In Israel, there is a strange time span in mid-late September called החגים (hachagim). Before the חגים, people talk abut doing things אחרי החגים (after the holidays) which seems like a strange concept, why are people going to wait a month to begin a new project? After living in Jerusalem for the חגים, I understand.
During this time in the Jewish calendar a whole mess of holidays fall fairly close to each other (Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot (a week long festival) and Simchat Torah). Now I know that the old joke is that there are so many Jewish holidays, how is this month different from all other months, but seriously. In Jerusalem, in particular, practically the entire city shuts down for every holiday, including Shabbat. No big deal, you might be saying to yourself, the non kosher restaurants still open. While that may be true, there aren't all that many non kosher restaurants that decide to stay open, and non of the markets (the shuk, super markets, bodegas, et al) remain open. So while normally markets and shops close for friday starting at sunset until sunday (woe be anyone who decides to get their grocery shopping done on friday morning--the markets flood with people frantically buying food for the "weekend") they also close for each holiday; for those of you unfamiliar with the way Jewish holidays work let me explain all holidays begin at sunset and end at sunset, which means that if the store closes in the evening for the holiday, it probably won't open the next day (except restaurants). So now there are multiple days in a week that everything is shut for. And planning to buy food takes up a good part of your conscious thought. As well, in Jewish tradition each חג (that's the singular of חגים for those of ou keeping score) is supposed to be a break for work and one is not supposed to do work on sחג (there's some heblish for those with the puzzled looks, chags -- english plural suffix on a hebrew word; for clarification see above parenthetical remark).
Now add to the list piles of reading, translating, and writing for classes (that's right, I'm here for school, you keep forgetting that, huh?) and you understand the craziness behind החגים in Jerusalem.
I don't want you, my loyal readers, to think I'm complaining about school, because I'm not. Besides the amount of homework we are assigned, I find it extremely stimulating. After most of my classes it is clear to me that I'm going into the right field.
(Now that the administrators reading my post are happy let me tell you the truth, because there's a special coding on my blog that administrators at HUC can't read parenthetical remarks on my blog; the remarks appear to be written in Mandarin Chinese when viewed by an administrator)
(I wasn't just giving lip service I really enjoy everything were reading about in school and what we're focusing on in class, but don't tell anyone...)
So aside from everything affiliated with school over the חגים, it is really quite amazing what happens in this city during this time. On Erev Yom Kippur the streets are empty. Not empty like you'll find at 4am. I mean empty. All the children in the city get on their bikes and takeover the streets. All the people get off the sidewalks and fill the street. It is quite a sight to behold. I'm told that children will hop on their bikes and bike from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv on the freeways -- that's how empty the streets are.
For Sukkot, the entire city puts up their own סוכות (for those unfamiliar a סוכה or sukkah is a hut put up for this holiday to commemorate the harvest time, which is actually the harvest time here who would've thought?) . Wherever you look there's always something Jewish (anyone?). Restaurants need to put up סוכות if they want to keep the title of Kosher. It is quite a sight.
That's all for now loyal readers. Until my next post, להתראות (see you later --or something like that)
