Okay... I get the point... I stink... I am sorry. I have been back to America for 20 days and to Colorado for just over two weeks and I haven't posted a blog. Very not cool of me.But you see, I have been so overwhelmed with this reentry/transition back to my regularly scheduled life... It was like I froze Talia and took a trip in an alternate universe. Now I've come back to find out that the world has moved on but not only was regular Talia frozen, she has this added wealth of knowledge and perspective.I have been putting off writing for a while now. Even before I left. I found some excuse (usually relating to being exhausted or too busy) to not force myself to face the experience I just came home from or the special people I left in Israel.And I guess I am going to put it off again. Not indefinitely, in fact, I am working on it right now... but the more I think about it, the more thought it will take to write. Not one of my usual off the cuff blogs. And then this blog will undergo a renewal, back to my odd eclectic self of social media and Jewish ideas. With some Sherlock Holmes tossed in for good measure.But I felt I owed it to you all, my blog readers and fans, to tell you where I am and why I have been so noticeably absent. I promise to rectify that very soon!Thanks for sticking around!
A New Year, A New You
I wrote this post for MetroImma and we couldn't run it but I really liked it so I am going to post it here, enjoy! (Thanks to Cindy, who got the piece started.)
New Year, New You?Some Jews get offended if you refer to January 1st as The New Year, as if recognition of it somehow undermines the legitimacy of Rosh HaShanah. It doesn’t have to be a huge celebration or even a nod to secularism or other faiths. But there’s also no reason why we shouldn’t use every opportunity to take stock of our behavior, achievements and goals. I don’t know about you, but the heart-felt fervor I feel in Tishrei tends to wear off a little by the time Kislev rolls around, so I for one am not too proud to use this opportunity for yet another fresh start. It’s pretty easy to act like you mean it with Yom Kippur looming around the corner, so when you’re buttressed between feel-good Hannuka and sweet ole Tu B’Shvat, is a little non-Jewish, non-religious reckoning such a terrible thing?On New Years Eve we hope that this will be the year we stick to our diet, earn that raise and be a better daughter or parent. New Years resolutions are certainly not a bad thing, that is, if you remember where you wrote them down. On Rosh Hashanah, we don’t just cross our fingers and hope for the best, but spend time looking back, taking stock, and accepting responsibility for all that we have done, and not done. More than just the beginning of a new Jewish year, it’s another revolution in an unbroken cycle connecting us to those who went before us, dating back thousands of years.So on the secular New Years, we are given a three-month performance evaluation with the boss. On Rosh Hashanah you really were sorry for not spending more time with your kid after dinner. You wanted to fix that. Have you? What have you done so far this year that you might need to do teshuvah for? How can you prevent yourself from doing these things again?Yes, the secular New Year isn’t something that is distinctly Jewish but it is certainly something that impacts our lives. (Just try writing 13 Adar, 5771 on your checks in America and see the stares you will get!) We can take this day as a post it note reminder, a pop up alert on your Google Calendar, a last minute text message to keep refining who we are. It is easy to get bogged down in the day-to-day details. However, when the world seemingly screeches to a halt between Christmas and New Years, what better time for a personal check up and check in?
Totoro Heading Out With the Ladies of Mayanot
The Mayanot ladies and I went out the other night. We were just going to a farbrengen but we took the bus.I must say, these ladies are so sweet. They take such good care of me and are so kind. Here are a few pictures of our outing...
