MY URBAN KVETCH

ROI Episode One

ROI Episode One: 97% guaranteed to be better than Star Wars: Episode One....

More exciting webisodes to come.

Taglit-Birthright Israel's "Let My Parents Go" Trip Arrives in Israel

You saw the video*. (And maybe you even recognized some of the people in the video.) Many YouTube applications were submitted. And finally, this week, some parents of creative and motivated Birthright alumni arrived for their first trip to Israel. (You can view the winning videos here.)

"We talked about coming someday, perhaps after we paid off all our college debts, so this is a big treat," said Chris Shelton, 50, a former clown in the Ringling Bros. Circus who converted to Judaism after years of involvement in his family's Reconstructionist synagogue.

Shelton said his experience at the Western Wall was intense. As a convert, he approached the Kotel with trepidation, fearing he would not feel a sense of belonging.

But, he said, "As I prayed against the Wall I could hear no noise. I could not hear anyone around me. I was isolated in my thoughts.”

For more about these slightly older Birthrighters, read the JTA article. And if you're in Israel, keep your eyes peeled. Rumor has it that these guys are partying like their kids would never believe. If you listen, you can almost hear the cries of "Mom! Dad! You guys are SOOOO embarrassing!"

*And in case you didn't see the video, check it out here.

Bloggers to Get the Nefesh B'Nefesh Treatment

It's official. I'm leaving Israel at the end of the month. And then returning to Israel in the middle of next month. Because I heart jetlag.

As you may know, I've been in Israel for the last several months, and am due home in NYC (via Burlington, VT for CAJE) at the beginning of the month. But I'm heading back here August 19 for a new opportunity sponsored by Nefesh B'Nefesh, the organization responsible for helping olim from North America get to and find their place in Israel.

Previously, NBN had hosted journalists on its special charter flights, but this is the first such opportunity being offered to bloggers. Each of us will be paired with one or several NBN olim and we'll be interviewing them before, during and after their experience. In addition to being a part of the excitement of an NBN flight full of olim and their optimism for a new future in Israel, we'll also be participating in the First International Jewish Bloggers Convention hosted by Nefesh B'Nefesh and powered by WebAds, to take place in Jerusalem on August 20.

If you're a blogger who's going to be in Israel on August 20, you can register to participate in person--if not, you're invited to join us via the Internet.

Stay tuned for more on this developing story, and of course, to hear the inside scoop of what the NBN experience is like, on the ground, in the air, and on the holy ground.

 

Overheard (Coffeeshop, Rehov Emek Refaim, Jerusalem)

Customer: I'll have the halumi salad.

Waiter: What kind of bread do you want, white or whole wheat?

Customer: Does that come in a sandwich? Because I want a salad.

Waiter: No, it's a salad. The bread is on the side. What kind of bread?

Customer: What kinds of bread do you have?

Waiter: White or whole wheat.

Customer: It doesn't matter, because I can't eat any bread at all. So don't bring any bread.

END SCENE

The "Return"

"Hezbollah hand over the remains of two Israeli soldiers in a prisoner swap with Israel. Details soon." - CNN.com, 9:50am (ISR).

With a heavy heart, knowing what was about to happen and hoping that it wouldn't, I woke up this morning and joined my roommate at our "laptop table," our backs to the TV, listening with half an ear to the "prisoner swap" with Hizbullah. The event turned out like no one hoped and everyone probably expected, with Israel trading five live "freedom fighters" and the remains of 199 Lebanese militia for the remains of two soldiers. It sounds like some ridiculous sale at Supersol: pay 2 and get 5+199. What a deal.

The inequality of the trade is stark. The power position was Hizbullah's--we know what we have, and you don't, but you trade your known quantity for our unknown quantity, and no, you don't get to know what we have before you agree--and Israel...well, Israel calls in the forensic scientists to figure out if we're really getting back what we think we're getting back. It's all theoretical until DNA proves otherwise.

