Sunday morning rolled around, and we quickly jumped out of bed for T'filot to begin our first official day of classes. I was headed off to the Conservative Yeshiva for my first day of official Gemara, Torah, and Ulpan learning.
My class schedule is as follows:
Sunday: Talmud I, Ulpan A, Chumash
Monday: Talmud I, Free, Chumash
Tuesday: Chumash, Ulpan A, Modern Jewish Thought
Wednesday: Talmud I, Free, Kabbalah
Thursday: Talmud, Contemporary Issues in Halacha
As you can see, my schedule is pretty beastly, and the classes are very thought provoking, interesting, and fun. The Talmud/Chumash classes are very long 3+ hours, but the first half consists of a Chevruta period in which we study the material that we discuss in the Shiur portion of the class for the second half. Aryeh Tepper, our Modern Jewish Though teacher is the bomb, and I will go over that class in another post, but for now I need to move on.
Monday was a fantastic day as David Helfand, Judah Kerbel, and Seffi Kogen showed up after missing the first few days due to Fall Board Weekend and an ingrown toenail for Seffi (oy vey iz mir). Paradigm of Judah and David's Jewish presence, it was time to go kippah and book shopping. Josh Sacks, Seth Lerman, Judah Kerbel, David Helfand, Seffi Kogen, and I headed over to Ben Yehuda to start. We visited our favorite kippah store, אן (Ann), where I picked up a small black/white yeshivabucher kippah and a white Shabbos kippah with silver trim. My friends purchased some other good regalia, and Josh Sacks bought his first pair of tzitzit! Satisfied with our new kippot, we headed over to Pomeranz down the street to get Jewish sforim (books).
My first order of business was to buy a copy of the JPS Hebrew-English paperback Tanakh, because I realized that the Tanakh that I brought with me was only in English (huge problem at Yeshiva). After finding the book, I realized that I had left my Artscroll Siddur at home, and needed to buy another personal siddur for my journeys throughout the Holy Land. Seffi and David highly recommended the new Koren siddur, produced by the Orthodox Union, edited with commentary by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, the chief Rabbi of England. In terms of buying new things, I am very OCD with the mint condition of anything new. After meticulously searching through the siddurs, I found one that I was satisfied with, and put it on my card. I would later realize that the gold print on the front was not in line with the embossed text and that it made me dizzy to look at. Fortunately, I was able to return it for another copy.
More than ready to break in our new siddurs (some of my other friends had purchased Koren's too), we took a walk down to the old city and davened Ma'ariv at the Kotel. Let me just say, it was good to be back. It was also exciting to have so much freedom to just be able decide to walk through Jerusalem on our own. We also weren't being forced to daven, it was our choice. The experience was very memorable, fun, and awe-inspiring. I can't wait to go back to the Kotel.
Wednesday night was Ilana Rosenzweig's birthday, and what better to do than to go out and celebrate! We took our first trip out to Emek Refaim (The German Quarter...don't worry), a street with many chic restaurants, ice cream places, and boutiques. We settled upon an Italian restaurant, that I can't quite remember the name, but what I can remember is that the food tasted really good!
To start, we exercised our rights as adults in Israel and ordered 2 bottles of wine. We thought we were being classy, but we really weren't; one of the bottles that we got was Moscato, which is basically like soda! I ordered Fettucini with Smoked Salmon in Cream Sauce, and went to town. The dish was delicious, and didn't cost too much (approx. 60 shekalim = $16). After we left, Seffi, Judah, and I banded together and sang a special rendition of the classic, "Happy Birthday". It was a hit, and our harmonies could not have been sweeter.
Thursday night rolled around after a half-day at the Yeshiva, and our staff had planned a Septermber 11th remembrance Erev Nativ program for us. After listening to Yossi Garr's (Director of Nativ) story about where he was on the terrible day in NYC, we watched United 93. I had never seen the movie before, but I realized that even on the 8th anniversary it was important that we still remember 9/11 as if it were yesterday. After the movie, every single person was filled with emotions: anger, sadness, disgust. The whole rest of our night was clouded by 9/11. Like the Holocaust, we will never forget.
Nativ is fun, and is only getting better.
2 weeks down, 8 and a half months to go.
I really wish it would slow down...
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