Answering the question: what role, if any do you want Israel to play in your life when you go home?

My idea of involvement with Israel after EIE is most likely completely different from most people on this trip's. A lot of people I'm sure are envisioning being the equivalent of Israelis who moved to the states, in that they will always be talking it up and connecting their entire lives to it. I know that a huge portion of EIE Spring 2014 is considering Aliyah in some way or another, whether they have concrete plans already in place or just a sketchy idea of what life might be like here. Even more of us are planning on coming back for some sort of gap year, or another school semester or year. Either way, most of us have plans to be back here for an extended amount of time as soon as they see it to be possible in their lives.
While I completely see and respect their plans and ideas, that is not where I would like my life to go. I am not planning on making Aliyah, in fact I don't think I would be able to live here for more than six months at a time. It's just too intense. I also know for a fact that (if there is a) next time I study abroad, I would like it to be in the UK, not Israel. I know I'll be back here, hopefully soon, but I don't think it'll be for any extended amount of time.
On the other hand, I have encountered lots of organisations and causes while being here that I would really like to help out and/or be involved in. Women of the Wall is definitely one of them, and I would at the very least like to come back a few times and pray with them on my own, and if I have the financial resources, perhaps donate some money to them. There is also the organisation (also headed by Anat Hoffman of Women of the Wall) called IRAC, which is an organisation that takes on the law and works to bring equality to Israel. Just the other day, they won a two year long case for a lesbian dance instructor named Nurit Melamed, who was outed and blacklisted by a Jerusalem Rabbi. Another cause that they work for that Anat told us about when she visited to speak is prejudices and discrimination against Arabs. There are many other causes that they work for, all connected to social justice and equality, but I can't remember them right now, and the IRAC website isn't working. At any rate, I could definitely see myself working with them at some point.
With regards to the role of Israel in my every day life back home (as in, let me finally answer the actual assigned question), I'm not really sure. Israel is very  important to me, and I know that I will always defend it. I don't really know what all I can do, aside from assure that people who reveal themselves to be ignorant on the subject have that rectified, and make sure to read the news every so often, both of which I will definitely do. I don't attend a summer camp, which for some would be another connection, but I do go to synagogue quite often, and through there I feel confident that I will not be left in the dark. Essentially, I would like for the role of Israel in my life to be pretty much the same - if on a bit of a larger scale - as it was before I came on EIE.

Predicting the Future and Relationships

This week, in honour of Israeli Independence Day, the Israeli news site called Haaretz posted a list of 66 Israeli women of note. For our assigned blog this week, we are supposed to write about one of them. I picked a lady named Dr. Kira Radinsky, who is a researcher at Technion Institute of Technology. What's special about her that caught my eye is that she has developed a (surprisingly plausible) algorithm to predict future global catastrophes. This caught my eye, because I love anything that has to do with the future and/or past... Basically anything that's not now. Not only that, but upon reading about her, I immediately thought of a certain algorithm in a certain book by a certain author (John Green), which is seen below.

This is the algorithm that the character Colin in the book An Abundance of Katherines developed to accurately predict how a relationship (theoretically any relationship at all) would go.

Of course, the only thing the two algorithms have in common, is that they are meant to predict the future. The one by Dr. Radinsky is of course much more important that the one by Colin. In fact, her discovery could be invaluable, assuming that it works 100% of the time. So far, apparently it has been successful a few times. I'm all in favour of her continuing her work in this, as it could very well save lives.

Kashrut

I was having a bit of trouble coming up with a blog topic for this week, so I'm sorry it seems sort of random. I decided to this time write about my experience growing up keeping kosher, because most of the people here didn't, so maybe I can spark some debate.
It has always been natural for me to keep kosher. Until a little before my Bat Mitzvah, I never even contemplated not keeping kosher. A few months before my Bat Mitzvah, right around my twelfth birthday, I had a discussion with my uncle, who doesn't keep kosher. He reminded me that once I became Bat Mitzvah, I could make my own decisions regarding my Jewish life. That was the first time it occurred to me that I could decide to not keep kosher, if I really wanted to. Of course, it became a moot point soon after, when I became vegetarian.
Even though it didn't matter what I did in practice, because I wasn't going to be eating meat anyway, it did spark an interesting line of thought for me. Ever since that conversation, I've often thought about kashrut, why people keep kosher, and the significance. I have formed some very distinct opinions on the subject at this point, although they aren't really ideological. My opinion is that the idea of keeping kosher is more for practicality and morality's sake, rather than God's. After all, the laws of kashrut require that the animals be killed humanely, as well as be kept healthy in life. The advantage of being humane is definitely attractive to me, as well as the fact that healthy animals are more healthy to the person consuming them, too.
Therefore, I'd have to say that, merely for my health's sake, if I were to ever stop being vegetarian, I think I would still keep kosher.
Thoughts?

