My Confusion and I

Channel 4 has for 2 weeks now showed  a tv-program called Jewish mum of the year. This tv-program is suppose to be a competition between jewish mothers competing in being the best mum by planning a Bar Mitzva party or match making and so on. For non-jewish people this might seem like a good program to get an insight of the jewish world and how the typical jewish mum behaves. It is an opportunity to see if they behave differently than non-jewish mums and what makes them so special. However, for a jew, this program is a cringe-fest. Most of us have a jewish mum that definitely would qualify to be the typical "yiddishe mame" but at least my mum is very different from all of the mothers competing to be the best one. Watching it for 2 weeks now has made me realise how stereotypical the women are on the show and no wonder some people find jews strange. We are portrayed as naive, spoiled, stupid and, in lack of a better word, annoying. I know some of my friends might agree with thi...

Last week it was the Jewish New Year. The difference between the Jewish New Year and the normal is that the Jewish holiday is the beginning of a week of repentence and asking for forgiveness whilst the normal new year is about celebration and fireworks. We do celebrate but there are many things leading up to Yom Kippur, the day of judgement. We will get judged by G-d and therefore need to repent our sins we've done this year. For many people this might seem like a strange idea, how can we repent our sins for a whole year and not only that, we repent for everyones sins and not just our own. To be honest I didn't really understand the whole point when I was younger but the last couple of years it has brought another meaning to me. We all make mistakes in our lives and no one is perfect. As much as we want to believe we've never hurt anyone or even ourselves we do it all the time. Just the way you might look and someone can hurt that person and we might not even be aware of ...

I was born believing in G-d. It wasn't my choice to be Jewish and I don't think I would have been if my parents weren't. Being brought up with a religion in your home changes the way you look at things, it did for me at least. From the beginning I was part of a community, I had special traditions I did everyday or at least every week and a history that wasn't necessarly mine but my people's. It's not easy to explain to a non-jew what that means since most other religions are based on the only fact of believing whilst Judaism has a lot of different things connected to it. Jews are a people not a religion. Where ever I go I can always find people that have things in common with me, it makes it easier for me to go to different places and explore the world. Jews are considered to be a wandering people and for me it has been a good thing. I don't have one home, I have three and if I wanted to move somewhere else I know I can find people to get along with just bec...

I have now been a volunteer in ambulances in Israel for about 6 months actively. During this time I've seen many drunk people, old people with high blood pressure, people with stomach ache and people who I really have no idea why they called the ambulance at all but I've also seen really ill people. Some people with problems breathing and would probably stop breathing if we didn't give them oxygen, some people without a pulse, and therefore the need of CPR, and car accidents. Luckily the CPR I've done was successful and I can live my life knowing I've saved someone else's life but I've also seen people die. The first time you see someone die you don't really know how to react. My reaction was to first calm the family down because that was all I can do. However, the things going on in my mind was "oh my god, what just happend?" Did I do something wrong? What did I miss?. I couldn't get it of my mind even though we did everything we could. I...

Olympics started just a couple of days ago which is really exciting especially this year when I've been a  bit more involved with what is going on. I am doing an internship which involved working with the petition about having one minute of silence for the 11 men that were murdered during the Munich Olympics 1972. This cause became a big topic and created a big discussion about if it's right to hold a minute of silence or if it is too political. The IOC said no to the minute of silence which created a even bigger discussion. Shouldn't the IOC honour their athletes that were murdered? Personally I think they should, just for the fact that we need to show the world that we are not accepting terror and whoever the people are that get murdered we should remember them for what they were; athletes that were competing in the biggest sports event in the world. Now-a-days most events in the world become politcal and every single thing they do is considered to be political. The Eur...

Living with people can be frustrating sometimes. You see each other all the time and even though you might have your own room there is not much privacy. People hear when you come home, leave, if you're on the phone and even where in your room you are. This creates a atmosphere when people often have the need to know everything that is going on in your housemates lives. It's inevitable not to. The problem isn't knowing things about everyone, the problem starts when you want your privacy and therefore choose not to tell your housemates what you are doing. We have our right to privacy but because housemates know so much about each other it can get to the point when rumours are created. Rumours usually start of as a joke, two people making up stupid things and then choose to share it with other people. What most people don't think about is that this can actually hurt the person you are gossiping about. It doesn't just affect that person, it affects other people too. ...

I wouldn't say that I love sports and that I follow it but I do enjoy watching football and other sports. That is something that I've got questions about a lot. From where does my sports interest come from? Honestly, I don't know but I think it has to do with growing up with a brother that loves sport. I don't live with my brother now and I haven't for the last 3 years but I still enjoy watching sports and I know many other girls that do. I've played football, been a referee and also tried out other sports, does that make me a sporty girl? Probably not since I've never been good at it but it has made me a girl that actually cares about sport and there is nothing wrong with that. Many girls enjoy to watch sports and it shouldn't be such a manly culture around it. Sports is for everyone to enjoy and it shouldn't matter if you are a boy or a girl. Unfortunately there's a lot of jargon in sports that can make girls feel uncomfortable which make me...