Ops & Blogs | The Times of Israel » Melissa Beiser

Summer’s End.

Melissa Beiser — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 17:34:45 +0000

I’ve heard and read before that to go forward, you must go back. For me, my journey in Israel, at least this specific journey, at this specific time in my life, is coming to an end. With just a bit over a month left living in Be’er Sheva, and even less time left teaching in [...]

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a series of remembrances.

Melissa Beiser — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 14:18:07 +0000

Remembering is something we do with our hearts, our eyes, our noses, & our ears. When song is wrapped around a moment, it makes it so much more golden and sacred to me. I feel the ripples still from the waves of grief and pride I encountered from Thursday to just last night. The waves [...]

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This Year In Kiryat Gat.

Melissa Beiser — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 12:35:26 +0000

Maybe I tried to convince myself would mean tackling and expressing emotions that I wasn’t completely comfortable with. By ‘maybe’ I mean, this is the reason and by ‘wasn’t’ I mean, still am. I’ll start my updated started back when Pesach began. I was already torn over my Host Family’s disappointment that I wasn’t going [...]

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lead or be lead.

Melissa Beiser — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 21:28:08 +0000

I spent the last five days at the 2013 Masa Leadership Summit. The Masa Leadership Summit is a free seminar outside of our Masa required programming that has a certain amount of bearing in the community. It is an online application process. I feel like I wouldn’t have applied to the summit if I wasn’t [...]

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The kindness of strangers

Melissa Beiser — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 19:48:05 +0000

I have a pretty tried and true morning routine now that I’m in my fifth month of my MASA volunteer teaching program in Be’er Sheva. I wake up at six forty-five, toss a Tupperware with dinner leftovers and maybe an apple or banana in a bag for lunch. I throw on the clothes I laid [...]

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As January ends

Melissa Beiser — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 16:21:09 +0000

As January lazily draws to a close, so do the first five months of my ten month program. I knew that five months would not be enough time for a living-abroad experience based on friends’ stories and simply the fact that I had a very short time of five years at college. College went by [...]

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My First Hanukkah in Israel.

Melissa Beiser — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 21:42:35 +0000

Originally, I had somewhat epic plans to go home to Erad with my boyfriend to experience his Yemen family traditions (and cooking). I was really excited–but then, it turned out that my elementary school was putting on a Hanukkah show on that very Friday when we would already be at his parents’ house. When I [...]

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A tale of Shabbat

Melissa Beiser — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 12:05:42 +0000

How I spent my Shabbat this past week was probably one of the strangest I’ve had in a while, at the very least while in Israel. I was woken up with the rest of my group somewhere between 6 am and 7, it is hard to pinpoint exactly when since at least four alarms went [...]

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A Haunted Home.

Melissa Beiser — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 09:43:54 +0000

‘I am fully aware that my current home city of Be’er Sheva is not a ghost town and yet I still picture it that way in my head. I feel far removed from it, since my group leaders pulled us up and out if it’s southern location last Wednesday night. I miss Be’er Sheva. [...]

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Stopping traffic

Melissa Beiser — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 12:41:11 +0000

I remember trying to approach the doctor at the hospital with a bit of a sense of humor when he asked me how I was feeling and I replied, “Well I’m a bit glad I’ve lived 23 years up until now without having gotten hit by a car.” Really, I was, no am, remarkably lucky [...]

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An Israeli-American Halloween

Melissa Beiser — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 19:00:31 +0000

Halloween used to be great fun for me back in New York, growing up in the suburbs of Long Island. I was a happy trick-or-treater as I skipped along the winding roads of my suburban neighborhood. Sometimes I even dared to try the little cottage with the quaint chimney even though the lights were usually [...]

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Courted by Israel

Melissa Beiser — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 20:58:33 +0000

I choose to remember it more than anything as a slightly hazy three days that is blurred by a mixture of blue and white balloons, exotic music, and thick crowds wandering through ancient and holy streets. Here is my best attempt to recreate the barrage of events and emotions that overflowed me on the three [...]

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Lead me home

Melissa Beiser — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 18:34:06 +0000

If Birthright is the honeymoon (or Taglit for those who don’t call it Birthright), my current long term Israel program is a combination between marriage and reliving the glory days of college. I will never forget my first ten days here in February. Well not ‘here’ per se. Saying ‘here’ would mean that I was [...]

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