December

After our trip to Turkey, Bulgaria and Greece, we were lucky to have a long stretch back in Israel. Upon our arrival back from Greece, we got right back into the groove of things at Beit Shmuel. We started classes the day after we got back and, to be honest, it was sort of a relief to come back and start school again because the trip was really exhausting.

The first weekend back artist Tobi Khan came and gave us a few lectures on art and photography and different artists, which I really loved because lately I’ve been trying to improve my photography skills. On Friday morning at 5am, Tobi took us to the old city to experience the area through a different lens; literally—it was kind of like a photography class. He told us to focus on light and how each little light affects the image and view. It taught me a lot about keeping a strong focus on where light changes and hits the ground, structure, building, etc. That Sunday, he brought us to the Israel Museum, where we got to spend a few hours exploring the incredible art there as well as get a closer look at James Turrell’s light exhibit, which I loved. He spent about 4 days with us and I really enjoyed what he brought to the table. That same weekend, my dad came to visit me after having a meeting in Istanbul and I couldn’t have been happier! I was lucky enough to get a few days with him and they were so awesome. It’s a shame I wont get to see him again until April, but luckily, Mama Rona is coming in a month! I can’t wait to see her! Anyways, the following weekend was a free weekend, but because we were scheduled to meet with the Archbishop of the Greek Orthodox Church in Jerusalem at the monastery on Friday, I ended up choosing to stay in that weekend. Unfortunately, the Archbishop couldn’t meet, so we met with the Patriarch instead, which was really cool. He gave us a tour of the monastery and then sat with us for about an hour speaking with us and allowing us to ask questions (they even had a butler(?) serving us scotch and candies). Although I was unhappy that my free weekend plans wouldn’t work out, I thought it was really awesome that I had the opportunity to meet such an incredible person.

Sunrise by the Kotel

From the early morning Old City tour with Tobi Khan

I know it's blurry but there's something about the blur I really like...

Israel Museum

Cutest dad ever + Roladin

The following week was quite hectic because I had finals, a tri-lateral simulation, two essays due and on top of it all, it was Hanukkah so I needed to find lots of time to go to Roladin and eat as many donuts as possible. On Wednesday, we had our tri-lateral simulation, which was basically a mock negotiation/discussion between political parties such as Likud, Hatnuah, Hamas, Fatah, Egypt as the mediator, and more that I’m forgetting. We were all assigned to a party then broke up into five groups that contained two people from each party. I was assigned to be Hamas, which was awesome because I was able to be as ridiculous and as radically extreme as possible—something that never gets boring. The simulation lasted 3 hours and I had such a great time with it. Although it was a mock negotiation, it taught me a lot about politics and how hard it can be to accomplish anything political. It was an awesome interactive learning experience.

Me and Mel as Hamas

The following day, a group of students from Baqa Gharbiya (Palestinian/Arab city about an hour outside Jerusalem) came to Kivunim to meet with us and discuss the struggles they have experienced, and their goals for the future of Israel and Palestine. It was interesting to meet with kids just like me, with the same educational and occupational goals, experiencing the opposite perspective. One girl spoke with us about Islam and kept saying over and over that Islam is a religion of love and peace, and not a religion of terrorism. This was really sad to hear because it is unfortunately true that many people associate the religion of Islam with terrorism. What she told me definitely put into perspective the kind of prejudice she and so many others must feel due to their religion. A few days later, we all went to Givat Haviva, a secular kibbutz made up of both Arabs and Jewish Israelis. We met with a woman names Lydia and discussed the topic of Arab Citizens of Israel and the Palestinians. We spoke about what they share in common and where they differ and we learned the story of the divided village of Barta’a (part of which is in Israel, part of which is in the West Bank under the PA but with a security fence running 3km behind them, creating a sort of “no mans land” although divided into Areas B and C under the Oslo accords). We learned all about the history of Givat Haviva, and its current goals to accomplish peace. I didn’t necessarily agree with everything the organization stands for, however I really enjoyed learning a new perspective. After our information session at Givat Haviva, we went to Barta’a, to the security fence. At the time that we did all of this I wrote down in my phone, “We went with a woman from Givat Haviva to a checkpoint leading to the West Bank. The whole area gave off a very uneasy feel and impression. The Israeli soldier patrolling there yelled from across the street in Hebrew  זה לא מקום נעים   "This isn't a good place." He told us we needed to get back on the bus and get out of there right away. As we gathered together to leave, I turned my head and made eye contact with a woman behind the fence, walking through the checkpoint on her way to work in a nearby factory. We smiled at each other, which evoked confusing feelings. It's sad to physically see the separation right before my eyes and even sadder to realize that two people can't just come together as people because there are too many politics involved that would need to be disregarded.” This was one of the first times I seriously thought about my beliefs regarding the politics between Israel and the West Bank, and one of the first times I didn’t even understand what I stood for anymore. That short second of an interaction I had with that woman is something I will never forget.

