"L'Hitraot, Yisrael "- See you Later, Israel

Friends,

It's time for the final blog post from Lincoln 12.

I've gone through such a wide range of emotions in the past few weeks and now, I can honestly say that I'm ready to leave. Of course it's emotional and I'm sad, but yesterday, I had an epiphany.

As I was finishing my Israel Seminar paper, scrolling through this trusty blog to help me remember some details of trips, I realized how much I've accomplished in one year. Looking back through all of the "highlight" pictures on the blog and reading the headlines, it suddenly became clear that this year has been made up of one incredible experience after the next. The amount of stuff that I've seen and experienced and learned is simply unreal.

I've lived by the Jewish calendar for a year and learned to speak Hebrew. I've formed a relationship with Israel and made life long friends. I've formed connections with Israelis and found a home in a Reform congregation just outside of Jerusalem. I've learned Israeli songs and seen David Broza live at Masada. I've toured all of Eretz Yisrael and visited seven other countries. I've found a passion for bike-riding and grappled with liturgy, biblical grammar, and weekday nusach. It's impossible to list everything- the list would go on forever. It's been one hell of a year.

I'm not the same person that I was a year ago when I stepped off of that plane. This year in Israel- the people, the places I've visited, my studies, Israeli culture- it has all had an impact on me and I will carry these experiences with me wherever I go.

Friday afternoon I went to Supersol to pick up chicken for my last Shabbat dinner. I walked over to the counter and in Hebrew, I told my regular butcher guy that it would be my last visit because I'm going back to the States. He asked me why and I told him that my family, my school, and my life, is all there. He looked sad and told me that I should stay. I thanked him for all of his help and patience throughout the year and for all of the wonderful chicken that he's provided me with. He thanked me, wished me well, we said our goodbyes, and I was off. I had a tear in my eye! A year ago when I first arrived, I went up to that same butcher counter and didn't know how to ask if the chicken was fresh. Look at me now! It was touching.

Now that the finals are over, the papers all turned in, most of the goodbyes said, it feels strange. Anti-climactic in a way. We've been working and pushing so hard the whole year and now we just pack up and leave. But, it's time. The academic year is finished and I've done everything that I wanted to do. I've made the most of my Israeli experience and I'm thrilled. I'm leaving very fulfilled, with no regrets. I'm ready for this door to close and for the next to open. I know that my experience in Israel has become a part of me forever, and as corny as it sounds, this year will always live on in my heart.

The thing I'll miss most about Israel are the regular, every day occurrences- walking through the park to Yoel Solomon, the gorgeous view of the King David and the YMCA from my bedroom window, or strolling down Ben Yehuda at night and taking in its unique atmosphere. I'll miss the beauty of this crazy city of Jerusalem that has become my home this year.

The other thing I'll miss are the people. I have met so many wonderful Israelis this year. They are warm and welcoming and have such pride in their country. When I think about Israel, I'll miss the people I've connected with, and I'll wonder how they're all doing- Asher, my cab driver, my buddies at Supersol, the friendly orthodox man who owns the makolet (corner store) on my street, Yinon- the guy who sold me my bed last summer, Ron- the bike guide from Ride for Reform, my fabulous host family from Binyamina, Bridgette- my travel agent, the Parallel Lives soldiers, the professors at HUC, Ofer- the Rabbi at Tzur Hadassah, and of course, the most incredible person I've met all year- Benny.

There's nothing left to say, except, THANK YOU. Thank you to everyone who made this the most incredible year of my life.

I know I'll be back soon, and I don't do goodbyes...so Israel, I'll see ya later.

One last time...Signing off from Lincoln 12.

Much Love,
Leslie




Jerusalem Day!

Last Shabbat dinner at my place

It's hard to believe...

In exactly one week from today, I will be leaving Israel. It's really hard to wrap my head around.

Today was my first day of a long week of finals. Liturgy and bible went fine, but my head is just not where it needs to be. It's hard to focus on studying, writing papers, and finals, when all I can think about is packing, reflecting on my year, and anticipating what is to come- leaving, visiting friends and family I haven't seen in a year, singing Shabbat services with Lori at Beth El, writing a sermon about my year in Israel, and preparing to ship off to camp for the summer. It's a lot to think about- enough to make me stressed out, not to mention, emotional.

