Foto Friday – Decorated Sukkot

October 14, 2011 by · 1 Comment
Filed under: design, Foto Friday, General, History and Culture, Holidays, Picture of the Week, Religion 

For those of us who grew up in chilly northern climes, building a sukkah was a complicated affair. Late September or early October meant cold weather, frost and sometimes the occasional freak snowstorm. This in turn meant a quick kiddush under the open sky before dashing into warmth and shelter. Upon moving to Israel, however, it dawned on me that the timing of the holiday, with its traditional move outdoors into the sukkah, fit the seasonal change exactly.

At first, after a lifetime of sturdy plywood, the typical nylon fabric-draped Israeli sukkah seemed rickety and a bit disconcerting, but I came to realize that cloth is probably closer to the way our forefathers did it. What they didn’t have — and we do — is fancy yardage imprinted with seasonal motifs, like the Seven Species — wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, and dates (or honey) — listed in the book of Deuteronomy as special products of the Land of Israel.

Pomegranates are a particular favorite at this time of year.

I love these brightly colored sukkah fabrics and am particularly enamored of the ones celebrating not only the holiday but aspirations for the Jewish people, like the heavenly Jerusalem — Yerushalayim shel maala — the Holy City as it will be in the time to come.

However, eating before the Western Wall may be carrying the idea a bit too far!

There are any number of companies in Israel selling Sukkot gear — Sukkot Netsarim, Suka LaNegev, Sukot Yerushalaim, Sukkot Nehalim — including reusable bamboo roofs and storage/carrying cases. But what’s really important is what goes on inside the sukkah, a gathering of family, friends and community under one roof beneath the sky. May it be a happy holiday as we all look forward to bringing in one more very much wanted guest, whom we expect will be coming home next week.

All photos, with the exception of the first, which is courtesy of Wikipedia, are from the online catalogs of the sites listed above.

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Did you fast this Yom Kippur?

October 9, 2011 by · 4 Comments
Filed under: Religion 

Yom Kippur is over, but discussion on the fast continues online. Two articles in the Yediot Ahronot newspaper this weekend presented differing opinions about whether someone secular should fast on the Day of Atonement. Neither author believes in God, but their approaches couldn’t be more different.

Taking the side of the non-fasting public, Uri Misgav says as a non-believer, fasting would be hypocritical, but he insists he is not secular, which he characterizes as a “narrow definition referring to lifestyle alone.” His actions certainly sound secular, though, as he brags that he also “did not circumcise my son.” “Am I Jewish?” he asks. “Certainly. I was born to a Jewish mother and I feel belonging to the Jewish people, its past and heritage.”

Amos Shavit takes the same argument about “belonging” and turns it on its head. He fasts, he says, “based on a desire to be part of a critical mass of people who decided to devote themselves to inner purity on this special day.” He also fasts to connect to the past – “because my parents fast, and this way I can almost touch them, even from a great distance” – and to connect to the future: “because of an idiotic need for my children to be proud of their father.”

Shavit says “I do it because of free choice.” Misgav wants choice too: “I was born and I shall die a free man.”

A recent survey by Gesher and Ynet found that 58% of the Israeli public fast on Yom Kippur. 50% visit a synagogue at least once during the holiday.

So, how about you? Did you fast this Yom Kippur? Please enter your vote in the talkbacks to this post and let’s get our own debate happening on the pages of Israelity.

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Foto Friday – Day of Atonement… and bikes

October 7, 2011 by · 1 Comment
Filed under: Foto Friday, History and Culture, Holidays, Israeliness, Life, Religion 

Most people think that Yom Kippur in Israel looks like this…

Photo by Avishai Teicher, courtesy of PikiWiki Israel

But for many, as on Tel Aviv’s Ayalon Highway, Yom Kippur looks like this…

Photo by Oren Peles, courtesy of PikiWiki Israel

For comparison’s sake, this is what the Ayalon looks like on a regular workday…

Now, not every city in Israeli has a Western Wall (in fact, there’s only one Kotel) but by and large, most Israelis observe Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, in one way or another.

Some uphold tradition with fasting and prayer. Some do not fast but go on picnics and strolls in the park or on the beach. Others stay home, read books and enjoy the peace and quiet that blankets the entire country. That’s because, religious observance or none, Yom Kippur is Israel’s day without cars (excluding unusual events such as in 1973 — and boy, were we surprised).

There is also an entire generation of secular Israelis who have grown up believing that Yom Kippur is actually the day of bicycles and its not unusual for children to bid their parents adieu early in the morning before setting out on an hours-long trek up and down the carless highway.

How long this charming tradition — and it is already a tradition — will last isn’t clear but what is clear is that the Tel Aviv Municipality won’t be aiding it. As of last week, City Hall announced that it would not be operating the Tel-o-Fun bicycle rental service on Yom Kippur, following a request by a city council member from the Shas party. The automatic bike rental service will stop three hours before the Yom Kippur fast begins and commence again tomorrow evening, two hours after the fast ends.

