What am I doing?

I hope you all know by now that I have spent the last (almost) 4 months studying in Israel. I have learned so much more about Israel, Judaism, and the Jewish people. One of the biggest questions I feel like I have been asked is the reason I'm writing this post; What does it mean to be part of "am Yisrael" (The people of Israel)?  Being part of the people of Israel and the Jewish people to means that I am part of a community that is not only within my temple at home, but a global community. If I were to travel the world and look for a group of people who speak the same language from country to country and read the same parts of a the same book on the same day, the only group like this would be the Jewish people, the people of Israel. Judaism to me is more than a religion, I personally do not believe in a god and what I love about Judaism is that my belief in a deity doesn't matter. What matters are my actions as I live my life. I give money to the homeless as I'm walking through Chicago, not because if I do I'll go to heaven, but because if I don't they might not eat that night. I do things because they help people, not because I'll get eternal life. This is a critical part of what being part of am Yisrael means to me. It means I do things in a selfless manner. It also means that I have the ability to my own opinion, there's a funny joke I have heard more than once on this trip; Two Jews, three opinions. It's very accurate, all Jews have opinions and question things. I recently got to go to a very special service at the western wall in Jerusalem in which a feminist group known as Women of the Wall (WoW) said a blessing, normally only said by men. They also managed to smuggle a torah scroll into the womens prayer side of the western wall. They did this because there are no torah scrolls for women to read from on their side. Ironically enough it is 100% legal for women to read torah at the western wall, but it is illegal to bring a torah because "There are already many available at the western wall," But on the mens side in which the women cant get to. This is an instance of many Jewish opinions and oppositions. My ability to express my opinions are a very strong part of Judaism for me. In general, being part of the people of Israel means so much to so many people, trying to answer such a question is very difficult to do. I have attempted but it is not nearly all that I want to say. I have ideas I cannot simply put into words because I do not exactly understand them enough. I do know for sure, I am Jewish, I am a part of the people of Israel, and it plays a major part in who I am today.

Is Israel a "Jewish Democratic" state?

Over the last week or so in my Jewish History class, we have been talking extensively about Israel as a Jewish state, as a democratic state, and as a "Jewish Democratic" state. There are many different opinions throughout the world about this topic ranging from "Israel is a racist awful state" to "Israel is super Jewish and does nothing wrong ever" both of which I disagree with. Israel is considered a Jewish state for two main reasons; lots of Jewish history has occurred on this land, and in the modern state the majority of citizens are Jewish. A large group of Israelis are Muslim/Arab, I'll get back to this. Israel has a democratic system of government where officials are elected into office and laws are voted on democratically, but it is not completely democratic. Arabs living in the west bank are not given the right to vote, nor are they given citizenship, even though they are living under Israeli control, this is partially because if they were to give them citizenship and the right to vote the Jewish majority would have a much larger opposition therefore causing the concept of the "Jewish State" to begin to fade. I personally think a two state solution between Israel and Palestinians is the only real way to have a Jewish Democratic state. I have no clue what the borders would be, I have no idea how it would be accomplished, but it would keep the Jewish state as well as giving Palestinians a state to call their own. So is Israel a "Jewish Democratic" state? Not yet.

My Congregation at home

Throughout EIE we have talked multiple times about Israels government, the different parties, as well as their views on different things. Many people would say Israel needs a change in leadership, many would disagree. Change in leadership is a common thing to happen for multiple reasons. The person is unable to do their job, they are not fit for their job, or even that they are causing harm to those below them. Though in most cases, its because the current leader is ready to be done. They have done nothing wrong, they might have even been incredible leaders, but leading is a difficult task that they are ready to pass on. In my congregation at home, we are getting ready to say goodbye to our head rabbi, Rabbi Steven Bob. I've known him since my family joined the temple when I was 3. He has been a major influence in my life, helping me keep my Jewish values, teaching me about Israel, and even teaching me Hebrew at camp. Rabbi Bob has made our temple a fun, inviting, and exciting place to be for any Jewish event, but he is ready to retire.
Through change in leadership comes change in ideology and values. They may not be large changes, but they are there. I know for one thing that our next Rabbi is much more accepting of interfaith and LGBT+ families and members. Today, These are large views that more and more people feel are important. Our current rabbi would not marry interfaith families, though he would still welcome them with open arms to services on shabbat. I personally believe it is important to allow people to marry who they want, but it is also important for people to have their own opinions on who can marry who. I think that with the change in leadership in my temple will bring good changes as well as more progressive ideologies.

