Photos: Early Yom Yerushalayim Celebrations

Jerusalem Day (Yom Yerushalayim) is Wednesday, and the celebrations are already beginning! Sarah and I spent part of the early evening (prevening, if you will) at Independence Park with students from all across Israel. We took some pictures. Enjoy! (And it's likely that more will be coming!)

Tonight For Dinner...

I've started to move beyond pita sandwiches. Don't get me wrong, I still make them all the time. But honestly, do you want to know every single variant I have of a pita sandwich with some form of tivol. No. You don't. Because that would get real old real fast. Last week, I attempted bread. I didn't take pictures because it was my first attempt and I didn't want to share it just yet (in case you're wondering, it turned out pretty well, except that I forgot to include anyherbs in the mix, so the bread was pretty bland...I tried to salvage it by adding some herbs and salt to the top before I baked it). I promise: next time I make bread, I'll bring you along for the journey.

Tonight, though, we have a meal created completely from scratch.

Salad: Israeli salad of cucumbers, tomatoes, and a quarter onion, all finely diced. Everything is seasoned with salt, garlic powder, rosemary, oregano, sweet basil, and zatar. Right before it's put in bowls, I'll add some olive oil and lemon juice. For protein, I will top the salad with some Tivol sweet chili "chicken."

Soup: Corn chowder. I used this recipe as a guide. However, I added double the amount of corn (since it looked more like a vegetable soup than a corn chowder), and instead of the seasoning that the recipe called for, I just used Tony's cajon seasoning. Delish!

Biscuits: Yup. I made biscuits from scratch. However, I tried to make them healthier. Instead of using shortening, I just used a lite margarine made from olive oil. Here's the recipe.

B'teiavon (Hebrew for "Bon Appetit")!

My New Tallit

We need some context.

When Sarah and I got married, we decided that we would get each other a wedding gift. As many of you know, my gift to Sarah was that I wrote her a song (buy it on iTunes!) and surprised her (and everyone except the band leader and our wedding coordinator) by playing it after the toasts. Sarah's gift to me was a gorgeous Emanuel raw silk tallit. I absolutely love it. I wore it at our aufruf and was the tallit I brought with me for our year in Israel (I had four tallitot to choose from...Sarah had a hard time picking which shoes to bring, I had a hard time picking which tallit to bring).

Okay, onto the story.

During our Pesach trip to the north, we visited S'fat (also known as Safed, Tz'fat, or the source of Madonna's Jewish cred) and stopped into a Judaica shop. I had started looking for a tallit that was thinner (better for REALLY hot summer weather) and narrower (so I could wear it with a guitar and not worry about it sliding off). While we were in the shop, I noticed this amazing tallit. It was a very colorful, narrow, thin Emanuel piece appropriately called "Joseph's Coat." It was perfect.

At which point Sarah says, "It's so funny that you like that one. I was debating between this one and the one I got you for our wedding." I don't think she made the wrong choice. She absolutely made the right one. But now I had a need that could be addressed by the Joseph's Coat piece.

I didn't get the tallit at that store in S'fat because, let's be honest, it was way to expensive. And strangely short. So I walked out of that shop empty-handed, but I started researching this tallit and where else I could get it.

Last night, Sarah and I were visiting with some friends on Ben Yehuda Street in Jerusalem. We walked into a store, and the Joseph's Coat tallit was sitting on top of the pile. Long negotiation short, I got the tallit at an incredible price (about $101, $80 less than the store in S'fat had quoted me). And now, I have two amazing tallitot with me in Israel. A classy, subtle, big tallit that has incredible sentimental value, and a camp/summer appropriate tallit for song leading.

There's a Hebrew word that you say to someone who just purchased something: תִתחַדֶשׁ (tit-cha-desh), literally meaning "be new" and used as "enjoy your new thing" or "use it in the best of heath" (for all of you Hebrew grammarians, if you are saying it to a girl, you say תִתחַדְשִׁי, tit-chad-shi). As we walked out of the store, Sarah took the bag with the tallit out of my hands, then hands it back to me.

"תִתחַדֶשׁ (tit-cha-desh)," she says. She's the best.

Questions from One of our Eleven Readers!

