The End of an Era (Week 16)

Sunday

I started out my morning with a walk to the kotel. Tracy and her family came in for the day, so I met them there. It was crowded, I’m guessing because of the last day of Hanukkah. It’s such a powerful experience seeing the kotel surrounded by Jews, and seeing the passion they feel while praying.

Then, my roommate Amanda needed to get a wisdom tooth pulled, and she had an appointment for today. So being the good roommate I am, I skipped class to go with her. Unfortunately, she needed more x-rays, and may have to get an even more complicated surgery, because the nerve is so close to her tooth. After finding all of this out, we went to get falafel for lunch.

After lunch, I met up with Tracy and her family. We spent time together shopping on Ben Yehuda and at the shuk. It was really good to see them, and I made plans to come to their house for Shabbos this weekend.

When I got home, I took a short nap and then headed out to dinner with Tobi and Ilana. We went to resto bar, and literally had a feast. It was so yummy, and I haven’t seen these girls in a few days so it was nice to get caught up.

Monday

Today was probably the saddest day of Nativ yet. One of my best friends on the program, Julia, went home today. She left by choice, because Nativ just wasn’t right for her, but it was still incredibly sad to see her go. Most of my day was spent hanging out with her, helping her finish her last minute packing and just enjoying her company.

Tuesday

Today was my last day of Chumash class. This was very sad, because it has come to be one of my favorite classes. The teacher is very interesting, and gets me to look at the text in ways I never have before. After that, I had my last Ulpan and Nativ classes. I wasn’t very upset to see these classes end, because they haven’t been my most enjoyable courses over the course of the semester. Overall, it was a sad day of endings at the Yeshvia.

Tonight at Erev Nativ we talked about homosexuality in Judaism. This is a topic I both love and hate discussing. I love it because I think it is interesting, and extremely relevant in today’s society. On the other hand, I don’t like it because of where I fall on the issue. I am very much in favor of gay rights. I don’t think the government has a right to tell people whom they can and can’t love. On the other hand, the Torah specifically prohibits homosexual relationships. On the basis of the Torah, I believe that within Judaism Rabbis cannot condone same sex marriages. I hate feeling this way, because one of my best friends is bisexual, and it kills me to know that if she shared my religion I wouldn’t be able to justify her marrying a woman. On thing my staff Avital said is really helping me deal with this, however. She pointed out that while it may be illegal according to Jewish law, so is not keeping Shabbat or not keeping Kosher, but people still do those things and are part of the Jewish community. That at least makes me feel a little better about the debate.

Wednesday

As always, I forgot to write down what I did on Wednesday. Now, trying to figure it out it feels like so long ago. I know it was my last day of afternoon classes, so we had a little party in my Mishnah class. After school I went out to dinner with Miriam and Adiva. Other then that I don’t think anything really happened.

Thursday

Today was my last day of classes with all the Yeshiva students. The next two weeks are winter break for the rest of the Yeshiva, so we have special Nativ classes. It was really sad for the end of Yeshiva, and it’s just another thing making me realize how little time I have left in Jerusalem.

After class one of my best friends from home, Elana Pentelnik, got here. We spent the rest of the day together, eating lunch, shopping, and just enjoying each other’s company. It was amazing to see her, because it felt like having a little piece of home here. Her timing couldn’t have been better, because right now is one of the hardest times to be away from home. All of my friends are home from college and hanging out, and while I’m so happy to be in Israel, it’s hard not to be at home with them.

Thursday night Elana and I went out to dinner with Lainey Paul, Ilana Kramer, and Dana Sufrin, all of whom were in CRUSY (my youth group region). After dinner, Elana and I headed back to Beit Nativ, where we watched a movie and fell asleep early.

Friday and Saturday (Shabbat)

Friday morning I woke up and had brunch with Adiva and Elana, before Adiva, Laura, and I headed to Even Shmuel for Shabbat. While we were out, Laura called and told us that her phone got stolen the night before, and she had to spend the day dealing with getting a new one. That meant that she wouldn’t be able to come with us for the weekend. It was sad, but she’ll come another weekend.

Shabbat was amazing. It was so nice to see Tracy and the girls, and eat some yummy food. It was very relaxing, and I was glad to get out of Jerusalem for the first time in a few weeks. When I got back to Jerusalem Saturday night I hung out with Angela, and just chilled. Overall it was a great weekend.

