Leadership and Judaism - a D'Var Torah on this week's Parsha (Jewish Thoughts)

Every rabbinic and educational student at HUC needs to give a "d'var Torah," literally a "word of Torah," which is basically a mini-sermon on that week's portion, or parsha. This week was my turn to give one, which I did on Thursday morning, on Parshat Mikeitz, which is the second portion about Joseph and his brothers. I focused on the effects of leadership amongst two brothers, Reuben and Judah. As Shabbat comes to a close, here is the text of my d'var Torah, which was given on Thursday morning at the HUC synagogue in front of my fellow students and in front of some of my teachers, administrators, and mentors. I'll post a video of the d'var later in the week, as well as some other updates (Hanukkah, interesting class stuff, etc.).
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Boker tov!
I would like to tell you about Steve, the Assistant Camp Director during my first year on staff at camp. He could talk and joke with everyone of all ages, commanded attention, listened to people's problems, and did not look down on anyone. He put a positive spin on my camp experience, which made me come back for seven more years, get trained in climbing, practice public speaking, and more. I can safely say that I would not be who I am today if it were not for him and his leadership.
The challenges and effects of leadership are found throughout Mikkeitz, this week's parsha, especially those of two brothers: Reuben and Judah.
Reuben was the eldest son of Jacob, the one who should have been appointed leader. Yet time and time again it is not Reuben but Judah who shows true leadership. What was it that made Judah a leader? What was it about Reuben that made him fall short? And what sort of impact did their acts of leadership have on others?
While many commentators say that Reuben's downfall was when he laid with Bilhah, I think it goes beyond this, that it goes to his very character. Time and time again he shows good intentions, but unfortunately it is not enough.
In last week's portion, we have the story of Joseph's brothers plotting against him. When they first mention killing him, it is Reuben who says, "Let us not kill him...shed no blood”. Despite many commentators saying that it should not be "Let us not," but rather a commanding "We shall not!", his brothers do not respond to him. No one agrees, no one listens.
Later, in this week’s portion, the brothers return from Egypt and try to convince their father to let Benjamin go back with them to Egypt. Reuben tries his best at convincing Jacob, saying, “אֶת-שְׁנֵי בָנַי תָּמִית אִם לֹא אֲבִיאֶנּוּ אֵלֶיךָָ” [et sh'nei vanai tamit im lo avi'enu eilecha]. “Slay my two sons, if I do not bring him back to you." Yet despite his best efforts, his father refuses. Ibn Ezra commented that Reuben spoke inappropriately, and had he spoken appropriately, then Jacob would not have remained silent to his proposal. Similarly, Rashi says that Jacob did not accept Reuben's words because he is a “בְּכוֹר שׁוֹטֶה” [b’chor shoteh], a "foolish firstborn son." Even his own father considered him foolish.
Compare all of this to Judah, who repeatedly takes a strong leadership role. When the brothers are debating killing Joseph, it is Judah who steps up and suggests selling him to the Ishmaelites. Unlike with Reuben's suggestion, here his brothers agreed with him.
In this week's portion, Judah again asserts his leadership, and, unlike Reuben, succeeds in convincing their father. “שִׁלְחָה הַנַעַר אִתִי וְנָקוּמָה וְנֵלֵכָה” [shilcha ha'na'ar iti v'nakuma v'neileicha] "Send the boy in my care, and we will rise and go...I myself will be surety for him; you may hold me responsible: if I do not bring him back before you and set him before you, I shall stand guilty before you forever." Is this not completely opposite from Reuben's plea? Whereas Reuben tried to be "responsible" by putting the punishment on his sons, Judah puts the responsibility on himself. In verse 9 he says “אָנוֹכִי אֱעֶרְבֶנּוּ” [anochi e'ervenu], "I myself will be surety." The anochi is grammatically unnecessary, yet it is there to emphasise that he says "I"--"I personally"--will be responsible.
Thus we can see that Judah is markedly different from Reuben. Reuben’s heart might have been in the right place, but he could not compete with Judah’s leadership. Judah was a charismatic leader, and as I'm sure most of us know, charismatic leaders are found throughout Jewish history. The Judges, the medieval kabbalists, and Chasidic rebbes were all charismatic leaders. Even Shabbatai Tzvi was a charismatic leader.
Yet charisma is not the only leadership style in Jewish tradition. There is, of course, the model of divine election, where God alone chose the leader, such as the Patriarchs. There are also more earthly models. In the Bavli, Bava Metziah 84a, there is a story of R. Yochanan bar Nafcha, who was so attractive that people would flock to him and follow him. Yet the Talmud preferred Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah, whose first leadership act was to open the doors of the beit midrash to all students, not just the elite. Elazar's leadership was defined by action and inclusivity, not just charisma.
Yet even great leadership can have unexpected consequences. Take Judah Maccabee. He was a charismatic leader who led countless Judeans against the Greeks, eventually establishing the Hasmonean Kingdom. He was, (quite literally), a Judah, not a Reuben. But if we skip ahead about two hundred years, what do we find? The Destruction of the Temple! Did he ever ask himself: what will my actions mean for the future of my people, not just in the next few years, but also way down the road?
This is a question that has been on my mind a lot, especially now that my eyes have been opened up to the wider world of Reform Judaism beyond my hometown congregation. It used to be that I knew exactly what sort of Rabbi I wanted to be. If I pictured my path, it was a straight line. Now, there are dozens of paths. And it's not just my path, but all of our paths, and the path of Reform Judaism. Because in these past few months I've really internalized something: we are the current and future leaders of Reform Judaism. I'm sure we all know this, that's why we're here. But I want you to take a moment and let it sink in: what we do in the future will impact both Reform and world Jewry. You. Me. Us.
Think about it. We will be the ones to help decide critical issues: does Reform Judaism support officiating mixed marriages? What will the future status of halakha be? What will we teach? How will we sing? What will our children's children see when they look at Reform Judaism? For all we know, we could make decisions that will double Reform membership. Or...we might split the Movement.
Ultimately it boils down to this: are we going to be like Reuben, with good intentions but ineffective? Are we going to be like Judah, strong and in command? Or, are we going to be like Judah Maccabee, who took charge and led the Judeans to freedom--which led to the destruction of life as they knew it? My question to all of us, myself included, is: what sort of leaders will we be?
Chag sameach!

