Huff, Puff, you could NEVER blow this sukkah down plus a trip to the big Buddha (Sunday)

We had a full house this morning for sukkot. I was up at 3 am thinking about packing, and so I did. And then, eventually, when it was a more reasonable hour, I went to the chapel for the Big Sukkah Party! What was so cool for me is while we were having our Sukkah party outside in the back of the chapel the Protestant service was ending and the Gospel service was about to begin. We were all walking around and doing our thing, but I found something really gorgeous about all of these events happening at the same time.

We had a great time. The tradition in our chavera growing up was we would make origami paper cranes to hang in the sukkah. I do not know why we did this or where it started (Deb?) but I was happy to bring it to Japan where it felt ever so fitting to be making paper cranes. People really seemed to get into it and then all of a sudden, there were almost twenty people there-kids too-filling the sukkah. We had a great lunch and made a beautiful, beautiful sukkah. But the most beautiful part was the scene with all the people there, together, hanging out, being Jewish, eating a great meal (what more Jewish thing is there to do?)

The afternoon sadly drew to a close and there were many goodbyes. Then, the Shlessingers (Karen and Craig-the kids were working-one at a job and one at school work) brought me up to Kamakura, home of the big Buddha. On the way there, we saw a street fair and we stopped by. We were treated to tastes, sights and sounds from Okinowa.

Kamakura is just wonderful. I had that great moment where I said to myself, oh my goodness, I am in Kamakura, Japan. It was a pinch me moment.

The Buddha was so serene. It really blew me away. It was so big-SO BIG-and so peaceful. Just looking at it made me feel very tranquil. And it was SO BIG. Apparently, this is only the third largest Buddha in Japan. Did I mention how big this Buddha was??

We toured around and then made our way to one of the temples. There are temples and shrines everywhere. Interestingly enough, the Conji for Temple is an identical symbol to the swastika. Hey, their language is older…and I doubt the Nazi’s borrowed from the Japanese…but one never does know.

We had to trek up a rather steep side street to make it to the shrine. It was another totally peaceful place. There is something about a way of life built on such peace as its backbone.

We made our way back to Yokosuka where we met up with Cidney (the working daughter) for sushi go round. Cidney loves sushi and each time we have gone, she has not been able to make it. It has been a running conversation throughout the trip-getting Cidney and I together for sushi. I was so happy we finally made that happen.

After more yum sushi, (my third time at this particular superashi establishment), Cidney took me to sticky pics. You know the photo booths at the mall? We this is the same thing, but Japanese style. Basically, you pose for all of these shots against a blue wall and you are blue screened in to different back grounds. Then you get to decorate them with their computers and then, voila! Stickie pics! They are great, I will show them all to everyone when I am back.

And now, back in the BOQ. I am all packed up (delayed by a brief scare when I could not find my cell phone, but catastrophe averted-it turned up) and now I am watching the Italian Job and just hanging out.

I am looking for the nechemta, the conclusion, to all of this. This will take me a long time to put together, take apart, and put together again. I think the conclusion is something I read in thei Adin Steinsaltz article that Andrew lent me. The richness of life comes from the struggle and that we have come to overvalue the mundane and ordinary (and safe) which ultimately deadens us to living life-really LIVING life. I think Steinsaltz is right and of course there has to be a balance. When I was preparing to leave for Japan, I had that moment (those moments) where I wished I had not gotten myself into this because then I had to go and live this experience. And, like all the other crazy things that I do (and for those of you who may not know me so well...I do a LOT of crazy) I am so grateful that I did it.

But this one was different than many of the others...This one I really got to enjoy along the way, in the living of it, not just in its memory or in the joy of being able to say, yeah, I did that. (although, there is a lot of fun in being able to say that too :) ) I really feel like this time I was here for the right reasons and to do something so far beyond myself (most my other adventures have really been much more about my own entertainment). This was about something important, something I believe in. There is something truly powerful about all of this.

I do not know if I want to activate and go in to the Navy. But when I hear people talk about how desperate the need is for Jewish chaplains ( have met so many people who have said, oh my goodness, I wish there was a Rabbi here all the time or I wish I had met a Rabbi before now or other such comments about how they have suffered being without Jewish, spiritual leadership) I find it hard to even care about what my reasons are for maybe not wanting to do this. The need is so great.

Signing off until New York...

Sheol…shul…same thing, right? (Saturday)

My favorite little moment today was when one of the kids reading Jonah changed the sentence from “We would rather go down into Sheol than harm this man” (meaning Jonah) to we would rather go down to Shul than harm this man.”

