Rosh Hashana, Tour of the Supreme Court & Early Morning Slikhot

For those of you who celebrated - hope that Rosh Hashanah went wonderfully for you! I spent most of the weekend in Tel Aviv visiting my friend Amir who I haven't seen in about 6 years! He just finished his army service as a Golani (which is the rival of the paratroopers - both of which are very hardcore)! Tel Aviv is much warmer and more humid than Jerusalem and the water is absolutely incredible. There isn't a whole lot to speak of in terms of the weekend because it mostly consisted of swimming in the ocean, drinking, bumming around, and swimming some more! honestly! So that's about it on that front.


Monday we were back at the BC, with the usual packed schedule:
8:45-12:00 – Ulpan as usual – Begin Center ground floor.
12:00-13:00 – Lunch.
13:00-14:30 – The first decade in the history of the State of Israel (1948-1958) – with the one and only, Mr. Paul Gross. This will be the first in a series of lectures where Paul will present and discuss the history of the State of Israel, decade by decade. In his lectures, Paul will be putting emphasis on political developments, and how they shaped the direction and character of the State of Israel. (seminar room).
15:00-16:30 – Professor Avraham Diskin from the Hebrew University, will deliver a lecture in which: he will analyze the nature of Israel's democracy – making some comparisons to other democracies in the world. In his lecture, Professor Diskin will put emphasis on the formative years of the State of Israel. (seminar room).

Tuesday was somewhat of a special day because after our morning Ulpan class, we got to go on a tour of the Israeli Supreme Court. This tied in with Monday's lecture quite well, as we learned about the basics of the court systems and such. The building itself is relatively new (built int 1986) by a brother and sister by the names of Ram Karmi and Ada Karmi-Melamede. The building itself is quite beautiful with large windows which let in lots of natural light, high ceilings, and vast open space. It's not a particularly big building, but its architecture carries many metaphors and symbolism. We also got lucky enough to sit in an court room and see lawyers at the tables preparing for the judges after a recess. Courtroom proceedings are open to the public and press (unless it is an exceptional circumstance - i.e. sexual crime, mentally ill, high security topics, and other subjects requiring sensitivity).




After the court, I went to my local coffee shop to study Hebrew for a few hours (supposedly I can count to 100 now), went out to dinner with my new friend Avi. We went to this sushi place 2 minutes from my apt - and you know - it wasn't half bad. I'll admit that I have been rather reluctant to try 'ethnic' foods here (not counting mediteranian) because...well...i just can't imagine Israeli's getting it right. But the sushi was nice and something tells me that it might become my little spot of comfort when I miss the bay area and the incredible sushi there. (By the way - I hope everyone will take a momment to appreciate how incredibly ecclectic our food is in the states!)

Post dinner with Avi, I met up with a girl from IGF - Daniella. She is from Venezuella, is incredibly laid back, and totally fascinating given her background and political activism. So we met up and went over to another IGFer's place, who'se name is Gal (he's Israeli). Gal is yet another incredible individual who will be working in the President's office, has the most remarkable family, and is also unbelievably friendly and intelligent. (ahhhhh!!!) While Daniella and I are in the cab on the way to Gal's she tells me that her friend's dad is doing this 'Slikhot Tour'.

**Note: The 10 days between the end of Rosh Hashana and the beginning of Yom Kipur are called the Slikhot. These days are very special because it is the time when you ask for forgivness for all of your sins. These prayers take place very early in the morning. More info:


So this tour is from 3:30am - 6:30am (since the prayers are so early). To make a long story short - Daniella, Gal, and myself decide to GO FOR IT! We went to bed around 1:00am, woke up at 3:00 and took this tour. Normally the idea is that you go from one temple to the next, experiencing the different atmospheres, different neighborhoods, ect. We really only toured two old and rather famous neighborhoods: the Buharian neighborhood (which is Sephardi) and Meya Shearim (this is not the correct spelling but I'm too tired to look up the proper spelling right now)- which is Ashkenazi. These are two ULTRA religious places, worth looking up and known for their radical inhabitants. (i.e. if you are not dressed properly you WILL get spit on, egged, hissed at, ect ect). It's very controversial, there is much news comming out of these places, and all together intruiging. (again - i'll post pictures soon).

We got back around 6:30 am, slept for 2 hours, and started yet another day (today) exhausted and looking like zombies but happy for having the opportunity to experience something unique and special. I really want to go back to one of these neighborhoods, simply because it is so interesting. The idea of Jews being completely against the state of Israel, being anit-Zionist (living in Israel none the less) - it's all very complicated and sparks intense debate ;-)

Oi - that's about it. So, I've more or less gotten' 9 hours of sleep in the past 9 days, managed to see quite a few interesting things, and in general - am overwhelmingly satisfied with life! There is just SO much to learn, to see, to experience, to taste, and to fall in love with. It's truly incredible!

...okay, enough out of me. I REALLY need to get some rest (preferably for more than 4 hours) so on that note...

laila tov everyone!
<3