Finally updating! (Israeli Update)

Hey everyone! Sorry for the very (very [very]) late update, but here's an update from the past month and a half. I'll try to keep each thing brief so it's not too long. Unfortunately my computer is having memory issues and is getting repaired, and so I'm typing on my tablet, which means that I cannot really upload pictures for a while.

As I'm sure you can tell, things are very busy. Mostly I've been trying to stay up to date on homework and have a social life, so unfortunately that means that updating my blog has become a low priority. I keep saying I'll try to update more often. But...we'll see.

I last updated on 10/17, and here's what has happened since.

Classes are overall going well. I finished my class with Rabbi Michael Marmur, the rabbinic student "mini-course" (it only met for about five sessions), which was "Why I am a Reform Jew." I had to write a paper with the same title for the end of the course, and the great news is that while I still have questions, I feel very secure in my Reform Jewishness. I am also doing well in every other course, passing everything and learning. "Rabbinic texts" might be my favorite class, not only because it's interesting but also because we get to laugh and joke half the time. "Bible" is also great because I get to learn all sorts of new theories and commentaries on the Torah. Hebrew is going well, I'm still way better on paper than in speaking, but fortunately my teacher has set me up with an Israeli who wants to work on her English, so once a week we meet for an hour, practicing Hebrew for a half hour and then English for a half hour, and that's definitely helping. I try to use my Hebrew as much as possible, but it's tough when half of Jerusalem speaks English.

Sam and I found out that we got into the FSU program, which means that for Passover break we will be going to the Former Soviet Union and helping to run Passover programs. We don't know where specifically we'll be going, but we do know that we'll be with another student, Matti, and that we're on the education committee and will be helping to make educational material for all groups to use. We are also going to a conference in Berlin for a few days before Passover, which should be awesome. The one thing I'm apprehensive about is that it costs a lot of money, but don't worry, we'll be doing a lot of fundraising (*nudge nudge, wink wink*).

I'm part of a program called "Parallel Lives," where we meet with a group of soldiers about once a month and get to know each other, while learning about each others' respective lives (soldiers in Israel vs. future Jewish leaders from America). It's pretty cool, though we've only had one meeting so far. We were supposed to have a second event, where we split into groups and went to individual soldiers' homes, but unfortunately that was the first weekend of Pillar of Defense, and so it got cancelled. That was an interesting week to live in Israel, but the upside it was a great learning experience and will make for great sermons in the future. In reality, the "war" was a little scary at times, but really life went on like normal. We had two "red alert" sirens in Jerusalem, though the rockets hit about 6 or more kilometers away from here, and apparently there was no real danger of either actually hitting Jerusalem. We didn't go to Shabbat services during the night of the first siren, and the second siren interrupted our liturgy exam, but overall I didn't feel too affected by the war.

The ceasefire happened last weekend while we were on our tiyul (trip) to the south, which was a ton of fun. Unlike the first tiyul, which was full of real learning, this trip was much more relaxing. We left Jerusalem Wednesday morning, and our first stop was Makhtesh Ramon, the world's largest makhtesh (which is like a crater, but it was created differently). We hiked around a bit, and I found some great spots to set up a rappel in the future. From there we moved to Kibbutz Yahel, the first Reform kibbutz (and only one of two) in Israel, located in the Arava. That's where we stayed for three nights (Wednesday, Thursday, Friday). Wednesday night we ate grilled food outside, followed by a campfire and song session. Thursday we split up and had an option of two hikes, and Sam and I took the harder hike. It was somewhat physically demanding, mostly because it had a lot of ups and downs. We hiked to the top of Har Shlomo, the tallest mountain in the Eilat Mountains (near the border with Sinai/Egypt), and on the way up it was actually somewhat dangerous--if we had slipped, we would have fallen and died. There were handrails for a lot of it, but boy did Sam and I miss having a rope. It really wasn't that dangerous, though, as long as we were careful. That night was Thanksgiving, where we had a WONDERFUL meal prepared by a lot of the kibbutz members and three of our fellow students. It was delicious! We never expected it to be that good (since we're in Israel and a good majority of the kibbutz doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving), but boy were we wrong. Friday we took a trip to another kibbutz, Lotan, which is the other Reform kibbutz. Unlike Yahel, which is something like 80% capitalist, Lotan is fully socialist. They're also very liberal/hippyish, which was good but a little too intense for my liking. From there we went to Eilat, where we went snorkeling in a coral reef and enjoyed some sun. At night, we enjoyed Kabbalat Shabbat services put on by our fellow students, followed by a great dinner. Saturday we had more services (which were awesome, laid back, and hilarious) and then we enjoyed free time. We left for Jerusalem not too long after that, and got home at night.

