Jerusalem at its Best

( I know it's been a while since I posted. I guess I took a short break, and then felt like I needed something exceptional to post again. But I realize that I would probably keep pushing it off in that way, so here goes)

It's amazing that less than 2 and half weeks since a terror attack struck in the heart of Jerusalem, killing a number of young Yeshivah boys, the city put on a magnificent weekend of celebrations. The holiday of Purim was spread over three days this year in Jerusalem due to the fact that it fell out on a Thurs Night/Friday. The addition of Good Friday and Easter Sunday meant that the whole city was abuzz with celebrations and activity.


Even before Thursday night, lots of costumes, especially on children, were seen around town. But by Thursday night, everyone on the street was decked in a variety of costumes, ranging from the men wearing dresses (myself included :) ) to the usual array of butterflies, princesses and vikings. After the reading of the Megillah at Pardes, and an entertaining Purim performance, I headed with a bunch of friends to a special version of The Boogie in the Binyanei Ha'uma. This time the crowd was especially diverse, made up of a nice mix of Israelis and foreigners and the music was a hip combo of dance music and traditional Israeli folk music as well as a good number of Purim songs.

Friday and Shabbat were lower key, but still nice as the weather was beautiful and the spirit of celebration remained in the air.

Saturday night the partying picked up. After a small 'impromptu' party at a friend's, we all went to a really cool block party in Nachlaot. It was really fun - everyone outside, dancing and just having a good time.

On Sunday, I woke up early and went to volunteer at Yad Lekashish (Lifeline for the elderly). Yad Lekashish is this really great place I've been volunteering. It's basically a crafts workshop for senior citizens, but the people who come to work there are making good quality crafts for sale in the giftshop. Maybe I'll write more in another post. But on Sunday it was my job to lead a Ramah group through the workshops - observing the work of our elderly workers, bringing some Purim cheer and learning what Yad Lekashish is all about.

After the groups left, I went to spend some time with some of the men I've been working with in the screenprinting workshop and actually had a really great conversation with a man who had at first seemed cold and wary of my presence. In broken Hebrew, and through translators, he was explaining to me why he left a good position in Russia to come to Israel, because "Israel is here" as he pointed to his heart.

After Yad Lekashish, I wandered around the old city for a few hours - just watching the different people walking around. Tour groups of Christians on Easter Sunday. Muslims rushing off to the temple mount after the call to prayer. Jewish teenagers still costumed rushing to their festive Purim meals.

Ben Yehudah street was really happening - performances ranging from musical to acrobatic, to magical were taking place on stages place about every 20 meters along the street.


Walking back from a Purim meal at a friends house, the sounds of music and Yiddish words of Torah could still be heard emanating from the Yeshivah across the street from my apartment well after 8 o'clock.

Bush: Bringing People Together for 7 Years

As we've entered the period of the US primaries for presidential candidates, many of us have excitingly watched the rise of a political superstar in Barack Obama. Included in his stump speech is a central pillar of his campaign - the need for opposing groups in Washington to work together - he likes to say "there are no blue states and no red states, but just the United States." That's all good and well, but has he lived up this? Are his attacks on President Bush for polarizing our country really justified?

Well, after Bush's visit to Israel this week, I don't know what to think of Mr. Obama's accusations. For all his talk about Bush being a divider and splitting the nation into polarized sections, I witnessed the ability of our President to bring about a real merging of opinions by two groups who are generally in staunch, sometimes violent, disagreement. Walking around the city of Jerusalem during Bush's visit we came across a number of gatherings and demonstrations.



First we happened upon a group of far left, mostly Arab, protesters, calling for America to stop its support of the Israeli occupation. A few blocks away, another small group had gathered. A group of right wing activists donning kaffiyehs and sporting toy Kalashnikov rifles posed for a Hamas style photo op while their leader expounded upon the terrorist state that will undoubtedly result from the negotiations being led by the US.



Yet despite the vast differences of opinions these groups both had a similar message on their signs and slogans - they all called for Bush to leave. They all hate him and want him out of the Middle East. Their loathing for our commander in chief because of his unabashed support of the Israeli occupation and his desire to create a terror state in the midst of the holy land, respectively, has transcended all divisions and brought together these groups and shown them that while we may disagree on certain small details, there are certain things we can all agree on.