Back in the USA

My last Shabbat and the last few days in Israel were spent with friends. I cannot thank them enough for all the love and support that they have shown me since my arrival some 15 months ago. I will not name anyone here as I have tried to keep all references to individuals (by name) out of the blog. Suffice it to say that without their support this journey would have been a MUCH more difficult one.

I also had classes every day, including on the day that I left. This, of course, made my schedule over the last few days quite hectic. At the same time it likely opened up opportunities for me to make money with what I have learned so far that will hopefully allow me to continue this journey to its final conclusion.

I have returned to the US with no definite plans to return to Israel. It has taken me since arriving late Wednesday night until today (Monday) to get used to the time change. It seems to be taking a little longer to get used to American food/water. Enough said on that one.

I am not going to end this blog at this point as my journey is not complete. I DO, however, want to put in writing my feelings at this juncture.

First let me tell you about the past few days ………

After arriving home Wednesday night and being re-united with my wife and one of my sons, we went directly to a restaurant for a late dinner. It is a family tradition to go to this particular restaurant right before someone leaves and immediately upon someone’s return from a trip. (Having been away for 9 consecutive months DEFINITELY qualifies.)

I basically spent all of Thursday sleeping. Friday was somewhat better in that I was able to stay awake long enough to get to Shabbat services in the evening. On Saturday morning I made it to services and was asked to lead the Shacharit portion of the service. I was honored to do so and my leadership was well received. I was also given an aliya (being called up to the Torah to recite blessings before and after the reading) as well as the opportunity to recite the gomel blessing (thanking Hashem for keeping me out of danger and returning me safely to my home). I basically slept the remainder of Saturday after having lunch.

Sunday was another uneventful day filled with much sleep. We did manage to make it out for lunch, and I was beginning to acclimate to the time change by then. Today I finally feel that I am adjusted. I managed to get up early and stay up all day.

Things are a bit hectic here as I am still settling back into the swing of things. It will take a little while to get used to not just running whenever I feel like it and to get into a routine that will let me get in the practice I need while being productive around the house and getting done those pesky chores that have a tendency to build up when you are not around to take care of them. Sounds like normal life, but I have not been living that way for the past 15 months.

As far as my training is concerned, I am not done yet. There is still much that I need to learn. I am, however, pleased with the progress that I have made. In 15 months I have completed about 3.5 years of curriculum in the cantorial field. If I had to guess, I would estimate that another 6-9 months in Israel would allow me to complete the journey. I do not have any plans at this point to continue in Israel, but there is individual instruction available in the US that I may be able to take advantage of. While it is my desire to return to Israel to complete my training, I do NOT want to go alone. As a result I will have to find other ways to complete the journey and/or means to take my wife with me for the final training. Whether this is realistic or not remains to be seen, and I am making no plans at this time.

I am not ready to comment about leaving Israel at this time. As I have indicated before, I have mixed feelings about it and I would like to let this settle in for a little bit before commenting. I WILL say, however, that I miss Jerusalem and the spiritual energies that abound there. More on this at another time.

The High Holy Days begin Wednesday evening, and I am looking forward to enjoying the services at our shul here at home. I have been trained to lead these services and therefore expect that they will be more meaningful to me this year. That is partly due to the fact that, in addition to learning the melodies, I had to learn the meaning of all the prayers and was given insight into them by my instructor.

The Beginning of the End

Today is the day before my last Shabbat here in Israel. As seems to have been the case lately, my time since my last post has been very full.

Most of my time has been spent learning and practicing Torah trope (the melodies used to vocalize the weekly Torah reading). I have been working on parshat Bereishit, the very first portion in the Bible. This portion uses most, but not all, of the standard trope combinations. I have mainly been learning the name and melody of each trope, which ones go together, which trope ends a group of trope symbols, which ones require a stop and etcetera. Once I get all that, then it is a matter of applying the melody indicated by the trope to the Hebrew words. This can get a little tricky as some of the words are shorter than the assigned melody and some words have no trope symbol at all. Fun stuff.

Tomorrow I have another class and we will start working on the exceptions to the trope rules and on portions that use different melodies than what is written in the main text of the Bible. An example of this is the Ten Commandments. There are trope indications in the text, but these are used for individual study only and a completely different set of trope is used when the Ten Commandments are read. There are also special sections where the trope symbols used actually have different melodies, and I will be learning these as well.

That will be followed by learning the Haftorah trope. These use the exact same symbols but, naturally, then have different melodies associated with them. I think the sages did this on purpose just to confuse us.

At any rate, once I master these I will be able to teach bar/bat mitzvah students their Torah and Haftorah portions. I find this fulfilling, as it will enable me to help our children (not mine personally, don’t be getting any crazy ideas) to prepare for the ritual of moving into adulthood in the Jewish world.

