Tiyulim Through History

In our Biblical History class Wednesday night our professor asked the following question: "what is so special about Jerusalem?" Jerusalem itself is not mentioned even once in the Five Books of Moses (though one could argue that there are some indirect references). The first mention of Jerusalem in the Bible (the Torah, the Prophets and the Writings) is found in Joshua 10:1, (and then again in Joshua 12, Joshua 15, and then Judges 1:21, II Samuel 5, Kings, and then later on in Chronicles). To go back in time, Jerusalem was founded almost 4000 years ago in the 19th century B.C.E. as a small town. According to the Bible, Jerusalem was made the jewel of the Israeli crown by the revered King David (whose son Solomon built the first Temple, and so on) around the 10th century B.C.E. It doesn't seem as though there was any inherently religious reason for making Jerusalem the capital. Instead, as posited our professor, David could have chosen Jerusalem as a capital of a united Judah as it qualified as a sort of Washington, D.C., or Ottawa, Canada - it was centrally located though not coveted by any particular tribe/state/province.

In any event, whatever the reason for choosing Jerusalem, 3000+ years later it is still special, to all sorts of peoples for all sorts of reasons. By making it special it has become so.

As an extension, what makes Israel itself so special? Does it make a difference whether or not the stories of Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rachel, Leah, Jacob, and Moses ever happened? Do these stories explain meaning or create it? I am reminded of a famous quote from the late great former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir: "Let me tell you something that we Israelis have against Moses. He took us 40 years through the desert in order to bring us to the one spot in the Middle East that has no oil!" This thought tread, that of the relationship between history, Jewish tradition, and geography, will be something that I will continue to address and develop. As a quick preview, in my gut I do not feel that the biblical tales that make up the basis of the Jewish story, particularly the Exodus accounts, need to have actually happened in order to be important and relevant. These parables, many drawn from other traditions, seek to provide a worldview, a hermeneutic, a way of seeing. For example, whether or not we were once actually slaves in Egypt does not matter as much as the message of Passover: by imagining ourselves as having been slaves we are to work to free those still in bondage.

Living here in Jerusalem now, though, I am struck by the fact that whatever meaning we may give it, we are surrounded by history. On Thursday we spent the day tiyuling (traveling) through the excavations of the City of David, the area adjacent to the Old City dating back almost 4000 years, which was made the 'united capital' some 3000 years ago. We also toured excavations at Ramat Rachel just outside of Jerusalem that date back to the First Temple Period.

Earlier in the week, on Monday, I joined colleagues on a bike ride through Mt. Herzl, around Yad Vashem and through the Jerusalem forest, all sites of interest. Throughout the bike ride we were surrounded by Israel's modern history: Mt. Herzl is a national cemetery (Levi Eshkol, Golda Meir and Yitzhak Rabin are all buried there, among others) and Yad Vashem is the nation's Holocaust memorial and museum. The Jerusalem forest itself contains, among other things, a special memorial to President Kennedy.

I feel that I have only begun to explore this city and its histories. Whatever Jerusalem's origins (some 4000 years ago), it has become a city complete and infused with meaning....

Promenades and Prayer

Havdalah again already!! Where does the time go? (The answer is many places, in no particular order- kibbitzing, classes, cooking, studying, biking, reading, praying, catching up with friends and family, and so on...)

This has been a week of firsts. We have completed our first week of ulpan (Hebrew classes). On Thursday I led my first shacharit (morning prayers) service, guided by two fellow students (thank you Faryn and Lauren) and rabbinical interns (thank you Lydia and Haim) who helped me understand and take ownership of the prayer. During my 'drash', or teaching moment of the service, I addressed other firsts (noted in an earlier posting of this blog): British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's visit as the first sitting British P.M. to address the Israeli Knesset and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres at Peres' Official Residence. I spoke about the relationship between these two firsts and Tuesday's pigua, about the presence of hope and progress in the face of shadow and attempts at destruction. Shacharit's a great service- it is designed to orient you to your day, help you get into your skin, thank God (or whomever) for where you are, and help you focus on who you want to be and where you want to be going. It's a wonderful way to start your day off on the right foot. The service took place on Thursday at the Haas Promenade, a lovely park overlooking the Old City. Following prayers and breakfast our class engaged in a day of study and discovery of Jerusalem through walking and learning.