I'm trying to keep it all in perspective. It's natural for things to come to an end, and to be sad about it. I've been here a year. It's time to move on to the next step. Time to close this door and open the next one. I understand it in theory, but I don't want to face it. I'm so sad about letting this year go...I guess it's good to remember that even though my year is almost over, it will always live on in my mind and in my heart.

Here's to staying in the moment, keeping focused, and enjoying my last week in Israel.

Love,
Leslie

p.s.- Summer is here. The heat is ridiculous. I totally forgot it gets this hot in the summer in Israel.

I'll leave you with some pictures from May.

Lag Ba'omer in the park


Lag Ba'omer in the orthodox neighborhood

Christian Asian choir singing on Ben Yehuda

Mea Sharim, orthodox neighborhood

Kotel at night

Last Shabbat at school with the gals


Chanah Sagie, best hebrew teacher in the world at my apt with Hebrew class for brunch!

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faculty/student soccer game

crazy mime on Ben Yehuda

9 day countdown- reflection on the Israeli Yamim Noraim

Friends,

Tonight is my 2nd to last Shabbat in Israel. After today, I have 9 days left before my return to the States. Yesterday it finally hit me that I'm really leaving. I'm leaving my friends, my support system, my routine-the life that I've grown accustomed to over the past year. I'm trying to enjoy the bit of time I have left here, but it's hard with everything going on. I have finals this week, and packing to worry about, and then there is the reflection/assessment/emotional stuff to deal with. Wednesday was our wrap up Israel Seminar at my teacher's house. Yesterday was our last Hebrew class- I hosted the class at my apt. for brunch, followed by a faculty appreciation ceremony at school. Tonight is our last Shabbat at school with end of the year programming. So many "lasts," "wrap-ups," "thank-you's," and "goodbyes." I hate goodbyes. Actually, I refuse to do them. I just say, "I'll see you later." It's going to be an emotional, tear-filled 9 days.

Let's rewind a bit. I want to share with you some details about Yom Hashoa, Yom Hazikaron, and Yom Ha'atzmaut. These three spring holidays are known as the Israeli Yamim Noraim - days of Awe. Yom Hashoah, which commmemorates the Holocaust begins a national week-long mourning period. As HUC students, we received tickets to attend the National Yom Hashoah service at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum in Jerusalem. The ceremony was incredibly moving. The theme of this year's ceremony was "Children of the Holocaust," and the survivors lighting the torches were youngsters when World War II began. Before each survivor lit a torch, they told their story via pre-recorded video with pictures and music. It was a phenomenal presentation. Perhaps the most unique aspect of this was the story of a set of twins who survived together in the camps through terrible experiments and torture. After all that they went through, both of them were miraculously able to have children of their own many years later. The whole ceremony lasted about an hour and a half- All of Israel's dignitaries were there. There were beautiful music interludes, readings, and speeches, and the evening closed with the IDF (Israel Defense Force) Chief Cantor singing El Maleh Rachamim followed by a powerful Hatikvah.

Something about the Holocaust ceremony felt different than Yom Hashoah services or ceremonies that I've attended in the States. It was the first time that I've heard Israeli Holocaust survivors up close and personal. In all of the videos, the survivors spoke about Palestine as the promised land and that was what kept them going. My past experiences as an American have been with Holocaust survivors who emigrated directly to the States. Being here for Yom Hashoah really drove home the point that Israel was established as a safe haven for Jews '48 in response to the Holocaust. If the Holocaust did not occur, I believe that it would have taken many more years for Israel to become a nation. It was much more powerful to experience Yom Hashoah in Israel because the entire country mourns: On the eve of Yom HaShoah and the day itself, places of public entertainment are closed by law. Israeli television airs Holocaust documentaries and Holocaust-related talk shows, and low-key songs are played on the radio. Flags on public buildings are flown at half mast.

Yom Hashoah Article

Siren Article

Yom Hash story

The day after the ceremony at Yad Vashem, we had our own Yom Hashoah memorial at school in the courtyard immediately following the 10am siren. At 10:00 am sirens sounded throughout Israel for two minutes. During this time, people cease from action and stand at attention; cars stop, even on the highways; and the whole country comes to a standstill as people pay silent tribute to the dead. Our ceremony at school was lovely. There were Holocaust songs and poems, and one of my Cantorial classmates read an excerpt from her Grandfather's soon to be published Holocaust memoir. I went up to the podium along with many others to read the names of family members who perished in the Holocaust. As the grand-daughter of Holocaust survivors, I was always interested in the subject as a child. I asked my Grandfather for names of family members that he would like to be honored at our ceremony. I read the names of his immediate family. I never read the names aloud before; It was very difficult. It felt strange yet incredibly powerful to experience Yom Hashoah in Israel. I know it is something that I'll think about each year no matter where I am.

