Sataf

Thursday February 6, 2014

Garden 

Water

Hannah Frayman crawling out of the tunnel

Today we went on a felid trip for Jewish history class! We went to Sataf which is a beautiful hiking trail on top of a mountain! Along the way we saw spectacular views of Israel!  Sataf is  known for its agriculture and in the ancient times the people had to flatten the land on the mountain in order to grow their crops. Along the hike there where also water tunnels which are small little tunnels that lead to a main water source, such as a spring and we had the opportunity to go through one during the field trip.It is starting to get warm out and all the flowers are blooming, its starting to look and feel like I am in Israel.  We got back from Sataf at lunchtime and then had our regular general studies in the afternoon. Ever Thursday night we get to go out to a fun place because it is the Israeli version of a Friday night because the school week is Sunday though Thursday. This week we went to a mall near the Kibbutz I was very excited because I had my first Aroma while in Israel! Overall it was just a fun and busy day!

Girls wearing tefillin

Wednesday February 5, 2014

In Jewish history class part of my final grade is to create a blog. I am to post two blogs a week talking about things that I have done in those 7 days.  A new element that my teacher has also added is blogging our response about a current issues related to Jews all around the world. For this week my blog topic is how in New York a modern orthodox high schools have recently allowed girls to wear tefillin.

           

In December of 2013 Rabbi Tully Harcsztark head of SAR High School, a modern orthodox school in Riverdale New York, announced that they will be allowing two young girls to wear tefillin while praying at school. These two young girls both started wrapping tefillin in the privacy of their own home just after they had their Bat Mitzvah.  According to orthodox traditions a women is considered to be the “backbone” of the family. They are to tend to the kids, make the food and clean the house. They, too have mitzvot from god. Women are to cover their hair after they are married because their hair is seen as a sign of beauty. The women are to wear long and modest clothing because it is viewed as disrespectful otherwise. Pants are considered to be men’s clothing.  Nowhere in the Torah does it say women are not obligated to preform the same mitzvot as men. But they are seen as less privileged to do so. Because it is woman who are mainly responsible for the family in orthodox traditions they are almost dismissed from performing the same mitzvot as men. Also in ancient times, men did not want to consider the fact that a women was smarter or better than he was at reading and that is where the “law” in the orthodox world came from that women can not read Torah.  As a reform Jewish girl I believe I am bias when it comes to this issue because I believe that men and women are 100% equal. I understand that to an Orthodox person this is considered unholy because it breaks from tradition. But if you consider yourself modern orthodox you need to be able to adjust to modern times, where men and women are equal and can live life with the same laws.  Personally I think its a positive that this Modern Orthodox school is allowing girls to wear tiffillin. We live in equal society therefore religion needs to keep with tradition but keep up with modern time at the same time.

The Kotel

Saturday February 1, 2013

(Unfortunately I could not take any photos because we went during Shabbat and we are not aloud to use cameras because it is disrespectful to others at the wall)

To conclude our first Shabbat in Israel we went to the Kotel (western Wall). I don’t even know how to descried the feeling be able to touch a building that I have learned so much about at Hebrew school and camp, I never though a building could feel intimidating.  I have sent so many notes with family and friends to put into the wall throughout my life but to finally be able to put my own note in the wall was so cool! The only thing that really bothered me was the gender segregation yes I understand that we need to be respectful to all forms of Judaism visiting the wall but the size different between the women’s and the men’s size is huge. I think that fact that women are not aloud to pray out load at the wall strongly bothered me. Going though life as a reform Jewish girl and learned how women and men are equal in reform temples, and now not being aloud to do my traditions at a place I feel so strongly towards is unsettling.  We concluded the day by going to a Debbie Freedman memorial concert and going shopping at an out door mall in Jerusalem where I had delicious ice cream!

Archeological dig and First Shabbat

Friday January 31, 2014

The exit to the tunnels 

Inside a cave

Me finding stuff

My group digging 

Getting ready to dig

In Jewish history class on Wednesday we talked about where we believe our Jewish history begins? Personally I don’t know where I believe our Jewish history starts. Many of the traditions that my family participates in are things passed down from generation and we continue to do them because we see our other Jewish friends doing it. I don’t want to say that I don’t believe in the stories said in the Tanakh but a lot of them sound unrealistic and a little fairy tale like, such as Noah’s Ark. All Jewish people have different views on traditions but the story’s in the Tanakh are universal to Jews all over the world and brings us together. Therefore I believe if we had to pick one place to start our Jewish history I would use the Tanakh because all Jews agree on the stories so its a good place to start our history. 

Today we went on our first tyoul (field trip) to an archeological dig! This was a great opportunity to see first hand where our history began.  In class we also talked about the Merneptah Israel which are ancient Egyptian stone that has carvings engraved in them dating back 1200 BCE. On this tyoul we all got down and dirty digging through caves 2000+ years old where we found old sheep bones, and pottery. We also went inside two barrel caves. Barrel caves are rooms under ground that have a bunch of holes in then, and in ancient times each family had a cave of there own and they would all be put into one of the holes in the family barrel cave when they died. Finally we crawled through tunnels underground created by the Jewish people to hide from the Romans during the Bar Kochvah rebellion.  Seeing these sites aloud me to understand where the Jewish people started and what the world was like at this time. Friday was also my first Shabbat in Israel! The whole experience gave me chills! I think the most amazing part of Shabbat was being with all the students of EIE who live all over the U.S and go to different camps, and youth groups but we all have the same traditions such as songs and dance moves! Even though we all just met less then a week ago we have all come together and created a family! I think coming together as a group of reform teenage Jews is a very powerful thing even though we all come from different back rounds and traditions. We came together and made friendships based on the core fact that we are Jewish.  I think the coolest part about being in Israel over Shabbat is when ever we would rise and face Jerusalem, normally I would face east but this was the first time that I was in Jerusalem and everyone around the world turned and faced me, that was a feeling that gave me shivers.