Celebrating Yom Hazikaron and Yom Hatzma'ut

We recently celebrated two holidays here in Israel that we don’t celebrate in America. The first is Yom Hazikaron, which is Israel’s Memorial Day when we remember Israel’s soldiers who fought and died for Israel. It’s very different from Memorial Day in America though. Instead of going down the shore, having barbeques and fireworks, it’s a very solemn day. The night before, when it officially starts, we went to the Kotel (Western Wall) where there was a big ceremony that everybody all over Israel watches on TV. It was very crowded so we couldn’t really see, and it was all in Hebrew so we couldn’t really understand, but I know that there were important people there making speeches. Our Israeli counselors tried to quietly translate it for us but some Israeli’s yelled at them because they were too loud, which isn’t fair because they know what is going on and we don’t! There were a lot of soldiers in the ceremony who were doing left right left stuff with their legs and everything, and it reminded us of Gadna. There were only a few Orthodox Haredi Jews, because they don’t really support the IDF because they don’t enlist. They had their kids running around screaming. The next day we had another service in all Hebrew at the cemetery next to our Kibbutz. It was interesting to see, but the fact that we couldn’t understand made it hard to be solemn. The rest of the day, everybody in Israel was very sad and quiet, stores and restaurants are closed, everything.
The next day was Yom Hatzma’ut, and it’s crazy how fast Israel’s mood changes! Yom Hatzma’ut celebrates Israel’s Independence, so it’s basically the Fourth of July but so much better! The night before, we went to Ben Yehuda Street, a big touristy yet Israeli cultural street with lots of shops and good food. There’s usually all Americans everytime we’re there, but this time there were Israeli’s, and a ton of them! The Street was packed, it was so hard to get through! Everybody had Israeli flags and were shouting and screaming. There was lots of people selling Israel pride things on the street outside of the stores. There was loud music and even a concert with a mosh pit of people! It was crazy and so much fun. We got there around 10 PM and left at 1 AM! The next day we slept late and then went to the beach, where we had a really good barbeque. Then that night there was a show on the Kibbutz that all of the Kibuutzniks and us went to, where people sang, did skits, and even danced. A group of kids from EIE performed a traditional Israeli dance and it was actually really good! I was proud of us.

2nd big trip- Poland and Yam L'Yam

*it won't let me post pictures for some reason, i'm going to see what I can do!

We just got back to the kibbutz a little while ago after being away for 2 weeks! It was hard traveling around for so long, but quite adventurous of us. We had to pack up our rooms at the hotel in the kibbutz so that they could rent out rooms for people while we were gone. We packed two suitcases, one for Poland, and one for Sea to Sea. The rest of our belongings were locked in a room on the kibbutz.