Services were great. I have been thinking about how to blog this and I realized, I can’t. I do not know how to bring the outside world in to the High Holy Day experience.

I did have an incredible internal experience. Fasting and leading services at the same time makes me worried. Can I do it? Will I have the energy to carry it off?...HOW will I have the energy to carry it off? And it was clear to me during services where it comes from. I was channeling my high holy day experiences from my upbringing. I could hear the congregation I grew up in singing in harmony around me. I could hear the voice of my cantor in my head singing all of the liturgy I was singing, when I did the Priestly blessing, I could feel the arms and tallitot of my parents and brother around me, and when I was unsure of what to do, I felt the support of other important people in my life. It was pretty cool. I missed everyone. Being here is wonderful and it is far from home, far from the people I love. Being away on the holy days is tough.

No regret that I am here, it is just also true that I miss my home.

And on that note…I am so not ready to leave here. Last night at break fast, they presented me with a Yokosuka T-shirt and a sionara doll. She is a purple doll with a scroll wrapped around it-it is like Japanese art meets Torah scroll. It is wonderful. People got to sign it and I get to bring this beautiful doll home to display on my shelf and forever remember my time here.

On Sunday, we will be having a Sukkah Party. You will LOVE this sukkah. The CBs (Construction Builders) built it. It is a 16x16’ structure in front of a statue of Mary built out of 4x4 solid lumber. The guys who built it did so on their free time which was such a gift. The greatest part was trying to explain to the Petty Officer First Class in charge of this project what exactly a sukkah is. Explaining Judaism to the outside world is sometimes very strange…

After the sukkah party, the Shlessingers will be taking me to Kamakura, home of the Big Buddha and other beautiful ancient sites. Then back here for lots and lots of packing.

Monday is all business checking out and Captain Weed (the Commanding Officer for the whole base) has requested to see me again before I go. Lunch, check out of the BOQ and catching a bus up to Narita for the long flight home.

I hope everyone’s fasts are ending well. You are all almost there and I am thinking of you.

Shana Tova to all.

Strange: my fast has begun while it is just a Friday for you-(Friday)

I cannot even remember what I did today, sitting here in my BOQ after Neila, the opening services of Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year.

I am a liturgy cynic. I admit it. I have been, for quite a while, struggling to connect to the liturgy. I will not share the details here and now, but the bottom line is, it has not been working for me. But Yom Kippur is different. I still have the first naivety that Dr. Larry Hoffman teaches about in his liturgy class. When it comes to Yom Kippur, I still believe in fairies, Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy. I buy in to the whole construct of judgment and longing for forgiveness. It just speaks to me.

So tonight, we had a beautiful festive meal. I was swept up in a very healthy sense of magnitude (which feels something like anxiety, but without the negative) before the service. I needed…wanted…that moment alone in my office before going off to lead this community in prayer.

I preached ,we prayed. We all prayed, even me in my way. It is not the same majestic kind of part of something bigger sort of prayer experience I used to have when I was a kid. It feels more like saying a whole lot of words I really believe in. It is something like the feeling I have when I hear certain songs which, for reasons I can never explain, speak to some piece of my very soul.

It felt like such an incredible privilege to stand before these people and get to lead them through these prayers. I felt very humble, very small and very prayerful that I could succeed at the task. After services in general, people often (hopefully for all of us) say, oh the Rabbi lead a lovely service, but as a prayer leader, I reject it. I do not think I did much. The words are there. I did not create them, nor did I pick them. Our sages gave us a lovely service. Our prayer book editors created beautiful translations and readings. Our communities provide an energy and a life to the words. I know I have a role in this, I am not saying I am nothing, but I am just one small piece. The smallest piece. I feel like the conductor or director or chief engineer. I am just helping to put all the gears and cogs together in a fluid way. The hardest work is done by everyone else. I think my role just looks scary…well, I guess, kind of…it is.

What I want to say, it is not that the Rabbi does it or does it alone. We all do it. All of us over all of time and space do it.

I am about to go to bed now. For all of you who are now or who will be participating in the Yom Kippur experience, I pray you will each and every one of you have the strength to do your part, to do it well, and to do it with kavanah and meaning.

Tzom Kal (Easy Fast) Gamar Chatimah Tova (May you be granted a good inscription in the book of life) and Shana Tova (Happy New Year)

With love and thinking of each of you,

Rachael

Kol Nidrei Sermon

I wish I had a way to send a recording of the tune to which I am referring. If you want to hear it, please post or email me and I will send it to you. Many thanks to Rabbi Larry Hoffman for this gem which he taught our class right before the High holy Day break. He, like this teaching, is a treasure and a real gift.

