My 5 month adventure living and volunteering in Israel.... and maybe having some fun along the way :) Ask me anything Submit |
I have been thinking about this quote, well, really since I made the decision to take this journey. Before I left, I knew I wanted to manage my expectations. Coming to this small community in Gedera, Israel was not going to change everything for them or for me. I was thinking a lot about what to expect, and if volunteering for a short 5 months was really enough or meaningful. After sharing some of these thoughts and giving my resignation to the CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, Steve Rakitt, he emailed me this quote.
I am halfway through my journey here, and it has continued to be a theme and a context in which I try to live each day. This quote has been discussed often in relation to Gilad Shalit coming home to us and it only reiterates my belief that this is, to me, a truth I want to live by. One person IS a world and I would be honored to leave here having made an impact on one person and one world. This place and these people continue to change my world each and every day.
To see all of my pictures from my trip, click on the link above or go to www.flickr.com… my screen name is “LFrenkiel”… let me know if you have trouble finding it!
Interesting article about the recent (and not so recent) missiles from Gaza.
Click here: http://www.hartman.org.il/Blogs_View.asp?Article_Id=839&Cat_Id=273&Cat_Type=Blogs
So far, my experience in Israel has been overwhelmingly positive and transformative. I have learned so much about Israel, myself and the Ethiopian jewish community. One thing I don’t think I really understood was the true effect of living in a country surrounded by conflict.
I see all of the soldiers walking on the streets. I go through searches before entering bus stations. And I know where I am- a country that is entrentched in conflict. But last night just before midnight I was sitting on the balcony of my house hanging out with my roommates, laughing and recounting funny stories when a siren started playing outside. We couldn’t figure out what it was. Then one of our Israeli friends stood up quickly but calmly and instructed us that “there are missles and we need to go to the shelter”. He was asking us for a radio, phones and he told us we need to find out of it’s coming from North or South. North is Lebanon where there is chance for a real war, South would “just be missles from Gaza”. He was able to get in touch with a friend who told him that it was from Gaza and it should be the last one. Thank g-d it was and no one was hurt.
This experience was scary, to say the least, but it is a reality that everyone who lives in this very special country lives with. Since I’ve gotten here, I have been constantly truck by the lack of personal space here. I don’t mean that in a bad way either! Just that everyone welcomes you as family, most people are more blunt than I ever experience in the States and there is an idea that we are all a family- and they act like it. Gilad Shalit’s release is the ultimate expression of that feeling. Anyway, I think I am starting to see why that is a little bit more. In my very brief experience in a very scary situation, the instinct to protect one another was innate and the closeness that I feel to all of the people who were there with me and Israel as a whole is incredible.
Last weekend I went with some new friends on a trip to the Dead Sea…. they are Israelis and really awesome guys! One of them is training to be a tour guide so we were his guinea pigs :) We arrived at the Sea in the early evening… we were right next to hot springs and by the Sea… we grilled chicken and food and then played with mud in the hot springs all night! It was so incredible. We slept under the stars and were awoken by the most beautiful sunrise I have ever seen… Then we hiked to some fresh water springs that were AMAZING!!! Needless to say, it was an amazing weekend with wonderful new friends :)
This picture was taken at the festival for the 20th Anniversary of Operation Solomon. She is preparing Buna which is Ethiopian coffee and a very important part of Ethiopian culture. Almost every time I have come into the home of an Ethiopian person they have offered Buna and the tradition dictates that each person has 3 glasses of coffee…. good thing I am a HUGE fan :)
For Yom Kippur I was in Tel Aviv with my 2nd cousin Michal. She is amazing and invited me and my housemate Justin to join her for the chag (holiday in hebrew… look at that ulpan paying off :)). We spent the day at a secular Yeshiva in Tel Aviv meditating, studying and relaxing… it was a very special day in an incredible place. One that I will never forget… If you are interested, the Yeshiva we were at is: http://www.bina.org.il/english
These are some kids from our neighborhood at a festival to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Operation Solomon. Operation Solomon was in 1991 and brought over thousands of Ethiopian Jews from Ethiopia.
I encourage all of you to visit this website (http://www.friendsbynature.org/)! It is the organization that works in our community (Gedera), as well as many other communities throughout Israel. Yahel works closely with them and I volunteer in their offices, which is located right in the heart of the Shapira neighborhood in Gedera.
Their goal is to empower Israeli immigrants (particularly in Ethiopian communities) to integrate successfully into Israeli society. They do this by implementing educational programs, strengthening family units, renewing neighborhoods and creating social change through community empowerment.
All of these are very popular buzz words in non profit organizations not only in Israel but throughout the world, but I can tell you from personal experience that they are really making it happen… and it’s working!!
This picture was taken on a tour of Jerusalem’s Old City. There are four quarters of the city: Jewish, Christian, Muslim and Armenian. This picture is taken in the Ethiopian area of the Christian quarter. The families who live in this building and in this area of Jerusalem have lived here since the medieval times!!
This is another picture from the ruins we came across.
This was a picture I took mid hike…. how beautiful is that?!
I went on a long hike this Saturday and here is one of the pictures. It was an absolutely amazing day!! We hiked in the morning then stopped at a small spring where we cooled off and then ate some food we had brought. Next was a nap in the sun followed by another hike. I am standing in this old fort we came across in our travels… it was so incredible!
This is a picture of Jerusalem and the Old City from an amazing look-out point. This was the beginning of a day trip we took around Jerusalem. Since we had all been to many of the traditionally Jewish sights, this trip was dedicated to the Christian and Ethiopian sites and perspective. It was an incredible day!!