I have gotten more feedback from my performance at my friend’s wedding as well. There are now several people that said they want to fly me back here to do that blessing at their children’s wedding. (I’m NOT holding my breath on that one, but it is nice to know that they really enjoyed it.) I also heard from a rabbi who was there for the wedding. He came into my class yesterday and was telling my instructor how beautiful it was.

My class schedule before I leave is quite heavy. I have class tomorrow (Friday), then again on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Considering that Tuesday is my last day in Israel that is pretty aggressive.

I have also been running around looking for various items of Judaica, and so far have acquired a new kittle (a white ”jacket” used during prayer (especially if you are leading) on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur). I have also been looking for a new Tallit (prayer shawl), and have that narrowed down as well. I hope to buy that on Sunday.

I will be having Shabbat dinner with friends tomorrow evening, and a wonderful dinner with my flat-mate on Saturday night. Sunday is dinner with a friend at a restaurant on King George. Beyond that is anybody’s guess.

As the countdown towards returning home continues, I find that I am getting more anxious. I REALLY want to be with my wife and family. I have not seen them since early January and that is WAY too long. At the same time, I also REALLY do not want to leave Jerusalem. I love it here, and have made a few very good friends. This is also, without a doubt, the most spiritual place on the planet. It turns out that I am a little bit sensitive to the energies here, and feel a very strong connection to the land. That connection is strongest at the Kotel (Western Wall), where the feeling of Hashem’s presence is palpable to me.

I expect to have some serious adjustments to make upon my return. While here I have become much more observant from a ritualistic and daily prayer perspective. I have kept completely kosher and have kept the Sabbath much more so than before I came. There will have to be compromises made, and I suspect that will take some time to work out and get comfortable with both for me and for my family.

I would be horribly remiss if I did not heap huge amounts of praise on my wife at this point. Her strength and support has been the cornerstone of my own endurance. I have been away from home for 15 months (with a brief respite in December) and cannot express my thanks and awe for the fortitude that she has shown over this time.

Back in Class

I started classes again this week. I am now working on the trope (cantillation marks) used to chant from the Torah. (For those of you that do not know this, there are no cantillation marks or vowels in the torah itself. The cantillation must be learned and memorized for each reading.)

Once I have learned the Torah trope, I will be learning the Haftorah trope.

The combination of these skills with what I have already learned will allow me to prepare students for their bar/bat mitzvah. I will also be able to read from the Torah and read Haftorah as needed.

I am going to be spending this Shabbat at a friend’s home in a neighborhood in the city. I have only 2 Shabatot (plural for Shabbat) remaining before I leave Israel and head back home and have several places that I would like to spend them at. Naturally, more places than I have time for.

While I am very much looking forward to being with my wife and family, I am also saddened at the thought of leaving this holy place. I will be writing more on this in the days to come.

An Israeli Wedding

I spent last Shabbat at my apartment here in Jerusalem and will be doing the same this weekend.

A friend of mine here in Israel got married this week. The service and celebration were held at a winery in “the territories” just northwest of Jerusalem. Interestingly enough, while I had absolutely no idea where we were going based on the name, when we got there I know exactly where we were. On the way out to the settlement that I usually go to there is a fork in the road just before arriving. The settlement is to the left and the winery we went to for the wedding is to the right. I was less than 2 kilometers (as the crow flies) from my friends’ homes!

I am told that this was a typical Israeli wedding, and will describe the sequence of events for you. For those of you familiar with an Orthodox Jewish wedding, this will not sound very different.

Before sunset everyone in attendance went to the Beit T’fellah (literally: house of prayer) where the afternoon service is held. This is then followed by the evening prayers after sundown. Once this was done, everyone went to a reception where beverages and appetizers were served. The reception lasted for about an hour (in order to allow time for those not wishing to attend services to arrive and also to allow time for the bride, groom, Rabbi and witnesses to gather for the formal signing of the Katuba (marriage contract). This was followed by the wedding ceremony, which was held outside.

Here in Israel the actual ceremony is quite short. There was a processional where the wedding party is escorted to the Chupa (literally a canopy: A Jewish wedding takes place under a canopy that is open on all sides).

After the groom arrived at the chupa the Rabbi recites a blessing. This is followed by the bride's enterance. As she approaches, the groom takes one or two steps towards her in greeting. When she reaches the groom the bride circles him seven times prior to taking her place at his right side.

(When they arrive at the chuppah, the bride [and family] circle the groom seven times. One of the many explanations for these seven circuits is that they represent a seven-fold bond which marriage will establish between the bride and groom and their families. This act also recalls the seven times that the Tefillin straps are wrapped around a man's arm. Just as a man binds himself in love to G-d, so is his bond in love to his bride. The number seven represents the completion of the seven day process in which earth was created. During these seven days, the earth revolved on its axis seven times. Since marriage reenacts the creative process, the Kallah's encirclement symbolizes the repetition of these seven earthly rotations.