Even before we see Channel 10's split-screen coverage--one half of the screen devoted to replaying the footage of the two black coffins being laid on the ground, and the other half filled with the faces of the family--our collective heart goes out to the families. For the friends and families, this marks a terrible closure as they gathered to learn the fates of the soldiers, who have been missing since their capture two years ago.

But now begins the process for the Israeli imagination, of understanding what happened to them. Were they captured and killed instantly, with an eye toward using them for bargaining chips and exploiting Israel's premium on human life? Was there a process of torture, either violent or insidious (malnutrition)? Has Hizbullah (or other terrorist organizations) ever returned Israeli soldiers alive? Or the most horrifying prospect: is it possible that they were alive until the prisoner swap was announced and then killed?

Would You Like a Tea Bag, or a Tea Bong?

Chamomile tea ba-bong??

Oh, that's Babonag, which apparently means "camomile" in Hebrew. Thank God for the English side of the tea box, or I would have thought this was a special kind of tea. The kind you'd consume around 4:20.

(And yes, I'm aware that this is a very Benji-esque post. Not sure how that happened.)

Shout: The Pride Parade and the Quest for Identity

I'm pretty liberal on any given day and I live in New York City, so I've seen a lot in my life. I've been to the Village Halloween Parade, I have gay friends (Jewish and non-), and I used to take an aerobics class taught by a man who wore four-inch gold eyelashes, a blonde wig, and four-inch platform combat boots during class. But I admit it, watching someone in drag in the middle of Jerusalem's Independence Park ask if there were any "straightim" or "homoim" or "lezbiot" there, and asking us to cheer for ourselves at the appropriate moment, was a bit surreal.

Part of it was shock because as obsessed as I am with Hebrew, there's a whole contemporary vocabulary that I'm missing, including any words to support lifestyles that are out of the traditional, yeshiva-taught context. (You may even argue that the above terms are, in fact, not Hebrew at all.) But part of it was the fact that I was "gaycrashing" (thanks, Urban Dictionary, for naming it), and felt like a stranger in a strange land: I went to support my friends who were going, to support the right to assemble that I've imported from America into the Jewish state, to--in some small way--perhaps protest the rabbinic stronghold on what should and shouldn't happen in Jerusalem, and in tribute to the diversity of this year's ROI Summit and in personal (unannounced) tribute to a friend of mine who recently came out to family members. But I wasn't sure I really belonged there.

Incident in Jerusalem (I'm Fine)--UPDATED

I just arrived at the Center for Leadership Initiatives office in Jerusalem, and was greeted with news that there was a "pigua" in Jerusalem on Rehov Yafo, near the Central Bus Station. At blog-press time, the information available was that a tractor (sometimes rendered as "bulldozer") trampled pedestrians and that 30 people were injured (and several people were dead). (Updated here.)

Someone in the crowd jumped up on the shovel of the 'dozer, and shot the driver to stop him. They don't know yet whether it's a terror attack or just some crazy person.

Haaretz called it a terror attack, but also noted that although it seemed to be politically motivated, no one had claimed responsibility.

But since this is the first of such "incidents" to happen in Jerusalem while I'm here, I thought I'd just let everyone know that I'm ok.

More news later.

Scoop'd: How to Eat Hummus Like an Israeli

This is all in Hebrew, so apologies if you don't understand it. But basically the discussion is "Why do Israelis enjoy dipping and scooping up hummus and tehina and all those other things?" (Oddly, no one mentions the Passover seder.) There's also some important discussion about technique, illustrated by helpful "airplane safety manual-style" drawings, and a discussion of the famous and apparently international "three-second rule."

Check it out and compare your technique. Do you have what it takes to scoop like a sabra? And where's your favorite hummus? Jerusalem? Tel Aviv? Abu Ghosh? Check Jerusalemite for some help in hummus selection, or share your own personal favorite.

Dueling Divas: Sivan v. Maya Bouskila, "Shoveret Shtikah"

Two divas. Two styles. Two songs. But only one title: Shoveret Shtikah (Breaking the Silence). Which one rules? You be the judge.

Maya Bouskila: Sivan (from the TACT Family):