So what else has happened? To back track a little, I read my first of two required Torah portions on 10/18, and it went quite well. I translated it after each line, which was sort of tough but I'm glad I did it, and for my next reading (which is this coming Thursday) I think I'm going to change it up and try translating in a different way. I also lead a mincha (afternoon) service with Rachel Heaps and Jordan Shaner on 11/4, which also went well. It was quick but we got the job done well with no problems, though I have some stuff I want to work on. Also coming up, I'm giving a D'var Torah (word of Torah, or mini-sermon) next Thursday (12/13) and I'm leading a shacharit (morning) service the following Thursday (12/20). I have a second paper for one of my classes coming up too, plus finals are less than a month away, but I'm handling it all pretty well.

On Friday 10/26, David Levine, my Second Temple History and Rabbinic Literature professor, took a bunch of us to Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. Unfortunately the national park service claimed there was a possibility of flash floods (because of the time of year) and so we couldn't actually go into the caves. We tried, though--David had checked the weather, and was very confident we were safe (we also were confident), and so he marched right past the "do not enter" sign and toward the caves, and we all followed suit--even when they announced over loudspeaker to come back. Only when a park ranger had a shouting match with him and threatened to call the police did we retreat. It was a great time.

Every Monday I go to Mevasseret, a local suburb right outside Jerusalem, where seven other students and I work with Ethiopian immigrant children. It's one of the best parts of each week. We basically just play with the kids for an hour and a half each week, sometimes coloring, sometimes throwing a ball around, or sometimes playing board games. It's great because we get to work on our Hebrew in a stress-free environment (where their Hebrew level is sometimes, though not often, worse than ours), we get to be a positive influence on them, we can take them off their parents' hands, and we get to play with kids (which is great for me, because I don't have a lot of experience working with younger children).

Once a month we meet in Mabat (Inquiry) groups, where we get together and talk about "big" issues: God, Torah, Israel, holidays, etc. It's challenging to hear various points of view on such critical issues, but it also helps us figure life out (sometimes...sometimes it leaves more questions, which is also good). I know some people in the program don't like these activities, but I have a great group and sometimes we stray off topic a little bit, which is, for me, better for figuring it all out.

I've finally started varying my prayer experience a bit. Last night for Kabbalat Shabbat Jeff and I went to the Great Jerusalem Synagogue, which is an Ashkenazic Orthodox synagogue (it's not "Modern Orthodox" but people of all Orthodox types pray there: Chasidim, Haredim, Modern Orthodox, and more). It was definitely interesting, and now that I have a much stronger grasp of the basic prayer rubric (which prayer comes before another, etc.), I was able to follow along much better than I used to be able to do. However, I still wouldn't say I like it--not only am I a Reform Jew for ideological reasons, but I also really like our services. This morning we didn't have services at HUC, but I actually woke up early(ish) and went to Har El, a local progressive (i.e. Reform) synagogue. It was a small service, with only about 15 people, but it was very nice and I'm glad I went. In the past month and a half I've also gone to many student-led services, to Kol HaNeshama, which is a large progressive synagogue, and to Nava Tehila, which is a Renewal community (it was a little too "hippy dippy" for me, but I still took away positive things from it). I want to keep trying out non-Reform services in the remaining six and a half months (and yes, there are only six and a half months left!)

My d'var Torah advisor is Rabbi Stanley Davids, who is a wonderful person and rabbi, and we've been meeting about once a week to work on my d'var. He was the rabbi at a big congregation (in Atlanta, I believe) as well as the president of ARZA, AEPi, and more. He has not only taught me a lot about writing a d'var Torah but also about Reform Judaism and more. Sam and I went to his house for Shabbat a few weeks ago and it was a very nice time.

On 11/12 we had a Latke vs. Hamentashen Debate, where four of our professors, two on each side, debated (in scholarly fashion) which one was better, latkes or hamentashen. It was hilarious. While I think the two Americans, Professor Joel Duman and Rabbi Naamah Kelman, had the better academic arguments (for latkes), the two Brits, Rabbi Michael Marmur and Dr. David Mendelsson, were funnier in their fight for hamentashen. It was a hilarious event.