Despite my best efforts, I don't always address everything in my blog posts. With that in mind, we welcome reader questions! Unsure about something? Leave a question in the comments and we will answer it! We just appreciate that you're taking the time to join us on our journey.

Tricia had a few questions about a recent post. Maybe you had those same questions. Maybe you should read her blog too. My lovely wife answered her questions really well

Q: Whats a "shuk"?

A: The "shuk" is the open air market where you can get pretty much anything you want. Its mostly food (fruits, vegetables, meats, cheeses, breads), but there are also some other kinds of shops where you can get clothes and misc other things. Actually, the most recent post on the blog is a video that Jeremy did for a friend of ours at the shuk, so you can see what its all about. We absolutely love doing our food shopping there. The fruits and veggies are super fresh, and everything is incredibly cheap. This week we bought tomatoes for the equivalent of about 20 cents a pound.

Q: Is cheese not kosher? Why would the nachos need fake cheese at a kosher place? Or is it just to provide a vegan option?
A: Oh the cheese. First of all, cheese here is like nothing you've ever tasted before. It is SOOO good. Its pretty hard to find things like cheddar or block cheese here, but the cottage cheese and softer cheeses are absolutely amazing. They have so much more flavor than in the states. Cheese can be kosher, and a lot of times here it is, but restaurants that are kosher serve either dairy or meat, but not both. So, this restaurant that we happened to be at was a meat restaurant, so they don't have any dairy products. The soy nacho cheese was really gross, but in general its incredibly easy to eat as a vegetarian or vegan here.

Q: Funny about the cottage cheese... wonder why that is?

A: A friend of mine here told me that the cottage cheese comes in such small containers because after its open, it doesnt last for very long. Maybe something about the freshness and lack of preservatives. So, they put it in small containers (think like a store brand individual yogurt size) so that you finish it before it goes bad. Ours usually last about 2 days in the fridge (or one serving each if we're both having some).

Q: How do you adjust the blinds if they are outside the window, and don't they get torn up in the wind and weather? Or is the weather always perfect in Israel ;-)

A: They're amazing and I want them back in the states. Instead of being fabric like they usually are at home, the blinds are made out of a really heavy duty metal or opaque plastic, and come down to cover the entire window. You can leave openings for light to come in, but if you close them all the way they completely block out all light from outside. Its actually really nice to not be woken up by the light in the morning, and it also helps to keep things warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Also, when the wind and dust pick up, it blocks it out. Each window has a cord next to it that you pull either up or down to raise and lower the blinds, so it all gets done from inside. It's pretty neat!

Video: Dusty Goes to the Shuk

I know, it's not a video of us, but it's a video I made for my friend Dusty. Intended audience: 4/5th grade religious school class.

Enjoy!

Things To Get Used To In Israel

There are lots of amazing things about Israel. Some of them take some getting used to. No, I'm not talking about how everything shuts down from Friday night to Saturday night for Shabbat (although that is pretty awesome and took some getting used to) or how nachos at a kosher bar taste awful with soy-based cheese sauce (only tried that once...when a kosher place serves meat, don't try the fake cheese). Over the last month and a half, there are some things that we have had to get used to. Some are good things, some are more challenging.

• A "dude mayim" is a hot water heater. In Israel, boilers are not constantly on. Instead, you just turn them on when you need them (or when it's too dark out to get solar power). This means that if you want to take a shower in the morning during winter, you have to get up about half an hour before you actually want to get up so that you can turn on the water heater. That's been an adjustment.
• Everyone uses their car horn all the time. Israelis are impatient. And their excessive use of their car horns makes for a LOT of noise pollution. You just have to get used to it.
• In the US, when you visit someone, they say, "so when are you going to visit again?" In Israel, when you visit someone, they say, "so when are you going to move here?"
• Produce is SUPER cheap in the Shuk. And other things, like cereal, are SUPER expensive.
• Blinds in Israel go on the outside of the window and completely block out light. That has been awesome. In our San Diego condo, I could never sleep past 8 or so because of the light, no matter how late I went to sleep. Here, I can sleep until I wake up. So much better!
• Being subjected to a security search before entering anywhere and being asked if you have a weapon nearly every time.
• Grocery store carts have lateral movement on all four wheels (like at Trader Joe's).
• When you check out at many stores, they ask if you want to purchase items for tzadakah (in this case, it's best translated as "charity").
• And you bag your own groceries.
• Cottage cheese comes in very small containers. You can't even get more than an equivalent of a single-serve of yogurt.
• If you order coffee, it's going to come with milk. "Drip" coffee is nearly impossible to find. All coffee beverages at restaurants are espresso based (Americano, etc.) or made with instant coffee (which is much better here).
• Kitchen knives from here suck. We're really glad we brought our own.
• One of the most fun games to play is "Tourist Group: Jewish or Not?"
• The system of pedestrian traffic lights works so much better than in the states. When the walk sign is green, you can walk. When it's red, you shouldn't. No flashing, no counting down. It also helps that most cross-walks only go half way across the street at a time. So even if you've started walking across the street, you can easily make it to safety off the road.
• Most bathrooms in homes don't have locks. And the light switch is outside the door. It's weird.