Also, on the day of his wedding, the groom is compared to a king. Just as the king is encircled by his legion, the groom is to be encircled by his bridal entourage. When the bride has finished encircling the groom, she stands at his right, as the Psalmist states, "at the right hand does the queen stand.")

Once the wedding party is under the Chupa the Katuba is publically ready. (Note that since the groom’s family are from New Zealand there was some amount of translation being done to English. The Rabbi threw in a few comments (jokes, actually) during this reading.

Following the reading there are a series of blessing recited. These are known as Sheva Brachos (literally: seven blessings). These blessings specifically praise Hashem and seek blessing for the new couple. These blessings are given under the Chupa by the Rabbi and/or other people.

The seventh blessing is customarily reserved for a Cantor. I was given the honor of presenting this blessing under the Chupa. This was my first formal function where it was planned that I would participate. I cannot express my gratitude to the bride and groom for allowing me to share their simcha (literally: gladness, but has the implication of a festive occasion) in such a personal and intimate way.

Once the blessings were completed the service was over and everyone went into the winery for dinner. I was somewhat surprised that the seating was mixed instead of separate for men and women. After dinner there was a band and dancing. This WAS separate for men and women and was quite enthusiastic. All-in-all it was a wonderful affair.

Shabbat at a Settlement

I spent last Shabbat out at a settlement a little distance from Jerusalem. I have been to this settlement before, but this time stayed with people that I had not met before. This time I got there a couple hours early, so a friend of mine who lives there took me on a tour of the area. The settlement itself is not that large, but there is a tremendous amount of history in the surrounding hills.

The thing that really brought home to me how much this settlement is in the “Jewish heartland” was one particular place that we saw. In prophets (1 Samuel 14:1-22) it is described how Jonathan, son of Saul, went alone with his armor-bearer to attack the Philistines. The geography is clearly defined, including town names that still exist today, and includes a section of land described as “a rocky precipice on one side and a rocky precipice on the other side” (in 1 Samuel 14:4). It is between these precipices that Jonathan climbed. They are clearly visible and only a few kilometers from the settlement I was at. Reading the entire story will reveal that the Ark of the Covenant was at that location. To be standing on the land upon which such momentous events took place creates a real sense of awe.

As usual when at a religious settlement, things get very quiet about 45 minutes before Shabbat starts. There is absolutely no street traffic and, since I was out in the Judean hills, there was no city noise at all. The atmosphere is one of total peace.

I was at a friend’s home for all 3 Shabbat meals. As usual the conversation was lively and stimulating.

On the cantorial front, my instructor is now on vacation until 1 September. We will resume classes at that time and work on the Mussaf portion of the Yom Kippur service as well as the Neila service. I will also be learning trope for chanting Torah and Haftarah.

I will be attending a wedding for a friend of mine here in Jerusalem next week and will be honored to perform the 7th blessing for them. More on that after it happens. This will be my only wedding attended here and I am looking forward to it. I am led to understand that they are quite the affair here, and quite different as well.

An "Exciting" Month

It has now been a month since my last post, and I apologize for the long lag of information. Unfortunately I was sick for most of the month so there was not much going on here.

My cantorial classes continued, although I missed a few and made them up once I recovered from my illness. I now have the entire Rosh Hashanah liturgy and am practicing to perfect it (as much as I can). I will be starting on the Yom Kippur pieces that I do not already have shortly and expect to have that completed before I return home late next month.

I had relatives come here for a bar- and bat mitzvah. It was wonderful to spend time with family. The service, led by my cousin (a Rabbi in the US) was held at the Southern end of the Western Wall. There were a number of members of his congregation that came on the trip, with their children participating in the service as well.

A friend of mine here is getting married in 2 weeks, and I volunteered to perform the 7th blessing, which is normally reserved for the cantor to do. I am still learning it, but this should be no problem. I found it interesting that my friend, who by trade is a sound man and has worked hundreds of weddings, has never heard this particular melody.

In other news, the PC that I brought with me died a slow and painful death. I did manage to get a full backup before it died completely. (Now it will not even turn on. Sounds like a boat anchor to me, but I can still use some of the parts that are good to fix a PC I have at home.)

I had to purchase a replacement PC. Doing that here in Israel, of course, means that you get the Hebrew version of Windows. Getting the language switched back to English and then loading all of my programs and data onto it was quite a challenge. In actuality I am not totally finished as some of the programs are at home, but I have done what was needed for the remainder of my time here. (Yes, there are still some messages that come up in Hebrew. I guess I have an incentive to learn those terms!)

I have just over a month before returning home. While I am anxious to be with my wife and family again, I will also miss Jerusalem. I have been residing in the holiest city on the planet for over 14 months and have gotten used to the spiritual energies that abound here, especially at the Kotel. I suspect that I will miss the overwhelming feeling and the certain knowledge that Hashem is present all around me at all times.