Happy Hanukkah! (Week 15)

Sunday

Today was a fun day with the girls. We had no school because of Hanukkah, so everyone was enjoying the abundance of free time. I went with a group of girls to get my nails done. We all had fun just hanging out and doing something unimportant. It was especially nice for the Hebrew U students, who just finished with midterms. A few friends and I were planning on trying out a new restaurant for dinner, but we ended up being too lazy to go out, so we just went to the grocery store and got stuff to make sandwiches. Just as fun, and much cheaper.

Monday

Today at the Yeshiva we had a special Hanukkah schedule. Instead of our usual morning classes different teachers taught short lessons on subjects relating to Hanukkah. It was really interesting, and fun to get to hear from some of the teachers that I don’t have on a regular basis. We also got free sufganiyot (jelly doughnuts) and falafel for lunch.

After class I came back to Beit Nativ and relaxed. Then I went out to dinner with Ilana and Tobi. I had a burger for the first time in forever, and it was delicious. We spent the whole time telling each other stories about friends from home. Even though these are two of the people I consider my closest friends on Nativ, there’s still so much about them I don’t know. When we got back we hung out with Angela and watched Rogers and Hammerstein Cinderella. I haven’t seen it in so long. It was amazing to see again.

Tuesday

Classes today were short, and lunch was longer then usual which gave me a nice relaxing day. I got a present from Hanukkah Harry (like secret Santa). It was two iPhone cases and a chocolate bar.

Tonight’s Erev Nativ had three parts. First, we filmed a scene for the Nativ video that will be shown at International Convention (a huge USY convention for kids from across the country). Then Yossi talked to us about our next few weeks, because January is a confusing month, and required some explanation. To end the night we played a trivia game for Hanukkah. My team ended up tied for second (close, but no cigar). Then after Erev Nativ the Yerucham track stayed and revealed our Hanukkah Harry people. My gift was from Michael, a kid I don’t talk too much, but maybe we’ll start talking more now. Then we gave Jeremy and Avital (our staff) gifts and cards, just to show how much we appreciate them. It was a great night, filled with lots of fun.

Wednesday

I try to write in my blog everyday, just so it’s not a chore to try and remember what I did every day at the end of the week. Unfortunately, I forgot to write about Wednesday, and now I have no recollection of what I did. I’m going to take that to mean it wasn’t a very eventful day, and move on to Thursday.

Thursday

Today was our last Kehilla Midaberet at Yeshiva. It’s really starting to hit me that my time in Jerusalem is almost over. I love studying at the Conservative Yeshiva, and I will really miss it and all of my friends next year. As for the last Kehilla Midaberet, it was tons of fun. We had a talent show, and anyone in the Yeshiva could showcase theirs talents. I learned that some of the people I’ve been studying with all semester have very interesting and impressive skills such as singing, writing, and playing the clarinet.

After school I was relaxing in my room with some friends when my friend Tobi came running in, out of breath, and shouting, “Babysit. Yossi’s kids. Tonight. Come now.” Obviously we went running back to the office, and were excited to make plans with Yossi to babysit his two youngest sons. So later that night we headed off to Modiin, for our babysitting job. On the way there we met the nicest lady on the bus, who was from Cleveland and cousins with one of Tobi’s friends. She told us to add her on Facebook, and invited us to come to her house for Shabbos sometime soon. That’s what I love about Israel; people are so welcoming, and willing to invite complete strangers into their homes. That’s something you don’t often find in America.

Babysitting was amazing, and even better was the fact that we slept over Thursday night. It was so nice to be in a house environment, sleeping in a comfortable bed, and having a family to wake up to. I really miss that aspect of being at home.

Friday and Saturday (Shabbat)

This Shabbat was a little bit of a let down for me. A few friends and I had been hoping to go to Even Shmuel to visit Tracy and her family. Unfortunately, Elizabeth spent a few days this week in the hospital, so it was just too overwhelming for us to come. I ended up having a nice relaxing Shabbos in Jerusalem. Not exactly what I had expected, but it was still nice.

