Visiting Jordan

Me, Jose, and his sister crossed the Israeli/Jordan border in Eilat this morning. It's my first visit to an Arab country. We are staying for 2 days with our main goal of seeing Petra: the ancient city entirely carved out of the mountain.

But overall, Jordan has a more "authentic middle east" feel as compared to the Western-like Israel. Though my exposure to the country is limited to the 2 hour drive to Wadi Musa (the town bordering the ruins of Petra), and today's visit in this tourist haven (as Petra is one of the New Seven Wonders of the World). The locals are friendly and seem very genuine.

Jose pointed out one of the main differences of the way Arabs in Israel and the West Bank and Arabs in Jordan will view a Jewish tourist. In Jordan, you are seen as a tourist first, without relevance to whether you are a Jew. In the West Bank, you are most likely assumed to be Jewish before thought of as a tourist.

Arab hospitality is pretty intense. It was hard to tell if it was hospitality because we were tourist - or if it was genuinely part of their culture. For example, we made a pit stop on the way to Petra in the taxi. We stopped at a small stand with a make-shift coffee cart attached to a small temporary house/hut. I was excited to just get to where we were going, but the taxi driver insisted that we get out and have a cup of tea. I was waiting for the "gimmick" or "catch," but he really just wanted us to have some tea (no charge).

All in all, it was a good visit - but in the end, I was glad to be back in familiar territory when I got back to "Western Culture." Being in Jordan opened my eyes to how truly different life is in the Arab World - and that was only a very small snippet of it. It made me realize a tiny bit more (1st hand) how intense and difficult it must be for the Eastern and Western Worlds to meet and understand one another.

Hoffman from the Jerusalem Post

We just had a great speaker from the Jerusalem Post talk to us about Israeli Politics. Mr. Hoffman put a lot of things in better perspective and he has a comforting positive outlook on the future of Israel. Despite the kasam rockets and recent school shooting - people here are still crowding the streets and enjoying a normal life.

My favorite quote from his speech: "I don't have anything against anti-Semites. They can hate us if they want to. But I do have a problem with hypocritical anti-Semites. If they hate Jews, then they should stop using things we created like: the chips inside your cell phone and Intel Pentium to name a couple.

I'm on my way to make Shalach Manot baskets for people in Sderot....

The Week After

A Letter written by Sharon who lives and works in Jerusalem:

Every morning I take the 35 bus line to work. It's a quick ride and usually takes no more than 12 minutes. The third stop after I get on by the shuk is directly in front of Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav (where the shooting last week took place). This morning I found myself a bit anxious, unsure of what I was going to see as we passed by. As I looked around, I saw death notices pasted all over the street and flowers that had been brought lined the entrance to the Yeshiva. When the bus pulled up to the stop, the driver shut off the engine and stood. With tears in his eyes he told everyone sitting on the bus that one of the boys killed on Thursday night was his nephew. He asked if everyone on the bus would mind if he spoke for a few minutes in memory of his nephew and the other boys that were killed. After seeing head nods all over the bus he began to speak. With a clear and proud voice, he spoke beautifully about his nephew and said that he was a person who was constantly on the lookout for how to help out anyone in need. He was always searching for a way to make things better. He loved learning, and had a passion for working out the intricacies of the Gemara. He was excited to join the army in a few years, and wanted to eventually work in informal education. As he continued to speak, I noticed that the elderly woman sitting next to me was crying. I looked into my bag, reached for a tissue and passed it to her. She looked at me and told me that she too had lost someone she knew in the attack. Her neighbors child was another one of the boys killed. As she held my hand tightly, she stood up and asked if she too could say a few words in memory of her neighbor. She spoke of a young man filled with a zest for life. Every friday he would visit her with a few flowers for shabbat and a short dvar torah that he had learned that week in Yeshiva. This past shabbat, she had no flowers.

When I got to work, one of my colleagues who lives in Efrat told me that her son was friends with 2 of the boys who had been killed. One of those boys was the stepson of a man who used to teach in Brovenders and comes to my shul in Riverdale every Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur to be a chazan for one of the minyanim.

We are all affected by what goes on in Israel . Whether you know someone who was killed or know someone who knows someone or even if you don't know anyone at all, you are affected. The 8 boys who were killed will continue to impact us all individually and as a nation. Each one of us has the ability to make a profound impact on our world. This coming wednesday morning, I will be at Ben Gurion airport at 7 am with Nefesh B'Nefesh welcoming 40 new olim to Israel . We will not deter. We can not give up. We will continue to live our lives and hope and work for change, understanding and peace.

Sharon Millendorf

Student and Young Professionals Program Coordinator

Nefesh B'Nefesh

02-659-5715

Cell: 0546-797-323

From the U.S. : 646-502-8420

Email: sharon@nbn.org.il

www.nbn.org.il

Several years ago I was 10 miles away from the Columbine shooting when it happened in Denver, Colorado. The media latched onto this tragedy for days if not weeks after the incident - there was nothing else on the news. This past week, I was not much farther from the school shooting in Jerusalem. This tragedy made international headlines, but isn't "sensationalized" and drawn out in the same way the Columbine shootings were. So either I'm more out of the loop with the local media after this shooting, or the people here deal with tragedy in a different way.... In any case, the letter written above was comforting to read seeing how people can connect with one another.

Shabbat in Jerusalem

Had a great time celebrating Shabbat in Jerusalem! Friday night dinner was especially fun and unique at my friend Jose Portundo's house, as we were commemorating the 50th anniversary of one of his cousins' being Prime Minster of Cuba from March 6 through March 12 of 1958. We had a shmorgesborg of festive Cuban food including Chalupa like Cuban cheese turnovers called Epanadas, spicy watermelon (with chili and mint), Puerto Rican Eggnog with Rum (coquito), Flan, Black beans, and another tasty dish which I can't remember the Spanish name of.


It was also great getting to see my Cousin Betsalel who's in high school in Beer Sheva. We had Saturday lunch at the Seigel's (more amazingly wonderful food) and ironically Paul Seigel was visiting Denver and had lunch with Cheryl. The chicken soup was extra tasty as I'm trying to fight off this cough that's going around.

Nechama Kramish, Jackie Seigel, Jose, Betsalel, with some more friends and I ended the day singing songs in the park.

Jerusalem Terroist Attack

A horrific day for some, and a happy day for others. I was celebrating Ari Zipper's wedding when the gunman opened fire in a school in Jerusalem on Thursday night (March 6, 2008).

BITTERSWEET: At the same time that Ari Zipper and his bride were getting married - this attack in Jerusalem was underway. May the happy times that we share together bring us strength to get through our deepest struggles. - which is further symbolized at the end of every Jewish wedding when the groom breaks a glass in remembrance of the fragility of life.