Remember that tune we learned last week? Well there is more I want to tell you about it. Not only is it the music of the holy days, it is the holy days. We begin with the upbeat-ya dai dai dai dai dai dai dai

This is Rosh Hashanah. According to two recently ordained HUC rabbis, the prayers for the New Year are all about birth and when the earth was conceived. If we remember, we repeated again and again, this is the birthday of the world! A major part of the day was the blowing of the shofar. Traditionally, on the first day of Rosh Hashanah, we read about another birth; that of Isaac’s. According to some of the Rabbis, the sound of the shofar is the sound of a mother’s birth pangs and the tekiyah gdolah is the sound of the final push of setting new life off into the world.

Then we have the ten days in between-dai DAI dai dai dai dai dai…These reflect a condensed life lived, hopefully, righteously. These days give us the opportunity to think about and act on our ideal life of how we would want to live.

And then we move to Yom Kippur di di di di daidididi dai (2x) which is much more somber and sad. Yom Kippur is about our death. You know how people say, what if this was the last day of my life? I wonder what I would do, how I would feel? Well, we, as Jews, have the opportunity to practice the last day of our life once a year. We fast and tomorrow we will stand for a long time. By the end of the day, it feels like you are dead. Many people wear white-the same as a burial shroud. Some do not bathe or brush teeth. It is as if our bodies do not exist. We feel and look tired, haggard and worn out.

In a few moments, we will rise, remove the Torah from the ark and begin the confession of our sins. Staring at the empty ark is like staring into an empty coffin. We get to ask ourselves the question, what if I did die today? What if this was the last day of my life? Have I really lived? Have I lived like I wanted to? Put liturgy, our sages, our day are giving us this chance to ask this question and it is up to you to seek out the answers

But the tune does not end there. Dai dai dai dai, di didi dai dai DAI! We end on this high note. The liturgy has us say the Vidui or confession where we hit out chest and in the Al chet,we have sinned against you, twice. In these prayers we confess our sins. We say both prayers in all of the services we do except the last one; Neila, the closing service tomorrow evening. In that service we only say the vidui or confessional, not al chet, we have sinned against you. In the closing service we add a new prayer where we say that God will reach out a hand. The liturgy tells us, God does not want us to continue to beat ourselves up for what we have done. We have repented enough. It is time to move on to our chance to live the lives we have envisioned, to be the ideal we strive to be.

The message is this: We are creatures that were born and creatures who will die. The ten days of repentance are a condensed life. We end Yom Kippur with a tekiyah gdolah; the long loud shofar blast. This is the sound of our rebirth; a life after our death.

Super Rashi! In Japanese means Wicked Good-(Thursday)

I spent the day doing work from room and nursing my vaguely irritated sinuses. I went to sushi-go-round at the Daiei station with Chaplain Ross and we had a great time eating lots of different kinds of sushi and chatting about life, religion, calling etc.

This evening, Ben, Ashley, Rachel and Gus Bennet from the USS McCain (Ben's Ship) and I all went out to the "great Thai restaurant." Everyone raves about it and for good reason. It's the one across the street from TGIFridays (always a good reference point) and around the corner from the Yakotori stand where you can fresh off the grill chicken innards (mmmmm).

It was, as always, a magnificent adventure. Just watch the video...


For dessert we had pink and green. They tasted like pink and green...these are liquid cups with little seeds (something like black sesame seeds suspended in jelly) and tiny ice cubes.

Several times over dinner someone exclaimed, "What am I eating?" Mostly it was me.



After, we went to the Chu Hai stand for some Chu Hai which is a drink made from sho chu (a rice liquor) with ice and flavored with one of 31 syrups. We had coconut, pulum (plum) Culumberry (Cranberry) and blueberry (blueberry) :) They were yummy. It seems like a very Japanese scene. You stand at the stand because you cannot walk around with drinks, hang out and have your chu hai.

And now, here I am, back in the Q




Tomorrow is the big day-Erev yom kippur.
was feeling complacentI think I am ready to conclude the interim days of the High Holy Days. I about where I am in my life and then one good conversation with Andrew later and I feel effectively (as in the conversation had a big effect), powerfully, profoundly and thankfully turned upside down and more aware than ever of the work I need to do to move my self ahead towards being a better human being. Thanks, Honey, as always!


Shana Tova, Tzom Kal and Gamar Chatimah Tova

Like Box Seats for the Red Sox-Yankees World Series (Wednesday)

Today I did three totally different a totally wonderful things (but my camera broke so I have no images to send with….I’m working on fixing it, I am hoping it is just the battery).