HUC had the ordination ceremony for Israeli rabbinic students on Wednesday 11/14, and that was great to watch. We interact with the Israeli rabbinic students a little, such as a joint shacharit service on Tuesdays and in one of our lectures, but unfortunately we don't do too much with them.

Last Saturday was Sam and my first year anniversary, but since we were on the tiyul we celebrated the next night. We went on a date and recreated our first real date: we went to Burgers Bar (last year we went to Luxburger) and then watched The Muppets (last year in the cinema, this year on a laptop). It was a great anniversary. Let's hope we stay together many more years! (If we don't kill each other first!)

That's pretty much it for now. If you haven't seen, I was "published" in yesterday's "Ten Minutes of Torah," a weekly email sent out by the Union for Reform Judaism, and also on their blog. You can read it here: http://blogs.rj.org/blog/2012/11/30/letter-from-jerusalem-reflections-of-a-first-year-rabbinic-student/. It's very similar to my piece that was featured in Temple Sinai's monthly scroll, but with a few edits.

Today is Shabbat, so I spent the day at Har El, then at Shabbat Sha-sport. My ankle still hurts, but after hiking in the south last weekend and having no issues (some small temporary pains here and there), I've decided to start doing physical activities again. Yesterday Sam and I climbed for the first time in two and a half months, and there was no ankle pain...but there was pain everywhere else. Not climbing for two months REALLY made us terrible at it. My hardest climb was a 5.8 or 5.9, and I only got through about five or six climbs until I started falling on 5.8's. My strength is mostly gone, but at least my technique is still there, and as long as I can go once a week I think I'll be able to get back into it a bit. Later, once I update my blog, I'm going to relax with Sam (I've introduced her to Arrested Development so maybe we'll watch that) and then do homework and practice guitar.

So that's it! Sorry for the late response, and maybe (MAYBE) I'll be able to update more often. I might post some of more of my writing soon, too.

Shabbat Shalom!

Hineini - Location and the Holidays (Jewish Thoughts)

For our liturgy lecture, we were asked to reflect upon the chagim, the holidays, and to reflect upon any new and/or meaningful prayer related experiences we encountered during this period. Here is my reflection, edited only slightly to make sense in blog form:

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הנני - Here I am.

Now that the chagim are over, there are a lot of prayer experiences that I want to reflect upon, but I think that "location" is the aspect that really stands out to me. The obvious thing that draws my attention when I think of location and this Year in Israel is the Israel part, which is obviously a new and unique location for me. I can stand and pray in Israel! It's exciting! Yet when I think about it, I realize that location means much more than simply being present in Israel. There were many other factors related to location that have affected my prayer experience over the chagim.

Many of these factors were related to my location in Israel, but go beyond the simple fact that I was physically present in Eretz Yisrael. One of my favorite parts of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, for example, was morning and afternoon services on Yom Kippur, which I attended at HUC, held at the Beit  Shmuel--a result of being in Israel. Location meant many things here. First, it meant that, because of the ballroom's location, we overlooked the Old City of Jerusalem which inspired deeper connections to some of the liturgy. For example, I normally tend to think about ancestors and a connection to history when I pray the avot during the amidah, and on Yom Kippur I found myself thinking even more about my connection to history while staring at the Old City--ranging from "Wow, I can't believe our ancient kings ruled here" to "Thirty-nine years ago was the Yom Kippur War..." Gazing at the Old City let me really consider how lucky I am to be here; after all, when will I have this opportunity again? The Old City is one of my favorite parts of Jerusalem, and in the High Holiday spirit of looking at our past so we can change our future, viewing it reminded me that I need to start taking advantage of this year and explore Israel more (both in the Old City and beyond).

View from Beit Shmuel

Praying at the location of Beit Shmuel had another meaning for me. This was the first time that I really felt a spiritual connection to Yom Kippur because of my fasting. I cannot describe it well at all; words fail me, but I will try. I had always questioned one of the premises for fasting on Yom Kippur, that by neglecting your body, you can ignore the physical and focus on the spiritual. I tend to spend more time thinking about my body when I'm hungry--after all, your brain is connected to your stomach, which is shouting "FEED ME!" But this year I didn't quite feel that (at least all the time). There were times when because I felt physically empty, I realized how spiritually full I was. Yes, the hunger made me think about my body, but then I thought about how much more there was than that. I'm not saying I loved the feeling or had some great epiphany, but I definitely felt something more. I could especially feel this during the vidui, the confession of sin, and during the High Holiday staples such as Avinu Malkeinu (Our Father, Our King). I could connect more to the spirituality of the holiday when I felt as though my spirit was in this enlightened state.

However, location has its downsides as well, even at HUC. Being in a different location can mean new and exciting things, but it can also be a reminder of the fact that you're not home--and for me, as much as I love Israel, it is still not "home" (maybe a second home, but not real home). The melodies of the prayers used by HUC were often familiar--but they were also often not, which was frustrating and reminded me that I am not home. Sometimes they were very close to my home melodies--but not exactly the same, which was sometimes even more infuriating and reminded me of what I am missing so much more so.

