ד׳ באייר תשע״ג
April 14, 2013
יום ראשון Yom Rishon, the first day (of the week) meaning Sunday...
[I’ve
decided to try to write seemingly mundane highlights for blog posts
from now on since it has been so difficult for me to actually invest
time in the extremely detailed descriptions I initially wrote many moons
ago.]
I begin my day with the sunshine and birds’ sweet songs streaming into my bedroom from the window which opens onto my balcony.
On
my walk to school two high school boys pass me, apparently reviewing
for an exam, and I overhear one say to the other, ”רש”י אומר” which
means “Rashi says” ... Rashi is a French medieval commentator of Jewish
text who is seen as the father of all commentators.
Starting
last week, balconies and cars began to display Israeli flags in
anticipation of the holidays observed this week and next, יום הזכרון,
Yom HaZikaron, Memorial Day, יום העצמאות, Yom HaAtzmaut, Independence
Day, and יום ירושלים, Yom Yerushalayim, Jerusalem Day. This morning I
noticed even more flags waving in the wind from balconies, in front of
schools and businesses...
A
millisecond after the walk sign flashed at the traffic light in front
of my school, a car waiting to turn right honked at me to cross the
street. My initial reaction included a few profanities towards his
impatience and then I thought, with my Israeli hat on, wow, he didn’t
just turn and nearly hit me, he actually noticed a pedestrian!
I
finished reading the last chapter of the book of Ruth with my חברותא
chevruta, learning partner and then we began rereading the text and
asking questions, thinking like a commentator, noting gaps or
contradictions in the story, symbolic vocabulary words and grammatical
syntax, and much more. My mind is blown by this seemingly simple
narrative about Naomi and her daughter-in-law Ruth and the complex list
of questions my chevruta and I ask about the text.
After
three hours of studying Ruth, I sit and hear four faculty members share
about their personal relationship to Israel- people, land and
country... in anticipation of Yom HaZikaron beginning at sundown tonight
and Yom HaAtzmaut following immediately afterward tomorrow at
sundown...
Short meeting with the director of my program and my peers about the remainder of this school year.
Read
a commentary from Rashi with one of my favorite teachers in preparation
for a peer teaching lesson I will be teaching in a week and half on
some verses in the book of Ruth.
I
then caught a ride with a teacher who lives in Efrat where my cousins
live to join them at their community’s Yom HaZikaron ceremony. After
some amazing catch up time and yummy hugs from the little ones, we
walked to the community center which was packed with people, including
soldiers, teenagers, families and many communal leaders. For those who
have never been in Israel on Yom HaZikaron, it is an extremely personal
day in which people share stories about their loved ones who have fallen
while serving in the Israeli Defense Forces or who have been killed in
terrorist attacks. The Efrat community unfortunately has lost many
people over the years and honored them during the program. I find it
hard to explain in detail the different sections of the event and
especially the emotions I felt and the energy I felt from the hundreds
of people sitting in the room... One thing I must share is that the
ceremony was planned, emceed and included music and poetry performed by
teenagers from Efrat. To see high schoolers who in a few short years
will themselves be soldiers lead this evening was extremely powerful...
This evening opened a very heavy and meaningful day of commemoration
which I cycled through the next day.
More to come on the experiences of this day and the following day of celebrating Israeli independence.
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