Shnat

I think I left off just before Yom Kippur. I spent the holiday on the kibbutz. I fasted, and a couple of others on the program didn't eat, but I think I was the only one who went all the way. it was absolutely nothing like any other Yom Kippur I've ever had, and not really in any important way. I spent most of the day in bed, napping and reading. I didn't know what to read, so I really stumbled on my book because no other option seemed good, and it was really a great choice. The Art of Loving by Erich Fromm. Some good stuff. Check it. In the evening a couple of younger people form the kibbutz and a few from my program, myself included, walked for about an hour to a nearby moshav that had a synagogue. The main objective of the group was to hear the shofar blowing at the end of the day, but I really would have enjoyed going for the services. I usually spend all of Yom Kippur in synagogue and its a pretty intense experience. This year, not so much. Its a little troublesome that I feel it could have been better. Others from my program went to Jerusalem for the weekend and the holiday, and their experience, although not really a religious one, sounded much more appealing to me than the experience I had on the kibbutz. Also, for the past couple of years when I've been in synagogue at home on the high holy days, I've thought about how amazing it could be to turn my intense, wonderful experience in to a peula for my kvutza, to bring all the depth and meaning I feel into an experience we can share together for the holiday, but the truth is I just have no idea how that could be done, and at the same time, if anything like that really needs to coincide with the holiday, or if it should, in order to create a really meaningful thing for us together. Whatevs. The high holy days were not bad, they were different, they were not the greatest I could have hoped for, but that is definitely just fine.
Last Tuesday, after Yom Kippuer, we visited two kibbutzim. One was shitufi, or communal, and the other was metchadesh, or renewing, which means it is partially privatized. It was interesting to see what makes a kibbutz turn to privatization, and what that brings to it. It was explained to us that the community of the kibbutz wants to keep the solidarity of the members of the kibbutz, so if a vote is taken and the members want to privatize and that is a part of what will enable the kibbutz to continue and for its members to stay together, then that is all that matters and all that makes sense to do. It makes sense, definitely, but I don't really understand how that solidarity works when my neighbor and I can afford different things because of the type, not quantity or quality, of work that we do. It damages a purpose I see as crucial in communal life. It was also interesting again to witness the changes that need to be made because people can't maintain life as responsible members of a community. The presented told us how the kibbutz bought maybe a tenth of the amount of bread it used to once they asked for a minor amount of change from those who wanted a loaf of bread, and how much bread was no longer getting thrown out, uneaten, because of that change. Its so silly. Don't take bread if you're going to throw it out. Get a slice from your friend. I don't get why your brain wouldn't think like that, especially if you're going ahead and making this decision to live this communal lifestyle. Weird.
Last Wednesday night we stayed up together until midnight because Thursday was my roommate Dana's birthday. We all hung out and counted down the minutes, and at midnight a couple adorable South Americans brought tea biscuits with chocolate spread and candles for her as a cake, and dumped a bag of flour on her head. She looked old. They had tea biscuits and candy for everyone. It was really sweet. Thursday we picked birthday lemons for 6 hours. We were all going crazy. We played guessing games to pass the time, which was fun. Ended up talking about food cravings a lot. We were delirious. Once we were done, though, Dana Birthday was great.
So it's now the end of Sukkot. Its been a great holiday. Dana's mom birthday surprised her by coming to Israel two weeks earlier than she said she would. It was a really cute visit, she brought food for our refrigerator and really, really washed down our room. The night she arrived all the people on my program took a ride on the flatbed of a tractor to a spot by a neighboring kibbutz, Sufa. It wasn't far, and it was hysterical and adorable watching Dana and her mom sitting on the tractor bed. We made a fire, made tea, listened to guitar and sang. Real cute. The next day, Sunday, began our Sukkot vacation, except we were notified pretty last minute that there was work for us to do on the kibbutz. Every other year, there is a huge mango harvest, and this was one of those years. There are only a few days where the mangoes are perfect to pick, and these were those days. So 60 tons of mangoes were needed to be picked every day for 3 days, by a group of less than 30 teenagers, a few kibbutz members, and some extremely efficient Thai workers. We, the American girls, had already made plans for our "vacation", so we weren't there to help pick mangoes. Meirav, Adi, Dana and I got a ride from Dana's mom to Jerusalem, where we shopped in the shook, or market, for food, clothes and scarves, visited Dana's ADORABLE aunt, and then stayed overnight at Meriav's great aunt's empty apartment. It was really nice being in Jerusalem. Dana's mom was fantastic, and I really enjoyed the city and our time spent together. We definitely got ripped off pretty badly by some Israelis, terribly so by a cab driver, and that as well as the croud definitely added some stress to the trip, but overall J-Town was wonderful.
