Jersey Shore Fist Pumping (9/23)

The party was set to celebrate 4 birthdays, including my own. I went with Amy and her boyfriend Adam to the grocery store to get some vodka (yes, they sell this at the grocery stores here, Grandma and mom would be so happy), juices, snacks, and paper goods. Nicole, the unofficial head of the birthday committee wanted to make the Ron-Ron juice from Jersey Shore, seeing as we all agreed this would be the theme of our party. So we bought, with our communal birthday money, all necessary items. Two hundred shekels later, we walked back up the big hill on Rivkah Street, back to the apartments. We brought everything in to the Moadon (lounge) and set up the food. We're a really classy establishment so when it came to making the Ron-Ron juice, it was made in a big kitchen pot, stirred with a ladel. Go big or go home, right kids? Yeah :) (Pictures posted on Facebook. If anyone really would like to see the pictures and cannot, email me: ruth.kleinman@gmail.com and I will make sure you see the craziness!)

The boys set up beer pong in the classroom next door to the moadon, and people just kept moving back and forth to chat, listen to music, dance, play beer pong, have snacks, or just stand in front of the fan. Remember, we are still suffering in a heat wave here. No joke. It sucks.

By the end of the night, I end up in Olivia's room (she has the common room in her bedroom, I'm not just sneaking around in someone else's bedroom!) with Rachelle, which becomes Carolyn and some other people as well. The discussion grows and grows and we get into all kinds of crazy topics that are way too deep to discuss in one night: observance levels of Shabbat and keeping kosher, what mitzvot (commandments) women should/can/cannot do and which ones men should/can/cannot do. All in all, I probably sat there for 2 hours and there was no singular conclusion to the conversation besides - we are all happy to engage in thoughtful debate and conversation while we're here, and maybe even adopt some new customs for ourselves. I thought about it afterwards and this morning, and I guess I realized that all these times I've staffed Birthright trips, we've thrown out ideas at the students/participants, and hoped that on their own time, in a hotel room or on a bus or on a hike, they bring up the topics and share their opinions with each other. Well this felt a little backwards but in a very good way as the participant, not a staff member, on WUJS. A lot of the discussion on these topics stemmed from a sicha (conversation) that our madricha (staff member) Yonit brought to the table: observance of Shabbat and holidays. So she planted the seed and we are watering and nurturing it. Who knows, maybe my mind will be changed at the end (or in the middle) of the 5 months I'm spending here! Maybe I will feel differently about my Jewish identity and how I connect to my Judaism. Maybe I will come back home the same in this regard but different in others. I have only been here 11 days; if I am already having these intense and serious conversations with others, imagine what the next 5 months will hold! Lots of thinking and debate. Put me in coach, I'm ready!