Saying Goodbye (snif, snif)

Since I arrived in Jerusalem on July 5, 2005, and for the months preceeding my arrival, four amazing individuals have worked to make my transition smooth and my first days less scary- the amazing, fabulous, wonderful student Interns. HUC hires current students to act as "Interns" for the summer and live with us here in Jerusalem. They've done such tasks as give directions at all hours of the day and night, answer questions as mundane as "Where can I get good falafel?" listen to us whine about hebrew homework, planned numerous social events (including the infamous Pub Crawl) and overall have been great resources and friends to us.

On Monday, we had a send-off for the interns in the backyard of HUC. Baked goods were provided and Rollin and I entertained the group with a song we had written for the occasion."Summer Interns" proved to be a huge hit!



Adam, Dara, Talia and Ross (see the picture above) have been crosses between an older brother or sister/ that cool young Rabbi/ mentor/ friends- basically everything you would want in a student intern. I've really enjoyed getting to know them this summer- AND of course now I'm thinking how much fun it would be to be an intern in the future after my 4th year :)

While I love all four, I'm especially sad to see Dara and Adam go- Adam is going to be a 4th year Rabbinical student in LA and although we knew each other before this summer, I feel like we really became friends. Dara is going to be a 5th year in New York and will be a Rabbi at a congregation in NY after she is ordained- so I know that I'll get to see her when I get back to the big apple.

Talia and Ross are staying (although they won't be interns anymore!) in Israel this year- Ross as a 4th year Cantorial student and Talia as a 2nd year in the Israeli Rabbinic Program. It'll be nice to see them in the halls at school and at all the social/Shabbat events this year.

So I guess this is really the end...of the summer at least. One more week of ulpan, a week of vacation and I'll be officially starting my first year as a Rabbinical student here in Jerusalem. I guess everyone is starting school now too- Dara in NY, Adam in LA, Mom in Columbia, my brother Dave in Towson, Rosner in Philly, Barb in College Park, Ali in St. Louis and all of us in Jerusalem. And although the heat isn't ending here, the summer is, I can feel it. I can't help but think of that Dar Williams song "the end of the summer" during this time of year.

and i had a dream that blows the autumn through my head. it felt like
the first day of school but i was going to the moon
instead...i knew that i would crash, but i didn't want to tell them...it's
the end of the summer, when you send your children to the moon.

Lots of posts to come- love to all who are reading (and if you love it, feel free to leave a comment!)