Can You Hear Me Now?
We can certainly hear the drumbeats of our final days together, and our feelings are mixed. We are not looking forward to leaving this amazing place and these amazing people, but there is also yearning for home. These are bittersweet days.
Compelled to start our day early again today, we transformed our bus into sacred space once more, davvening Shaharit on the bus south from the Galilee as we bid farewell to Nofei Gonen. Today our focus was on the sensory aspects of prayer, its sounds, textures and experiences. Comments about the way prayer makes people feel and on the way that covering the eyes to recite the Shma can either block out external stimuli or prepare you to receive them (or both) continue to leave the staff in awe. One participant introduced the concept of propioception, the sense of awareness of our body movements and tied that to the prayer experience. We learn so much from them, every day.
The rest of the two and a half hour bus ride was filled with sleeping or watching the 1976 Israeli film Halfon Hill Doesn't Answer (in Hebrew with English subtitles). A comedy, it was fun to see Israelis' satiric self perception in the 70s.
At long last, we arrived in Holon, where the sun was shining and the air was getting warmer. We left the bus for a two hour visit to the Invitation to Silence exhibit at the Israel Children's Museum (http://www.childrensmuseum.org.il/eng/). This unique journey into the world of deaf culture is simply breathtaking. From the moment you enter, you are instructed not to speak and are wearing noise cancelling headphones. Each room in the exhibit draws focus to the ways in which one can communicate without words and visitors are drawn into the experience of using hand gestures and facial expressions to make themselves understood. All of the museum guides are deaf. Their patience is evident as they work carefully with visitors who struggle to imitate their gestures or are unable to comprehend their unspoken questions. There is a tremendous amount of positive reinforcement. Late into the day, participants were still commenting on the experience with awe and wonder.
Mall rats that we are, we discovered that the beautiful Holon shopping mall had lots of food choices, from Chinese food to Sbarros pizza (way better and more varied than at home) to Burger Ranch and Shawarma Grill. Lunch was great -- and there wasn't even time to shop. Back on the road, we finished out the trip to back to Jerusalem, back to the familiarity of Neve Ilan. There, we were met by Shorashim Bus 166, from Northeastern University, for a shared program on social values. Ten teams, each made up of participants from both buses, worked on crafting an entrepreneurial endeavor which would better the State of Israel in cultural, environmental, educational or social justice areas. With a theoretical $10 million to spend, the teams identified a need, developed a plan and created a budget. Then they presented before the entire group. Our participants were fully part of the process, some choosing only to share in the planning and others serving as the chief spokespeople for their teams. It was wonderful to see. It was tiring too, so a break before dinner was more than welcome, as was an outing to Emek Refaim, a marvelous strip of cafes and boutiques in downtown Jerusalem, for coffee, tea or ice cream.
Each day is so filled to the brim, it will be wonderful when Shabbat arrives and we can catch our breath and just enjoy being together. But not yet -- there's still so much more to do!
We are so enjoying watching each of the participants find their voice -- and so interested to hear what they have to say.
Lailah Tov (good night) from Jerusalem.
Rabbi Elyse Winick
KOACH Director