1) Toured the Blue Ridge which is 7^th fleet command central and it is a small mobile city. You name it, it is on it! I received two very different tours (due to a small miscommunication, but nothing tragic) and got to meet another Jewish officer who works in the bridge and showed me all the cool bridge stuff.

2) 7^th fleet command chaplain, Captain Lea, drove me to Atsugi Naval Air Base so I could meet up with Chaplain Doug Rosander, my teacher from Newport training this past summer. I got to see him and his wife. I also got to meet other chaplains, one of the RPs, a Jewish chief who worked in weather and one of the Jewish wives, who I had already met at services in Yokosuka, at a lovely lunch at the Atsugi Officer’s Club. After lunch, Chief Katz brought us up to the roof of the weather building to watch the planes land.

It is not just watching planes land, but the 7^th fleet air wing returning from a six month deployment aboard the USS Kitty Hawk which is returning to port at Yokosuka on Friday. The planes fly off the ship first and return home. They fly back in formation and land in this incredible sequence. We had the best seats in the house from atop that building. It was a once-in-a-lifetime moment.

After, I went with Chaplain Rosander and his wife for a tour of the chapel and we just got to spend some time catching up. Being so far from home, just knowing that this person that I know from home was here has been great-getting to actually see the two of themand be together for a bit was really a gift from Chaplain Lea and I am grateful.

3) Dinner with the questioning; And then I met up for dinner with a young man with questions about Judaism. I do not know how to recap the experience. I felt like I had an evening of being a Rabbi, of really being there for this man. I walked away feeling grateful for all the moments in my life prior to now-good and bad-which have shaped me into who I am which allowed me to be someone in someone else’s life at an important moment in a seemingly important way.

Today was a blessing.

I am beat-exhausted and the tiredest girl ever!

Help Wanted

If anyone reading is interested in participating in a mitzvah project...I got a great one for you. The Jewish community here would love some supporters. Anyone out there want to help support them? Maybe send some care packages at the holidays? Maybe be contact people as they have questions? Anything else you and they can think of-to work together and partner together on?

Be in touch...
Rachael

Rachael actually gets a little freaked out (Tuesday)

I woke up this morning to my alarm clock radio which was playing a plinky piano Waltz. Now, I don’t know any Japanese so I cannot say for sure, but given the voice over and the pacing, I think I was listening to a dance class on the radio…what a great way to wake up.

Also, I learned how to get internet in my room! Find me online at skype.com!

Chaplain Crenshaw from Desron 15 (which commands a fleet) picked me up at 0730. We walked over to his office which is called the cave because it is in one.

An actual cave carved out of the mountain side by hand over the course of 15 years by the Japanses in order to have a secret command here.

I spent the morning hanging out with the chaplain and RP1 Eddy. The war room was the coolest-it has a huge two story tall map on the wall which shows the whole 7^th fleet coverage area and then some. Since most the ships are at sea, it was a slow day in the office so I got to see more of office life and I got to hang out and play more. It was not only pleasant, but real seeing life in action.

The chaplain and RP then took me to the USS John McCain where I was met by one of the members from the Jewish community and Ensign Gus Bennett to give me a tour. If you ever have the opportunity to get a tour of a Naval war ship, I highly recommend it. I saw where the anchor is and where all the ammunition is launched as well as stored. The opening blog picture is me with my arm on the 5 inch gun. It is called the 5 inch gun because the artillery in it is 5 inches. That’s a big thing to shoot! I am, by the way, a non-combatant. I am not allowed to fire the gun or anything like that, but I can pose next to it.

My tour guides-the launch pad-the pyrotechnic box

We went below, I saw life on the ship, the berths where people live, the mess where they eat and several of the places where they work. I could not take pictures of everything because of top secret something something. That makes me laugh that I might have seen something top secret—I mean, I would never know…

Then the freak out part of the day…Chaps and RP1 took me INTO the caves. Their office is built into it, but the caves remain. 27 km known under Yokosuka. It is pitch black. We were carrying really heavy flashlights (REALLY heavy), the sound is all deadened, there is no light beyond the globe of the flashlight, it is cold and the air is thick with the dampness of a cave. If the light went out, there was nothing to see. Nothing to hear. No way to know where to go or who/what else was just around the corner (not that you would even know if there WAS a corner…) We toured for about a half an hour and I was not unhappy when we were done.

It was super cool. The geology was everywhere and just fabulous. The layering of rocks, the forming stalagmites…the 300 bed hospital, command quarters, a shrine…all inside of A CAVE built by hand. People lived there it seemed.

