Totoro Goes to School, Part 2

I know you saw my video from last week of me dancing with my friend Ze'ev. We took a few pictures together (again, thank you Talia) in class that day. Here are a few:
I really learned a lot that day in Ze'ev's class. Not to mention that we got to watch Matisyahu's new music video for his Chanukah song and it was awesome. But really, Ze'ev is helping us understand the land conflict in Israel and how to speak about it as educated Jews. We were talking about rights to the land. I don't want to get too political here but we talked about six different types of rights the Jews have for the land of Israel. Those are - divine rights, aboriginal rights, legal rights, pioneering rights, internationally granted rights, and rights of war. One thing we focused on in this recent class is internationally granted rights. A lot of people don't realize that there have been several times in modern history where the Jews were granted this land. There was the Balfour Declaration in 1917 which was like a suggestion of rights. It happened because some of the Brits were sympathetic to the Jews but mainly because they wanted us on their side when the war ended. Then they changed their mind. They were setting up puppet governments all over the Middle East and figured it would be easier to control the area if it was all Arab. The League of Nations, Mandate for Palestine in 1920 was a lot more clear and legally sound. The preamble to the Mandate stated - "Recognition Has Been Given to the Historical Connection of the Jewish People with Palestine and to the Grounds for Reconstituting their National Home in that Country."Notice the use of the word reconstituting. They weren't giving the Jewish people something because they felt sorry for them, they were just making sure that they had their land back. In fact, all 51 member countries voted for this. This mandate was actually huge, including what was subsequently called TransJordan. Under this mandate, the Jews had religious, civil, and political rights and the other inhabitants of the land had religious and civil rights. The thought was that since there was a huge amount of land available to the other inhabitants where they have political rights, that would be reserved only for the Jews in this area. "At no point in the entire document is there any granting of political rights to non-Jewish entities (i.e., Arabs) because political rights to self-determination as a polity for Arabs were guaranteed in three other mandates for: Lebanon, Syria and Iraq" - Eli Hertz. This is not to say that today we don't want equal rights for all Israeli citizens, rather that within this mandate, the idea was to create a safe haven for the Jewish people while also providing huge tracts of land to other groups. Thus by ensuring political rights to the main inhabitants of the land and not others who may decide to come in and usurp the land, the integrity of the mandate would hold. Today, this is not a feasible option, nor would many people want it this way. I've included it here to point out context and thought process.The League of Nations was officially dissolved in 1946 while the UN officially began in 1945. While Article 80 of the UN Charter has been created to implicitly recognize the Mandate for Palestine of the League of Nations, they UN General Assembly made a recommendation in 1947 that Israel be established. This was UN Resolution 181 and it was a recommendation and not a legally binding resolution, which would have had to be passed down from the Security Council. UN resolution 181 has little significance in comparison to the League of Nations mandate which was legally binding.What a history! And a special thanks to Ze'ev for putting up with all the girls twice a month to teach them this history. It is so helpful and informative!Totoro out.

Totoro goes to school

Well, I have been enjoying my classes for a while now but I have been so focused on being a good student, that I forgot to document it!Well, I was in one of my favorite classes - The David Project - taught by a certain Ze'ev Orenstein. It is a facinating class about the political realities of Israel and land rights. Really a great class and Ze'ev is a fun guy. So he was playing some Chanukah music for us at the beginning of class and we decided to dance together... you know, being the only guys there. It was a blast. Here is a video of it:[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cl1hUBsaaO0]And for fun, here is Matisyahu's HILARIOUS new video for his Chanukah song:[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JHZOfwOGus]

I'm leaving on a jet plane (Totoro)

Here's a quick shot of me on the plane ...Talia had to stash the camera before takeoff. We got nice seat behind the exit row with extra room. Boy were we lucky! And a big shout out to Talia for taking all these pics of me. Hoping that we can get some pics together soon.The flight was long but worth it. When we landed in Israel it was very hot but I immediately felt at home with the other dude with kippot and payis... except they aren't blue like me... Oh well, I still love being here.Stay tuned for more adventures.

Oh one more thing (Totoro)

I nearly  forgot it! I just can't believe that!I almost walked out the door without my tzitzit! How could I even think of going to the Holy Land without my ritual fringes! Thank goodness Talia reminded me.There they were, in the closet all ironed and hung up nicely. A big thank you to Talia for that!With the tzitzit, I knew I needed to check for one more thing... my passport...Yup! Everything seems to be in order... now where is that pesky checklist?

Leaving for Israel with Talia (Totoro)

Before I get started, I really have to apologize. My shocking lack of blogs posts is terribly unforgivable. I must say that I have been very busy here in Jerusalem, without much time to write. And the fact that I only have round mitten paws and not fingers causes the blogging process to go a bit slower than usual.So! We were at the point when I was helping Talia pack up her apartment. It was quite a job but we made it happen. Then it was our last night in Denver. Quite an emotional night. But I woke up promptly and was ready to go!

Yawn! It was a great night sleep. I really enjoyed the last night in my comfortable bed before traveling and sleeping G-d knows where for the next few months. I even spent a few extra moments enjoying my bed.

But it was time to get up and go!

Guess it's time to get going...

Totoro Packs

So Talia and I finally started packing and WHOOO! Man! You never realize how much stuff you have until you try to pack it! Thankfully, some dear friends of ours lent us some great, big, plastic tubs to pack the whole apartment up. These are great since this apartment is essentially going into storage.Talia and I got a lot packed and I took a break to look back at my work...And no matter how far we think we've gotten, we still find more things to PACK!Not only is it hard to pack for storage but then we have to think about what we are bringing to Israel. Talia did a lot of work to pull out clothing and supplies for us. Frankly, I am not much of a clothes horse but Talia, that girl loves her closet! I tried to tell her we didn't have that much space, I mean two suitcases at 50lbs a piece isn't that much.I went to look at some of Talia's clothing choices to help her narrow it down...Looks like we have some work to do...

Introducing Totoro

Hi. My name is Totoro. I am a Japanese character well known from movies like My Neighbor Totoro.What most people don't realize is that I am actually Jewish (my mother's maiden name as Kohen and I was named after my Zaide, Tuviya). I am headed on an adventure to Israel. Join me for the fun!

That's me, I'm hanging out in my Colorado apartment surveying the insane amount of packing left to do! But rather than pack, I really feel like checking out some wikipedia details on Israel.