And now a little word from my sponsor...

Cartoons and 110 magnet letters - isn't it fun and easy learning a new language and culture? :)

I'd like to buy a vowel

Yesterday I had my 3rd Hebrew class. The amount of students has grown during these three weeks, and we are now approximately 25, all getting together once a week to cram this ancient language into our heads.

Unlike usually with language studies, learning Hebrew happens very slowly. When it comes to other European languages for instance, you know by the 3rd class how to say hello and introduce yourself. Here things take time, as the alphabet is something that needs to be figured out before going forward. You can't study the language in Latin alphabet or phonetically, so before advancing in the book the alphabet needs to be more than familiar to you.

So far, it has some curiosities compared to other languages that I have learnt. For instance, Hebrew does not have capital letters or lower case. This makes it somewhat easier to learn writing. Secondly, the language hasn't officially got vowels - or not at least in the sense I'm used to. The basic set of letters are all consonants, and turned into vowels by adding little dots or lines above or below the letter.

I am quite inspired by the language, even though I have not learnt much yet. I still have problems recognizing some of the letters (not to mention writing them!), but the sheer joy of actually being able to figure out a word and what it means in Hebrew gives such pleasure that it's hard to describe. Suddenly, all that nonsense and weird symbols make sense - it is a rewarding and eye-opening feeling.

The papers and notes are getting messy, but will make sense in the end...

Prinsengracht 263

The Amsterdam address mentioned in the headline needs no introductions, and neither does a certain young girl called Anne Frank. Her diary, translated into dozens and dozens of languages, is one of the most known and read stories from WWII and the museum draws numerous visitors each day after its opening in 1960.

I had read the Diary before, but hadn't visited the Anne Frank House during my two previous short visits to Amsterdam. Third time is the charm, so dreading the long queue squirming outside the house, it was time to pay the scene of the Diary a visit.

The queue looks worse than it actually is.

The house looks on outside like any other Amsterdam house. Tall, narrow, big windows. Inside, there are steep staircases and creaking floors. But no other house hosts a certain bookcase that served as a hidden entrance to the annex of this building, which was used as a warehouse in the front - and a hiding place in the back.

The rooms in the annex are empty, left that way after Otto Frank's wishes. It is meant to symbolize the void left after all the people that never came back from the camps. The 46m2 of the annex housed eight people and for two years provided them hopes of surviving - until someone (still unknown) tipped them off. Otto Frank was the only one of them to survive. All that is left now are faded pictures of movie stars glued on the walls of the annex, and marks on the wall showing how much Anne had grown in height during these two years. Something so normal and humane, abruptly ended by something so abnormal and inhumane.

It was touching to visit the scene and think that this was the exact location where Anne had written her Diary. You get to walk the same floors, take the same stairs, see the same view from the attic. Anne's stories come to life, as you can place each resident of the annex in the locations doing their own things and chores, silently and patiently waiting for the war to end.

The House is yet another reminder and testimony of the horrific things humankind did and allowed to happen not so long ago. For those interested, I highly recommend reading the Diary and visiting the museum and witnessing this young girl's short, but powerful legacy.

Exactly 70 years ago, 25th of September 1942, Anne wrote the following to Kitty (= the Diary):

"Mouschi, the cat, is becoming nicer to me as time goes by, but I'm still somewhat afraid of her."

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It's Jerusalem time

A small, funny tidbit from today...

Numerous Finnish Nokia Lumia mobile phones automatically migrated to the Jerusalem timezone this weekend as Israel turned clocks. The phones displayed the time one hour behind real Finnish time, and claimed to be in the UTC+02 Jerusalem timezone.

Up until this evening, the phenomenon has only occurred in Finland and the reason for the automated update has not been figured out.

Maybe all roads lead to Zion and not Rome - after all? :)

Read the original article (in Finnish): Lumiat lähtivät Jerusalemin aikavyöhykkeelle.

The great conversion

What do Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Isla Fisher and Elizabeth Banks have in common? Yes, they have all made a career on the silver screen but also have converted to Judaism. In most of these cases it was because of love.