Yet along with this idea--that leaving an old location means leaving behind those you love--comes the idea that going to a new location means meeting new people with whom you can begin new relationships. Spending my chagim in Israel definitely reflects this. Enjoying my holidays with people who are just as into Judaism as I am gives them a whole new meaning, where we can discuss and debate the texts, the prayers, the meanings, and the experiences with new light and an enthusiasm I am not used to. I would not be able to experience this in another location--where else can you find such a strong center for Reform Judaism that is also immersed within a greater culture of Judaism?

One final idea on this idea of location relates to the fact that I did not spend the entire chagim in Israel. In fact, I spent all of Sukkot abroad (first in Barcelona and then in Paris). I debated doing this because of the fact that I would be missing Sukkot in Israel, a unique opportunity. Yet I also wanted to travel, and I had hoped to find a sukkah in either city, which would also be a unique experience. As luck would have it, I did just that. While exploring the Jewish Quarter of Paris, Sam and I ran across some Chabadniks and their portable sukkah. We entered the sukkah, where we said the prayers, shook the lulav, and ate some sweets.

The Sukkah in the Jewish Quarter of Paris

Throughout my time in the Jewish Quarter, I could not stop thinking about location. For instance, I thought about how as I was saying the prayers, countless other Jews throughout the world were doing the same thing. As we walked through the Judaica and book store, and I saw countless Hebrew texts translated into French, not English, I thought about how people all over the world use the same texts to pray, and yet each in their own way and own language. And as we ate kosher hamburgers in one of the restaurants, I thought to myself, "This is a good burger...but it's no Burger Bar (a great burger chain in Israel)." And I think the thing that really sticks out to me is that when we were talking with some of the French Jews who didn't know English, I was able to switch to Hebrew and we were able to continue our talks. I was both very much aware of my location, but also aware of how my Judaism can at the same time transcend location.

Thus it is clear that location was a key influence in my prayer experience for the 5773 chagim. At the end of it all, I look forward to new locations that I will encounter, and I hope to push myself further and discover more than I already have. Ultimately, though, I have to remember where I am, and take full advantage of what that means. My location is here: I am in Israel.

הנני

What a vacation! (Israel update...sort of)

Shalom from Israel! I say this because, while normally I am indeed living in Israel, I was in Barcelona and Paris for ten days over Sukkot break, so here's a brief day-by-day summary of what happened on Sam and my trip. Make sure you check out my Photobucket site for many, many more pictures (Barcelona here and Paris here). (Be prepared, this is a sort of long entry! Also, I think the formatting is a little messed up, so if so...sorry.)

Sam taking a picture of the Columbus statue.

Friday 9/28/12: I left Jerusalem for Ramla on Thursday night, and hung out with Sam for a little bit at her place before heading to the airport. Our flight was at 1:30am, and we arrived in Barcelona at 6am. The flight wasn't terrible, but it wasn't good by any means: it was tight, cramped, and uncomfortable, plus with my ankle sprain, I couldn't find a comfortable spot where it didn't hurt. It was also tough to sleep. But it could have been worse. We arrived in Barcelona and took a taxi to our apartment, the Sunshine Hostel. We spent about an hour trying to find it, because it was tucked away inside an apartment building with no sign; eventually we went to a different hostel, and its clerk called our hostel and got directions. We napped for a bit, and then we went out and explored Barcelona. Our hostel was right on La Rambla, a pretty central street with a lot of little shops, vendors, restaurants, and people, so we ended up walking on that street a lot, not only that day but also throughout the entire trip. We got tapas for lunch (basically, you order a bunch of different appetizers of your choice, which combine to make a meal). Most of the day was spent exploring. We encountered a little artist market, saw some statues, churches, and landmarks, sat in a giant plaza and people-watched, saw a deaf parade (or something, I can't read Catalan), and walked around the Barcelona version of the shuk (market).

The Barcelonan market (shuk!).

The plaza at the end of La Rambla.

Saturday 9/29/12: Saturday was raining all day, which put a damper on things (heh). However, we made

On our double-decker bus.

the most of it and decided to buy a ticket for a double-decker tour bus around the city. It was a hop-on, hop-off bus, which meant once we bought the ticket, we could get on and off at any stop we wanted all day and get back on later. It was nice to do, though we still got wet (it was covered but still open), and so we were sort of cold all day even with layers. However, it showed us a bunch of neat things and gave us ideas for what to do with the rest of the time, which was good. Dinner was more tapas, though this time on La Rambla, where we could people-watch, which is the thing to do there.

The artist market.