It was until the 70s by the US for secret decoding Russian messages (or something like that).

When we were done, we went back to the chapel of hope where I was greeted by a message saying a Jewish enlisted woman was in the hospital and wanted a visit. I went immediately to go see her but she was heavily sedated. The people I met who know her are upset to see her suffering and in a lot of pain. I do not have a sense of what exactly is happening but she is hurting and wants comfort and company. I am hoping provide both.

This is another moment when I am finding myself here-present here. I have thought about wanting to be in this position for so long and here I am. I do not know how to explain how it feels. I do not think I will know until months from now. Can I do it? Can I actually bring comfort to a hurting woman in the hospital? Can I provide spiritual guidance for an entire Jewish community? Can I be a resource for future questions, doubts, crises, and celebrations?

It is overwhelming and humbling and overwhelming and exhilarating all at the same time.

Thanks everyone out there who is reading and an extra thanks to those emailing and saying hi. Knowing that people are listening as I go through this makes it easier to navigate. I feel connected to my “normal” life and I feel linked to a support network which is so valuable right now.

Happy New Year to everyone. I hope (pray) that we all find what we need, what we seek at this time.

Just a Day, Just an Ordinary Day…(Monday)

Only one week left here, I cannot believe it!

What an ordinary day in an unordinary world. I got to spend the morning on the phone which was a great start to the day. I then was about to walk over to the Chapel when I saw it was raining (there have been rumors about an impending typhoon, but it looks like it has turned towards Korea and is thankfully losing steam) so I called the office and someone came and got me (I am not made of sugar, I will not melt in the rain BUT wet uniform in over air conditioned office all day when I feel like I am barely on this side of healthy did not sound like a good plan)

I worked in my office on the High Holy Days. That part was not remarkable. What was remarkable was how people were just walking in and out wanting to tell me something, say hi, do a little meet-n-greet etc etc. Like, oh, let’s see if the Rabbi is in…My favorite was when one of the RPs came in to give me a bomb threat phone call report-you know, the thing you fill out if someone calls in a bomb threat. Then he came back an hour later to give me a larger print version since it was decided that the first copy was too small to read. Right. Totally normal. Bomb threat report. Sure.

Another subplot of the day was no one knows the extension in my office. So as people called for me, different secretaries, RPs and volunteers would walk back and ask me what it was. I kept saying that I did not know and then I would follow them to the front of the office to take the call.

This is ultimately reassuring because if anyone did call with a bomb threat, the call could never come to me because no one would know how to direct it to my line.

The baby naming has been cancelled…sad news, but understandable. The timing just does not work out. But, I will be getting to go up to Atsugi Naval base on Wednesday where I will be seeing Commander Doug Rosander, one of my teachers from Chaplain Candidate training school. I am excited to see someone I know from before Japan.

At 2:30, I left with Rachel and Ashley. We were getting together to talk Judaism. Both have interest in Judaism and possibly conversion. It was a great business call-we went shopping. We actually went to a place called Livin which is the Japanese Walmart. In fact, it is OWNED by Walmart. I hate Walmart in the US, but here, it was so many kinds of fun! We went to the grocery part only and that took over an hour to get through. It was incredible to see aisle after aisle of I have no idea what is going on.

It is like a fun game. You pick up a package and say, ok, what do I think THIS is? And you use contet clues like other items in the aisle you recognize (not always helpful) and the pictures on the back. Ashley is really good with the conji and that was helpful as she can look at the characters and say, oh, well maybe it is this based on the picture in the writing. She could be making it all up, but I believe her.

Rachel showing us Sake in a box with a straw-Ashley showing the dried squid and dried octopus from the snack aisle. YUM! Who wants dinner??

We then went to two 100 Yen stores (yen to dollar is almost one yen to one penny so the 100 yen store is the dollar store). They are such fun places. I got a rain hat which covers your eyes, but that part is clear. No more want for an umbrella in NYC where I won’t carry it anyway because it is RUDE!

We talked some Jewish, but mostly, I learned a great deal about each of them and their lives here.

We went to Ashley and Ben’s for dinner where they cooked! It was such a treat. We got to talk through dinner about the high holy days, life on base and some about my upcoming adventures for Tuesday.

We even got to have some fresh fig, persimmon, and giant peach from the store (finally, I got my giant peach!) It was great having my favorites J

I really like it here. The community is amazing. The people are wonderful. I cannot believe I will leaving in a week and this will be a memory. I miss New York and my life there so I am excited to get back to it. And, this life is really good to and I am sad to leave it…I am happy about all the parts I will be taking with me, especially the people and experiences which have changed me for forever.

