Monday, November 21, 2016

Rain in Berlin

11/21

"Autumn in New England" (most recent blog post title) intentionally connotes the seasonal tranquility that buries the region with a flush of colors that seem at once bright and dark. The beauty of New England in early November definitely highlighted my visit and gave a very nice backdrop to my visit. However, by the time I was walking with my friend through the streets on the day after the election, the blissful aura became somewhat confused and almost contradictory.

I acknowledge the above feelings as a preface to my trip to Berlin the following week (also known as this past week), because as the title of this post suggests, darkness and rain enveloped the city throughout my visit. Given my first associations with Germany (yes, I am alluding to it's 20th Century legacy of evil), rain seemed initially appropriate for my visit. However, my Berlin visit was tremendously enjoyable and meaningful, greatly diminishing the effects of the murky setting.

In Berlin, I stayed with Samantha, another JDC Fellow, at her super cool apartment. Her apartment has been handed down between JDC Fellows for years, so it has incredible personality in its layout and decorations. My first day there, I signed up for a 3 hour walking tour, because I figured it was my best way to hit the most major sites. By the time I arrived at the meeting point, my shoes and socks were basically soaked through, and I would practice blood circulation exercises like jumping and stretching to try and fight the numbness of my toes. Despite the cold, I really enjoyed the walk through the East Berlin sites, including Checkpoint Charlie (former East/West Berlin checkpoint), remains of the Berlin Wall, the memorial to Germany's Jewish Holocaust victims, Brandenburg Gate, various Nazi sites, and more. My first impression of the city is its tremendous beauty. Really, it's a pretty incredible place with feelings of both old and new, and a really intentional and artistic embodiment of tragedy and rebuilding. The city accepts and reflects upon its dark past with regret and honesty, which is an entirely different tone than in Hungary, where the government continues to hold their moral innocence against the ugly German invasion (that didn't come until 1944). I tried keeping an open mind in Berlin about the city's full history and contemporary identity, and feel that I did so well. A few moments on the tour really hit me hard. First, our guide identified an open plot of land as the former site of the SS and Gestapo headquarters (pictured below). I felt like I was staring at a portal to the epicenter of Hell, a site where people sat down and devised the destruction of my people, and countless others. I felt both nauseous and frozen, unable to craft a facial expression, let alone words to capture my feelings. We continued up a couple blocks, and approached a street where Hitler's Chancellory stood. Imagining Hitler (the Hitler!) pulling up in his car on the street beside me and walking across where I stood to enter his residence provoked another dose of my visceral confusion. After the tour concluded, I returned to those sites to try and let the feelings linger so that I could process them, but I really could only handle a brief revisit.
Empty plot of land where the Gestapo and SS HQ once stood. It looks like the rain put out the flames of hell, leaving the ground forever charred.

That night, my friend Aryeh arrived from his JDC placement in Latvia, and he joined Samantha and me at Samantha's apartment. Ramah friends Sarah and Louise (who "commuted" to Ramah Wisconsin from Berlin each summer) joined us there, and it was a lovely night with tremendous company.


The next day, Aryeh and I spent a few hours at the Jewish Museum. The highlight for me was an exhibit of artwork by an artist named Eran Shakine (click to see), of a series of portraits (all black charcoal on white canvas) called "A Muslim, A Christian, and A Jew." The pictures all portrayed three men who looked essentially the same going on all sorts of adventures together, from playing music to trying to find God. The collapsing of the identities showed that we are all playing this game called Life together. I sort of wished there were a fourth character so that it could parallel the Passover Seder's Four Sons, but I still loved the exhibit. My least enjoyable part of the museum was this towering room/corridor with literally thousands of metal faces on the ground that are crafted to look like they are are screaming. You can walk across the sea of tortured faces, and that causes them to clink against each other and let out piercing metal screams. I thought that I had to walk across, and I held my ears and tried to tip toe through, only to find that the door at the end was not an exit, and I had to retrace my steps again. I'm sure the artist fully intended for that uncomfortable experience and its symbolism, and it surely worked. The rest of the museum was a fascinating exploration of Germany's historic Jewish roots.
After our trip to the museum, we met up with Samantha and her friend for delicious falafel, and then we visited the East Side Gallery, where artists have decorated a remain of the Berlin Wall. Below is my classic "I visited" picture.