Of course, this is not a comprehensive list. Israel is an incredible place. It just takes some getting used to.

If you've lived here, what were things that you had to get used to? Let me know in the comments!

Shabbat Review: Yakar

Shul: Yakar

Location: 10 HaLamed-Hey Street, Jerusalem

Date: April 29, 2011

Description: Yakar provides another very musical, energetic Shabbat environment. Like Shira Chadasha, it is a modern, egalitarian Orthodox environment, meaning that while there is a mechitza (divider between men and women), it is placed directly down the middle of the room so that both men and women have an equal view of the aron kodesh, or ark (cabinet with the Torah scroll). Yakar differs from Shira Chadasha, though, in that only men chanted parts of the service. Yakar also differs from Shira Chadasha in that there were much fewer people because the space was much smaller (About 100-115 people in a space that was about half the size of the CBI Activity Center. For comparison's sake, Shira Chadasha is about the size of half of the CBI Social Hall.).

Yakar had a Rabbi that took more of a "leader" role. He called out sections of the service, truly led the community in songs, and even encouraged dancing during certain parts of the service. While it's difficult to compare the two because the previous Friday was during Pesach Chol HaMoed (meaning no Kabbalat Shabbat), there was a much greater sense of ruach (spirit) in the community. There was more singing, and a stronger feeling of kavanah (emotional connection). The melodies were disconnected in mood; each one was written for each prayer without thought towards the service as a whole. Yet, they were all similar in style, as a vast majority were written by Shlomo Carlebach.

Although this type of service (everyone kinda does they're own thing and is brought together every once in a while) is still not my Cup O' Joe (and yes, that's actually the name of a coffee shop here...pronounced "Koh-pa Jo"), I felt more comfortable here. Maybe it was the music. Maybe it was the fact that I was sitting next to other Reform Jews, other Rabbinic students who were just finishing up their year in Israel and therefore had much to share. Maybe it was the fact that I brought my own siddur (prayerbook) that had English translations and commentaries (in case you're wondering, I use the Koren Sacks siddur when I'm not at a Reform shul...while I don't always agree with its liturgical philosophy, it's the best siddur that has EVERYTHING). Whatever the reason, and in spite of my uncomfortablity with the traditional texts, I really felt like I was at Shabbat in Jerusalem.

Something Special: I don't always like what the traditional prayers say. (For example, on Friday night, we are supposed to read some special Shabbat laws from Mishna including one that explains that if a women is careless in the laws of menstruation, separates challah, or lights the Shabbat light, she could die in childbirth. Oh, and those are all "transgressions." Yeah, I'm going to have fun in liturgy class with that one. Expect a post on it later. But I digress.) However, in the commentary for Psalm 92, a song for the day of Shabbat, the commentary notes, "Shabbat is not merely a day of rest, it is a rehearsal, within time, for the age beyond time when humanity, guided by the call of God, moves beyond strife, evil and oppression, to create a world of harmony, respecting the integrity of creation as God's work, and the human person as God's image," in other words, the Messianic Age. Now, that's a really big sentence that needs to get unpacked, but my intention is not to do that here. This sentence really struck me about how to observe Shabbat. I take from this that Shabbat is meant to be a rehearsal for the Messianic Age, a perfect time of peace and harmony. Our job on Shabbat is to act that way. For some, this means refraining from all work. For others, it means engaging in tikkun olam, repairing the world. However you wish to read it, the point is that we should try to be better people on Shabbat.