Israel entered into a week-long mourning period starting on Yom Hashoah. One week later, Israel mourned its fallen soldiers on Yom Hazikaron, literally, the day of memory. In recent years, this day has also come to mourn victims of terror attacks. This day was so solemn, so haunting. The entire country came to a standstill and remembered their lost loved ones, expressing emotion that is not normally shared. Yom Hazikaron began with a 2 minute air raid siren throughout the country in which everything stopped once again, like on Yom Hashoah. I really felt the unity of the country on Yom Hazikaron. Nearly every single person here has lost someone close to them in a terror attack or a war, so it truly is a national day of mourning. It's a very sad way for a country to exist-so much struggle to survive. But Israel does it, year after year, and succeeds. They're still here, 61 years later, even though none of their neighbors want them to survive.







Again, I was fortunate enough to receive a ticket through school to attend the dress rehearsal on Mount Hertzel for the National Yom Hazikaron/Yom Ha'atzmaut ceremony. It was amazing- lots of incredible music and dance performances, military formations, speeches, more torch lighting and shared personal stories, and of course, fireworks! You could feel the Israeli pride oozing from each and every Israeli sitting in the audience. I felt so honored to be there. The first part of the ceremony was somber and paid tribute to the fallen soldiers, and the second half was a celebration of Israel's birthday.

The next day, after our brief Yom Hazikaron service at school, we headed over to one of the oldest high schools in Jerusalem to see their "tekes" (ceremony). The students put on a beautiful ceremony with speeches and songs and paid tribute to the 138 graduates who died while serving in the army or in a terror attack. There was a young girl in an army uniform sitting near us who was hysterical for part of the ceremony. She had clearly lost someone very close to her. The most amazing part of the ceremony was the absolute respect and quiet that you felt from the audience. Israelis are not a quite group of people. They are loud and pushy. But for once, they were quiet. Yyou could hear a pin drop in that courtyard.

After the ceremony, Jaclyn and I went to Har Hertzel to the military cemetery to put on her anthropologist hats. I wanted to see it firsthand. It was absolutely incredible. Every single grave had tons of flowers, pictures, poems, and flags. The cemetery was packed with people paying their respects, remembering their loved ones. We found one area that was more busy than every other area of the cemetery- lots of young people, families, and soldiers. This was the area for the most recent deaths. There were soldiers buried there who were killed as recently as January '09, in Gaza.

It was a very powerful experience being in the cemetery and experiencing Yom Hazikaron in Israel. It makes sense that Israel and Israelis function the way they do. It makes sense that the youth in Israel are far more mature than their counterparts in the States. From the time they are young kids, they are expected to be adults- they can't escape the politics and the wars and the mandatory army service. They are forced to wrestle with their fate and with the hardships of their country at a young age. It makes sense that Israelis live life to enjoy it, not to make money. They value family and friends and living each moment, because they don't know when it could be ripped away from them. That's what I love about Israel- the passion, the culture, the messiness of it all. Things aren't swept under the carpet- everything is out in the open, loud and proud.

Yom Hazikaron pictures

After the long day of mourning, Israel's mood changes from sad and somber to happy and festive as Israel turns into one big street party, celebrating Yom Ha'atzmaut, Israel Independence Day! This year, I was fortunate enough to celebrate Israel's 61st birthday in Israel! Amazing. We walked around downtown Jerusalem taking in the sights- the fireworks, the live music, the shaving cream fights in the street- it was a balagan ( a big mess)! A fun balagan. We even stopped by the shirei betzibur, a communal songfest of popular Israeli songs through the decades.

The following day, we celebrated Yom Ha'atzmaut like all Israelis, with a big BBQ! We found a nice spot in the park behind the King David Hotel and got our grill on. There was tons of food, scrabble, sports, and backgammon. It was a lovely way to spend the afternoon.

