weekend #3: a happy new year to one and to all

Shana tova haverim! (Happy new year, friends!) I'm writing to you during my four day vacation for the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah.

Though we were only at the Mechina for 9 and a half days, they were very packed indeed - so busy that sadly I can't include every activity we did here (so I'll try to talk about the most interesting ones). I started off last week being very sick so I had to stay in my room and sleep during Sunday's activities, which was frustrating, but it meant that I could go the next day to our seminar in the north by the Sea of Galilee (the Kinneret) about group-building. The seminar took place in a museum/educational institution, so we slept in sleeping bags either in the basement or outside near the water. I really liked the seminar, which taught us to put our fellow Mechina participants first while still maintaining our personal needs. It also created some interesting historical connections between the idea/terminology of a group and the state of Israel (through kibbutzes, the independence day way, etc.) The seminar ended on Tuesday night, and then we slept for three hours in the museum basement.

Why only three hours you ask? We all woke up at one in the morning in the morning and got on the bus to go to Safed (Tsfat) for a tour. An ultra orthodox Jew (Chabad to be exact) who used to be secular led a discussion with us about spirituality, and then gave us a tour of Tsfat and explained why it's so holy - Jews often call it the city of wind because of its spirit. We also went into a synagogue before the sunrise to see the Jewish practice of "Slichot," or "apologies" for sins that takes place before Rosh Hashanah. Though we were all super tired it was an amazing and new experience.

When we got back we slept until two in the afternoon and then did a theater activity throughout Jaffa. In order to learn the city's rich history, we split into six groups, and each group got a period in Jaffa's history. Our assignment was to write a seven minute play about the period, and then perform it at a site in the city that corresponds with the time period. For example, my group got the Ottoman period, so we wrote a show for kids using popular Hebrew kids songs (and also Heigh Ho and Party Rock, which is NOT a kids song) and rewriting the words to explain what happened during the Ottoman rule in Jaffa. Then we performed in the Clock Square of Jaffa, and a bunch of Japanese tourists came to watch, as well as the rest of the people in the Mechina! It was a really fun activity, and all of the groups were really creative. (I've posted a couple of pictures from our show in particular.)

The next day we went on a guided tour in a museum about the most extreme underground Israeli movement that fought the British mandate before Israeli independence. The day after my committee (Jaffa and the Community) led an activity where we sent out small groups and asked them to talk to certain vendors and also random people in the area of Jaffa's flea market. They came back with amazing, funny, dramatic stories about the city - my favorite is an urban legend that says that there are four turtles and some rats that have all been mutated due to living in Jaffa's sewage system who thrive on pizza and burekas (a filled pastry) and protect the city. After that my dad and my sister Shani came and visited me, and then we got ready for Shabbat. We welcomed Shabbat with a student-written service by the sea, which was very moving and fun.

On Saturday we rested and slept a LOT as recuperation for the week. I walked along the boardwalk on the beach to Shani in Tel Aviv and ate frozen yogurt with her. When I got back we did our end of the week summary, then Havdalah (the ritual that separates Shabbat from the rest of the week).

The thing that excited me most this week was the beginning of our preparation for volunteer work! On Sunday we had a long lesson with Rotem, the coordinator of volunteer work for the Mechina, where we learned a little bit about all of the different institutions where we can volunteer. Then Sunday evening and Monday morning we had a series of really interesting lectures about different cultures in Jaffa, and how to bridge the gap between our culture and other extremely different cultures without offending or being overbearing. The first lecture about intercultural relations was given by a Russian Israeli who immigrated twenty years ago and now works with new immigrants. The second lecture about the Ethiopian population in Israel was given by an Ethiopian immigrant who writes for Israel's biggest newspaper. The third lecture was given by an expert on immigrant workers and refugees. After the lessons we took a tour of two institutions where we can possibly volunteer this year. One is a youth club for children in first grade to fifth grade who are children of migrant workers and refugees. Because of their "at risk" status these kids, who all come from the same school, go to this club every day where they do their homework, do fun activities, and eat lunch and dinner before going home. If we choose to work there, we will be assigned a specific child to work with and tutor, and will also lead a group activity twice a week.
The second institution we visited was called "Bnai Darfur," which is a support center for refugees from Darfur who have walked up from Sudan through Egypt and arrived in Israel. One of the first refugees to arrive in Israel spoke to us about his journey and the dangers that accompany most of the Sudanis who make the trip. If we choose to volunteer in this institution, we will mostly tutor both adults and children in Hebrew and English so they can start integrating into Israeli society.

