The other night at dinner our family friend, Gil, gave me what felt like a perfect summation of my past few days in Israel, "Serendipity is putting yourself in situations where beautiful things can happen"
Rewind to last week - I was sitting in my uncle's house in Ashdod, admittedly bored to pieces. I tried to go on a walk, but they didn't leave me a key with which to lock the house. So instead, I sat at the dining room table pitifully spinning a dredel in an empty home. "Man," I thought to myself, " I thought Hanukkah was supposed to be a big deal in Israel." Celebrations, decorations, parties with fresh latkes and donuts - I mean 'A great miracle happened HERE', after all. Right..?
To the contrary, people couldn't seem to care less about Hanukkah in Israel. Some Hassids gave me a free sufgania (donut) in the bus station.. I guess that was pretty cool. I decided to make some latkes myself, but everyone seemed utterly disinterested in them. The olive oil congealed around their edges as they sat in a forlorn lump on the table.
It was time to leave Ashdod.
I decided to head up north to Tsfat, a small city which is labeled as one of the four religious capitals of Israel. It's a haven for Jewish mystics and aging hippies studying Kabbalah. And, as I was to discover later on, it's also the kind of place where you'll find Orthodox Jews selling bongs in their souvenir shops, and men who wear tzit zit and peot (exhibit A) growing pot down by the river.
I opted out of staying in a hostel, and instead found a 'couch surfing' family to stay with for Shabbat. I should point out that even though I emailed half a dozen potential hosts, the family I stayed with was the only one that responded. I think this is where the beautiful serendipity of this past weekend started to fall into place. After finding a host, I sent out another half dozen emails to various people in Tsfat, looking for a place to learn about Kabbalistic meditation and other spiritual practices. Again, only one person replied, a woman named Chaya, and we agreed to meet up once I arrived. Lastly, I asked my mom if she knew anyone living in Tsfat; and you guessed it, she gave me the name of just one person, her friend, Yehudit from Aleph Kallah.
I set out for Tsfat with renewed determination and few telephone numbers in hand. After a long series of bus rides, I was warmly welcomed into the home of Moshe and Netanya. They, and their three kids, are a sweet family with many fascinating interests. Among their many talents, Moshe is a wax sculpture artist, and Netanya is a Qigong and Tai Chi master. We shared a lovely Shabbat with delicious food and many stories.
Once I arrived at their house, I decided to give Chaya a call to see if we could meet up. "Where are you staying?" she asked. "Honestly, I have no idea. I'm staying with a couple named Moshe and Netanya.." I replied. "Well, come downstairs!" she said eagerly. Turns out, Chaya is renting an apartment from Moshe and Netanya, and lives directly below them. Coincidence or divine alignment?
I flashed back to Thanksgiving at Localita Il Piano in Italy. An Australian WWOOFer named Karl was telling Cypress and I about his future plans, " Yea, I want to start up my own farm. I haven't decided on a spot, but I'm thinking about heading to Chico, California."
"No way!" I replied eagerly, "We're from Chico, what a crazy coincidence!"
"Yea," Karl responded coolly, "I stopped believing in coincidence a long time ago."
Now I understand what he meant by that. At dinner that night, I told Moshe about this happenstance encounter, and he told me that he thought I was on a "God guided path" (he had a much cooler name for it in Hebrew). He added that I should go to the Zohar (a hebrew mystical text) class that night with Netanya.
The class was interesting, if not a bit over my head. Instead of struggling to understand the text, I chose to take an anthropological view; so I just appreciated the beauty of other people appreciating the beauty of something. After the class, we were all chatting, and a woman whom I had been sitting next to asked me my name. "Oh, I know your mother!" she replied, "my name is Yehudit." I started to wonder if this was all really serendipity, or if Tsfat was just really small... Yehudit then offered to give me session in her form of Jewish Tai Chi, which she calls Otiyot Hayot - Living Letters.
My trip to Tsfat was a lovely peek into the world of Jewish spirituality and mysticism. It gave me a fresh perspective on my relationship to Judaism through my spiritual practice. For example, in my Kabbalistic meditation session with Chaya explained to me the symbolism behind the Hebrew letters in my name and then chanted my name back to me. Also, during my Otiyot Hayot session with Yehudit, I got to embody my name through movement and breath. 'Arielle' has always kind of caused me grief ("Oh you're like the little mermaid!"), but now I feel a much deeper and more meaningful connection with my name. I really enjoyed learning about Kabbalah, and there are certainly elements which I'n starting to integrate into my existing practices.
