From Day to Day

Yom HaShoa, day of rememberence of the Holocaust, Yom Hazikaron and Yom Hatzmaut were some of the most incredible and unique experiences I've had in Israel. In Israel for Holocaust Rememberence Day there is a two minute siren that goes off where everyone in the country stands and has a moment of silence. We were standing in a town square and then the siren went off. Honestly, there has never been a time or place where I felt time stop so realistically. Everyone just stopped and stood, even city buses stopped and I could see everyone, including the bus drivers, stand up in rememberence. It was beautiful. Knowing that at that moment for a minute everyone was thinking about the same thing, about the death and destruction of 6,000,000 of our people. But my favorite part was then when the siren stopped, and everyone immediatly started moving again. As if we have moved on from this act and have been able to birth a new state for our people, but we will always remember. I had butterflies the entire time. In America they show films of it, but unless you're there, you just don't feel that atmosphere. Time feels as if it stops. Really just halts. It's so unique.
On Yom Hazikaron, remembering fallen soldiers and those who have died in terror attacks, another two minute siren is played. We were lucky enough to spend the night before at the Kotel (Western Wall) where the state's official ceremony takes place. We were priveleged in seeing the President of Israel and the Head of Defense speak at the ceremony. The ceremony started with marching in the paratroopers and then the two minute siren went off. Like in Yom HaShoah, everything stops. All around me people were crying. In America, the chances of you knowing someone in the army, let alone someone who has passed away, is very slim. But in Israel it's different, everyone has been in the army and almost everyone has known someone who has died. The speeches that were made were difficult to follow, but counselors were around trying to translate for us. It was a really moving experience and I'm so grateful we were able to go. The day of yom Hazikaron we first went to the Kibbutz's ceremony. The Kibbutz has lost multiple people in the fighting before Israel was a state, and two boys since the state was established. There was another siren, and then the ceremony. This ceremony was really special and much easier to understand. Poems were read, songs were played and flowers were placed on the graves. We then attended classes and got ready for an exciting night.
The night of Yom Hazikaron is one of the strangest transitions. Israel transitions from one of the saddest days of the year to the happiest: Independence Day. First, we had a final Yom Hazikaron ceremony and then we started the Independence Day party. We danced with the Kibbutz people and watched fireworks. Then, at 10:00pm, we headed into Jerusalem for dancing in the same square we witnessed the Yom HaShoah siren. There was mass dancing where you grab anyone's hand and start dancing with them. There were hundreds of people all celebrating the 61st birthday of Israel. It was so much fun. We spent the next day hanging out at another Kibbutz where there were two pools, the sun, and another youth movement that we got to play basketball, volleyball, soccer and swim against. It was a relaxing, great way to celebrate Israel's Independence day. I think that that week was the most "Israeli experience" we have had so far, and I was intrigued by every minute of it.

Wandering in the Desert

Passover (or Pesach) in America is two nights of two hour long seders, lots of food, and large family time. But in Israel, the expectation of an even longer, more detailed seder was greatly mistaken.
I spent my Pesach at my family friend's house, the Levins (I have discussed them in a previous blog). I went to their house, helped with setting the tables, and awaited the guests. At home there are anywhere from 20-40 people at the seders I attend. However, this seder was quaint, with only 13 guests including the family. Beginning the seder, I was very intimidated. The hagaddah was all in Hebrew, and I thought I would be spending the next two hours being lost in translation. Once again, I was mistaken. You see, in secular Israeli society, some things are more important than holidays. Like football (soccer) games. The game started at 9:45pm, so we needed to be done with dinner by them. It was really quite humorous. To quicken the seder Shuki (the father) and his brother would start reading along with their father and eventually read instead of him. They would read very fast, so we only ended up filling one glass of wine for the prayers somehow, we never made a Hillel sandwich, somehow we skipped half the plagues and all in all, our seder lasted a whole 15 minutes. That's right, 15 minutes, I surely am the envy of many young Jews. the dinner was good, and dessert even better. What I loved the most about the seder was the fact that for the first time in about 14 years, I didn't need to do the Four Questions. For once, I was not the youngest, the 11 year old Michal did them wonderfully. Though she got shy and I had to help but still, it was different.
The next day I went to feel what it was like to be an Israelite leaving Egypt in a way. I embarked on one of the funniest journeys on EIE, Yam L'Yam (sea to sea). This was a five day hiking trip without showers, toilets, and sometimes hiking without adult supervision. These circumstances led to a smelly, enjoyable hike through the beauty of Israel's North. We hiked the second highest mountain in Israel, Mt. Meron. Everywhere we went was exquisite.
EIE was split into three groups, and from those three groups we were split into another three groups. My group was made up of 10 people, and I didn't originally know them all well. It was a great bonding experience, and I'm proud to say we didn't get lost. We called ourselves "Chipotle" in memory of the great burritos we miss so much. Not that burritos are kosher to Passover. Another great thing about Israel is that it is illegal to sell "chametz" (bread) during Passover. Every candy, snack, entre, etc, is made kosher for passover, so there's no way of breaking it. We spent five days hiking with basically matzah and chocolate spread to fill us up. Not ideal, but it didn't get old either. My Pesach in Israel was such an immense transition from the darkness of our Poland trip to the happiness of our Sea to Sea. We ended in the gorgeous city of Haifa, and then returned to Tzuba. Being away from Tzuba for two and a half weeks seemed surreal and it was so nice to return home. We got new roommates and new rooms (though I ended up in the same room which I didn't mind). My new roommates are amazing, and I'm lucky enough to be rooming once again with a Canadian. My two other roommates are from Boston and New York, and we all bonded with Chinese food our second night together. We knew that spending the last two months with each other was going to be amazing, and so far, it has been.