The bubble I live in

As some of you may know, I am currently living in Israel! Israel is known by many as a dangerous place full of terrorism and hate and blah blah blah. It really isn't. Israel is actually an amazing, beautiful place full of incredible people with incredible confidence. But where I am living is very much a bubble. I am exposed to the true Israel on some of my trips, but not often. Today, there was a bus explosion in Jerusalem, just under 10 miles away from me. When you think 10 miles you would think a short drive to lunch, or to visit a friend. It's close, right? Well, from where I am, 10 miles is like the distance from the north to south of Israel, very far. This is because I am living on a very secular, peaceful, friendly kibbutz (community). I get real time alerts of anything that happens in Israel so I knew right away. But many of my friends here had no idea. I have gotten many messages asking if I am okay because this happened so "close" to me. YES! I'm doing great! I am not the slightest bit concerned about this possible attack. The bubble protects me from worry. Though I am very safe here, this bubble also keeps out much of Israel that is not even remotely dangerous. I would personally like to be able to go out and explore more of Israel to experience it, not from the eyes of a tourist, but from the eyes of a possible pilgrim. I love Kibbutz Tzuba and it's bubble, but I wish that I was allowed to have more freedom off of the kibbutz.

The humor of Israel

Since my last post was about jokes often being offensive if they are about a general group of people, I thought I would talk about what I've learned about humor from an Israeli-Jew. To begin, Israelis are in general just way more bad ass than any other group of people. There is no passive-aggressive in Israel. Israelis are to the point, they get what they want, they know how to get things done. Israelis also have a very dark sense of humor. One of my counselors here on EIE was fairly open about their dark sense of humor after our recent trip to Poland. Most Israelis, who are not above Modern Orthodox on the Jewishness spectrum, think holocaust jokes are just that, jokes. They aren't true, they don't have any true connection to reality. When you think about it, jokes about the attempted elimination of an entire people should not actually be funny, It's awful! So why do some people laugh at them?

In Jewish history we had got to read short stories by an Israeli author known as Etgar Keret. Keret uses a lot of this dark humor in his writing. Whether it be about death, sex, or other sad or taboo things about life. One of these stories, that I read in my own time, was titled Shut. The main character is almost always dreaming. Dreaming of having a different wife, having different kids, having a different house. He is "happily"  married in the real world but chooses not to be in the real world. I can't help but laugh at the mention of his "hard-on" in the middle of this serious, strange story Keret is telling of. I laughed because I'm an immature 10 year old boy when it comes to things like that, but I also somehow managed to get meaning from the story with this crudely placed humor. Etgar Kerets writing is so strange, so unimaginable, so serious, that the only thing you can do is laugh. I think that is why Israelis and other groups of people find dark humor funny. Because it is so serious, or its something that is just insane to think about, you can't help but laugh. The attempted murder of an entire group of people, that's serious, that's unimaginable. Through the laughter from these dark jokes we need to remember that there is often truth behind them. The holocaust did happen. No, its not funny on its own, but that's why people make jokes of it. Because causing laughter will release tension from a situation. That is the humor I have seen from many people in Israel.

What is the line between a 'Joke' and being offensive?

