Yom Kippur in Rehovot

First, I'll start by describing the town we chose to live in this year for those of you who are curious.

Rehovot is in the center of the country, south of Tel Aviv, and mostly west of Jerusalem.  We are about 20 minutes from the beach, 45 minutes from Jerusalem, 20 min from Modiin, 25 min from Jaffa and about 30 min from Tel Aviv. (assuming no traffic to all these times)

Rehovot is an old city--which means there are parts of it that look pretty rundown (including our own building).  But on the perimeter are a lot of the newer buildings--with beautiful balconies and more pristine neighborhoods.  However, the benefit of living in the interior is you are closer to things; we have a main street nearby with tons of stores.  They are mostly mom and pop stores, whereas the chains are found in the mall (about 1 km away).  Rehovot is extremely diverse--a lot of Russians immigrated here because I hear a lot of Russian.  There is also a large Ethiopian contingency, Yemenites, secular, and modern orthodox.  There are not a lot of ultra-orthodox here.

It turns out I can get my phone pictures on my computer, so you'll now get to see some images if you haven't gotten your fill from Facebook.

We were quite impressed when we ate at Israel Grill and they brought salad after salad out.  All the colors on the table were so beautiful.

Sivan and Matan have been doing swimming.  Matan moves to group lessons tomorrow.  Sivan's "warm up" is like 8 laps, so she's getting her tush kicked.  She's only had two lessons so far as she had to take a week off (due to concussion).  

Entrance of my kids school this month of holiday season.

Beach 20 min away.

Matan's favorite ice cream bar is "Rolo".  Yes, he has tested quite a lot.

We went to Ashdod for Tashlich (throwing our sins away in the ocean)

Adam has found a niche playing Israeli softball.

Yaffo is such a fascinating city.  

These cannons are from the 1800s!

We found a big park in Ness Ziona, a city north of us.  A good place to work with Matan on riding a bike.  He has to regain his confidence.

Sivan has fallen in love with all the cats in Israel.  She's quite upset she couldn't take this little kitten home.

Okay, and now Yom Kippur.  I write this entry after completing a 25 hour fast, and once again remembering how much I appreciate food and water.  Yom Kippur in America....the rest of the world goes on while us Jews who are not assimilated all go to shul.  Granted, some of us go to reform, some to orthodox.  But most everyone goes.  At least that's how it seemed to me.    Here in Israel, we live in a mostly secular neighborhood.  And my Yom Kippur experience was quite different this time than it was the last time I was in Jerusalem.

Like Jerusalem, there is not a car on the street.  Everything shuts down.  But, as we are walking to Kol Nidre, kids are pouring onto the street to bike and scooter.  Literally, you can just sit down on the main street (in the middle of the street).  And I found out that there are a lot of people who just look at Yom Kippur as the awesome biking holiday.  This was very strange to me.  Yom Kippur was always this day of either you are fasting/praying, or you are not Jewish or don't care.  Here, I wasn't sure how I felt about this....I always would think about Israel at about 12 pm in America and think "everyone is in shul right now, davening the end of Neilah".  I'm not sure I"ll think that anymore.  I'll think "kids are having a great day biking".

As a more traditional family, we did let our kids experience the biking last night on the way to Kol Nidre (my son was probably the only kid with tsitsit scooting to shul).  And frankly, I did not see them much during Kol Nidre, as they went back out to the streets.  But the day of Yom Kippur, it was hot and I didn't want to be outside, and sadly, Matan's scooter got taken (I know we got it for free but it was an awesome awesome scooter and I'm just so disappointed--who takes a scooter on YOM KIPPUR??? in the holy land??  I hate when my ideal vision of Israel gets shattered.)  

I stopped in at the sefardi shul this morning, and was reminded that, although I happily embrace eating rice on Pesach and my sefardi skin tone, I am definitely an ashkenazi davener.  I walked back over the ashkenazi shul, and was inspired by a cantor who sang nearly every note like it was his last.  I don't know how he lasted the whole day without water.

Living on "this side of the tracks" is fascinating, as I'm getting a very different picture of Israel.  For starters, sometimes you think Israel is very black or white.  People are secular or religious. You choose a secular or religious school.  You either wear a kippah or you don't.  But the truth is if you kept your eyes open on Yom Kippur, you saw that there is more in between then you realize. 

First, nearly all synagogues in Israel are orthodox, meaning men lead the service and sit separately from women.  Growing up without that barrier, it's always more distracting to me to feel farther away.  I feel more like a spectator.  But the actual service is familiar and very much what I'm used to. 

Starting last night, there were a LOT of people at the synagogue.  People who clearly don't come often.  I was even helping an Israeli or two find their place in the book.  And then tonight, about 45 minutes before the shofar blowing, people started pouring in.  Some were in shorts and t-shirts, some kids still had their bike pads on, many were in jeans....And I sat there thinking, huh, there isn't this complete separation between religious and non-religious.  A lot of people feel some obligation or something on Yom Kippur.  I wonder how long that will last.  In America, most Jews have lost that sense of obligation to their grandparents' ways.  You either do it because you want to or you don't.  But here, I discovered that many people who are "secular" fasted.    What makes me a little sad is I think conservative-ish kind of Judaism could really flourish in Israel but it doesn't.  People like the traditional way or none at all.  

In short, what did I think of Yom Kippur in Israel?  That moment when everyone began singing avinu malkeinu at the end of the fast was beautiful.  People of all walks of life in that one small synagogue--old ladies with scarves, young kids with jeans on....that moment was nice.  But seeing such a disconnect from the holiest day for Jews in the Jewish land left me a little disappointed too.  Singing l'shana habaa b'yerushalayim in Israel is awesome, and empty streets are great.  At least I didn't feel like the one of 10 Jews in Monroe walking to synagogue.  But the day lacked a little of the spirituality I seek on this one day.