Apologies

Okay, so I've been going back through my posts and responding to all the comments, but I've reached the beginning of February and realised that it's just been too long for me to really be able to respond adequately. I apologise for not responding to the older comments.. If someone has something specific they want to chat about, feel free to comment here.

Opinions and Anti-Semitism

 A few days ago in Jewish History, we talked about what it means to be Anti-Semitic in relation to your opinions on the state of Israel. Aaron (my Jewish History teacher) reminded us all that disliking things that the Israeli government is doing is vastly different from thinking the entire Jewish state should be pushed into the sea. That is a viewpoint that I wish more people would share.

Yes, I'm aware that a good number do, but it's the loud minority of fanatically pro-Israel people who convince the ignorant that you have to support everything about the state of Israel or risk being thought an Anti-Semite.

I definitely see Aaron's point, and I'm glad that I'm not the only one who thinks so. After all, there have been several things that the Israeli government has done over the course of my time as a person aware of world issues. For instance, I really wish that Netanyahu hadn't recently released so many prisoners for the sake of peace talks – especially since letting go of some settlements (and putting much fewer people in danger) would have worked just as well. The prisoners were locked up for a reason, after all. At the very least, someone should have made sure they weren't dangerous before releasing them out into the world. I don't really see how that opinion could be labelled as “anti-semitic”, do you?

There is lots of debate over whether various American politicians' expressed opinions on Israel could be considered anti-semitic or not. The opinions that I speak of are mostly along the lines of Israel not deserving to exist, and that sort of thing. It's the claims that Israel needs to be obliterated, wiped off the map, shoved into the sea, etc. that are anti-semitic. Disagreeing with something the Israeli leadership has done – and saying so – is not. The mistake that I believe people (especially politicians) too often make is blaming a country for it's leader's actions.

Basically, what I'm trying to say is that disliking a government is different from disliking a country. It's okay to disagree with the decisions of some high up politician, even when it's in the Holy Land. After all, we do it all the time in the States. What it's not okay to do is wish the entire country dead because of it.

This was supposed to be posted last night, sorry!

Okay, I've been assigned to write about another piece of Israeli culture. Last week, I wrote about a book I read. This week, I'm going to talk about the musician we just went to see. His name is Kobi Oz, and he used to be a part of a well known band by the name of Teapacks. Tonight he played us a huge variety of music - all of it with his own unique flavour to it, of course. His music is quite obviously Israeli, in every way, from the lyrics to the style.
A little bit about Teapacks quickly: they were formed from Oz and a few of his friends from Sderot along with a few people from some of the surrounding kibbutzim. This was something entirely unheard of, because the Sderot people and kibbutzniks didn't exactly like each other.
Okay, back to the music.
At first, I wasn't sure if I would like it. I looked up a song of his on YouTube, and I really didn't think it was my style. Boy, was I wrong. Now, I'm not saying that Teapacks is my new favourite band, but it definitely caught my interest. They combined eastern music with modern rock in a way that I have never heard before, and it was definitely fun to listen to. The music used instruments of all kinds, ranging from bass guitars to accordions to pianos to violins. At one point they even used one of those whistles that sounds like a train whistle.
He told us this story about the time that Teapacks went to play at Eurovision; let's just say they were unforgettable, and 210% Israeli. Oz decided to go for impact, rather than first prize, and so he wrote a song that he felt accurately described his life in Sderot. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your perspective, the song absolutely oozed Israeliness. It was full of their dark humour, and he performed it with an air that can only be described as chutzpah. (I'm hoping you all know what chutzpah is.. If not, comment, and I'll write another blog on it.) He told us the story of how they went there, not to win, but to shock. Of course, they succeeded.
It was actually that song that made me like them so much. It was just so gutsy, and so entirely Israeli, that it reminded me just how different - and awesome - Israeli culture is.

Pesach Seder

Last week was Passover, and with it came a Seder. This year, however, was different from all other years. Why is this year different from all other years, you might ask? Well I'll tell you. This year, aside from the obvious of being in Israel and therefore not in Chesterland celebrating with my family, the Seder was vastly different from any that I've ever been to before. At home, we go through the Seder and do every part, but it's in a special way: we play a game, and we do it sitting on couches in the family room. We do all sorts of things to cover each step, from skits to play-doh, but we cover each step in some way. Here, the Seder was nothing like that. We sat around a table as is traditional, but that's about where the similarities end. We sang kiddush, skimmed through the Hagaddah picking and choosing pieces to do, and chatted a lot. After the meal, we didn't continue the Seder. It was nothing like I'm used to, but I enjoyed trying a new and different tradition.