The Last Few Days

First of all, I must apologize for my dissapearance over the last few days. It seems that two weeks worth of orientation, almost-daily social events, Hebrew classes and Jerusalem seminars have caught up with me. Thus I went to bed at 11pm last night instead of updating.

The first week of ulpan is over. Crazy. We have our first bochan (test) next week which I will need to study hard for. We're learning between 35-50 new vocabulary words every day which somehow need to get into my brain so I can start using them. I love my class and after a little bit of moving around, we're back down to 13 students which is a great number, not to mention that I love them all.

Yesterday (Thursday) was our first non-ulpan day of school- for the 6 weeks of ulpan, each Thursday (and some Wednesday evenings) will be an immersion day devoted to Jewish history and ritual. These days are interactive- a combination of classroom learning and site visits which will help us begin to understand the conenctions between geography, history and texts. Can you tell I'm pumped? No seriously, this stuff is right up my alley. Yesterday's classes were all at HUC and were three mini-sessions on the Jewish Calendar, Jewish History and the Jewish bookshelf taught by three amazing professors: Rabbi Kelman, Rabbi Marmur and Rabbi Wilfond aka "Gingi."

After class, my friend David and I met with Rabbi Wilfond about starting a chevruta. A chevruta comes from the same root as "friend" but means a "study friend and partner." Chevrutas learn together and study Jewish texts in a traditional one-on-one style. This style of learning has been passed down through the generations and is one of the best ways to learn something new, especially if you don't feel 100% comfortable with the material. In a chevruta there is no "teacher" and no "student." Instead, both people are partners who help the other learn and understand the text. The relationship between chevrutas is a sacred one since both people have to trust each other and work well together.

David and I are going to be learning Pirkei Avot, a section of an important Jewish text called the Mishna. The Mishna is almost exclusively laws and explanations of those laws, but Pirkei Avot is a shorter section that includes short lessons for life and popular sayings. We'll be using a Hebrew and English book, but will be trying to do as much as possible in the original language. Rabbi Wilfond says that reading a text in the vernacular is like kissing a bride through the veil- you just aren't getting the real thing. We'll see how that goes.

So today, David and I went to Pomerantz, a popular bookstore in Jerusalem that gives great discounts and advice to HUC students. The owner, Michael Pomerantz has lived in Israel for 14 years and loves HUC students. And although he didn't have the book that we were looking for, we both bought a few other things (including a more complete dictionary, traditional Israeli prayerbook and a couple other "essential" things- M&D- don't be mad!!)

Shabbat is almost upon us again (where did the week go) and I need to make my class-famous
mock-amole" (its the traditional guac with an israeli twist) for tomorrow's class potluck lunch in the park. All in all, I'm doing great- making great friends, eating great food, learning so much every day and, if i'm dreaming, I'm trying not to wake up, because this is one amazing dream come true. [insert eye-roll here.] But its true. Love to all who are reading!