After a shocking experience by the checkpoint, we loaded the busses and went to Al-Qasemi Academy in Baqa Gharbiya. At the school, we met with five female students who were studying English as a major. We had a Q and A with them, where we asked questions about what its like to be a Palestinian living in Israel as well as questions regarding what it is like to be a female Muslim. The session was really eye opening and informative, and I learned a lot about a culture I am not familiar with. The women were all really sweet and it was cool to have the opportunity to discuss peace goals with them. After our session and tour of the school, Kivunim took us to Ben Gurion airport, because it was finally the start of our winter vacation and most people were flying that night. I returned with a group of 5 to Maya’s home in Tel Aviv and spent the night preparing for my 7:30am flight Amsterdam!

The three+ weeks spent back in Israel before winter break were chockfull of learning and unique experiences that only Kivunim could provide. I appreciated everything we did within that time, but after it all (especially finals) I was definitely ready for a nice and relaxing vacation.

Up next: Amsterdam and winter break…

ugh I love cats

The Past Two Months: Greece Part 2 [Delphi, Chalkida and Athens]

Continued from previous post...

Our day in Delphi was so cool. Although it was Thanksgiving, and I was missing celebrating my favorite holiday with the funniest people I know (shoutout to the Katz, Perry and Fisch families), I was very grateful to be in such a unique and historical place. Delphi’s town was adorable and quaint, which I really appreciated. It felt very friendly and warm, even though it was quite cold out. Our day in Delphi was spent at the Oracle, which was fascinating. Everything I have ever learned about Greek history and mythology began to come to life. Although most of the statues and buildings from the Oracle were either stolen or destroyed or taken to the museum for preservation, I was really able to imagine what the oracle was like while active. People from all around the world traveled far and wide to visit the Oracle; it was a melting pot. [Sidenote: I especially loved the kittens that followed our group around the Oracle. SO freakin’ cute!] After exploring the Oracle with our tour guide, we went to the Museum of Delphi and got to see what was removed from the oracle for preservation/all the artifacts found there during excavations. What stood out most for me was the Sphinx statue. It’s huge! I wonder how long it must’ve taken to make it, and how the Greeks were able to place it on top of a tall column without advanced technology! The whole museum was really cool and gave me a lot of insight into the daily lives of the Greek people that visited the sacred place.

After we ate lunch, we had yet another long bus ride to Chalkida, which is the capitol of the Island Evia. The Jewish community in this city is the only one in Europe that has been living in the same city for 2500 years without interruption. We visited the synagogue there, which was rebuilt in 1846 after a fire destroyed the previous one. During the Holocaust, only 22 out of the 327 Jewish members of the community perished because most of them were hidden by Christian neighbors. Additionally, the local head of the Greek Orthodox Church there hid all the holy items from the synagogue in his church. Although the Jewish community is now diminishing, it is clear how Greek and integrated the Jews were into the Chalkis community. We also visited the Jewish cemetery there. It was really interesting to see because all the tombstones were the same, without any markings. The highlight of this visit was that the cemetery was covered in turtles!!!!!! As an animal lover, I was very excited to see so many turtles; they were sooooo cute. Overall, we didn’t do much in Chalkida but I really enjoyed our quick visit there; it is a quaint and beautiful city on the water, with a gorgeous view.