From Tsfat, I headed to Mount Gilboa to stay with the Arielys, some family friends. I didn't have a real plan at that point, but I knew that I wanted to visit Nazareth if I was nearby. Of course, they happen to live just half an hour away from Nazareth, so I took a day trip to explore the old city. Walking through Nazareth is a bit like walking into a different country; all signs are written in Arabic, and the sounds of afternoon prayers being chanted from mosques echo off the stone alleyways. Nazareth is also home to the Church of the Annunciation, so I felt a bit like I was back in Italy as well. Side note, there are a surprising amount of Italians in Israel, which is cool because it means I can listen in on their guided tours.
Most notably, my visit to Nazareth included my first visit to (the inside) of a mosque. I was clearly new at this, because I forgot to wear a head-covering and was immediately scolded upon entering. I quickly wrapped my scarf around my head, and then I thought to try something different - I decided to keep it wrapped that way the rest of the day. It felt like an appropriate social experiment. You know, putting myself in someone else's shoes (err head-covering?) to see what it felt like to be on the 'other' side. Apparently, my American hippie aura shined right through the new look because just five minutes later someone asked me (in English) if I was lost.
From Nazareth, I headed back down to Jlem for the weekend. After an (absurdly) mellow New Year's Eve, I rang in 2012 properly with a hike up Masada and a dip in the Dead Sea - my personal polar bear swim. I started the year at the lowest place on Earth; I wonder where I'll end it..?
Now, I'm sitting in an eco-geodesic mud dome in the desert at Kibbutz Lotan. I really wish I had a camera to show you guys how awesome it is here. I'll try to paint you a picture: the neighborhood I'm living in has ten hyper energy-efficient mud domes, four composting toilets, three solar heated showers, a veggie garden (with chard!), an outdoor kitchen, five solar ovens, and a bicycle powered laundry machine. Ya, it's totally magical. There are fourteen other beautiful individuals here with whom I'll be sharing the experience. Judging by our introductory activities, I'll be learning just as much outside of class as I will inside.
Rewind to last week - I was sitting in my uncle's house in Ashdod, admittedly bored to pieces. I tried to go on a walk, but they didn't leave me a key with which to lock the house. So instead, I sat at the dining room table pitifully spinning a dredel in an empty home. "Man," I thought to myself, " I thought Hanukkah was supposed to be a big deal in Israel." Celebrations, decorations, parties with fresh latkes and donuts - I mean 'A great miracle happened HERE', after all. Right..?
To the contrary, people couldn't seem to care less about Hanukkah in Israel. Some Hassids gave me a free sufgania (donut) in the bus station.. I guess that was pretty cool. I decided to make some latkes myself, but everyone seemed utterly disinterested in them. The olive oil congealed around their edges as they sat in a forlorn lump on the table.
It was time to leave Ashdod.
I decided to head up north to Tsfat, a small city which is labeled as one of the four religious capitals of Israel. It's a haven for Jewish mystics and aging hippies studying Kabbalah. And, as I was to discover later on, it's also the kind of place where you'll find Orthodox Jews selling bongs in their souvenir shops, and men who wear tzit zit and peot (exhibit A) growing pot down by the river.
I opted out of staying in a hostel, and instead found a 'couch surfing' family to stay with for Shabbat. I should point out that even though I emailed half a dozen potential hosts, the family I stayed with was the only one that responded. I think this is where the beautiful serendipity of this past weekend started to fall into place. After finding a host, I sent out another half dozen emails to various people in Tsfat, looking for a place to learn about Kabbalistic meditation and other spiritual practices. Again, only one person replied, a woman named Chaya, and we agreed to meet up once I arrived. Lastly, I asked my mom if she knew anyone living in Tsfat; and you guessed it, she gave me the name of just one person, her friend, Yehudit from Aleph Kallah.
I set out for Tsfat with renewed determination and few telephone numbers in hand. After a long series of bus rides, I was warmly welcomed into the home of Moshe and Netanya. They, and their three kids, are a sweet family with many fascinating interests. Among their many talents, Moshe is a wax sculpture artist, and Netanya is a Qigong and Tai Chi master. We shared a lovely Shabbat with delicious food and many stories.