While I will not have completed what I set out to do, I have covered a significant amount of ground. I hope to be able to complete the rest of my training soon. I will have more on this in my final entry from Israel.

I know I have previously posted pictures from the area where demonstrations in support of Gilad Shalit are held. I took one yesterday and just wanted to share it with you. It is addressed to the Prime Minister (Benyamin Netanyahu, also called BB) and is posted directly across from the exit of his compound.

It has been a full month since my last post but I have very little to report. I have been sick for most of the month and spent a great deal of the time sleeping.

I have managed to go to several classes during this time, and things are progressing rapidly along this front. Last week I started going to class regularly again. Some of the lessons are double in order to make up for the times that I missed, and new pieces are coming at me rapidly. With only about 2 months to go there is still a lot of material to learn so my days are now filled with practice.

I have not yet found a shul in the US to lead services at for this year, but am continuing to search. In the mean time, my instructor is trying to secure a position for me here in Israel. While the position would not pay much and the place is not a big shul, it would give me the experience that would help me get a better position next year. More on this will be posted as things progress.

I had a wonderful Shabbat this week. It started on Friday night with services and dinner with a cousin who is in Jerusalem for the next couple weeks. I cannot express how grateful I am to actually have family here! There will be 2 more cousins coming soon as well and I look forward to seeing them as well.

Lunch Saturday was with a local friend. They will be moving back to the US in a few weeks, but we will be able to stay in touch via Skype until I return to the US in September as well.

Another friend that I met here, a fellow cantorial student, moved back to the US this past week. She has a part time pulpit about 300 miles from my home, and at some point I hope to go there to see and hear her.

Speaking of home, I have been thinking more and more about returning to the US myself. That will occur in about 2 months, and I cannot express how much I am looking forward to being with my wife and family again. While I certainly will miss being here in Jerusalem, my overwhelming desire to be with my wife makes my pending departure and return home something that I look forward to.

I said at the beginning of this blog that I recognized that my absence would be difficult on me but even harder on my wife. I cannot possibly put into words the strength she has shown or my gratitude to her for allowing me to follow this dream.

As I only have another 3 months here in Israel to complete as much as I can, I have decided to pursue a more intense study schedule. I will be having 4 lessons per week until I leave. While this will leave even less time than before for "leisure activities" (whatever those are), I feel it is in my best interest to learn as much as I can before this journey comes to its conclusion.

I am continuing to learn the remainder of the High Holy Day services. I am also going to be learning both Torah and Haftorah trope. I am also expecting to learn the Sheva Brachot in time to perform them at a friend’s wedding at the end of August.

I will be in town for Shabbat and have decided to try yet another shul, just for the experience. I will be having Shabbat dinner at a friend’s apartment tonight.

I finished all of my audition recordings for the High Holy Days on Friday. What a relief!!!!! This is the culmination of several weeks of intense practice and daily lessons to get the pieces up to performance level. I am now in the process of sending out these recordings to various synagogues in an effort to find a position for this year.

I am back to learning the rest of the service, and lessons are going back to 2 per week instead of 6. Hopefully I will learn at a quicker pace than in the past and not have to repeat the daily lesson routine!

I have had time for no other activities due to the extreme schedule I have been keeping. I have been so exhausted that I actually slept right through Saturday morning the last two weeks and did not make it to services. I am looking forward to being well rested so that I can resume a more normal schedule.

Yom Yerushalayim

Work on the demo CD is continuing at a blistering pace. I have been having a class every day (except Shabbat) for the last week and a half and expect that to continue until the CD has been created. Needless to say, this leaves no time for anything besides practice. I am still hoping to have this done by 6 June.

Today is Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day), and there have been marches and free concerts for the past several days. I happened upon one while on my way back from class on Monday, and thought I would post a picture or three.

I am working hard to prepare a demo CD to use for audition purposes for synagogues in the US in an attempt to secure a position performing the High Holy Day services at either a Conservative or an Orthodox synagogue. Working on the pieces for the CD is a heave load, and I am now having 4 classes a week instead of 2 in order to prepare. For those of you who know the service, the primary pieces that will be on the CD are:

• Hin’ni
• Un’tane Tokef
• BeRosh Hashanah
• Kol Nidre

There will, of course, be other pieces on the CD as well. A couple of these are Areshet and Avot. I am expecting to record for the CD on 6 June. Once that is done, the work of learning all the rest of the services continues.

The weather here in Jerusalem is finally warming up (and has been for the last couple weeks). There is definitely no need for a heater at night, and I am even running the fan during the day. That means that I have re-started my daily walks. One of the results of this is that I have a few new pictures to share with you from my walks over the last couple days.

All of the pictures below are local foliage except for the last one. The last is a picture of the new “street cars” that are going to be in use soon. They are in testing now. This picture was taken on a section of Jaffa Street, which has been completely closed to all automotive traffic (including buses).

