Lately.

I read about the Gulabi gang in Bust Magazine the other day. They are a group of women in India who consider themselves vigilantes who take direct action against violence and injustices not just against women but the disadvantaged citizens of local towns and villages in India. Read about them..http://www.gulabigang.org/index.html

Just watched "Wristcutters: A Love Story"after a classmate mentioned that Tom Waits is in it. To add to my delight I find out that it is based on a book (Knellers Happy Campers) by one of my favorite Israeli authors, Etgar Keret. It was amazing and I would really recommend watching it.

http://shemspeed.com/store.php : Nice tunes
http://www.brooklynindustries.com : Nice shirts

XO

Choosing the Chosen, Chapter 1

As I am getting ready in the bathroom this morning I begin to say the Shema. I close my eyes and think of Jerusalem. Throughout the day the song that I remember from Friday night service that goes with the T’filah goes through my head “nanananana Adonai/nanananana s’fatai tiftach/nanananana u’fi yagid/u’fi yagid t’hilatecha”. I begin to laugh as I think of where this all came from, when did I memorize the Shema? See, I am not Jewish.
I am becoming Jewish.
When this comes out from my mouth, I am most often met with a “huh??”, or often another frequent three letter word, “why?”. One of my favorite response: “You can do that?”
A women at Hillel where I live said, “I’m always curious about converts, because this is such a hard religion, it’s a lot to take on”. She couldn’t put it in better terms.
It has been a two year process, this converting business. The journey has paralleled other profound events in my life. I guess I could say the events in my life have propelled my search for truth and for God. Events that landed me in my bathroom, in the morning, saying the Shema*

*Sh'ma Yis'ra'eil Adonai Eloheinu Adonai echad.
"Hear, Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One"

Life as a Nursing Student..

My patient today spoke Spanish only. I know hardly any Spanish.
"Como estas?" (emphasising the question mark not because its a question but because I'm sure Im screwing up the simplest phrase almost everyone knows)
She smiles and waves her hand back and forth.
I palpate her abdomen and she winches. I glance at my notebook that I conveniently wrote down a few words.
"dolor?"
"si"
I'm wishing I had paid attention to Dora the Explorer some more, surely my niece would know more Spanish than me. As she is speaking Spanish to me, I keep thinking of the response in Hebrew because that is the only other language I know. I almost respond "ani lo mayveena" (I do not understand) this will not help.
"Gracias" I say as I finish the exam
"Thank you.." She says very proudly
I smile and nod.
Time to learn some Spanish!

My favorite Sandwich..

Haloumi (Halumi) cheese

Cream Cheese

Pickles

Tomato

Lettuce=

Delicious

I had this sandwich for the first time at Israel's famous espresso bar Aroma. It tastes especially good with an ice Aroma, which is a whole different great thing. I've been making these sandwiches since I've been back and have had request about the making of them, so its simple here it is..

You will need these things. The cheese is imported from Cyprus, check your local markets (and Meijer also carries it)

Get everything ready: 2 slices tomato, lettuce to cover bread slices, 2 kosher dill slices (I put on a cloth to get extra juices out) and some cream cheese in a little dish. Slice the Haloumi cheese (it breaks easily so be careful), slice about 1/4 inch.

Put a splash of olive oil in a hot pan, put the cheese in and let it grill about 45 seconds on each side. It will start to get brown and bubbly. This is good :)

The layering is important. First spread softened cream cheese on wheat bread, lay down the lettuce on top of cream cheese, tomato and pickles (place vertical), then the Haloumi on top also vertically.

Classy and Smart.

Browsing through the bookselves the other day, one in particular caught my eye, "The Scarlet Letter". Looking at the cover I thought maybe it was a remake, like Pride Prejudice and Zombies, but nope it was the original but with a fantastic cover. Artist Ruben Toledo has revamped some classics from Penguin books with beauuuutiful covers!

The Couture Classics have arrived. Daily Candy joins the blog buzz over the new Ruben Toledo-designed Penguin Classics Deluxe Editions of Wuthering Heights, The Scarlet Letter, and Pride and Prejudice. Toledo, an award-winning fashion illustrator, contributes his couture-inspired artwork to Penguin's long history of excellence in book design- Penguin Books

Alef.

The uniform hangs there. An Olive ghost. It has hung there all day Saturday, a cruel reminder that tomorrow it will be possessed again, no longer lifeless. It is clean and perfectly pressed, a glimmering pin and light blue ribbons on the sleeves softens the harshness of the Army tone. He stands in front of it and stares, hoping maybe he can scare it into submission and it will tuck itself away back in the closet. But it's Sunday, the cruelest day for soldiers, and the uniform will not be defeated. So, slowly he puts it on.

Pants. Belt. Tourniquet in the pocket. Shirt. Beret. Gun.

And he says goodybe to his family. The elevator takes us down to the street where we walk quietly to the stop. And we go separate ways and wait until the next time when the ghost returns.

Creating Sustainable Culture

This isn't about the trendy "going green". It's called "permaculture" and the meaning is revolutionary. You don't have to be a hippy (ahem, all of you hippy haters..) and even if you think that global warming is a farce, you can't ignore the fact that we have a responsibility to protect the environment and to be conscious of the implications of our daily actions. This is more than environmental change, its social change, relational change..
Reform Judaism Magazine - Earthcare: An Ethical Culture Designed to Save Our Planet & Ourselves
This article talks with members of Kibbutz Lotan Center for Creative Ecology in the Negev of Israel who teach and practice permaculture.

"In the 1970s, Bill Mollison, an Australian ecologist,and one of his students, David Holmgren, developed the concept- a contraction of "permanent agriculture" (or sustainable agriculture) that soon turned into "permanent culture" (or sustainable culture). Permaculture is a culture, philosophy, and design method that teaches us to look at a whole system or problem, to observe how the parts relate, and to mend what needs fixing by applying time-tested substainable practices. For example, when we're about to purchase an item at the store, such as a bottle of milk, rather than think only of its immediate usuage, which is only a small part of the system, we consider the whole picture: Do I really need it, where was it produced, what materials is it made of,and always, what happens after its used, how will it be disposed of? To guide us in our decision-making, permaculture has a simple reference we call "the three ethics"
1) Care of the earth, including all living things-plants, animals, land, water and air
2) Care of people, promoting access to resources, self reliance, community responsibility and
3) Fare Share, placing limits on consumption to assure that the planets limited resources are used wisely and equitably. Now before we make our milk purchase, we can ask: "Care of the earth" questions: were the animals who gave the milk treated well? Were they fed sprayed food which might affect milk quality as well as the earth the food was grown in? Is the dairy farm local, avoiding pollution that would be generated from the milk's transport? We ask "Care of the people" questions: Does the farmer properly manage the manure so as not to pollute the local drinking water? Will the milk sale generate income for a neighborhood farm, increasing the liklihood that money will be resused efficiently within the local area? And we ask "Fare Share" questions too: Are part of the cow pastures and woodlands kept"wild" for wildlife? Can the milk bottle be reused or recycled easily or will disposing of it contribute to the landfill? Once we truly understand that we only have one planet Earth and her resources are limited, we appreciate that we are invested with the power to change Earth, for better or worse, in any decision we make. -Mike Kaplin, co creater, director and head permaculture teacher, Center for Creative Ecology