Someone sent me this link, it's a short film (1,35 min.) displaying in fast movement the 35 hours of Yom Kippur (2006). It will give you an idea about the atmosphere:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdetCA_7ly8
We aren't done yet with the Holy Days - the next holiday coming is Sukkot (סוכות), or "the Feast of Tabernacles" or "the Feast of Booths"... At work, this time feels like jumping from one holiday to the next one, difficult to do serious work, many projects are postponed to "after the holidays" (אחרי החגים).
But we are done with the gloomy part, now we may rejoice!
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur
יום כיפור
Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement or Repentance, is just about to begin this evening, Sunday 27th of September, at sundown, until tomorrow evening, Monday, when it becomes dark. Besides being the most holy of the Holy High Holidays for all Jews in the world, here in Israel it is in fact a very special day for all, even though for very different reasons.
Yom Kippur - version A
In the cities, the onset of Yom Kippur is quite spectacular and truly amazing: all shops, restaurants, cafes and businesses of any kind are closed down at least since early afternoon, broadcasting services included. The only people to stay in duty are soldiers, policemen and a few paramedics and physicians on emergency duty. The city turns silent, even the private homes. No more cooking, frying or baking, no loud music or TV, only kids shouting and rushing around. During late afternoon hours the car traffic starts to slow down more and more, until the last car disappears. As the streets become empty, around the official beginning time of Yom Kippur, hundreds of people walk out on the streets and swarms of bikers, old and young, take possession of the streets, the highways and the parking places. You may even see babies crawling on the asphalt nearby the traffic lights. To the accidental tourist, this is an unbelievable sight and an amazing experience.
For the children of secular Israelis (those who do not adhere to religious rules - about half of the Israeli Jewish population. For more details about this, see:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Israel), this is the day in the year when they feels on top of the world. No cars, except for police patrol cars cruising slowly and carefully through the indifferent crowd. All you can hear are children shouting and laughing and people chatting. This is the secular version of Yom Kippur, a true feast.
Yom Kippur - version B
For the observant Jew, Yom Kippur is something totally different: it is all about repentance, prayer and fasting. This is done within one's praying community in the synagogue. After days of repentance prayers (Slichot:: see http://www.yideotube.com/2009/09/berogez-eli-singing-at-selichot.html) and after taking the last meal ("se'uda mafseket") before the beginning of Yom Kippur, men go to temple and will stay there praying until late night, and they shall be back there next morning, for the whole day. Also women and young girls go to temple, mothers of young children will fast at home and stay with the children. Observant people typically wear straw slippers, as leatherwear is forbidden on Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur fasting included both eating and drinking; showers and bathes are also forbidden. I was told that lately there has been an intense discussion about the question whether it is all right to wear Crocs sandals on Yom Kippur or not; eventually some of the rabbis said that it's all right, others forbid it "because they are too cosy" and do not fit the spirit of Yom Kippur. (For more specific information on Yom Kippur, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom Kippur).
Yom Kippur - version C
Between those who celebrate their Yom Kippur holiday while driving the bike all over the country and between those who observe the ritual fast while praying all day long, there are many other people choosing various other options: some do fast, "because that's family tradition", but otherwise stay at home while resting or sorting out their photo albums; some 20.000 Israelis have chosen to travel abroad for a few days; hundreds are emptying the DVD-libraries, taking home piles of DVDs to watch in silence at their home during Yom Kippur; yet others spend the day like any holiday, walking to the sea, then going home and eating something (without cooking, to avoid cooking smells), then reading the newspapers or a book. Most people take great care not to create inconveniences to those who might be fasting - because among the secular, one never knows who is fasting and who is not. Some people, known as gentiles, will fast on Yom Kippur, but wish to keep it a secret. It is actually quite common among secular friends and colleagues to ask each other, before saying goodbye: "Are you fasting?". Many gentiles, in Israel, fear to see one of their fellow secular friends making the leap and moving over to the religious and observant part of society - "chazara betshuva". The more delicate ones avoid asking that sort of question, because they know that this is a very personal issue.
Whatever you will be doing on Yom Kippur, may you be written in the Book of Life!
יום כיפור
Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement or Repentance, is just about to begin this evening, Sunday 27th of September, at sundown, until tomorrow evening, Monday, when it becomes dark. Besides being the most holy of the Holy High Holidays for all Jews in the world, here in Israel it is in fact a very special day for all, even though for very different reasons.
