First order of business: I have recently recognized that there is very little mention of actual people in my blog both in my posts as well as my pictures. I hope this does not make you think that I have been going on all these adventures by my lonesome self. If you are concerned about my general welfare I would like to reassure you that I have met some wonderful people here which has been one significant aspect of this whole experience so far.
Second order of business: I wrote up a whole post on Saturday night but could not post it because my internet connection was not working at the time. So you are getting two rather long posts for the price of one. But don’t worry I will not hold it against you if you don’t read the whole thing considering you all lead very busy and exciting lives too. Just to give you some options, “post #1” is about my Shabbat experience last week which I would classify as an analysis of a Jewish community and “post #2” is about my trip along the Garden Route which I would classify as adventures.
Now that this is settled...
Post #1:
Sorry to bore you with my enlightening Shabbat experiences, but you are just going to have to deal until I get new material… at least I can promise you that this post will not mention any mountains. So moving on… this Shabbat was rather incredible. I went to a community called Sea Point to stay with an Israeli girl named Chagit who is employed by the Jewish agency to help bring Israel education and pride to the Cape town Jewish community. Prior to my arrival I was told by multiple parties that Sea Point is known throughout all of the Cape Town Jewish communities as “the place to be.” They have kosher restaurants, bakeries, imported Israeli bachurim, lots of classes and shiurim, a few shuls to choose from etc. So with all the build up, I was expecting to enter to New York of Cape Town.
Upon arriving at the shul on Friday evening I noticed that there were maybe around 100 people present. Though this is quite a large number I was expecting a much larger populace. Based on a variety of experiences throughout Shabbat I learned that the entirety of the Cape Town community is shrinking. Even in the places that seem to have it all, relative to other communities they are quite small and lack a youthful presence. The strange thing about this glaring reality is that apparently (and this is only word of mouth so it may not be exact) 90% of Jewish youth in Cape Town participate in the Jewish educational system. So while very few teenagers and young adults seem to be observant, they are for the most part knowledgeable of both their nation’s history and rituals. I would also venture to say that if they all attend Jewish day school, than their social groups must be inherently Jewish. As a result I am quite confused as to why there is such a small amount of kids who not only do not come to shul, but as I have learned, are not involved in the Jewish community at large.
The reason why the nature of the Cape Town community is of interest to me is because in America, the reason why so many people are not very observant is because of the lack of access to Jewish knowledge and education. This observation is by no means a judgment made on either community, for I personally do not measure anyone’s Judaism against others or say that it must be expressed in certain venues. Rather I am trying to construct the question of why, education, something that is scarce in America and is pinpointed as one of the primary reasons why American Judaism is an endangered religion, can be abundant in a different community, Cape Town, that seems to attract even less active, youth involvement? ( I sincerely hope that the phrasing of this question is not offensive to anyone, but if you have any insight, please share it with me).
One of the reasons I wanted to draw attention to the state of the Cape Town community is because the three wonderful Shabbat experiences I have had so far seem to all be direct responses to this exact issue. The shul that I attended this Shabbat has 3 different rabbis. One is the official rabbi of the shul and the other two are involved in the educational system. However the three of them all work in tandem to bring a unique diversity to the community that I have never seen before. Usually, the rabbi of the shul is the end all and be all, the central, authoritative figure whose decisions are accepted by community members. However in Beit Midrash Morasha, there are three voices that are all heard by the community. While this is a very recent development since the third rabbi arrived only six weeks ago, the interaction that I observed between the rabbis themselves as well as with the community members was really extraordinary. All three rabbis are very dynamic energetic figures whose words not only teach but truly inspire the congregants.
On Friday night, when the rabbi ascended the bimah to speak, he first congratulated the congregation on a beautiful davening which I was very moved by because seldom are people’s efforts to attend shul services and subsequently contribute a great deal of spirit to the service acknowledged. He proceeded to sepak beautifully about how while a lot of the decisions we make in our lives are between kadosh and chol (sacred and profane, which is a reference to havdalah and the difference between Shabbat and the rest of the week), this framework limits us to a very black and white way of thinking. Sometimes decisions must be made between kadosh and kadosh (a reference made to the havdalah that is said between Shabbat and a holiday that directly follows). Life is not always about doing something or not doing something, rather it is often about doing something in one way or doing it in another way. For example, the question should not be do I give to charity or not, instead the question should be should I give to this charity or that charity. By acknowledging the holy aspects of our lives that should be second nature to us, we are able to distinguish between different types of holiness, different types of spirituality as opposed to holiness or lack their of. I do not know if I fully do justice to what he said but I hope this summary is somewhat comprehensible because I was sincerely touched by his words and the passion with which he said them.