Another Shabbat and a Few Observations

Another Shabbat has passed. I spent this one in Jerusalem. While I was invited to services and dinner in the Old City, I chose to remain at the apartment and put that invitation off until next week. There were a number of reasons for this, but mostly it was just weather-related: I don't like walking a couple miles in the cold and rain.

I went to services at the Conservative synagogue on Saturday morning. While talking to some of the congregants after services I noted that the comments I usually hear about my voice seem to have changed. Where I used to always hear "you have a wonderful voice" or something similar, I am now hearing comments like "Where are you a Cantor at?". I guess the vocal techniques I have been learning are starting to sink in. I find the change of comments a bit disconcerting, though. This may be due to my knowledge of how much more I still need to learn.

After services the Shlichat Tzibur (their lay-cantor) invited me to join her and some friends at her home for lunch. It was a very enjoyable time, with an unexpected twist.

One of the people in attendance was the president of the congregation. During the conversation I found out that they had hired one Cantor for the holidays and were looking for a second one. The Shlichat Tzibur will be in the US for the holidays, so will not be available. The president of the shul asked me to audition for the position and to talk to the Rabbi about it. I will pursue this to see where it leads, if anywhere. Leading at the shul associated with the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem would certainly give me excellent credentials for the future.

While chatting with my wife this morning I heard someone practicing blowing the Shofar. That started a dialogue about the culture here that contained a few observations that I wanted to pass along.

The first thing is the sounds that are heard in the neighborhoods around Jerusalem. This was obviously brought up by hearing the Shofar being sounded this morning. In addition to that, it is not uncommon to hear a choir practicing. This happens all the time and in most areas of the city, partly because there are so many synagogues in the city. (You will usually find one or more every couple of blocks.) Besides a Choir, it is not at all unusual to hear an individual practicing Tefellah (prayer).

Also of interest is that the natives (or those who have lived here more than a couple of years) on the surface appear to be quite nosey. I have not decided if this is because they are really interested in all the details or if they just like to talk. I have found that they are extremely friendly.

Along the friendly line of thought, I have also found that if anyone here invites you over, even on the spur of the moment, they really mean it and will miss you if you do not show up. This is quite a refreshing change from the US, where an invitation is sometimes a polite insincere gesture.

While the culture here is VERY different from the US, I truly like it. It is a wonderful feeling to be in a country where most of the population are “clansmen” and most people are friendly and open.

Yom HaZikaron (Israeli Memorial Day)

I had a lesson yesterday (Sunday) because of the holidays this week here in Israel. The lesson was in the city of Modi’in, which is about a 35-45 minute ride from the central bus station. I took a few pictures of some of the plants along the path from the bus stop to my lesson and wanted to share them.

Today is Yom HaZikaron, Israeli Memorial Day. The day was ushered in last night when, once again, the sirens blew at 8PM. I was on my way back to the apartment and was on a bus at that time. The bus (and all other traffic) stopped in the middle of the street and everyone on board stood silently at attention until the sirens stopped. It was an eerie and moving experience to see everyone in sight paying homage to those who have been killed in all of the wars that Israel has been involved in. Even the Israeli TV stations were off the air for the night. It gave me a sense of the deep respect held by the nation for its fallen defenders.

Yom HaShoah

Monday was Yom HaShoah, a day dedicated to remembering the six million Jews massacred in the Nazi concentration camps. The observance of that day here in Israel is very different that in the US.

Every one of the thousands of synagogues held memorial services and most businesses were closed. Even the restaurants on Emik Refaim, a popular tourist area, closed early for this memorial.

At precisely 10:00 AM the air raid sirens blew. All traffic stopped, and everyone got out of their vehicles and stood at attention until the sirens stopped sounding.

All in all, it was a very moving experience on a very solemn day.

The Intermediate Days of Pesach

We are now in the intermediate days of Pesach, and almost everything is closed for the entire week. Just about the only exceptions are grocery stores. This is the norm all over Israel.

Today (Thursday) I went with some friends on a short trip into the mountains to a park near the Hadassah Hospital near En Kerem. There are some very nice views and a wonderful nature trail. I have put some of these below for your enjoyment.

The yellow plant below is mustard. Yes, you CAN eat it!

In the picture below there is an old train track area next to the road. This was the first train route built by the Ottomans, and it ran from Jaffa to Jerusalem.

The red plant below is called, in Hebrew, the Dom Maccabeem. The English translation is blood of the Maccabees. This flower is used to symbolize all those who have perished in any Israeli conflicts.

The white flower is a variety of garlic.

The last picture is of a friend’s dog, a Husky.

Pesach in Jerusalem

In Jerusalem for Passover!  WOW!!!!!!!!!

As I expressed in earlier posts, Passover here in Jerusalem is like no place else. People have been busy preparing for the last one to two weeks, some even more than that.

Our own preparations included a thorough cleaning of the entire apartment, koshering the cooking utensils and silverware, koshering the sink and searching for and removing all chametz from the apartment.