Walking in Their Empty Shoes

Poland, before 1939, was called "Polinyah" by Eastern European Jews. Polinyah meant "Here Lies God," it was the land of the most incredible Jewish community in the world. It housed hundereds of thousands of Jewish people thriving and living equally. But walking through the streets of Krakow, Lublin and Warsaw, and ghostly pacing through the death camps of Majdonik and Auschwitz, Polinyah should be translated into "Here Lies God's Ashes".

Preparing for Poland in class meant intense studying of pre-Holocaust Jewish life in Eastern Europe, but emotinally preparing was something else. There's no way to expect any emotions to be felt, and no way to know what will effect you and what won't. What I do know is that I prepared by promising myself I would not hate Poland. Poland is a place where, from 1939-1945, was occupied by Nazi Germany, and hating the place that is Poland would do nothing and just be hypocritical. So, I went in with an open mind, a winter coat, and my grandfather's story in hand.

Poland was full of emotions and 6 hour bus rides. But those hours were filled with a very surreal experience. My grandfather is a Holocaust survivor from Piotrakow, Poland and throughout my entire life I have heard, read, and introduced his story to multiple audiences but this was the most personal way I've read his story. I read it while winding on the same roads he once did, at one point we were about 2 miles away from Piotrakow.

The first place we went after getting in was called Ano Ticho, a town that once was a shtetl (a small very consentrated, strong Jewish community). The remanents of Jewish life are overshadowed by the Church in the middle of town. However, the people did reconstruct the synogogue and it was beautiful. After having a service there, we were taken on a bus, told to be silent, and taken to a forest. Just as the Jews of Ano Ticho were sent, we had no idea where we were going or why. But our fates ended much differently. We entered the forest and approached three fenced off areas, with yardsite candles bording them and Israeli flags hanging proud and sad. We were told that we were at the mass graves of Ano Ticho. The entire 1,000 Jewish populated town was beneath our feet. over 60 years ago these 1000 peoples had been shot simply for being Jewish. Ano Ticho was the first town to have this happen, and many more had the same fate. Our Poland experience was filled with many moments like this, where we know that right below our feet are our people, innocent people who were ruthlessly murdered. Yet, we left the forest after lighting candles, praying, crying, and knowing we could walk out.

Though I would love to write about every place we went in Poland, I will spare the reader from sore eyes of staring at a computer screen. The next place I am writing about is Majdonik, and then Krakow...