Mayanot Banquet Monologue
Chanukah in Jerusalem
While Chanukah has always been an important part of my Jewish life, it was never a focal point. It isn't a major holiday in Judaism and is rabbinic in nature. What does that mean? Well, many of the holidays we celebrate within Judaism are written about in the Torah. They are handed down by G-d to be observed in a certain way. There are only two holidays that are 'man made' as it were. Those are Chanukah and Purim.Ask any American Jewish school kid or adult and they will most likely tell you that Chanukah celebrates the great miracle that happened when the Jews went to the Temple and only found enough oil to light the Menorah for one day and it lasted for eight days. Whether this story is true or not, we are not sure, however, we do know that this was not why the rabbis decided to celebrate Chanukah.The true miracle of Chanukah was the defeat of the Hellenistic Greeks for our religious freedom. You see, they didn't mind us as long as we played by their rules. They actually weren't out to murder us, just to have us stop practicing Judaism and live like them. Well, we weren't so thrilled about that idea. So some people went along with the Greeks because they didn't feel like fighting but some kept their Jewishness in secret. They still learned and taught Torah but did it in a way so the Greeks couldn't catch them. This is the origin of the dreidel. It looks like an innocent game but it can be used as a decoy for a look out or a way to learn Judaism without looking like it. When the Greeks started beating people up and forcing Judaism out of their lives, there was a group of guys who weren't happy with the idea. These are the Maccabees. It was a family and they fought back, rallying Jews to fight with them. There weren't that many in comparison to the Greeks but they fought anyway.The Maccabees used stealthy techniques. They fought at night when the Greeks were off their guard and other ways to utilize their small force. In the end, they defeated the Greeks and won their religious freedom back. However, the Greeks didn't just try to break our spirit by hurting us physically, they destroyed the things we treasured most. Like the Holy Temple. They let pigs run wild in the Temple and it was a filthy mess when the Jews finally came to it. So instead of celebrating like most winning armies would, they put themselves to the task of cleaning up the Temple and that is what the word Chanukah means. Rededication. It was the time when we rededicated the Holy Temple, the Beit Hamikdash, once we cleaned it up and restored it.We use the lights of the Chanukkiah to publicize the miracle. Now, that is an important distinction. The Menorah sat in the Temple year round. It had seven lights. The Chanukkiah was a new invention with nine lights (eight days + the shamash, the helper candle). Today we light our Chanukkiot in our window or doorway to let everyone know of our miracle of religious freedom but that is not all. There were many dark times in Jewish history. Many times when we, as a people, were again persecuted for our religious beliefs. Times when it was not safe to be a Jew at all, much less be a Jew openly. At those times, we lit our Chanukkiahs safely inside our homes. Fortunately, we do not live in those times and we can proudly show our miracle to the world. This is why it is doubly important to light so our neighbors can see.Being in Jerusalem for this holiday, it was incredible. I am used to being the only chanukkiah on the block. In a mass of windows displaying Christmas trees and Christmas lights, my apartment window is the only one with blue and white lights and a chanukkiah. But that is not the case here. So many windows have them. So many windows share the light. Public chanukkiot all over town... so beautiful.It's odd to feel that the holiday season is over and Christmas hasn't even happened yet but that is the reality here in Jerusalem. Post Chanukah and the lights are down, the decorations are down, the sufganiot (jelly donuts) are gone. Its a different world.
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]
Final Dig (B)Log
As I write this (on my iPhone to be transcribed to my blog later), I am on a bus headed to Tzfat for Shabbat. I am excited to see friends, be around the familiar Jewish rituals, and go back to school. But our bus just passed the dig site at Magdala.I saw Martin's hat up over the nearly 6 foot deep dig site.I saw the crew under the pottery tent and the two white vans that careened along the lakeside highway to get us to and from the site.I didn't see Migdal but I know that cute pup was cheerfully running back and forth on the site or laying lazily in the shade or sitting on Maria's shoulders.I didn't realize what an impact these people would have on me or how the dig would affect me. I thought I was just going to clear some rock and dirt and find some pottery. But this was a once in a lifetime event for me (though I would love to find a way to do it again sometime) and I am so thankful to have gone. My only wish is that I could have shared it with a few very special people.Basically, this taught me never to be afraid of new experiences. To never shy away from trying something different, no matter how scary or hard it may seem at the outset. New activities and amazing experiences don't just fall in your lap. They don't always involve a 4 star hotel, the best food, or a clean experience. Sometimes you just have to trust an Israeli bus driver to tell you where to get off and cab drivers to give you good walking directions. Sometimes you have to be strong and aware and confident in your self.It ain't always easy but it's always worth it.
Lesson # 102 – Cut the roots, don’t make the wall fall down or “I’m ready for my close up, Mr. DeMille.”
