Settling and Rosh HaShanah!

Many updates since my last post! Firstly, MY STUFF IS HERE! And completely unpacked! It is very nice to be able to nest with my own things... it has truly started to feel homey. I will be posting pictures very soon as some of you have been requesting constantly :)

Secondly, I've started Hebrew classes at the Ulpan. My class is about 30 people mostly from Russia and the Ukraine. But there is one other person from the US as well as folks from Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Moldova, The Philippines, Bulgaria, Romania, Argentina, and Honduras. Our teacher is an Argentinian who has been living in Israel for 40 years. So, it's a very interesting crowd and I know we all will be learning a lot together! For now it's been pretty slow and has been all review for me, but I know soon the pace will pick up and I will begin to make real progress. It is very fascinating to see how the class is taught when no one in the room has a common language... It makes things slow but soon our common language will be Hebrew! This past week was the anniversary of my very first Hebrew class, so I've officially been studying for a year!

That same day was also my 25th Birthday :) It was very nice to celebrate here in Israel. Rotem took me to a wonderful lunch of Thai food near the beach in Tel Aviv, and I went to dinner with my friend Liat at a Sushi bar. Rotem also woke me with a surprise birthday feast including freshly squeezed pomegranate juice from the fruit stand on our block, and fresh pastry from the bakery down the street! He also orchestrated a surprise party for me with his family and friends. When I came home from my Ulpan class in the evening there was singing, food, cake, gifts, and a lot of fun! It was a very nice birthday!

 I have continued teaching... and since my last post I have started at 2 new schools. I am now teaching at a total of 5 schools in 3 different cities. I have 15 groups of students each week and a violin ensemble of all my students at one school. It has been 95% great with a few really tough groups in there making up the rest. I have to learn how to manage the tougher ones with my limited language... also, pacing a lesson appropriately has been very hard since I have to think carefully about some words or concepts before I introduce them. So, those are my new goals in the classroom...

But, those goals will have to wait 2 weeks since the schools are on vacation! We now have a 2 week break for Yom Kippur and Sukkot. A bit over a week ago was Rosh Hashanah (The Jewish new year celebration) when we also had several days off.

Rosh Ha Shanah was very interesting. It is celebrated much differently here than I've experienced in the states. It is regarded as much more of a new years celebration than we treat it in the US (and is translated literally as Head of the Year: Rosh= head, Ha= the, Shanah= year). For instance, Rotem and I attended a big fancy new year's party for the holiday at a club in Tel Aviv. Also, it is traditional to give gifts for the Rosh HaShanah holiday, unlike at home. So there is a bit of a rush to the malls and stores to find nice gifts for family and friends. You can see stands of ready made gift baskets and gift wrapping stations spring up as Rosh HaShanah nears. In addition to exchanging gifts between family and friends, employers give gifts to employees. There are many songs associated with the Rosh HaShanah holiday that everyone knows. I played some of the songs for my students in classes and Rotem and I performed them at a school for students beginning the school year. All the students know the songs and sing along :)

While we've embraced the tradition of consuming apples and honey for Rosh HaShanah (to symbolize a sweet new year) there are many other traditions that we haven't taken on as much. Here there are traditions of eating honey cake also (still for sweetness) and pomegranate seeds. They say that the seeds are eaten with the hope that there are as many good things in the upcoming year as there are seeds in a pomegranate. The head of a fish is also served and it is said that we do this so that we will be 'heads' this year rather than 'tails' (ahead and on top rather than behind). This is an important omen for the year as judgement and ranking within the world has important significance during this holiday season. I will write more about that when I get to Yom Kippur.

There are many other traditions, mainly having to do with eating specific foods, that I don't yet understand... and by no means are all of these traditions universal. Just as there are many varied religious traditions in the states, there are just as many diverse traditions on celebrating each holiday here. As there are Jews from countless different places, they have all brought their own foods and traditions to the holidays. We in the states are familiar with there being some Ashkenazi traditions and some Sephardic traditions... but here in Israel that's not the only variation. You have Yemenite Jews, Moroccans, Russians, Romanians, and Ethiopians just to name a few... and they all have different interpretations of the celebrations here.

But, the central message of the holiday is the same... everyone wishes a happy celebration (Chag Sameach), good year (Shanah Tovah), a sweet year (Shanah Metukah) along with happiness, health, and wealth. Calls are made to family members and friends to touch base and grant these wishes. And, of course, there is a huge family meal. Well, not just one... two! Every Jewish holiday (and every average day too) actually begins at sundown rather than sunrise (after all, it is following the lunar calendar, ha) beginning the Erev Chag (eve of the celebration or holiday). The following day is the holiday (feast 1), and the following day is the 'second day of the holiday' (feast 2).

Plate of Symbolic Rosh HaShanah Foods

Rotem's Family Dinner

After Rosh HaShanah things are briefly back to normal before Yom Kippur 9 days later. It has been truly fascinating! But that's the next entry folks :) Working on it now... I have pictures and videos that must be uploaded!

Shanah Tovah v Metukah!! שנה טובה ומתוקה!!