Dialated Pupils

Shalom, Shavua Tov, Blessing, Howdy. Long time, no post. I hope no one was holding their breath…I hope instead you’ve been involved in deep meditative breathing, basking in the sun, eating melons, and sitting in grassy mounds…or whatever it is you like to do in the summer.

So since we left off…Passover..I believe it was, much has happened. Although I am so tempted to recap, to tell you about my crazy Passover Sedars that involved dancing in the streets of Tzfat for Eliyahu the Prophet and whipping eachother with garlic (apparently it’s a Sephardic custom that is reminiscent of what it is to be enslaved) plus I wanted to tell you all about the bonfires of Lag Ba’Omer, being in the Old City for Jerusalem Day. I wanted to tell you about my dad and Uncle Dave coming to visit me and the miraculous events that took place as we traversed the country, I wanted to tell you so much, but once again, if you’ll oblige me, I am going to fast forward to the present moment, where I find myself on a mountain in the middle of no where while simultaneously being in the middle of everything…Bat Ayin (roughly translated to the pupil of the eye). Stay tuned because I am getting ready to answer that million dollar question…when is Jenna Domber coming back to the United States?

About three weeks ago, I started to come down with something at Mayanot. Although I love the intense learning, the holy women, the central location, the comfortable little role I played at the institution, I started to get an itch..it started in my lower back; the place that no matter how hard you stretch or contort, you simply can’t reach it. Then the itch moved to my shoulder blade, then my arm, and eventually my feet. I was breaking out with something and was self-diagnosed with the summer-time traveling bug and needed a strong dose of random, divinely inspired adventure. So I packed up my backpack, gave a dramatic soliloquy to the women, baked them cookies, and bade Jerusalem goodbye.

…And what a long strange trip it’s been! I covered my body in the best mud from the dead sea, walked on the Galilean waters, dipped in ancient mikvahs along the mountain wadi’s of Meron, bathed in waterfalls along the Jordan River, camped in the reeds of the Sneir, and body surfed the waves of the Mediterranean Sea. It was a bit of a water tour. A celebration of the hydrating, replenishing, life-giving, world-founding, bubbly, sweet, delicious mayim, water, aqua, H2O, whatever you want to call it. So purifying, liquifing, edifying, secret-belying, keep you from dying, and I’m still drying water.....trickling, splashing, gushing

Although I have always wanted to be a mermaid, the time soon came to focus on the other elements…such as the dirt. To ground myself, and to start answering questions, versus holding my breath and seeing how long I could stay under water (which btw is 53 seconds…beat that). And so here I am, quite literally being grounded…I am toiling and working the land in a crazy little communal settlement in the Judean Hills on the edge of the West Bank with a bunch of hippy Breslover Jews doing a three week Torah and Gardening Program.

The learning curriculum is very much my style. Classes include Composting 101, Herbology, Yoga and body movement, Exploring the Biblical Commandment “thou shall not waste”, and Seeing G-d in Nature. We eat organic food, make bonfires, drum in circles, live in caravans, shower infrequently, and wear clothes that don’t match. It’s great. It feels very much like home. My room mate is Nepalese and thinks my name is Gandhi… I don’t think I’ll correct her.

Plus Bat Ayin is a trip unto itself. It’s pretty much a modern day tribal society focused on organic and spiritual living. Everyone has chickens in their backyard, donkeys roam the streets, communal clay ovens bake the Shabbos bread, everyone works together, smacks each others kids, people live simply and in trailers (the Israeli government won’t let them build) but everyone is happy. The kids sit in the middle of the dirt road and play instruments, it’s a very sweet, uncorrupted environment, anthropologists and social scientists should come take notes. And best of all, every single night is the most mind-blowing color spilling genius sunset you could ever witness.

I will be here, Please G-d, for 3 weeks and then I head to the next stop on my summer tour, a religious kibbutz that does organic farming, with a goat dairy and bee cultivation …I’ll let you know how that one goes.

I’ll start writing more now that I am semi-settling in. Thanks for your support and sticking out my journey with me. It’s so fun. Life is glorious, G-d loves us so much and just wants to shower us with blessings…are your hands open to receive it?

I'll try to post pictures soon too.