I'm Lutheran, just as I was baptised 20+ years ago. I see my family over Christmas for dinner and to spend some time together, but that's pretty much it. I don't go to church, read the Bible or light candles at home. At my college job, I used to fight for Sunday shifts to get double pay. So you could call me a typical habitual Christian in Finland, just like roughly 77% of the population.

Would I ever consider converting to Judaism then, like the leading Hollywood ladies mentioned before? The thought crossed my mind, sure, even though my Jewish boyfriend isn't a religious fanatic. He has never asked me to convert, which means he accepts me the way I am and doesn't want to change me. That's nice to know. So if I did ever convert, it would be out of my own free will to do so.

Taking it to a deeper level, converting to Judaism isn't a just a picnic. I believe if you consider joining a religion, out of respect you should go all the way. Not to be a ”fair-weather Jew”. I should abandon things I take for granted (like doing household chores on Saturdays or having a cheeseburger every now and then). Abandoning my ”former” life and Christian habits would mean that another door for new holidays and way of life would open up. However, since I'm not religious now, I don't see myself being respectfully religious if converting. Sorry, but following all the 613 commandments would be too hard for me, I'm too human for that.

One could argue back that not all Jews themselves keep kosher or Shabbat. Different movements in Judaism or different individuals observe the rules and laws differently. This leaves me wondering if it is alright for a convert to have their cake and eat it too? After all, if religion is something private and personal between you and G-d - why not do it your own way? The way I've learnt to understand it, though, is that if you're not born a Jew, you need to go a really long extra mile to become one and to be considered as one. :)

(toptenz.net)

 Elizabeth Taylor, or Elisheba Rachel, wasn't allowed to enter Egypt in 1962 to finish filming "Cleopatra". The reason given was because she had adopted the Jewish faith and supported the Israeli causes.

Easy as ABC

Or, easy as אבג! Yesterday, I had my first Hebrew lesson and I must say - against all my negative prejudice - it was quite fun! Alright, we only had time to scratch the surface of the alphabet and half of the time got to know each other in class and listened to Israeli music. But somehow I got the feeling like... I can beat this thing.

After class I came home and as a diligent Finn started practicing the letters again. In fact, it is like learning 44 new letters since we're learning also how to write them by hand. My notebook is full of "irons", "fish hooks", "curly hairs" and "ears". How fun to come up with tricks how to remember how each letter is written! (Note to self: keep this attitude when going forward)

Beautiful samples of my "hand writing": the fish hook, ear etc.

It was also fun and in a way comforting to be in a class of 20 people who share your interest one way or another. People had various reasons why they had enrolled in the class: some had lived in Israel, some were half-Israelis, some had found out they had Jewish family roots, some had traveled in Israel and fallen in love with the country, some were married to an Israeli and some were studying it for work. I'm none of these, by the way :).

Next week in class, we're going to talk about Rosh Hashanah - the Jewish new year. I'm really looking forward to it and this is exactly the counter weight outside the office what I've been missing!

Still struggling to remember that the book opens the other way :).

 

High five!

For those unfamiliar with the Israeli culture, you might be wondering what the heck is that weird hand necklace doing as the welcoming image of this blog. No, it is not there to stop you. And no, I don't want you to talk to the hand.

But it didn't get there by accident, though. The hand (hamsa) and I (shiksa) have one thing in common: we have absolutely nothing to do with Judaism. However, the common things stop there: the hand is a righty, I am a lefty.

Hamsa is derived from the word meaning five in Arabic (and also in Hebrew: hamesh, no?). Very logical, since a hand usually has five fingers. It can also be referred to as the hand of Miriam (Moses' sister), Mary (the virgin) or Fatima (Muhammad's daughter) - depending on whom you ask. Seems like everybody wants to hold that hand close to their beliefs.

The symbol of the hand is believed to protect its bearer from the evil eye and generally bring you good luck and give power. So it may come very handy during times of despair. In Israel you can see it everywhere, everything from jewellery to car air fresheners. And even though it has nothing official to do with Judaism, it has become very popular among the people.

