L’shanah Tovah Chamudim!!!

These past 3 days have been a fantastic break from the regular motions I go through with school and work.  I’ve been hanging out with three amazing people who are devoting their lives toward achieving peace between Israel and her neighbors.  OneVoice is an organization that trains Palestinians to talk with Palestinians and Israelis to talk to Israelis.  The goal is to prepare both peoples for the concessions as well as the compromises they will have to make in order to achieve peace.  This is OneVoice’s second time coming to NC and my first time helping to plan events.  Although, talking with these three people (Ari, Antwan, and China) outside of the events was what really mattered.  As you know, I’m an Anthropology major.  The bulk of what I hope to research is political violence and how people deal with it, oral narrative, collective memory, and grassroots movements (whether they be violent or non-violent).  Riding to the hotel with Ari, smoking nargilah with China and Antwan.  I learned a lot these past three days.  I think my research will be better because of interactions like this.  Plus we had an iftar at the OneVoice event at UNCG.  An iftar is the traditional breaking of the fast during the month of Ramadan for Muslims.  Many of you know that Jewish law says we can pray in a synagogue or a mosque (a church – not so much).  Watching my friends pray at sundown made me see why.  We’re so similar. 

Anyway, that’s that.  A great three days with three amazing people who were soooo sababa.  Now it’s Friday and I’m preparing for Rosh Hashanah.  I cannot wait!  I love the high holidays.  They feel me with a sense of renewal.  I come out feeling refreshed, clean, ready to live one more year making the world a better place.  On Wednesday I went to the mikveh.  I came out feeling spiritually clean.  I’ve called friends whom I’ve done wrong and I’ve sought their forgiveness. 

This year I’m hoping for a few things.  I want to be a good student, a better son, and a better brother.  I want to work on not telling meaningless lies and on not committing lishon harah (gossip).  In addition I’m hoping to add a bit of professionalism to my life as I transition into a more adult role within my community.  For my friends and family I’m hoping this year will bring happiness and togetherness. 

My greatest hopes exist for the Jewish people and the world.  This year I want there to be peace in Israel.  I want the people of Sderot to live comfortably without the panic that consumes their lives as they have to run for bomb shelters every day.  Likewise I want the people of Gaza to not have to fear Israel carpet bombing them or Hamas using them as shields.  I want Israel to feel free of suicide bombers in Jerusalem and I want people in the West Bank to be able to drive freely from one Palestinian town to another Palestinian town – without fear of degradation or humiliation.  I want Israel to be a Jewish State where those of us in the diaspora know we can go if we need it.  While in Israel I want to look over to the West Bank and see a Palestinian flag flying.  This way Israel can invest money into Israel instead of into settlements, checkpoints, and walls.  This way Palestinians can live in freedom and not feel the need to react violently to a desperate situation.  This way both peoples can live free of violence and free from fear.

Desperately I hope to turn on the news and see that Gilad Shalit is safe, that this year he will spend Pesach with his family.  I do not want to see yet another year pass without knowing that he is okay.  He’s my age.  He’s just a kid.  He shouldn’t be spending over 1000 days in a Gaza City basement somewhere.  He should be enjoying his youth.  Everyone should be enjoying their youth.  Violence just rapes people of their innocence.

So yeah, for the Jewish people I hope for a secure state of Israel and for the release of Gilad Shalit – along with safety for those living in precarious conditions throughout the diaspora.

For the world I hope for many of the same things.

L’shanah tovah chamudim!  This year we turn 5,770 years old!  I hope you all have an amazing year!  I wish I was with all of you! 

Applaud me… I’m not as fat as I was a year ago…

Tonight was our first Hillel Shabbat service of the year.  It went well but that’s not what I want to talk about.  I want to post two pictures of me from the shabbat service one year ago:

 

 

 

Remember that last year at this time was when everyone began telling me how skinny I looked which means at one point these were my skinny pictures.  Yeah…  I’ve lost SO much fat and have gained a lot of muscle in its place.  Yes, you may applaud for me… 

Epic UK Fail!

So many of you know that I’m planning a trip this winter to Istanbul, Tel Aviv, and London.  I bought the ticket already from London to Istanbul, Istanbul to Tel Aviv, and Tel Aviv to London.  This Friday I’ll be purchasing the round trip ticket from North Carolina to London and back.

