My First Service

I officially led my first service as a cantorial student! Yesterday morning, two Israeli rabbinical students and I led services in the Murstein Synagogue on HUC's campus. There was a special delegation on campus this week and they wanted some extra musical "umph" this week in particular. My friend Rachel (who just completed her first year in the cantorial program here) was up for the opportunity first but her flight out of the country was a day too early. So, between Rachel's recommendation and the school's recommendation, (apparently it pays to get here 6 weeks early!) it became my opportunity. It was a great experience working with the Israeli rabbinic students to build the service. Tati is from Argentina and Uri is from Brazil so the conversation often drifted between Spanish, English, and Hebrew, but we all managed somehow!
Unfortunately, I came down with a cold or something on Friday afternoon. It started very abruptly and probably as a result of not getting much rest the past .... month. Yea. Friday night was the worst of it and I was worried I wouldn't be well enough to help lead services in the morning. Ten hours of sleep seemed to help a little bit. I gathered my remaining strength and luckily HUC is only a 12 minute walk from my apartment. Fortunate for me it wasn't too hot out at 8:30 in the morning and I made it there in 20 minutes.
Once the service was under way, it was smooth sailing. The multicultural make up of the service organizers made for a beautiful service I thought - tunes from South America, the United States, Israel, something new and something familiar for everyone. I song-led from the piano since my guitar skills still need work and I was quite happy about how it all went.
For those of you who have never been to a synagogue service, normally the congregation sort of half-sings, content to be led through the service (perhaps not all the different from your average church service). But let me tell you! The sound in the Murstein Synagoge! Everyone sang full out and it was amazing! I tried to find a youtube video for you all of Jeff Klepper's "Mah Tovu," the first song the congregation really let rip on. If anyone had a bad voice in the whole congregation, you wouldn't have known it. The whole experience filled me with excitement for other services to come in the future.
Unfortunately, I think all the excitement totally wiped me out again. I walked back home and slept basically for the rest of the day. I feel a little better now, at least not so achy, but I'm still getting hot and cold flashes and my throat is killing me. So, just in case it's not just a silly little cold, I'll plan on taking my brand new student health insurance for a test drive in the morning. For now I've discovered that if I boil water and steep mint leaves from the shuk mixed with a little honey, it keeps my sore throat at bay for a short while. I'm off to bed, again, but I hope you all enjoy the rest of your Sunday!

The Shuk

There's been so much meeting and greeting since I arrived back in Jerusalem on Saturday night, I never really stocked up on groceries. So, my room mate Sara and I, along with several other early arrivals headed over to the "shuk" (rhymes with book). The shuk is this huge open air market that essentially takes up an entire small neighborhood, though there's definitely a main strip and several side streets. (I didn't have my camera with me so all pictures below are courtesy of the internet)
Prices are written on small chalk boards and are really reasonable and vary depending on the time and day of the week. Right before Shabbat (Friday afternoon), prices are super low because everyone is trying to get rid of their stock, but the streets are unbelievably packed. Even on Wednesday late morning, things were hoppin. Spices, fruit, eggs, cheese, candy, everything! And if you see it there, you can bet it's in season and super fresh.
Great fresh spices too!
You walk down the streets and from time to time vendors will yell things out in Hebrew (obviously) like "You can't believe how cheap these are!" or "You'd be stupid not to buy these!"
Everyone uses these little shuk carts, about the size of an airplane carry-on.
The one in may apartment is a very posh, masculine, purple plaid. It's surprising how much one can stuff in there, and the wheels are a life saver! So, at least now we have food for the eating in my apartment! Hope everyone's doing well!

Jerusalem Apartment and Shabbat in Haifa

So, I know it's been a while between posts; internet access was severely lacking for the last half of my birthright trip and life has been crazy since arriving (again) in Jerusalem. In the interest of not falling perpetually behind as life moves on day to day, I'll skip posting everything for my birthright trip right now. There are a lot of pictures on facebook already if you absolutely can't wait, but I'll narrate that trip another time for you all.