Majdonik is the remanents of a death camp. We got there by bus, on a bright, sunny day. It was strange, because it lies on the border of a highway, with apartment buildings close by. The first thing I thought of was, "How can you drive by every morning to work, or wake up and go to sleep with a death camp as your backyard?" We entered the camp, the barbed wire staring at me, recognizing my heritage as I recognized it's barriers from my people's escape. I felt sick, my stomach turned and a lump made itself comfortable in my throat. I am a very emotional person, but the moment my foot stepped into the camp, my emotions turned off. We walked through and then stopped in front of a building labeled in German. We walked in, and suddenly, the squeeze of my friend's hand made me realize where we were. I looked up, staring at the shower heads above me. Little over 60 years ago these shower heads had sprayed gas throughout this room, and the floors that I walked through were littered with the souls that never left it. 118 young Jewish students walked out of that gas chamber, where hundreds of thousands of people had not exited. We continued our walk, my friend Jordy and I held hands as we saw the shoes, hair and small tokens left with the memories of Majdonik. I saw the bunkers, and thought of the countless people who slept, and only some woke up in them. Still, I had not shed a single tear, my emotions were gone. I simply stared, because in a place like this, the haunting feeling of knowing everywhere you stepped was drenched in the blood and ashes of your people is imprinted in your thoughts. You want to cry but can't, it's too overwhelming. It wasn't until the creamtoriam that it hit me. That I really felt where I was. I looked into those ovens, into the chimneys, and I started to cry. I cried for the family I never met, and for the millions of people whose deaths were humiliated by these God awful ovens. We walked out of the crematorium and walked up to what looked like a mountain. What it was was a mountain of ashes. These ashes once breathed, talked, sang, laughed, cried, and finally, screamed. And now they sat, without shape of any human form. These are my people, this is what became of them.

I never realized how my grandfather could have survived this. I have heard his story over 10 times, read his book 3 times, and I thought that I slightly understood what he went through. I thought that the pictures he painted in my head made me understand emotion, but being in a place like this, actually being there... it added on even more. I have never felt so lucky and so afraid at the same time. How, at one point, thousands of people died in front of you and you can continue on, with a work camp or death camp as your childhood playground. I just can't wrap my head around it, even after being there. It is truly incredible, and I have never been more proud to be a Jew, to be the grandaughter of a Holocaust survivor than when I was there. My grandfather was marched and herded into those camps, and in the end, he struggled but got out. I stepped off a coach bus, walked in, and walked out. It wasn't easy to see the remanents of what happened, but it's impossible to think of seeing what actually happened. To see the living and the dead there. Papa, I know you're an avid reader of my blog. I just want to reitterate how much I love you and how much your story means to me, you're one of the strongest people I know, I knew that before... but I wanted you to know that too.

All in all, I didn't leave Poland with hatred. In fact, when not focused on the destruction, I really like Poland. Especially Krakow, there was something about that city. I understand why so many Jews had settled there before. There was a lot of culture, including a 1,000 person pillow fight, which was quite a sight to see. But I can't say I wasn't happy to go back home. When the wheels of the plane touched down, the plane, full of 118 American Jewish teens, and 140 Israeli teens, rang out with songs of "Am Yisrael Chai" and "Hatikva". There was cheering and clapping, and I know that what Poland taught me the most was how to appreciate. How to appreciate life, Judaism, the stories, and above all: Israel.

This land began before the destruction, but also from the destruction came this land. And now I had the priveledge to spend Pesach there as well.

Family Reunions

In middle-late March, my parents came to visit me! We went on many adventures including getting lost in Jerusalem, meeting up with family, and staying with our family friends (and who are my family here) for a weekend. It was so much fun! Having my parents and sister in Israel was great, I missed them and having a piece of home in this home felt right.

With my parents here we went to visit family that we have met only a few times before. One of the families my mom, sister and I had never met before. It was fun and bizzare knowing how many people we're related to! We also visited friends who are like my family...

The family I stay with almost every weekend is the Levins. The parents are Shuki and Shira, with a 20 year old son, Dor, 11 year old daughter, Michal, and a 25 year old daughter, Natalie, who stayed with us for the summer four years ago. I have gotten very close with them and hanging out with them and my actual family was a blast. What's awesome about Israel is that no more than 30 minutes lie hundreds of beautiful, ancient places to hang out. Natalie and Dor have scoped out every strange location and brought us to a few of them. They were really beautiful and not something you can see in America. I dont have much to about the trip... it was relaxing. Oh! We went to a restaurant where Natalie works at and one of the waiters opened the door for us and as we made contact and he said, "Bari?" It turned out to be one of my favorite camp counselors I haven't seen in two years! His name is Omer and he has known Natalie since 7th grade. It's a small Jewish world. The restaurant was a great break from Kibbutz food, I had a nice big steak. Something I had greatly missed.