Hey, even walls need to look pretty for pictures. Today we were cleaning the site to make it ready for some aerial pictures tomorrow. So we were sweeping (yup... dirt on dirt, I know), pulling up rocks, and trimming the roots. But if you pull or cut too much the wall will fall in. Our dig supervisor, Marcela joked that if I cut too much and made one fall on top of me and I was hurt, she would be sure to tell the paper that it was Talia Davis who knocked over a priceless 1st century wall... Thanks Marcela!So we set about cleaning. We were each given a room/quadrant. My room was a really nice square. I had a ‘bench’ of un-cleared area and a trench where they had gone down further to see what they could find. I went about my merry way, snipping roots and brushing the loose rocks and dirt to the floor. That took all morning, from 6 until our breakfast at 10. Then after breakfast, I started sweeping the floor... I was sweeping dirt up on a dirt floor. And brushing dirt off the dirt wall onto the dirt floor... sometimes it was hard to tell when to stop brushing or sweeping... but I had to be sure to stop before the wall started crumbling and on the floor... well, I just had to stop at some point.The whole team set about cleaning the site. Juan and Elias were clearing one area where we had found an arch. We weren’t sure what it was or why it was there. It was a freestanding arch that backed up almost to a wall. Then Juan found a small square in one of the bricks in his area. It could have been for water. I just can’t wait for this site to be fully excavated. I really want to come back in three years when it is cleared. It will be amazing to learn exactly what each of these areas are for.All in all, it was an amazing experience. I was so honored to work with such an amazing group of people. These volunteers are so dedicated and amazing. Many of them will be here for three years to fully excavate the site. Wow!Well, my experience on the dig is at a close. I head to Tzfat tomorrow for shabbis with my wonderful friend Chani and her family. I am looking forward to going back to Mayanot energized and ready to learn... with one more thing checked off the bucket list. I played a part in history and that is so exciting, especially for a history nerd like me. :)
Lesson #13 - Birds are cool but pottery is cooler or "I'm tired, do we really have to ride a golf cart around and look at birds?"
Pre-lesson: When your dig supervisor rattles off in crazy fluent Spanish, sometimes you don't want to know what she is saying. It has been really interesting hanging out with my awesome, new friends from Mexico. I came to Israel knowing that everyone here pretty much speaks English so that shouldn't be an issue. It has only been since I have been hanging out with the Mexicans do I feel like I am in another country. The funniest part was when the Arab caretakers and the Mexican volunteers were all trying to speak in English to each other today. Neither of them could pronounce the English word vacuum and I just had to laugh. Here I am, the only native English speaker for possibly the first time in my life! Anyway, I digress... sort of.Today was another day of pottery marking which was totally cool with me. Not only do we sit in a nice tent and I don't have to wield a pickax, I also get to look at all this amazing pottery up close. They opened up a mosaic today too. How AMAZING! They have found glass, metal, ceramics, and most interesting... flint-stone... pre-historic tools... Looking forward to hearing more about that.Working on the edge pieces (the ones with a lip or a handle or something distinctive) is hard because even the tiniest piece has to be marked but it is very interesting. I got up close and personal with 1st century paint... amazing! Also, Rosaura has been helping me understand a bit of Spanish and I have been helping her with Hebrew. I know it is a daunting task but she is so excited to learn it. I have been showing her the Aleph Bet and teaching her a word here or there. Today's lesson was brought to us by the prefix l' or ל (which means to) and by the word l'tsalem (לצלם) which means to photograph.Today was a hard day on the dig for me. The 4:30am wake up calls are catching up to me and I haven't been sleeping great here. I was exhausted by the middle of the day and then we had a special excursion that turned out to be a bit longer than I expected. We went to Hula Valley to see the migrating birds. 100,000 cranes stop in Israel on their way to Africa for the winter. The Israelis have created this reserve for them to land and eat so they don't destroy the crops in the area. It was truly beautiful, I just wish I wasn't so exhausted so I could have enjoyed it more. We drove around the park for two hours in a GIANT golf cart (I mean seriously, it sat 19 people!) with a Padre, Father John, at the wheel. It was a good time.Then we headed back to Tiveria for showers and dinner and soon, bed. Tons of traffic made it a very long ride but with a good dinner of schnitzel in my tummy, I am ready to hit the sack soon.Tomorrow is my last day on the dig. I can't work Friday because I have to catch a bus out of town before they are back from the dig site to make it to Tzfat in time for shabbis. I am spending a very special shabbis with my friend Chani and her family in the very holy town of Tzfat.I have been looking forward to my time on this dig so much, I can't believe it is coming to an end. It has been such a great experience, I am so thankful to Notre Dame in Jerusalem and Fr. Eammon Kelly, and Marcela, and everyone here for allowing me to hang out, use a pickax and fountain pen. :)Here are some shots from today: