Kippot

Now that I'm officially future clergy, I've been trying to find ways to deepen my Jewish practice. One of the things that I have been doing is wearing a kippah (Jewish head covering) at times when I am not praying. I don't wear one all the time; just a lot more often than I used to. I'm not quite sure how I feel about this practice yet. Does it really deepen my connection to G-d? I don't know yet, which is why I'm still experimenting with wearing it more often and not just wearing it 24-7. One of the things that I have been doing is that if I put it on to daven shacharit (pray in the morning. . . something I've been trying to do more of anyway, though it's hard to get up because I'm not a morning person), I'll just wear it all day. Since we have a communal shacharit at HUC on Thursdays (i.e. praying doesn't require me getting out of bed any earlier than normal), I end up always wearing my kippah all day on Thursdays. While no one would look twice at a woman wearing a kippah in Los Angeles, in Israel, whether I like it or not, it's a political statement. Last Thursday night, I had a late rehearsal for a concert about women's rights as they pertain to religious pluralism in Israel. Good stuff. It's chamber style, which is something I want to be doing more of anyway. Singing first soprano, which should only surprise those who haven't heard me sing for a while. Anyway, rehearsal ended at 10, and there was no way I was cooking dinner that late, so I decided to stop at Burgers Bar (never fear, I am still a vegetarian, they have a great portobello mushroom sandwich). The following conversation happened between me and a cashier.

Cashier: You're a girl, and you're wearing a kippah.
Sara: Yes, of course.
Cashier: But why?
Sara: Why not?
Cashier: It's weird for women to wear kippot.
Sara: But I'm Reform.
Cashier: What's that?
Sara: It's kind of like religious, but egalitarian. (Side note: I don't mean to offend any of my friends who are more traditional than I am; this was the only way I could come up with to explain it on the fly to an Israeli who has never heard of Reform Judaism, in Hebrew nonetheless.)

Then, a young guy wearing a kippah came up to me.

Young Guy: You're wearing a kippah?
Sara: Sure.
Young Guy: Why?
Sara: Why not? Women can wear kippot too.
Young Guy: It looks nice.
He then put another kippah on my head over the one I was already wearing and told me to keep it.

I must reiterate: This would NEVER happen in Los Angeles. In LA, I used to lead Saturday morning minyan at my shul and then go out to lunch while still wearing my kippah, sometimes even to Israeli restaurants, and no one would say anything to me because no one cares. I feel like there's this perception in Israel that in order to be a religious Jew I must be Orthodox. But Jews come in all shapes and sizes and observance levels, and it kind of bothers me that a woman wearing a kippah in public is virtually unheard of in this country. If your understanding of Judaism leads you to believe that women shouldn't wear kippot, that's fine, but my understanding of Judaism leads me to believe that it's wonderful for women to wear kippot, and that should be fine too. I want to connect to G-d too! I want to wear a kippah and pray with a tallit, and if that doesn't fit into someone else's schema of Judaism, how is that my problem? My Judaism is no one else's business, unless I'm somehow personally affecting you (i.e. I use my religious beliefs as a justification for beating you up or personally insulting you or something). Why can't I just walk around Jerusalem in my kippah and not have anyone comment or look at me like I'm an alien?

Anyway, in a few days, I'm leaving for Berlin for a conference, and then Belarus to lead Pesach programming. I will be leading seders in Minsk and Baranovichi, as well as leading Pesach music for elementary school kids and singing in a cantorial concert in Minsk. I'm going as part of the Former Soviet Union Pesach Project, which is run by the World Union for Progressive Judaism. I am beyond excited. I will make sure to post after the trip is over.

Purim!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A lot's been going on here recently, which is why I've been so lax about posting. But I wanted to talk about Purim. Purim is one of my favorite Jewish holidays, because it's basically an excuse to dress up and party. Hooray! If you don't know the story of Purim, you should check it out. I'm linking the Chabad website because it has more than one version:
http://www.chabad.org/holidays/purim/article_cdo/aid/1473/jewish/The-Megillah.htm
So, yeah, awesome story with the theme of "they tried to kill us, we won, let's eat." And when we read Megillat Esther (the scroll with the story of Purim), we get to use these awesome things called groggers in order to blot out Haman's name.

