Shabbaton in Arad

I went to a shabbaton this weekend in Arad on the Periphery.  It was nice to get away, and I some really interesting people on the trip - the lectures weren't particularly exciting though for me.  We spent a lot of time discussing what is the periphery - but we never gave that discussion importance or context because it was never made clear how deciding what is the periphery and what is not changes the types of benefits available to certain locations.

Also, MASA never reached out to inform us that the host families would not be happening or that we were moving from a hotel to a youth hostel.  I definitely believe that when you are paying for something, even something that is highly subsidized, keeping open communication is important.  It's frustrating to feel like you weren't important enough as a group for MASA to take the moment to update you with changes.  And, you begin to wonder what sort of other changes would be taking place.

I am of the opinion that periphery is a state of mind, and it is relative.  It's all in the context of what your field of view is.  There is no such thing as absolute definition, one might argue that all of Israel is in the periphery.  I did watch an interesting argument play out though that prompted some thinking.

Israel, is the only country for which a large portion of the world continues to question it's right to existence.  It's a unique thing, no other country is constantly being told that it is not a valid country.  When in fact, it shares many similarities with other countries in terms of the development of it's statehood.  But, that is not the topic of my observation.

We were going to our cabin, there were four of us with two bunk beds.  Izy and Ben, Josh and I.  I am not particular with housing or sleeping arrangements, but they all wanted the lower bunk.  They started calling out for the bottom bunk as we neared the cabin.  As the argument ensued, Izy started to suggest doing rocks paper scissor to decide.  I pointed out that he was deligitimizing his claim to the bunk by being willing to offer ways that they could decide.  And then I thought about Israel, maybe Israel is questioned because it doubts itself at times?  Perhaps because Israel is always willing to give up so much, or give back, it is making it difficult for itself because it gives us the appearance of trying to make up for something, the fact that we were given land that was already inhabited by the British.  Obviously, it's a lot more complex - but there are a lot countries in the world that don't get along, and yet only in this instance is the question of right to existence brought to the table.  It's an interesting point for discussion.

After the Shabbaton, we came back to Tel Aviv, and Aviva and Sasha and I met up with Aviva's friends at a neat little bar in Tel Aviv for some appetizers.  The bar is called King George and it's on King George.  I highly recommend it.

Afterwards, we went for some wine tasting at 70poalim, and then split a bottle and exchanged stories on the beach.  A good ending to Shabbat.

Waking up for Ulpan this morning was painful on almost no sleep, and the apartment being freezing from the night before.  I rather enjoyed it however, and plan to spend the rest of the day working on my hebrew at the library to patch up some things which are lacking in clarity for me.