Matisyahu cut his beard, but will he forget Jerusalem? No chance.

 Wow, the rumors are true, the reggae Chasidich superstar Matisyahu has cut his beard, and is no longer a chasidich Jew. As someone who has been following his music since the day his first album "Shake of the Dust Arise" dropped, this does not come as such a massive shock. Mats's music has been getting successively less religion based, and his black hatter attire has long been forgotten since he appeared in an ad for a secular clothing company. Regardless, I hope this is the right choice for Matisyahu(now back to Matt Miller), and that he can find a way to produce music that was as heartfelt and dope as his first album was. He is still a practicing Jew, and as far as I'm concerned he is still the man.



He's still a rockstar don't worry

Peace out Jerusalem, hello Bat Yam

 Wow, tonight is the last night of my Jerusalem semester. The past two weeks have been a mess of studying, finals, arguments about left over stipend money, cleaning, packing, and a little bit of reflection here and there. The trimester has physically been the longest of the three this year, yet it seems not long ago that we had our opening ceremony over looking Jerusalem.

  Tonight we went back to the same look out, instead this time it was a group of 70 friends, who had just experienced some amazing things together. We sat down on some candle lit stairs, and a few Year Coursers shared what they’ve been doing in the past three months. Our Section leader spoke about how tight a group we are, and how our passion to explore has brought us to really see Jerusalem. Our Counselor who went on Year Course in 2007 stayed at a different Hostel not so close to downtown Jerusalem, and explained that when he was on Year Course, the group never fully immersed themselves in the city the way we did.

  We ended the night with a mock Year Course Bar Mitzvah (13 weeks in Jerusalem); filled with a skit, candle lighting, a slide show, and dancing. It was a funny and great way to sum up the trimester. Tomorrow we leave for a hike and the desert, and then onward to a new like in Bat Yam.

  I have truly come to love the city of Jerusalem, and have a deep personal connection with it. It is really the center of the world and of so many religions, including Judaism. I will miss the diversity, the food, and the ancient stones city only blocks away from the modern bar scene. It’s just all so much fun, and I know I will be back soon.

  This Trimester was amazing, but was also very challenging for me. The death of my Grandma Dorothea on the first day of Year Course was a huge loss, and forced me to dig deeply as to why and how I should spend a year in Israel. With the terrible apartment conditions, lack of food, family, and familiarity, the meaning of this year became that much more challenging and also important. I am here to become a good independent Jewish person, which means I may be placed in tough situations that will test my skills. I do wish that some parts of this semester could have been easier, but as my section leader said, “it’s a blank slate now”.

 I feel completely ready for Bat Yam, because of the adjustment process I have already gone through. Bat Yam is a fun lower class immigrant town next to Tel Aviv. I will be living with my good friends in our own apartment near the beach, and will hopefully be volunteering at a marine school. I will not have to share an apartment with fifteen other people. A great semester is behind me, and a great one is to come. Here we come freedom!

 Thank you to everyone who has been reading my blog, and keeping up with my adventures (even when the blog posts are lame). My year has been such a success so far, because I have been able to make new friends while keeping in touch with the old ones.

 Thanks and happy holidays,

 Alex

Abu Gosh and the greatest amount of mediocre hummus in the world

A few weeks ago one of my classes went to Abu Gosh and Ein Rafah, which are two Israeli-Arab villages located just outside Jerusalem. We spoke to a British Moslem woman, who is married to one of the men in the villages. Everyone in Ein Rafah has the same last name, because they are all one family. She was a very smart woman, and described her life as an Arab living in Israel. She explained that Israel has two separate education systems, one for Jewish children and one for Arab children. Both groups have the option to go to any school they choose, however this woman has chosen to send her children to Arab speaking schools, so they can be with their friends.

 In my opinion having two separate school systems is lame, and prevents unity between Jews and Arabs. This is not segregation, but Arab-Israeli schools often have worse conditions than Israeli schools. The government claims that a main reason for having two systems, is because of a language barrier, however almost all Arab-Israeli’s speak Hebrew, and many Jews speak Arabic. Both Hebrew and Arabic are the official languages of the State of Israel, and many places such as the multi-cultural city of Haifa, make their students take Hebrew and Arabic.

  Besides being a fantastic Arab-Israeli town, Abu Gosh is famous for it’s Hummus. We went to a beautiful Hummus restaurant, with lavish décor, and a view of the Jerusalem hills. It turns out that the owner had won the lottery. Also, apparently Abu Gosh holds the current Guinness world record for most hummus! They put a lot of hummus in a big vat, beating out the Lebanese. Israel wins again! To be honest the hummus was a worse version of Pinati’s, but there was a lot of it. Almost as cool as Aaron Lyon, Moshe Arazi, and David Micley’s record of the longest skateboard.

This was the exact restaurant we ate at 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-1kpmrQmN4   

  "The Lebanese are planning a hummus counter attack" 

                       Pre-chickpead

Aaron Jijj going for the reach

            
                        Take that Lebanon!

Remember these guys...yep Jewish/Israeli to. 

Back to the Blogging

 Wow, it has been way to long since I last blogged. My deepest apologies. I could make up some excuses, such as laziness, a broken camera, tests, or lots of traveling, but none of these things are more important than blogging. Here are some things I’ve been doing in the past few weeks.

Biked around the Kinneret (Sea of Galilea).

Went to a Moshav in the North and picked olives

Went to a David Broza concert

Ate a lot of Hummus

Went to Tel-Aviv

Did not shave

Israel Advocacy Seminar

Enjoyed Sushi for the first time

Ate a lot of hummus