Are you my midget?

שלום חברים!

I am over stuffing my belly with sesame crackers, listening to Cat Stevens, and settling in to write this week's blog.

I spent this weekend in Tel Aviv with my dear friend, Swiss Hannah. I think I want to live in Tel Aviv forever. It is a spectacular city...gritty like Baltimore. I felt really at home.

Hannah and I didn't know we were going to Tel Aviv until 11:30 Friday morning. It was then that we decided to catch the 12:00pm shuttle. We cut it pretty close but we made it. The shuttle took us to Binyamina train station where we caught the train and rode it south. Hannah's Aunt Shoham and Uncle Amnon live in Tel Aviv with their three kids: Noor (15), Yanai (12), and Sarai (6). Our plan was to have lunch with them on Saturday afternoon.

We got to Momo's Hostel and checked in. I think we were the only ladies staying at the hostel. We got a room to ourselves AND it had a balcony...and no heat...and no mirror, and we had to use the boys bathroom BUT we did have a television set to VH1. We walked around Tel Aviv and ended up treating ourselves to a nice posh dinner at this soho-style hipster restaurant called Orna and Ella's (ורנה ואלה). I had vegan tofu curry. Tofuuuuuu.

By the time we were finished with dinner it was freezing and I only had a hoodie to keep me warm so Hannah called her uncle and we went to his apartment to pick up an extra jacket. We ended up staying for three hours. We drank wine and ate almonds and olives and challah while I was taught a ton of words by Sarai. Door, floor, wall, spoon, plate, cup...anything she could point to. I was tickled to be learning so much from a 6 year old. Yanai, who is twelve, brought out some books and helped me read them. He translated the things I didn't know. He also taught me Hebrew tongue twisters. I think I learned more Hebrew this weekend than in the entire ulpan so far. It was fantastic.

After Hannah and I left, we walked around the city and it started to pour! And then it started started to hail! So we sought shelter in a coffee shop/pub and were served free whiskey from a dog-training coffee-making bar tender with a ponytail named Nadav. Then we returned to our little hostel room and watched VH1 music videos and sang really loud to Christina Aguilera until we fell asleep.

About Hannah's family:

Hannah's aunt is a translator of texts. She just finished translating Oliver Twist into Hebrew. We had a really interesting conversation about Dickens. She is also a writer and she gave me a copy of a book she had written in which she simplified Jewish legends for children. Inside the cover she wrote:

3.3.2012

למייקי

מוקדש לך בידידות

Dedicated to you in friendship

מזכרת משבת גשום בתל אביב

A souvenir of a rainy Shabbat in Tel Aviv.

I was really taken with Hannah's family. Such genuine, sincere, and righteous people. We talked a lot about Judaism and what it means to be Jewish, both in the world and in Israel. We also talked a lot about Israel and Palestine.

Many people in Israel disagree with the idea that Israel should surrender the occupied territories and create a Palestinian state. Obviously, this is a highly contentious issue. Shoham and Amnon refuse to fly the Israeli flag because, to them, it represents injustice. Shoham made a very interesting statement about Israel. She said that there is a lot of irony in the state of Israel as it exists right now. Essentially, Israel was created as a Jewish state so that we would have a place of refuge after the Holocaust. However, in the state it is today, Israel has become its own Jewish ghetto. The Jews, says Shoham, have walled themselves into this space. No one exits to surrounding territories and no one enters. There is so much fear of the unknown and ignorance and hate on both sides of the fence. I would be interested in hearing what others think about this.

Later, on Shabbat, Amnon and Yanai took Hannah and I on driving tour of Tel Aviv. He took us to the spot where Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated. I remember that day so vividly. I remember the intense sadness in the world. I was only ten then.

Shoham and Amnon invited me to return to Tel-Aviv for Pesach and to join them for Seder. I am honored to have them as my Israeli family. I was quite taken with them. They make me want to be a better person and I will cherish my weekend with them, always.

Anywayyyy...

This weekhhyjiihh Hannah Montana ze lo tov be Hannah Weiss ze tov, maybe Caja Caja...Gaston wrote that.

Purim is on Thursday! We are celebrating all week. Yesterday we were each assigned "midgets". A midget (or elf) is a person who gives secret gifts to someone else. We have to give special surprises all week until Friday when our midgets are revealed. Today, at dinner, someone delivered to me a pudding (מילקי!) and said it was from my midget. Yesterday, someone delivered a goldfish to my neighbor. The whole kibbutz plays this game. They are really serious about it. Hannah's midget prepaid for her dinner last night and left her chocolate with the person working at the cash register. Everyone should play this game. It makes people so happy.

People are also starting to rock pieces of their costumes. Today, Mauricio walked into the dining hall for dinner wearing a sombrero and a gigantic fake mustache.

Best news yet...I got my Hebrew exam back! 101%! Yessss. I was so excited. Our teacher wrote my score on the board.

I have been writing for a long time. I think I should stop now. I miss everybody.

With undying love for babies made of "cake, and chocolate, and milllk", Hannah's itchy head, ginger in chocolate, comet 4-5, harpoonists, and zatar.

I respectfully remain,

J. Michael Hess Webber