So, here's a challenge to you: this next Shabbat, try to be a better person.

Take-home Value: Lots of ruach, mechitza is still there, and try to keep up because they daven really fast.

Would I Go Again: I would not go out of my way to go here again, but I also would not say no if a group was going.

Shabbat Review: Shira Chadasha

Shul: Shira Chadasha
Location: 12 Emek Rafaim Street, Jerusalem
Date: April 22, 2011 (Shabbat Pesach Chol Hamoed)

Description: I should preface my description by pointing out that it was Shabbat Pesach Chol Hamoed, or the Shabbat in the middle of Pesach. This means that the service was slightly different than normal. For example, on Chol Hamoed, 90% of Kabbalat Shabbat (think L'chu N'ran'na, Rom'mu, L'cha Dodi) is not said.

Shira Chadasha is an incredibly special shul. It is a modern, egalitarian Orthodox environment, meaning that while there is a mechitza (divider between men and women), it is placed directly down the middle of the room so that both men and women have an equal view of the aron kodesh, or ark (cabinet with the Torah scroll). Shira Chadasha also allows women to chant parts of the service and read from the Torah, something unusual to Orthodox communities. At our service, a man led mincha (afternoon service), followed by a woman leading half of the erev Shabbat service and a man leading the other half.

Yet, it was an Orthodox service, meaning that when I say "leading the service," it means that person was standing at a podium speaking louder than everyone else. There were no page numbers and very little direction. If you didn't know what was going on, you were screwed. While I have been leading Reform services for a while, I am still getting my bearings on the traditional service elements, style, and nusach (liturgical melodies). I was often lost. If I found my place, the community was chanting along so quickly that I couldn't follow along. In some ways it was a humbling experience, as I was like the slow kid in class. In others, I felt like I was in a religious center for a completely other religion. Sure, the concepts were the same, but it was so out of my comfort zone that all I could do was observe.

In my mind, a good service (and yes, that phrase is INCREDIBLY subjective) provides a balance between keva (the written words) and kavanah (the emotional connection, or what you bring to the service). From what I had heard, Shira Chadasha provided rich kavanah in an Orthodox setting. And while it may have been because we were there on chol hamoed, there did not seem to be much kavanah. We were there, we did the prayers, we left. After the service, I turned to Sarah and said, "Notwithstanding a few melodies and the room setup, we could have been in any Orthodox shul." I was a little disappointed, but I want to give it another shot when it is not chol hamoed.

Something Special: In the G'vurot (God's Might) blessing of the Amidah, we say "mashiv ha'ruach u'morid hagashem (you cause the wind to shift and the rain to fall)" from Simchat Torah until Pesach and "morid ha'tal (you rain dew upon us)" from Pesach until Simchat Torah. Whenever I was having a rough day during services at CBI, I would smile during while saying the mashiv haruach phrase because I knew that when it changed to morid ha'tal, I would be in Israel beginning this journey. Although I was still sad about leaving San Diego and CBI, I smiled during that Amidah as I said morid ha'tal. I had made it to Israel.

Take-home Value: Get in, do the prayers, try to keep up, throw in a smidgen of kavanah, Shabbat Shalom.

Would I Go Again: Yes. I want to go again. From everything I've heard, Shira Chadasha is a wonderful place to daven and what I experienced goes against what everyone had said. I think I will go during a normal Shabbat, though.