Saying goodbye was difficult but they had a nice flight home and I'm sure my parents are slowly enjoying an empty nest.

The picture is of the girls of my family and the family we'd never met
So after my parents left we all got ready for Poland...

Sorry for the Delay...

I realized today that I had a neglected blog, and I am terribly sorry for that. Being in Israel can sometimes sweep you off your feet into a place where you forget what's happening anywhere else. This past month and a half since my last post has been completely packed. I will state in this blog what I did and then attempt to write a blog on those events.

- First of all... My parents came to visit!

-So on March 29th NFTY EIE left for one of the most difficult experiences of our lives. We went back in time to the days before The Holocaust in Eastern Europe and then walked through the eery boundries of death camps, mass graves and empty synogogues of what used to be the most Jewish thriving and most Jewishly populated country: Poland.
-From there we returned to the Holy Land for Pesach (Passover), which was very very different from my seder at home.
-After the seders I embarked on a beautiful, smelly journey with the other 118 students called "Yam L'Yam" or "Sea to Sea" where we hiked from the Kineret to the Mediterranean for five days without showers or toilets.
-Then I went to what I consider the most beautiful city in Israel, Haifa, I loved it! We were there for too short a time, and then went back home to Tzuba. It was amazing to be back. I got new roommates and have been hanging out here since.
-Being in Tzuba has been more real than before, it really feels like home. Since we've been here we have experienced three very special and unique days in Israel: Yom HaShoa (Holocaust Rememberence Day), Yom HaZikaron (Remembering fallen soldiers and those lost in terrorist groups) and the happiest day in Israel, Yom Hatzmaut (Independence Day).
Now, we have two full weeks of school, which is a first for us on EIE. We're beginning to feel the pressure of school work, APs, ACTs, SATs and finals. But we also know that we only have 26 days left in Israel and to spend with one another so school really is the least important thing on our mind. Basically we care most about living in the moment, living in Israel and living with each other without regrets of fights or attachment to America.
I call it America and not home because we all realized that this trip has redefined the word "home" for us. I will go into this in a later post. I have to go to math class now but expect more posts! I promise one for each bullet point!

I'll Write Soon,
Bari

You are soldiers now, no dancing...

After the relaxing few days by the Dead Sea, it only seems reasonable to throw 117 American students into the Israeli Army for a week of
bootcamp. To a very nonathletic, sensitive girl, being in the army didn't look so ideal. (In case you couldn't tell, that girl is me...) But I was determined to put in my all, not slack off physically or mentally, and I didn't. I spent five hard days, which is miniscule compared to Israeli basic training, waking up at 5:30 every morning and not getting a break (except for 30 minute meals) until 8:30-10:00pm every night. And I loved every minute of it.

We began our army training by being seperated into groups called "Tzevets". They were not co-ed, and my Tzevet was Tzevet Echad Esreh (group 11) with 12 girls, some girls I've known since preschool, others I met in bootcamp (all are on EIE with me). We were immediately introduced to our Mephakedet (commander), her name was Michal. Although you can never EVER call your commander by their name. The first day was spent running around getting our uniforms, sleeping bags and two blankets. When I say "running around" I mean it literally. Our transportation from place to place is explained by our commander saying, "You have 10 seconds to get in two lines, 10 seconds, MOVE" Then we count down (keep in mind this is all in Hebrew) in Hebrew and get in two lines. Then with the same format she would give us 20 seconds to run from here to there and make a chet (a formation that is used in the army). It seems tedious, but what I loved about our commander was that she would constantly want us to question to ourselves or her why we do something. Why we run everywhere, why we can't call our Mephakedet by her name, why we are kept in time, etc. And it made all the difference, it helped me to understand why the army is set up the way it is, it showed me that everything has purpose in the Army, and it made the experience purposeful.

Sorry for the ramble, anyways, we continued to get our stuff together and then she took us aside to ask us medical questions and such. So the rest of us were bored, and decided to joke around and we started dancing. Because of this, our commander comes over and says, "You are soldiers now, no dancing..." Though we kept serious faces, the moment she turned we couldnt help but laugh, it was embarrasing and hilarious.