That night, we headed to the Chance the Rapper concert, which was just an incredible show. I loved seeing his Chicago backdrops and having a carefree night of jumping, singing, and dancing.


Finally, the next day I headed to Charlottenburg Palace, before going to the airport. Built originally in the early 18th Century, the Palace housed numerous generations of Prussian royalty, and even quartered Napoleon the Great during his visit. An audio guide took me through the ornate rooms filled with impressive furniture and artwork.

I returned from Germany feeling very refreshed, having had both tremendous social experiences and a lot of individual time to explore and reflect. I am now transitioning into the next phase of my time in Budapest, during which I will help with some new BBYO projects (I led my first weekly Hadracha ["leadership seminar"] this past Sunday), and am looking into finding more supplementary work/projects in the Jewish community. My parents and Shira arrive on Xmas day, so until then I will be hopefully getting into more of a groove with work, hopefully entertaining a few guests, and we shall see what else! I will likely blog again before then with more to report from Budapest, but I hope you enjoyed this update on my last couple weeks "on the road."

Autumn in New England

11/21

I haven't blogged since my post-BBYO Camp entry, because I've been around the world, and that same "world" seems to have changed in many ways. Again, because of the apolitical nature of my position, I can't comment on the last couple weeks in the form of political opinions, but I will say that the election has obviously tremendously affected me, and witnessing my country from afar has been both fascinating and incredibly disillusioning. First, let's rewind...

After the camp ended, I spent a day relaxing. I bought a winter coat (I didn't pack one to save space, and I have delayed buying one as long as possible), treated myself to a delicious vegan meal, and explored the Hungarian National Museum.

I prepared for my trip to the States, which would begin with my 3:30 AM shuttle to the airport for my 6:30 AM flight. At 1:00 AM of that same night/morning (they truly blurred together), the Cubs marched onto the field for Game 7. I obviously stayed up watching the game, and when my shuttle came in about the 7th inning, I expended all of my phone data as my dad FaceTimed me the game from an iPad carefully placed on our living room couch. Against protocol, I brought the Cubs through checkin and security, and watched them end 108 years of futility from the food court, about 10 minutes before my boarding time. I am a White Sox fan, but thinking of the euphoria my city and so many of my friends must have felt at that moment nearly brought me to tears. Mostly, the shock of the moment overcame me, and I couldn't believe the whole Hungarian airport wasn't going wild. Did they not realize what just happened?? Luckily, the 5 million person parade validated my impression of the magnitude of the event. I spent the next 10+ hours offline on my flight to Boston, where I spent the weekend with my Nachshon Project family. It was great seeing some of my mentors and many great friends. The program encourages its participants to pursue Jewish professional graduate programs and professions, and it was nice being with my peers to share our first few months in the "real world," and continue to imagine our next steps together. We all agreed that the weekend was "just what we needed." My favorite speaker from the weekend was Harvard Hillel's Orthodox Rabbi, who seems like an incredibly dynamic and exciting educator and leader. He is a YCT alum, comes from a family of rabbis and educators, and shared how he works to build rich spaces for Jewish exploration and discussion through Hillel's pluralistic model of engagement.

Following the seminar, I headed on a Greyhound bus for NYC. Chicago felt close, but not close enough, and I decided that a much easier trip to New York to try and see as many of my friends there as possible in less than 48 hours would be the better option. I masterfully crafted a day of meet ups and visits, managing to see a handful of WashU friends, camp friends, and others too. I still can't believe how many people I was able to see in basically one full day in New York. It felt very grounding to see so many people whom I love and whom I consider major parts of my life and support system. At the same time, NYC does not feel quite like home, and sleeping in 5 beds in under 2 weeks made me feel slightly rootless. Ultimately, the visit was really incredible and I'm very grateful for all the people I saw.