Yom Ha'atzmaut Pictures

Top 61 things to love about Israel







It was so fitting that we got to experience these 3 incredible holidays in Israel as the culmination of our year here. After being here 11 months, these holidays made sense. I understood each of them for what they were, and the national pride that Israel celebrates so beautifully. I feel lucky that I will have these mental images and movies to refer to in the coming years as I celebrate Israel's Yamim Noraim in the States.

Love,
Leslie

FSU Project: Passover in Russia

Rewind a few weeks back to Pesach...Remember all those glasses of wine, the dayenu's, and the delicious (bleaugh) matzah...

now add to that picture the backdrop of a cold, emotionally suppressed culture in Russia.

Now the scene is set.

I traveled to Russia with my good friend, Amy, to lead 7 Passover Seders in the course of 6 days. We went as two representatives out a group of 16 HUC students that led Seders in the Former Soviet Union: Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine.
To start off, I want to first say that this was my first Passover without my family. I usually celebrate with my parents, sister, and grandparents, either in Pittsburgh or Florida, and through the years, Passover has come to be my favorite Jewish holiday. Why is it my favorite holiday? Probably the association with family, friends, ritual, food, and the deep sense of Jewish pride that stems from re-telling the story of our ancestors. I definitely missed being with my family this Passover- I especially felt it during the first Seder-it didn't feel quite like Passover without them. Having said that, my experience in Russia is one that will stay with me for the rest of my life. Each year as I dip my bitter herbs into the salt water and sing Dayenu, I will think of the people that I celebrated with this year and be reminded of my once in a life time Pesach experience in St. Petersburg and Tver.

The Journey:

Amy and I landed in Russia after our five hour flight, very late in the evening, and were met at baggage claim by Alex, our translator/body-guard/tour guide/chauffeur/personal slave for the coming week. We immediately took a liking to this very tall, smart, quirky, and sweet man. Alex is in his mid-thirties, works in IT, and lived in Colorado for a few years, therefore, speaking wonderful English. We spent a lot, I mean, A LOT, of time with this man over the course of the week, so learned much about him. Including the fact that he eats about 6 apples for breakfast in the morning. Guess he doesn't believe in the phrase, "everything in moderation."

We checked into our hotel, (which was really a bed and breakfast), run by a nice Russian woman who spoke not a word of English (like 99 percent of Russians that we encountered). We affectionately nicknamed her "Helga." Helga prepared and delivered our breakfast every morning, which consisted of 2 scrambled or hard-boiled eggs, a cup of dark lipton tea, a yogurt, a small wrapped chocolate bar, and a plate of butter. We never did figure out what the butter was intended for...There was no bread because she was told we were keeping Passover. Now, the chocolate bar: This curious breakfast food tasted like a mini chocolate mousse bar to me. Although, Alex claims that it is a cottage cheese bar. At first we were repulsed by them, but soon after, they came to be our favorite treat- quite tasty.

Day 1 in St. Petersburg started off with some sight-seeing. We were lucky to have mostly sunny (but still freezing!), beautiful days. We went to take in the sights at the Peter and Paul Fortress. We're walking around, admiring the architecture and magnificent Cathedral, when suddenly, we hear a loud "BOOM." It scared the bee-jeepers out of me! I screamed. Loudly. And we found ourselves in the middle of an amazing changing of the guard routine with about 40 Russian soldiers accompanied by a 30 piece marching army band. They did all sorts of cool formations and tricks with their guns. It was wild. The marching soldiers were all tall, thin, and looked the same, while the short, stocky guys, played in the band.
We walked along the water, to Vasilevsky Island, saw many monuments, and spent several hours in the Hermitage museum. Hermitage Museum The Hermitage occupies six magnificent buildings situated along the embankment of the River Neva, right in the heart of St Petersburg. The leading role in this unique architectural ensemble is played by the Winter Palace, the residence of the Russian tsars that was built to the design of Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli in 1754-62. Put together throughout two centuries and a half, the Hermitage collections of works of art (over 3,000,000 items) present the development of the world culture and art from the Stone Age to the 20th century.

The place is massive and you would need a month to get through the whole thing. We focused on the 2nd floor palace rooms of the Winter Palace of Peter I: grand ballrooms, drawing rooms, libraries, incredible statues and artwork. It was phenomenal. Really inspired me to come back in my next life as an 18th century Russian Tzar...I want royal treatment like that! Whew, talk about living in luxury.

