ShaNa ToVa

Sunday, October 02, 2005


The day before the Eve of Rosh Hashana, 5765, becoming 5766!

Hello!

Tomorrow night, when three stars show themselves in the sky, the year will change to 5766. I am very surprised that there are no flying cars in the future or that teleporting has not become a viable mode of transportation. I came to Israel / Palestine in 2005, stayed two months and it became 5766. Wow! Am I any older? What does that make me for MCC...a Super-Continuing-Worker?

As you may or may not know, there is a religious Jewish calendar, as well as the Roman one the world uses. Col Olam: the whole world....

So, apparently, if you add up all the numbers in the Bible right and do all the math, like the Orthodox Jews do, then God rested 5766 years ago. Of course, we know through science that the earth is millions of years in the making; and that the Bible is loaded with all sorts of symbolism and special emphasis on numbers like 40 and 7; but this is a sort of dualism and apparent-contradiction that one can live with. What I mean is, even though we equip ourselves to intelligently understand that the evolutionary process takes millions of years, with God lovingly moving creation along its destined course, there is also a distinct connection with God by going through the Hebrew Bible, pouring over it and adding all the numbers, determining the value and worth of things.

Madonna and Britney Spears think it is the coolest thing since Pepsi and the Mickey Mouse Club; but kaballa is something that has a mysterious order about it, which those two croonettes somehow cheapen. Every letter in the Hebrew alphabet is assigned a number, up to 22, and then each word or name is added for a value. Maybe you keep adding until you get a single number? There are apparently some legitimate Kabbalists who can know your name and your mother's name and then tell you your life's path. Yes, yes, numerology...and no, no, I am not endorsing it....I am simply talking about what I learned today.

Okay. I think I'll stick to what I got going on; but good to know....

Today at the ulpan - Hebrew language school - all us talmeedeem - students - came dressed up in white shirts, ate apple slices dipped in honey, heard the story about the New Year's symbolism: about how it is the beginning of the two weeks of apologies to God and people while God records our behaviour before Yom Kippur, where-upon God stamps his approval or disapproval of us for the year. Very different from my experiences with Christianity but I respect the tradition and eagerly soaked up the information. The coolest part was all the info was given to us in Hebrew but we are at the point now where we can understand what things mean...that is if someone talks to us like to a child. But like I told my friend, Matan, the other day: there is no Yom Kippur for Christians because in our narrative Jesus paid, once and for all time, for the grievances of humanity. Okay, I won't ramble on.....

We had a school-wide assembly where some buzz-cut old folk-singing lady with a rainbow scarf draped around her neck led us for an hour in Hebrew songs, traditional songs, celebrating the New Year. I enjoyed clapping out cool beats to the delight of my friends and chair dancing, having a good time. I think the weirdest part was when they handed out all these glasses of sweet wine. I have never drinken alcohol at a school-sanctioned event...well, I mean, I have never drinken alcohol given to me by teachers....Is that even legal in Canada? It was certainly SWEET wine. Wow. Darren likes sweet wine; the other students don't...who helps them with their sweet wine? Certainly not Darren!

Tomorrow, at about noon-time, I am going with my friends Matan and Yael to Matan's mother's house in Haifa to celebrate Rosh hashana with their whole family (rosh means head and shana is year and the ha is the article "the"). There will be Matan's brother, his wife and kids, her parents. The Grandparents, the aunts and uncles....and me. Interesting to say the least. I told Matan not to worry about me being a vegetarian; I'd rather eat meat than feel uncomfortable about telling his family no, especially to traditional and honoured dishes....here's hoping there no goat testicles on the table, eh? Apparently there's fish heads...but Matan said I don't have to eat one... I'd do lousy on Fear Factor.

On Tuesday I am going to a Zochrot employee's Rosh Hashana (New Year's) party; so weird, I keep thinking, that this is going to be the year 5766. Where's ziggy stardust and my spacesuit? Maybe I'll play the song, A Dream, by welkin, over and over.

I had a wonderful meeting today with Eitan Bronsten, the director of Zochrot, today after school. We talked for an hour and ate two bowls of hummous each. In fact, we made plans to go to Akka on the 20th of October to go to the Israeli-Palestinian man, Said's, restaurant to have the best hummous in all Israel (hey BETHLEHEM...I'M NOT KNOCKING FATEEM'S....I SAID ISRAEL). In regards to Zochrot, I have been feeling a little out of the loop, lately, with being so busy with ulpan and living that I never saw Zochrot. We agreed that I should come into the office Tuesdays for a couple of hours in the afternoon, so that I can just be around - do some work and continue on in the video editing stuff; really trying to get the streaming going. If you know anyone who knows about streaming, let me know; I need to figure it out. It just confuses me....

I am relaxing right now, really grooving out to my favourite band's latest album, Strangers and Exiles. Welkin is AWESOME- they make me feel alive. they remind me that I have a mission in life and they show me where to draw my Energy. Porterhus, listen to Welkin, will you - that'll make your day! And if your name ends in Powell, listen to Welkin tonight, eh? Do it for the Dude, will ya?

Okay, peace out and lehitra'ot (goodbye) for now from Tel Aviv...a crazy city in a crazy place
with a crazy Canadian living in it!

That's what Matan has been calling me lately....the Crazy Canadian!

Darren