Educational Experiences in Israel
To the average tourist in Israel, “Ben Yehuda” is simply the name of a popular central street in Jerusalem. It is a place to grab some falafel, stop by a Judaica store for souvenirs, and overhear squealing teenagers bumping into old friends. As many people with a background in Jewish history know, though, this street was named for the primary reviver of the Hebrew language Eliezer Ben Yehuda. Recently, I visited The Academy of the Hebrew Language at the Hebrew University Givat Ram campus, which contains archives of this influential and visionary man. Today, we take the existence of the... Read More
Recently, I walked into the student lounge at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in Israel, went to my locker, made some tea, and began paging through my Hebrew book. I have come to appreciate my unshakable habit of arriving to campus too early, utilizing the extra minutes to calmly prepare for another day of classes. Another student who shares this habit walked into the lounge, but rather than leading with his typically affable demeanor, he expressed anger and pain over a political advertisement. After seeing the look of confusion on my face, he pulled up a photo... Read More
I love the sounds of Jerusalem. The voices, noises, and music all tell stories that are unparalleled in the Jewish world – and perhaps in the world at large. One I find so compelling is that of my story and the story of the “other,” which I hear simultaneously. There a variety of others in Jerusalem – Arabic, Russian, Amharic, Yiddish, and Hebrew – and over the course of a week, I can listen and hear these voices and countless more. It is one of the incredible characteristics of our city. Join me on a brief tour of some of the other voices I am so fortunate to hear regularly in... Read More
After finishing final exams and celebrating the end of the semester, I decided to spend some of my winter break exploring new sites in Jerusalem. Although I learned a fair amount about Israeli politics over the past few years, I had never actually been inside the Knesset (parliament) building. A close friend recently started working there, and I was excited to learn from her on a guided tour. The tour began with relatively basic questions, pitched to a public group with vastly different levels of background knowledge: When did the State of Israel declare its independence? May 14, 1948... Read More
In 1890, Rabbi Wolf Zeev Yavetz from Zichron Yaakov (a town south of Haifa) wanted to celebrate the Mishnaic holiday of Tu BiShvat with his young students. He decided to plant trees with them. Tu BiShvat was, in Mishnaic times, a calendar landmark set to evaluate the fruit of the trees for tax purposes. Rabbi Yavetz identified the educational and spiritual potential and seized the opportunity for an outdoor educational experience that left a mark both on the landscape and on his students' hearts. When we began forming Kodesh VeChol, the Reform congregation in Holon (a city of 200,000... Read More
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