Video: Yom Hazikaron 2011

Shabbat Unplugged (March 25, 2011): A Tribute to the Music of Debbie Friedman

Temple Emanu-El, March 25, 2011

Shabbat Unplugged: A Tribute to the Music of Debbie Friedman

Featuring:

Julie Silver - Guitar & Vocals

Adam Blotner - Guitar & Vocals

Jeremy Gimbel - Percussion, Drums, & Vocals

Harley Magsino - Bass

Andrew Miller - Piano

Jenny Pinzari - Vocals

Shari Ressel - Flute

Rabbi Martin Lawson

Cantorial Soloist Myrna Cohen

Arrangements by Adam Blotner (Song 13 by Jeremy Gimbel)

"Sing Unto God"

"Psalm 150 / Haleluyah"

"L'cha Dodi"

"Bar'chu (Siegel)"

"Ahavat Olam"

"Sh'ma / Thou Shall Love"

"Mi Chamocha / Miriam's Song"

"V'shamru"

"Adonai S'fatai (Taubman)"

"May The Words (Silver)"

"You Are The One"

"The Youth Shall See Visions"

"Fix You (Coldplay)/ Mi Shebeirach"

"Those Who Sow"

"Oseh Shalom"

"T'filat Haderech & Oseh Shalom"

How I Will Review Shabbat Services

When it comes to Jewish prayer environments, Jerusalem kinda kicks every other city's butt. Walk down the street and you're at the holiest site for Jewish prayer. And it's observed in a traditional Jewish fashion: no musical instruments (save voices, of course), men and women are separated, no leader, with everyone praying by themselves yet part of the larger community. Walk down the street, and you'll find yourself in a tiny room with men and women praying together with a guitar playing cantor and a female rabbi. Isn't Judaism wonderful?

Over the next year, I will be attending many many services in a myriad places and environments. I hope to review each location to help myself process what I have experienced. Of course, no two services are alike. And services are so incredibly personal to their communities, that it is my absolute intent to observe and comment strictly from my own perspective. My words are not meant in any way to represent any communities I have previously, currently, or will in the future be a part of, nor do they represent anything other than my own opinion. These are my own thoughts. Sometimes, they will even differ from Sarah's opinion.

Each review will include four elements:

1) An general description of the services with some commentary.

2) Something that stood out and made that particular service or experience unique and meaningful. This could be a part of the service, a piece of text or commentary that stood out to me, or something about the experience as a whole that was especially significant.

3) A simplified, one sentence thought about the services with a "take-home" value. In other words, how I would describe the service in one sentence.

4) Would I go here again?

You may not agree with my thoughts, and that's okay. My style of Judaism and Jewish practice works for me, and I would never dare assume that my preferred style works for everyone. I welcome challenges, yet hope that these descriptions will help you think more about what types of services work for you. Maybe you want to incorporate an aspect of one community's t'filah (prayer) experience into your own.

T'filah is personal. And this is my journey.

Seriously, Don't Worry - Our Travels from Jerusalem to the North for Shabbat & Pesach

(NOTE: While this is being posted later, this part was written on Friday, April 15, by Jeremy.)

We got on the bus right outside our apartment, on Keren Hayesod (I think my dad once dated a girl with the same name). The bus took us right to the central bus station. We went through a quick security line and hopped right onto a bus to Tel Aviv.

This was my first time on an Israeli bus. I had my concerns, just as nearly every American does, about the safety of the bus and the central bus station. After all, a bomb exploded on a telephone pole close to the central bus station just a few weeks ago. But here was my reality: nothing happened. If you have ever taken a city bus to Grand Central or Penn Station in Manhattan and connected to a Port Authority bus, you have experienced

the same thing that we did this morning. The only exception was that when we walked into the central bus station, our bags were scanned and we walked through a metal detector. That's it.

The people here are incredibly friendly. After my previous experiences, and from what I had heard from everyone, I was expecting a people with thick skins and a disdain for foreigners. My experience has been completely the opposite: kind people and a welcoming tone towards non-Israelis. Here's a perfect example: Sarah and I were walking from the bus towards the Tel Aviv train station. Along the way, a man in a red jump suit was passing out newspapers. He handed one to Sarah, but she declined. He then said to her, "Well, nevertheless, Shabbat shalom." That's today's Israel.

We arrived in the train station, got our tickets and grabbed some lunch. We ate at a falafel restaurant and I had my first shawarma (think chicken gyros). Of course, it was delicious. Since we were running ahead of schedule, we were able to get on an earlier train to go north. The ticket system is like BART where you get a ticket with a certain value on it, you put it through one machine when you enter the station, and put the ticket through again when you arrive at your destination. On board, it was a similar train experience to the states: quiet, gorgeous scenery, some people playing games, some people reading the newspaper, some people on their cell phones, and tons of soldiers with uzies. Oh wait, that's just in Israel.