On our walk back to the hotel, we passed through Millionaire's Row, a string of palatial homes of the rich and famous for hundreds of years. We walked over to the synagogue to meet the Rabbi, Stas, (one of 6 Reform Rabbis in the whole FSU) and discuss our role in the Seder that night. The Seder had about 25 or 30 people. In most of the Seders at the synagogue, Amy and I introduced ourselves, had a few teaching moments, led the songs, and added some fun singing at the end.

Words learned in Russia. Note: the language is so difficult that it took us a week to master these 4 words:

Straz-vu-eet-ye- Hello
o-chin-pri-yat-ne: nice to meet you
Dos Ve-dan-ye- Goodbye
Spa-ci-ba- Thank You

Observations of Day 1:
-Russians don't eat or smile, only drink and smoke.
-Don't take pictures with flash at the Hermitage, unless you want to be yelled at by the moley, moustached, mean, Russian female guard.
-Russian women need lip waxes
-no one (slight exaggeration) speaks a word of English. Not even "Hello".
-I learned good survival skills from the Nirens: when in a foreign country, always head immediately to the grocery store to buy bottled water and edible snacks.
-portions in restaurants in Russia are small








Day 2

We took a train with Stas to go lead Seders at a school with a Jewish program for a small portion of the student body. We had many realizations during our transport ride on the train:

Mainly that Russians appear miserable all the time. They don't smile, they don't acknowledge each others presence, they don't speak to one another, rather they read their books in silence. There was a cute little boy sitting across from us and even he didn't smile once. He wouldn't even look at us in the beginning but then he stared a little out of curiosity I suppose. It's a bizarre culture.

At the Jewish school we attended, we led three modified seders - with the rabbi - for kids ranging in age from 5th through 11th grade. The 5th and 6th graders knew all the words and sang their little hearts out. They were excited to be in the Jewish program and learning about their Jewish heritage and you can see the difference at starting schooling at a rather young and impressionable age. Their knowledge and excitement was tops of all three classes. But then again, they started in the Jewish program when they were in 1st or 2nd grade. The seventh and eighth graders were like all 7th and 8th graders - way too cool for anything we were offering. But there were two tables in particular that were participating and once the chocolate was offered we were able to bribe the other kids into semi-joyful participation. The 9th, 10th and 11th graders were really interesting. They had some good questions for the rabbis, some thoughtful responses to our questions and they were willing to participate. Plus there was the table in the back of the room with the geeky computer kids so there are some universals in high school across the world. That was a fun, engaging (and very tiring) experience. The kids were excited to have us, the teachers wanted us there and these kids in this Jewish program were really interested in learning about their Jewish heritage. I don't know whether it got them out of something else but you didn't have to argue with them about the merits of Jewish school - they wanted to be there and it was pretty obvious. (Except the 7th graders who needed chocolate to exhibit any emotion. Forgot to mention that other universal - 7th graders are so too cool for anything...) *this paragraph written by Amy*

The school resembled a jail- the bathrooms were atrocious. It was nice to be with these kids- they were smiling and laughing and goofing around- they renewed my faith in Russian children!

We had another Seder back at the Synagogue that night for ex-pats so there was a little bit of English in that one.








Day 3

Alex picked us up by 11 and we re-visited the Peter and Paul Fortress because most of the stuff was closed during our previous visit. We went into the Cathedral- built in 1712, a Baroque masterpiece with green and pink corinthean columns and over-arching vaulted ceilings. (I did learn something in AP Art History in high school!) It was a far cry from Traditional Russian orthodox church. Inside were tombs for almost all of the Romanovs. We also visited a prison in the Fortress which mostly held political prisoners who objected to imperialism.

Next up- my favorite-The Blood Church. This is one of the most magnificent churches I have ever seen. The title stems from the story that Tzar Alexander II was killed on the spot where they built the church in March 1881. Somebody threw a bomb under his carriage and he got out and walked over to a banister where he bled to death. They installed the actual banister in the church- I searched and searched, but I didn't see any blood stains. (j/k ) The banister is located directly underneath the mosaic of Jesus' crucifixion.

