Music

Music has been a HUGE part of my life. A day without music is impossible for me. Every night I go to sleep listening to Panic! At The Disco or Paramore on repeat.

But ever since I was introduced to Israeli music, my love of just music in general has been totally changed. I am so thankful that I was able to go to Chalutzim at OSRUI (a seven week Hebrew immersion program that I highly recommend to anyone) and learn from my two very musical Hebrew teachers all about music. Our class names were even Israeli bands. Mine was Hatikvah 6 (shesh) and now one of my favorite songs is one of theirs called Kol Yom M'Hadash. Its truly a beautiful song about how every day is a new day. It always puts me in the best mood after listening to it because it brings back memories and has such a meaningful message.

Another song I REALLY love that has helped me get through so many tough times is called Yihye Tov (Things Will Get Better). It's a beautiful song by David Broza, probably the one of the most talented guitarists in the world. If you don't know any of his songs I strongly suggest looking him up because he's got a beautiful voice and even more beautiful words.

So to get to the point, music has a huge influence on my life, but now knowing these Hebrew songs my library and taste in music has been changed and improved because of this wonderful piece of Israeli culture.

If you ever want any good Hebrew songs I have plenty and I'm willing to share. :)

Why Minecraft is Better than the Peace Talks.

As you might know, recently there have been some serious peace talks about whether or not there should be a two state solution. One state being Palestine and the other, of course, being Israel. Well, those peace talks haven't been going so well. Not much has been done to improve the relationships between Israeli's and Palestinians.

Until now.

Uri Mishol has been working on a project called Games For Peace where he connects students from Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and other Arab countries over Minecraft, a game that in my opinion is well worth spending hours playing. (If you don't know what Minecraft is heres a link to the wiki page: http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Minecraft_Wiki )

The idea has been very successful in connecting teenagers to each other and getting them to talk to each other about kid stuff and nothing very political. 

It's truthfully a wonderful creation because you really must put into consideration that in around ten years, these kids and young adults could be running these countries and the peace agreements will be in their hands. Teaching them that their countries enemies are not every single Palestinian or Arab or Israeli can help the future relationships in the middle east. We may not reach peace today or tomorrow, but with this new generation it's all very possible to happen in the near future.

If you're interested in the article: http://www.timesofisrael.com/can-games-succeed-where-diplomacy-fails/

Who Loves Matzah?

After five days of eating practically only matzah and shachar (chocolate spread) I can definitely tell you that it is NOT me. 

Pesach is difficult enough as it is, not eating any chametz for eight days but not being able to eat chametz while on a five day hike from the Kinneret to the Mediterranean Sea is even worse. You are forced to get as creative as possible when making your meals. Every lunch we would have to make our own food which included corn, salami, rice, tuna, cucumbers, tomatoes, and bell peppers. It was nearly impossible to enjoy a meal until we figured out that we can cook things together and make some decent meals. I was still always left hungry at the end of lunch but proud that our group of high schoolers could make something that didn't taste disgusting. It was truly a struggle to not eat any bread.

The whole idea of keeping Pesach while on a difficult hike got me thinking, this is what Israelis do every year. They take time off after the army or from work or whatever and hike from sea to sea without eating any chametz. At home I will see people eating matzah during lunch at school with PB&J on it or a matzah pizza and I will see people that don't even know what matzah is or why its the tradition, but in Israel, just about everyone will be eating matzah at every meal. Its not only a tradition among the Jews but its part of the culture here. Restaurants change their menus, stores cover up anything chametz, every Jewish household and synagogue burns their chametz in a big fire. Its practically impossible to find bread during Pesach. You'd have to search in the Arab quarter or in the Christian quarter. And I'm pretty sure even there it's difficult as well. The culture in Israel is so Jewish that you'd have to put in a LOT of effort to not keep kosher or observe the holidays. It's the kind of place that a person who grew up in a fairly Jewish community filled with "Jews" (people that call themselves Jewish without observing any holiday or high holiday) can fall in love with and potentially see Israel as their future home.