The plane ride to Poland was good, nothing too special. It was a red eye so when we arrived, we barely slept. They took us immediately to a private room in a restaurant. After we were served a very nice breakfast, we still had to wait there for like 2 more hours because it was still very early and we couldn’t begin our tours yet. So a few boys started to lay down on some booths in the back. We thought they were crazy to do that in a public place! I laid my head down on the table just for a few minutes, I was soo tired! The next thing I know I wake up and it’s really quiet. A few of my friends were sitting around me talking, and said to go back to sleep. I look around and it looks like an epidemic has spread through Poland. People were sleeping everywhere- laying on the ground, on chairs, tables, under tables. It was so funny to see everybody passed out on the floor of a restaurant! That morning, we went to Kazmierich, the Jewish Quarter, and the Ghetto. For lunch, we went to the Krakow Town Square, which I remember from when i was there before! It's basically the only place in Poland full of life and culture, with lots of shops, food, and people. Then, we drove about five hours to Warsaw, where we had dinner in the Old Town Square. We immediately went to sleep afterwards, we were very tired from a long day. The next day we spent the morning in a small neighborhood called Tikochin and learned about the Shtettle Life. It was a very empty, bare, cold town that had a beautiful synagogue in which we prayed in before we left. The synagogue was a single room, but very tall and had the prayers written large all over the walls with lots of color, unlike when you walk outside of the synagogue into Tikochin. That afternoon, we visited a town called Lepochova. That night we departed for our next stop- Lublin. Every bus ride ranged from 2-5 hours which was not bad. We had fun on them and stopped at gas stations often to pick up weird Polish snacks- like steak flavored chips, chicken flavored chips, and kabob flavored chips!! (so good). The next day, we spent the morning in the Old Town of Lublin and at the very first Yeshiva! That afternoon, we went to Majdanek (pronounced My-don-ik), a death camp. I had never been to this camp before, so it was very sad and depressing, but it reminded me a lot of Birkenau. We ended our tour with a short service, run by our peers. That night we took another long bus ride back to Krakow. In the morning, we went to Birkenau. I had already been there so it was not a shock to me, although it was to others. It's very hard to see the barbed wire, the beds, toilets, crematoriums, and just the big open space, knowing the Holocaust happened THERE. At the end, we had another service like the day before, and then left and walked down the train tracks- something the victims of the Holocaust could never do. We spent the afternoon at Auschwitz 1, where I had also been before. To tell you the truth, it does not look like a concentration camp, it looks like a college campus. It has nice-looking brick building with trees lined down the paths. Each building was like a museum inside. Most people did not have any feelings here. We had services in a very old synagogue in the town where Auschwitz is and named after, called Ocswemcim. That night we left for Warsaw. In the morning, we visited the Warsaw Cemetery and the Ghetto Wall. Both I've been previously, but it was still good to see again. The Cemetery is very old and had a lot a lot a lot of graves! It was interesting to look at all the different graves and the Hebrew, Yiddish and Polish on them. We spent the afternoon at Yanusch Korchak's house, who had a orphanage inside the ghetto. The kids were taught very well by Korchak, until the day that he sadly had to put them on a train to be sent to a concentration camp. That night was Shabbat, so we had services at a kosher restaurant and then spent the rest of the night there having Shabbat dinner and singing and dancing. We had services the next morning, followed by the Ghetto Memorial Walk. Then, came Havdallah and then off to the airport! The aiport was very very tiny, it was literally one room, and we were the only ones on the plane besides like 6 Israelis. It was very scary but a cool experience!