Here’s the problem.  It’s cheapest to fly out of Stansted (an airport in London) when flying to Istanbul.  So that’s where I fly out.  However, it’s cheapest to fly into London from the US via the London Heathrow airport.  It’s a very simple problem.  All it means is that I need to find a bus, car, shuttle, underground, etc. from Heathrow to Stansted and I need to leave enough time in between the two that I don’t miss my flight.  Should be a fairly easy solution.  right?  You’d think so.  However, for all their talk about how dumb Americans are I’ve found the the citizens of the UK are actually that bright themselves.

I call a shuttle service in London and I’m asking how much it would cost to go from Heathrow to Stansted on a one way route.  I said I was fine with car, shuttle, bus, etc.  I just wanted them to arrange it (which actually means I wanted them to find the best deal so I could say no thank you and then call who they suggested and book it directly – which is typically cheaper).  The lady SERIOUSLY repeated my request – and this is no hyperbole – EIGHT TIMES!!!!!!

“So you want to go from Heathrow the airport to Stansted the airport?”

“Yes, that is correct.”

“So what you’re saying is…  you want to go from London Heathrow to London Stansted?”

“You got it!”

“Hm…  Okay.  So let’s see if we can’t figure out what you need.  Now, it’s Heathrow to Stansted?”

MY G-D!!!!!!!!!  I ALWAYS try to be nice to the customer service people on the phone.  It gets you more shit for less money.  Seriously though.  I could feel myself breathing heavy and I began grinding my teeth.  I really wanted to just cuss her out.  SERIOUSLY!  I wanted to drop the f bomb on her.  The cheapest option she could find for me was like 150 bucks.  No thanks.  At that rate I’ll take my chances on the city bus that runs from Heathrow to Cambridge.

I think from now on I’ll no longer get up this early to make these sort of phone calls.  Morning Ricky simply cannot handle it.

Life. :)

Tonight was our first official Hillel (non-board) meeting.  We welcomed in the new Freshmen by showing them where their new classes would be and ending it with a Havdalah-like service to transition from summer to the school year.  It was really nice but it still felt a lot like summer.

Now I’m sitting in my room and I’m thinking about what I’ll need to do this week and am wondering how I’m going to do it all.  I forgot how that felt.  This summer has been fairly relaxed with only school and work.  Besides that we’ve just hung out and had fun.  That’s over and once again I can feel myself having difficulty breathing.  I’m overwhelmed.

I always feel this strange sense of excitement and panic on the first day of classes.  We get to start with a clean slate.  We have an entire course of new material to learn.  It’s REALLY exciting!    I love learning.  However, I also know it means a whole semester of research and papers and quizzes and tests.  The entire semester will be fun but stressful.  Particularly this year.  I have my first senior capstone this semester.  Altogether I have 18 hours.  6 of those hours (two classes) are graduate level courses.  I’m going to have a shit ton of work to do and am going to be all sorts of stressed.

On top of that I am asking work to give me more hours so I can have money when I go abroad this winter.  I’m also the Rashi Fellow this year which means I have to meet and engage 25 Jewish Students a semester.  My school only has 250 Jewish Students and I’m not supposed to be engaging the 40-50 who are already somewhat involved.  That’s a daunting task.  Although, I have to admit that it also excites me.  I love meeting new people.  This is just me getting to talk to people for free – and we get free coffee.    YAY!

What else?  IDK.  I just know that this week I have a lot.  I bought my ticket for inside of the Middle East and Europe a while ago but have been waiting for my grant to come in from UNCG for the rest of the trip.  They sent me the grant but were 400 dollars short (that will be in the mail this coming week).  So, now I need books but also want to book my trip before the cost goes up.  Obviously the books come first (well some of them, some of them can wait).  In the meantime I will hold off one more week to buy my plane ticket and will cross my fingers it doesn’t go up too much.

So yeah.  That is my life.  How are all of you?

Last week and Lila

So this is my last week before school and I have to admit…  I’m already feeling overwhelmed.  This week I had a meeting with my adviser about my research topic.  Since I am hoping to involved human subjects on an emotionally heightened topic I have to get special permission from the university.  It involves a 31 page application.  I have to fill it out once by next Wednesday.  Incredibly daunting.

On top of that I have my first two Hillel events this weekend and my job accidentally scheduled me on both days.  So, there’s that…  Lastly, there is less than a month before OneVoice is in town.  So I’ve been sending all sorts of emails, making all sorts of phone calls, involved in all sorts of meetings, and printing out all sorts of fliers about this.  Oy.

