It’s been almost two weeks thus far since I arrived here in Israel. After settling in at Darche Naom / Shapell’s in Beit HaKerem, I spent the first few days getting over jet lag in Givat Ze’ev, staying with the Bermans.

Some web and non-web research tells me that Givat Ze’ev (Lit. Hill of Ze’ev – after Ze’ev Jabotinsky) is a relatively large settlement northwest of Jerusalem. It acts as a suburb of Jerusalem, offering more affordable and larger housing, and is located on the other side of the 1949 Armistice line (the “green line“) and is thus within the so-called West Bank. It is a quiet residential place with temperatures similar to Jerusalem.

I enjoyed a nice quiet Shabbat in Givat Ze’ev with the Bermans, including an interesting Seudah Shlishit (third meal of Shabbat) experience at a potluck with local young observant families. I took part in a youthful and quite spirited Kabbalat Shabbat and Shacharit (morning prayer service) at the local branch of Bnei Akivah (a religious zionist/nationalist youth group). I will still have to get used to the prevalent use of Nusach Sefard (the variant arrangement of Ashkenazi prayers designed to offer a compromise or hybrid between traditional Ashkenazi and true Sefardi prayers).

After spending Shabbat in Givat Ze’ev, I returned to Beit HaKerem and began my studies. Research informs me that Beit HaKerem (lit. House of the Vineyard – a Biblical name) is a well-to-do neighborhood in the western part of Jerusalem. It was established in 1922 during the British Mandate. It features abundant greenery, and one person I talked with likened it to living within a forest. It is located to the north of Bayit VeGan and and to the southeast of Har Nof (the only other nearby neighborhoods that I am significantly familiar with, though there are several other distinct neighborhoods surrounding it) and I’m told it is about a one hour walk from the Old City (and, I’m told, a fifteen minute drive). Beit HaKerem is a largely secular neighborhood. Indeed, the Ha’aretz newspaper calls it “the last secular holdout in Jerusalem” in an article from February 2008 that paints a rather unflattering picture of observant Judaism amid present demographic trends in Jerusalem. The neighborhood is enjoying ongoing development, including a segment of the Jerusalem Light Rail, which is scheduled to begin operating in 2010.

Yeshivat Darche Noam / David Shapell College of Jewish Studies is housed in a medium-sized building located on Rechov Beit HaKerem off Hertzl Boulevard. It contains a large study hall (Beit Midrash) and a library, a dining hall and related facilities, numerous seminar-style classrooms, and dormitory facilities. The grounds are attractive, and include a courtyard of decent size with lush greenery. I was initially attracted to this institution because of its approach that values and respects the diversity of philosophies and traditions that exists within the spectrum of Halachic Judaism and its positioning as a post-university program which also values secular knowledge and work in the professional world. The name Darche Noam could be translated Ways of Harmony (or, as “Rabbi Artscroll” would tell me, Ways of Pleasantness). I am presently quite happy with my choice of institution, though the intensity of learning has been somewhat exhausting (I’m told I will become accustomed to it in short order) but nonetheless so far it has been quite enjoyable.

I have posted some photos below.

 

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As I sit in London’s Heathrow airport awaiting my connecting flight to Israel, I find myself strangely fascinated by air travel.

Let me qualify this statement. I am not especially interested in the mechanics of how airplanes are able to fly. Nor am I fascinated by the actual experience of sitting on a cramped and noisy plane several thousand metres in the air, putting up with increasingly poor service as airlines continue their attempts to cut their operating costs amid present economic conditions, or passing through increasingly intrusive security checkpoints. What fascinates me is the whole notion of thousands of people traveling across the world each day from different places to different places, and the short intersection they have with each other, whether on the plane itself or in the airport terminal. The strange intimacy of this shared experience, however brief and singular, is fascinating to me.

There is another aspect of air travel that fascinates me as well. As I rode on a couple of the shuttle buses that connect Heathrow’s five terminals, I was also astounded by the sheer number of personnel, the level of infrastructure, and the myriad support services that are required to facilitate air travel. I was also awestruck by the number of airlines from all over the world that have planes parked at the various gates.

Perhaps all this sounds a little needlessly sentimental. But air travel itself has long provided fodder for the collective cultural imagination and epitomized certain socio-cultural ideals – some of which are perhaps foreign to authentic Judaism (for some reason I felt a need to include this as a sort of disclaimer of sorts or a legitimator of this rambling… hmmm…) A Google™ search reveals a number of relatively recent American newspaper and magazine articles nostalgic for the so-called “glamorous” and “sophisticated” air travel experience circa 1950, and discussing its post-1970s shift to a de-regulated commonplace form of mass-transit with constant security threats and “price wars” and the like. However, these articles also note that such romantic notions of air travel are themselves based more in marketing imagery than reality.

I’m really not sure exactly where I am trying to take this post – and it may seem somewhat disjointed – but it certainly keeping me entertained during this nine-hour layover, though perhaps I should be doing something more productive with this time.

On a practical note, I was quite pleased to discover (via some prior Google™ searching) that during my stopover, I could have a nice warm shower (£10 in the “Urban Retreat” lounge) and buy a Kosher cheese and veggie sandwich at Caffè Nero (which was quite decent – certified by the London Beth Din – that is, the sandwich, not the cafe), both in Terminal 1 “airside”.

And perhaps now I should go check which gate my connecting flight will be departing from.

Hi.

This website/blog is intended to be a sort of photo-journal of my experiences in the coming year in Israel and a way of keeping in touch with and sharing my experiences with family and friends back in Vancouver and elsewhere… I am not entirely sure what form this will take at the moment, but please check back here in a few days…

- Daniel