until 1968

2. Up until 1968 radio was the main form of media and was expressly designed for nation-building

3. The main radio station was owned by the government and run out of the Prime Minister’s office

4. Dave came in through the window

5. The #1 television show in Israel is “Monit HaKesef” (literally means “the taxi of money”, Israel’s version of Cash Cab)

Love those Wednesday Israel seminar days! We just can’t get enough of the undermining of labour’s hegemony…and this week’s topic was: The Rise of the Political Right. After a short meeting in our classrooms, we took off to the Menachem Begin Heritage Center, where they REALLY love Menachem. Okay fine, it’s true that Molly got lost in a “heritage center” that could possibly make the “Top 5 Smallest Museums” list. Nothing to worry about though, she was shortly reunited with her group. Following the Menachem Begin Heritage Center, we met with Dr. Arye Naor, Former Cabinet Secretary to Menahem Begin and professor of Public Policy and Administration at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, for a presentation on “The Ideology of the Right and its rise to power in 1977.”

Today’s Israel Seminar Topic: The Undermining of Labour’s [editor’s note: notice the cute British spelling by Dave Mendelsson] Hegemony (Part 1 of 3)

We know what you’re thinking…but it was a really great day full of INTERESTING lectures, guest speakers, Paul’s taunting, and more!

Here’s our Top 5 from the Day:

1. Paul’s greeting to Molly’s class: “Good morning friends!…and Molly” (coincidentally, the same thing happened to Bess in Paul’s history class the day before).

2. Guest speaker #1 - Gershom Gorenberg is the author of The Accidental Empire: Israel and the Territories and spoke about the labor government and settlement in the disputed territories. Visit his website at http://southjerusalem.com/ to find out more about Gershom and his views.

3. Gershom Gorenberg’s beard

4. Bess’s fun fact - Did you know that they erased the green line in 1967 on all state maps? (The green line is the 1949 Armistice line established between Israel and its neighbors). After a while, when school children were asked to draw the green line on a map, most couldn’t draw the line. 

5. Guest speaker #2 - Shifra Blass is a longtime resident of “occupied territory”. Shifra was involved in the establishment of Ofra, a settlement in Samaria, near the West Bank city of Ramallah. She is the spokesperson for the Judea and Samaria Council. We’re still not exactly sure what to think about the issue, but it was definitely interesting to hear her personal story, as someone who is not a fundamentalist, and see the more “human” side of the settlers (as opposed to what the media usually portrays).

SNEAK PEEK! On November 18, Israeli writer, Etgar Keret will be speaking to our class! Etgar Keret is the author of The Nimrod Flipout and The Busdriver who wanted to be God among other things. If we can get Etgar on our blog, we’ll only have ONE degree of media separation from Ira Glass…which is basically like having a guest blog from Ira. Stay tuned for updates.

Looking for a Wednesday morning pick-me-up? Try going to Yad Vashem! Today’s Israel Seminar focused on civil religion and examining how Israel handles the topic of all topics…(dun dun dun)…the Holocaust. We’re not exactly sure how to write a top 5 about the Holocaust, so let’s just say it was very interesting to look at this period in history from an analytical viewpoint, instead of an emotional one. And also, it was really weird sitting in a cafeteria to eat a meal at a Holocaust museum.