When we arrived back in Israel, everyone was so relieved. Poland was so depressing and ugly. The people were cold, and so was the temperature! We wore winter coats, hats, scarves, and gloves the whole time. We got to the hostel that we were staying at, we went right to sleep because the flight was a red eye again. Then our Sea to Sea bags arrived and we switched those with our Poland bags. That day we got to go to Tel Aviv for the first time and went to a busy shopping street and a shuk, which is an outdoor market. It was so much fun! The next day, we all got on a bus which dropped us off at our Passover host homes! I went to my friend Noi’s house for a few days of Pesach, an Israeli girl my age who I met when I did NFTY in Israel in summer 2008. It was interesting to go to a traditional Israeli Passover seder! They mostly did everything the same as us because we all just read the haggadah, but I noticed some little things different. We ate rice and about halfway through the seder I realized that they must be Safardic because I am not supposed to eat rice. Noi’s mother was kind enough to buy me a very nice haggadah, which was in Hebrew and English so I could follow along with them! They made me read a lot because they thought it sounded better in English. Isn’t that funny? The next day, we met up with my other friend, Meirav, and we went to a brand new mall with a movie theater in it. I thought it might be cool to go to the movies in Israel, but it was the exact same thing as America. We saw Alice in Wonderland and it was really good. That night, Meirav, Noi and I had a nice little picnic, it was very cute. I left her house the next day and went straight to Sea to Sea, or Yam L’Yam. Sea to Sea is a 5-day hike from the Sea of Galilee to the Mediterranean Sea. It was actually not as bad as I thought it was. Our first day consisted of a little, pretty water hike for about an hour. There I saw my friend Dina from home because she is on a similar trip to me and her program was doing Sea to Sea the same time as us! It was so exciting to see someone from where I live! Then the bus drove us to our first campsite. It was the last place we would see with bathrooms! There was a cook there who cooked actually a very good Passover meal for us for dinner! Then we got changed into our sweats and went to sleep in tents on the hard, rocky ground. We woke up at sunrise, about 5:30 am, and started the biggest, hardest day of the hike. After having some tea and Passover cookies, we packed our night bags and threw them on the bus which drove them to the next campsite for us. We embarked on our journey with our hats, hiking boots, and hiking backpacks with 4.5 liters of water and supplies for lunch. We hiked for a long time, very uphill and rocky, until we stopped for lunch a couple hours later. We were all pooped because the hike was strenuous and physically demanding. We took out our lunch supplies from our backpacks and started to cook lunch ourselves with our groups of about 12. We had a pot in which we cooked rice. My friend and I cut vegetables, and there was some cold cuts and of course lots of matzah! We ate and rested in a shady place for a couple of hours while the sun was at its hottest. They told us to drink lots and lots of water all day long, so we did, and my friend Maddy and I nature peed- a lot! After a while we got used to it and it wasn’t that bad! After our break, we hiked some more and more, walking through gorgeous scenery, until we reached our next campsite and rested there for the rest of the night. The next day was a lighter hike, not that uphill, actually quite enjoyable. At our lunch stop, there was a fresh water spring so a lot of us dunked our heads in since we hadn’t showered in days. It felt so good! We also saw lots of wild cows walking around, you know just chilling, and a whole heard of goats and their goat herder! We stopped a few hours early because it was Shabbat that night. We did our usual thing at night, but with a very nice Shabbat service. We woke up a little bit later the next morning and set out for a hike that didn’t get us any farther to the Mediterranean Sea, but took us to a nice waterfall/stream area. After hiking a very steep and rocky downhill for about 45 minutes, we arrived at our destination. There, we went in the water, ate lunch, and just hung out for a good amount of time. It was a very popular destination on Shabbat I guess because it was very crowded! The hike back up was very hard, though. The last day, we rode bikes for the last leg of our journey! I don’t know how much we rode, but it was a very long time, probably 2 hours. It was easy and fun though because it was all downhill. We finally reached the Mediterranean Sea!! It was beautiful and it felt so good to have worked so hard. We literally hiked across Israel! All of my friends and I let out our French braids and went into the ocean and laid on the beach. It felt so nice! We said goodbye to our guides and headed towards Haifa, where we stayed at a hostel for one night. That night, we had services and dinner at a synagogue in Haifa for the second to last night of Passover. Then later that night I saw my camp counselor, Guy, who lives in Haifa! It was so exciting!! The next day we went to the Bahai Temple Gardens, a beautiful sight to look at and take pictures. Then we went shopping around the Druze village for the afternoon, and then had dinner in Abu Ghosh, an Arab village right near our Kibbutz. Then finally that night we arrived back home- Kibbutz Tzuba! It felt great after traveling for so long! We got new roommates and I’m so happy to be with my good friend Sarah!! We started back to school the next day thought which sucked but it wasn’t so bad.

love, paige alyse erlich

post #6- 10 day trip

since i last blogged, i have done so much! where do i begin?

*this is a VERY long blog, just warning you

We started our adventure with a trip to the Old City of Jerusalem learning about the 2nd temple period. Then we drove down to the dead sea and stayed a youth hostel at the base of Masada. We went to sleep very early because we woke up at 3:45 am to start climbing! We had our 3 liters of water and kovas (hats) and started to ascend up the huge mountain of Masada around 5 am while it was still pitch black. Even though this was my third time doing so, it was still very tiring and tough, since i'm not the most athletic person. We made it to the top just in time to sit peacefully and watch the sun come up from behind the mountains. It was so beautiful! Last time, I fell asleep so it was nice to be awake and see it! We then had services and proceeded to tour around Masada for a few hours, learning about how the Jews committed suicide on Masada because they knew that the Romans were coming up.