On Monday, prior to the onset of Passover at sundown, I went to the mikvah (ritual bath). This was an entirely new experience for me, and left me feeling spiritually elevated and clean. I had perceived during meditation a couple weeks ago that I was supposed to do this, but had not done so yet. My dunk in the mikvah allowed me to fulfill that obligation, and I felt extremely good about doing it.

I went to a friend’s apartment here in Jerusalem for the Passover Seder. While walking there I heard the sound of young children singing the four questions coming from a Seder there were obviously already in progress. If I hadn’t been in the mood before, that by itself would have done it.

Our Seder started about 35 minutes after I arrived, and was very much the same in many ways as any Seder I have ever been to. The atmosphere was extremely jovial, and I was surrounded by people that I knew. Most of these friends have significantly more religious training than I do, so the conversations were interesting and quite lively. The Seder ended a little after midnight, which is early for Jerusalem. I understand that the Seder my flat-mate went to did not end until 4:30 AM!!!

While I was walking back to the apartment I heard the sounds of large groups singing Passover songs as they were approaching the end of their Seders. The sounds made me smile, and I was quite content.

Erev Pesach

Today is Erev Pesach. Things this morning seemed a bit hectic as people all over were burning any chametz that they found during their search last night. Similar to the stations for koshering cookware and flatware, there were stations every few blocks for burning chametz. The pictures below were taken within 6 blocks of the apartment.

I also went to the mikveh (ritual bath) today for the first time. It was a very pleasant and rewarding experience. It is through immersion in water at the mikveh that one is purified, and as a result I feel a stronger connection to HaShem.

I will be attending a seder (literally this means “order”, but in this context is a holiday meal) this evening at a friend’s home a few blocks away and then services tomorrow morning. I expect the seder to be very similar to what we experience in the US, but the feeling here is VERY different. I cannot really explain it, but when 75% or more of the country is all doing the same thing at the same time it just feels more special and much more personal. I know that sounds like a contradiction, but it is not. The whole experience takes on a more personal meaning.

I will undoubtedly post something about the seder later this week.

Until then ----- חג שמח פסח --- Happy Passover!!!!!!!

Shabbat HaGadol

Yesterday was Shabbat haGadol, the Sabbath before Pesach. I went to the Conservative synagogue for services Saturday morning. Much to my surprise I was asked if I would lead the Shacharit part of the service. I gladly accepted that honor.

As I have mentioned in the past, I am being taught many cantorial techniques. I have been practicing these and trying to incorporate them into all of the pieces that I have learned, not just the High Holy Days material that I am learning now.

The end result is that I was told by the Rabbi, the Schliach Tzibur (their cantor) and several of the regular congregants that had heard me before that this was the best that they had ever heard me do. I found this to be quite interesting as I was not satisfied with it. I made a couple mistakes which apparently they did not catch. On the walk back to my apartment I was talking to the cantor, who lives not far from me, and told her that I had actually switched tunes at one point after starting a piece because nobody was singing along. She had not noticed that I did that, but the congregation joined in immediately after I made the change.

The entire experience was a great honor for me, and I am grateful for it in several ways.

First, by itself it is an honor to lead a service, ANY service. Second, it is a special honor to lead on Shabbat haGadol.

The most important reason is that I had started to doubt myself and if what I was doing was really G-d’s will for me. I had felt a separation from Him and could not feel His presence as I had since arriving in Israel in June. I have no doubt that this was self imposed and I have been praying about it since January. While walking to shul I prayed for Him to give me a sign if this was what He wanted.

 I believe I got my answer.

The rest of the day was absolutely beautiful. I sat outside for a while on our balcony, just listening to the birds sing and feeling the warm sun on my face. It was mostly quiet except for the birds and the occasional meow of one of the local feline residents. This afforded me the opportunity to thank HaShem for His answer, His support, the beautiful day that He gave us and many other things.

All-in-all, Shabbat haGadol was a marvelous day for me, and I wanted to share some of that joy with you.

A Beautiful Friday Afternoon in Jerusalem

I went out walking today (15 April 2011) and wanted to share a couple of pictures taken locally. The first two are some Yeshiva students on the street corner a couple blocks from my apartment. They are koshering cookware for Pesach, something about which I posted the other day.

In the first picture, they are dipping cookware in boiling water.

The second picture show them using blowtorches to kasher a stove-top grill.

The last picture is just a house that I found interesting. It is most likely an old Arab home.

Another 2 Weeks --- Pre-Pesach

Well, I did it again! Another 2 weeks has gone by without posting. Let me fill you in ……..

I went to the conservative shul for Shabbat 2 weeks ago as the people I normally stay with at the settlement went away for the weekend. I am getting well known at that shul, and it has the comfortable feel of familiarity. I will likely be going there much more often and will be called upon to lead more frequently. This is a good thing as it gives me the chance to actually use what I have been learning.