Given that bike riding on Jewish holidays is a hot-button issue among mitzva-keeping cyclists — opinions are divided as to whether the activity constitutes “creating” and there is the problem of “carrying” — it would have been interesting if the Municipality had joined in the debate. But that’s expecting a lot of politicians — even those who ostensibly want to encourage green modes of transport among a primarily non-religious constituency. It remains to be seen how many Tel-o-Fun stands will be raided before the Day of Atonement ends.

Green bike picture courtesy of Tel-o-Fun. All other pictures, unless otherwise noted, courtesy of Tel Aviv in Focus — a huge cache of great pictures taken by people who just love Tel Aviv.

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Old habits find a new home in Jerusalem

October 2, 2011 by · 1 Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, Art, General, History and Culture, Religion, Technology 

They’ve been part of the Jerusalem landscape – as well as the backdrop for any neighborhood in the country with a substantial ultra-Orthodox population. Those black and white posters pasted up on top of each other in public billboards that announce everything from the latest rulings by rabbis to upcoming shiurim (classes) or street protests – called ‘pashkevilim’.

The word evolved from the name of an Italian statue known as Pasquino, in Rome, where locals pasted satire and protest calls in the 16th century, according to Ido Ivri, digital programs manager at Israel’s National Library. While the rest of the country has gone digital to spread the word, the haredim have continued to the rely on the pashkevilim to disseminate information among their community.

However, according to an AP story, one ultra-Orthodox resident of Jerusalem who has collected the posters for decades, is collaborating with Ivri and the National Library to establish a digital online archive of over 20,000 pashkevilim.

According to the story, Yoelish Kraus, a 38-year-old ultra-Orthodox resident of Jerusalem, began peeling the posters off the sooty stone walls of his neighborhood when he was a teenager. Today they fill a windowless, crumbling two-room library.

Two years ago, the National Library offered to help Kraus catalog and scan his collection. It was an unlikely partnership: Kraus will not enter the library because it carries secular literature and a boycott of it was announced — by pashkevil, of course — decades ago.

Kraus had been looking for a new place to store his collection. His library ceiling is crumbling. He stored posters in the cellar until mold destroyed dozens of them.
“It’s strange but I have no choice,” Kraus said. “I looked for years for someone to take it.”

The library staff agreed to lend him a scanner and computer with no connection to the Internet — largely banned by rabbinic decrees publicized by pashkevil. They then taught him to use it, as Kraus had never used a computer before. Soon, he was scanning and cataloging hundreds of the posters a day. The project cost about $27,000.

The library has put up 100 of the most striking posters in an exhibit. One warns against computer use by showing a Jewish boy turning into a horned beast after spending hours on one. Another provides a visual guide to women, warning against all the ways a shirt collar can be immodest.

So, while the pashkevilim will continue to adorn the billboards in Mea Shearim and other haredi neighborhoods, their history is now proudly online.

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A fishy Rosh Hashana

September 28, 2011 by · 1 Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, Food, General, History and Culture, Holidays, Immigrant Moments, Israeliness, Life, Religion 

Busy at home preparing for the three-day Rosh Hashana (two days straight into Shabbat) holiday and making a slew of delicacies (actually I’m at the computer while my wife is making the delicacies), I began to reminisce about the first Rosh Hashana spent in Israel many years ago.

It was a little traumatic because I came face to face with a fish head. My then-girlfriend ( now wife) and I had recently landed in the mystical Galilee city of Safed for a three-month student program in the Old City called Livnot U’lehibanot which combined physical labor and Jewish studies. (one of the best experiences you can ever have in Israel, if you’re interested)

For Rosh Hashana, they set the participants up with observant families around the city, and we found oursevles at the dinner table of the traditional Moroccan family. It was a huge contingent, with children, grand children, cousins, etc – and us.

We were introduced to a series of culinary traditions to mark the new year – lovely customs like eating apples and honey (believe it or not, the first time I had been exposed to this common practice), partaking of pomegranate seeds, and of course, the delicious, braided round hallot.

And because we were the guests for the evening, I was honored amid great flourish and fanfare, as the grandmother of the family, beaming with pride, carried a tray out of the kitchen and set it before me. And there I was, staring at the fish head, the ultimate symbol in their household of bringing in the new year with its blessing “May you be at the head of the new year and not its tail.”

The fish in question might have been a carp, or maybe a mackerel. I wouldn’t know, I was too concerned with staring at its eye there on the plate. Serving whole fish might be commonplace in Israel, but where I came from, filet was the name of the game.

Would I insult my hosts beyond repair if I refused to tuck into the morsel in front of me? Knowing that was unthinkable, I feigned elation and picked at a few pieces as far away from the eyeball as possible, and then graciously passed the plate around to the extended family gathered at the table.

I sighed, thinking I was home free. Then the sheep’s brain came out (maybe a little overkill on the “head of the year” theme) and the scenario repeated itself.

Thank goodness rabbit skulls weren’t next on the menu, which moved to the slightly more conventional main course of stewed beef with prunes on top of couscous. Slightly shaken, but not totally stirred by the experience, I survived my first Israeli Rosh Hashana, and – fish heads and sheep’s brains included – actually ended up staying in the country.

Hoping that all of you have a joyous Rosh Hashana and find yourself at the head of the new year.

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