Great China...in Japan? Yokahama (Sunday)

It just gets better and better here in Japan and I cannot believe I am getting paid for this. Today, Craig, Karen (my lay leaders/liaisons), Ben and Ashley (a young couple from the community) and Rachel (half of another couple from the community) all went to Yokahama-China Town, Japan! But before we hit the town…we stopped at the brand new New York Bagel place by the Chuo station. This is the funniest bagel store EVER! They make great bagel sandwiches-but only on plain bagels even though they serve all kinds of different bagels-all toppings ONLY on plain. The chairs are old Church pew chairs...is that sacrilidge? And they advertise that their water comes from Mt. Hood and their wheat comes from Montana.

Ok, so up to Yokohama…we headed to China Town which is an eye festival. Everything is gorgeous and there are dead, glazed ducks hanging in most of the windows. We saw yam and bean curd ice cream, an incredible tea shop, and beautiful (but a little schlocky) souvenirs.

We had lunch at this Chinese place which looked great (they all looked great) and who knows what we ordered but it was tasty (but not quite enough for the six of us). We had a blast though in our own private room with a lazy Susan and chopsticks flying. After lunch, I survived my first unisex AND squatter only bathroom. (Some bathrooms here are unisex a la Allie McBeal and some are holes in the ground that you…well, squat over and pray you do not splash your shoes and I happened to walk in to one which was both J)

And, on an unrelated, but personally exciting note, I charged lunch and everyone paid me back which means I now have YEN! (When I got here, I realized my bank card was experied…tee hee and oops!)

Next stop: the promenade-another endless feast for the eyes. Not just the food pavilion (and a stop to sushi-go-round because, well, we were HUNGYR) but the whole walk over was stunning. There are Ferris wheels all over the place here with amusement parks and this one is set on a particularly beautiful backdrop.

Really what was so great about today was spending my time with this group of people. I feel like I really had the opportunity to talk with and get to know them better. I learned much about each person, their lives, their history, their desires, ambitions, and just who they are as people. I saw some wonderful, amazing, fascinating things, but the most beautiful of all was just living a little slice of real life.

For me, I have never really played Rabbi before. I have been the Jewish leader in many places, but none of them in this full-time, involved in all parts of life, kind of way. It is terrifying. I won’t lie. I worry that I will do or say the wrong thing-that I do not yet know enough to lead or what to do in any given situation.

But here I am, trying my best anyway, hoping the words come when they are needed. Hoping the actions arise when necessary. Hoping I can think of the right questions to ask and have the ability to see enough of what is happening to be able to respond effectively and appropriately. I don’t know if I am doing it well. (So far, no one seems to hate me yet or is talking about early departure from base…although learned today that non-military folks get the boot from base-if they are bad enough, Captain Weed has to send them back stateside.)

This is just what is on my mind. I have no concluding thought like-and it seems like it is going fine and I should worry less. It does seem like it is going fine…but I don’t always know. This is such a big responsibility and I am having a great time with the fluff parts (touring Japan) but being a Naval officer and being a Rabbi are real, serious things. Right now-well, it is as if I have been thinking about being a Rabbi for a long time. And now, even though I am without title and ordination, I am. So this is some piece of what this life that I am planning on and working for is really like.

It will take me weeks to begin to untangle this all and to really be able to say what I think. (Shoosh, I hope that process goes well…I have a lot of loans to pay back NOW if it does not. Don’t worry mom, I’m kidding.)

A real Shabbat (Saturday-what other day would it be?)

I decided I needed to rest for Shabbat so I sadly chose to turn down an afternoon trip to Kamakura where the giant Buddha lives. This morning, we had a little lunch and learn with a lovely discussion about Israel, end of life issues, Jewish law, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and repentance, and of course, more yum eating! Karen (Craig’s wife) does such a great job of putting together these meals and taking care of the really important details which make this community function as it does.

After lunch, I went home, did some resting and then two wonderful things:

I studied because it was Shabbat. When was the last time I got to do that? Granted, I did reading for school, but I took no notes and I just read to read it. Prophets by HEschel-FASCINATING view of who the prophets were, how they functioned, how God functioned through them , interesting theology of God-so forth and so on. It felt like Shabbat and that was the point. And it worked, I needed to have a little Jewish time in the midst of my military time. It has been easy to be absorbed with the work. Someone sent an email saying they hopes I could find time to pray…it had not even occurred to me to try…It was important, wonderful…

And then, I got to work out! Now, I know that is not everyone’s cup of tea-but I do love it and have been feeling so tired that I have not made it a priority-but not working out adds to my sense of lethargy and tiredness. I’m an addict (in the good, moderate way, not in the sick, excessive, scary way) and it felt good to be moving. Pretty ideal for Shabbat.

