The title of this post comes from the lyrics of the David Broza song "Mitachat Lashamayim," and literally means "We have time." However, since my schedule is so jam-packed, I added the Hebrew word "Kzat," which means "a little." Yes indeed -- I have little time!
But even though classes and homework take up nearly every waking minute of my day, I somehow found time this week to take in three cultural events around Jerusalem.
Tuesday night I saw David Broza perform at the Y -- however, it unfortunately wasn't my beloved 92nd Street Y; it was the YMCA located just a mere three minute walk from my apartment in Jerusalem. The concert was sponsored by an organization called Search for Common Ground and was included as part of their annual awards ceremony for Middle Eastern Journalism. While I'll fully admit that I attended with the sole purpose of hearing David Broza perform, I was actually quite taken by the journalists' acceptance speeches. It reminded me how much I love and miss working with the media. At the same time it also reinforced just how much that world informs the life I'm leading in Israel.
First of all, I should note that all three award recipients were women -- a fact that I thought was incredible for a country where women are seen from a religious standpoint as second-class citizens. One woman came from France and spoke about observing Arab and Jewish children learning side by side within the five bilingual schools located within Israel. One of them was a Palestinian woman who told the story of how difficult it was for her and her mother to cross border checkpoints so that her cancer-stricken mother could receive care in an Israeli hospital. Once she made it across, she was struck by the kindness of the doctors who fought to save her mother's life -- she discovered that the hospital was the one place in Israel where all of the country's religions came together as one.
The last speaker also spoke about peace within a hospital setting and offered probably the most riveting story of all: She was a religious Jewish woman - and the wife of a 9/11 survivor - who made aliyah several years ago. Her cousins came to visit her in Israel as part of the celebration for their youngest daughter's Bat Mitzvah. They had plans to meet up at a shoe store on Jaffa Road (a main Jerusalem street), and as she walked towards the store she was startled by a blast, followed by a plume of smoke. A terrorist attack, right in front of the very store in which she was to meet her cousins.
Fortunately, the woman and her family members all survived -- although the Bat Mitzvah girl was rushed to the hospital with her eyes swollen shut. The doctors feared that her sight could have been damaged beyond repair -- until they airlifted her to Hadassah Hospital, where a young Palestinian ophthalmologist was able to restore her vision. Although one Arab was the perpetrator of the attack which injured the girl in the first place, another Arab was able to rescue the girl so that she could continue to lead as normal a live as possible. The story shows that you can't pass judgement on an entire group of people, and also that terrorist attacks like the one in the story are unfortunately a reality of life in the Middle East. Fortunately, only one has occurred during the three months I've been here, but that doesn't mean I'm not immune. This story was a bit of reality check.
And because the woman's version of the story is so much more riveting than mine (which is of course why she got the award...) I've included a link to her acceptance speech:
http://www.commongroundnews.org/article.php?id=24352&lan=en&sid=0&sp=0&isNew=1
Of course, David Broza's 40 minute set of some of his greatest hits was amazing -- especially since I'm slowly starting to understand some of the lyrics!
Thursday night I ventured to the Merkaz Hamagshimim, a JCC-type center affiliated with Young Judea and Hadassah. I had first heard about it from one of my Y colleagues, who met her husband there during her very first week of the year she spent studying in Israel. They have lots of lectures, social events, and theater -- for example, a few weeks ago I might have mentioned that saw a production of "The Complete History of the United States Abridged" directed by a Canadian with a cast that included Brits and Israelis. Go figure.
This week's production was a one-woman show called "After Eden," starring my friend Aviella's roommate Yael. As its name suggests, it basically told the story of Adam and Eve after their expulsion from the Garden Eden, with a specific focus on the sibling rivalry between Cain and Abel. Yael played five characters over the course of the evening, including Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, and the Land, which she described as the "witness" to all of the events. Each characterization was incredibly creative and convincing, and featured the use of representative gestures and props. Cain, the obnoxious murderer, became a gangsta rapper!
Before the show, the actress did a workshop in how to create what she calls bibliodrama, which essentially attempts to fill in some of the gaps within biblical narrative. Think of it almost as madlibs, if you will, but with more of a thought process. The interesting thing is that my cantorial texts class, taught by the fabulous Rabbi Millgram, attempts to do almost the same thing through written work instead of dramatization. I'm going to be writing a paper on a biblical character (right now it looks like it's going to be Deborah) in which I offer my own interpretation of the information that's not included in the text.
Lastly, on Friday afternoon Rebecca and I went to see a concert given by the Aeterna Chorale featuring acappella arrangements of various Jewish liturgical pieces, many of which featured melodies I had never heard before. Hearing these songs reminded me why I'm studying to be a cantor. There were pieces from the baroque, classical, romantic, and contemporary periods, all of which had Jewish and/or liturgical themes, and I want to work towards brining them into both the mainstream secular AND liturgical repertoires. There's no reason why all of the tunes featured in the concert can't be used in modern synagogue settings, especially since most of them were acappella and therefore wouldn't pose any halakhic problems for people that don't believe in having musical accompaniment during services. My task now is to decipher the program -- which is all in Hebrew -- so that I can figure out which pieces were actually performed!
And yes, of course I asked the conductor if I could audition to sing with the group -- but, alas, he told me I couldn't since I'm only here for the year. He actually kind of laughed at me for having the nerve to ask! That's okay, though -- perhaps I'll try to start a similar choir when I get back to New York next year! :)
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