Fay, I am guessing it is sort of a roots/religion thing.

I was planning on going running tonight, but it's humid enough that I'm pretty sure any sort of exercise will give me an asthma attack. Feh. Staying inside in the air conditioning and reading, instead.

Also, I'm discovering that I really like teaching. I like it much better here, when I'm teaching kids, than I do at school, when I'm teaching college students. Not sure where this is leading me; just musing, for now.

Um. Why?

Lots of reasons. Official reasons: supposedly, Jewish kids in the US (well, young adults -- the program is for ages 18 to 26) are disconnected from Israel -- they (we) see it too much as an abstract "over there" and not the integral part of our lives that the people giving money to this think it should be. (Frankly, I found much of the stuff in this vein rather condescending, but was willing to just go along with it, because, hey, free trip.) The organization has a reputation for "brainwashing" people, for doing a heavy "You see, this is why the Israelis are good and the Arabs are bad," thing, but I didn't see that at all. We heard lots of speakers, from religious to secular, and from, well, far-right to moderate-left. That could have been better, but also could have been far worse.

As far as the "brainwashing" charges -- when we were there, we went to see a part of the security fence near Bethlehem, and a representative from the Israeli army was there to tell us about it. He started off with "I am wearing this uniform, and therefore I have to talk to you now as a representative of this army. If you ran into me on the street, I might tell you something else. But right now, I am in uniform, and I respect that." He then proceded to give us a "Why the security fence is good and proper" talk that was full of illogic. He convinced no one, and when we all asked indignant, "What do you mean, that's an acceptable consequence?" questions, he just shrugged. I think that that was the closest we got to anything resembling "brainwashing." The rest of the time, it was more getting to see stuff and experiencing the country.

I think they also wanted us to be able to go back to the States and be able to speak knowledgably about Israel, as an actual place that we'd seen and experienced, not just as an abstract entity.

Oh, I forgot to finish my thought there. Unofficial reasons for funding birthright trips: get young Jewish people to meet other young Jewish people, leading to Jewish marriages and lots of Jewish babies. They were actually rather heavy-handed with this message, though it's not officially anywhere. Most baby-boomer generation Jewish organizations and leaders will talk a lot about how our generation is abandoning Judaism, and how there's too much intermarriage, and how there will be no more American Jews in another 50 years, and all kinds of hand-wringing over that. Unfortunately, the "solution" proposed to most of this seems to be to try to bring us into the Mens Club and Sisterhood organizations that are mostly filled with our parents, and to completely ignore all the really interesting stuff (blogs, spiritual retreats, back to the land programs, innovative services, etc.) that we're creating for ourselves.

Um, sorry. Got a little off-track ranty there.

Hee.

I saw about half of a news segment on Jewish youth trips returning home early from Israel because of the latest conflict. To a person, the kids (they seemed young to me, like 18ish) wished they could have stayed, because they believe living with the conflict ought to have been part of their experience. What surprised me was one mother who was interviewed, whose daughter is not yet home, but whose trip will probably end prematurely. The mother wants the daughter to stay. She might have blown up every stereotype of the neurotic mother, Jewish or Gentile.

too damn hot

t wolf-whistles Hil's ranty panties

Alright, I have to go out. And do two things. And then go home. And I won't see a computer again until monday.

sighhhhh

It's not hot here! Woo! It's 68F. This is quite grand.

Finally got broadband today. I have sucked but not yet skimmed. Had to jump to the end to say Hi! And my family wants to go eat. But I want to stay and catch up. Wah.

Hi Laura, you fabulous creature!

Hey, Laura! 68 sounds WONDERFUL!

I think they also wanted us to be able to go back to the States and be able to speak knowledgably about Israel, as an actual place that we'd seen and experienced, not just as an abstract entity.

This is a good idea.

I got to see my neighbor's granddaughter (who's just about a month younger than Olivia). Her name is Hamutal and she's MUCH teenier than Liv.