November 2012
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Chapter 1: In Which We Start a Blog. →
Somewhat relevant to this blog: fellow JSC Fellow Sarah and I have started a food blog together! Even though she is in Belgrade and I am in Berlin, we are brought together by our love of all things delicious. You can see what we’re baking and cooking in our respective cities at our blog, A Maidel with a Ladle.
October 2012
4 posts
One Year in Berlin
I’d like to belatedly take a moment on this blog to mark my officially having passed the one-year point here in Berlin! I arrived here on September 8th, 2011 very early in the morning to a warm apartment where a sleepy Sarah and Molly were getting breakfast ready. The next few days were a blur of tourism, introductions, long words in German, and see-sawing feelings. I remember thinking with...
August 2012
4 posts
Bnot Mitzvah, Feminism, and Tutoring in Berlin
When I was twelve, my heroines were Eleanor of Aquitaine, Ginger Rogers, and Israeli women’s rights activist Professor Alice Shalvi. I staunchly believed in the importance of equality between men and women without actually understanding that there were people who didn’t. If you had asked me, I would proudly have told you that I was a feminist. (I still am, for that matter.)
As such, and having...
July 2012
2 posts
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At the Bambinim Summer Camp this year, one of our...
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Summer Camp is in the News!
Oh darling blog, how I’ve neglected you!
Really, it must seem like I’ve fallen off the face of the earth, but I am a procrastinator by nature, and what can I say — things just kept piling up. But now I’m back and I’m firmly resolved to update faithfully and frequently about all of my (interesting or relevant) goings-on in Berlin. Maybe I’ll even put together...
April 2012
2 posts
March 2012
4 posts
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Movie Night: Le nom des gens
A few weeks ago, we had our February movie night, and in the Valentine’s Day spirit we decided to keep it light and show the French romantic comedy “The Names of Love” or “Le nom des gens.” We had a great turnout - 40 people from all over the world, all interesting and enthusiastic about the movie night. Many people came to me after to tell me how much they enjoyed...
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February 2012
6 posts
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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
14 posts
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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
14 posts
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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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