My last Shabbos in Jerusalem for the time being was so beyoootiful I can’t even find words. Davvening in a backyard filled with trees and flowers, bare feet in the earth, lots of people, a bat mitzvah girl leading with some startling choices of niggun, starting early with Kabbalat Shabbat and watching the sky slowly darken. Dinner at friends’, with lots of kids running around. Davenning in the morning on the Tayelet, more bat mitzvah, great glorious view of the Jerusalem and the Old City and picnicing afterwards with friends in the sunshine with this same glorious view. Having a profound and (yet still) metaphoric prayer experience staring at Dome of the Rock.
Two more finals. Packing now, lots of laundry.
I really don’t want to go. Frankly.
Tried to move my ticket ’till after Shavuot. It ain’t happening. So next thing is next.
Move wet laundry to drying rack so the sun can do some work on it tomorrow. Then, take myself up to one of the cafes here to study for tomorrow’s halakha test.
I have had Ofra Haza’s Shir HaFrecha in my head for the last few days. It’s a terrible translation–a frecha is like, a chickie who wears very tight jeans with heels, lotsa makeup, big ornate fake nails, that sort of thing. High, high femme of a very particular flavor. It’s a fabulous song, and I love that it’s really a shout-out for frecha pride. It makes me happy.
Okay. Onwards.
U consider yourself a frecha???
what’s the halacha test in?
when u next going back to Israel?
Naw, I don’t have the energy (or, frankly, the inclination) to be all frecha-tastic. My personal style tends to be somewhere between Punky Brewster, Molly Ringwald, my inner 16-year old punk kid, and a sprinkling of drag queen glitter in there for fun. But like, I usually go pretty minimal with makeup (black eyeliner if I remember? maybe lip gloss?), and fun as it can be to get girly sometimes…. I generally choose shoes that are more comfortable than fabulous. *shrug* Just glad that the frecha girls can rock the mike every now and again. 😉
Halakha test–this is the last 6 weeks of material from a year-long course: the halakha of death and mourning, niddah (menstruation) and its related concepts (impurity after losing virginity, impurity after bearing kids), shaving, mezuzah, conversion, brit milah, and redemption of the first-born (pidyon haben).
Next going back to Israel–I don’t know! But I’m in a phase of life where I feel very clear that all I know is what’s right immediately in front of me, so who knows? It could be not very long an amount of time, or it could be some many number of years. So I really do need to assume this is goodbye for the time being……
I’ve never spent more than a month in a foreign country, so can only imagine where you’re at right now emotionally. Ethan and I talked a lot about this when he came back from his year in Ghana — well, actually, we talked about it some months later, when he’d processed the tumult of mixed emotions which accompanied the transition.
I’m so glad this year has been so good for you, and I hope the coming year brings you all kinds of sweetness too.