Speaking of learning, I am busy with Rosh Hashanah. I have several versions of Hinini that I am finishing as well as working of other major pieces that are needed for a demo CD. I am currently working on the Un’tane Tokef and B’Rosh Hashanah, both needed for the CD, along with much more material from other parts of the service.

The presentation skills are now starting to kick in. I sometimes surprise myself with the sounds that come out and how some of it seems to be “dripping with emotion” as a result of the techniques I am learning to use.

To say that this is significantly more difficult than I anticipated or even than which I learned for Shabbat would be a gross understatement. That being said, I love what I am learning and truly enjoy singing it.

We are now only a couple days away from Pesach, and the signs of that are everywhere. There is massive anxiety regarding cleaning being expressed by almost everyone I know. That is countered by the excitement that is almost palpable.

I want t share with you part of an article from the blog Jerusalem diaries (http://jerusalemdiaries.blogspot.com/2011/04/18-ways-to-know-passover-is-coming-in.html)

here are 18 Ways You Know Pesach is Coming To Israel:

1. The Israeli Army presses into service some 200 IDF chaplains including reservists, to commence the massive task of kashering the hundreds of kitchens, mess halls and eating corners used by soldiers all over the country.

2. Street scenes in Israel change every day before Passover according to what's halachically necessary: In the days before the holiday, yeshiva students wielding blow torches preside over huge vats of boiling water stationed every few blocks on the street and in the courtyard of every mikveh. The lines to dunk cutlery, kiddush cups and the like start to grow every day, and, at the last minute, blow torches are at the ready to cleanse every last gram of chametz from oven racks and stove tops lugged through the streets.

Kashering cutlery on a Jerusalem street

3. No alarm clock needed here--the clanging garbage trucks do the trick as they roll through the neighborhood every morning during the two weeks before Pesach to accommodate all the refuse from the furious cleaning going on in every household. Two days before the Seder there's the annual pick-up of oversized items and appliances. Dozens of antiquated computer monitors and old toaster ovens stand forlornly next to the garbage bins on their way to the dump.

4. The day before Passover, families replace the yeshiva students on the street, using empty lots to burn the remainder of their chametz gleaned from the previous night's meticulous search. In vain, the Jerusalem municipality sets up official chametz burning locations and issues strict orders banning burning in any other areas. Yeah, right!

5. Most flower shops stay open all night for the two days before Pesach, working feverishly to complete the orders that will grace the nation's Seder tables.

6. Meah Shearim and Geula merchants generally run out of heavy plastic early in the week before Pesach. In a panic, I make an early morning run to the Machane Yehuda market to successfully snap up a few meters of the handy counter-covering material.

7. Observant Jews mark the seven weeks between Passover and Shavuot by carrying out some of the laws of mourning--one of these is the prohibition against cutting hair.

Good luck if you haven't scheduled an appointment for a pre-Pesach/Omer haircut. You can't get in the door at most barber and beauty shops.

8. Mailboxes are full of Pesach appeals from the myriad of organizations helping the poor celebrate Pesach. Newspapers are replete with articles about selfless Israelis who volunteer by the hundreds in the weeks before the holiday to collect, package and distribute Pesach supplies to the needy.

9. The biggest food challenge to those of us ashkenazic, non-kitniyot (legume) eaters is finding cookies, margarine etc. made without kitniyot, but an increasing number of ashkenazic rabbis are coming out with lenient rulings regarding legumes.

10. Since most of the country is on vacation for the entire week of Pesach, all kinds of entertainment and trips are on offer. Ads appear for everything from the annual Boombamela beach festival, kid's activities at the Bloomfield Science Museum, concerts in Hebron, explorations at the City of David, solidarity excursions to Sderot and music festivals at the Dead Sea.

12. Pesach with its theme of freedom and exodus always evokes news stories about recent olim. This year, general immigration numbers are significantly down, but American aliya has enjoyed a mini-boom. For a couple of thousand new Israeli-Americans, it'll be their first Seder at home in Israel. Israel Radio announces that 700 prisoners will get a furlough to spend the holiday with family.

13. This just in: According to Israel's Brandman Research Institute study, 43 million people hours will be spent nationwide in Israel's cleaning preparations for Passover this year. How does that break down? Of those cleaning hours, 29 million are done by women and 11 million by men. Persons paid to clean do the remaining 3 million hours at a cost of NIS 64 million ($15.6 million).

14. Israel's chief rabbis sell the nation's chametz to one Hussein Jabar, a Moslem Arab resident of Abu Ghosh. Estimated worth: $150 billion secured by a down payment of NIS 20,000. Jabar took over the task some 14 years ago, after the previous buyer, also from Abu Ghosh, was fired when it was discovered his maternal grandmother was Jewish.

This year, volunteers from the My Israel movement will be collecting unwanted chametz at Israeli supermarkets and shipping it via the Foreign Ministry to needy victims of the Japanese earthquakes and tsunami.

