Rather than spending the day working on a micro-level to support the efforts of the Garin in Kiryat Gat, today we had the opportunity to see the work of the JDC in Israel on a broader scale.  We visited three sites on our day-long tour: a day care center for the elderly near Beer Shevah, a support center for individuals with disabilities within Beer Sheva, and a community center in the Bedouin village of Segev Shalom.

Undoubtedly the first two of these projects provide valuable and direct services to the Jews in Israel.  The day care center offers classes in physical health, art, and Torah, and provides social opportunities to its many patrons.  We were amazed at the beautiful art projects they created and enjoyed hearing their stories.  The center in Beer Sheva provides individuals with disabilities support, job skills, and advocacy so that they may fully integrate and support themselves within Israeli society.

Most interesting to me, however, was the JDC’s partnership with the community center in the Bedouin village of Segev Shalom.  The director of the community center made the point that if we, as Jews, are truly committed to the prosperity of the State of Israel, then we must be concerned about the prosperity of the state’s Bedouin minority.  An Israeli political, social, and economic structure that concerns itself only with the prosperity of its Jewish majority plants seeds for inequalities between Jews and non-Jews that will result in tensions that will ultimately harm the state.  Ensuring the prosperity of our Jewish state requires that we commit ourselves fully to breaking down the inequalities that exist among groups of Israeli citizens.

The director’s comments have strong implications for our relationship not just to the state of Israel but also with the disadvantaged in the United States.  The creation of a stronger community of American Jews requires that the American Jewish population commit itself fully to empowering non-Jewish individuals within our own American community to overcome those obstacles that they face in realizing their own potential.

As we traveled down into the south of Israel today I realized how quickly this week has passed us by.  I look forward to my last day tomorrow with Chiuchim (‘smiles’), the group of special needs students with whom I have been volunteering throughout the week.  My experiences with Chiuchim have indeed been my most challenging of all our activities.  As one with little facility with the Hebrew language, working with a class of five to seven students with special needs who speak only Hebrew has pushed me well out of my comfort zone and has made it difficult to engage with them in a way that I know I could have had I been able to communicate with them more easily.

Susan and Dan, my co-volunteers at Chiuchim, have been very helpful at translating to me as best they can, but their help certainly does not eliminate the challenge.  As Dan explained to me in the Shabbat-o-gram he sent me on Friday, “We work to make ourselves feel comfortable being uncomfortable.”  Had I limited myself to an Israel experience that did not put me out of my comfort zone, one where I interacted only with those who spoke English, I would not have been able to develop the same sort of connection to the state and to its people.  Over this past week, I have gotten to know this fun group of kids and also the work of the Garin in educating the children of its community.

Susan, Dan, and are excited about having some time tomorrow to teach the children some American games and to say goodbye to them before we begin the long journey back to the United States.  As one who has spent plenty of time working with young children in America, I at least know plenty of fun games for children that we can teach them before leaving.

This afternoon at the mall in Beer Shevah I cheerfully bought myself a couple of children’s books in Hebrew so that I can practice my language skills a little bit during the flight back home.  Hopefully the next time I come to Israel I will be strong enough in Hebrew to be able to interact with Israelis in an even more meaningful way.

So yesterday was Shabbat, which I have to say was absolutely amazing. On Friday night, we had a fantastic service organized by our Shabbat committee. Not surprisingly, it really made me feel like I was back at Brandeis. The difference this time, however, was that I could actually feel the words I was singing; being in Israel brings a whole new level to the songs and the words we were saying. Shabbat was so relaxing and calming and most of us spent the day outside doing yoga, relaxing, reading, or just hanging out. It was nice to soak up some sun before we head back to the Boston winter. Then last night we headed to Jerusalem, finally. As soon as we got there, I leaned over to a friend and said that I finally feel like I am in Israel. Seeing the outer walls of the Kotel was just an indescribable feeling. While being at the Kotel was an emotional experience for me, I am so glad that we got to go, even if only for 10 minutes. After that we traveled to Emek Rafaim and some of us had dinner together. While talking at dinner, I mentioned something about this trip that I find really unique. I came on this trip only being friends with one person, and now I feel that I have 20 new friends. I can honestly say that I feel so comfortable with everyone and the fact that we have all bonded in this unique way has really helped to enhance this already amazing experience. I cannot wait for this coming semester, even though it is my last, because I know that we will be having many reunions and Shabbat dinners together, just as we had this weekend.

Brandeis’ group in Kiryat Gat wishes you a Shabbat Shalom! We’re all in front of one of the mural we’ve painted on the apartment building we’ve been working on. The Hineini gar’in made us these great sweatshirts.

