Is this thing still on?

Brewing and Moving

Hi Everyone! It has been a very interesting week, for good and not so good. I'm going to stick to the positives for right now though. On Tuesday David and I started our first batch of beer, and everything is looking great. David did a great job of documenting it on his blog and the link is here.
Last night I moved into our apartment in Jerusalem and everything looks great. I knew I was giong to have to go shopping for some stuff, and I will be getting that done today. I'm going to be spending the next few days getting settled, and finishing up my assignments for Pardes. Shabbat will hopefully be peaceful, and it'll be welcomed. Time to go shopping, hope everyone is well.

Friday morning in Jerusalem

Seriously, is there anything better? It's amazing (and somewhat humorous) to watch everyone running around so frantically. It truly is a special feeling to be in the middle of it. I can't wait until I am one of these frantic people trying to get ready for Shabbat...

This past week has been very relaxing and everything is going very well. As I said Sunday was Tisha B'av, and I spent the day studying at Pardes. We are not supposed to be social on this day, so when I was meeting people I would be studying with in the coming year, I had to hold back on wanting to know more about them. I am positive that there will be opportunities for that in the future.
Monday-Wednesday I spent my days at Pardes also. I received some summer assignments earlier in the summer and so I am working on finishing up those up before classes start at the beginning of next month. The first part is reviewing and familiarizing myself with the Parsha Shavua (I know I am supposed to be including that in my blog, but I forgot to my Tanach this weekend). The other part is going over all of Malachim Bet. It's an interesting book that goes over all the kings after Jehosophat, and the falls of both the Israeli and Judean Kingdoms. I'm not sure where these will be brought into my studies, but it's a good feeling to atleast prepare for school.
Thursday I came into town and met up with Shosh's group on Ben Yehuda during the afternoon. We are staying at the Young Judea youth hostel which is located near the Jerusalem Zoo. Last night we took her group out to a bar and I got to meet up with my friend Simi who has been here for the last couple weeks. He is leaving this weekend, so I was happy I got to see him beforehand. Overall it was a fun and interesting night.
Today I am in town doing some shopping for Shabbat (not frantically as I said earlier, I don't have that much to get!) I'm spending Shabbat with Shosh and her group. Her group is leaving right after Shabbat so Shosh and I will be heading back to Kfar Adumim on Sunday morning. She leaves first thing Monday morning, and then we are going about 6 weeks before she comes back. This is going to be a hard one, but we decided to not think about it. I am going to purchase the beer brewing materials on Tuesday, moving in to my apartment on Wednesday, and brewing beer on Thursday. It should be a fun week!
That's all for now, talk to everyone soon!