It’s not been all bad though.  I’m pleased to say I’ve been doing well on the health front and that is helping me achieve all my tasks.  I’ve done yoga twice this week (no snickering Meaghan and Scott…  same for you Bekah and Aaron…  I might as well throw in Leah too.  I know you are all snickering.  Don’t even lie about it.  lol).  I’ve also gone running every day this week which is great!    On top of all that…  Some Honduran friends of mine from when I worked at Mimis invited me to play soccer with them.  Was I any good?  No.  However, it was a success in that I didn’t die.  I came very close…  but still, the heart kept beating (kenahara).

Let me not lie about it though.  I have eaten fairly healthy this week.  Most of that is to be blamed on summer.  I always eat well in the summer because I have so many fresh fruits and veggies to eat.    Like today for instance…  I had an eggplant souffle and a fresh eggplant casserole…  for sides I had a tomato and cucumber salad (with tomatoes and cucumbers from my own garden…  the lemon juice and olive oil, not so much) and peas (which I actually just played with…  I ate the insides and piled the skins up like a mohel at an octuplet bris)…  So yeah, healthy.  Not so much.  I’ve also made a loaf of Zucchini Bread and a loaf of Banana Bread…  I did have help from the fam fam.  However, I’d be lying if I didn’t say I ate mostly all of both loaves.  Yeah…  lol. 

Anyway, enough with that shit.  Today I got a new dog!    Lila!    YAY!  Unlike the other ones she gets to go to grad school with me!  YAY!    I thought the other ones did too.  Apparently I was wrong.  Meh…  But yeah, she’s 3, a beagle, and a rescue.  She’s very laid bag and sweet…  and I loves her!    YAY!    I promise that once I find my camera that’s not broken I’ll take pics and post them. 

Jew Camp

So last week I had my first ever experience at Jew camp.  You may have heard many dubious rumors about Jew camp.  Many of them may be unconfirmed.  I’m hear to assure you.  They are ALL true.  Well, aside from the blood libel and all that medieval jazz.

I am not willing to go into details about many of the happenings at Jew camp.  All I need to say is…  twice.  Two, shtayim, dos, twice…

Each day was filled with good food, many pointless conferences, meaningful activities, and bonding time.  Even the pointless conferences taught me SOMETHING – which may negate their pointlessness.  I don’t know.  It was just a great time though.  I have to say that I met some of the greatest people I’ve ever met while there.  The bulk of them live in St. Louis, Illinois, and Ohio.  I was shocked that any decent people live in the Midwest. 

These people I met were some of the most genuinely nice people.  All of use were very different.  Yet we all got together.  In large part I’m sure it’s due to the fact that at the end of the day we define ourselves as Jewish.  Still, I’ve felt a little depressed ever since I said bye on Sunday.  You guys know how I can’t cry anymore.  I’ve felt the need to since Sunday but unfortunately I can’t.  It’s cool though.  I’m entering my last year at UNCG and that’s carrying me through. 

Two of the nights we had dance parties.  An incredibly enigmatic thing happened at these parties.  Despite the fact that no alcohol was allowed into the camp everyone showed up drunk and smelling of liquor.  I think the Christians refer to it as “The Pentecost.”  I’m not sure.  All I know is that flames could have been on our tongues too had we so chosen.  Telling Jews they can’t drink before a dance party is pure foolishness.  I love my people – but we are incredibly awkward.  Dancing is not our strongest suit.  Yet, we were doing it.  HAHA!  Oh!  Good times.  Also, strange noises were coming from the trees and the rocks and the porches…  Maybe I was just really in tune with mother nature…  maybe practice was happening for the creation of the next Jewish generation.

Twice…

In all seriousness though…  I had an amazing time and miss it so much.  It was fun and semi-relaxing.  I learned a lot.  I made incredible, lifelong friends.  I have tons of inside jokes and some new anecdotes to share.  I really do miss it.

Anyway, here’s to a great last week before getting back into the swing of things.  …And here’s to another year of success! 

Iraqi Homocide

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-08-16/iraqs-anti-gay-pogrom/

There have been rumors and reporting on this for a while now in the blogosphere (including my blog…  not that it’s a source of media for people) and in gay media outlets.  However, the human rights watch and the daily beast have recently come forward with more concrete facts and a story that makes one cringe.  Hundreds of homosexualIraqis are being murdered because of their sexuality.  As lists circulate through fundamental shia towns the murders only increase.  It is now being spread into sunni cities. 

