"let scripture be your eden, and the arabs’ books your paradise grove.” -- dunash ben labrat

Our two weeks back at Beit Shmuel have largely comprised of five-lecture days, much essay writing, and little sleep. Lecturing about the history of Islamdom and Jews living under Islamic rule, Cornell professor Dr. Ross Brann spent the entirety of last week with us. His seminars inspired my pre-international trip (to Morocco, Spain, and Portugal) Civilizations and Society paper on Judeo-Moroccan Arabic as a reflection of Jewish identity in Morocco in the Middle Ages. I found this relationship relevant and intriguing as I simultaneously learn modern Hebrew and Arabic and draw my own connections. This research has also reinforced my own notion that even an American Hebrew speaker, or sort-of Hebrew speaker, should learn and study Arabic from Hebrew instead of English.

A small hurricane and two outings otherwise permeated our two stress-filled weeks. For four days straight, the Jerusalem skies unleashed a monstrous combination of pouring rain, hail, sleet, and finally a six-inch blanket of snow. We even had our likely only snow day of the year, as Jerusalem shuts off completely faced with the fear of frozen precipitation.

"I feel sure that science will bring to this land both peace and a renewal of its youth, creating here the springs of a new spiritual and material life. I speak of science for its own sake and applied science."  - Chaim Weizmann (1946)

Last Sunday, we split into three groups to explore Israeli innovation throughout the country. One left for the environmental Park Ariel Sharon in Hiriya, and one left for the Tel Aviv TechLoft and the Google offices in Tel Aviv. I visited the Weizmann Institute, a research university for math and science, in Rehovot. We toured the interactive museum, picnicked on the campus grounds, and then toured the science garden, which consisted of an array of physics-based activities and contraptions. Thereafter, we partook in a lecture with Dr. Daniel Lalush, a French-Israeli Weizmann Institute physicist who participated in an international collaborative team at CERN, Geneva, that discovered the Higgs Boson. The Higgs Boson, or the God Particle, refers to the long-sought particle that completes the Standard Model of physics and explicates why objects have mass and thus exist. This outing reminded me of how the world functioning physically as well as interpersonally and historically is so interesting. Moreover, the Weizmann exhibit and park manifests Israel's emphasis on science, math, and innovation, especially for young people. Israel's overwhelming innovation can attribute to part of Israel's success as such a young country.

Before class Thursday morning, we visited Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock in anticipation of visiting a Muslim country. During Arabic class, we also walked to the Arab shuk in the Old City to utilize Arabic phrases (albeit "Shakespearean Arabic") pre-Morocco.

More on Moroccan adventures to come.

Ma alsalamah.

 Rabab

(Kivunim - www.kivunim.org) - a gap year before Barnard