The next day we traveled all the way up north to a Moshav called Nahalal for a reunion of people from our camp who are in Israel. The hosts, and most of the others there, were people who were from Israel who came to work at our camp, and a few were people from camp who had just moved to Israel for school or the army. It was really, really nice to see everyone and we all just had SUCH a good time. We stayed overnight and had a cute little slumber party with nail polish, snacks and endless girly movies. All in high comfort. It was wonderful. By the time we were on our way home, though, I literally had zero money, so I've started a log of money I owe my very lovely friends. I really, really don't like having to worry about money, and just generally to be concerned with it at all. Its not even so much a matter of me not having any as it is a real desire to just not spend it or have it be a part of my life. Its paper. Its empty. It just doesn't mean ANYTHING. Hate money. Doesn't buy love. But maybe thats just cos I'm broke...
By the time we came back, mango picking was all over, and it was time for our peace march. Worldwide in the last few days, I think, there has been a march for peace. We're in the middle of nowhere, with no huge march anywhere near us, but we're also right next to Gaza, so its a pretty sensical place to hold a peace march. There was a small group of visitors on the kibbutz for the march, which made it seem a little more epic than 30 kids walking down the road. We had a little seminar in the morning where different speakers made presentations and had discussions with us about nonviolence and the history of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, then all got flags from our countries, Hashomer Hatzair and Kibbutz Holit, plus a few huge banners of the worldwide peace march, and walked down the road to the same spot we made tea at near Sufa. There we had a few speaches and some kids from the program did a musical performance. We planted an olive tree and tied on ribbons we all had written wishes for peace on. At night, some of my friends said that our neighbor who works with the cows told them a cow might be giving birth, so we all went to go see if it would. We ended up getting an in-depth tour of the cow milking. I literally watched the cow machine. I took it all in in a very exploratory manner, because I definitely would not have been able to stand in that room if I hadn't. A line of cows walking in to stand in their spot on a circular, rotating platform, where the machine was attached to them, milk was sucked out, udders were cleaned, and they walked out the other side. Literally just machine parts. I already knew, but now beyond a shadow of a doubt and with a much larger likelihood of action, that this is something I have no place participating in, and that I have no desire to eat milk or eggs. When it comes to the issue of health, I'll be smart and take care of myself, but as long as it is in the realm of feasability for me to healthily eat vegan, I will.
After the cow machine, we all gathered together to put up a "totem pole" some of us had worked on. It was pretty cool, a huge tree trunk with the branches cut, painted white and covered with words of peace. It was pretty sick. Also pretty heavy, which made the process of moving it and trying to put it in the hole dug for it a really great one. Lots of team work, lots of hard effort, lots of every man needed to do all they can to get the job done. Unfortunately, after many attempts, we realized it just wasn't something we would be able to do without some heavy machinery, so we put it down and prepped the surrounding area so it would be ready for garden planting once the totem was securely in the ground. Great night.
The next day was super fun. A Thursday, our typical work day, but this was the peace march and Sukkot vacation. We made kites and listened to music with some visitors who had just moved to Israel. We were sitting and hanging out in the sun all morning. With my friend Itai DJing, so the music was wonderful, and I spent most of my time by the music with him. We had a fantastic lunch and then hours of break before we attempted to fly our kites. They were made of sticks and tissue paper. The wind here is strong. They all ripped. One flew a little bit, but the girl who made it has a creative mind and didn't follow the instructions in the slightest. She's the best. Definitely the winner.
That was yesterday. Awesome day.
Love.