It is a large Russian Orthodox Style Church filled with mosaics on every single wall. The whole church is covered in mosaic! Amazing. Scenes from the Old and New Testament. The best part of the church is the outside- it looks like it could be in candyland- a delicious castle made of ice cream and frosting with blue swirly globe-like candy canes. So cool. Every time we walked or drove by it during the week, I got excited...Alex, Amy, and I had a nice pow-wow in the church- some deep theological discussion about the roots of Christianity stemming from Judaism, etc.

After the church, we walked over to a Russian cafeteria style restaurant, which they refer to as "bistro" style. Amy and I loved this because we could actually see the food and point to what we wanted. Food was quite a challenge throughout the week. Amy is allergic to nearly all food, and I am just picky and not a fan of Russian grub, so as you can imagine, we were a HANDFUL for Alex! He was quite a sport...Anyway, the bistro made everyone happy. Amy had her borsch (which apparently has no "t" at the end), and I had AMAZING kasha and salmon.

We then headed to St. Isaac's Square for the 3rd Cathedral of the day. We walked all the way up to the bell tower (220 steps to be exact) for a great view of beautiful St. Petersburg. You can also see the Gulf of Finland from up there. Very lovely. Inside that church were frescoesPeter the Great envisioned the new capital of Russia, in 1703, to rise from the marshes at the edge of the Gulf of Finland. Peter’s wish had been to create a Russian Versailles or Venice – only greater. He was making the statement that Russia had arrived and was every bit as magnificent as Europe was. Despite the lasting effects of the political turmoil that Russia has seen through the years, St. Petersburg is a magnificent city complete with beautiful panoramic views, high culture and revolutionary architecture. The inside of the church was very formal and opulent. It was like a Cathedral form of the Hermitage. There are 48 massive columns surrounding the outside of the building which have some visible dings from Nazi bombings during WWII.

We helped lead small Shabbat services (about 15 people) that night at the Synagogue followed by a nice dinner at the Rabbi’s apartment.







Day 4

Saturday morning we helped lead another Seder in the afternoon at the Synagogue and then took an overnight Soviet-era train to T’ver, a small town near Moscow. We killed some time waiting for the train, buying snacks (of course!) in the grocery store under the train station. We were excited to find a real grocery store because most food/convenient stores are Soviet style KGB controlled, as we referred to them. You can't touch anything. All of the products are behind the counter and must be handed to you by the cashiers. Weird. I need to browse, and touch...and touch some more before I buy something...The train was really old, and our little car was tiny. We had a nice, stylish, Russian room-mate with round, pointy, severe, finger nails. We got her to smile a few times.

Day 5

We got in at 2 in the morning and checked into our ghetto hotel for some sleep. We were met the next morning by Yulia, a volunteer at the synagogue in T'ver. 24 years old, very cute, Chemist, decent English, friendly and she smiled a lot! She gave us a walking tour of T'ver. They claim it's a small version of St. Petersburg, because apparently the same architect was brought into Tver to have a dry run at constructing the city. Things were much more rundown, but the pedestrian walkway down the center of the street was pleasant and we did have some nice weather for meandering throughout the city during the day. It was nice to walk around and take in the sights. There were tons of people out and about.

The Synagogue building was taken by the govt. a while back and just a few years ago was given back to the community. It's a nice space- parts have been recently refurbished. The building is shared between the Orthodox and Reform communities. We led our 7th Seder of the week here! There is no Reform Rabbi there so it was just Amy and I. We were told there would be 15 people, so we were surprised to see a big room full of 100 people. 100 Tver-ians who spoke not a word of English. We abridged what we had planned, went with the flow and looked out into a sea of non-expressive faces. I felt that only a small portion of them were actually interested and engaged in what we were doing/saying. However, when we started singing songs during the last 10 minutes people were more enthusiastic and perked up a bit. Some even came up to request favorite Israeli folk tunes. We led a stirring rendition of Josh Nelson's Hava Nashira- always gets 'em going. People were singing, clapping and ... smiling!! Well, even if they weren't American-style smiling, they no longer looked like they wanted to kill us. For Russia, we'll consider that a smile. At the end we got some requests, had a lovely singing of Hatikvah (the Jewish National Anthem) and a couple of other Israeli folks tunes. The seder was conducted by Amy and I, with major assistance by Alex, the translating genius, and there I felt like we were really needed. We really made an impact. This was a community seder and the whole community was there.

We took another over-night train back to St. Petersburg and crashed, back in our familiar bed and breakfast.







