by Aaron Shneyer
October is a great month to arrive in Jerusalem. In three weeks, I’ve celebrated Ramadan, Sukkot, Eid el-Fitr, Simchat Torah, a Palestinian wedding and a Sheva Brachot meal for a newly-wed Israeli couple. In some ways I might be one of the luckiest people here. As an American outsider with a wonderful network of friends from Seeds of Peace, I have a unique opportunity to spend time with all of the people here and to learn, first-hand, what life is like in their shoes. As tremendous political and social barriers usually limit interaction between Israelis and Palestinians living here, I am very grateful for the freedom to cross those barriers and get to know both sides.
One of my most memorable experiences was the Palestinian wedding last week, where I was politely forced to dance to Arabic music blasting through the street. After about 30 minutes of attempting to dance just like every other guy there, the DJ abruptly shut off the Arabic song and put on a techno song, apparently just for me. Suddenly all of the men formed a circle, ushered me into the middle and encouraged me to show off my dance moves. Normally I’d be more than happy to share my “culture” with people from another country, but tonight, as a guest of a guest, I was hoping to blend in a bit more. Either way, the people there were amazingly warm and eager to share their customs with me. And the food was delicious! It’s an experience I’ll never forget.
My project is coming along. We’ve decided to call it HEARTBEAT: JERUSALEM. This week I have meetings with school directors in East Jerusalem and at the music conservatory in Ramallah. Even though the Israeli high schools are on strike, I’m hoping to meet with the directors of various arts magnet schools here in Jerusalem over the next week. Overall, people have been very receptive to the project and I’ve had quite a few high school students very enthusiastically approach me about joining the group. The plan is to wrap up the recruitment phase within the next two weeks and hold auditions during the second week of November.
In the next update I promise to spice things up a bit more with some of the sights and sounds of J-slam. Please feel free to contact me and let me know what you’d like to see on this page. I’m interested to see who’s reading… Thanks again.
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The views and information presented are the Fulbright grantee’s own and do not represent the Fulbright Program or the U.S. Department of State.
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