After walking back down the snake path of Masada, we went straight to the Dead Sea! The hotel where we stayed had the Dead Sea right there, so it was really nice. We dropped our stuff in our rooms and went straight to put mud all over our bodies. The Dead Sea was a lot of fun, it hurt where I had scrapes but it was worth it. It was so much fun to float! That night we got dresses up and had services and Shabbat dinner and then just hung out on the beach. The next day we took a mini trip and hiked to a waterfall where we got to swim in a lake! The rest of the day we chilled at the hotel and it was very relaxing.

The next day we embarked for possibly the worst five days of my life: GADNA

Gadna is something that 16 year old Israelis do in preparation for the Israeli army when they become 18. Everyone gets drafted; girls go into the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) for 2 years while boys stay in it for 3. It is a week of what it's like to be in the army. And let me tell you, it sucks.

We arrived at Sde Boker, the army base near Be'er Sheva and immediately had to run with our huge suitcases over and got into three long lines, with just girls. 4 girls in uniforms started speaking to us in Hebrew and my friend who is fluent translated for us. They randomly split us up into four groups, and then our groups were joined by the boys. They then told us to run to one of the big tents to throw our bags in and we went to get our mattresses, sleeping bags, and blankets. After we got situated with that, my group got into 2 lines next to each other while our mifakedet (commander) went to get our shirts, pants, coats and canteens. We saw other groups of kids not from EIE there too, running around the base. It looked so scary at first. After we got all of our stuff, our mifakedet told us (in Hebrew as always) to run to another place on the base and gave us 20 seconds. We ran as fast as we could, counting out loud in Hebrew backwards until we reached our destination. Once we got to echad (1), we had to yell "achshevet mifakedet!" (attention commander). This soon became something that we heard all the time, everytime we moved an inch, from 5 seconds to 60 sometimes we would have to countdown from. That night we had an opening ceremony and i don't remember anything except for really hating to have to stand in attention (our hands behind our backs, always) for a really long time. That night i got bundled up with a bunch of sweatshirts and sweatpants and had a pretty uncomfortable night. Now i don't usually complain about this kind of stuff because i'm used to it from like 9 years of overnight camp and lots of traveling and im not stuck up, but this was just horrible and i was so frustrated. and i usually will eat anything and everything, im not picky at all, but the food was just terrible. plus, the whole time my stomach hurt and i felt nauseous and everytime i tried to eat i got a horrible stomachache so i was always feeling sick. our "beds", if thats even what you want to call them, were lined up so close that there was no room in between them, and you had absolutely no room but your bed, so I slept with my head laying on my suitcase which took up about 1/3 of the bed. We were woken up at 6 am and had 20 minutes to put on our uniforms and get ready in the beyond crowded bathrooms with the Israeli girls putting on makeup and blow drying their hair. It was funny. at 6:20 my group of 17 people got into the shape of a chet (ח) and met the mifakedet standing in attention. That day we rode a bus to the "field" where we ran a lot and crawled on the ground using our elbows. The ground was hard a rocky and we got cuts and bruises all over. we also learned what to do if we hear them shout רימון (rimon) which means grenade (and also pomegrante!!). instead of taking the bus back, we had to walk back and even run at some of the times for 4 kilometers which is like 2 miles i think. It wasn't that bad but since I can't run fast, it was hard to keep up. overall the day was very rough and we woke up the next morning with our whole bodies aching and cuts all over. it felt good that we worked so hard but i literally could not walk! The 2nd full day we mostly were in classes, learning about the army and specifically about guns and all the parts and how to use one. The 3rd full day was the day we got to shoot the guns! When it finally came my turn, I was freaking out. I followed the instructions and did everything we learned, put the magazine in, cock it, turn the safety to semi. I shot it once and it was so scary!! We got to shoot 10 bullets, but after my second one it stopped working and i was freaking out but the mifakedet fixed it so it was all good. I even got to keep one of the bullet shells!! I also got the paper at which i shot at, and there was only one hole in it, not even on the target... i think i was shooting at the wrong paper. but it doesn't matter because i shot a gun and i have a picture of it!! The last day we had a closing ceremony and they handed out awards to the best person in each group and my friends and i joked about how it would be so funny if we got it because it was obvious that we werent. Then all of the sudden i hear my name and before I knew it everyone was pushing me up to get my award! It was the funniest thing ever because everyone knew I hated it so much.

