Cultural Changes

After a two week break I am back to Ulpan... which always leads to some interesting moments. My teacher is a religious Jew, and the other women in the class are anti-religious. This last class we read an article on how modern society has helped religious women... especially Muslim women. It was an interesting discussion on when girls should be able to get married (the legal age in Israel is 17) or what the laws should be about divorce rights. The bigger question of course is whether or not a country's laws actually have any effect on religious laws, or if they should. For instance, although the legal age for a girl to get married is 17, some Muslims will marry before that age, but not report it to the authorities until after. Has this actually improved the status of that girl at all?

Its still hard to have these kinds of discussions in hebrew, when I can't properly explain my views. The good news is that the other students struggle almost as much as I do, so at least its an even playing ground. I have learned a lot, and I enjoy the classes.

In other news... tomorrow is Ami's henna. Should be interesting, though its going to be a really long day. His fiance is from the VERY north of Israel, which is something like a 3 hour drive. Due to circumstances beyond my control we are going up there and coming back in the same day... Im excited for the event, but not so excited about the trip with a baby. Heres hoping that she sleeps most of the way! The wedding is next week, and closer to us, and that will be exciting. My mom bought the baby a BEAUTIFUL dress, and I am excited about the chance to dress her up... its all about the little things.