Saturday night was the last night of Hanukkah, so of course I had to get my last few sufganiyot. After Shabbat ended, Laura, Adiva, and I went to Roladin to get some of the best sufganiyot in Israel. We got there a little too early, which was no big deal. We just spent the time eating dinner and doing some window-shopping. When we went back, we ended up waiting for almost an hour to get the flavors we wanted. Trust me when I tell you it was worth every second we waited. When I got home, I enjoyed my Hanukkah treat while watching Batman Begins with Angela. I have never seen any of the Batman movies, so we decided over the next few weeks we’ll watch the entire trilogy. 

Get Well Soon Angela ! (Week 14)

Sunday

Long day at the Yeshiva, as Sunday always is. The morning started off differently then usual, with a guest speaker. Rabbi Daniel Lehmann, president of Hebrew College in Boston, taught us all about the schools philosophy of pluralism. I’m not sure I grasped everything he was saying, but it was interesting nonetheless. The rest of the day was business as usual.

After school I had a heart to heart with my friend Julia. Her and I went on pilgrimage together summer 2011, so we’ve been close for a while. Recently, however, we haven’t been talking as much, because we’ve been busy with different stuff. It was really nice to talk to her and get caught up again.

Then I went out to dinner with Ayal, Ilana, and Tobi. I had schnitzies for the first time and it was amazing! I will definitely be going back there again soon. Overall even though it was a pretty boring day, it was still a really good one.

Monday

My friend Michaela and I have decided that Monday will be exploring day. Both of us get done with class at 12:45, so we decided every week we’ll find a new, cool place to check out. This week we went to the Malka Mall. It was HUGE, but not as exciting as I expected. I did get two new sweaters, though, so overall it was successful.

When I got home from the mall, after a quick power nap, I met my roommate Amanda at the shuk for dinner. We went to Pasta Basta, a restaurant that lets you make your own pasta dish with fresh vegetables from the shuk. It was really delicious and cheap, the perfect combination for a poor college student.

After dinner, my friend Julia texted me that she wanted to talk. I went to her room, and ended up spending a few hours there with her and her roommates. It was really fun, because I’m not that close with her roommates, so it was nice to spend time with them and get to know them better. It’s crazy that after three months, there are still people that I barely know. It feels good to start learning more about them, especially since I’ll be spending four months with them in Yerucham.

Tuesday

Today has been an amazing day! Most of the day was just average, but Erev Nativ was tons of fun. Tonight’s Erev Nativ was focused on getting ready for Hanukkah. We started out playing games to learn about some of the lesser known details of Hanukkah. The groups took the game way to seriously for my taste, but I sat with my friend Lieba and we had fun joking around. Then we learned the rules of what makes a menorah kosher (ok) to use for Hanukkah. We then used this knowledge to make our own Menorahs. It was so much fun. I love how mine turned out, and I plan on using it for quite awhile.

Wednesday

Wow. Today has been an intense day! It all started when I came home from Yeshiva for lunch. Adiva, one of my good friends, came into my room extremely upset because she’s Angela’s roommate, and has constantly been dealing with helping Angela get better. While she is a great friend and doesn’t mind helping out, she was getting to her breaking point. Also, she had additional stress because her mom was supposed to get in this morning, but the second leg of her flight got cancelled so she was dealing with that. We ended up calling Yossi and getting everything worked out. It was reassuring to know that when we really needed something from him he got it done quickly and well.  I spent the rest of the afternoon with Adiva, making sure she didn’t have a full on mental brake down.

For those of you who know Angela, an update on her health: She’s still extremely sick. At this point she can’t keep anything down, even water. They moved her into her own small room right down the hall from her usual room, both to quarantine her and make life easier for her roommates. They also took her back to the doctor tonight and she ended up at the hospital for an IV and some tests. That’s all I know, but I’ll keep you posted as I find out more.

For dinner, I went out with a group of girls to a make your own pasta restaurant on Emek Refaim. It was delicious, and the girl making our pasta was so sweet and funny. After dinner we headed back to Beit Nativ for our last David Project. Since it’s been a few weeks since I went to David Project, I’ll remind you that it’s a class that discusses the issues currently affecting Israel. Tonight our teacher brought in his friend, a Palestinian with views completely opposite to his own. I had mixed views about the speaker. On the one hand it was so interesting to hear how someone from the other side of the issues felt, especially in light of the recent conflict with Gaza.  On the other hand, I felt like I should be insulted and upset by what he was saying (as some people were), but I really wasn’t. I think part of this was because I came into the situation knowing his views would be drastically different than mine. I found him especially interesting because he was a Palestinian that doesn’t consider himself Muslim, so he was able to take out the religious aspects of the issues. All in all while I didn’t agree with what he had to say, I really respect him as a person, and enjoyed having the opportunity to hear what he had to say.