Overall, I don't really know how I felt about Gadna. At the time I really hated it because my stomach hurt the whole time, I was nauseous, we had to run a lot, it was cold, i was hungry, there was no soap and we couldnt use much toilet paper, and the overall scenery was just so depressing! I know i sound like a whiner but that's really how I felt the whole time. There were some parts I did enjoy and I know it was an essential thing to see what it's really like to be an Israeli and it was a great experience and blah blah blah, but I really did not enjoy it. So we finally left and we drove to Eilat where we just relaxed for Shabbat and even went snorkeling and hung out at the beach for a little bit!

Purim in Israel is HUGE! It's just like halloween where everyone dresses up, but so much more. We went to a couple malls for lunch and all of the kids were dressed up and even most of the adults and people working there. We went to a really fun Purim festival in the afternoon which was really fun.

We finally got back to the kibbutz Sunday night and it was great. It was so good to be "home" after being away for so long in different hotels and such. Now we are back to the school schedule which is not fun but at the same time it is because it's school but I look outside the window and I hear the Muslim call of prayer and see Jerusalem.

love, paige

Hi everyone!

Sorry i haven't written in such a long time, but we've been very busy and I really haven't had time! I have a lot of homework and not much free time! It's also been a very rough week because last Friday, my very good friend from EIE, his older brother died in a car accident. These past few days have been very sad for all of us here.

Last week we went on two tiyulim- to Sataf, located just below Kibbutz Tzuba, where we were able to see terrace farming and mountain irrigation systems dating back to 1000/900 BCE. The next day we visited Ir David- the city of David where king David reigned. We went through underground tunnels and caves it was so much fun!

Friday we had a very big Jewish History test that included everything we've learned about since the beginning. It took me four hours, but I think I did well and it was nice to be finally done afterwards. The rest of the day was a lot of fun until we received the news of my friend's brother. He did EIE six years ago decided to serve in the Israeli Defense Forces with his twin brother after high school. As I said earlier, the rest of the weekend was very quiet and sad, everybody was very shaken by it.

Today, we had a tiyul to the Israel Museum and the Dead Sea Scrolls, where we learned all about the different sects of Judaism! Then tonight was very busy because we had to pack up our rooms. We are going on a 10 day trip away from the kibbutz because we are going to Masada, Dead Sea, Eilat and participating in Gadna for 5 of the days where we train to be in the Israeli Army! We had to pack our bags for going away for 10 days, and then also pack the rest of the stuff in our rooms because when we come back we are switching rooms and roommates!

Okay that's all for now, i will write when I get back and I'm sure I'll have lots to tell!

xoxo,

Paige

post #4

1: doing homework and hanging out in the zula

2:at gezer, simulating a casemate wall (see below)

3: gezer!

4: me and friends at the end of the tiyul

shaloooom. ma nish ma?

HISTORY LESSON:

yesterday we had our first of many tiyulim (trips) and went to Gezer. Gezer means carrot in hebrew but we went to the ancient city of Gezer. It is an archaeological site called a tel where 29 layers of civilizations have existed over thousands of years. We learned about the Canaanites and how they were the first civilization there and very sophisticated with their modern technology. We also learned about the geography and topography of Israel and Gezer in particular. The whole area was very green and unnaturally hilly. Then we talked about the "4 D's" that archaeologists look for to see if there was civilization at the tel. the 1st D is Drink: there needs to be a water source. At Gezer, there was a huge ditch in underground that they used. it was so cool! the 2nd D is Defense: they need a wall of some sort to defend themselves. The Canaanites built a special wall that was called a Casemate Wall. When there was peace, they used it as a market/mall! But when there was war, they would fill it up with dirt and nobody could get through! It was really interesting! The 3rd D is Dinner: they need rains and flat, arable fertile lands so they could grow crops for food. Gezer had this! The last D is Dollar: they need a good economy. The Canaanites had a very good economy because they had a trade route which was called the Via Maris. Gezer is a prime example of the four D's, making it indeed a civilization.