Though this has been an amazing week and a half, it hasn't been without its trials and tribulations. We got back from the seminar to find that my apartment's bathroom was nonexistent - we didn't have a bathroom or a kitchen sink all week, which was very hard. The whole mechina had thought it was hard to have six showers for 52 people until one day two of the apartments had faulty pipes and one of the main room's bathroom was out of order, leaving all of us with a grand total of 2 showers/toilets. There were also confirmed rumors of a rat and a mouse walking around the building, so an exterminator came yesterday to fix that problem! It's been tough but we survived :)

I'll finish with a celebrity story - we said goodbye to our upstairs neighbor on Tuesday, who had to move out with her little scotty dog. Her name is Hili Yalon, and is fairly famous in Israel for being one of the stars on a popular teen show from a few years ago. On her last night I was sitting with two friends on one of their apartment's balconies when we hear a shout from above: "Need some onions?" and then thump, thump. Hili decided she did not need onions in her new apartment and threw them down to us/at us. So next time we'll make spaghetti sauce hopefully it will be famous!

weekend #1: out of the bubble

Well friends, we haven't spoken in two weeks, and a whole lot has happened since then! (I'm sure with you all too - I'd love to hear about it!)

We started with a four day nature/hiking trip. This was a very new experience for me - four days of walking about 10 km (6 miles) each day, not showering, sleeping outside in sleeping bags, etc. It was very different but fun as well - one night was great in particular, as I helped make about 200 kebabs (tasty meatballs) and a musician came and sang to us and gave us life advice. Also that night we were split into two main groups, aleph (A) and bet (B). I'm in bet, and I really like the people and our two designated counselors.

We returned to the Mechina on Wednesday night, and spent all of Thursday cleaning and making the place as spotless as it can be (which is still quite "spotty" when you are living with 51 other people). I, for example, helped clean a kitchen, some floors, and washed 500+ dishes so we could all eat! At the end of the day, within aleph and bet we were divided into two apartments - I'm in Gimmel (G though it's the third letter in the alphabet). In my personal room there are two other girls, Tal and Anat, and though they are both very different than me they are wonderful and we get along really well. In general I love the people in my apartment!