That night was hard because I felt very homesick, and we had to stay in a huge formation for the opening ceremony to meet with some of the most terrifying people I've ever met in my entire life. They were the higher ranked commanders and they were absolutely horrifying! We had to stand in position with our arms behind our backs above our belts in a diamond shape with a V in our feet, this was very difficult because it wasn't a normal position.

But the next day was awesome. We woke up early and went to a huge field where we learned some combat tactics. We learned how to walk silently, what to do when a grenade is thrown, how to crawl (which gave me some serious battle wounds), and how to utilize all the skills we had learned. It was very educational and physical. We spent the whole day there and our commander said we had done a great job. That night, I walked over to the showers and instead of being allowed into the bathroom, the teenage Israeli girls with bathing suits on opened the door, SCREAMED at me, and slammed the door closed. It was rediculous!! I was in my red plaid flannel pajamas stomping around trying to communicate to them that I really needed to use the bathroom, and my friends said I looked like an angry soccer mom watching her kid not be played... I'm sure I was entertaining but the Israelis certainly did not think so. Finally I got in and then had to go back and clean around (while running) with our commander. Then, we finally got to go to sleep!

The next morning we woke up early, ran around, and began to learn about different rankings and then we had kitchen duty. Me and three girls spent two hours scrubbing these huge pots filled with oil to make them clean, and once they were finished, they poured more oil in. It was quite comical, but kitchen duty was cool because I got to use some Hebrew to communicate what I needed to do. That day was pretty easy because it was spent learning about rankings and how to use an M16.

The next day was what everyone had been looking forward to, shooting an M16. I wasn't particularly excited or nervous, but it was definitely something I dont do on a normal basis. Not surprisingly, I did not hit my target once, but that's okay. I got to keep two of the shells which was really cool. The next day was the closing ceremony and taking down of the tents. During the ceremony certain people are chosen from their Tzevet as the best soldier, and I was really hoping to get it, but even if I hadnt, I knew that I had done the best I could and I was proud of that. Then I found out that there's one "commending soldier" from the entire plugah (whole group) and two "most helpful soldiers" from each group (there were two groups made up of tzevets which made up the plugah)... so I didnt get an award from my Tzevet, but then... I got the award for most helpful out of my group and the other groups! I was sooooo happy to have recieved this honor and I'm very proud of it as well.

So that was my army experience, though I loved it, I know that it isn't something I want to do in my future, and that though I love Israel with all my heart, I probably will not make Aaliyah when I'm older. It was a great experience and I am very proud because I put in my all and it was recognized. But if you're ever in the army... do not dance!!

From Masada to the Dead Sea

Long time no write! For the past ten days I have embarked on one of the most unique experiences of my entire life. It was hectic, messy, enjoyable, some dissapointing, and altogether: incredible. In this post I am only writing on Masada and the Dead Sea for time's sake and organization. The next two will be about the army and then Eilat.
In the beginning of the ten days we left Kibbutz Tzuba, which hadn't felt like home to us. We began our adventures in the familiar area of Jerusalem going to ancient homes of Cohenim and other religious leaders from BCE. Though this was interesting, it wasn't until later that night (or next morning?)
At 3:45 am all of EIE awoke to a blackened sky, dreary eyes and a sense of excitement as we began to climb to the top of Masada to see the sunrise and study the tragedy there. The hike was much harder than I remember, the 5,000 stairs I climbed made the New Trier staircases seem like babysteps to this. On the way up I actually had a slight asthma attack, but no worries, the good ol' inhaler kept my breathing in check. When we got to the top the sense of relief was met with an incredible view and a cold wind which felt good from the sweat drenching from our bodies. However, the cold wind soon became bothersome because as our heat died down, and the sun came up, the temperature didn't seem to change much. But watching the sun rise as we said the Shema and other prayers was both spiritual and beautiful. The rest of the details I wont bore you all with because the next three hours was filled with learning about the mass murder/suicide that was carried out on the mountain.
From there I took the cable car down and we bussed to the Dead Sea. I have been to the Dead Sea before, but it was very shallow and so I didn't actually float. This time I really got to feel the floating sensation that the Dead Sea provides. It was so surreal! It was fun and luckily no one got the salt water in their eyes. We then did the typical mud spreading which was very fun. My skin was smooth for quite some time (of course, the army then reversed that feeling). The two days spent there were relaxing and great to get a tan going. I really loved it.