I know, this post is not so news worthy…so here are some pictures from Rosh Hashanah day which I forgot to add…(my aunt requested I put some up with ME in them...so here I am-in the Tokyo post, there is one of me in front of the Imperial Palace because Chaplain Bradshaw said I needed to send some pictures of myself to my mom-see-always thinking about family)

Almost Famous-(Friday)

After the Tokyo marathon, I had to go in for work (and I laugh when I call this work because it is too much fun!). I first took a nap (a little shabbas in my shabbas) and then headed over to the Chapel. I took some video on the way so you can see what it looks like here. When I got to the chapel, Chaplain Ross told me he had put several articles of “The Seahawk” the base newspaper because on page 13 our services were being advertised. He thought I might want to bring some copies home to the folks back home.

It was such a Navy chaplain thing-not only did he see it and note it and point it out to me, but he left 5 copies on my desk so that I can bring them back. The consciousness about family is ever present here. The services available for family, for guests etc are just seemingly unending. It seems to me that military life is crazy hard. I am meeting these people whose significant others are out to see for 2 months at a time let alone, deployed for 7-9 months at a time to the Middle East for war. But the community here-everywhere I have been (...all three bases)…the whole military infrastructure seems to be fully aware of those challenges and it does its best to mitigate against the difficulties which this life presents.

Walking to the chapel, I pass “Downtown USA” with A&W, Cinnabon, Long John Silver’s, Subway, Oriental Express, McDonald’s, Mean Jean’s Burgers and Baskin Robbins. Some part of me hates this and wants this to be an opportunity for everyone here to be immersed in non-America…but that is easy for me-I am here for two weeks. I can tolerate the discomfort of being in a foreign land for a limited period of time. I know I am leaving here and going back to NYC and my apartment and my familiar, unchanged life. For everyone else here-this IS the life and there is no going home in the same way. Having access to something familiar…Downtown USA even, makes a real difference. (However, if it was not here, people could just go outside for Wendy’s, Friday’s, 7-11, off base McDonald’s, Starbuck’s, Starbuck’s, Starbuck’s, and many other familiar US bands and vendors)

Anyway, I digress, off to services where I was NOT leading! What a gift. I got to just be a congregant and see what services here are like. Craig (my lay leader/liaison to the Jewish community)and his 13 year old son, Jay, lead services together. It was wonderful. They lead a great service-it was energetic, upbeat, and full of life. There were about 14 people there-a full house J

After services, we had potluck dinner with lots of left overs from the various other meals this week. I really admire and respect this community for being a community. It was lovely to sit together with this group of people and pass a lovely Shabbat.

After dinner, Craig and his family drove me back to the quarters. We were slightly delayed when Jay had to go hop in to the dumpster (with Craig’s assistance) to retrieve the change from his ice cream run which he had accidentally thrown out…sorry, no footage of that one…

Then back to the Q and 8 hours later…it was Saturday!! Thank goodness for a full night sleep!!!

And then I found 1000 Yen-Visiting Tokyo-(ALL DAY Thursday)

I met chaplain Bradshaw this morning at 4:50 am outside the BOQ and we went non-stop until now (3:30 PM)! I had to have him review the subway map with me to remember all the places we went and all the WICKID FRICKIN COOL stuff we saw (including the 1000 Yen I found on the ground when walking to the train station in the morning)

1. Fish Market
2. Royal Palace and Breakfast sort of
3. Akihabara; the electronics meca of the WORLD
4. Tokyo Tower
5. Roppongi real Japanese lunch
6. Back to base (with a stop by me at the Fresh Market under the Akinaya Department Store)

All of this in eight trains…It was awesome!