I know that Jewish 'Jokes' are out there in the world; to be completely honest, I have chuckled at a few. But then there are stereotypes that drag a joke out to the point where its angering. After reading this article I have realized that stereotypes are more present than just a small mention here and there. There is a restaurant in the Ukraine right next to (the ruins of) one of the most important synagogues from before WW2. This restaurant has waiters with stereotypical Jewish names who wear hats with fake peyot (the hair grown from sideburns and then curled often by Ultra-Orthodox Jews) and no prices on the menu because 'Jews traditionally like to haggle prices.' Okay, they're just going with the theme of the restaurant, right? Well, yes, but the theme of the restaurant is offensive by itself. Joking about the population that, very recently, was almost destroyed by the Nazis right in that very spot is one of those 'too soon' types of things. The waiters who work there were clearly not Jewish. They would talk about 'Jewish tradition' the way someone talks about the most recent viral video on Facebook, its a joke. This restaurant is making a joke of Jewish tradition. I can't tell you what the line between Joke and Offensive is, but what I can tell you is that what they are doing at that restaurant is clearly offensive.

My experience in Poland

                Poland, there is a lot to say about what it is now, but even more to say about what it was. Poland was often fought over between Russia and Germany for many years. But during the events of World War 2, Germany very quickly took over Poland to start enforcing anti-Jewish laws. While in Poland, I was able to see life of Jews before the holocaust, tragic events of death and murder during, acts of resistance and survival in between, and why it is important to stand up for who you are the entire time.

To begin, our trip to Poland was about life before the holocaust as well as the tragedies that occurred during the holocaust. We visited a few places of Jewish life during our seven days in Poland. My favorite city in Poland that represented Jewish life was Lublin, more specifically the Yeshiva Chachmei Lublin; a Yeshiva for Heredi Jews in Poland that opened in 1930. This Yeshiva was created by Rabbi Meir Shapiro in order to inspire Jewish studies every single day. The most famous way he did this within the yeshiva is something called the “דף יומי“ (Daf Yomi) or “Daily Page.” This was a universal way for every Jew to study one page, front and back, of Talmud a day. Since it was universal, it was set up in a way so that everyone would be studying the same page as everyone else on each day in a seven year cycle. This cycle is still used today by Jews who study Talmud. Because I do not study Talmud daily, this doesn’t apply to me, but it does apply to many Jews all over the world. The current cycle started on August 3^rd, 2012, therefore it will end on January 4^th of 2020. This yeshiva that it began in was a center for not only Jewish studies but also Inter-Personal studies. Inter-Personal studies were very important because it created a split between Torah study and normal, everyday studies. This lasted for a very short amount of time because in 1933 Adolf Hitler and the Nazis come to power. The Nazis took over the yeshiva and burned all of the books from within in the town square. This marked the beginning of the tragic events of the holocaust. These events eventually lead to more extreme measures taken by the Nazi regime. Obviously the death camps in Poland had a major effect on how I thought of the holocaust, but they aren’t what really hit the hardest. We were all having a really nice day in the old Jewish Shtetl of Tykocin. We had just finished our afternoon services, singing and dancing, when we are told that the Jewish life eventually came to a horrifying end. We sat silently on the bus as we drove to what seemed to be just a beautiful forest. My class sat down a little ways into the forest to discuss what we were about to see; Mass Graves. Jews were brought into the forest, told to dig giant pits, and were then shot into the pits. I had no idea what to expect. A hole in the ground? Bones sticking up out of the earth? When we walked up to the memorial I was angry. It was three plots of forest floor with fence around them, not even very large plots. I had already accepted that thousands of people were killed here, what I couldn’t and still can’t accept is that it’s just a forest. It was a beautiful day, birds chirping, a light breeze, the sun was out. I wanted there to be more, something that would scream out to the world “HELLO! THIS HAPPENED!” But no, it was just a forest floor. It was difficult to understand what exactly happened. The Nazis would line people up, men, women, and children, look them in the eyes, and shoot them. How can someone possibly do that? I learned from one of my counselors why I can’t understand it; I have compassion. I’m a compassionate human who understands the fact that we are all humans. The Nazis were brainwashed into believing differently. The Holocaust didn’t just kill millions of people, it also attempted to eliminate an entire culture, I am living proof that they failed.

