Study Tour!

The last two times I have gone to Friday night services in Haifa have been at an orthodox synagogue somewhat close to the University. It is in a neighborhood called Denia, which actually means “Denmark” in Hebrew. Denia is one of the two neighborhoods in Haifa I have found that consists of houses instead of apartments and very nice houses at that (one of my friends called Denia the “Beverly Hills of Haifa”). Of both times that I have gone, these characteristics have really caught my attention: As students, we have been invited for dinner to houses and the hospitality is above and beyond what is necessary, a prime example of Middle East hospitality. The tunes that they used for almost all of the prayers are the same ones I'm familiar with from the U.S. It's interesting to go halfway around the world and feel at home just by knowing the tunes. In addition, most of the men sang in tune (Hear that Hillel students? Perhaps you can take a page out of their book.). Also, when a person would give a D'var Torah (a short sermon discussing the Torah portion of the week), everyone had their eyes glued on him and payed close attention (except for one guy in the back – I saw you).

Study Tour has started. It is an intensive academic study of the State of Israel, dealing with a vast array of topics including the Hebrew and Christian scriptures, history, Zionism, etc. Some days are spent in the class for seminar and some days are spent traveling to different sites in Israel for field studies. To date, we have had three field studies that included trips to Tzipori, Natzeret (Nazareth), Tsfat (Safed), T'veria (Tiberias), Gilboa near the West Bank, the Kinneret Courtyard, the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee), the Arbel Plateau, the Ghetto Fighter's Museum (not Yad V'Shem), and a few other places. The readings for this course are also extremely varied and intense, including a chapter from Mein Kampf. Next week, we will be in Jerusalem and southern Israel for a few days straight, sleeping in hotels and a Bedouin tent (nomadic tribes).

While in Tsfat, a city in the north that is one of the four holy cities in Judaism and is the birthplace of Kabalah (Jewish mysticism), half of my class was distracted from our lecture by a boy playing with a balloon, simply throwing it up in the air and subsequently getting much joy from it. Wouldn't life be so much better if all we had to do was vault a balloon toward the sky to put a smile on our faces?

Observations:

1. Physical contact: A common way of greeting people is through kissing on the cheeks, a very European tradition. First one side, then the other. Most people I come in contact with know or assume I'm an American and don't do that (then again, I think it's also used more for close friends that are Israeli, of which I only have a couple). In addition, people here are touchy-feely, as in putting hands and arms around each other, sometimes strangers, etc. The other thing is holding hands. Not just spouses or couple's in relationships, but friends and between some family members as well. I haven't seen two guys holding hands but definitely girls and mixed genders. It's definitely a cultural “thing” and I doubt it'll catch on in the States.

Pictures are of the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) taken from atop the Arbel Plateau, the boy with the balloon in Tsfat, the madrichim (social activity coordinators) and on the far right our instructor with me, and me with some friends on top of the Arbel Plateau.

-AZ