(NOTE: This rest of this is written by Sarah, who will write periodically as a guest blogger.)

After a little more than an hour and a half, we arrived at the train station in Nahariya where we were welcomed by my great uncle Benia (and his driver Guy). Even though it was around 2 in t

he afternoon by the time we arrived, he took us down the street to the restaurant "Penguin" for some lunch. Jeremy and I had eaten just a few hours before in the Tel Aviv train station, so we shared a light salad and tasted the side dishes that came with Benia's chicken liver. After lunch we drove to Kibbutz Lochamei Hagetaot, which for me, feels like going home. We were greeted by my aunt Pnina and did a little unpacking in our wing of their home. Just in the last few years, Benia and Pnina added an addition to their house, which is a shelter in case of rocket attacks. The shelter happens to double as a lovely space for guests, with our own room and bathroom.

We sat in the living room and chatted with Benia and Pnina. The conversation was a little slower since most things had to be repeated in English (since Benia speaks only Hebrew and Jeremy speaks mostly English). After a short time chatting, it was time for the traditional afternoon nap. Since this was Jeremy's first time at the kibbutz and we're not much for napping during daylight hours, we decided to take a little walk around the kibbutz. We walked past the old houses that have been there for 50+ years, the newer additions for the young families, the grapefruit tree groves, the cows, the amphitheater, the Holocaust museum, "Beit Lochamei Hagetaot" (the Ghetto Fighter's House), the children's Holocaust museum, "Yad l'Yeled" (Hand to Children), and my favorite part of the kibbutz, the Tivol factory. Now, for those of you in the states who are unfamiliar with Tivol, its like MorningStar Farms products, but about a bagillion times better. Everything that Tivol makes is vegetarian, and they have over 120 different products, made from everything from soy chicken to soy beef to corn, broccoli, lentils, cauliflower, zucchini, and edamame.

After our quick tour of the kibbutz we were picked up by my mom's cousin Soni and her husband Nitzan, and were taken to their house in Tal El for Shabbat dinner. I always enjoy spending time with the Levinson family, and especially with their three girls, Tomi, Danna, and Addie. I think being at their house was especially nice for Jeremy, since they just returned to Israel from 9 years living in Australia, so their English is perfect. After a whole day of trying to follow conversations in Hebrew, that was a welcome change. After dinner we went back to Benia and Pnina's, and had a great night sleep until far too late Saturday morning (our alarm didn't go off).

Shabbat morning we went to breakfast at the "bayit va'kayit," which is the bed and breakfast on the kibbutz. For me, this is the best breakfast in the whole world.

Homemade bread, a myriad different cheeses, tons of different vegetables prepared in different ways, and my absolute favorite, garlic roasted with honey. I have no idea how they make it, but spread it on some homemade bread with a little homemade goat cheese and its pure heaven.

When Saturday afternoon rolled around, Soni, Nitzan, Tomi, and Addie picked us up from the kibbutz, and we drove the hour or so to Zichron Ya'akov for my third cousin's Bar Mitzvah (his grandfather and my grandmother were first cousins). The Bar Mitzvah was really lovely, and in true Israeli style, very casual. While in the states Bar Mitzvah's tend to be filled with photobooths and crafts and games run by the DJ, here there was a ropes course set up in my cousin's back yard with a zip-line from the roof down to where the tables were. Very casual, delicious food, and a true celebration of Uriah, the Bar Mitzvah boy. For me, it was really nice to see my grandma's cousin Rena, her children Merav (the mother of the Bar Mitzvah boy), Tsafnat, and Ohad, their spouses, and some of their kids.

After the Bar Mitzvah we went home with my cousin Eitan (really my mom's second cousin) to Yodfat. His daughter Shiri was super nice and stayed at Eitan and Gila's house so we could stay at her house for the few days we were there. Shiri's house is beautiful, with a 270 degree view of the mountains surrounding Yodfat. Sunday morning we walked up to Eitan and Gila's house for breakfast, then Eitan took us on a tour of Yodfat and the surrounding area. It was really interesting to walk around with someone who not only has lived there for over 60 years but really built the community with his hands from the ground up. We saw the synagogue, the little market for the community, Eitan's music studio where he has his lessons, the horses, and the part I was really looking forward to seeing - the Monkey Forest. The Monkey Forest is like a small zoo, but the animals are mostly free to walk around wherever they want. We saw some beautiful peacocks, including an albino peacock, pelicans, llamas, sheep, goats, emus, ostriches, and my favorite, the monkeys.