To continue, during the holocaust (1933-1945) many people who were affected by the Nazis attempted to resist the Nazi regime, either through violent rebellions or secretly helping others. There were two major acts of “איברלעבן” or “Survival/Resistance” that really spoke to me. The first acts that spoke to me were by a group known as “The Couriers.” A group of young Jewish girls who used their Aryan looks to help Jews in the ghettos all over Poland. Every single day these girls were in danger of being caught for helping Jews. They helped the Jews by smuggling things like food, money, illegal documents, and eventually ammunition, into ghettos. They were able to do this more easily than men for a few reasons. It is easy to tell if a man is Jewish by finding out if he is circumcised. Women had no permanent mark that proved they were Jewish. Also, Jewish women were more likely to speak the national language as well as Yiddish. This made moving around Poland much easier. It is true that these girls helped transport information in and out of ghettos, but they left much more than just information. These girls gave the people of the ghettos hope that they will be saved, hope that things will get better for them, hope of survival. This leads to the next act of survival that really spoke to me; The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. This event caused many other rebellions and much more hope within the people of the ghettos. The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was an incredible act of rebellion. It was led by Mordecai Anielewicz, a young Jew who originally escaped Warsaw, but returned to help organize this uprising. The Jews in the Ghetto got their weapons from people or groups like the couriers. They smuggled in weapons and munitions to support the uprising. On April 13^th, the uprising began. The Germans didn’t think it would be too difficult to put down, they sent some reinforcements, they were killed. The rebels in the ghetto were winning, whatever that meant. They were doing so well that the German army had to pull troops from the front lines in order to suppress this rebellion. This actually put a dent in the German army, they killed a reasonable amount of troops. Eventually, on May 16^th, the German army officially put down the rebellion, about 13,000 Jews were killed. We got the chance to see the location of the final firefight of the uprising, Mila 18. This is where Mordecai Anielewicz decided he would rather commit suicide than surrender to the Nazis. The major fact of this uprising that struck me was that it was the first act of Jewish resistance in 1800 years. Mordecai, right before his death, wrote that “Jewish self-defense has become a fact.”  He helped to empower the Jews again. He gave the Jews a glimmer of hope in the time of the holocaust.  Jewish resistance is a fact, and it will be for the rest of my life. I hope that the actions of these people will not only carry on through my life, but through generations after me.

Finally, continuing the idea of survival and resistance, Rabbi Emil Fackenheim wrote “Jews are forbidden to hand Hitler posthumous victories, they are commanded to survive as Jews, lest the Jewish people parish.” I view this statement as an additional commandment, the 614^th. It commands us as Jews to not give in to the Nazis demands to kill us, but for us to fight for our Judaism. I observe this mitzvah in my daily life, if my Judaism is questioned or threatened I stand up for myself. Here on EIE it is much less necessary because we are all Jews, but at my high school at home I often had to stand up for myself. I am also expecting to have to do so in the years to come in college. I strongly agree with Rabbi Emil’s statement because of the importance of standing up for yourself. This idea does not only apply to Jews, it applies to anyone whose identity is being question. The statement can be applied to everyone in some way shape or form. If we do not stand up for who we are, we will be destroyed as a people. We must also stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves, if we do not, no one will stand up for us. Judaism is very important to my life, and I stand up for it every chance I get.

In conclusion, Jewish life in Poland was destroyed because of the tragedies inflicted onto the Jews by the Nazis, but standing up for yourself and others can not only help you, but give hope to millions of others. This trip was honestly the worst trip I’ve ever been on, yes it was a very meaningful experience that I think every Jew should go on sometime in their life. I am glad I went to see for myself what was left of the holocaust, but it was not a fun trip at all. I, as well as many other class mates, will agree, Poland is a sad and awful country that I don’t want to go to again. Besides the fact that it was awful, it was a very important trip that needed to be taken.