Dani’s Garden

Today we worked on a project called “Dani’s Garden.” We beautified this area in honor of Dani, a nineteen-year-old boy from Gedera who died in a car accident about 6 months ago. Initially the area didn’t look so great; there were overgrown weeds on the sides of the park, the paint was peeling off the fences, the dirt was dry and full of trash.  Overall, the place looked pretty dreary. But, with the leadership of Alex (who is from the Gar’in and in charge of our projects) and the teamwork of the UMass students and Garin members, we were able to transform the area into a truly beautiful location. The benches were painted in alternating blue pastel colors. The fences got a new coat of blue paint. We cleaned up the trash and pulled out the weeds. We also created a play structure from tires and recycled trash. What was so amazing and fulfilling about this project was that we worked side by side with Garin members, as well as local residents in the community. Both groups were invested in the project and it was great to work along side each other. The garden looked great at the end and community members stopped by to look at what we had done. I think that they will use the garden for a long time to come as a place to come together and a place to remember their friend and fellow community member.

Playground

The past couple days we have been participating in different outdoor activities with the teens of Gedera. Today, our afternoon activities centered around the local playground. We started the session by completing a blindfolded obstacle course. Each volunteer was paired with a teen from the community. One partner in each pair was blindfolded and led by his/her partner’s voice. The task was difficult because of the Hebrew/ English language barrier; however, it was very fruitful as pairs found unique ways to communicate. After the activity with the teens, the playground was flooded with young children aged 5-8. The children had a great time interacting with the American volunteers, practicing their English as well as learning new English words.  The Israeli children enjoyed laughing at the Americans’ poor attempts at Hebrew. Also, a spontaneous dance party erupted as the American team taught the children of Gedera  the “Macarena” and the children taught the Americans the “Tzufim” dance. The sun soon set, and both the teens and young children were invited to the community clubhouse to make some homemade pita. The group was split into two: one making a fire, the other making the dough. Most girls helped with the fire; however, the boys who were in charge of making the dough soon found out they had no idea how to do it. The dough-making group soon recruited a group of girls who were willing to help. Needless to say, the fire-charcoaled pita was delicious- especially with chocolate spread all over it!

Homework at Home

For the past two afternoons, some UMass students volunteered with “Homework at Home,” which is a program where teachers go to students’ homes or students go to their teachers’ homes for tutoring. They learned that many Ethiopian families do not have good tables or desks on which to do schoolwork, their televisions are usually turned on, and they often have coffee socials in their homes so it is difficult for Ethiopian children to focus on their work properly after the school day. Teachers tutor the students on math, grammar, English, etc. Eliana and Tali went to a ninth grade boy’s home on Tuesday afternoon and to a teacher’s home with two eleventh grade girls on Wednesday afternoon. On Tuesday they spent the tutoring session first dancing a little with the boy, Yitzchak, and his family and becoming acquainted with them and then translating Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror” into Hebrew together. On Wednesday they spent the time first playing a name game with the girls, Irit and Adis, playing tangrams, and then talking about their lives, the places they want to visit, the Israeli army, and the girls’ families’ experiences in Ethiopia. They learned that Irit was born in Israel around the same time that four-month-old Adis was journeying from Ethiopia to Israel. One of the things they found interesting was that the Ethiopians they have met had Ethiopian names that the Israeli government changed to Israeli names when they arrived in Israel much like European Jews were given new names when they arrived at various immigration stations in the U.S.A. One Ethiopian man mentioned he liked that American Jews have both Hebrew and English names and that he understands how difficult it is to be Jewish in a country other than Israel.

Rap Music Project

Another one of UMass’s afternoon activities with youth in the community is a rap music project. A group of high school aged kids meet with a counselor twice a week and create rap songs and music videos with the help of a musician who joins them once a week with recording equipment. Their photos, videorecordings, and sound recordings are mixed into amazing videos that can be seen at http://www.myspace.com/ansheyeshkolot. They shared some of their videos with us upon our first meeting on Tuesday and we were all impressed at their original, poetic lyrics and music and the professional mixes and videos. Then the Israeli students sang for us the chorus to a song that they had begun writing with the intention of collaborating with us. The song is about a love of singing and music. We wrote a chorus in English to accompany the Hebrew chorus. We split into groups to write verses in Hebrew and English and taught each other to rap and sing the verses we had written. Today, we got to work laying down tracks for the mix and practicing for our performance next Monday. By the end of the recording session, we all joined together in a small room, singing together in Hebrew and English, clapping and dancing. It was an amazing feeling to be with the Israeli students and our fellow UMass students, sharing a common interest and singing an amazing song that we created together. We can’t wait to hear the mix and to perform the song next week!

