Purim Weekend, Part I: Am yisroel chai!

Last weekend I went to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and throughout it all I frequently thought about how I would attempt to describe it in a single blog entry.  My conclusion is that I cannot: it is utterly impossible.  From the moment I left on Friday noon to the moment I returned on Sunday evening, every moment seemed worthy of repetition, description, and prosaic musing.  Every person I met, conversation I had, song that I sang, and bit of joy I experienced seems deserving of notice in my mind, and yet the Blogosphere is already inundated with enough public cogitation, so I will refrain from writing a book about my single, wonderful weekend.

To begin the Reader's Digest version of my fantastic weekend, let me proclaim that I must be one of the only people who can travel to Israel and entirely avoid the holiday of Purim.  I intended to go to Jerusalem to celebrate Purim, thinking that a party in Jerusalem would be just as much fun but slightly less crazy than in Tel Aviv.  However, I found out upon arriving in Jerusalem that because it's a walled city, it celebrates Purim a day later, on Purim Shushan, because during the war in the story of Purim, the capital of Persia, Shushan, was a walled city and thus was the last to be attacked.  As such, walled cities celebrate Purim Shushan, and though I'm sure I was taught that in some Hebrew school lesson years ago, I promptly put it out of my mind as useless information.  (Walled cities in the U.S.?  Yeah..... no.)  So while I had hoped to celebrate Saturday evening, Jerusalem was celebrating Sunday evening, when I had to be back at the kibbutz.  Darnit.  But, I still had a great time.

I stayed in the Women's Heritage House Hostel in the Old City, which together with the men's hostel are owned and operated by Orthodox Jews.  They don't expect their visitors to be religious, but they do offer many opportunities for food and learning for those who are interested.  Free food?  Count me in!  Free home-cooked meals with families and lots of guests?  Even better!  Oh, and they all speak English.  Slightly detracts from the Israeli experience, but wonderful nonetheless.

I knew my weekend would be wonderful when the moment I entered the hostel I was immediately treated not as a guest, but as family.  Among the girls who were already there I felt welcomed and accepted as if I'd already been there for a week.  I had the impression it was normally like that, in one way or another, but it was such a fantastic way to begin my weekend.

Before getting placed with families for dinner on Friday night, we went to the Kotel (Western Wall), and I was utterly taken aback by how many soldiers I saw!  Apparently it's common to see large groups of soldiers going to the Kotel on Friday nights with their units/brigades/sections/whatever-the-classification-is.  It seemed as if I wouldn't even be able to get to the Kotel due to the large mass of soldiers and other people.  Luckily, that evening, touching the Wall became much less important than being in proximity with so many other people.

I began to hear vibrant singing from a large group of girls in front of me (keep in mind, men and women have separate sections, so I was completely surrounded only by women).  Not knowing exactly who was singing, I added my voice to the beautiful mixture just before loud, rhythmic clapping erupted behind me.  The group of female soldiers had formed a circle and started dancing, singing, and clapping to a variety of Hebrew songs.  Before long, the upbeat tempo of the soldiers had affected the girls' slow, moving singing and what ensued was the largest, most joyful impromptu singing and dancing session I have ever experienced.

Nearly the entire women's side was converted into large circles, one inside the other, of women young and old, soldiers and common citizens, religious and secular, all singing and dancing as loud and triumphantly as we could.  When we suddenly forgot the words to one song, someone would shout the opening melody of another one and off we would go, joyfully celebrating in one another's company and ruach (spirit).

I'll admit, there was a point before I started dancing when I was just absorbing the scene and imprinting the souvenir that I nearly cried out of sheer joy at what I was seeing.  Here, at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, were groups of Jewish girls from all different backgrounds and lives, dancing together and sharing in a singularly perfect moment which stemmed from nothing more than happiness and thanksgiving.  This improvised display of Jewish sisterhood was almost more than my emotions could bear.

And the same thing was happening on the men's side.  I'd like to think we had more fun, though ;)

That evening as I sat with strangers-turned-friends at a large Shabbos dinner table, I described this scene in all its glorious perfection.  We had been talking about how some Jews don't like Israel or even its existence as a Jewish state, and after experiencing what I did at the Kotel, I said "I feel that Jews who are against Israel simply haven't experienced it, because where else would you see so many Jews of so many different backgrounds and affiliations dancing and singing together unannounced?  This is Israel.  This is what it's all about."