We should boycott the New York Times

Gosh, I guess I never really noticed that the NY Times was extremely biased against Israel. I didn't really read the news every day before coming to Israel. Now I read it just about every hour. Really, that's about all that's changed in my life since the war started. I was afraid to get on buses and I still am. I had been on about four before the war broke. My friends who are forced to cab around to avoid buses are definitely taking a financial hit but that's nothing compared to the people that are losing everything they have up north in Israel. I wish I could do something and I hope that my little piddling contributions to the economy here in Jerusalem are helpful. Many people all over are vacating Israel altogether and prices are being hiked up.

Meanwhile, in other news, I joined the YMCA and other than some allergy medications, I am relatively pain-free thanks to the exercise. Hooray!

At the Kottel, ran into many Washington Heights people. Woohoo! Also, scored a fantastic meal with some Chabad folks.

Trying to study my butt off so I don't embarrass my rabbi when I go before the beit din in September.

War, Conversion, Modern Orthodoxy, etc.

Hello from Jerusalem where I have continually assured friends who have been emailing me that we are far from the missiles being launched into Northern Israel. These are not words that I ever imagined having to formulate. It would seem that Israel is at war and all of us are on the edge of our seats waiting to see what happens next. The news is bleak on jpost.com, haaretz.com and the nytimes.com which I've been looking at just about ever hour on the hour.

If I was scared to get on buses before, I'm more scared now than ever. A student told me over instant messanger to "be safe" and "not die." All of my students were aware before we left for summer vacation that I was coming over to Israel for my conversion process.

The outlook on the conversion is complicated. I'm meeting with people from Eternal Jewish family soon. The program I am in is a little far to the right where I stand. I suppose I am affiliated to Modern Orthodoxy and most of the Haredi community here seems opposed to that affiliation. I am learning lots. There is a possibility that I will convert before Rosh Hashana, a dream I had been holding onto which may soon be realized. Still, it is possible with the Chief Rabbinate in Israel trying to create more uniformity in conversions that my conversion will not be recognized in Israel.

Let me tell you something about Israel, it is a beautiful place, which has really done a spell on me. My plans to go to the Dominican Republic next summer have turned into plans to come to Israel and study some more G-d willing.

My health could be better. I have to deal with decisions like: To daven or not to daven because I frequently hurt myself holding up a siddur and reading.

On a lighter note, I miss sweet American challah! Sick of the sesame seeds here and the wheat!

Mucho Problemos

Pots? The converts won't use the same pots or utensils that I do.

Hebrew? Got Hebrew 10 minutes a day! Doing Language skills classes but learning Hebrew via the Chumash is really strange. I think we're going over grammar soon.

Converting? Rabbi says we should talk when I get back but the outlook is good that after Israel, I will be able to convert. The question is where? In the synagogue and Israel won't accept it. Random rabbi in the middle of nowhere would be more "kosher" according to Israel but how long would that take? It's already been a year....

Doctors? I'm still on the anti-arthritis meds and sleeping aids but I feel a little better mostly mentally, sometimes physically sporadically. The pain is, however, not gone and I've been told that yoga is IDOL WORSHIP according to Orthodox Judaism. I have to find SOME sort of gym. I have a yoga DVD and a balance ball DVD but I left my adapter for my DVD player at home and this laptop doesn't belong to me and it's awfully slow and heavy to lug from room to room to exercise and use the internet.

The good news...I saw some Mexican Jews with kippas! They were walking behind me and talking in Spanish. Wow. Hooray! I felt like I fit in somewhere.

I love Israel. I love Jerusalem but I feel like I don't fit and read all of the above. I'm not altogether Jewish at all so I don't fit in the non-Jewish world or the Jewish world (some of which only thinks I'm converting for Jewish boys). I don't speak Hebrew. I don't even understand it. I'm disabled so I can't take out my own garbage and I cut myself cutting potatos (so painful).