I promptly headed back to Boston on the morning of Election Day, very eager for the meshugas of the election season to conclude (remember when that kind of thinking was a thing?). Anyway, I arrived and headed to meet my WashU friend Emily at her office, and she showed me around and introduced me to her coworkers. It was a really nice time, and I then headed out to the Target across the street. I wanted to buy 3 of everything, but I settled on 2 tubes of toothpaste, a pack of 12 Clif bars, and a sweater. I then felt compelled to eat at Chipotle, which I honestly eat maybe 2x a year at home, but it seemed like a quintessential "American" (quotations to connote some sort of irony) meal. Our evening plans consisted of dinner and watching the election. Let's just say Target might have been my  final moment of momentum and American enchantment of my visit.

The next day, my flight was not until the evening, and I planned on doing some more low-key Boston touring. Instead, I opted for a quieter day, hanging out in Brookline at a bookstore and meeting my high school friend Noah for a reflective walk and catchup.

I'll conclude this post by acknowledging the strange reverse culture shock I felt being in the US. In Hungary, I acknowledge that I have a habit of eavesdropping on conversations to listen for the occasional (North American) English or Hebrew. In America, I instinctively did the same, only to remember that the same weird tingle of connection I feel when I hear English  does not quite exist in America. Also, unlike my sister who lives in Vietnam and tells me that she feels like an ethnic outsider there, my community in America comes from the same region of the world where I currently reside. And even though Budapest very much carries the ambiance of a traditional European city, it is not worlds away from Boston's more vintage (RE: European) ambiance. This hit me as I watched the old fashioned Boston tram pull up to its station with the backdrop of autumn leaves and quaint buildings. I had a strange moment realizing that I just as easily could have been back in Europe at that moment, and how my experience that feels so distant (and is geographically quite distant) sometimes feels strangely close as well.

I headed back to Budapest for Shabbat and Sunday BBYO (it was a quiet weekend of jet lagged reading and sleeping), and then was off to Berlin (see next post!).

Tuesday, November 1, 2016

Exhale pt. 3 PICS OR IT DIDN'T HAPPEN


11/1

First, here is a Reshet Ramah (Ramah alumni network) feature on my experiences in Budapest:
http://reshetramah.org/blog/benjy-forester/

Next, here are pictures and videos that tell the story of my last few weeks here:






Standing outside the Sukkah that was built in the courtyard in front of the Frankel Syngagogue

Teaching the BBYOers about Lulav and Etrog

At a langos stand in Szentendre. Langos is a traditional Hungarian food, and it is fried dough covered with garlic, sour cream, and cheese

In the synagogue in Szentendre. They claim it is (one of) the smallest synagogue(s) in the world. It is a hole in the wall room with 8 seats total.

Walking around in Szentendre

Sonja (Tomi and Linda's daughter) and I enjoying our langos

Selfie with our BBYO group in Szentendre, waiting for the Israelis to join

BBYO Hungary proudly posing in the final moments of our camp. I'm in the front row between the two flags.




Singing Hinei Mah Tov with the Israeli group




Hear I am leading our new favorite cheer for the whole group of Hungarians and Israelis. Much thanks to the Mishlachat at Ramah this summer for teaching me this song!



Exhale pt. 2 BBYO CAMP

11/1

Since arriving, my work schedule has been somewhat loose. Since I'm the first fellow here, there isn't any precedent for the exact requirements and responsibilities of my position. Most placements also have extra added infrastructure to help ground the schedule of the fellow, including established connections with schools, clubs, and program in the Jewish community that the fellow joins and helps run. I have been networking in the Jewish community to hopefully open up opportunities for involvement, but that process obviously takes time and patience. In the meantime, I basically spent my first 2-3 weeks focus on acclimating to the BBYO leadership team and understanding our BBYO chapter, and helping as much as I could to create and run our weekly programs.