Thursday

Today was a pretty boring day. I had class and lunch, and then hung out with Angela. She made it back from the hospital, and spent most of the day sleeping. I spent my time skyping with Chava (my youth advisor from last year) and trying to talk to Shannon. Overall it was a pretty boring day.

Friday and Saturday (Shabbat)

This has been an exciting Shabbat. Friday morning I went out to lunch with my friends Julia and Laura. We wanted to go to Schnitizies, but we got there and realized it was closed. We then proceeded to go on an adventure, and ended up finding the Coffee Shop, a cute delicious little restaurant. After lunch, I went to the shuk with Julia and Laura. I realized how little I’ve been going to the shuk, and how much cool stuff there is there. On the way back, we went to the little craft street that Angela and I found a few weeks ago, but it went even farther then Angela and I realized. I will definitely be going back there, and taking my mom because I can see her being in love with it. After dinner and tisch Friday night a group of girls and I went to a park and had a girls bonding night. It was fun to just hang out and blow off some steam with the girls I consider to be my closest friends. Saturday I spent the whole day hanging out at Beit Nativ with Angela and the various people that come in and out of her room. For dinner, a group of us are going out with my friend Adiva and her mom. When I get back I’m going to light the menorah I made, because tonight is the first night of Hanukkah!

Sorry its late and for the uncreative title (Week 13)

Compared to the eventfulness of last week, this week seemed pretty mundane. On the bright side, that makes for a nice short blog post. One of the highlights of the week was definitely Erev Nativ. We split up into boys and girls, and did separate activities. The girls read and discussed a poem about different things every woman should be able to do. The list ranged from knowing who her true friends are, to owning a hammer, to being able to move out if necessary. The discussion was really interesting, because some people saw the poem as placing unreasonable expectations on women. I didn’t see it this way at all. I saw it as helping women to have a better life. I didn’t feel like anything in the poem placed expectations on women, I took it more as a list of advice and if you follow it you’ll be better off and if you don’t your loss. After the poem we watched a video about a girl who wrote love notes to strangers and placed them around New York City. She then wrote about this on the Internet, and made a promise that anyone who needed a love letter should email her and she would write one no questions asked. Inspired by the video, we all picked two names of other girl Nativers and wrote them “love letters”. I got letter from Ilana and Laura. It was really nice because I’m close with Ilana so she had a lot of meaningful stuff to say, but I’m not as close with Laura so she talked a lot about us getting closer. That night after Erev Nativ I ended up hanging out with Laura for a few hours and just talking. It never would have happened without the letter she wrote me.

Another highlight of my week was reading Torah. I love reading, but I get really stressed out about learning the portion, so I don't do it that often. This week was the portion I read for my Bat Mitzvah, however, so I already knew some of it. I volunteered to read for Nativ on Saturday, Monday and Thursday, and was excited about that. Then the Yeshiva also needed someone to read for them Monday and Thursday, so I also volunteered to do that. So overall, I read 5 times in a week. It felt really good, and I hope to start reading Torah more frequently.

By far the best part of my week, however, was getting a Birthday package from my best friend Shannon. When anyone asks me about it I describe it as our friendship in a box. There was a picture of us in a decorated frame, a painted quote saying “true friendship isn’t about being inseparable… It’s about being separated and knowing nothing will change”, a brownie mix in a bottle that you just add water, shake and pour into the pan, a new nose stud, and other snacks. It was a really cute and thoughtful gift, and made me realize that no matter where I am Shannon and I will always be best friends.

My Shabbat this week was very different then most other people on Nativ. Everyone on the Yerucham track spent Shabbat in Yerucham, while all the K’farmers (our nickname for the kids spending second semester in K’far) went to Modiin. Instead of going, however, I spent the weekend in Jerusalem. I decided to stay behind because Angela has been REALLY sick all week, so she couldn’t go for the weekend. She couldn’t stay here by herself, and she had nowhere else to go. I was able to stay with her and take care of her. Even though it was just the two of us, it was still an amazing Shabbat. We had time to just talk and get caught up, and I was even able to make her laugh (for the first time in a week). Overall even though this was a boring week, it was still a fun one.