Once I arrived at their house, I decided to give Chaya a call to see if we could meet up. "Where are you staying?" she asked. "Honestly, I have no idea. I'm staying with a couple named Moshe and Netanya.." I replied. "Well, come downstairs!" she said eagerly. Turns out, Chaya is renting an apartment from Moshe and Netanya, and lives directly below them. Coincidence or divine alignment?
I flashed back to Thanksgiving at Localita Il Piano in Italy. An Australian WWOOFer named Karl was telling Cypress and I about his future plans, " Yea, I want to start up my own farm. I haven't decided on a spot, but I'm thinking about heading to Chico, California."
"No way!" I replied eagerly, "We're from Chico, what a crazy coincidence!"
"Yea," Karl responded coolly, "I stopped believing in coincidence a long time ago."
Now I understand what he meant by that. At dinner that night, I told Moshe about this happenstance encounter, and he told me that he thought I was on a "God guided path" (he had a much cooler name for it in Hebrew). He added that I should go to the Zohar (a hebrew mystical text) class that night with Netanya.
The class was interesting, if not a bit over my head. Instead of struggling to understand the text, I chose to take an anthropological view; so I just appreciated the beauty of other people appreciating the beauty of something. After the class, we were all chatting, and a woman whom I had been sitting next to asked me my name. "Oh, I know your mother!" she replied, "my name is Yehudit." I started to wonder if this was all really serendipity, or if Tsfat was just really small... Yehudit then offered to give me session in her form of Jewish Tai Chi, which she calls Otiyot Hayot - Living Letters.
My trip to Tsfat was a lovely peek into the world of Jewish spirituality and mysticism. It gave me a fresh perspective on my relationship to Judaism through my spiritual practice. For example, in my Kabbalistic meditation session with Chaya explained to me the symbolism behind the Hebrew letters in my name and then chanted my name back to me. Also, during my Otiyot Hayot session with Yehudit, I got to embody my name through movement and breath. 'Arielle' has always kind of caused me grief ("Oh you're like the little mermaid!"), but now I feel a much deeper and more meaningful connection with my name. I really enjoyed learning about Kabbalah, and there are certainly elements which I'n starting to integrate into my existing practices.
From Tsfat, I headed to Mount Gilboa to stay with the Arielys, some family friends. I didn't have a real plan at that point, but I knew that I wanted to visit Nazareth if I was nearby. Of course, they happen to live just half an hour away from Nazareth, so I took a day trip to explore the old city. Walking through Nazareth is a bit like walking into a different country; all signs are written in Arabic, and the sounds of afternoon prayers being chanted from mosques echo off the stone alleyways. Nazareth is also home to the Church of the Annunciation, so I felt a bit like I was back in Italy as well. Side note, there are a surprising amount of Italians in Israel, which is cool because it means I can listen in on their guided tours.
Most notably, my visit to Nazareth included my first visit to (the inside) of a mosque. I was clearly new at this, because I forgot to wear a head-covering and was immediately scolded upon entering. I quickly wrapped my scarf around my head, and then I thought to try something different - I decided to keep it wrapped that way the rest of the day. It felt like an appropriate social experiment. You know, putting myself in someone else's shoes (err head-covering?) to see what it felt like to be on the 'other' side. Apparently, my American hippie aura shined right through the new look because just five minutes later someone asked me (in English) if I was lost.
From Nazareth, I headed back down to Jlem for the weekend. After an (absurdly) mellow New Year's Eve, I rang in 2012 properly with a hike up Masada and a dip in the Dead Sea - my personal polar bear swim. I started the year at the lowest place on Earth; I wonder where I'll end it..?
 |
| Stock photo time! This is what Masada looks like... |
Now, I'm sitting in an eco-geodesic mud dome in the desert at Kibbutz Lotan. I really wish I had a camera to show you guys how awesome it is here. I'll try to paint you a picture: the neighborhood I'm living in has ten hyper energy-efficient mud domes, four composting toilets, three solar heated showers, a veggie garden (with chard!), an outdoor kitchen, five solar ovens, and a bicycle powered laundry machine. Ya, it's totally magical. There are fourteen other beautiful individuals here with whom I'll be sharing the experience. Judging by our introductory activities, I'll be learning just as much outside of class as I will inside.