I have three hamsas in my possession: one you see on top of this page and this is the one I hold most dear to me. The other two are below and are more common hands-on examples of the use of the hamsa.

A keyring from Eilat. On the backside, it has the prayer for travelers.

A poster I bought online in 2010. When I purchased my own place, I got a strange urge - if not an obsession - to get myself a hamsa poster to keep my home safe. Later I came to realize also the other symbolism the poster features.

Targeting Zionism

It is very rarely that you read about the Finnish Jewish community in Finland - they are pretty invisible to the common man. Today, however, they made their way to the headlines of some Finnish newspapers, for standing up for their own values.

The Jewish community of Finland had made a complaint about a anti-Zionism writing in a department store owned "newspaper" that is distributed for free. I'm using quotation marks for the word newspaper here, as a quick visit to the publication's website shows the level of reliability, trustworthiness and quality of the writings there. Read and believe only at your own responsibility, could be said.

The text is written by an Argentinian man, titled how USA is a puppet for the Zionist movement. According to him, Zionism is to blame for the events in Hiroshima, Somalia and well, basically any conflict ever happened on any continent of the world. All the powerful countries of this planet (USA, France, Italy, UK...) as well as NATO and the UN are run by the ideology of Zionism: pick a target, create terrorism, write about it in global media to create a fuss, march in as liberators, force own ideology and finally steal natural resources and exit.

There are comments for and against the text. Some label it as pure racism, some say Zionism is politics and Judaism religion - so therefore criticizing Zionism not anti-Semitism. Some of the comments I don't dare even translate but you can imagine what kind of text can be found in over a 100 comments. Bible, Talmud and basically everything between heaven and earth (literally) is brought in - again.

In addition to the Jewish community, a private person has also made a complaint to the Finnish police regarding the this text. Over the past 10 years, the community has made six similar complaints and all of them lead to fines being issued or other measures. Let's see and find out what happens with this case.

A museum visit in Denmark

Last weekend I had scheduled to attend a party in Copenhagen, Denmark. As the invitation was +1, we together with my significant other immidiately started planning a meet-me-half-way weekend in this Scandinavian capital. Well, these plans went to hell eventually but I did my best to include something Jewish on my agenda anyway.

Honestly, I wasn't aware of Copenhagen hosting a Jewish museum. It was by accident that I noticed it on the map when looking for the Danish Architecture Center. I've been to Copenhagen several times, especially to that area where the museum is, and I can't believe it's been there all the time right under my nose! Now it was time to visit it, but I was worried it would be closed as it was sabbath. Luckily, the doors opened at noon anyway.

Entrance to the museum is from the heavy, metal door in the back.

I was there early, and not the only one swarming around, waiting for the place to open. The entrance fee was 50DKK and you had to leave any bags bigger than A4 at the entrance. Unfortunately, it was not allowed to take photos inside the museum - but you can see some pictures at their website.

The museum presented the somewhat 400 year history of Jews in Denmark. The exhibition is divided into five different parts. First one of them being Arrivals, showing how Jews to Denmark came from various countries with very different backgrounds. The second part was Standpoints - how the only common ground for these people was in fact the religion but apart from that diversity was immense among the Danish Jews. The third part, Mitzvah, presented the story of those Danish Jews who were sent to Theresienstadt - and those who made it safely to Sweden. Traditions presented typical objects and items used in Jewish holidays while Promised Lands looks into how Denmark has become their final destination, their home.

I had a quick chat with the museum staff who were Danish students. They both had started working there this summer and said it had been busy over the past few months. Most visitors, however, are from the American cruise ships that stop for a day in Copenhagen - locals rarely find their way to the museum. Inspite of being non-Jewish themselves, both students seemed excited to work there as it somehow related to their studies.

One of the best untapped resources for shopping in almost any city is, in my opinion, museum gift shops. The shop at the Danish Jewish Museum was no exception and I didn't leave empty handed...

Supporting material for my up-coming studies - in form of a canvas shopping bag.

This duck has found its true calling.

And the gift shop's hit product: white, Magen David shaped candle holders. Here mixed with my Finnish Iittala ones.