Week 8 Discussion Response

This week was an awesome learning experience for me. I didn't know much about Orthodox Jews, so our discussions and readings really caught my interest and caused me to do more research on my own. I wish we could have gotten more "inside" information about Jerusalem Open House, but our speakers this week were still engaging and interesting. I also really want to partake in Shabbat of a Lifetime now... I'm hungry just thinking about it.

I would like to know more about the LGBTQ community in Palestine. From our speaker today, it sounded like it isn't a very public community due to cultural oppression. I would be interested to know if there are organizations in other parts of Palestine that promote LGBTQ rights. The speaker today suggested that that is unlikely, but I'm sure there's one somewhere. After reflecting on today's conversation, I feel like I'm left with a lot of questions, which should make for a fun weekend on the Internet.

I am acquainted with mandatory IDF service, but am unfamiliar with the alternatives that we talked about today. I really like the idea of mandatory service to one's country, as it requires direct engagement with community and allows one to become aware of something other than their own lives, which is really lacking the US (from my observations and experiences). I attended a school that required community service every year, so we were forced to actually go out and do something for someone else. While many Americans volunteer at different places, there are a painful number of people who never do and only focus on themselves. Just scrolling through my newsfeed on Facebook reminds me how absorbed we all are in our own lives. So I am interested in learning more about people's experiences doing mandatory service in Israel.