Once the chagim started, my focus shifted to creating the first ever BBYO Hungary camp. The other youth groups here do camps, and it's a great way to build our brand and unite our group. Linda (my supervisor) basically told me it's mine to plan, because they want fresh ideas. Although I gave myself about a month to plan the camp, the chagim disrupted any attempts at rhythm or routine in the process. It was also hard to keep the BBYO leadership team in the loop, which worried me because the programs will all fail if they do not know how to run them.

We chose the theme of Storytelling for the camp, and I created a schedule that tried to offer diverse and engaging programming. The camp started Friday afternoon and ended Monday afternoon, so there was lots of time to fill. I created discussions, alternative tefillah experiences, creative sports games, silly programs, and more. Our leadership team did a great job of making any adjustments that would help make things run more smoothly, and then running the programs incredibly well. I ran nightly meetings during which we evaluated the past day and reviewed the following day, and we worked to make necessary adjustments that could make those little improvements that turn good programs into (hopefully) great ones. Watching my ideas come to life in a collaborative and successful fashion was incredibly gratifying.

We had struggled to successfully run a discussion/content-heavy program during our Sunday meetings, yet we ran a few of those types of programs very successfully this weekend. The highlight for me was our Breishit debate. Since it was Shabbat Breishit, which fits in very nicely to our theme of storytelling, I created a program (with some advice from my mom.. Thanks, Mom!) in which the teens were split into three groups, and each given a different Creation narrative. The first group had Breishit 1 (6 days of creation), the second group had Breishit 2 (Garden of Eden), and the third group had Science (Big Bang/Evolution). Each group had to learn the points of their theory, and be able to argue why they believe it is the most compelling story of Creation. I challenged each group with a question that they had to answer on the spot. The conversation ended up getting so exciting that everyone was raising their hands, itching to contribute, and the teens offered thoughtful, articulate, and passionate beliefs and ideas. I had to end the conversation so that we could make it to lunch relatively on time, but I was so thrilled and amazed with the whole program. People filed into lunch still discussing their thoughts on the topic of creation.

On Sunday, we visited Szentendre, which is a cute, old-fashioned town outside of the city. A group of Israeli teenagers on a young diplomats program joined us for the day. The logistics of the day (from transportation to Szentendre--we put our whole group onto a public bus, to the Israeli visitors, to ordering pizzas for our group of 90+) drove Linda crazy (she handled it all amazingly!), but watching our group and the Israeli group have such a great day together was quite special. I also led our new favorite cheer (that I borrowed from the Mishlachat at Ramah this summer) for the whole group, which was so fun.

I could list many more highlights, but overall, the camp was an incredible success. Personally, I feel so proud and relieved. This camp was the most measurable task I have had since my arrival, and I feel truly accomplished to know how well it went. I also finally had the chance to be goofy and fun with the kids, the confidence to address the group (and know that my on-the-spot translators had my back), and to connect with the kids not only through language but through sports, song, and dance. Our Sunday night costume party turned into a big dance/karaoke party with projected YouTube videos, and I never expected I would be so grateful to know Justin Bieber songs.

With the camp behind me, I am now taking a couple days to relax and catch up on a few things I have let slip for a few weeks (like blogging!). Early Thursday morning, I fly to Boston for a Nachshon Project** seminar. Our ongoing participation in the Project includes various opportunities, including yearly seminars. I am super excited to see so many good friends and to be back in the States for a bit! I'll spend two nights after the seminar in New York to see friends, and then I return to Boston on Election Day!
**Nachshon Project is the program I participated in while abroad in Jerusalem in 2015. It is a Jewish leadership and pre-professional program that aims to educate and empower future Jewish leaders and professionals. 

The week after that, I head to Berlin for 3 nights for some touring and for a Chance the Rapper concert. So I'll be in and out of Budapest for the next couple weeks, and then will really work to settle into my routine and projects for the rest of the year.