We've been very busy since then, though our totally regular schedule won't start until late October. Every day certain people are in charge of cooking dinner for everyone, or washing dishes (the chore I end up doing more often than not). On Friday night we welcomed Shabbat with an alternative service that dealt with making a home. I've gone to the beach several times, to a bar in Southern Tel Aviv with friends, to a cafe with my apartment's counselor for a meeting about life and the Mechina that we'll do every three weeks. One day we took a tour of Jaffa "in the footsteps of Herzl," with all kinds of questions about Zionism and how it can be witnessed (or not) in Jaffa. We went through the old city, a new very sterile and not so nice neighborhood for Jews only called Andromeda, and through the famous and very poor Arab neighborhood Ajami. Another day we did a navigation exercise, where we split up into teams of six and had to go to certain landmarks around Jaffa, asking natives questions. My group went to the police station, a modern dance studio, a cafe that doubles as an Arabic bookstore, the site of the old Mechina buildings (where the students lived in earlier years), a famous bakery called Piece of Cake that made our mouths water, and the French Embassy in the very southern tip of Ajami and thus Jaffa. We talked to people at every stop and learned a lot about the beautiful yet complicated city that is hosting us. We've also had a lot of really cool guest lecturers come, such as the leader of the Reform Judaism movement in Israel, and the head of the current boycott against Tenuva (a very large Israeli dairy company - think Kraft), and the head of the association of Jaffa that aims to improve the lives of the residents, and our future economy teacher who came to talk to us about social justice - all of the youth of Israel demanded social justice through protests and demonstrations this summer, and she wanted us to start thinking why that was so. We chose rules for the Mechina, such as which rooms keep kosher (only one of the apartments and the main kitchen), and which keep Shabbat (none, though we decided that no one should cook or work on the Sabbath if it can be helped to preserve it as a day of rest), and if visitors are allowed to come (they are and they do). We divided ourselves into committees -- I'm on the committee called Jaffa and the Community, and within it we are going to help educate the Mechina and ourselves on Jaffa, and then do volunteer work and other activities that engage ourselves and help those around us. One morning we woke up early and did an alternative service through poetry. Another two mornings we woke up and went to the beach to exercise with an army trainer.

Though I was very homesick the first two weeks, two events made me realize this world is too small for anyone to be allowed to be homesick. One was that my friend Michal was on the phone with a friend, who figured out that his friend in HIS volunteer work program was from Indianapolis. I was handed the phone, and she told me her name was also Maya, and there is going to be a reunion for all of the Hoosiers in Israel sometime this year! Who'd have thought it?! The second thing happened when I was walking through the old city - a couple asked in English to slip by our group, and one of the Mechinistim asked them where they were from. When they said "Indiana," I was shoved forward, and we found out we were both from Bloomington, though they live currently in Nashville! We hugged and talked a bit about Beth Shalom before everyone had to set on their way.

Every day brings something new: new friendships, new knowledge, new reasons to love the city, and I'm excited to see what the next two weeks will bring! Tomorrow morning we return, and on Monday we are headed to a Kibbutz in the north for a seminar on group-building, followed by a Jewish ritual called Slichot (asking forgiveness) in Safed (Tzfat). Then we'll return, and come home a bit earlier than usual because the Jewish New Year will begin in a week and a half - another new beginning.

PS - I'm attaching a few photos of Jaffa. Soon hopefully I'll have photos of my room, but it's not finished yet - we still have some decorating to do!

weekend #0: before the mechina

Greetings, friends! After a lot of debating, I HAVE decided to keep a blog recounting my gap year in Israel, my year at the Mechina.

Why did I finally decide this? After attending yesterday's orientation, I realized this program just offered too many amazing opportunities for me not to share them! But I'm getting ahead of myself.

This week my dad and I went shopping for hiking and easy-camping gear, picked up bed linens for my bunk, and bought a new backpack in preparation for the program. Then, finally, yesterday we had parents' day, a two hour informational event. I got to meet everyone else who will participate this year - all fifty one people seem absolutely amazing! There are two other girls from the states, and one from Italy - all speak a little bit of Hebrew but are hoping to improve it greatly this year. The rest of the people are Israeli. We also saw the head of the Mechina who interviewed us for the program, and met our counselors -- all in their twenties, these four will basically help us in every way they can - and the head of volunteer work, who is going to place us and help us with that aspect of the program. We will be split into two groups in which we'll have our classes and other activities, and within each group there are two smaller groups, who are our roommates in the apartment.

At this point I can hold back no longer - I want to talk about the Mechina, both what I gathered about it from my visit in December and what I learned yesterday.