Yom Kippur - version A
In the cities, the onset of Yom Kippur is quite spectacular and truly amazing: all shops, restaurants, cafes and businesses of any kind are closed down at least since early afternoon, broadcasting services included. The only people to stay in duty are soldiers, policemen and a few paramedics and physicians on emergency duty. The city turns silent, even the private homes. No more cooking, frying or baking, no loud music or TV, only kids shouting and rushing around. During late afternoon hours the car traffic starts to slow down more and more, until the last car disappears. As the streets become empty, around the official beginning time of Yom Kippur, hundreds of people walk out on the streets and swarms of bikers, old and young, take possession of the streets, the highways and the parking places. You may even see babies crawling on the asphalt nearby the traffic lights. To the accidental tourist, this is an unbelievable sight and an amazing experience.
For the children of secular Israelis (those who do not adhere to religious rules - about half of the Israeli Jewish population. For more details about this, see:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Israel), this is the day in the year when they feels on top of the world. No cars, except for police patrol cars cruising slowly and carefully through the indifferent crowd. All you can hear are children shouting and laughing and people chatting. This is the secular version of Yom Kippur, a true feast.
Yom Kippur - version B
For the observant Jew, Yom Kippur is something totally different: it is all about repentance, prayer and fasting. This is done within one's praying community in the synagogue. After days of repentance prayers (Slichot:: see http://www.yideotube.com/2009/09/berogez-eli-singing-at-selichot.html) and after taking the last meal ("se'uda mafseket") before the beginning of Yom Kippur, men go to temple and will stay there praying until late night, and they shall be back there next morning, for the whole day. Also women and young girls go to temple, mothers of young children will fast at home and stay with the children. Observant people typically wear straw slippers, as leatherwear is forbidden on Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur fasting included both eating and drinking; showers and bathes are also forbidden. I was told that lately there has been an intense discussion about the question whether it is all right to wear Crocs sandals on Yom Kippur or not; eventually some of the rabbis said that it's all right, others forbid it "because they are too cosy" and do not fit the spirit of Yom Kippur. (For more specific information on Yom Kippur, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom Kippur).
Yom Kippur - version C
Between those who celebrate their Yom Kippur holiday while driving the bike all over the country and between those who observe the ritual fast while praying all day long, there are many other people choosing various other options: some do fast, "because that's family tradition", but otherwise stay at home while resting or sorting out their photo albums; some 20.000 Israelis have chosen to travel abroad for a few days; hundreds are emptying the DVD-libraries, taking home piles of DVDs to watch in silence at their home during Yom Kippur; yet others spend the day like any holiday, walking to the sea, then going home and eating something (without cooking, to avoid cooking smells), then reading the newspapers or a book. Most people take great care not to create inconveniences to those who might be fasting - because among the secular, one never knows who is fasting and who is not. Some people, known as gentiles, will fast on Yom Kippur, but wish to keep it a secret. It is actually quite common among secular friends and colleagues to ask each other, before saying goodbye: "Are you fasting?". Many gentiles, in Israel, fear to see one of their fellow secular friends making the leap and moving over to the religious and observant part of society - "chazara betshuva". The more delicate ones avoid asking that sort of question, because they know that this is a very personal issue.
Whatever you will be doing on Yom Kippur, may you be written in the Book of Life!
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
New beginnings
Summer is over, now it's official: not only have we passed beyond the threshold of 21st September, the official (physical) date of the end of the summer, but on Friday night we had our first rain here in the country. Real rain. It started around 3 or 4 pm and it was so loud that I woke up.
The first rain is quite an event here, because during the summer months it never ever rains. I remember that in my first years in Israel it wasn't easy for me to adjust to this fact. The landscape in the countryside, which in spring time has grown so intensely green, bit by bit dries out and turns yellowish, then brown, until the grass and the vegetation almost disappears. The air is constantly loaded with dust, cars are always coated with dust. Then, when the first rain comes, the air becomes clear, everything looks cleansed and the cars are all of a sudden all clean.
At the same time a new type of clouds have shown up in the sky, these days: puffy clouds, like cotton wads; someone around said that these clouds look like a forgotten piece of theater decor.
Even though the rain has gone and temperature has been raising again since yesterday, the humidity is much lower and it no longer feels like summer heat.
This is about the time when people start taking down their winter clothes from the upper part of their wardrobe, for those who live in one of those cramped houses so typical for Israel.
