How I Spent Sivan: Weddings, Parents' Visit, Performances
Chodesh Tamuz tov! I can’t believe a whole month has passed. So much has happened. I’ll start with a note, a video, and an update on the kittens.
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Video: Many moons ago, I helped my friend, filmmaker Malka Batash, make a short sketch here in Jerusalem. I am in several scenes, and the last part was filmed at my house. Check it out!
Kittens: The white cat and her 5 babies are still on our mirpeset/patio. You may have heard them squeaking in the background of my last audio. They like to do that, at all hours. They are incredibly cute, and bring a special aroma to the area. I think they are ready for a new home, so if you want a kitten, please come and take as many as you would like.
And now, for how I spent the month of Sivan. Firstly, I completed my project of writing every day for 49 days. Yay! Rikki and I hosted an Authentic Relating Shabbaton, with about 10 people, which was amazing. I was brought into a few organizations to lead improv workshops, including Legal Aid Ontario (online), a young women’s Shabbaton in Jerusalem, and young olim (immigrants) with the municipality.
The sixth of Sivan is the holiday of Shavuot. I had a friend come in from out of town, and I also saw someone who I had known in Toronto, but hadn’t seen in at least 10 years. It was exciting to catch up! And as promised, my flatmate Rikki’s painting was on the cover of the Shavuot edition of the Jerusalem Post magazine.
I went with a friend for dinner at the OU Centre. Afterwards, I headed to the Great Synagogue for a line-up of speakers, starting at 11 pm. I stayed until past the end, 5:30 am, and the sun was already up on our walk back. We returned for lunch the next day. It was different from the 450 simultaneous workshops at the Downtown Toronto JCC, but it was nice to be in one room with a series of speakers and not have to make too many choices (other than the fact that I missed a dozen different Shavuot events in the Old City and other parts of Jerusalem.)
After that, I attended a Shabbaton for young olot. We got to see the kever of Shmuel HaNavi, which was in an archaeological site near Ramot. It was so cool. I have decided that I want to live in a stone house built 3000 years ago, or a cave. They are great at regulating the temperature. Afterwards, I took a spinning class. I realized why I do not do spinning. That was more intense than I ever want a workshop to be. I would prefer something like tai chi or Pilates. At the Shabbaton, I also saw a Toronto friend, who I hadn’t seen in 10 years or so. It was like a Toronto reunion.
And speaking of Toronto reunions…
My parents came to visit! It was awesome. They came to one (and Mom came to two) of my improv classes, saw me perform, watched the Gilbert & Sullivan operetta Patience, went to the Friends of Zion Museum, the Tower of David, saw the newly-built National Library of Israel with its exhibit on the power of words, spent a few days in Tel Aviv, visited Zichron Yaakov and Caesarea, and met up with different groups of cousins (including one I hadn’t met before.) They had a good time, and it was so nice to see them and spend time with them.
The performance I mentioned was my newest one-woman improvised play, Support Group. It was part of Carousel, an evening of short works. You can watch the video here.
A theme for this time of year is weddings. There have been weddings every day since Shavuot. Almost every week, classes will be canceled or people won’t attend because they are at a wedding; two people will mention they have a wedding that night, and it won’t be the same one; in one day my parents and I saw three wedding shoots, one of which was for the wedding that night where we were. I have three weddings in three weeks. One friend said she has eight weddings in three weeks! There is a reason that weddings in Israel are in such a condensed time span — we just had 33 days, or 7 weeks (except for Lag B’Omer,) where you can’t get married, and we are about to have another 3 weeks of that. But even in Canada, where there are no restrictions on dates, I can’t recall ever having three weddings in a year, never mind eight! (Except when I was a wedding officiant and did three weddings in a month, but that’s because I was working in the industry, not a guest.) And it’s not that people are waiting months, or even years, for a post-COVID summer wedding, because the two weddings I have attended so far were a couple that met in February and a couple that began dating in January. Amongst the crowd that keeps shomer negiah (don’t touch until they’re married,) they want to get married as soon as possible, even within 5 months of their first meeting.
The wedding of Yael and Yitzi was up north, on a farm called El Nave in an area called Harish. They booked a bus for us, and while waiting for it I found out that one of the guests was born and raised in Hong Kong (the third Jerusalemite I know from there, two of which come from Jewish families.) Upon hearing this, another guest started speaking to her in Mandarin, which apparently he taught himself in America. I did not expect to hear two Jews speaking to each other in Mandarin on a sidewalk in Jerusalem, but a lot of things happen here that I don’t expect.
It took us a few extra hours to get to the destination, apparently because GPS is jammed up north. But it was worth it to see the groom ride in on a horse to greet his bride. We also got to hang out with the lambs, goats, and sheep on the farm. Someone was observing the goats and called me over. “Lauren!” he said. “Come teach these goats improv!” That would have probably made for a good video to share with you, but alas, they weren’t disciplined enough.
This week I saw the wedding of my good friend Pamela to Noach. It was at the Science Museum, which made me think of my Bat Mitzvah at the Science Centre in Toronto. The groom is in two a cappella bands, and so, in addition to hiring a band for the chuppa, we were encouraged to sing the down-the-aisle songs, with lyrics in the handout we got. The Birkat HaMazon (grace after meals) was amazing, with a dozen guys harmonizing.
All in all, it was an amazing month, even with a heat wave that saw temperatures stay between 30-40°C for a week. (Unfortunately, the week my parents visited.)
The next thing I am focusing on is putting together a course for Jews here and abroad to raise awareness about the psychological warfare that we are under, and shift perspectives on why this is happening globally, and what to do about it. A better explanation for this can be found here. If you live in Israel, you can join the course in-person by registering here. If you live outside of Israel and want to be a part of the online version, please message me.
Places I have travelled this month: Tel Aviv, Zichron Yaakov, Caesarea, Harish, Shilo