School Begins!

Oh, hello there.

Today we started ulpan, which I'll explain in a few paragraphs, but just bear with me because my brain feels a little bit overfilled right now.

Since my last post, a lot of great stuff has happened. Our orientation week continued, as did the themes of embracing Israel and immersing ourselves in Hebrew. It's tough sometimes, because we all speak English, and so many Israelis want to practice their Hebrew with us. Another common theme of orientation has been that of frustration; every rabbi and faculty member we hear from reminds us that we're all going to have to deal with frustration throughout this whole process. How reassuring!

Clearly, I jest.

On Wednesday we had a limmud (study) session where we talked about Yavneh. While the subject matter was, of course, important (learning about how prayer came to replace sacrifice after the destruction of the Temple), what this program really did for me was give me the opportunity to really delve into a text in the context of rabbinical school orientation.

After our study session in the library at HUC, we got an Israel Update from a highly knowledgable faculty member, Dr. Mendelsson. He updated us on the new anti-boycott law, which many argue infringes on democratic rights. This issue (which is of course related to the cottage cheese boycotts) is an example of how delicate the balance between having a Jewish state and a democracy can be. We heard about other pressing issues happening in Israel right now as well, and it was interesting (and highly informative) to hear about these issues in an academic forum as opposed to just interpreting a newspaper on our own behalf.

SuperDeal, where it's possible to buy sriracha.B''h.

Wednesday evening was awesome, because it was the night we got to explore different neighborhoods of Jerusalem with some of our favorite staffmembers! I got to be in Nancy's group, so my group and I got a tour of the gorgeous neighborhood of Abu Tor. The views were breath taking, and we got the chance to see the dividing line between the Jewish section and Arab section of the neighborhood. It was a cool opportunity to see a different side of Jerusalem, and with Nancy's perspective, we got to see how an Israeli sees her own city. Also she make unbelievable chocolate chip cookies. (Nancy, if you're reading this, I would not say no to some cookies. Any time.)

Interesting graffiti dividing different sections of Abu Tor.

Thursday brought another opportunity to daven shacharit services. I'm getting better at picking up the nusach, which is reassuring actually. After services we did a cool rate-this-from-one-to-ten activity, where questions ranged from "how much do you like to eat falalfel?" to "how connected do you feel to Israeli society?" The activity concluded with breaking into pairs and discussing reactions to the questions and how our class spread out. I thought it was interesting to see how people dispersed, and it was almost like a NFTY program on steroids.

After this 1-10 activity, we did one of my very favorite programs of orientation week. We were split up into small groups and sent to either an intersection or a neighborhood. My group got sent to the intersection of King George (V) and Yaffo/Jaffa/Yafo (sidenote: it's been challenging how to transliterate Hebrew words here, because something that is clearly "yaffo" in Hebrew becomes Jaffa in English). This intersection is filled with shops and bakeries (and delicious borekas!) and it was great to interact with some of the people there. We practiced our Hebrew and asked some of the people about their political opinions, their take on the controversial light rail that may or not ever open, and the neighborhood in general. I was almost surprised by the blunt responses we got; some people had some extreme political views they were pleased to explain to us, others refused to talk to us about certain things, but all in all everyone was willing to take a few minutes and just share some conversation. Also they didn't really make fun of our Hebrew which was pretty nice of them.

View from Abu Tor. Wow.

Thursday night I partcipated in a program called "yerushalayim sheli" (my Jerusalem) which was SO COOL. We went to dinner at a restaurant called Ha'Moshava 54, which was delicious. The point of the evening was to experience Jerusalem with Israelis, so Shevy and Aviad shared stories with us about their lives here and traveling and all of the other fun things they like to do. They took us to the Israel Museum for a special event that was happening that night. First, we got to walk around the museum, where so many amazing exhibits are housed. We got to walk through a wing where each room was a different reconstructed synagogue from places like Germany, India, and Italy.

After exploring part of the museum, we went outside for what was arguably one of the coolest parties I've ever been to. Everyone was given a pair of (ridiculously large) wireless headphones. Then, we had a SILENT DANCE PARTY. Everyone was listening to exactly the same music at exactly the same time, and dancing like crazy people. Taking the opportunity to remove your headphones, even if just for a moment, was one of the most hilarious things I've ever seen in my life. Basically, hundreds of people dancing around, sometimes singing very loudly and off-key, just enjoying themselves led to a very entertaining evening. At one point, our group even started the electric slide, which was EPIC. We had a bunch of Israelis trying to learn how to do the dance with us (haven't they ever been to a bar mitzvah?) and it was just a really amazing experience. Plus we got to listen to such jams as Grease, the Black Eyed Peas, and the Time Warp. I love Israel.

Rachel and I living the dream at the Wi Dance Party!

Friday was an exciting day because I saw Harry Potter (or, הארי פוטר) which was a huge deal. I even sported my Gryffindor tshirt. And yes, I cried throughout the whole thing. And yes, I thought the soundtrack was gorgeous. And yes, I am so sad it's over and I wish I could watch the 8th movie for the first time a million more times. And yes, the part where McGonagall rallied the statues was incredible. I love Harry Potter, sorry I'm not sorry.

Friday night brought Shabbat with it, as sometimes happens. We had services outside facing the walls of the Old City (SO GREAT) and, right after we finished kabbalat shabbat (the prayers that kick off the service) and said the reader's kaddish (which separates sections of the service) the siren that announces the arrival of Shabbat started ringing throughout Jerusalem. The timing could not have been more perfect. Shabbat doesn't mess around here, folks. Following services we had a very lively dinner, followed by a joyous and disorienting song session where it was difficult to tell what page we were on, let alone what song we were singing (and I was sitting at the table that was picking the songs) but it was so much fun.

Full moon rising over the Old City

Saturday morning we all returned to HUC for morning services, which I then followed with what might have been the most epic Shabbat nap of all time. At least in recent memory.

In my post-nap stupor I returned to school for a nosh and havdallah. We were in the Persian gardens, which is where we accidentally ate spleen on Monday, and it's just a really peaceful place on the campus. I loved sharing this time with my classmates as we moved from orientation week to the rest of our year in Israel! In fact, havdallah was so great that I did it twice this week! A few of us stuck around to lead for a Kesher Birthright trip. It was fun!

Then we went to Mr. Michael Danziger's stand up show. As it turns out, one of my classmates has been awarded the honor of being the Funniest Jew in the Deep South.

And he really is funny! For instance, he observed that we're going to the only rabbinical school where you get trained to be a British rabbi (since basically all the rabbis here are British). Very good stuff!

It was a great night of laughs, which was unfortunately cut pretty short because SCHOOL STARTED TODAY!

That's right, friends. We finally started school. And yes, it IS Sunday. And yes, that is incredibly confusing still.

Anyway, today we started ulpan, which I promised I'd explain. Basically, this is a big immersion experience with the goal of teaching us Hebrew. I'm really happy with the level I got placed in, because it's definitely a challenge, but I already feel like I'm learning about. It's a long morning (today we were in a Hebrew-only classroom from about 930-2 with a couple of short breaks) but I can tell it's going to be hugely beneficial.

Off to sleep--Ulpan starts at 830 am--בבוקר!