Rain seems to have been a meaningful issue in Ancient Hebrew: the fact that there exist several words for different kinds of rain displays that very clearly. "Rain" in modern Hebrew is "geshem". In Ancient Hebrew, we find the terms "Yoreh", early rain - the first rain in autumn; "Malkosh", late rain - the last rain before summer, and "Matar", plain rain, from which the modern Hebrew word "mitriyah", umbrella, is derivated. It seems that the word "geshem" in the Scriptures means "heavy rain" - it is mentioned in the story of Noah's flood (for those who like to read more about this, see: http://jhom.com/hebrew/rain_h.htm).
In its basic meaning, so it seems, "geshem" means "substance", in the sense of "that which is substantial" - and it seems to be related closely linked to the Arabic "jism", which means "material form, body". But this is another story.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Rosh Hashana
Today is a special day: this evening, Friday 18th, is Rosh Hashana eve, "'Erev 'Rosh Hasha'na" (the ' shows you the stress on each syllable). Rosh Hashana is the New Year of the Jewish calendar: this evening, after sunset, begins the year 5770.
What does this mean for Jews? It depends on whom you are asking.
For the secular Jewish Israeli, who lives according to the Gregorian calendar, this is about tradition, a nice holiday; those who follow old family traditions will serve apple slices and dip them in honey, as a symbol of hope for a "sweet" new year and many other kinds of food, such as pomegranate berries, dates and more. Whatever the various ways people in Israel celebrate Rosh Hashana, it has little in common with western Sylvester celebrations. Mostly, this is a feast of family gatherings. In the large cities, such as Tel Aviv, people also celebrate New Year on 31st December - many throw late night parties, dancing and drinking; it is not a common habit though in Israel.
For religious Jews, Rosh Hashana means that a new year is beginning and this is the time when God decides for every and each person what his or her life will look like in the coming year. The most important thing, for a religious Jew, at Rosh Hashana, is to listen to the Shofar: the Shofar, the traditional Jewish horn celebrates the presence of God, in whose realm we all live - a right one gas to earn. Rosh Hashana is about happiness and joy that one is part of this realm of life. But the horn also reminds cries and sadness - this is to remind people that they must examine their deeds in the past year and see if they have done any wrong; Rosh Hashana is the beginning of the 10 Days of Awe or of Repentance; wrongdoings still may be fixed until Yom Kippur. The next most important thing to do, for the religious Jew, is taking part in the prayer at temple; songs are performed by the Chazan (in Ashkenazi temples, for samples see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7SBznfK4_g) or a "paytan" (in sefardic or oriental temples, for samples see: http://www.piyut.org.il/ ), a religious singer, whose target it is to move and touch the listeners' soul as deeply as possible. Dinner at home is a part of the whole celebration, but an accessory one.
This the occasion at which many Jewish men, mainly chassidic, but also secular, choose to visit the tomb of Rabbi Nachman of Breslav in the Ukraine. For the Breslav Chassidim, this is the highlight of the year.
It seems that for either secular and religious Jews, Rosh Hashana is a basically happy, a life assessing holiday.
Let's all have a happy Rosh Hashana!
What does this mean for Jews? It depends on whom you are asking.
For the secular Jewish Israeli, who lives according to the Gregorian calendar, this is about tradition, a nice holiday; those who follow old family traditions will serve apple slices and dip them in honey, as a symbol of hope for a "sweet" new year and many other kinds of food, such as pomegranate berries, dates and more. Whatever the various ways people in Israel celebrate Rosh Hashana, it has little in common with western Sylvester celebrations. Mostly, this is a feast of family gatherings. In the large cities, such as Tel Aviv, people also celebrate New Year on 31st December - many throw late night parties, dancing and drinking; it is not a common habit though in Israel.
For religious Jews, Rosh Hashana means that a new year is beginning and this is the time when God decides for every and each person what his or her life will look like in the coming year. The most important thing, for a religious Jew, at Rosh Hashana, is to listen to the Shofar: the Shofar, the traditional Jewish horn celebrates the presence of God, in whose realm we all live - a right one gas to earn. Rosh Hashana is about happiness and joy that one is part of this realm of life. But the horn also reminds cries and sadness - this is to remind people that they must examine their deeds in the past year and see if they have done any wrong; Rosh Hashana is the beginning of the 10 Days of Awe or of Repentance; wrongdoings still may be fixed until Yom Kippur. The next most important thing to do, for the religious Jew, is taking part in the prayer at temple; songs are performed by the Chazan (in Ashkenazi temples, for samples see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7SBznfK4_g) or a "paytan" (in sefardic or oriental temples, for samples see: http://www.piyut.org.il/ ), a religious singer, whose target it is to move and touch the listeners' soul as deeply as possible. Dinner at home is a part of the whole celebration, but an accessory one.
