MY URBAN KVETCH

Sharing Notes: Tikkun Leil Shavuot in Jerusalem

It's less than 24 hours before Shavuot, and I still haven't decided where I'm going to learn tomorrow night. The idea is to stay up all night learning in preparation for receiving the Torah all over again. But since the idea is also to understand the learning, I think I'm best off trying to find something that's mostly in English. Also, would like to join the hordes walking to the Kotel after the learning at 4AM, so I don't want anything too far in the other direction.

So I'm doing some internet searching...and thought I'd share with you, in case others in Jerusalem need similar help...

The Hartman Institute: Not far from the German Colony's main drag. A few early sessions in English, but most in Hebrew. The sessions aren't grabbing me, either.
Merkaz Hamagshimim: Also in the German Colony, so it's close. Some English, some body movement, separate for men and women. Interesting...but I'd have to be in the right mood for it.
The Fuchsberg Center for Conservative Judaism (at Moreshet Yisrael Synagogue, 4 Agron Street): A bit more of a walk, but on the way to the Kotel. All in English, but mostly male lecturers. Would have liked to see more women lecturing in the Conservative Center...
Pardes: A walk, in the opposite direction of the Kotel and also in the opposite direction of where my family is (where my dinner was supposed to be). I don't mind the walk, but don't want to miss dinner or the lecture. Pardes snagged one of the biggest headliners, Avivah Zornberg, for their Tikkun. Here's their whole program (beginning with Zornberg's class): 11:00PM, "The Unknown Woman: Becoming Ruth;" 12:45 AM David Levin-Kruss "The 10 Commandments Revisited;" 1:45 AM Jon Kelson and Yaffa Epstein "A Compelling Torah: Theological and Halakhic Perspectives;" 3 to 4:15 AM Daniel Landes "Can Conversions be Revoked?"

A Facebook friend sent me a link to this list, which gives programs not just in Jerusalem but in surrounding areas like Efrat and Bat Ayin.

It's great that there are so many choices. But I wish that my peers--so busy with Jewish leadership programs, conference planning and, some of them, wedding plans--had managed to pull together some more peer-level learning. I always enjoy that so much more than listening to rabbis and PhDs.

OK. Will sleep on it and make a decision. Chag sameach from Jerusalem...

How to Celebrate Yom Ha'atzmaut (Even If You're Not in Israel)

People sometimes get weird about celebrating Independence Day for a country in which they do not reside. But the beauty of Israel is that there are lots of ways to celebrate-- gastronomically and culturally--that are easy, fun and tasty, so here are a few I've thought of. Feel free to suggest others! (Will be revised as possible throughout the day.)

Upload a photo series that you think presents the transition between Israel's Memorial Day and Independence Day. (Um, see above.)

Drink Limonana (lemonade mixed with fresh mint)--easier than ever now that Cosi has added it to the menu. But really best to make it yourself.

Eat falafel or shwarma. Duh. Or Israeli salad.

Watch "Ktzarim" or "Eretz Nehederet" on YouTube. You can really get a sense for a culture through its humor, and especially on "Ktzarim" (which literally means "shorts"), the pieces are just the right length, a skill which SNL sometimes forgets.

Do NOT drink Manischewitz. I mean, drink it if you really prefer it for kiddush, but Israel's got a whole host of wineries and varietals to choose from. Check out Yarden, Golan, Galil, Barkan, Tishbi and others--available in supermarkets in Israel (which rocks)--or if you're in Israel, try them out at the annual Jerusalem Wine Festival at the Israel Museum (scheduled for mid-July).

Listen to Galgalatz. Not only will this popular channel on Israeli radio give you a decent understanding of how eclectic the music scene in Israel is, but over Yom Ha'atzmaut, they're doing 60 hours of programming that was programmed by various army units who are currently serving on this national holiday.

Join the Worldwide Live Hatikvah...sing Israel's national anthem at the same time as thousands of others all over the world!

Check out the Israel issue of PresenTense Magazine, now online in all its glory!

Buy a second (or a third!) cell phone. Make sure to take them all with you at all times, and if you sit down to eat with friends, put all your phones in a row (or pile, depending on how many you have) on the table. This shows someone that you are very important, to two, sometimes three sets of separate people. You're complicated. And so's Israel.

Read about all the people using Israel60 as a marketing tool, and inventing things the world never needed, like hummus flavored ice cream. Yuck.

View one of the Israel tribute videos that are running around the internet. (Tasha and Dishka and the Carsitters for Birthright Israel, Yael Naim for Israel 21C et al...)