a bit from the past month

Hi everyone, in case you forgot I’m still in Israel. I’m very sorry for not keeping this more updated. I’ve been doing quite a bit since I last reported to you. Let’s see…where to begin.
I guess I could begin with my shabbatot for the past month. I’ve been lucky enough to spend almost every Shabbat in a different place every week. Four weeks ago, I spent Shabbat in Jerusalem at a friend’s house that I met through ulpan. They live off of Emek Refaim, which is a neighborhood that I am very familiar with. It felt great to be in that area. I davened at Shira Chadasha, which is a modern orthodox synagogue that Shosh enjoys a lot, and happily I really enjoyed it. It’s a very Anglo synagogue with great singing and a strong community. What made it great was the singing, I loved the tunes and the fact that everyone had great savannah towards everything they were doing. After shul my friends hosted Shabbat dinner, and we just ended up staying up till 3 am talking. The next morning, I slept in and was still able to make it in time for the Torah service. As I walked in, I had the pleasant surprise of seeing Itzik, my madrich from Nativ! I hadn’t spoken or seen him for so long and it was great to catch up. That afternoon, we hosted a seudat shlishit and waited for Shabbat to end. That evening as I was walking to a coffee shop I ran into Becca Sykes. I hadn’t been able to see any of the Sykes family while they were here, so I was ecstatic when I got to spend some time with her.
The following Monday I went to Tel Aviv to see Shosh and get to spend the evening with her. I had the great opportunity of doing homework in a bar that night. Shosh has some great pictures of it, and I’m sure you will all see them soon. The following Shabbat I traveled down to Eilat to spend Shabbat with Shosh and her group. It was great to hop on a bus and travel through this country again. Even if it is to the single hottest place possible. We spent Shabbat afternoon on the beach and in the ocean. I got some great sun, and even bought a new bathingsuit. The next day I hopped on the bus with Shosh and her group to catch a free ride up to Jerusalem. On the way hope we did a short water hike, and enjoyed the rest of the ride.
Shosh finished up with her group the following Wednesday, so I was ecstatic to have her all to myself. We came back to the Kirschners’ house that night and I started studying for end of ulpan class. The next morning we went straight to Hebrew U, so I could take my test. After school we went into town so I could run a few errands, and then we made our way back home at the end of the night.
The following morning is when all the fun started. Shosh and I had decided to go to Tel Aviv for that Shabbat a while ago. I had made reservations at a hostel there and I had no real idea what kind it was. Boy did we luck out! All Shosh had asked for was for it to be close to the beach, and have a bit of sketchiness. The only thing I was looking for was air conditioning. We certainly got the best of both worlds. There was great variety of people at the hostel, it was located two blocks away from the beach, and best of all our room was air-conditioned. We had a very nice relaxing Shabbat, and then went out to get drinks with people from her group that night. The next day we hopped on a bus up to Rosh Pinna to stay at one Shosh’s family friend’s Bed and Breakfast. This was an extra special treat because I love going up north, and I had never been to Rosh Pinna before. We get to the town, and I realized how much I missed the small town feel. I’ve been living in a small town for most of the last ten years and at times it’s been difficult to adjust to life in Jerusalem, which is busy and always very fast. We arrived to the bed and breakfast, and all I can say is WOW. It was beautiful. We found out while we there that Rosh Pinna was the first town the Russian Olim founded when they arrived in the late 1800’s, and even better the house we were was one of the first built. We spent that first night there enjoying the company and just relaxing in the fabulous setting. The next day, Shosh and I went with Orli to the local market, and then we went to her sister’s bed and breakfast for a great breakfast. From there we returned and lounged around for most of the afternoon. That night we went to the hill of Righteous Men. It’s a hill with burials spread out all around it of Rabbis from different time periods. Each spot is dedicated to a different need. One grave women go to help them find a husband, another to help them have children, and so on. From there we went to a great restaurant that we wouldn’t have found without Orli’s help. They set up mats outside and brought out course after course of delicious food. It was a great atmosphere, and perfect way to end a trip.
The next day we went back down to Jerusalem so I could make it to my….BEER CLASS! That’s right everyone, I’m going to be brewing my own beer. My friend David and I are going to be taking this on together. I’m sure that some batches will not be so delicious, but I’m excited to test some flavors out and to give me some variety from the lackluster Israeli beers. I’ll keep everyone updated on what comes of this.
On Sunday we observed Tisha B’av, this is a fast day that commemorates the destruction of the Temples in Jerusalem and marks other sad anniversaries in Jewish history. I spent that day fasting, and learning at Pardes. I wasn’t the hardest fast, more than anything I was very thirsty at the end of the day.
One more update on stuff, I signed the lease for my apartment this afternoon, so everything is official. Hopefully I’ll be able to post some pictures of this place, but sadly pictures can’t truly capture how great this place is. It is a 5-minute walk to Pardes, and is surrounded by great cafes, synagogues, and people. I will be moving in next Wednesday, and I’ll be getting ready for Andy’s arrival on September 5, and of course Shosh’s arrival (permanent, that is) on October 6.
Again, I apologize that I haven’t kept up with this as much as I should have. There were times that I felt like not a lot was going on, but after looking through all of this, I guess I stand corrected. I look forward to hearing from everyone soon, and I hope you are all well.

The Power of Words

Hi Everyone! This past week has been good. We went on a tiyul (field trip) on Wednesday to take a look at some of the water tunnels that the Jews used in the time of the Second Temple and took a "stroll" through one of the maintenance tunnels. It was very interesting to me especially since I thought I had already gone through all of these types of tunnels. Again, it was a new appreciation for Israel for me not to assume I've seen everything, but there is plenty more for me to discover. Thursday we had a test in class and I was very happy with how I did.

I am going to try something new today (and every Friday in the future). I'd like to add in a small d'var Torah every week. Let me know what y'all think!