After 3 hours of Jewish History everyday, we have Hebrew for almost 2! I'm learning soo much though and i'm enjoying it! ready?

ani paige. ani talmidah b'kitah! ani m'america, avail achshav ani b'kibbutz tzuba b'yisrael! ani medaberet anglit v'ani lomedet ivrit.

who knows what that says?? once i get hebrew on my laptop i will type in hebrew!

it's very had to learn both hebrew and french everyday and i confuse the two a lot but i will have to get used to it!

right now i have a free period (i have a couple today) so i'm sitting on my roommate hillary's bed and we're on our laptops listening to music. it's raining really hard outside so it's a fun rainy day. yay for rain in israel!

love, paige

post #3

picture 1- first day of classes looking quite smart and prepared with my roommate hillary!

picture 2- on shabbat on saturday with my friends vicky and rochelle

picture 3- shabbat friday night at the kotel with my friend maddy!

sorry i haven't written in a while... we've been very busy!

friday we did a very fun archaeological dig! we dug for artifacts, got lost in underground caves, and toured ancient burial sites! then we got dressed up and went to the kotel (western wall) for kabbalat shabbat services. after services behind the wall, we went to the wall for a little bit. There were so many people there! There were male soldiers dancing around so we joined in, but then they yelled at us because we were girls. It was interesting to see all the different types of Jews there. My favorite was the ultra-orthodox Jews with the big fury hats- they were really funny-looking.

saturday was very relaxing, we had services in the morning and then a lot of free time during the day to hang out. I got to meet to new friends and we ended up walking around outside and talking for a while! It was really nice. Later that night we were supposed to go to Ben Yehuda Street, but it was raining so we went to a really big mall in Jerusalem. I ate really good falafel! I also met up with some people from my camp that are studying at Hebrew U for the semester! I'm pretty sure I was at this mall the last time I was in Israel, and I love it! Even though it's ery close to American malls, it's still really cool to see a lot of stores in hebrew! As a group of girls and I passed by a shoe store, a man working there said hello! I stopped and asked him how he knew we were American (because he said hello not hebrew). He said you can tell because our presence is very different from Israelis (not in a bad way). We dress differently and the way we walk and the expressions on our faces are different. I thought this was very interesting.

Today (Sunday) was our first full day of classes! We started at 8:30 am with Jewish Studies for nearly 3 hours! It actually went by very fast because we were all very engaged and wanted to learn! Then I had Hebrew for about an hour and a half which was actually not that bad! After that I had lunch and then General Studies classes (physics, calculus, english, french) until 7 pm! But I had a couple of free periods in between so it wasn't that bad... Im alone in my math class which is kind of awkward but good one on one with the teacher. I have 3 other kids in my physics class and 2 in my french class, and we only have english monday/thursday so i'll see how that goes tomorrow! We had dinner at 7 and then started our loads of homework. It wasn't that bad and it's fun because we can all do our homework together!

Since I will be having a regular school day a lot, I won't write a blog for those days but probably for when we have Tiyuls (trips) which is a couple times a week. Our first one is on Tuesday!

love, paige

post #2

i didn't write yesterday because yesterday was a boring day and all we did was have orientation for lots of different things.

but today was a lot a fun. first we had introduction to our jewish studies classes and i have the best teacher! he took us to the top of the "tel" which is a mountain near kibbutz tzuba (where i'm staying) that overlooks jerusalem. after a short hike, we made it to the top and all sat down on a very high part of the mountain, where we began class. as David (my teacher) was talking about what is Judaism and how it's more than just a religion, i couldn't help but look around. We were in Israel, on the top a mountain that had a breathtaking view... and in class. It was so cool and i'm so excited for more times like that! It's not gonna be like that all the time though, we do have a real classroom but still.

Later today we did our first community service project for an organization called Table to Table. We went to a farm and picked lots and lots of clementines off of trees for needy. It was so much fun and the clementines were the best any of us have ever tasted.

love paige!