Day 6

Monday was our last full day- sightseeing! The weather was beautiful-sunny and crisp. We went back to our favorite bistro style restaurant for lunch and visited the Yusupov Palace. You could see a Palace every day for months in Russia and still not see them all! We had a blast at this palace. I used the handy English guided tour and I was in heaven with the explanations/art history lessons. Especially loved the British accent of my tour guide. (I became an expert at imitating her) They were big fans of "drawing rooms"...there was a green drawing room, a blue drawing room, a red drawing room...they must have done a lot of drawing...

We visited the Marinsky Theater (unfortunately there were no ballets playing that night and no opera worth seeing) and walked by the Rimsky Korsakov Conservatory. We visited the Choral Synagogue, a beautiful 100 year old Orthodox Synagogue complete with an awesome bridal room. It reminded me of the Synagogue in Florence...

We did some browsing and shopping on the jam-packed Nievsky St. the main artery of the city-bought some souvenirs, chocolate, gifts, and had some Baskin Robbins for an afternoon refreshment. Also popped into Gostiny Dvor, the oldest and largest dept. store in St. Petersburg. We met Allah (program director for the Synagogue) at a cafe on the 3rd floor of a massive book store- we had a gorgeous view of an old monument and bustling Nievsky St. below us. We had a wrap up meeting, said our thank yous and goodbyes. Alex, Amy, and I had our final dinner together and we went back to the hotel to pack our bags because we had a morning flight back to Tel Aviv.

Amy's food/tv impressions:
"The food left much to be desired. They are certainly not a salad culture. Or I should say not a lettuce culture. There were plenty of salads - but most of them had mayonnaise and ham in it. Not my kind of salad.

Russian TV is awful - and they dub all American programs. And the American programs they have are never-heard of ones like The Invisible Man - apparently a remake of the original series that ran from 2000-2002 and Destiny's Child concerts from 5 years ago. Really?? This is the first place I've visited that has such little english. I am accustomed to being able to get by on english, even if people look resentful. Not so in St. Pete's. If we hadn't had Alex, we would not have been able to do 1/5th of what we did."

What did I learn/take away from the experience?

1.) "In Russia, it's not easy to be a Jew and most of the Jews didn't grow up with a strong sense of Judaism or connection to Jewish roots. There is a gap of two generations - at least 50 years - where communities could not freely hold their seders. Where synagogues were taken by the state and turned into Ministry of Agriculture - Pig Department buildings. (That really was what happened to the Synagogue in Tver.) The young people are starting to get really excited about learning their Jewish heritage. The older people are still visibly cautious about demonstrating too much Jewishness and the middle generations are somewhere in between. There isn't the same outward sense of pride in being Jewish that we in America have the luxury of having, or not having for that matter. The point is that we as Jews in the United States have that choice and we have virtually always had that choice. I would sum this up by saying I have never celebrated a seder where there isn't a collective memory of Pesach." (written by Amy Goodman)

My summary of this paragraph would be that I learned to appreciate what I have- to not take for granted the Jewish customs and traditions that I grew up with.

2.) I feel like I made a contribution to these Jewish communities. Amy and I were excited to sing passover songs (over and over and over again) and play guitar and talk about Passover. We were able to provide them with smiling, happy faces, enthusiasm, our own Passover stories, and pretty music. What more could one hope for?!

3.) I was reminded on this trip how important it is to go with the flow and keep a positive attitude in all situations. Often times things don't go as planned or you don't receive information as early as would be expected and you just have to roll with it and smile!

4.)I learned a lot about Russian culture. Personalities, body language, human interaction, food, art, architecture, music. It's very different from any other culture that I've been exposed to. It's easy to see the firsthand effects that its political history has had on the people and the culture and I'm convinced that that will always be a part of Russia. It's ingrained in them.

5.)I learned that it is nearly impossible for me to be without phone or internet for a week. I am so connected on a daily basis with multiple forms of communication that I was having major withdrawal! I had to check my e-mail a few times at the Synagogue, but no phone...that was tough!

In wrapping up this long post (Mazel Tov to anyone who made it through the whole thing), I am very grateful for this experience. Thank you so much to all of the donors who supported me financially to participate in this outreach project. It would not have been possible without your generosity.

I'll always have memories of this year's Pesach in Russia!

"From Russia with love"
-Leslie