Wow. It’s been a crazy two weeks on Nativ. I have been really bad at keeping up with my
blog the past few weeks, but I’m going to try and do better this coming week. As
for the last two weeks they’re a little blurry, but I’ll try to recount to
details as best I can, but I’ll probably only hit the highlights.
Week 1 (Oct.
28-Nov. 3)
Sunday night (October 28) was the first night of JET (Jewish
Educators Training). I wasn’t sure if I would like the program, because I’ve
already worked in a synagogue religious school, so I wasn’t sure how much the
course would help me. I couldn’t have been more wrong. The class was amazing,
and touched on exactly what I feel like I never knew when working at Northern
Hills; how to keep kids engaged, when they’re learning things they might not
care about in a setting they may not want to be in. I’m really excited to
continue learning in the course. Of course, with all this talk of education I’m
reconsidering what I want to do with my life again. I’m realizing that this is
going to be a one of a few struggles I’ll be dealing with throughout the year.
Monday morning we started a new parek (chapter) of Kidushin,
and the new material is more interesting to me. We are starting to get into
marriage laws, which will be much more interesting then the laws of slavery we
were discussing previously.
By far, however, Monday night was the highlight of my week.
Nativ went to the MASA opening event. MASA is program that helps find funding
for young adults to come to Israel. The opening event consisted of an Idan
Raichel concert. It was absolutely amazing. I didn’t have high hopes, since I
don’t know any of his songs. Regardless, the concert was amazing. He is such a passionate performer, especially
when he is singing about his Judaism. Only in Israel would I be able to see an
Israeli artist, and have everyone in the room be as excited as I am. I don’t
think I have smiled or laughed as much as I did tonight. At the concert I also
ran into Debbie Karmel, a member of my synagogue who recently made aliyah. It
was great to finally run into her, and hopefully I’ll be seeing her again soon.
The rest of the week was pretty boring, just going about my
usual routine. For Shabbos Angela, Adiva, and I went to Tracy’s. It was such a
relaxing and inspiring Shabbat. Angela, Tracy, and I had a heartfelt debate
about the benefits and hardships of being Shomer Shabbos. She inspired me to
return to being Shomer Shabbos for my time in Israel, and worry about what to
do in America when I get home.
Week 2 (Nov. 4-10)
This week was another fairly average week. I’ve been getting
homesick lately, so a major highlight of the week was skyping with two of my
best friends Shannon and Jess. We used oovoo, so all of us were able to talk at
once and it was absolutely amazing.
I also spent a lot of time this week trying to make my
winter break plans. Angela and I originally wanted to go to Greece, but because
it’s not the safest place right now we’re looking into a cruise. It’s very
frustrating, however, because not very many cruises leave from Israel, and we’re
having trouble finding schedules for the ones that do. Hopefully we’ll be able
to work something out, otherwise we will make other plans.
This Shabbat was one of my favorites so far on Nativ. I
stayed on base in Jerusalem, and just enjoyed the company of other Nativers. I
talked to a few people that I don’t usually talk to, and learned how to play
Jungle Speed. It was a very chill but very fun Shabbat.
Overall, it has been an uneventful but relaxing two weeks.
Sorry again for the lack of details, and I’ll try to keep up with my blog more
in the next few weeks.
No comments:
Post a Comment