Sunday afternoon rolled around, and my mom's friend Tamar picked us up and took us to her house in Yuvalim (another small neighborhood in the same region as Yodfat). We enjoyed a lovely dinner with Tamar and her family, and Jeremy even made Israeli salad for all of us (He's getting really good!). We spent the evening chatting and sitting on the patio, with delicious food and tea made from fresh herbs from their garden.

Monday was Erev Pesach (the first night of passover), and we spent the day hanging out in Shiri's house and doing absolutely nothing. In the evening, we headed over to Eitan's son Amram's home, where we had the seder. There were about 25 people at the seder, including all four of Eitan and Gila's children and grandchildren, Eitan's brother Iki, and many other family and friends. We broke matzah, read the Pesach story (which the kids also acted out), asked questions, sang answers, and, of course, ate. Now, this was my first time not being at home for Pesach, and I was a little weary about being somewhere else for seder. However, Eitan's seder was strikingly similar to the seder my parents lead at home, just in Hebrew. I guess it's something that goes way back in the Bekin genes. After dinner, Shiri took a moment and said that she wanted to remember my grandma, Esther. I'm not even sure that she knew that the first seder was my grandma's birthday, but she spoke about how much my grandmother meant to her and how much she is missed this year. I know that this sentiment was felt at a lot of seders all across the world this year. Pesach will truly never be the same without her.

The next day we were picked up by Soni and Nitzan and returned to the kibbutz for lunch with the whole Anolik clan. Everyone had been at different places for seder the night before, so it was really nice to spend some time all together. My cousins Moshele and Raya came with three of their four children from the Golan, and Asnat and Ilan came with their two kids from Shlomi, near the Lebanon border. We had the most delicious lunch all together, and chatted and sang pesach songs. After lunch we went with my cousin's to Pnina's sister's house for tea and dessert, then up to Asnat's and Ilan's house in Shlomi for more tea and more dessert. By the time we got back to the kibbutz, we were stuffed and ready to crash.

Our original plan was to go to the Holocaust museums on the kibbutz Wednesday morning before heading back to Jerusalem, but Asnat and Ilan volunteered to take us on a tour of the north, which we happily accepted. Our morning started with a drive up the coast to Rosh Hanikrah, which is the northern-most point on the west coast of Israel. While there, we visited the caverns that have been carved into the hillside by the crashing waves, and even had a tour of the caverns by Moses himself (…or at least someone dressed as Moses). From Rosh Hanikrah we drove east, went through Kabri, Ma'alot Tarshiha, and Sasa to the ancient city of Tsfat.

Tsfat (or Safed, if you're looking at an English map) is best known as the center of Kabbalah, or Jewish mysticism. We walked through the artist's colony, visited the Ari synagogue and just took in the feeling of being in such a mystical place. Since most of the city was closed for pesach, we went to a nearby Arab village for lunch. The restaurant is one of Asnat and Ilan's favorites in the region, and we enjoyed delicious food while overlooking the town. From there we went back to the train station in Nahariya, back to Tel Aviv via the train, then back to Jerusalem via the bus. Because there are so many people who come to Jerusalem during Pesach and the city buses were extremely crowded, we decided to just walk home from the central bus station.

Even though we had a great trip and got to spend quality time with a lot of family (Jeremy met over 35 different family members on this trip), it was good to get home after 5 days away. We would have told you all about the trip sooner, but as you can see in the previous post, we returned to no internet…

(NOTE: A video of our trip is below & pictures can be found on Sarah's Facebook page.)

Remember "Flash Sessions?"

