10.14.2005
Blogging from Jerusalem
Ahhh...... Very nice, although I am having some of the usual Israel-related agitas. Maybe I can try to make this just a vacation, not a heart-wrenching inquiry into where I am in my life path and where I'm going. Wouldn't that be nice?
Brief summary of events of past few weeks: Accepted new job, feverishly cleaned room for subletter, feverishly packed, had bittersweet last day at old job, took overnight flight to Athens, saw Jewish Museum, Acropolis, and National Archaeological Museum, took 2 am flight to Israel, crashed with family, observed Yom Kippur. Now, Shabbat in Jerusalem. After that? Who knows!
If you want details about the change of job, feel free to e-mail me and if I know you, I may divulge.
I will likely write about Athens and Israel in more detail at some later point. Thus far, my Hebrew does not seem to have atrophied as terribly as it usually does between trips.
Brief summary of events of past few weeks: Accepted new job, feverishly cleaned room for subletter, feverishly packed, had bittersweet last day at old job, took overnight flight to Athens, saw Jewish Museum, Acropolis, and National Archaeological Museum, took 2 am flight to Israel, crashed with family, observed Yom Kippur. Now, Shabbat in Jerusalem. After that? Who knows!
If you want details about the change of job, feel free to e-mail me and if I know you, I may divulge.
I will likely write about Athens and Israel in more detail at some later point. Thus far, my Hebrew does not seem to have atrophied as terribly as it usually does between trips.
10.12.2005
Because we are your flock
I liked this pre-Yom Kippur dvar Torah from my friend shamirpower, in part, because "Ki Anu Amecha" is one of my all-time favorite parts of the Yom Kippur liturgy. Enjoy!
Labels: Torah (broadly defined)
10.11.2005
It was Like a Dream
(I'm going back and blogging about earlier parts of my trip now, when I have time. I'm predating these so they make sense and are in order and all that. Sorry for the historical revisionism. I hope no one has serious objections.)
Athens was like a dream. Seriously! I got on an airplane at around 5:45 pm on Sunday in New York, and got off around 11 am in Athens, Greece. I only slept three or four hours on the plane, I think. For one thing, they kept serving meals. Also, I just couldn't sleep. Even though I had two seats to myself, which is unheard of on most NY-Israel flights. (I guess Athens is a less popular destination, or I usually travel closer to the summer when there are more tourists.) From 11 am until around 10 pm, I did a whole bunch of cool stuff in Athens with my father, and then we got onto another airplane and flew to Israel.
After my father picked me up at the airport and we took the very nice commuter rail thing into Athens, we went to the Jewish Museum of Greece. It was very small, but nice. I learned a little bit about the history of the various Jewish communities in Greece (Athens, Salonika, Ioannina, and other places). The thing that I learned the most about, which I had known the least about before, was the Greek response to the Holocaust. Greece was the only country besides Denmark that did anything to try to stop the wholesale slaughter of Jews by the Nazis. In particular, there was one clergy member in Greece who spoke out against the Holocaust--I believe that he was the only Christian clergy member to do so. I'm sorry that I don't remember his name. I will try to look it up when I have more time and will edit this, or blog about it again.
Then we went to the Acropolis, where we saw the Temple of Athena Nike (about and photos--not mine, which haven't been developed yet), the Propylaia, and a few other assorted temples and things, as well as the Parthenon. The Parthenon was pretty impressive, despite being covered with scaffolding. Actually, the whole Acropolis was kind of impressive. It was huge. It was on a big hill in the middle of Athens and overlooking it. The museum there was also nice.
After that, we went to the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, which had been redone since my father last visited in 1970. I enjoyed both museums, but the main thing I felt was joy that I do not live in ancient Greece. Given the theological problems I sometimes have with Judaism, which I largely believe to be a logical, smart, and good religion, imagine the problems I would have had with the ancient Greek gods! It was bad enough trying to sort out who was who in all of the statues in the museums...
After dinner with a friend of my father's from college and his wife, we went back to the airport. I couldn't really sleep in the airport until our 2 am flight, so I sat in a dazed stupor until we boarded the plane. Then I slept a bit, then we got to Israel! Then I finally went to bed, after saying "hi" to my sister, who was already up and about at 5 am, on her way to her army service.
Phew! So, really, it was like a dream. I can't believe I did all that stuff on so little sleep, and I can't believe I remember so much of it. It was really crazy--sightseeing in Greece sandwiched between two nights of very little sleep. If I did it again with another city (Rome? I'd love to see Rome), I think I would probably try to stay over for a night or two.