Check out the one-time-only blogcarnival of posts about Israel @ 60.

Create a Yom Ha'atzmaut playlist on iTunes. Mine's got everything from Hatikvah to hip-hop. Details to come in a separate post...

Read the 60bloggers blog, start to finish...or at least until today. Read about people's journeys and Israel experiences--it's amazing how they all differ.

Have Israel-related contests with your friends. Ask trivia questions, for instance:

Which of the following is not an Israeli snack?
a) Kif-keyf
b) Bamba
c) Kookiot
d) Krembo

Subscribe to Davy1031's channel on YouTube. He regularly posts video clips of Israeli musical artists that include usually at least one set of subtitles (either Hebrew or English, and often both). So catch the lyrics and learn to understand them. The next time you go to a Subliminal concert, how awesome would it be to know all the lyrics to "Toro" and understand them?

Happy Israeli Independence Day, everyone!!

You Hear It First: Israel Independence Day Edition

It's still Yom Hazikaron in New York, but in Israel, after a somber day of remembering the men and women who fell in battle, Israelis have already transitioned into Israeli  Independence Day, a holiday that ushers in a summer of celebration.

Months ago, I posted about the new collaboration between Subliminal and classical Israeli folk band Gevatron. I proudly present the newly YouTubed "Bat Shishim" music video. (How new? I was view #9.)

For a version with Hebrew subtitles, see here. I've been looking for the English translation-- I know I saw it somewhere--but for now, here's my translation of the chorus:

For she is true, and not a symbol, nor a flag, nor a sign.
The past now behind her, she looks forward to what is coming.

Kol Hakavod to Israel on her 60th birthday.

"20 Things to Do With Matzah": Michelle Citrin and the Jewish Robot Win Again

OK, OK. Michelle, Shabot, you win. I can't out-creative you two. Chag sameach to everyone!

Pesach Video Battle: Moses v. Moses

It's Passover, which means any excuse to make another video that the creators hope will go viral and be the "Lazy Sunday" of the holiday season. "Lazy Seder," if you will. (Why hasn't anyone done that?)

First up is Matt Bar collaborating with Doogree Records on the video for his Moses rap that took shape last year at the PresenTense Institute. (I was there, and heard early versions, and I have to tip my hat to Matt--he's done an amazing job.)

Next is Birthright Israel's entry into the mix, "Get Down With Moses," which has a much higher production value and a cast of thousands. OK, that's an exaggeration, but there's certainly a bunch of people involved.

And your scrolling bonus, still one of my favorite Seder-related clips, Ben Baruch's "Seda Club."

More April Foolin', Webgeek Style

In case you're looking for more April Fool's webhumor...beyond Google's little joke about Google CustomTime...check out "April Fools' Day on the Web." (Dot com!!)

Engaged for a Day: The April Fool's Facebook Experiment

Did you ever wonder how much technology was taking over your life, and if your online persona was capable of doing things that your offline persona would never do? The one-step-removed aspect of online interaction is one that I find endlessly fascinating, as is the culture of Facebook, which allows people to follow my moves with as much information as I give them (and as much time/inclination as they have to do so).

I've mused before about the numbers of "friends" we all have on Facebook. The likelihood that most of them are actually friends of the sort you'd invite to your birthday dinner or to seder with the family is very low. I mean, people have hundreds of them. I tried to keep my list down, but it was fruitless. Even the restriction of "only accept friend requests from people you know in real life" doesn't help: I meet 120 people each summer. I went on tour with Coolooloosh and Subliminal/the TACT Family. I go to conferences with hundreds or thousands of people in attendance. I live on the Upper West Side. I think I just met five new "friends" while writing this post drinking my coffee in my apartment. Keeping my magic number down is not an option. And I realize that's a blessing.

But the question remains. How much do those people really know me? And how finely tuned in to my status update are they? If I suddenly became the opposite of my public persona, on April 1, no less, would people realize it was a joke, or assume that because they read it online it must be true? Or would people think it was a technical error? Or am I just suffering from blazing egomania in even thinking that people stay tuned to as silly a mechanism as the status feed?

Facebook Fools' Day Experiment: Change "Relationship Status" from "Single" to "Engaged"

Duration: 18 hours: 12:30am-6:30pm April 1

Findings: 35 respondents=15 email messages, 20 wall posts in a 18-hour period. About 70% of responses understood that the status change was a joke. About 25% of responses wished me mazal tov and wanted to know who the lucky guy was or why they were first hearing about this now. And 5% were threatened marriage proposals. From guys who are already in relationships. (Just to give you an idea of what's out there.) Most of my regular posse of New Yorkers knew better than to even respond. Or maybe they're too busy.

