What has happened within the past couple of days...the first and most "ironic" event which took place on Monday, was a lecture we had from Dr. Micah Goodman. I say ironic because the topic he lectured on was modern zionism in Israeli society - essentially he was discussing EXACTLY the ideas/thoughts which I happened to bring up in my last blog entry! crazy right? (although things like this shouldn't come as surprises anymore, since Jerusalem seems to be full of ironic situations). As a well known public figure in Israel, Dr. Goodman also teaches at the Ein Prat Leadership Institute (http://www.bogrim.org/en_index.html). I can assure you that if you follow the link and read a bit about this institute, you will immediately understand his position on modern zionism and in a sense - his ideology.
However, if you are lazy (which is completely understandable), I will try and briefly describe what he talked about.
The first words out of Dr. Goodman's mouth were the following:
"The passion for zionism is dead!" ;-)
Pretty strong right? The lecture was great though. We actually discussed the various 'causes' of this phenomenon (intellectual, psychological, changing enemy, exhhaustion, ect). Micah was yet another powerful orator who once again left us with more questions then answers. In case you are wondering what solutions he offered - he didn't. I actually asked him that question (at the end of the lecture) and he responded with "well - that's what i want to get you thinking about". haha. very diplomatic indeed, but not in any way disappointing. something tells me that HIS approach to countering the loss of passion would be through education, however, that's just a guess. Either way, it was very interesting the way he spoke and presented ideas. There are videos of his lectures on the link above, if you want to get a sense for how he speaks :) I just REALLY liked how this lecture was directly followed my introduction to the topic via Gahl's cousin! excellent timing.
The other little adventures have been our 'tiyul-pan'. This is a combination of the word 'tiyul' (trip) and ulpan (hebrew study). so basically we had two little mini trips in which we were only to speak in hebrew. The first trip was to the infamous 'shuk' (market) of jerusalem. For any of you who enjoy farmers markets or would just want a REAL israeli experience - the shuk is the best place for it. TONS of vendors selling all sorts of amazing, fresh, and delicious food, yelling, haggaling, pushing and shoving! it's great and also cheap (since you can bargain). So, as a group, we went to the shuk and interacted with vendors, played games involving speaking hebrew, and ate yummy Iraqi food! It was definitely good stuff.
The other place we went to today is called 'Ein Karem' which is a neighborhood nestled in the hills of jerusalem. this town is known for its famous monastary called 'sisters of zion', 'mary's spring' and the large number of artists/writters/intellectuals/yoga masters living there. it's an incredibly lush, beautiful, and tranquil place. while there are tourists that come through there, its not at all crowded and is a very nice break from the hustle and bustle of central jerusalem. We played a game similar to the 'amazing race' - the idea being that we were given clues (in hebrew ofcourse) and we had to get to various locations using these clues. the first group to accomplish all of their tasks wins. and guess what - my group won!!! there were 5 groups which were split up by level of hebrew comprehension, and i am in the beginner group. not going to lie - it felt pretty damn good to finish BEFORE the advanced group did! heehee. but hey - we are ALL winners here right? :o)
That's really about it in terms of IGF events. I guess the other couple things worth mentioning is that:
a) my roomie has decided to move out for personal reasons. she is in the process of finding a new apartment, which means that by november 1st, i will be living with someone completely new! oi vey!
b) I went on a run yesterday with Noah and Gahl for about 30 min as part of my training for the 1/2 marathon.....oi. though the pace was pretty challenging for me, i managed to run the whole time without collapsing! i honestly haven't ran that hard in a VERY long time, but it was kind of cool to see my feet keep going (despite the fact that my brain was desperately trying to make it stop) ahha. i think tomorrow will be another day of running. for now i'm running (more or less) every other day - simply because it hurts. jerusalem is all hills, so not only is my body not used to running, but its also running on slopes which is extra painful. ggaahhh crazy crazy
that's about it for now. still haven't decided what i am doing for the weekend, but im sure it will be good, regardless!
hope all is well with everyone back home!
chag sameach! <3
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