Parshat Balak

This week's Parsha is called Balak and it focus on to main characters, Balak and Balaam. Balak was a King of Moab who saw the Jewish people growing in numbers and becoming stronger. Balaam was a wizard who was known for either giving out blessings (Mevrachim) or curses (Ra'aot) and hsi words were able to predict who would succeed or fail. Balak seeks out Balaam to send a curse to Bnai Yisrael so that he was able to Gerush (separate) them from this land (we will be returning to this word later). Balak sends many of his top dignitaries to recruit Balaam to come work for their King and Balaam is not swayed. Every night God comes to Balaam and tells him to stay until finally after three nights and Balak himself coming to see Balaam, Balaam concedes and joins the King (after God had told him to). God's final words to Balaam before he left were "You will speak whatever words I put in your mouth". This is also the condition that Balaam explains to Balak. Balak repeatedly tells him to what to say, and Balaam responds with simply "I will say the words that God puts in my mouth).
The most famous part of this parsha is of course Balaam's talking donkey. On the way to join Balak, God sends down an angel to communicate with Balaam. The angel stands in the middle of the road and at first only Balaam's donkey can see it, so the donkey stops. Balaam gets very angry with the donkey so he strikes it three times. Lo and behold, the donkey turns around and asks very simply "What have I done to you that you would hit me three times?". My favorite part is the fact that Balaam responds very matter of factly and doesn't think twice about the fact that his donkey is talking to him. After the conversation with the donkey, the angel reveals itself to Balaam and conveys God's thoughts to the wizard.
Once Balaam arrives to Balak he requests to an altar to be erected and for an ox and a bull to be sacrificed. He goes up on the hill where he can see all of B'nai Yisrael and gets ready to concoct the nastiest curse he can think of opens his mouth and lets out words of....praise? Wait a minute, that's not how it's supposed to work. Balak gets very angry with Balaam, asking him why he was paid to curse Bnai Yisrael and he says a blessing. Balaam simply responds with the phrase "I say the world that God puts in my mouth". Balak decides to try again but from a different spot and they go through the same routine of putting up an altar and Balaam gets ready to curse Bnai Yisrael and again a blessing comes out. They try it one more time for a different spot with the same result. Finally Balak gives up and returns to Moab, and Balaam returns to his home.
The end of the parsha is very interesting because until now there has been no mention of anything Bnai Yisrael has done. Finally at the end it says that God was angry with the people because they were mixing with Midianite women. God ordered that anyone who transgressed to be hung in the sunlight. In the end says that 24,000 people were killed because of their acts.

There are many aspects to focus on from this Parsha but for the sake of time and my computer battery I am going to focus on only one, the power of our words and how we decide to use them. In Masechet Brachot, Rabbi Meir explains how we have a certain amount of words that are alloted to use in our lives. The more we waste our words the less good we are able to do and the more of our lives our wasted. I love this explanation and it is my favorite way to look at lashon hara (literally evil tongue, but more specficially gossip or propaganda). We are all given the opportunity to do much good in our lives. We do not have the same privilege that Balaam was granted by being able to say "I say the words that God puts in my mouth". Balaam's intention was to give curses to Bnai Yisrael but that was changed by God. The responsibility is on all of us to share the words that we to say, and not words that we think are expected of us. It is always easier to trash someone for their shortcomings or mistakes, but it is much more respectable to see where that person is coming from and think about if you were in their position. My challenge for all of you is to take into thought how you are viewed by those around you. Are you seen as someone who will throw your friend under the bus so that evreyone else can think more highly of you, or do you take into regard what your words are doing to that person and how you can use your words to help them.

Shabbat Shalom and I hope to hear from everyone soon

Keeping up

Hi Everyone, nothing new to report from my end. Ulpan is coming along well, and I received my first summer assignment for Pardes. I'm very excited to get to work on the readings, and to start studying. I'm going to catch a ride home now, so I'll write more later on.

The Day After

Today was uneventful. I went to school early, took a test in class, had lunch with David Riemenschnieder (he is going to be in the Educators Program with me), went to Pardes, and came home with Aunt Gail.
This post really is not about me.
It's about the three people who were killed by someone described as a "hot head". For those that are curious Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak described this person as a 'murderer' and not a 'terrorist'. Unfortunately, Israelis do not care either way. They see a man who was an Israeli Arab (notice I didnt' say Arab Israeli), how went on a rampage through a very crowded part of Jerusalem in bulldozer with the intention of killing as many people as possible. Most people I spoke with yesterday said "Thank God he only killed 3 people". Sadly for myself I wasn't shocked to hear a response like this. This was a horrible crime. Worst of all, I didn't even do research to see who was killed. I just saw a number, and knew that my family and friends here were okay. This afternoon while waiting for the bus with Aunt Gail she mentioned to me that one of the women killed was a friend of a friend. Alll of a sudden it became real. I found the article on JPost.com about the 3 people who were killed. All of a sudden it became very real. Once you hear the stories and realize what kind of travesty this was does it really hit you. I ask all of you to read this article and think about how thankful you are to have your loved ones around you. I know I am.