Sunday 9/30/12: Sunday had much nicer weather, so we created a plan: go to an artist market, see a park (I don't know the name but Sam wanted to see it), go to the Jewish quarter, and go to the

Inside a cathedral.

aquarium. Because most of it was close to each other, and because we didn't really have a set time except to be at the aquarium with enough time to enjoy it, our plan gave us plenty of time to explore, wander, and take our time. The artist market was pretty neat, with some food vendors and different artists selling their work. It was off La Rambla, so we explored those shops for a while, finding different local shops and some old churches. We eventually made it to the park, which wasn't terribly huge but was still a nice. On the other side of the street from it was a long pedestrian square and at the end of that was an arch, the Arc de Triomf, which was smaller than the Arc de Triomphe in Paris (see Wednesday 10/3/12) but still pretty

Sam in a Barcelonan alley.

massive and impressive. From there we got lunch, then walked to the Jewish Quarter, which ended up not being much; it was really just the old Jewish Quarter from the Middle Ages rather than a modern Jewish section of the town. There were maps here and there explaining what used to be there, and how it was a ghetto outside the main walled city of Barcelona (back when it was pretty tiny), but there wasn't actually anything left (no synagogues, etc.). It was kind of interesting to see, but not really. The aquarium is in a very nice area, it's on the water near the end of La Rambla. We had walked by there on our first day of exploring and saw it on our bus tour, but it was good to see it in nicer weather. Near that area is a giant statue of Christopher Columbus pointing toward the Americas, which is very impressive. There are also lots of boats and sea-related sites in that area. The aquarium itself was a little disappointing but had it's good parts. It was disappointing I think mostly because Sam and I had just gone to the Boston Aquarium with friends only a couple of months ago, and also this one had a smaller selection and less impressive exhibits on the whole. However, its one redeeming factor was that it had a tunnel tank, i.e. one of those tanks through which you can walk and see the fishies all around you. I would recommend it to people, unless you have gone through an aquarium recently before. Dinner consisted, again, of tapas.

Sam at the park in Barcelona.

Arc de Triomf

Plaque in the old
Jewish Quarter

The Columbus statue

from behind.

The Columbus

statue up close.

Sam and I in the tunnel at the aquarium.

Clownfish!

View of Barcelona (including the Columbus

statue) on our way back from the aquarium.

Lots of boats in the harbor.

Monday 10/1/12: Monday was our last full day in Barcelona, and so we decided to make use of the time

Dunkin' Coffee!

and visit some of the last big sites we wanted to see. But first, we needed breakfast...so we went to "Dunkin Coffee," i.e. Dunkin'

Sagrada Familia

Donuts (due to trademark issues or something, it can't be called by its regular name in Spain). While the menu was slightly different, it was probably one of the things that most felt like home, and the doughnuts tasted mostly the same. We then took the subway to Sagrada Familia, which might be Barcelona's most famous landmark. Sagrada Familia is a giant cathedral originally envisioned and begun by Antoni Gaudi, the famous Barcelonan architecht. (We saw some of his other work throughout the trip as well.) Construction on Sagrada Familia began in 1882...and is still continuing today. It is highly ornate, with a crazy amount of detail in almost every part of it. The best part is that while its basic structure is similar to any other

Inside Sagrada Familia

cathedral you might come across, it is much more artistic, colorful, and modern than any other I've seen. Sam and I decided that we will go back after it's completed (which will be at least in 2026). We were able to explore the cathedral itself, as well as go in two of its towers, and took some great photos. After Sagrada Familia, we walked around the city and found some other sites.

Above the entrance

to Sagrada Familia.

First we walked by famous-ish hosptial, Hospital de Sant Pau. Then we went to Park Guell, which is a park created by Gaudi and featuring a lot of his classic style (I think). It was really great because it was a nice park to walk around in but also had some unique, Gaudi style art, architecture, and designs. The park also had a great view from the top of a hill. After that, though, we were both tired and my ankle was hurting, so we walked back to the hostel. We ate dinner at an "Irish pub" serving "Tex-Mex" food...where we ordered hamburgers. I figured that after being away from America for so long, it's nice to have a change of routine and eat some "American" food. After eating we decided to get some ice cream on La Rambla, and while walking the street we ran into Dafna, Sam's tour guide from Birthright. What a small world!

Looking down from the top of Sagrada Familia.

Sam on top of Sagrada Familia.

Park Guell - Gaudi's park.

Gaudi's famous lizard at Park Guell.

Sagrada Familia, seen from Park Guell.

Me on top of Sagrada Familia,
with Barcelona in the background.

Tuesday 10/2/12: Tuesday was the day we left Barcelona for Paris, but our flight was at 6, so we had some time to finish up anything we wanted to do in Barcelona. This consisted mainly of visiting the Picasso Museum and walking around town. While waiting in line for the museum, a young woman tried to cut us very sneakily, so we of course just moved right back in front of her, and she stayed behind us because the person behind us didn't do anything about it. Sam and I mentioned to each other, "What is this, Israel?" since Israelis tend to not do lines. Soon her boyfriend joined her, and lo and behold--they spoke Hebrew! It was pretty funny. The Picasso Museum itself was neat, although as someone who doesn't know much about art, it wasn't my favorite part of the trip. Sam enjoyed it, though. Afterward we walked to some stores we had wanted to check out again, looked in some new stores, and overall killed time, and soon enough it was time to get ready to leave. We left Barcelona, and a few hours later...we were in Paris! Unfortunately by the time we got settled into hour hostel it was already around 10:00pm, and we were tired and hungry, so we just got some food nearby and went to bed for the night.

