Happy New Year! (1/1)

New Year's in Israel is not the most widely celebrated holiday in the world. The "new year" here is Rosh Hashanah (the head of the year), celebrated around September in the English calendar, among religious and secular Israelis (and all of the rest of 'em in between). So when December 31st is approaching, no one really thinks of it as anything. If more secular places in Israel celebrate New Years more than others, Jerusalem certainly would not be on the list of places celebrating because there are so many people in the city and the area that don't really consider December 31st to be the end of a year. So in thinking about my New Year's celebration this year, I knew I'd have to keep that in mind. On top of that, New Year's Eve was on a Friday night this year, on Shabbat. Therefore, any families or people that may even celebrate New Year's Eve (for whatever reasons) but who also observe the Sabbath, were not going to watch TV for any sort of countdown until midnight, or play music and have a dance party until the clock strikes 12, and any establishment (restaurant or bar) that is closed on Shabbat but would have celebrated New Year's Eve had it come on another day of the week, also was not going to celebrate. Not so easy being a secular Jewish American in Jerusalem for New Year's Eve.

Needless to say, I ended up being invited to a friend's apartment with a ton of other Americans (mostly who are here on various programs or studying in institutions or seminaries) for a post-Shabbat New Year's Eve party, and I went and had a good time to bring in 2011 in as festive a way as possible given these circumstances.