I can see myself living here in the near future. Deerfield is Jewish, yes I will admit it, we have three synagogues in our small little town, but the culture there is not Jewish. We celebrate Halloween and other Pagan holidays and I don't find them appealing or necessary. Yes Halloween is fun but it has no meaning for me as opposed to Pesach where we are celebrating yitziat Mitzrayim or the exit from Egypt while remembering the hard times our people went through to finally be free in Israel, the very place I am in right now. That is what a holiday should feel like. You should feel a connection to it and to your ancestors that you are remembering while celebrating or mourning. 

That's what's truly important.

One Year Ago

It's crazy to think that this time last year I began my fundraising for my four month semester trip to Israel. One year ago I was told it was not possible to get to Israel. 365 days or so later I am sitting at Kfar Tavor in the Galil writing about last years struggle. After a year of being optimistic and working my butt off to get here, it finally happened. I made my dream come true. My longtime dream of coming to Israel has been fulfilled because of my determination and my ability to convince my mother that I could do it. Despite her doubts, she was more supportive than I have ever seen a single person ever be to help someone achieve their goal. I am so grateful to have such a wonderful woman in my life and I would not be here without her. Both on earth and in Israel.

Thank you Mommy. <3

Who's Wearing What?

As many should know, clothing has not been the same throughout history. Teenagers were not wearing Uggs and Lululemon back in the time of the Tanakh. So the question stands, what did they wear? And what were the customs in different countries/areas back in those times? Well thanks to the Israel Museum, we can now visualize these outfits. 

In an article on the Times of Israel ( http://www.timesofisrael.com/events/dress-codes-revealing-the-jewish-wardrobe-5/ ) the different varieties of clothing options are shown. 

One thing that really stood out to me from the article was the theme of "Through The Veil" where dress for Jewish women is explained and how it was influenced by Islamic culture. A woman covering her body was an expression of modesty, which is not unlike today. To me it seems that this culture has been passed down and kept by the Hassidic and Ultra Orthodox around the world. This idea of a woman being modestly dressed as to not distract a man or "tempt" him is one I understand but don't entirely agree with. I believe that a person should have the ability and the right to express themselves through dress, piercings, tattoos (that is only to some extent) and what ever else they choose to express their feelings or personality.

Another thing I found important was the purpose of undergarments. Today we use bras and underwear for support which is similar for back then, but underneath all of the clothes, would draw attention to the parts of the body that this particular dress was meant to cover. 

The rest of the article is very interesting and I strongly suggest reading it if you get the chance.

What Makes You Jewish?

By the title you might think this is a blog post on what makes a person Jewish, which is only half right. The other half is whether or not I, Jenna Paige Solomon, consider you a Jew. 

****I would like to emphasize that these are MY PERSONAL OPINIONS and in no way at all what actually makes you a Jew.****

Coming from a very Jewish community like the North Shore of Chicago, I hear very often people saying they are Jewish at my school and many others in the area. My guess would be that around 60 percent of my school in particular considers themselves Jewish. I believe that around 10 percent of that 60 are actually Jewish. 

To me being Jewish does not mean that because your mother is Jewish, you are by default Jewish. To be considered Jewish in my eyes, you must have been called to the Torah for an aliyah during your Bar/Bat Mitzvah and you must have continued your Jewish study after to the point where you become confirmed or you graduate high school. I believe that if you do not go to high holiday services every year, you are not Jewish. If you do not observe Shabbat every once in a while (that most definitely includes a youth group event like NFTY or a temple youth group event) I do not consider you Jewish. If you do not have a basic understanding of the holiday you get off for school, I don't think I can consider you Jewish.

Though it may seem like I have very high standards, its an important topic to me and I feel like some people say they're Jewish without even realizing what that actually entails and without knowing anything about their religion.