The Fish Market

Apparently, Tsukiji hosts the world’s largest fish market. There is crazy auctioning for large amounts o very big fish that happens at 4 am every day. Chaplain Bradshaw and I missed that. We did arrive by 7 am to see lots of the fun though…

The pictures and video tell most the story-it was a lot of gross and a lot of amazing and a lot of fish-and we were there AFTER the craziness had died down!! But thankfully, we were there early enough that everything was still fresh and nothing smelled bad J

On our way out, we paused at a stall selling Japanese goodies with lots and lots of samples. I tried everything. I have NO idea what I ate but it was GOOD. I bought some spicy sea vegetable stuff which is sort of like kimchi…but not. It was too early for Chaplain Bradshaw to join me in my tasting adventure…

Royal Palace and Breakfast Sort of

From the market, we walked over to the royal palace. Chaps was a great guide and a great adventurer so we had fun finding our way from Tsukiji. We were hungry so we were looking for places to stop along the way. Japan does not do European/American style breakfasts so really we were looking for an am/pm or a 7-iHoldings (aka 7-11) to grab something breakfast-y. We paused at a few packed sushi stands but Bradshaw does not do the raw fish and I just cannot imagine sashimi at 7 am-especially after everything we had just seen.

We eventually found ourselves at the Palace without successfully finding grub so we stopped at the little concession stand. The only thing they were serving was hot dog. (hot dog at 7 am v. raw fish…which is better/worse?) I ate some cereal I had brought along for the ride.

The Royal Palace opened and we got as close as we could (which was about 500 meters up a ramp) and then we left

3. Akihabara; the electronics meca of the WORLD

We made our way (and by made our way, I mean meandered some circuitous route which was apparently not exactly straight there-Bradshaw knew that but I did not and I was totally happy just to wander the Ginza district) We walked through Ginza which is the 5^th avenue of Japan-except between Gap and Jaegger there are little Japanese restaurants and stores instead of tasti-d-light.

En route to electronic land-Bradshaw introduced me to grape juice. It comes in this little can with a very heavy base. The juice is something more like syrup than juice but not soo think or soo sweet as to be gross. It was like drinking liquid grape-something like what I imagine melba sauce to be…but I have never actually had that so I don’t really know…It was awesome! It was like liquid ridiculous in my mouth. You all have to try this stuff some time…

At the Akihabara, we went into this 9 story mega store of electronics. NINE STORIES! The funnest thing I saw was the high-techest toilet seat ever for 29800 Japanese Yen ($298)-it warms, it plays water sounds when you sit on it so no one can here you doing your business, it has a bidet and other cleaning features—this thing did everything other than your dishes (although….). Note: I had seen this toilet seat before.

We also strolled through the toy department. Apparently bubbles are very popular in Japan. When I say bubbles though, I mean those $.50 things you get outside of the grocery store-here they are a whole industry with stores and stores and aisles and aisles of real estate devoted to small pieces of kitsch in a plastic ball.

ToTokyo Tower

A few train stops later, we were at Tokyo Tower which looks like Tour Eiffel but Japanese-y in architecture and orange in color. We went all the way to the top…sadly, it was overcast so we could not see Fuji but it is out there…somewhere…

PS-I had to lie down on the sidewalk to get this pic...:) That brought a few looks...

5. Roppongi real Japanese lunch

We walked up the hill from Tokyo Tower into Roppongi where we sought out some authentic Japanese. We went to this one restaurant, Milan (I think that was the name) and were seated in our own private cubby hole. The maitre d had to function as our waiter as there was no English anywhere and no pictures. I got the egg and chicken bowl and thought, who knows?? It was great-dark meat chicken complete with skin over hot rice and an egg cracked on top (and left to cook on the hot rice-and by left to cook I mean, cooked-ish). It came with some pickled stuff and some seaweed stuff and some miso soup and some grapes. I recognized the last two items…It was quite tasty and I never have to do that again. J

6. Back to base (with a stop by me at the Fresh Market under the Akinaya Department Store)

We then made our way back. I was EXHAUSTED. If you have been following along in my travels, you may notice a theme of me not SO much sleeping and I think it is catching up a bit. Not to worry, I am doing ok, I just need to slow down a bit (my grandmother told me to so I definitely have to do so!). But before heading back to the Q for a nap, I had to stop in the Akinaya Department Store. I was told I HAD to have a Japan peach so I went searching. Um, I can’t describe it…imagine a whole floor of a department store devoted to cuisine and gorgeous. Everything was beautiful-fruit, vegetables, prepared foods, cake, cookies, candy EVERYTHING. This apparently is just the normal store…(I am not 100% certain about that) I bought a spice I had enjoyed at lunch which I think will be fun for a certain culinary adventurer and I to play with and some flower-looking vegetable thing which tastes like radish (I did not know then that it tasted like radish, but it looked like a fun food to try). I took pictures of the peaches because I could not bring myself to spend $6 on a piece of fruit…but maybe I will some time this week…feels sort of like something I will have to experience before I go.

No big morals of the day. Chaplain Bradshaw was just too fun to hang out with and I had an amazing time. I really am loving Japan.