February 2012
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Movie Night: Walk on Water
Better late than never, right?
About a month ago, Rotem and I held another Jewish Movie Night for young adults, in which we showed Walk on Water, an Israeli German film about an Israeli Mossad agent who is tasked with befriending the two grandchildren of the elderly Nazi official he is trying to track down.
This isn’t a brilliant film, but it’s engaging and entertaining and it...
Bereshit in Berlin
On Sunday, February 5th, JDC Germany brought Bereshit to Berlin and I was lucky enough to participate! Bereshit is a program created to serve the European Jewish Community by bringing Israeli professors or innovative thinkers to come give seminars to various Jewish communities. The idea of helping a community by trying to feed it intellectually is one that really speaks to me and I was so...
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Avgolemono Soup: my new obsession
Last year, I worked in an office where we would order in for lunch a lot, especially when the weather was bad. We would often order from a Greek restaurant not so far away, and while all of their food was delicious, one dish in particular stands out in my memory - their Avgolemono soup. This is essentially broth with a lot of lemon, some rice, and whisked eggs. Once a colleague offered me a sip...
January 2012
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A Trip to the Bookstore
When I visited my father in Jerusalem, we stopped in a bookstore to pick up a few books he had ordered. It was a small, cramped bookstore with piles of books everywhere and overflowing shelves and it was beautiful. I wanted to stay there forever and read everything but I also knew that if I stayed there I risked buying half the store.
I go to bookstores a lot less here in Berlin than I did in...
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Rewind to Limmud Day Hamburg.
When I was a child, I attended a Jewish Day School in New York, where once a year on Holocaust Remembrance Day, part of the lobby of our school turned into a large memorial hall. Every year, my sister and I would go with my mother and light a candle for her parents’ families and she would cry and I would watch in horrified fascination as a slide show played on a wall – people’s families, once all...
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(Birthday) Party at Bambinim!
A couple of weeks ago, I rushed straight from one of our Hanukkah events back to Bambinim, where I was helping to staff a 3 year old’s birthday party – not just any birthday party, really, but his Upsherin, or the celebration of his first haircut. The family had asked Bambinim to come up with a program for the day, which I wrote and which a colleague of mine ended up seeing through in German,...
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Welcome to Berlin, Papá! (And Happy New Year!)
On Thursday night, my father, who has been on sabbatical in Jerusalem since the beginning of November, arrived in Berlin! I haven’t seen him since September, so I was so happy to finally be able to spend time together! He brought me spices from the Shuk in Jerusalem - a very thoughtful gift which should be very useful and exciting for my cooking!
On Friday morning, I took him for a walk...
December 2011
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Hanukkah with the (Bambinim) Fam
This year for Hanukkah, Bambinim collaborated with the Jewish Community of Berlin to put together a family program that would be accessible to everyone. As soon as the High Holidays were over, the first planning meetings took place. The result was really amazing – three events in three different neighborhoods, with a puppet show, music, playing, food, and socializing. It was really great!
The...
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Hanukkah at Russisches Haus
For the third night of Hanukkah, I went with Flora, the director of Bambinim, to a Hanukkah event put on by the Russian Jewish community. The woman who was directing the event is part of a family that is very active in Bambinim and they had invited us, so we were very excited to see what they had put together.
The event was a concert with different acts, ranging from professional musicians to...
Hanukkah at the Berlin Jewish Community
Last night, for the first night of Hanukkah, four of the eight synagogues under the auspices of the Jewish Community of Berlin came together in the Community building to celebrate together. There were so many people there, especially people with children. After a short service, we lit the first candle together and sang some songs.
The adults had some time to socialize after and the kids were...
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Meanwhile, elsewhere in Germany...
A little less than a month ago, Sarah, who is working with the Jewish community in Duisberg as part of her fellowship this year, came to stay with me for a weekend because an event she had been planning with Bnei Mitzvah and their families was finally taking place. I was lucky enough to come to some of the events throughout the weekend and got a fantastic impression - the kids and their parents...
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Don't Go Breaking My Heart, BVG!
See that sign there? The one that says “…bis 10. November 2011”? That means “until November 10th, 2011,” and it refers to an U-Bahn service change that affects me because it applies to my U-Bahn stop. I was so excited for November 10th, so ready to experience the whole new world of the properly working U-Bahn, with no service changes and no extra transfers to bother me. I was even preparing a...
November 2011
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A Day Trip to Poland
Well, hello, friends! It’s been a long few days without internet at my place. What have I been up to? Oh, the usual. Working. Reading a book. Taking a train to Poland. The usual.
But really, I went to Poland this weekend! I had really been pushing a few friends of mine to join me on a trip, and finally (and at the last minute, of course) we made it happen! We went to...
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Hanukkah + Nostalgia = Uzi and Hani
We have two Hebrew Music courses for children a week and listening to the songs sometimes really brings me back to my childhood. This week, it was Yonatan Ha-Katan in the class for babies and all of the classic Hanukkah songs in the class for older kids. When I got home from the last class, I went to youtube, found as many of my childhood songs as I could, and just went with the nostalgia....
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My First (well, Second) Jewish Kinoabend in...
On my first day in Berlin (can it really have been two months ago?), I arrived at Sarah’s apartment at around 8 am and set two simple yet difficult goals for myself: first, stay awake past 10 pm and kill the jet lag early; second, focus on the short term for now lest you think about the huge move you’ve just made and freak out. I was kind of a wreck by 6 pm, though, and so...
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Shabbat Playgroup - Salt Jars and Camels
This week for Shabbat Playgroup, we talked about the birth of Isaac in Parashat Hashavua. We talked about how Isaac was a special baby for his parents, who didn’t expect to have him so late in their lives, and about how every baby is special to their parents. We had each parent at our playgroup tell a story about their child’s birth - all very sweet stories. After challah-baking, we...
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Winter is Coming!
That is both a line from Game of Thrones and the truth. Winter IS coming, people. It was dark at like 5 pm today. And Game of Thrones is an excellent book - I’m reading the second book in the series now, and I’m really enjoying. I’m not very far in, so further update once I have something more to say about it.
Anyway, this morning was my first morning alone after my...
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Auf Wiedersehen, Mumi!
It’s been a fantastic week with my mother here in Berlin, and I am very sad to say goodbye to her, but unfortunately normal life must continue for both of us. We had a fantastic last few days together that I want to recap before she departs, though:
First, on Thursday night, we went to the Konzerthaus for a reinterpretation of the works of Tango composer Astor Piazzolla. It was great to...
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A Foggy Day in Berlin
On Wednesday morning, the city was in the midst of a thick fog and it was colder than it has been in a while. We braved the weather, however, and went to see the East Side Gallery, a preserved stretch of the Berlin Wall which different artists have been commissioned to paint at different sections. We had interesting timing, too: November 9th is the anniversary of the day the Wall came down (22...
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A Pilgrimage of Sorts
On Tuesday afternoon I had to go to work, but in the morning I made time to take my mom on a visit to a surprise location.
To the untrained eye, this looks like just a street corner with a super market on it (diagonally across from an Apotheke - an important detail). But to my mother and me, this is much more: add a phone booth, go back ten years to when this super market belonged to another...
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Welcome to Berlin, Ima!
I am lucky enough to have my mother visiting me this week! I missed her so much for these past two months and I still can’t believe she’s here with me in my kitchen right now. She and I are also great at traveling together, so in addition to it’s being nice that she’s visiting me, it’s nice that she’s visiting me in Berlin, where we can have a great time being...