This the occasion at which many Jewish men, mainly chassidic, but also secular, choose to visit the tomb of Rabbi Nachman of Breslav in the Ukraine. For the Breslav Chassidim, this is the highlight of the year.
It seems that for either secular and religious Jews, Rosh Hashana is a basically happy, a life assessing holiday.
Let's all have a happy Rosh Hashana!
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
About the picture on my website title
I thought that I ought to say a few words about the picture on my website's landing page: it is a picture I took around March 2009 in my old neighborhood in the center of Tel Aviv: in Hebrew its name is Lev Ha'Ir (heart of the city). This is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Tel Aviv, most of the old houses were built around 1930. As you know perhaps, Tel Aviv is a newly created city: the first cornerstone was set in 1909.
The picture shows Balfour street at the corner of Yehuda Halevy st. - not the kind of view tour guides lead you through. In my view as a citizen who has been living for more than a decade in Lev Ha'Ir, what makes Balfour st. so special are its fabulous trees. You get to know the special quality of their presence only after you have been spending several months in this area. All over Tel Aviv there very ancient trees scattered in various backyards and back side streets. They make you feel protected when you walk by them - something I have come to value while living in Tel Aviv.
About 2 months ago my family and I moved out of Lev Ha'Ir to another neighborhood, up north, although still part of Tel Aviv. I miss those trees. Although we have plenty of trees in my new neighborhood, they don't feel the same...
The picture shows Balfour street at the corner of Yehuda Halevy st. - not the kind of view tour guides lead you through. In my view as a citizen who has been living for more than a decade in Lev Ha'Ir, what makes Balfour st. so special are its fabulous trees. You get to know the special quality of their presence only after you have been spending several months in this area. All over Tel Aviv there very ancient trees scattered in various backyards and back side streets. They make you feel protected when you walk by them - something I have come to value while living in Tel Aviv.
About 2 months ago my family and I moved out of Lev Ha'Ir to another neighborhood, up north, although still part of Tel Aviv. I miss those trees. Although we have plenty of trees in my new neighborhood, they don't feel the same...
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Israeli art on the streets of Tel Aviv
Today, while strolling on my bicycle through Rothschild avenue in Tel Aviv, I discovered that a new art exhibition had just started: large white banners with the copy of three different pictures on each side are hanging from the trees above the alley: most of them are paintings, by Israeli artists, old and young, some from before the state foundation, such as Nachum Gutman. The pictures all have one common theme: Tel Aviv (for more information, see Tel Aviv's municipality website at: http://www.tlv100.co.il/HE/News/Pages/omanut_bashderot.aspx, in Hebrew, or: http://www.tlv100.co.il/EN/Pages/EngHome.aspx, in English; for more about contemporary art in Israel, see: http://www.e-flux.com/shows/view/7070).
The sight of the the various pictures, which depict various places in Tel Aviv, filled me with joy. I asked myself why and here is the answer I found: because I recognized almost every place depicted and I saw pictures by artists whom I have known or do know personally.
If you happen to be in Tel Aviv in September, then by all means do stroll down Rothschild avenue, as well as Ben Gurion ave. Although life in Tel Aviv is not always easy and pleasant, it is a pleasure to see that we have so many fine artists and also so many beautiful places here in Tel Aviv.
The sight of the the various pictures, which depict various places in Tel Aviv, filled me with joy. I asked myself why and here is the answer I found: because I recognized almost every place depicted and I saw pictures by artists whom I have known or do know personally.
If you happen to be in Tel Aviv in September, then by all means do stroll down Rothschild avenue, as well as Ben Gurion ave. Although life in Tel Aviv is not always easy and pleasant, it is a pleasure to see that we have so many fine artists and also so many beautiful places here in Tel Aviv.
About schools and education in Israel
In Israel schools traditionally start on the 1st September. This is about the time when various newspaper articles are published about the catastrophic state of Israel's educational system. Public schools in Israel are indeed in deep trouble: classrooms are notoriously overcrowded, with an average of 32 pupils per classroom in high schools; school teachers are underpaid and too often they take advantage of their sick days; both my children, Ben and Elinor, have experienced repeatedly their teachers leaving in the middle of the school year, with temporary replacement teachers in between, which means constant readjustment. Nearly every year, the ministry of education makes new cuts in the number of teaching hours; last year, my daughter Elinor had a free day on Thursdays, due to the accumulation of such cuts. Parents feel helpless. This is also the reason why so many parents decide to take their child's education in their own hands and to found a private schools, such as the Kesem school, an environmental open school in the Jerusalem area, just to name one of them.