For now, I'm enjoying the time to EXHALE (today is actually a national holiday here, so the whole country exhales with me), and look forward to carrying this high from the camp with me for a long time.

Exhale pt 1. TGI-Cheshvan

11/1

My most recent check in came right after Yom Kippur. Many more days of Yom Tov later, that post is a distant memory, already stored in the now somewhat populated archives of my time in Budapest. Here are some updates about what I've been up to since then...


Jewish holidays (Holidaze continued):
I came to Budapest a few weeks before the chagim so that I could have time to acclimate and make connections before jumping in to the unforgiving and fast holiday schedule. I felt blessed to make it through Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur with positive religious, social, and personal experiences. The looming marathon of Sukkot-Shemini Atzeret-Simchat Torah seemed so daunting that I almost didn't want to think about it. However, I was once again very lucky with how my holiday season closed up. I went to the Frankel Synagogue for all davening, and finally felt like people knew to expect me, greet me, and check on me. As I wandered to my seat and tried finding the right siddur for Sukkot, someone came over and handed me an English-Hebrew siddur published through the Conservative Movement in the 1940s. I really appreciated the gesture. Synagogues build communal sukkot on their property, but people do not privately build them. After all services, I joined the community for Kiddush and Hamotzi in the Sukkah built in the courtyard around the Frankel Synagogue. I do not take at all for granted that I could fulfill the mitzvah of sitting in a Sukkah, because I thought it would be entirely possible that I would go through Sukkot without having the opportunity. Sukkot's emphasis on the transitory nature of the Jewish experience (captured by the Sukkah which is an impermanent residence that reflects our journey in the desert) once more challenged me to think about the themes of movement, travel, adventure, and home. I'll spare you another "sermon" here, but I'm glad that this theme continues to challenge and excite me. I also was invited to read Haftarah literally on the spot, which I was incredibly reluctant to accept, but people were very impressed that I could read the words fluently and that I knew the trope (even though I clearly improvised on the "hard" ones).

On the second night of Sukkot, a friend I made at synagogue named Ádám invited me to his apartment for dinner. He described his apartment as an unofficial Moishe House. He lives with really nice Jewish people who are all very involved in the community. They even built a little sukkah on their balcony, and the meal began with all guests hanging fruits from the sukkah. It was so great so celebrate the holiday in such a unique, meaningful, and fun fashion that night.

For Simchat Torah, I sort of expected the usual crowd (~25 people) to show up, and for us to walk around with the Torahs while singing. I walked in to shul 10 minutes after the official start time, and the sanctuary was literally overflowing. Young children walked in a huge procession around the perimeter of the sanctuary, as their parents and other community members gathered in the pews and placed candy into the kids' bags as they paraded round and round. It was adorable. I had no idea that there were so many little kids and young families involved in the community, and this celebration was very different from what I am used to. I also know that my earliest positive memories of synagogue were of getting candy from an auf ruf or from the candyman. Even though the 15 (!) Torahs in the procession were peripheral to the candy craze, there is something to be said for probably 100 kids wearing nice clothes and kippot coming to synagogue to walk in a parade with Torahs and have a happy time.

The next day, I arrived to synagogue 25 minutes late, and there still wasn't a minyan. As a little more time went on, people started coming with their children (which meant candy parade round 2 was imminent), but the accompanying parents incidentally helped make our minyan. The Torah parade and trick-or-treating ensued as expected. Most families left after that, although a good amount stayed. The Torah service was very nice, and I again felt grateful to participate in this celebration of faith and community.

It is now Cheshvan, and we are in the clear until Chanukah, and in the clear from Yom Tov until Passover. I am grateful that I did not have to miss school or work to accommodate my religious needs, and I am blessed that my new community welcomed me into their celebration and prayer. Although the chagim disrupted my attempts to get into a routine in my new city and have a sense of structure in my personal and professional life, the chance to organically network with the Jewish community through prayer, meals, and celebration was a special privilege.