Athens was like a dream. Seriously! I got on an airplane at around 5:45 pm on Sunday in New York, and got off around 11 am in Athens, Greece. I only slept three or four hours on the plane, I think. For one thing, they kept serving meals. Also, I just couldn't sleep. Even though I had two seats to myself, which is unheard of on most NY-Israel flights. (I guess Athens is a less popular destination, or I usually travel closer to the summer when there are more tourists.) From 11 am until around 10 pm, I did a whole bunch of cool stuff in Athens with my father, and then we got onto another airplane and flew to Israel.
After my father picked me up at the airport and we took the very nice commuter rail thing into Athens, we went to the Jewish Museum of Greece. It was very small, but nice. I learned a little bit about the history of the various Jewish communities in Greece (Athens, Salonika, Ioannina, and other places). The thing that I learned the most about, which I had known the least about before, was the Greek response to the Holocaust. Greece was the only country besides Denmark that did anything to try to stop the wholesale slaughter of Jews by the Nazis. In particular, there was one clergy member in Greece who spoke out against the Holocaust--I believe that he was the only Christian clergy member to do so. I'm sorry that I don't remember his name. I will try to look it up when I have more time and will edit this, or blog about it again.
Then we went to the Acropolis, where we saw the Temple of Athena Nike (about and photos--not mine, which haven't been developed yet), the Propylaia, and a few other assorted temples and things, as well as the Parthenon. The Parthenon was pretty impressive, despite being covered with scaffolding. Actually, the whole Acropolis was kind of impressive. It was huge. It was on a big hill in the middle of Athens and overlooking it. The museum there was also nice.
After that, we went to the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, which had been redone since my father last visited in 1970. I enjoyed both museums, but the main thing I felt was joy that I do not live in ancient Greece. Given the theological problems I sometimes have with Judaism, which I largely believe to be a logical, smart, and good religion, imagine the problems I would have had with the ancient Greek gods! It was bad enough trying to sort out who was who in all of the statues in the museums...
After dinner with a friend of my father's from college and his wife, we went back to the airport. I couldn't really sleep in the airport until our 2 am flight, so I sat in a dazed stupor until we boarded the plane. Then I slept a bit, then we got to Israel! Then I finally went to bed, after saying "hi" to my sister, who was already up and about at 5 am, on her way to her army service.
Phew! So, really, it was like a dream. I can't believe I did all that stuff on so little sleep, and I can't believe I remember so much of it. It was really crazy--sightseeing in Greece sandwiched between two nights of very little sleep. If I did it again with another city (Rome? I'd love to see Rome), I think I would probably try to stay over for a night or two.
Labels: travel
10.07.2005
Another Rosh Hashanah drash
Hi. Still largely content-less here, but I thought that this post by Zackary Sholem Berger was terrific. And some other year, perhaps I'll even be motivated enough to take its message to heart, and shock myself into action with early-morning wake ups in Elul, and possibly parts of Tishrei as well.
I went to shacharit yesterday morning in honor of the Fast of Gedalia and, in some strange way, because I felt bad for being such a massively unfocused davener on Rosh Hashanah, to the point of missing communal shacharit and Torah reading and nodding off during musaf both mornings. Shacharit yesterday morning was lovely. I made it in time to say one regular piyut of selichot with the congregation, and managed to stay through Torah reading. I am bone-tired today, though, and may have to sleep through Shabbat to make up for it. It's always a trade-off, isn't it?
I went to shacharit yesterday morning in honor of the Fast of Gedalia and, in some strange way, because I felt bad for being such a massively unfocused davener on Rosh Hashanah, to the point of missing communal shacharit and Torah reading and nodding off during musaf both mornings. Shacharit yesterday morning was lovely. I made it in time to say one regular piyut of selichot with the congregation, and managed to stay through Torah reading. I am bone-tired today, though, and may have to sleep through Shabbat to make up for it. It's always a trade-off, isn't it?
Labels: Jewish holidays, Rosh Hashanah, Torah (broadly defined)
10.06.2005
Rosh Hashanah drash
In an ideal world, I'd have come up with something original to share for Rosh Hashanah (or the day after), but luckily for us, there remains much to repair in this world before it's ideal. (Can you imagine how boring life would be if we were born in utopia?) So, instead, I share someone else's words instead.
This is from Nafka Mina, whose blog I sometimes read. I really liked it. It resonated.
Shana tova umituka! May you be inscribed for a sweet, fulfilling, healthy, and happy year. (Or if not happy, at least growth-oriented.)
This is from Nafka Mina, whose blog I sometimes read. I really liked it. It resonated.
Shana tova umituka! May you be inscribed for a sweet, fulfilling, healthy, and happy year. (Or if not happy, at least growth-oriented.)
Labels: Jewish holidays, links, Rosh Hashanah, Torah (broadly defined)