Although Israel spends more than most other countries on education, Israeli school children obtain very little personal attention from their classroom teachers. In secular schools, problem number one is the low discipline. Eventually, the pupils who do well at school do so mostly thanks to their parents' involvement and their financial investment in private teachers. As a result, the gap between school kids who are children of well educated or well off parents and those whose parents have little education and cannot afford providing their kids private lessons keeps growing.
The educational crisis has been going for years already. A retired school principle from the Afula area once explained me, while we were discussing the issue at a family dinner, that back in the 60s, when he was a high-school pupil, only about 30% of the children were aspiring to graduate and study at university, all the others would leave earlier to acquire a technical education or just started working; back then high schools were able to provide quality, since they were meant for the intellectual elite. Nowadays, high schools have been imposed the role of baby sitters; on top of it, they must provide equal chances for all. Since Israel basically is a state of immigrants from all over the world, this means supplying public school education not only to the children of well educated Tel Aviv, Jerusalem or Haifa citizens, but also to children of Russian immigrants from Moscow, Kiev or Riga, to newly immigrated religious Yemenite Jews who know only biblical Hebrew; to the children of Ethiopian immigrants who have been living for years in impoverished communities and neglected by the authorities for various reasons and speak mostly Amharic; to the children of Arab Israeli citizens, either Muslim and Christians, to the Bedouins of the Negev desert and of Galilee; to children from poor peripheral settlements, such as Dimona or Beer Sheba. The Arab citizens in Israel have a school program of their own in Arabic. But there is more to this complex mosaic: the religious population - they also have public schools, the "khinukh mamlakhti dati".
Many in Israel are dissatisfied with the public school system. Over the last 10 years, more and more private schools have been created by various communities, both religious and secular, in order to provide a better education for their children according to their own beliefs: almost 30% of Israel's schoolchildren study in a private school; many of them are officially acknowledged by the Ministry of Education, although the ministry is far from encouraging this tendency. With more and more young Israeli citizens receiving education in a private institution, some people here are deeply concerned about the cohesion of the Israeli society in the future.
Although Israel spends more than most other countries on education, Israeli school children obtain very little personal attention from their classroom teachers. In secular schools, problem number one is the low discipline. Eventually, the pupils who do well at school do so mostly thanks to their parents' involvement and their financial investment in private teachers. As a result, the gap between school kids who are children of well educated or well off parents and those whose parents have little education and cannot afford providing their kids private lessons keeps growing.
The educational crisis has been going for years already. A retired school principle from the Afula area once explained me, while we were discussing the issue at a family dinner, that back in the 60s, when he was a high-school pupil, only about 30% of the children were aspiring to graduate and study at university, all the others would leave earlier to acquire a technical education or just started working; back then high schools were able to provide quality, since they were meant for the intellectual elite. Nowadays, high schools have been imposed the role of baby sitters; on top of it, they must provide equal chances for all. Since Israel basically is a state of immigrants from all over the world, this means supplying public school education not only to the children of well educated Tel Aviv, Jerusalem or Haifa citizens, but also to children of Russian immigrants from Moscow, Kiev or Riga, to newly immigrated religious Yemenite Jews who know only biblical Hebrew; to the children of Ethiopian immigrants who have been living for years in impoverished communities and neglected by the authorities for various reasons and speak mostly Amharic; to the children of Arab Israeli citizens, either Muslim and Christians, to the Bedouins of the Negev desert and of Galilee; to children from poor peripheral settlements, such as Dimona or Beer Sheba. The Arab citizens in Israel have a school program of their own in Arabic. But there is more to this complex mosaic: the religious population - they also have public schools, the "khinukh mamlakhti dati".
Many in Israel are dissatisfied with the public school system. Over the last 10 years, more and more private schools have been created by various communities, both religious and secular, in order to provide a better education for their children according to their own beliefs: almost 30% of Israel's schoolchildren study in a private school; many of them are officially acknowledged by the Ministry of Education, although the ministry is far from encouraging this tendency. With more and more young Israeli citizens receiving education in a private institution, some people here are deeply concerned about the cohesion of the Israeli society in the future.
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