After a wonderful service that once again stabilized the roots that I have come to grow here during Shabbat, there was a special meal set up in the shul for “young couples and singles” as was publicized. I was a little skeptical of the title, but it turned out to be each rabbi and their family, a group of young married couples and all of the Israelis who are there to bring life to the community and me. The meals was beautiful and there was even a game set up where each person was given the name of a Jewish personality and they had to make an argument for why they were the most significant figure in Jewish history. The finalists were Rav Soleveichik, Rav Kook and the Marx Brothers Two of the three people who stood up to argue their case to all of the participants were the rabbis. To hear them make their arguments, especially for the Marx Brothers, to hear them take on such an informal and fun role at an informal and relaxed communal event continued to provide me with an understanding of how special this community and its leaders are. The ruach, the spirit, that was created on Friday night continued to grow on Shabbat day.
After the morning davening, there was a beautiful Kiddush bracha (as they call it in South Africa, don’t worry you will get another word at the end as well since you were not prepared this early) with so much wonderful food. I ate so well and so much over all of Shabbat which I have decided will be my plan for every Shabbat so that I can stock up on all my nutrients for the rest of the week. Afterwards, there was a remarkable shiur given by all three rabbis together. In a forum fashion, they discussed the question of whether the institution of the shul is for the benefit of the community or the individual. Each rabbi gave beautiful answers to this question that all presented different perspectives on the purpose of a shul that I had not yet thought of before. One of the rabbis discussed the importance of the shul as a gathering place for the community, but one must incorporate Judaism into all aspects of their life in order to grow spiritually and thus the outside world was the primary space for the Jewish experience of the individual. Another expanded upon this point by saying that while this is true, the shul can also act as a venue in which to practice and acknowledge all of those facets of the individual Jewish experience. The third raised the question that if a shul has to cater to so many different people with a variety of beliefs and practices than how can one fully be comfortable and gain as much as possible from being in shul. Many other interesting points were made, but I am just trying to convey the diversity of opinions among the communal leaders.
I was in awe not only of the rabbis and their ability to listen to each other while still holding some sort of collective authoritative position, but also of the congregants who all added their opinions into the conversation as well. This went on for around an hour and a half and the fifty or so people who were present were all extremely attentive and engaged. I have never been exposed to a community, whose leaders and members are all so willing to discuss such relevant topics in such a passionate way. I was also stunned by the willingness of the rabbis to all give their own authoritative opinions about the same important topic. This type of dynamic does not exist in the Jewish world. If other communities adopted this practice, where leaders cooperate with and listen to each other for the purpose of strengthening the community, the Jewish community could be a much more open and interesting institution. What struck me most about this whole situation was that within orthodoxy specifically, there is such a strong sentiment of doing things in a specific way and often defining that specific way by the terms set by the rabbi. Yet here there was a choice, an agency within ideas and arguably within practice that was offered to the members, who also were able to have a voice within this discussion.
Communities are too often founded on sameness, both in belief and practice. While I understand that the reason for this is to sustain tradition and history, I cannot help but think that embracing diversity within these communities would draw more people into them. Each person is inspired in a different way and by different things. It is also important to note that each persons Jewish experience is the product of different circumstances and a different amount of access to important resources. Taking all this into account it would seem obvious to me that the nature of a community should not only be founded upon the things that we share, but the things that differentiate us as well. While I understand this can get tricky because there are certainly difference among peoples beliefs and practices that may not mesh well in a communal setting, it seems to me that even within a group of people who define themselves similarly there is so much difference that is too often ignored.
The shiur was followed by a wonderful lunch at the house of one of the rabbis, where we had an enthralling discussion about where in the body (if at all) the neshama (the Jewish soul) lies. One idea that spoke to me that I would like to share is that it is the part of us that forces us to react to situations using our emotional and spiritual instincts rather than our animalistic ones. Many wonderful points were made and the list of intangible souvenirs received over this past Shabbat continued to grow.
For Seudat Shelishit (Saturday dinner), a special women’s meal was held. About thirty women from the community gathered together to talk, sing and eat. Once again an interesting conversation was initiated about the nature, meaning and experience of happiness which is a reference to the start of the month of Adar in which we are supposed to be happy. Each made a significant to the conversation; each thing that was said was something that I could relate to or was something that I strive to relate to. We discussed the ideas of balance, of working hard to achieve happiness, of comfort, of happiness resulting form that of others etc. While I know that this was a very cliché conversation for Jewish women, it was a truly enlightening and rewarding experience. To see the amount of involvement among all members of the community throughout Shabbat was so amazing and is something that I can only hope is somewhat present in the community that I decided to commit myself to later in life (shameless plug: come join our pluralistic moshav.. we can talk about this later).