A naturopath has been suggested but it costs money and I have no money. Really. My ATM card is in the states. I have no money here at all. Talk about living day by day. I'm trying to stay positive because that seems to help dealing with the pain and hey, I might be Jewish this year. Still....

Second Sunday in Jerusalem

So, far I've managed to burn some CDs full of Jewish shuirim or what I like to call "stuff to learn." One shiur (sp?) is all about the Big Bang Theory and the Torah and how it all works out. In theory, I understand what I just heard for 50 minutes enough to give a 1 minute explanation which is: "It's all about physics, the theory of relativity, the space and time continuum (sp?) and such." Okay, so I only managed to stay in my high school Physics class for four days before I had to be switched out for fear my brain would implode.

Mostly a pain-free day where I watched Nanny McPhee, burned CDs, downloaded and all region DVD media player (Israel's movies play in Region 2 and USA is Region 1). I know, it's not all that exciting. I managed to go to the supermarket for the second time without having a meltdown. Very sad about Honey Bunches of Oats being dairy though that explains my long years of being unable to digest them. I settled for Multi-grain Cheerios though there was a sale on Trix. I only know there is a sale because there is one price scratched out with a line and another one written in bold. My Hebrew reading skills have only improved in as far as I can now read FOUR of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet in script.

I walked into the salad section which is very complicated. Bugs aren't kosher and salad tends to be covered in it. I usually, you know, buy it fresh and wash it but here there are about a billion kinds of "kosher lettuce" (super bug-free) and of course, all the words are in Hebrew. Sadly, my chicken sandwiches lacked lettuce but I cheered myself up after my supermarket expedition by downing eight Oreo cookies. Yum.

Shabbos 2 in Israel

So, I don't know my way around and I'm scared to get into cabs. I don't speak the primary language but mostly, I love it here. It's hard to explain why. Today, during Shabbos, we walked to the Western Wall to have our third Shabbos meal. The food was awful but I had the strangest experience explaining to someone who was Jewish but not observant that the women's section was smaller than the men's section because men are required to pray, more men can show up to pray at the wall, etc. I sat, in utter physical agony, listening to some yeshiva boys sing and one offered me a piece of rugala to go with my stale bread.

It is easier to be in physical pain in Israel, away from all the troubles of America. Walking around and trying to get not entirely lost, I feel safer here than in the streets of New York. I have a feeling that this, not the Dominican Republic, will be my second home.

There are some things that take getting used to here. Like the fact that I have to BUY water and even that killed my stomach for three days. I managed to make myself a nice meal after Shabbos. During Shabbos, we, my dormmates, ate with the Director of the school. Not my best meal, I miss Yonah's soup but there was much to talk about and much to learn. I am figuring out what kind of Jewish woman I will be, where I draw the line on some things.

WEEK 1: Israel

The first couple of days I hyperventilated over grocery shopping. It looked like a supermarket but I couldn't read anything. I can read PRINTED Hebrew but now Hebrew SCRIPT. I gasped at the difficulty to distinguish between milk, soy milk and finally, thankfully, discovered soy milk. Aha!

I went into a place and ordered breakfast food and THEN realized I wasn't sure if the place had a hechkser (proving its Kosher-ness). Turns out later than it did when Yehuda checked it out but everything was in Hebrew so I had no idea what was what. Instead, I bought food at the place that said KOSHER in big letters and ate delightful food.

Ug, two days later, the food was not so delightful. Everything I ate came back out rather quickly. Stomach cramps. Water tasted funny. Everything tasted funny. At least, I was about to enjoy a Kosher Burger King whopper before and after that.

I went to a big fat Jewish wedding. LOUD is the best word to describe it all. Megaspeakers. Flowers everywhere. Tons of dancing. Good but painful food.

Note: Tel-aviv is HOT and HUMID. Jerusalem has pppppppperrrrrrrrfect weather. Thank G-d. I've been feeling physically better thanks to that. Hooray!