That afternoon, we made way to the bus and after yet another long bus ride, we had finally arrived in our final destination: Athens. We arrived at our hotel, and were given time to get ready for Shabbat. We had Shabbat services at the Beth Shalom Synagogue and then went to the Athens Chabad Gostijo Restaurant for dinner, which was Thanksgiving “themed” (“themed” because the only thing Thanksgiving-like things were some cranberry sauce and a turkey decoration on the table) for us Americans who missed out on the yummiest holiday of the year. We got to meet the Chief Rabbi of Greece, Rabbi Gabriel Negrin, who is only 27 years old—crazy!!! The young and quite stylish rabbi—he seriously dressed like a JCREW model—was awesome and I really enjoyed hearing his story. The following day, after services and lunch, was mostly a free day, so Maya and I took our cameras and went exploring in the art-covered streets of Athens. Greece is known to have graffiti as a huge part of its culture, and this was very apparent in the city of Athens. Every street had some sort of incredible graffiti art, so I wanted to take advantage of my free time to explore it. We walked through an area of cobblestoned streets and I was fascinated by how colorful the area was. All the graffiti represented some sort of message, and I had a lot of fun figuring out what everything meant. We spent about 3 hours taking photos of the streets and then returned to the hotel before it got dark out. That night, after a beautiful havdala on the roof of our hotel with Rabbi Negrin, I, along with around 10 other people, went to a sick vegan/vegetarian restaurant called Avocado. It was recommended by the New York Times so, as a foodie who reads every review before eating at a restaurant, knew I had to go there (thank you Yali for finding it #yaliisbae). The food was one of the best I’ve had since I left America, so I was a very happy eater. Dinner was followed by some drinks at the bar of our hotel and then a good night sleep, in order to prep for our visit to the Acropolis the following morning. The next morning, we left at around 10am to the Acropolis Museum, which was truly amazing. I got such a grand view of Ancient Greek history and learned a lot about the Parthenon and the Acropolis as a whole. There were hundreds and hundreds of statues and artifacts that were all found on the Acropolis. I really enjoyed this museum and wish I could’ve spent more time there! After we walked through the museum with our guide, we made way to the Acropolis, where I got to see the Parthenon, the Temple of Athena and a magnificent view of Athens. Like I said about the Oracle, everything I have ever learned about ancient Greek history felt so real while standing atop what were once the most sacred temple grounds. To be honest, as massive as the Parthenon is, I was a bit underwhelmed probably because there was so much scaffolding that I felt was a serious eye-sore. Had the scaffolding not been there, maybe I would’ve felt differently but I expected to be in awe and was left pretty emotionless. Regardless, the view was absolutely incredible and the Temple of Athena was really beautiful. I’m happy that the Acropolis is where we ended our long trip because not only was it a place that provoked thought, but it also left me with a great memory of Athens.

Overall, I loved Greece so much. Each city in Greece had something very unique to offer in terms of beauty, culture, history, and food. The country is really diverse and I would love to go back if I get the chance in the future.

At the Oracle of Delphi

Kitten at the Oracle 

View of the Oracle

Sphinx in the Museum of Delphi

Chalkida

Jewish cemetery in Chalkida

Turtle at the cemetery 

Athens 

Athens

Acropolis Museum

View of the Acropolis from the Museum

Acropolis Museum

Temple of Athena

View from the Acropolis

View from the Acropolis

The Past Two Months: Greece Part 1 [Thessaloniki, Meteora]

Hey, all! I know I’m behind so please bare with me! After this and my next post about Amsterdam (unless I find it is too hard to write about it without sharing too much with my parents…), I’ll be fully caught up. Anyways, I know how depressing my description of Bulgaria was, so hopefully my description of Greece will brighten your mood a bit.

Our trip to Greece began with a very sketchy train ride (my first real train ride ever!) from Sofia, Bulgaria to Thessaloniki, Greece. It was a long, boring and cold six hours but I finally saw Ferris Buhler’s Day Off for the first time, as well as watched The Parent Trap for the 16^th time. When we finally arrived, it was raining and cold, but I was super stoked to be in Greece. We got to our hotel around 11:30pm (November 24^th), we were assigned our rooms, and then all went right to sleep. The next morning, we had breakfast at the hotel at around 9am, and let me tell you—the yogurt was LIFE CHANGING. Chobani got nothin’ on real Greek yogurt. I no longer want 0% fat bullshit; give me the whole 100%, baby. Anyways, we spent out first day in Thessaloniki (or to the Jews: Salonika) learning about the Jews who used to populate the city, and their history over the years. [For anyone curious as to what life was like for the Jews in Salonika over the years, check out this wiki page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Thessaloniki] At 10am, our tour guide, Hella, brought us to the Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki where we got to see a visual timeline of the history of the Jews there, as well as photo exhibits and artifacts on display. One artifact stood out the most for me: it was a piece of a striped shirt with the “Jude” star sewn on. On this piece of fabric was printed: “I managed to get a hold of a pencil and some scraps of paper. I started to draw some various types among the women prisoners. Young girls, who had friends among the male inmates and who used to get gifts of food, asked me to draw their portrait. The payment—a piece of bread. I also did drawings of women wearing some pyjamas at the Stutthof Concentration Camp. They were drawn in pencil on poor quality paper, which I received from a girl who worked on registering the prisoners. These drawings I hid in my clothes for the five months we spent in the labor camp.” This was written by one of the few survivors from Thessaloniki. Almost the entire Jewish population of Thessaloniki was killed during the holocaust—50,000 people.