Once again, when havdalah rolled around, which took place in the shul with musical accompaniment, I could physically feel the boundary between kadosh and chol. This Shabbat was incredible for so many reasons. While I know that all of the things that occurred this Shabbat do not happen every week, I could sense the uniqueness of this community. The primary reason why there is so much activity in Sea Point is a result of the lack of involvement among its members. There are so many efforts made to strengthen a community when it is in need of strengthening. As a result of this it seems rather easy to just maintain the status quo of a community when there is no crisis, but believe this type of shul, this type of leadership, this type of activity, this type of mentality could succeed in other communities as well. It seems like creative measures are often taken only when they need to be, but it seems to me that they always need to be so that people’s faith can constantly be strengthened, constantly be challenged. I understand that different types of people keep different levels of observance an I am not at all saying that everyone should keep a certain level. What I am saying is that it seems to me that if we were attempting to come up with novel ideas and events that brought the community together and challenged the beliefs of the individual simultaneously in some way or another, the communities we are a part of would offer more to its members and be stronger and more diverse.
South African Ulpan word of the day:
Just now – phrase – pronounced just now – a time specific phrase that refers to any period of time between a few hours and never. If someone says this to you chances are they will not be doing whatever it is they say they are for quite a while.
Though the Jack the plumber said that he would come fix the toilet just now, he did not come for another two weeks.
As Talie says, Peace, Love and Torah!
You can take a little break now.....
Post #2:
On Sunday morning, I, along with five friends, packed into a six person Zephira sedan and began traveling toward the Garden route, a stretch of beautiful beaches, mountains…obviously, forests and more strung together along the southern coast of South Africa. The seven hour drive to the furthest point was filled with majestic landscapes and scenery that strangely transformed from endless shorelines to tall mountains decorated with trees to empty plains of various shades of green to small hills covered in colorful clumps of rickety township homes. The weather changed just as quickly starting as a strong rain, morphing into a light drizzle and finally clearing completely making room for the sun to shine. Both experiences were so strange and definitely contributed to my confusion regarding the identity of South Africa, both physically and whatever is the appropriate opposite of physically in this context that I cannot think of at the moment. Accompanied by good music, interesting conversation and a bizarrely long pear roll (the best snack ever), the six of us attempted to make sense of this foreign country and culture with which we continue to try to acquaint ourselves.
Once we arrived at our hostel in Storms River at around seven, we settled into an awesome little shack made out of bamboo, ate a feast of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, granola bars and apples..mmmm, played pictionary by candlelight since the returning rain caused a blackout and went to sleep in preparation for the next few days adventures.
The next morning, the rain finally decided to stop right when we were we decided to go ziplining through the forest. Strapped into cool looking harnesses and helmets that made us all feel pretty hard core and thirty meters in the air (which is two or three times that measurement in feet) we flew through a beautiful variety of trees. The group of us were joined by an older South African couple named Aiden and Carol McNamara. It was so entertaining to see people who must have been in their sixties or seventies being so adventurous; seeing them made me realize that awesome experiences do not have to be confined to going abroad in college, but can be had any place and at any age. Following ziplining, we traveled to Tsitsikamma National Park where we decided to climb out onto a beautiful collection of rocks that sat on the shoreline of the Indian ocean. I had never seen rocks with so many different colors and jagged layers, they were beautiful and the view that they contributed to as a whole which included beach and mountains was collectively breathtaking.
While I realize I comment on the beauty of similar things so often in this blog, I would like you to know that I do not mean it in a purely physical way. Ever since being here I have developed a completely different type of faith that I have never had before; a faith in beauty, in the purity and simplicity of my surroundings that somehow make me happy, make me feel safe and content. While I can often connect this newfound faith to Judaism, I think that it also stands on its own in a very secular way. It is amazing to just be able to look at everything that is natural and have it affect you in such a positive way.
We then went on a really nice hike around the shoreline heading toward a waterfall. In the midst of our hike, we discovered a giant, deep cave that was beautiful and scary and reminded a few of us of the kind of adventures had by the characters in the show Lost. From then on we decided to think of ourselves in that way and imagined dramatic music playing in the background and scary unidentifiable creatures lurking behind the rocks. After an hour and a half of hiking and marveling at our surroundings, we arrived at the waterfall. Once we got there it started to pour and while it was extremely uncomfortable and cold at first, it quickly made the hike more exciting. Again I think that the reason for this can be attributed to my newfound faith in what is naturally around me. The hike back was quite enjoyable and pretty of course as we sang Disney songs and discussed what we dreamed of eating once we survived our hike. Once we completed it we changed into dry clothes and drove another hour to the town we were staying in that night called Knysna.