Mechina, a derivation of the word preparation in Hebrew, is a specific kind of program that was designed to prepare post-high school Israelis for their mandatory service in the Israeli army (after graduating from high school and before going to college). There are thirty eight Mechinot in Israel, and I'm pretty sure I've found the best one (I say this with the arrogant confidence of someone who has only visited two). The mission of the Mechina is to prepare these young adults not only for the army, but for adulthood; they want to ensure that these youngsters will become responsible adults of Israel and of the world. This particular Mechina is run by the Reform Judaism movement, which has a credo of adapting Judaism to modernization and progress. So, in accordance with that, students do the following things:

-volunteer four afternoons a week, three in one institutional framework, and one in another more individualized setting. As the mechina's head of volunteer work told us, we are not there to "save the world," but to help out in Jaffa in any small way that we can. Jaffa itself is a very interesting and complicated place - Jews, Arab Christians, Arab Muslims, Ethiopian immigrants, migrant workers, and others live together in a not-so-easy coexistence; Jaffa, as one of the Mechina's "graduates" put it, is also the home to all of Tel Aviv's criminals. A few of the existing programs that people volunteer in are afternoon youth clubs/hangouts, a center for children aged 3-6 who have been classified as "at risk" and are basically kept out of their homes from 7 in the morning to 7 in the evening for safety reasons, an educational center that the Mechina actually set up to help kids with their studies, and many, many others.
-study in casual and informal "class" settings, lectures, seminars, and discussions about Israeli history, different Israeli populations, Islam and other relevant topics. This learning is supposed to contribute to our volunteer work, so we can understand the people of Jaffa and Israel and learn how to help them and work with them.
-travel a LOT all over Israel in order to meet and see all different kinds of environments and people who live here. The Mechina basically wants us to encounter every kind of ethnic group and political or religious ideology present in this small yet tightly packed country that is a homeland to so many different people. We will be touring settlements beyond the "green line," ultra-orthodox neighborhoods, and so many other places...
-learn a way of life different than our own. Two mornings a week we will be required to get up earlier than usual and start our day in a different, special way, be it with prayer, or yoga, or a walk on the beach (which is quite and wonderfully close) or anything else. This mission of the Mechina culminates near the end of the year with a program called "Lech Lecha" (translated as go forth) where each student spends three days in a lifestyle they could never imagine. In the past, people have lived with ultra-orthodox families, Druze families (an ancient religion related to Islam that can be found only in northern Israel and the mountains of Syria and Lebanon), radical settler families - one guy last year even lived as a hobo in Tel Aviv just to experience it!
-learn how to look at our Judaism in a new way, especially since there are people of varying degrees of Judaism involved, from completely secular to seriously reform, etc. This mission is harder to explain, but one of our counselors said we would talk a lot about tefillah (prayer) and its significance to us and others. We will be required to separate Sabbath from the rest of the week, but we get to choose how, and it can always be different - it never has to be "conventional;" we can do tai chi to welcome the Sabbath if we so truly wish!
-learn to be adults and build a community. Each apartment (we have four, each with 13 people - they are coed but the rooms within are not) has a budget for food, for example, and if we excede it, noone will come pay the difference - noone will buy eggs for us if someone forgets to. When we go on hiking trips and we are in charge of navigation, as long as it's not dangerous, if we spend a day walking in the wrong direction, all that our counselors will do is call the bus driver and tell him to meet us wherever we end up.
Now of course, there are fifty two of us - we'll learn to work together, build our own environment and community. People who have been in this Mechina in the past (we are the 9th year) say their group holds their best friends, their new family, those they can count on always.

So tomorrow we begin, with a four day hiking trip in the Judaen Hills near Jerusalem, in which we will get to know each other, learn much more about the Mechina, etc. Then we will move straight into the apartments in Jaffa. Generally we come home every two weekends (Thursday night to Sunday morning) and many of the holidays - so expect the blog then, though I promise the posts won't always be as long as this one!

Until then!
Maya

PS - For any of you who read my Spain blog, you'll remember that by the end, my English was rusty and very comical. Though here I am not forbidden to speak or read English, I am absorbed so deeply in Hebrew here that my English will likely become EXTREMELY comical - so please bear with me!