Israel – Day 7

July 27, 2012

Today was a bright and early start, 7AM, in order to get to the conference on a “Philosophical Investigation of the Hebrew Scriptures, Midrash and Talmud”. Since the last time I’d come to Israel, all the bus routes had changed, including the pricing scheme. Think Myki. Unfortunately to obtain one of these smart cards, one was required to go to the central station and present your passport, which requires dealing with Israeli bureaucracy. An absolute nightmare.

After dealing with the transport issue, I arrived at the Shalem Center, where I believed the conference was being held, only to be informed that the conference was in fact located 20 minutes down the road! With only 10 minutes to spare, I sprinted in the heat to the venue, arriving just in time to grab a pastry on my way in to the first session.

The first session was a view of systems of thought, in regards to the story of Adam and Eve, reflecting on an epistemological categorization of man. Of note was the connection drawn between ‘adam’ (man) and ‘adama’ (ground/earth) used to show that Judaism rather than believing that the physical impinges on our mind’s freedom, is in fact vital to it. This was compared to ‘cognitive paganism’ whereby the physical nature of the connection between mind and body is considered to be a limiting factor.

The next session was not nearly as enjoyable or insightful, though it began promisingly. It was presented by two Christians, a philosopher and a theologian. It relied on the premise of god’s foreknowledge of the world and this was heavily debated by a number of conservative attendees.

Lunch was a delicious buffet where I engaged in conversation with a girl Riva, from England. She was somewhat of a puzzle, with a conservative history but a later move to very fervent orthodoxy. A student of theology at the University of Leeds, at 19 years old, she was the youngest there.

The session immediately after lunch I again didn’t find particularly engaging. However, the final one I went to that day was an attempt to draw parallels between trust in science and validation of rabbinical and exegetical views. Through Polanyi’s philosophy of science, he showed how similar to the development of a body of science, where no individual holds the complete body of knowledge, Rabbinical Judaism relies on similar processes.

After the conference I went back to Beit Yehuda to see Adi and Sarah. As they had finally finished the MDA course, them and their course-mates went out on the town for the evening, with me tagging behind. Once the majority of the group  went to the dodgy bars of Rechov Rivlin, we instead chose to go for a lovely dinner at Ha’Marakia, a soup bar with an indie feel. The rest of the evening was spent wandering the streets of Jerusalem, including a brief trip into the old city, where I questioned a few Arab teenagers as to the appropriate phrase to wish someone at the conclusion of a day’s fasting.

Switzerland to Israel – Day 6

Today I unfortunately had to say goodbye to Switzerland and the Empting family, to whom I give my greatest thanks.

I truly had a wonderful time. I arrived at the airport far two early, and so with two hours to kill, bought an unnamed magazine, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Once I boarded the plane and found my seat, 29G I realized what I good choice I had made at check in. I had the emergency seat with no passenger next to me and so could stretch out my legs the full way! As everyone else boarded, the flight attendant stood next to me in the extra space and we had a most enjoyable conversation. He was a french national working for swiss airlines and could speak a whopping seven languages fluently. Thus, each time he passed to offer food or drink we attempted to play out our interactions in a different language. On another note the plane food was actually delicious, though no photos this time.

Landing in Israel I immediately felt at home. Walking through the terminals and even going through passport control felt entirely natural. I soon caught a sherut (large public taxi) to Jerusalem from the airport, on which I helped an American ex-birthright girl find her way around.

Once I dropped my belongings off at my cousins, I took off to Beit Yehuda, where my brother and, close friend Sarah Silverberg, were staying. Unfortunately though I had not informed him when I would be arriving, my brother Adi was hardly surprised to see me. With an exam the following day on medical words in hebrew, I left them relatively early only to have to wait for forty minutes for the bus back home to arrive. A late night, soon to be followed by a reasonably early morning.

Switzerland

Favorite Food: Raclette & Chocolate Gipfle
Favorite Language: French
Best Attraction: Luzerne
Best New Friend: Lena & Joi
Best Feature: Natural Beauty

Ranking: ☆☆☆☆☆

The Alps – Day 5

July 25, 2012

It’s about time to describe the breakfasts I have been having every morning. They are some of the most lavish I have had in my life, replete with berries, cheeses, breads, cereals, drinks, fruits and jams. Of particular note are the cheeses visible in the photo, ranging from Tete de Moine (as in the below video), to Gorgonzola, to Brie.

The breakfast spread was positively delicious and was eaten for all five days I was there!

Each morning we consumed a good punnet of raspberries alongside a good few blueberries too! Also available were currents of both the red and black varieties. It was also at the various breakfasts that I discovered a real liking of swiss pastries, from the buttery gipfle to the brioche. Zopf, Swiss Sunday bread, somewhat like challah is delicious too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today was my last full day in Switzerland and it was spent traversing the Swiss country side, the highlight of which was a trip to the Alps! As it was Summer, the Emptings and I were prepared for at worst some cloudy weather. Unfortunately for us, fate had other plans and we faced a windy barrage of raindrops, pelting us as we caught the chairlift to the summit of one of the mountains. As we walked back down, we came across a little cafe which we entered for shelter. I tried a traditional Swiss drink, the Rumpunch, a very sweet, syrupy, hot drink. I didn’t like it much.

 

Exiting we saw a rare sight: wild eidelweiss growing on the side of the road. I of course took photographic evidence and was then informed by the Emptings that it was in fact illegal to take flowers away from the Alps, and so left it there.

On the way back to Zurich we drove via a town called Elm, that was completely annihilated by a rockfall caused by over mining the mountain nearby. If you look closely in the photo below you can see where they fell from. The fall left only two survivors, who were up on the hill that day, in contrast to most of the village that was engaged in some celebration. Elm was rebuilt and is home to a factory producing some famous Swiss drink whose name escapes me, but is milk based (and awful too!)

The evening was spent back in Baden, with both Carmen and Eva, and we whiled away the hours recalling the times we’ve had together and the mischief we’ve all gotten up to since.