Friday night I hosted my first kabbalat shabbat dinner in Jerusalem, blessed with the presence of old friends from Montreal and new friends from HUC. Little did I know that the beau of one of my dear friends from Montreal who attended kabbalat shabbat proposed to my friend not two hours later (mazal tov!! what a shabbat mitzvah!!)!! This morning I attended services at Kehilat Har-El, Israel's first Progressive-Reform congregation currently led by Jerusalem's first and only female rabbi, Ada Zavidov (a beautiful service celebrating the bar mitzvah of Noam O. in the presence of three generations of family members). Tonight closed with our first at-home havdallah, bidding shabbat adieu and welcoming in the new week.

My roommate has initiated a shabbat ritual whereby after dinner we gather a group of us around, and, aided and abetted by whatever spirits we can procure, debate topics fundamental to our new chosen paths. Last week the question asked around the table was "what is the meaning of shabbat?" This week's query was "What is the meaning of prayer?" (my roommate doesn't waste any time on idle chit-chat). I don't yet have answers to these questions, and I cannot guarantee that I ever will. Still, just looking back at this posting, at the past week, I believe that I am starting to have an idea....

Shavua tov!

Jamais Ennuyeuse

Jerusalem, or Israel for that matter, can be described as many things. "Boring" is not one of them.
The past 24 hours have seen a lot of action in this neck of the woods. Yesterday British Prime Minister Gordon Brown addressed the Knesset, the first British P.M. to do so since Israel's founding 60 years ago.
Today, on a more sombre note, a "pigua" (attack) occurred at the corner of King David and Keren HaYesod streets, where a tractor driver rammed a construction vehicle into three cars and a city bus before being shot dead by a civilian. At the time of the attack, President Shimon Peres and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas were in the midst of a historic meeting at the President's residence a few miles away. Following their meeting the two offered joint condemnation of the attack.
Tonight Barack Obama will be arriving in Jerusalem and staying at the venerable King David Hotel, located a few blocks from the pigua site. Ha'aretz columnist Bradley Burston's "Ten Mideast Traps for Barack Obama to Avoid" offers a great summary of how life seems to be here- exciting, frustrating, beautiful, even calm at times, but never boring.

Prayer and Oscar Peterson

At Kabbalat Shabbat services Friday night Rabbi Na'amah Kelman read us an excerpt from the introduction to the Kol Haneshama Siddur, by Rabbi Levi Weiman-Kelman:
"Praying is like playing jazz. The more you pray, the richer your prayer becomes. You can pray alone, but the exciting things happen with fellow pray-ers. It helps to know and trust the others, too (although you learn a lot when you pray with new people). Some services are traditional, others creative. Some synagogues are formal, others less so. The Jewish service is built around a set of spiritual themes. Sometimes we all pray in harmony, other times we each pray at our own rhythm, at our own volume.

The siddur is a framework, like the page of notes in front of the jazz player. If you choose to use these words, know that if you read the prayers, you are not praying. One should try and reach a proper balance between the pray-er and the prayer, and between the pray-er and other pray-ers."

This year we'll be learning the foundations of prayer, its basic notes and structures, so that going forward we'll be able to create, innovate and improvise. I couldn't help but think of Oscar Peterson's wonderful Hymn to Freedom, which will be an aspirational guide as to how to craft snazzy, beautiful, jazzy, soulful prayer...

Shabbat shalom!!

It is Friday afternoon in Jerusalem, and the city is getting ready to welcome the Sabbath bride. Most shops are closed, and in nary a couple of hours the streets will be quiet and peaceful as evening services and Shabbat meals get underway.

Shabbat shalom!!

Dara ;-)