15. Sign of the times? A few years ago, former Sephardi Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu issued a ruling that Viagra may be taken on Pesach provided the pill is encased in a special empty capsule so that the drug itself is not in direct contact with the body.

16. At the Kotel last week, I watched as workers performed the twice-yearly ritual (pre-Pesach and pre-Rosh hashanah) of removing thousands of personal notes from the crevices of the Kotel to bury them on the Mt of Olives.

17. Guess Who's Buying Matza? According to Iyad Sharbaji, the manager of Gadaban Supermarket at the entrance to the the Galilee Arab town of Umm al Fahm, his Matza is consumed entirely by local Arabs. Sharbaji told Haaretz that he generally stocks up on Matza for Passover and has to replenish stock before the end of the holiday, due to keen demand by locals.

It turns out the avid consumption of matza is not a new trend in Arab towns and villages, whose inhabitants view the traditional Jewish food as nothing more or less than a welcome and refreshing change in the menu. "It's not a religious issue, and certainly not a political one," Sharbaji explains.

18. A sign of our economic times--supermarkets entice shoppers with a promise to allow us to settle up the bill in six equal monthly payments on the credit card. Yes, many of us will still be paying for the Seder come Rosh Hashana!


I personally will be attending a Seder at a friend’s home a few blocks from the apartment. This will be the fulfillment of last year’s Seder’s concluding line: Next Year in Jerusalem.

A Walk on a Beautiful Spring Day

I went for a walk today, an absolutely beautiful Spring day, and just wanted to share a couple of pictures that I took around the neighborhood.

The first two pictures are for my cousin Rosanne:

The rest are some of the local foliage that I thought you might enjoy:

I am still uncertain of my plans for this weekend. I have an unconfirmed invitation to go to the settlement for Shabbat, and am hoping that will be firmed up later today. If not, then I will likely go to the Conservative synagogue again this week. I guess I’ll let y’all know what happened after Shabbat.

WOW --- I didn’t realize that it has been 3 weeks since my last post! I guess that means that not too much has been going on.

Well, that is basically true. The cantorial classes are moving along. I am now working on the Musaf service for Rosh Hashanah. This is much more complicated and difficult that I initially expected. There are several of reasons for this: (1) there is a tremendous amount of material, (2) the material is much more complex than anything I have had before and (3) I am getting multiple versions of some of the pieces that are used more than one time during the Holy Days. For example, I have 4 different versions of the Hin’ni. While much of the material is familiar to me, having the exact notes in many cases means that what I had learned in the past is “close, but no cigar” and I need to re-learn the melodies.

When it comes to the High Holy Days, presentation is a HUGE factor. I spend considerable time with my instructor working on “the tricks of the trade” to enhance the feelings being expressed in the words. This is done through the use of various techniques to add the emotion to the music.

I have not been doing too much else and have just going to services for the most part.

There are a couple of exceptions to this. One is that the holiday of Purim was celebrated here last week. Unlike in the US, Purim is a BIG deal here in Israel. People of all ages dress up in costume for parties and even just to walk around in the streets. There are parties everywhere and people invite others over for a seudot (a festive meal) on the afternoon of Purim. I was invited to a friend’s and had the opportunity to meet his entire family. It was a wonderful experience that lasted over 4 hours.

I took a few pictures while walking to his apartment, and wanted to share them with you. These were all taken on Ben Yehuda Street in central Jerusalem.

Yesterday I was invited to the home of someone that I met at services. I had only spoken with him a couple of times, but we seemed to get along well so I went. This was also a marvelous experience. There were 2 other couples there, neither of which I had met before. We sat around the table for about 3.5 hours exchanging stories and general conversation, enjoying each others company.

I started learning the High Holy Day services on Wednesday, and am extremely excited to have done so. I am starting with Erev Rosh Hashanah and have been given the entire service to work on for Monday. Singing some of the oh-so-familiar melodies for the holiest days of the Jewish year, with the expectation of being able to lead a congregation in prayer, gave me a feeling that I actually do not have words for. It was a spiritual moment, and I have not really completely processed it.

On the more mundane side of things, Thursday was spent practicing, talking to friends and going for a nice walk. Friday I went to the shuk (fresh food market with meat, bird, fish, veggies, fruits, cakes and anything else you can think of) with my flat-mate. We came back with some nice fresh salmon, which he cooked up for our Shabbat dinner that night.

It was a lazy day today. I slept in (until NOON!!!) for a change, and spent most of the rest of the day reading. Apparently my body had ideas other than my own for the morning, but I guess I needed the sleep.

Tomorrow will be all business for me --- practice, practice and more practice. I hope to start on the daytime service for Rosh Hashanah on Monday, but that depends on how things go. I still have a lot of Shabbat material to catch up on that I was given over the last 2 weeks, but the main focus now is the holidays.