I first learned about the internet the same way most people in my generation learned about it: America Online, or AOL. I remember the first time we connected to the internet. The whir and buzz of our blazing fast 14.4 kbps modem, the tiny, blurry images, and the frustration of hearing the phone ring. Why would that be frustrating? Because if someone called us while we were online, we knew it meant that we would be kicked offline as the phone line took priority. It was an incredible innovation for its day. Our family started using AOL when it came with a whopping 10 free hours for one month of internet usage. "TEN HOURS!" I remember thinking. "Who in their right mind would need more than 10 hours of internet access in one month?!" Ah, those were the days.

In order to not use up all of our allotted time and have an overage charge, we employed "flash sessions." Here was the basic gist of a flash session: You would press "Start Flash Session," it would connect to AOL's servers, send all of your mail you had already written offline, grab all of your new mail, and sign you off, usually taking only about 1-2 minutes of time. Of course, as the internet expanded, and high-speed internet access anywhere and everywhere became the norm, we forgot about "Flash Sessions."

That is, we forgot about them until we came home from our Pesach trip.

You see, for the first few weeks of living here, we were...well...taking advantage of the fact that our neighbors didn't have a password on their wireless network. When we got back from the north, we discovered that they had added a password, thus leaving us without internet. Long story short (trust me, a very long story not worth repeating), because of Pesach, the soonest that the internet company could come and install our internet would be one week. It was our only option.

Since we didn't have internet in the house, we had to find it outside our apartment complex. We found the two best places to be the coffee house down the street, and a little walk-way right outside our apartment. Yet, it was a life-changing week. We are so used to having constant internet access in our house, we had to plan out our internet usage.

And we had to do our own, updated version of "flash sessions." We would go downstairs, make sure we were connected, our iPhone/iPod Touches would pull in new mail, send mail, and we would go back upstairs until the next time we went outside. But this didn't just happen outside our homes. We eventually found ourselves taking 15 minutes to walk a 5 minute distance, because there was wifi along the way. It changed the way we lived for that week.

Now, there is some value to the idea of being completely disconnected. For the entire week of our travels in the north, we didn't have constant internet access either. For the short-term, we were fine pulling in emails only when we could. It was liberating and gave us time to focus on the family we were there to visit. Yet, after a week, we were ready to get back to our digital lives, connecting with our families, catch up on the blogs providing news and commentaries about the world outside Israel. However, dealing with the lack of internet for another week was a real challenge. We became lethargic, easily frustrated. We were addicts who needed a long-term fix.

And then something strange happened: we had internet, and we still acted like we didn't. We found ourselves thrilled to find wifi along any path we were walking. We still fell into the habits we developed when we didn't have internet.

It's now been almost two weeks since our internet was installed, and life is back to normal. We catch up with family, we connected with the outside world, we observed the world's outpouring of emotions at the killing of Osama bin Laden, we caught up on our shows. And we do it all from the comfort of our living room.

We're slowly getting settled in this foreign land. This has been part of the process. We started with scraps, lost what we had, and obtained our own through legitimate means. And in that simple story, we continued our journey of establishing ourselves as one-year residents.

The Israeli song goes, "Bashana haba'ah neshev al ha'mirpeset - Next year, we will sit on the porch." For us, the line continues: "v'lichtov et ha'blog shelanu - and write our blog."

Video: Yom HaShoah 2011

Yes, I'm a little behind in our entries...I'm hoping to have some more today.

In the mean time, here's a video of our experience during Yom HaShoah in Jerusalem, 2011.

It began on Sunday night by going to the national ceremony at Yad Vashem, with speeches from President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu. News story & pictures: http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=218690

Then, on Monday, we awoke to the news about Osama bin Laden. While we could infer the celebrations in the States, the mood here was largely unchanged. I don't know if this is because bin Laden was not as large of a threat to Israel's statehood than other players in this region (e.g.: Hamas, Iran, etc.), but for Israelis, life went on as normal.

Every Yom HaShoah and Yom Hazikaron, the two days of remembrance before Israel's Independence Day, a siren blares through the whole country and everything stops. The usual images of this event are cars stopped on the freeway, but we wanted to see if we could get a slightly different perspective so we went to The Shuk.

There is no doubt it was a memorable experience, but The Shuk looked like it normally does at that time of day - pretty empty. If any of you, our Eleven Listeners...er...Readers, have any suggestions for where we should go for Yom Hazikaron, please let us know in the comments!