We often hear of fears of honor killings in the Muslim World.  I know two homosexual Muslims who are scared for their lives – literally.  This time it goes beyond that.  There are entire militias in Iraq going around, slaughtering people.  Even worse, before the people are killed, they are tortured.  Doctors and hospitals are reporting that every days they receive new patients whose anal cavities have been filled with glue and whose genitals have been castrated.  It’s disgusting. 

One Iraqi doctor reported:

The same thing that used to happen to Sunnis and Shiites is now happening to gays. Till now, my friends and I know of 10 or 15 who have been killed, mostly around Sadr City. They sometimes get people in other places, and bring them there to be killed. About two months ago it started. Day after day they are more prominent. Now it is massive. At first they did it secretly; but now they stop you—they stopped me this way—and search you on the street, in front of others. A fellow doctor—a colleague, a classmate of mine, who works at al-Kindi hospital—told me over the phone that more were killed yesterday. Four were brought in with their genitals cut off. And some were brought in, not dead, with glue in their anuses.

One survivor reported to the Human Rights Watch:

It was about 4 p.m. and four men came inside the shop. They lingered and when I tried to get them to leave, they pulled out guns. They had three cars—one a black Daewoo—and they put me in one and covered my eyes. It was the Mahdi Army—they are the ones who operate in the area. The place they took me to wasn’t far away: it was very close to a mosque or actually in the courtyard, because I could hear the call to prayer very clearly. When they hauled me out of the car they beat me until I fell unconscious.

Late the next day, they came to me and said, ‘We know you are gay, we know you’re farakhji’ [a derogatory term used in Iraq for men who have sex with men]. They pulled out a list of names and started reading them: You know these perverts, you know X and Y and Z. They gave the first name and the neighborhood where he lived. I knew four who were still alive. One they had already killed. They had killed my friend Waleed in February, before I was kidnapped. I asked Waleed’s brother about it later, and he told me, ‘Waleed was slaughtered in the street. Don’t ask more.’ I am sure he was killed because he was gay. He was walking with a bunch of straight friends, and he was killed, not them: He was the one they targeted. He was the first name on the list they read me. There were many more names I didn’t know. I admitted knowing those four, but I said it was only because they were customers in my shop. They interrogated me for three hours that night. They kept me blindfolded and gagged, and when they wanted me to speak, they took out the gag. They demanded I give them names of other gays. At night they got a broomstick, and they used it to rape me.”

More about this can be read at the above link to the article written in The Daily Beast.

The sadder thing is the ending tone of the article.  It seems there is nothing we can do to stop this.  Any help from the United States will just make homosexuality like even more of a Western thing – thus making it even more of a pariah in Iraq.  It’s sad that these men were able to live semi-openly during Sadaam Hussein and are now being brutally murdered on the streets.  Maybe democracy isn’t always the best thing…

Petach Tikvah Goal Keeper

The other night I’m on the FB and I see this group that says soccer players are hot.  It’s a true story.  So, I decide this is a group I should look into.  I found this guy on there who plays for a football club in Petach Tikvah (a satellite city of Tel Aviv – he’s their keeper).  One of the hottest men I’ve ever seen.  EVER!  So, I’ve had a couple glasses of wine.  So, I friend him.  HAHA!

A couple days later he friends me back.  So, today I decide to talk to him on FB Chat.  I ask him in Hebrew if I know him – trying to act dumb.  He then “informs” me that I friended him.  “OMG!” I say…  “I’m so embarrassed!  I must have been drunk because I don’t remember that.  HAHA!”  lol.  He laughs and thinks that’s great.  I then tell him I don’t speak Hebrew well and ask if he minds if I speak in English.  He says he doesn’t – as long as I don’t mind if he responds in Hebrew.  I don’t.  So we talk.  Guess who now has a new hot professional soccer player friend in Israel?  That’s right.  Me.

I was telling him that soccer and college basketball are the only sports I enjoy.  So, he tells me that when I come I can sit with them on the side lines and be an honorary member of the Petach Tikvah Football team for a day.  WHAT WHAT!  So, if this happens it means I can come back to the US and say – without it being a total lie – that I was on a professional Israeli Soccer team for a while.  HAHA!  He said afterwards he, his teammates, and I could go get drinks.  He said – anything for another Jew.  It’s a deal!  I’m there.    That is so fucking cool!

I cannot wait until I’m in Israel again this winter. 

Pictures from S&M’s wedding…

During the toasts

Love it!

Gorgeous

Adorbs

Twinkly lights…

Last minute blessings…