Analysis/Conclusions: I was expecting a few people to fall for it, and for most to understand that it was a joke because it was April 1. That my expectations were met proves that people (even my non dinner party friends) actually know me a bit better than perhaps I might have thought. I did think that someone might think it was a technical glitch, like when the JDate site redesign reset all women's profiles to read "I do not plan on having any children."

It did teach me that with over a thousand friends, I can't stay in close contact with all of them, and as a consequence, so much of the public perception of me is based on the information I share online. That's a power I need to continue to wield responsibly and accurately.

Still, some people need to get out more.

I have to admit that being engaged for a day was pretty fun--I'd like to do it for real someday, maybe with someone else to share the joy with.

Other resources: today's Urban Dictionary definition.

Any great April Fool's jokes to share? If you fell for it, admit it here and feel all better. (UPDATED: Here's one I fell for. Those darned Googlers are so funny...)

The Jewish Blogger Recipe Virtual Collective

Of course, your favorite bloggers tickle your emotional palates with scintillating and refreshing posts about all aspects of their Jewish identity and theorizing, providing you the lists of ingredients that compose the complicated insouciance of their daily, contemporary Jewish lives. But, to paraphrase Joan Rivers' standard red carpet inquiry, "What are they eating?"

Thanks to the 92y blog (shoutout to Krucoff, he of the Jerusalem bar mitzvah and subsequent rejection of rumor-mongering Gawker for the more wholesome life of Jewish nonprofit blogging), I now have Jewcy president/editor-in-chief Tahl Raz's famous Israeli salad recipe. It's part of the 92nd Street Y Cookbook. Which I didn't really know existed. But now I can pair Tahl's salad with Gael Greene's Orange Fruit Soup, or if I prefer, have a dessert-off between F. Murray Abraham's Choco Dot Pumpkin Cake and Dr. Ruth Westheimer's Hamantaschen. (No, that's not a euphemism.)

I wonder what my favorite bloggers have been hiding, recipe-wise. And if I can get some of my recipe-smitten gal pals to step up and organize a recipe collective for Jewish bloggers...

Purim: Costumes and Conundra

Well, it's t-minus 3 hours to Purim and I still have no idea where I'm going for Megillah. I'm slightly less conflicted about where to go for the "after-party"--there's an easy choice and a harder one, and why make things harder on myself during a holiday commemorating drunk and disorderly behavior the redemption of the Jews from certain annihilation?

Besides, Purim isn't thrilling me all that much this year. Maybe it's too many Purims on the Upper West Side, but I'm starting to feel like the Grinch who stole Purim, which upsets me, because it's the one day a year when I'm guaranteed that Jewish men are going to be thinking about Esther as a queen. Last couple of Purims (Purimim?) I've felt the excitement wane, as the enthusiasm of the "boos" against Haman seemed to diminish and seem more perfunctory than wholehearted. This year, Purim seems to have spawned--not only are there 47 parties to choose from tonight, but the madness has extended to Saturday night, with several popular events, including the Makor/Y/Hazon Purim Spiel, which is not at Makor, because there is no Makor anymore/not yet (UWS location is closed, downtown location--which will be reborn as 92yTribeca--isn't quite open yet).

Plus, as much as I enjoy a good feminist interpretation of Biblical stories, it seems that in recent years, the image of Esther has emerged as manipulative, but subservient queen to Vashti's independent, feminist spirit--an image which I, as an Esther-not-Vashti aspiring to take pride in my name and heritage, have some difficulty with.

And then there's the costume thing. I ran into a Galena on the street two days ago (I'm pretty sure it was Isaac, but sorry, I don't know which one because identical twins are really confusing), and explained my problem with costumes, whether they're for Halloween or Purim, but especially on Purim. Problem #1 is the fact that when women dress up in costume we're required to be both clever and attractive. Or at least attractive. (See also "Dress Like a Whore and You'll Be Fine," over at JDaters Anonymous.) Add to that the fact that many of us are going to shul before we party, and you may have to add a layer of tznius (modesty) over your clever-but-skimpy costume; extreme makeup, if clownish, seems to have communal approval, but the f&#%-me-red lipstick and fake gold eyelash extensions are on the iffy list. Then, compound everything by trying to gauge, in advance, how crowded the party you're going to is going to be, and how many layers you should wear in case the venue is too hot, or too cold, and how to reconcile that with outerwear that may crush, or worse, ruin the visual impact of your costume.

"Haman, What's With the Attitude?"--BibleRaps Video for Purim