Wednesday 10/3/12: The forecast for Wednesday was for high chances of rain, but it wasn't raining when

The Eiffel Tower!

we left in the morning. We decided for that day to see the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, and maybe a museum. We had tried to buy tickets to the Eiffel

Arc de Triomphe,

from the Eiffel Tower

Tower the night before, but they were already sold out. However, the website said some were available at the tower, so we went and decided to play by ear whether we would take the stairs or the elevator, and which floor we would go to, based on availability. Once we got there, it turns out that because (I assume) our visit was mid-week and because of the weather, the lines were relatively short and we had access to the top if we wanted, so of course we took advantage of the opportunity. The views from the tower were pretty extraordinary, although the cloudy weather didn't help create the best pictures (but still good!). It started to rain while we

Looking down the

Eiffel Tower from the top.

waited (almost an hour) to get from the second floor (in the middle of the structure) to the top, but it was well worth the wait. After the Eiffel Tower we walked to the Arc de Triomphe. The Arc de Triomphe is the middle of a roundabout between many streets, including some main streets, so we decided to walk down and explore one of those streets, Champs-Elyssees. While there, Sam kept an eye out for boots (her shoes were getting soaked) and I looked for a new rain jacket (the

View from the top of the Eiffel Tower.

zipper on mine broke earlier that day). Unfortunately, all the boots were super expensive (it is Paris, after all), as were most of the rain jackets. I did find one at Adidas, which I bought, but it turns out it was too waterproof--it didn't breathe, and collected my sweat, so I was still wet and ended up returning it later in the day, and used my old one for the rest of the trip. Arc de Triomphe was almost as cool as the Eiffel Tower. It's a giant arch, one of the most famous sites in Paris, and we actually got the opportunity to go inside it and then out onto the roof. After some more walking around we grabbed dinner, and then walked back to the Eiffel Tower to get some night shots. And of course, we ate crepes...which I think we did at least once a day in Paris (and sometimes twice!). We then headed back to our hostel since we were wet and tired.

Arc de Triomphe.

Stairs leading up to the top of the Arc de Triomphe.

Eiffel Tower, seen from the Arc de Triomphe.

The Eiffel Tower at night.

Thursday 10/4/12: Thursday predicted some chances of rain, so we decided to spend some time indoors at

Sam and me at the Louvre!

museums. The weather turned out to be overall much nicer than expected, but that was ok because we also ended up spending more time outdoors than expected. Our first stop was the Louvre, since we wanted to give ourselves plenty of time to enjoy it (I've heard you can spend whole days there, but we only wanted a few hours). We bought

Venus de Milo

our tickets ahead of time at a mall (which was convenient, since Sam finally found some boots), and so we got to skip the long lines at the Louvre itself. The Louvre is bigger than I imaged. I was already picturing a giant museum, maybe similar to a couple of regular ones put together--but no, this was a palace! (Which makes sense, because it used to be a palace.) Once we got in, we looked at a map and decided which exhibits we wanted to see: the Islamic art, the Near Eastern, and the Ancient Egyptian

A real mummy!

exhibits, plus the Mona Lisa. Along the way to seeing these, we also saw some parts of other exhibits, such as medieval Egypt, ancient Greek, ancient Roman, and Renaissance art. I was expecting the Louvre to be mostly an art museum, but because "art" was different in different times, a lot of it was artifacts and therefore I was much more interested in the material than I originally thought I would be (although it did end up repeating itself). Some of the highlights include: seeing about 30 sarcophagi; an actual, fully intact

The Mona Lisa

mummy; the Mona Lisa (which in reality isn't too impressive, although since I had heard that before, it was actually better than I anticipated); the Nike of Samothrace; Hammurabi's Code; and the Venus de Milo. After the Louvre, we decided to see the Catacombs, which everyone suggested we do. Unfortunately, they were closed. :( However, because the weather was nice, it freed up some time to walk around, explore, and see some other sites (plus, since it was later in the day, we didn't want to start

Notre Dame

another museum). We decided to head to Notre Dame, which is just as immense and impressive as I expected. While in some ways it paled in comparison to the other major cathedral we had already seen--Sagrada Familia--at the same time it had its own beauty and was just as interesting. While waiting in line, we saw this entire family cut the line again and get away with it. And once again...they were Israeli! Oy vey. When we were done touring inside, we wanted to go to the top,

Sam and I at Notre Dame

but unfortunately it was closed. After Notre Dame, we still needed something to do, so we went to see the Bastille memorial. The original Bastille was destroyed in the French Revolution, and only a few stones remain (which I couldn't find), but a giant statue/memorial has been erected in its place. After checking out the Bastille, we walked to the Jewish Quarter which was nearby. Unlike Barcelona, Paris's Jewish Quarter actually exists today. We were wandering around the area trying to figure out if we were actually in it, when we ran across some Chabad Jews--so we knew we found the place. They had a portable Sukkah set up, and so while I wasn't able to do much for Sukkot this

Inside Notre Dame

year (and am slightly disappointed I missed Sukkot in Israel), we were at least able to sit and eat in the Sukkah and shake the lulav and etrog--and when will I do that in France again? We also found a few kosher restaurants, a Judaic book store (with French/Hebrew books, Torahs, etc., which makes sense but was still interesting to see), and a small synagogue (which was Sephardi). There were a bunch of falafel and shawarma restaurants, but we decided to eat at a kosher burger place--where I ate an excellent burger (though not quite up to par with Burger Bar in Jerusalem). After dinner we headed back to the Eiffel Tower to potentially climb up the stairs to the second floor and get some night shots, but when we found out the stairs were closed, we decided not to spend the extra money on the elevator, so we got some crepes (of course) and headed back to the hostel.

