Bye bye mini-mester, hello stipend (Week 6)

 Wow I have been horrible at keeping up with my blog for the past week. Although I only post my blog once a week, I try to write every day, so I don’t forget anything. This also helps me focus on how I feel about a given event, instead of just chronicling what I have been doing. That said, please excuse this weeks blog post; it probably won’t be up to my usual quality.

This week was the last week of mini-mester, the first six weeks of Nativ during which the chagim (holidays) fall, so things run a little differently then the rest of the year. For Yeshiva students like myself, not much changes after mini-mester, but a few things do. These changes were discussed at our orientation to the regular semester on Thursday night. Highlights include that I start getting stipend next week. Up until this point, all of our meals have been provided for us. During the regular semester, some meals are provided and when they aren’t we get stipend money to pay for food. We also start getting money for a bus pass. Because the Yeshiva is right next to Beit Nativ, and I don’t ride the bus that often, I’m going to keep my bus money to use for whatever I want. Also, the optional night programming starts for the regular semester. This is everything from classes and lectures, to sports teams and learning to lead services.

One of the optional night programs is a David Project seminar. This focuses on issues currently facing Israel, both internally and extrernally. To kick off these sessions we had a mandatory speaker come from David Project. He essentially gave us a small taste of the topics we will be covering in more detail in the seminar. I am definitely going to be participating in these classes, because I feel it will help me advocate for Israel at Michigan State next year. I also want to gain a deeper understanding of the issues Israel is facing. This seminar is made even more interesting by the upcoming elections, both in America and in Israel. With these impending elections, the issues we’re discussing in the seminar will be at the forefront of Israeli news.

That is the main points of this week. The rest of my time was spent at my Yeshiva classes, watching the Reds lose (I was very upset about that), and getting tons of sleep over Shabbat. I feel well rested and even though I’m sick I feel ready to take on a new and exciting weeks on Nativ.