Not so long ago in a city far, far away....

Following my birthright trip, I got a ride back to Jerusalem and met my friend Rachel on Ben Yehuda street, one of that main strips downtown. Rachel just finished her first year in the same program I'll be starting so in addition to it being great to see her and catch up, it was great to talk about her year and all the great things to come for the both of us. I had to meet my landlord's cousin in the Old City of Jerusalem in order to get the keys. He owns a shop on the Cardo called Gold of Jerusalem, obviously a play on the catchphrase, "Yerushalayim Shel Zahav," or Jerusalem of Gold. The Cardo, according to Wikipedia is:

"A north-south oriented street in Roman cities, military camps, and coloniae. The cardo, an integral component of city planning, was lined with shops and vendors, and served as a hub of economic life."

Interestingly enough, the Cardo today is still a major economic hub in the old city, still lined with shops and vendors. Pretty awesome to think that the street life on the cardo hasn't changed much in 2,000 years. Anyway, you want to know what else hasn't changed? All the steps. Not made for shlepping your luggage. =P I'm sure everyone was like, hey check out the newbie. Anyway, I got the keys and Rachel and I headed back to check out the apartment. It's amazing. It was a little more than some of the other apartments around but it's only a 10 minute walk from campus, it's newly renovated, and the other fees associated with the apartment were minimal compared with other places.

Here are some pics:A nice living room. There's a big TV you can't see, not that I'll ever use it.... but still.

The living room in my room (yup I get my own living room!). Up the stairs there is my lofted bed.

A nice kitchen ... now I just have to learn to cook!And a table fit for hosting!

Moving on ... so moving in was Wednesday. That night we were going to go to a Chopin concert by the Jerusalem Symphony, but they pulled a fast one on us and said we couldn't use Rachel's student tickets since it was a "special" performance. Whatever. Right out side the symphony hall was a cool adaptation of Romeo and Juliet in Hebrew, set to really bad music. Haha. Pretty random but equally awesome. (Awesome = Sababa for those of you following along in Hebrew.)
On Thursday we ate breakfast with Ari (the rabbinical student moving out of my place) at a restaurant that reminded me of the Runcible Spoon in Bloomington. Lots of books on the wall and kind of hard to find. The other girl was a friend of Ari's, I believe.
I went down to HUC to meet with people, get my Israeli cell phone and start what I'm sure will be the long and arduous process of obtaining a student visa. Yea! More on that front as it develops (no doubt). On Thursday night Rachel and I went to a play and then met up with Jordan, Sarah, and Carlie all from IU on Ben Yehuda street. Also pictured is their friend, Jeff.
On Friday, Rachel and I left for Haifa to stay with her boyfriend Dov. I haven't seen Dov in like 2 years since he finished up at IU so it was awesome to see him. And he and Rachel were really patient with me. I told them I was serious about leaning Hebrew so they agreed to speak only (or mostly) Hebrew with me. I wound up speaking some sort of Hebrish (Hebrew/English) but still, it was the most practice I've gotten yet and after only 24 hours I could feel a difference! It was really cool.

We went to a reform synagogue for shabbat and what do you suppose the odds are that I know someone there at services? Pretty good apparently. I look over during the service and see someone I met last summer in Bloomington. You can imagine the looks on our faces when we realized it from across the synagogue. Haha. Small world I guess. She's finishing up a semester abroad studying at Haifa University.

On Saturday morning, Rachel, Dov, and I went to Haifa beach. It was really nice. Warm, lots of families, and great waves. One of the phenomenons here at Israeli beaches is this ping pong without a table. Apparently so many people play, it's hard for everyone else to even walk around. So, here's a picture that I thought was too good to pass up.

If you zoom in on the sign, it reads, "A forbidden place for games." This girl is a true Israeli, haha! That'll show that sign!

Anyway, it was beautiful.
A picture of Rachel and Dov...

That's all for now, folks. Hope you've enjoyed this installment. Feel free to post and say hi! Miss you all and hope everyone is doing well! Until next time! Xoxo.