Jan. 7. Today the alarm went off at the usual 7:20. Paul, Josh, and I were all up within seconds and Josh turned on the Israeli MTV, our method of waking up without coffee. I took a quick shower, etc. and then breakfast. The same eggs as day 1, so I passed and stuck to the cereal. Then off to the bus and we drove back to our three Israeli friends, the young women who volunteer with Sherut Leumi, or national service, and the residents of the building. We painted from about 9 am to 1 pm, finishing off large sections of walls on which we had worked on. Our work is finally starting to look okay. I think I’ll be much more impressed tomorrow, since some people in our group started painting murals onto the walls, which, so far, look really professional and cheerful. Today the apartment residents seemed to really take to us.

A bunch of them came down throughout to offer use of their bathrooms, and by the time we left, several of them had brought us pizza, soda, cookies and rugelach. It’s obvious that they appreciate our work. Then off to lunch in the bomb shelter, which was chicken kabobs, falafel, pita, and Israeli salad. Then we had another reflection session. Today’s was on how best to allocate limited resources within the Jewish community. Everyone was given 30 Lego pieces, which represented money, and costs for doing various things in Jewish society (caring for the elderly, establishing a Hillel, etc), the idea being that we had to pick and choose our expenditures, thus slighting one thing in order to afford another. Every single group decided to fund everything but one (a financially feasible combination) – slighting a high-tech Jewish community center. After that my group went back to the Merkaz Klitah – today by foot, which took no longer than by bus – and Gideon and I worked with our 1st graders for the second day. We were in a normal classroom today, and the kids were nuts. Many climbed on their desks while the teacher was talking while others simply didn’t listen, and it didn’t seem to bother the teacher nearly as much as it would have bothered my 1st grade teacher. We learned right, left, forward, backward, the alphabet, and continued to create trees out of branches and fake leaves. The kids were excited to have us there and kept asking for us to help them with their activities, and all yelled THANK YOU! (at the teacher’s behest) when we left. After that we walked back to the bus and a bunch of kids from another group followed us. Apparently, they were on a scavenger hunt throughout the city.This would NEVER fly in America, but apparently it was awesome. After that we reboarded the bus and came back to the Kibbutz. Gila, Josh, Paul and I talked for a while, then dinner. Then we went to the kibbutz pub and had a dance party and bonfire with marshmallows. Believe it or not, the pub at the kibbutz is next to the cow milking station. I left early to type this and get an early start on getting ready for bed. Almost every day has been very full and sleep has been lacking. Tomorrow we have an early end due to Shabbat, followed by what I imagine will be a more relaxing evening. Good night!

[Edited] Here’s some audio reflections from Emily, Susan, and Alana

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Today was truly special.  Most of the group in the morning, as they did yesterday painted the walls of a residential building in Keriat Gat.  Also, a smaller group continued and finished beautifying the exterior of one of the Ethiopian synagogues in Keriat Gat with flowers and trees.  Although I was not in the gardening group today, I was part of it yesterday.  Yesterday I thoroughly enjoyed the physical part of the gardening and also enjoyed hearing about the Ethiopian synagogue and its community.  The Rabbi of the synagogue as well as other members of the synagogue came and spoke to us about synagogue and the differences between the Ethiopian and Israeli traditions.  At the synagogue, residence came by to express their thankfulness for helping to beautify te garden.  Today, I painted walls the majority of the group.  There, it went much more smoothly then yesterday and we were able to accomplish a lot, painting many walls and ceilings.  Again, we were met with a warm welcome by residence of the building and one of the residence left her door unlocked for several hours to use her bathroom.  It was really interesting to see how the municipality painters who were in charge work.  In the beginning many of us Brandeis students were confused because it seemed that all they did was yell and argue, however, we soon figured out that was the way their way of communicated with each other and was most effective for them.  Additionally, in the beginning they were not sure what to do with us, but soon realized that we were working together and figured out how to utilized us to their advantage and be most effective.

Here’s a reflection on the painting process, including some very rare footage of Susanna, Yossi, Gabi and the rest of the professionals…

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In the second part of our day, I with 7 other Brandeis students met with Ethiopian teenagers and baked challot at a local bakery in order to deliver to an old-age-home tomorrow in Ashkelon.  I believe we really bonded with the girls just cracking jokes with them, making funny shapes out of the dough, and playing games.  It was really great to form personal bonds with individuals learning about their daily lives and about their origins.  It’s amazing that after only to days they feel so comfortable with us!

A couple of hours later, the rest of the group joined us a couple of the Ethiopian women in the community who do crafts such as making beautiful clay pots, figurines, embroidered clothes and bracelets, and baskets.  They shared with us customary Ethiopian bread that they bake for guests, which was in a bright and multi-colored basket.  They also prepared the customary coffee which is traditionally made everyday three times a day and well as special nuts/seeds (not clear what they were) in a beautiful weaved bowl.  Later they gave us clay to make our own creations, while unsuccessfully attempting to create the clay pots that they had masterly crafted.

