Skype Is Amazing

I realize that for many people who have been using it for awhile, this is not big news. Having never experienced Skype before, however, I as a new devotee am overwhelmingly impressed.

When I lived in Jerusalem from June to August, 2006, I had no need to become familiar with Skype because we had an American phone line and a US phone number in our house. We also had an Israeli phone line and phone number as well as three people all of whom had at least two cell phones, plus of course we had the Internet so needless to say we were very connected. The American phone at that house on Rehov Amatzia actually rang like the landline phones here in the States all do: ring...ring...much to my surprise the first time it happened, since in Israel phones ring old school-style: ring ring...ring ring...but at least that way we could always tell which phone needed to be answered.

Today after much Skype-tag, despite the fact that it was midnight in Jerusalem, I got to talk to Tal for about half an hour which was such a delightful treat after my earlier activities of the morning: taking BART to the shuttle to Kaiser in Oakland where I got the first of a series of three rabies vaccinations at the adult injection clinic. GAAH. Thank you sir, may I have another? That is a whole different experience for an entirely different post because let me just say, if one is going all the places I am going there are MANY innoculations that are required. But a full "yellow card," the official document authorized by the World Health Organization to prove one's immunization status for various diseases, is as much a badge of traveling honor as a round the world ticket so I am trying to focus on the positive...

Back to Skype, back to Tal: Tal (last name to remain undisclosed for the purposes of privacy) was a student of mine two years ago and I adore her. Smart, honest, thoughtful, creative, and fair, Tal was such a delight to have in my classroom and very fortunately for me I have had the chance to stay in touch with her ever since. Her mom, Debby, is a colleague of mine and we learned together in a teaching fellowship this past school year as well as having worked side-by-side as mentors a few years ago in the DeLeT program at Hebrew Union College. For all these reasons I have had the incredible opportunity to become friends with and remain connected to everyone in their family, including Boaz and Edan, Tal's dad and brother, both of whom coincidentally enough have the same birthday as me. We've seen each other at school, at the huge fun parties Debby and Boaz have in their gorgeous home here in San Francisco, and in Jerusalem at Tal's birthday party two summers ago when everyone in her family was over at her grandparents' house in French Hill and I got to come over for cake and ice cream the fourth night I was in Israel, when I was so homesick and had no friends yet and was beyond grateful to see familiar faces, much less have them give me party favors.

So now Tal is in Jerusalem with her mom and brother, her dad is joining them next month, and she took me on a tour all around their apartment by carrying the laptop with webcam from room to room. I saw the kitchen, the hallway, the bedroom, the "clutter-ish" room which is their office, and even out the porch to the midnight lights of the buildings below. After Tal and I had finished I talked to Debby very briefly but it was so very late there and they were all tired and ready for bed, so we will talk again soon but I could not have been happier to actually see them over the Internet, to hear their voices from half a world away. They are really in Jerusalem, they are where I am going. "Did Tal show you where you get to sleep once you get here?" Debby asked me.

This is really happening, this is going to work out after all...and, as Rebecca would so sagely say, "Mah zeh work out?" Translated: "What is it, work out?"...a Heblish expression meaning that perhaps there are many different ways that things can work out, after all.

Shanah tovah, a sweet new year to everyone. With the help of Skype I could see into the future this afternoon, as I sat here in overcast midday Berkeley I could see the warm darkness and star-strewn sky of Jerusalem where the new year 5768 has already begun. That is where I am going, to Israel, and that is where all of us are going, into this new year together. May we go in peace.