alhamdulilah -- baruch hashem

After two weeks of living in Beit Shmuel in Jerusalem, I finally feel settled, that living here is longterm. The last couple days of orientation proved both interesting and exhausting. Touring with Professsor Clinton Bailey (on the far right, right), an expert on Bedouin culture, we visited a Bedouin school in addition to sleeping at an unrecognized Bedouin tent. Professor Bailey is unique in that he closely observed Bedouin culture for 44 years. In our lecture, he emphasized to us that part of his motivation and interest stemmed from what traditional Bedouin culture and history could teach us about our own biblical heritage. Professor Bailey also accompanied us to Ben Gurion's house in Sde Boker, where he shared stories of when he knew Ben Gurion and his wife Paula, and her excellent pancakes.

Following sleeping in the Bedouin tent, we hiked Masada's Snake Path at the heat of the day, and, according to our assignment, ethnographically explored Masada in the spirit of John Stilgoe. Sweaty and irritable, we finally began our ride to Jerusalem. Once unpacked in our rooms, we began to acclimate to Beit Shmuel over the next few days. We are fortunate in amenities and location: we have a communal fridge, balconies facing the Old City, and are a five-minute walk from Mamila and the YMCA. The irony of the transfer from the JCC to the YMCA upon moving to Israel has not been lost on me; yet the zumba and pilates classes have proven better here anyway, so no complaints. Last Friday marked my first pilates class taught in a combination of Hebrew, English, and French. Beth Tfiloh has well prepared me for such situations.

Our weekly schedule is basically as follows: Monday through Thursday we have classes. In the morning, we have Hebrew and Arabic. Arabic has proved much more complex than I anticipated, between the short vowels and long vowels and vowels that act as letters and letters that act as vowels and letters that all sound the same. For instance, sabah alkhair does not mean good morning; rather, it's sabaHHH alkhair. Miss the all important "HHahh" sound and Johnny at the YMCA will fail to understand your bid good morning; I have learned my lesson. At the same time, Arabic is such an interesting language and does share certain traits and functions with Hebrew. In the afternoon, we have Civilization & Society or Perspectives on the Middle East lectures. Civ consists basically of the history and culture of the countries we'll be visiting before our international trips (right now we're in the midst of ancient Greece). In PME, we start from modern Jewish history and Jewish nationalism to contemporary Middle Eastern affairs. A word about our teachers - they're all extremely knowledgable and experienced in their respective fields (our PME teacher was a former vice president deputy advisor to Ariel Sharon).

Tuesday afternoons, we have social responsibility. I'm working with a second-hand clothing shop and section in the bazaar that supports a battered women's shelter. 

Between managing homework, starting social responsibility, taking Shabbos explorations, discovering multiethnic cuisine, and generally getting lost in Jerusalem, Kivunim has kept me busy. On Friday, we had an introductory lecture to Christianity, and, to follow, we will be attending mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre today (Sunday). More on discovering salvation tonight.

Side note - we leave for Greece and Bulgaria in exactly two weeks. Mishegas.

Rebecca Abbott

(Kivunim - www.kivunim.org)