For dinner, we were invited by the garin members of Keriat Gat to their homes.  I along with four other Brandeis students went to Rabbi Moshe’s house (the rabbi of the garin) for dinner.  It was really fascinating to hear about his vision of the garin and how he started it.  He additionally shared a dvar torah with us about the parsha connecting the story of parshat Shmot, where the midwives stood up to pharaoh’s decree of killing the first-born sons.  He explained the importance of not fearing people and always being strong, and if you stay strong you can really do anything.  The only thing one should fear (יראה) is God, with honor, as one fears their parents.

For our last activity we gathered with the rest of group and garin members sharing what we though were important aspects of a community.  Afterwards they showed us a slideshow of pictures of the garin doing activities.

I truly had a exciting and meaningful day in which I was inspired to think about chesed and how I, as a Jew should give to my community whether it be my community at school, home, in Israel, and other places abroad.

Brandeis students met today with Aviram Dahari, the Mayor of Kiryat Gat for the past six years. He spoke to us for about 15 minutes, highlighting the city’s place in Israel economically (Intel and Nestle factories, robotics and string music competitions) and physically (ignored, because it’s in the center of the country so you don’t see it when you unfold the map).  Here are some reactions to the speech from Amira and Paul.

Mayor reactions

We then went on to our volunteering placements, which for most people involved painting, though five of us prepared the ground and planted some flowers and trees at the Ethiopian synagogue in Kiryat Gat.  Volunteering is contagious – even our bus driver Zion helped out a bit!  We spoke with the kes, or priest, though a translator about some of the ways that Ethiopian Jewry differs from what we might call rabbinic Jewry – mostly because Jews arrived in Ethiopia following the destruction of the First Temple but the Oral Torah was only written down by Yehuda HaNasi during the Second Temple period. Thus they don’t celebrate Chanukah, for example, but have a holiday commemoration Ezra and Nehemiah’s revival and return to the land, which falls on the 29th of Heshvan and is called Sigd

By the way, we are staying at Kibbutz Gal-On. You can click here to see it on the map and to see the Nevi’im community center where most of our afternoon volunteering happens.

Ahhh the Mayor!!

This morning we left Kibbutz Galon after breakfast to drive to Gedera. Upon arrival we walked to the Mayor’s office and had a meeting with him in his office. He thanked us for coming to work in Gedera and told us that Gedera has existed as a community for 125 years. We took a group picture with him and thanked him as well. Then we were each give a proclamation from the Gedera Local Council thanking us for coming to volunteer.

Afterwards we were briefed again by Tzachi who told us more about our morning volunteer projects and the makeup of the community. After being briefed we split into two groups to paint 2 neighborhood apartment buildings. Painting was an incredible experience. We interacted with residents of the apartment buildings while painting.

HULED!!!!!

Within our groups we broke into 2-3 people per floor. Some of us were fortunate enough to paint with the residents while others were watched for their painting skills. The residents were extremely generous and provided us with tea, coffee, and cookies amongst other things. As we debriefed the experience many people commented that they were touched by the generosity of the community. Some of the neighborhood residents even took a day off of work so that they would be able to interact with us! Others provided anything that they had to make us comfortable while we worked. Everyone was very appreciative of our painting and efforts. After our hard work we had the town’s famous falafel and schwarma while we reflected on our morning.

Group Ahnd in building 15

As most people know by now, today is my birthday!*
Birthdays are great opportunities to focus on all of the wonderful things in my life, and I had a great time doing so today! There are many perks to spending a birthday in Israel: time with great friends, lots of Yom Huledet songs, and plenty of cakes and goodies, to name a few. All day long I enjoyed practicing my Hebrew and answering proudly when everyone asked my age. This afternoon I spent some time with children with special needs. They sang to me and gave me beautiful birthday blessings that I will not soon forget. Later in the afternoon I was surprised with more birthday cakes and more singing. Then we enjoyed a coffee ceremony with some young Ethiopian volunteers, and there was even more singing! All this was fantastic, but the real reason why I was most glad to spend my birthday in Israel is not just because of the snacks and songs.
In addition to seeming a little self-centered, birthdays can also be great opportunities to reassess what I value most in life and the different meaningful endeavors these values motivate me to accomplish. Last night we began discussing why we are here volunteering in Israel. Clearly, all of us on this trip feel a deep connection to the land and a desire to help it in a very direct way. I am constantly negotiating my identity as a Disapora Jew with the strong pull I feel towards the Jewish homeland. Being in Israel and acting on what is important to me is an exciting and rewarding opportunity, and there’s nowhere else I would have rather spent my birthday. So thanks, everyone, for sharing this with me. Thanks for the meaningful work, the hugs, high fives, and support….and tomorrow I promise you can all stop singing.
* I would also like to wish tons of happiness to my birthday buddy, Nadav!