Masada: Much Challenge, Such Asthma

Wow. If I have ever complained about not being able to breathe or that I'm having the most ridiculous workout, I was so wrong. 

We started off our day waking up at 2:30am to get all of our stuff ready to get on the bus and to leave by 3:15am to head for Masada. Needless to say, we were all exhausted and running on about four hours of sleep on average. The drive was about an hour and a half total, driving through the West Bank next to the Jordan river and south until we reached the bottom of Masada. It was still very dark and we were barely able to see each other. 

It was so dark and the flash was so bright, I can promise you, we were not high. 

The majority of us dressed in layers because it was freezing as we got off the bus but we all soon found out that within the first five minutes of climbing, layers were not the way to go. 

We must remember the Jenna has asthma and a sprained ankle and a bad back, so the struggle was very real. I ended up stopping every few minutes to catch my breath. And with every stop, I looked out at the Dead Sea and the rest of the land and it was all so breathtaking that I found it hard to catch my breath again. It took about forty minutes for me to get to the top. Sadly I didn't the chance to see the sunrise from the top but my friend Arianna and I stopped on the side about three quarters of the way up to watch the sun peak over the top of the mountains in the distance. It was one of the most beautiful things either of us have ever seen. We truly enjoyed sitting with each other and bonding the whole way up and having an experience together that we would never have again. We had great conversations on the way up (there's a possibility that we crawled the last few meters....)and finally made it to the top and hugged each other even if we were both sweaty and gross. (I may or may not of collapsed on the ground and just layed there for twenty minutes. Minor details.) The view from the top was unbelievable. Especially with the sun just beginning to rise. 

It was remarkable. 

Once we were all at the top (I wasn't the last one believe it or not) we had beautiful  t'filot (services) at the top all together. It was so peaceful and serene that I thought I might have been dreaming. Along with feeling ridiculously  accomplished. 

After services we started learning about why Masada was built. I hope you're ready for a little history lesson because I'm ready to spill out some info. 

So after the first temple was destroyed the Jews were sent to Babylon in exile. After about forty years they are allowed to go back and about 10% actually returned. A few hundred years later, Alexander the Great introduces Hellenism to Israel which is a form of Greek culture and it divided the country into pro hellenists and anti Hellenists. After a few more hundred years, there's a revolt and the people of Israel win and retake Jerusalem and rededicate the temple (which is the actual story if Hannukah) then Judea falls under the rule of the Romans and they get a new king named Herod. Herod rebuilt the temple. 

Now Herod was convinced that a lot of people were out to get him because he wasn't technically Jewish, so him being the paranoid king he was built a fort on top of Masada. If you go there, you will see that Herod always built things big. Very big. If you've seen a model of the second temple and Masada you'd understand. His fort on top of the mountain was luxurious with multiple bath houses, storage units and a view of every major road to make sure no one could attack him. 

After Herod's Rule, the Romans were still in charge and there was one group from Judea that believed in no foreign rule. They we're known as the Zealots. And this is the real story of Masada. 

The Zealots had a smaller group called the Sicarii who were much more intense and basically were extremist in a sense. They went to live at Masada for protection from anyone forcing foreign rule on them. They ended up being surrounded by Romans with no way to escape and so they decided it was better to die at the hands of their friends and family rather than their foes. They had a raffle and about ten names were picked. Those ten people, were chosen to kill each person. One of the ten would kill the other nine and then himself. 

And that was the fall of Masada. It was an emotional story to hear about and the choice they made was one that would be unthinkable today. I truthfully was in awe learning about the whole story. Having to choose between dying at the hands of someone you love and trust rather than dying at the hands of your enemy is a hypothetical question I could never answer. Both are equally terrifying. I'm still in awe of how that decision was made. All of the Sicarii gathered around their house of prayer and listened to one man make the decision for them. It's one thing to take a vote and it's another to take the word of one man speaking on behalf of a whole group of people. 

I will never forget the story of how Masada fell. Nor should anyone who has read this forget.