If you forget your grogger at home or don't have one, never fear; you can always boo, or hiss, anti-Stanfurd style. And you know what's even cooler about Purim? We get to eat hamntaschen, or oznei Haman in Hebrew (literally translates as "Haman's ears"). They're these delicious triangle-shaped cookies that are supposed to look like Haman's hat. . . or ears if you're Israeli. In the US, they're usually filled with jelly or poppyseed, but here they have such interesting flavors as date and halva.

Now that you are all as excited about Purim as I am, let me tell you how it was in Israel. The Friday before Purim, Max and I headed to the elementary school where we songlead to go sing some Purim songs with them. Well, the songleading part didn't really work out as planned, but the kids looked awesome, and we got to experience what Purim is like at an Israeli school. The costumes were really elaborate. Think Halloween in the US, but on steroids. Apparently, they had dressed up every day that week, with each day being a different theme, and then Friday was a free for all. WHAT!?!?!?! When I went to Jewish day school, they only let us dress up for ONE day!!!!! Their were some really cool costumes. One kid dressed up as a falafel pita. Another kid was an Israeli astronaut. There were a lot of clowns. And there were definitely some costumes that would have been considered politically incorrect in the US. It was also the loudest assembly I've ever been to, but it was still really fun.

On Saturday night, a bunch of us went to Modi'in to read Megillat Esther at a progressive community there. That was a lot of fun. Kind of crazy, though. Lots of cute little kids running around. I can't explain why, but the experience felt very Israeli. It was just totally different than reading the megillah at Temple Judea or Hillel or wherever else I've ever spent Purim. . . actually last year was Ikar I believe. . .  The costumes were so cute. My favorites had to have been where the parents dressed up their babies. So cute!

Since Jerusalem is a "walled city" (well, only a very small part of it, but close enough), we celebrate something that is called Shushan Purim, which basically means celebrating Purim a day late, so we had an EXTRA day of Purim. Yay! On Sunday night, we read Megillat Esther at HUC. Here is a ridiculous picture of me chanting. It's on Facebook, but I realize that not all of my family members have Facebook. . .

I don't actually know what's happening in this picture. It just is and we shall have to let it be. Before we heard the megillah, we had a ma'ariv service. Led by puppets. Really. A Chassidic guy puppet and a camel puppet. The camel puppet acted as the cantor. It was so ridiculous that it was amazing. After the megillah reading was over, we had the Purim Shpiel, which was Michael Jackson-themed. Among other things, I got to play Teresh, one of the evil servants plotting to kill Ahashverosh, and sing "Smooth Criminal." Someone videoed it, and when I find out where it is, you will get to see it. We also had an HUC party afterwards that was a lot of fun. I did go out for a bit afterwards just to see what Purim in Jerusalem looked like, but I didn't stay out for very long because Sunday was a big day. In any case, Purim in Jerusalem is a bit nuts. Almost too nuts for me, so it's a good thing I didn't stay out too long.

On Sunday morning, I woke up bright and early to chant Megillat Esther at the Kotel with Women of the Wall. It was my first time EVER chanting anything at the Kotel, and I was shaking in my boots. I got to read the entirety of Chapter 6. The anticipation of reading was killing me. I didn't know how I wanted to do it. Did I want to get through it quickly? Or did I want to be expressive? Did I want to chant loudly or quietly? What would happen if they were to arrest me? But it all worked out fine, and I am SO SO SO SO SO glad I did it. I'm going to post the video of it here. If you have your own copy of Megillat Esther and want to follow along, note that my trope is not entirely correct since I was nervous, but I am still beyond proud of myself.

After that came my favorite part of Purim: hanging out with the wonderful and amazing Dana, who I had not had the pleasure of seeing since last June. We got to eat delicious food, I got to meet one of her college roommates, and we played major catchup. We unfortunately forgot to take a picture (I blame the blond hair. . . I know I use that excuse way too often, but it's so convenient). It was so refreshing to have one of my closest friends from home here in Israel. And it was especially amazing because (friends in LA, please don't hate me), I have a job for this summer and probably will be spending all of two weeks in LA.

Anyway, ta ta for now! Someone please get on my case about posting more often.