Today was a busy but powerful day. Went on a tiyul with the education students to visit Tali Bayit Va' gan school. It was so much fun observing some of the classes and talking to the students. We spoke to this adorable 6th grade boy who told us about the school and himself. It was so interesting hearing about how he likes the school and it is just the right amount of Judaism for him. He does want to go up and read Torah but would never want to wear tzitzit. His father, who made Aliyah did service for the military as a psycologist. The boy would not want to do something like that because he doesnt feel like he would be doing something but yet again he wouldnt want to be on the front line. Maybe air force commander?

Teachers in Israel make about 5000 shekels. Only one man at the school. was very interesting.

Tonight I went to a program on Agunot and it was just so amazing. All different Israelis there for the right of women in obtaining a Get, form of Jewish divorce. Really powerful. One story stands out of a man that would not give his wife a get and one week later married another woman and moved to L.A. and the woman is stuck hiding in her home. I want to explore this issue more.

Further birthday celebrations, dinner with Raina Wed. night where we had this wonderful Pineapple, Mango, Coconut Cream Sauce that was very delicious at Olive and Fish.

Partay for my birthday at Dirah #4 with a bunch of my classmates. Was really a wonderful time. Lots of drinks, German Chocolate Cake, guacamole, chips, and lots of other foods.

Happy 25th Birthday To Me and to the trees (its Tu B'Shvat! Today was a lot of fun. I read Torah for the first time...with cantillation! We had a special Tu B'Shvat ceremony outside HUC by the playground with the children from the Gan. In Hebrew we read about the holiday. Had service review which was fine. Education seminar and Vagina Monologue rehearsals. Long busy day but very happy!

Today we had the wonderful opportunity to hear Alice Shalvi in our Israel seminar on Women in Israel. She is the former President of the Women's Network in Israel and a strong activist for Israeli Women Rights. How Judaism tends to push patriarchy and rejection of women and how that influenced her own decision to join the Masorti movement. She discussed the exclusion of Jewish women from the 3 Batim- Beit Knesset, Beit Hamidrash, and Beit Din (agunot and conversion) She spoke about many different aspects of women in Israeli society. I was intrigued by her discussion about the Israeli army and that frequently thos with high army positions tend to go into high political positions except women. There are now 18 women in the Knesset.

As part of our exposure to women in Israel my group visited Bat Shalom a center that brings together the voices of Israeli and Palestinians from a feminist perspective. Was really interesting hearing how much the group does.

Afterwards we had a synthesis of our visits and a lunch regarding various volunteer projects my classmates do. It was very interesting and I hope to get to visit some of them.

The weirdest part of the day was the weather in the evening. All of the sudden it got dark with this grayness to the air. It was very windy and almost brown outside. Apparently it was some storm and with the pollution made for a cold night. Electricity companies were on high alert for high power usage. S'deh Dov airport ( a small minor airport) closed for a bit in the evening and some flights incoming to all of Israel airports were sent elsewhere. ......The next morning we woke up to a brown film on the steps outside the apartment from all the wind. Israelis compared it to a summer sandstorm only in the cold and not as sandy.

Today we had a really incredible opportunity to visit and understand the Israeli military. We began the day going to Chatzor an Air Force base which was really incredible. We had a very warm welcome and heard a presentation on the Air Force by one of the women who is one of a few in the air force. Was really cool. They wear some heavy gear up in the planes. Their survival kit includes a boat, water and food that attaches to their leg in case they have to jump out of the plane. ........We got to see a plane and see many landing and they were loud.

Afterwards we went to Base 11 in Ramla (no folks not Ramallah) were we met with soldiers for lunch. Later we had a presentation about the army. I learned about the different uniforms soldiers wear on base and when off or on a different base than their own. I like how they call the insignia on their shoulders that tells rank one of them is called Felafels the other is a bar. You can have up to 3 felafals i believe. Had some intense conversations with israeli soldiers about their life and they asked us about our lives and our relationship to Israel and whether we would make Aliyah and stuff. Really deep. This was an incredible day!