Our next stop was the “Monastirlis Synagogue, which was built in 1927-28 by Jews originating from Monastir (former Yugoslavia) and was dedicated by the Chief Rabbi of Thessalonica in 1927. It was saved during the war after being requisitioned by the Red Cross. In June 1978 the earthquake that shook the city caused extensive damage to the building and its services were suspended until the delicate task of its restoration was completed, with funds provided by the Greek Government that considered it as one of the historical monuments of Thessalonica,” (description by Peter Geffen). The synagogue was very beautiful, and very new looking. Hella gave us a detailed description of the synagogue and then, of course, we all sang a ladino song because Peter lives for breaking out in song when it is clearly uncomfortable for everyone else. We then visited another synagogue called Yad Lezikaron, which was opened in 1984 in honor of those killed in the Holocaust. The Synagogue is located in the Market area of Thessalonica still known as the Modiano Market after the wealthy Jewish family that originally owned it in the early 1900’s. Our last stop of the day was a Holocaust Memorial commemorating the 50,000 Jews from Thessaloniki killed in the Holocaust. After we learned about the memorial we went to the old train station in which the 50,000 Jews were deported to the death camps. We were told that the journey these Jews took in the train was the longest out of any of the other Jews who traveled to the camps from all over Europe. These Jews suffered a full eight days in the train cars without any food and water, and upon arrival to the camps, at least two or three people were already dead in each car due to starvation and disease—such a horrible thing to think about. We walked down the railroad tracks and it reminded me of being in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Walking down those tracks in silence made me really emotional as I imagined all the innocent people who were torn away from their lives in Greece and taken to face their deaths by the hands of the Nazis.

After a long and eventful day, we were given free time to explore the city nightlife and cuisine. My friend’s brother went on Kivunim two years prior and suggested a fabulous restaurant in an awesome area of the city. The area was vibrant and full of beautiful Greek people. Everyone was ridiculously good looking, and all I wanted was to be swept off my feet by a young Greek hottie like Lena was in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. A girl can dream, ammiright? Anyways, the food was so delicious, very authentic and all local! I loved it. After dinner, a bunch of my friends and I went to a cool bar in the area and had a really great time. Day one in Greece was so awesome and it set the stage for what I knew would be an adventurous, educational and overall surreal next week.

The next morning, after a nice dosage of burnt toast to cure the horrible hangover I was experiencing (go carbon!), we packed our bags and loaded the busses and by 9:30am, we were on our way to Meteora, aka the most magnificent place in the world. After a long, windy and extremely nauseating three-hour drive we finally made it to Meteora. I do not exaggerate when I say that this place was truly magical. Located in the city of Kalambaka is The Meteora, which means “suspended rocks,” “suspended in the air” or “in the heavens above.” The Meteora are massive rock formations that are hundreds and hundreds of feet tall—so tall, they are literally in the clouds. These rocks are a special kind of rock only found underwater, which means once upon a time, the entire area was underwater. Scientists have even discovered thousands of fossils of fish and snails in the area. The incredible rock formations are home to many monasteries including the Varlaam Monastery, which we visited. It was absolutely breathtaking; I felt as if I were in the clouds and on top of the world. I can’t exactly describe the feelings that overcame me upon climbing the 175 steps to the top of the monastery but I felt very fresh and free. It was so beyond beautiful. After we visited the monastery, we got spanakopita for lunch, an authentic Greek food, which consists of pastry dough filled with spinach and cheese, then traveled on the bus for close to six hours towards our next stop: Delphi.  

To be continued...

Street food

Exhibit in the Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki 

Piece of a prisoner's shirt (mentioned above)

Car art--thought this was pretty cool and somewhat reminded me of the Holocaust (shoutout to my parents for creating that mindset...)

Holocaust Memorial 

Sign outside the old railroad station

Sunset in Thessaloniki

Meteora

Meteora