The Bastille monument.

A sukkah in the

Jewish Quarter of Paris.

A sparkling Eiffel Tower at night.

Friday 10/5/12: One of the places we were going to stop by and visit on Thursday after we found out the

Walking up to Versailles.

catacombs were closed was Versailles, so we asked where it was...and it turns out Versailles is located outside of Paris. Therefore we waited until Friday and made it our first stop. We had to take the RER, i.e. the Paris commuter rail, to go outside of Paris. I knew going into it that Versailles was a massive palace...but I didn't realize how big until I got there. I also

Versailles

didn't realize that the lands surrounding it were also gigantic. The pictures barely do it justice. Nowadays Versailles is mostly a museum, and so we spent a lot of time walking through the museum part and learning about its history, as well as seeing the famous art that's on its walls. While on the one hand it was beautiful to see and it was amazing to walk its halls, on the other

Inside Versailles.

hand most of it is closed off and so we couldn't actually experience the full magnitude of the palace. After walking inside, we went outside and walked through part of the gardens, though we wanted to get back to Paris and I'm sure we could have spent at least a couple of hours there, so we soon left. After all, it was Friday night, which was our "nice" Paris dinner night (not that our other meals weren't nice), where we were planning on eating at a fancy

The Versailles gardens.

restaurant. After Versailles we ended up not having enough time to do anything major, but had too much time to go back to the hostel and do nothing, so we ended up walking around Paris a bit. We wound up back at the Eiffel Tower, and were finally able to get a few day pictures in not cloudy weather. We went back to the hostel and got ready, then headed to our fancy restaurant. I ordered veal and sweetbreads, and it was pretty good...and so it turns out I like the pancreas of veal. Who would have guessed? It was a delicious and wonderful meal to (almost) finish off the trip.

Saturday 10/6/12: This was our last full day in Paris (and Sunday was just flying back home) so we wanted to finish up with anything that we missed. We began with a river tour on the Seine River, the main river in Paris. We saw a lot of great sites, some of which we had already seen, but it was cool to see them from this angle, such as the Eiffel Tower (where the tour began and ended), the Louvre, and Notre Dame. The tour was nice but it began to rain at the end. After that we decided to do some shopping, because Sam and I still wanted some genuine French clothing/accessories/souvenirs. We went to a famous flea market just outside

On our river tour.

the city, and while it was large and had a lot of interesting things, we couldn't find anything we wanted. We went to the Lafayette Galleries, which was essentially a giant mall (although their malls are set up differently). It was actually quite overwhelming--it was super busy (being a rainy Saturday) and crowded, plus it was warm (and I was carrying my backpack with a few jackets in it), and everything was very expensive so I didn't buy anything. Sam also had trouble finding anything, partially because it was so busy and partially because no one seemed able to help her. We tried a few other shops here and there, too, though the day ended up being a lot of walking around and exploring the shops, rather than actually buying anything. Eventually we were tired from the walking, and wet from the rain, so we headed back toward the hostel, got some cheap food at a local grill restaurant, and packed up for our flight home.

Sunday 10/7/12 and beyond: We finished last minute packing early in the morning, left the hostel, got some food at a local bakery, and then headed to the airport. We had a four-ish hour flight from Paris to Istanbul, where we had a five hour layover. I was able to finish pretty much all of my homework for the rest of the week throughout the flights and layover, which was good (though I had done a bunch of it already). We got back to Israel late Sunday night, where it was Simchat Torah, and Sam had no food at her apartment and no restaurants were open. Fortunately I had some granola bars in my suitcase, and on Monday we managed to find an open restaurant about three minutes away from her apartment, so it wasn't that bad. Monday night I left Ramla and came to Jerusalem, thus ending my vacation.

Since then, classes have restarted, so we're right back into the flow of things, though only for three days this week. I thought it would be weird since we just had ten days off, but things picked up pretty much right where they left off. It was good to see friends again, though. Today we went to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum/memorial, and Mount Herzl, where Theodor Herzl, many of the top Israeli leaders, and fallen soldiers are buried. We studied it with a specific lens, though: trying to analyze it from a statist and Zionist point of view. Tomorrow we have more class, then the weekend.

So that's it! I'll try to post more in the future, including some more "Jewish Thoughts" posts (we have some papers due soon, so maybe I'll post one of those). Lilah tov!

-Eric