The following day, we visited an Elephant park and got to bond with a bunch of “ellies” as they were called by the tour guides. We got to observe, touch and feed them. It was an extremely humbling experience to be in the presence of living beings that are so much larger than humans. We constantly think that we are the most advanced and powerful species, that all others exist for whatever purpose we define for them. But these animals are so large, so complex; they have their own language, their own societies and yet they are demeaned, shrunk down to only their ivory tusks which are a prized commodity. As a result, elephants have been hunted for centuries simply to obtain their tusks. The majority of these humungous, friendly creatures are killed because of a tiny part of their physical make up will turn a profit. It was extremely sad to learn about this reality, to learn about the ownership that people often take of things, even lives that do not belong to them, to learn that people cannot acknowledge the worth of all the earths inhabitants and only look out for their own interest. But watching the elephants interact with not only each other but the human onlookers and learning that they have an average intelligence index over 100 made me understand that every species can work together, can relate to each other somehow, if we allow that progression to take place instead of placing ourselves atop the hierarchy of living things. Though this is quite a stretch, I must say that it was interesting to find out about the persecution of the elephants in a location where the relationships between different races seem to mirror the ones that exist between different species. I kept thinking about how certain people clearly make the same judgments and take the same action against their own kind, but due to a different skin color, this similarity is not acknowledged. Sorry for constantly overwhelming you with unnecessary analysis, but being in South Africa and being affected by so many different things, I feel like I need to pour out my mush of feelings and thoughts to fully communicate all the dimensions of this experience.
Anyway, staying with the theme of awesome animals we proceeded to visit Monkeyland. There we were able to see, touch, eat some snacks with a bunch of different kinds of moneys. They were also extremely interesting to watch and their ability to interact with humans confirmed the thoughts that I had while at the elephant park. When we returned to the hostel we decided to play Frisbee by the waterfront as the sun was setting which was stunning (I am trying to use lots of different synonyms now for beautiful since I use that word so often, so I hope you appreciate my efforts).
The amazing things that we had done and seen up until this point were all leading up to Wednesday, the day that we had decided to jump out of a plane and skydive. In the morning we all went to the beach to relax in preparation for our crazy pursuit. In the afternoon we arrived at the airfield in Plettenburg Bay prepared to touch the sky, prepared to defy gravity, talk to god and infiltrate a part of the world that up until now seemed uninfiltratable (can we just pretend this is a word?). Well sadly, the fluctuation of the wind prevented us from doing so. Though we waited for conditions to become more consistent and at one point were even allowed to put the harnesses on, the weather had different plans for us. A little dejected and disappointed we drove to our last night’s location, an old train converted into a hostel that sat right on the beach in a beautiful Mossel Bay.
Arriving at this awesome location I realized that while I am positive skydiving would have been an amazing experience, I did a huge amount of awesome things, seen so many magnificent sights and got to know an awesome group of people much better. Sitting on the beach with a new exquisite view to gaze at, I could not feel like I missed out on anything. I AM IN AFRICA!!! With that attitude the six of us decided to just hang out on the beach and build a fire (or attempt to at least) under the stars into the morning. Singing nineties songs and going into the freezing cold ocean (and for some of us watching people go into the freezing ocean a.k.a. me) I realized how positive the whole experience was and how many amazing things I had seen in such a short period of time.
This trip capped off an almost-month-long period of the beginning of a new word that I have been introduced to. While I am still constantly consumed by different emotions, surrounded by different people and find myself in a variety of new locations, I do feel like I have made progress, I have begun to understand things that I had no means of understanding almost one month ago. I have explored and experienced my surroundings first hand and have grown so much as a result, but I think it is time to put it all into an academic context (through classes which start tomorrow) and into a interactive context (volunteering). I cannot even imagine the amazing lesions that I will learn as a result of this next chapter.
Since you already learned a word and also survived a huge amount of text I am not going to give you a word, rather I am going to teach you how to communicate with people on the road while driving in South Africa..on the left side of the road of course. When someone wants to pass you, it is common practice to move over to the shoulder and as the passer takes the lead, they blink their hazard lights in gratitude. Sometimes the person who let the other car pass them, will then blink their hazard lights in thanks of the passers thanks. It is all very nice and makes you feel interestingly connected to people you will never meet.
Uch… Stupid Giants!
