Hey everyone! Sorry for the very (very [very]) late update, but here's an update from the past month and a half. I'll try to keep each thing brief so it's not too long. Unfortunately my computer is having memory issues and is getting repaired, and so I'm typing on my tablet, which means that I cannot really upload pictures for a while.
As I'm sure you can tell, things are very busy. Mostly I've been trying to stay up to date on homework and have a social life, so unfortunately that means that updating my blog has become a low priority. I keep saying I'll try to update more often. But...we'll see.
I last updated on 10/17, and here's what has happened since.
Classes are overall going well. I finished my class with Rabbi Michael Marmur, the rabbinic student "mini-course" (it only met for about five sessions), which was "Why I am a Reform Jew." I had to write a paper with the same title for the end of the course, and the great news is that while I still have questions, I feel very secure in my Reform Jewishness. I am also doing well in every other course, passing everything and learning. "Rabbinic texts" might be my favorite class, not only because it's interesting but also because we get to laugh and joke half the time. "Bible" is also great because I get to learn all sorts of new theories and commentaries on the Torah. Hebrew is going well, I'm still way better on paper than in speaking, but fortunately my teacher has set me up with an Israeli who wants to work on her English, so once a week we meet for an hour, practicing Hebrew for a half hour and then English for a half hour, and that's definitely helping. I try to use my Hebrew as much as possible, but it's tough when half of Jerusalem speaks English.
Sam and I found out that we got into the FSU program, which means that for Passover break we will be going to the Former Soviet Union and helping to run Passover programs. We don't know where specifically we'll be going, but we do know that we'll be with another student, Matti, and that we're on the education committee and will be helping to make educational material for all groups to use. We are also going to a conference in Berlin for a few days before Passover, which should be awesome. The one thing I'm apprehensive about is that it costs a lot of money, but don't worry, we'll be doing a lot of fundraising (*nudge nudge, wink wink*).
I'm part of a program called "Parallel Lives," where we meet with a group of soldiers about once a month and get to know each other, while learning about each others' respective lives (soldiers in Israel vs. future Jewish leaders from America). It's pretty cool, though we've only had one meeting so far. We were supposed to have a second event, where we split into groups and went to individual soldiers' homes, but unfortunately that was the first weekend of Pillar of Defense, and so it got cancelled. That was an interesting week to live in Israel, but the upside it was a great learning experience and will make for great sermons in the future. In reality, the "war" was a little scary at times, but really life went on like normal. We had two "red alert" sirens in Jerusalem, though the rockets hit about 6 or more kilometers away from here, and apparently there was no real danger of either actually hitting Jerusalem. We didn't go to Shabbat services during the night of the first siren, and the second siren interrupted our liturgy exam, but overall I didn't feel too affected by the war.
The ceasefire happened last weekend while we were on our tiyul (trip) to the south, which was a ton of fun. Unlike the first tiyul, which was full of real learning, this trip was much more relaxing. We left Jerusalem Wednesday morning, and our first stop was Makhtesh Ramon, the world's largest makhtesh (which is like a crater, but it was created differently). We hiked around a bit, and I found some great spots to set up a rappel in the future. From there we moved to Kibbutz Yahel, the first Reform kibbutz (and only one of two) in Israel, located in the Arava. That's where we stayed for three nights (Wednesday, Thursday, Friday). Wednesday night we ate grilled food outside, followed by a campfire and song session. Thursday we split up and had an option of two hikes, and Sam and I took the harder hike. It was somewhat physically demanding, mostly because it had a lot of ups and downs. We hiked to the top of Har Shlomo, the tallest mountain in the Eilat Mountains (near the border with Sinai/Egypt), and on the way up it was actually somewhat dangerous--if we had slipped, we would have fallen and died. There were handrails for a lot of it, but boy did Sam and I miss having a rope. It really wasn't that dangerous, though, as long as we were careful. That night was Thanksgiving, where we had a WONDERFUL meal prepared by a lot of the kibbutz members and three of our fellow students. It was delicious! We never expected it to be that good (since we're in Israel and a good majority of the kibbutz doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving), but boy were we wrong. Friday we took a trip to another kibbutz, Lotan, which is the other Reform kibbutz. Unlike Yahel, which is something like 80% capitalist, Lotan is fully socialist. They're also very liberal/hippyish, which was good but a little too intense for my liking. From there we went to Eilat, where we went snorkeling in a coral reef and enjoyed some sun. At night, we enjoyed Kabbalat Shabbat services put on by our fellow students, followed by a great dinner. Saturday we had more services (which were awesome, laid back, and hilarious) and then we enjoyed free time. We left for Jerusalem not too long after that, and got home at night.
So what else has happened? To back track a little, I read my first of two required Torah portions on 10/18, and it went quite well. I translated it after each line, which was sort of tough but I'm glad I did it, and for my next reading (which is this coming Thursday) I think I'm going to change it up and try translating in a different way. I also lead a mincha (afternoon) service with Rachel Heaps and Jordan Shaner on 11/4, which also went well. It was quick but we got the job done well with no problems, though I have some stuff I want to work on. Also coming up, I'm giving a D'var Torah (word of Torah, or mini-sermon) next Thursday (12/13) and I'm leading a shacharit (morning) service the following Thursday (12/20). I have a second paper for one of my classes coming up too, plus finals are less than a month away, but I'm handling it all pretty well.
On Friday 10/26, David Levine, my Second Temple History and Rabbinic Literature professor, took a bunch of us to Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. Unfortunately the national park service claimed there was a possibility of flash floods (because of the time of year) and so we couldn't actually go into the caves. We tried, though--David had checked the weather, and was very confident we were safe (we also were confident), and so he marched right past the "do not enter" sign and toward the caves, and we all followed suit--even when they announced over loudspeaker to come back. Only when a park ranger had a shouting match with him and threatened to call the police did we retreat. It was a great time.
Every Monday I go to Mevasseret, a local suburb right outside Jerusalem, where seven other students and I work with Ethiopian immigrant children. It's one of the best parts of each week. We basically just play with the kids for an hour and a half each week, sometimes coloring, sometimes throwing a ball around, or sometimes playing board games. It's great because we get to work on our Hebrew in a stress-free environment (where their Hebrew level is sometimes, though not often, worse than ours), we get to be a positive influence on them, we can take them off their parents' hands, and we get to play with kids (which is great for me, because I don't have a lot of experience working with younger children).
Once a month we meet in Mabat (Inquiry) groups, where we get together and talk about "big" issues: God, Torah, Israel, holidays, etc. It's challenging to hear various points of view on such critical issues, but it also helps us figure life out (sometimes...sometimes it leaves more questions, which is also good). I know some people in the program don't like these activities, but I have a great group and sometimes we stray off topic a little bit, which is, for me, better for figuring it all out.
I've finally started varying my prayer experience a bit. Last night for Kabbalat Shabbat Jeff and I went to the Great Jerusalem Synagogue, which is an Ashkenazic Orthodox synagogue (it's not "Modern Orthodox" but people of all Orthodox types pray there: Chasidim, Haredim, Modern Orthodox, and more). It was definitely interesting, and now that I have a much stronger grasp of the basic prayer rubric (which prayer comes before another, etc.), I was able to follow along much better than I used to be able to do. However, I still wouldn't say I like it--not only am I a Reform Jew for ideological reasons, but I also really like our services. This morning we didn't have services at HUC, but I actually woke up early(ish) and went to Har El, a local progressive (i.e. Reform) synagogue. It was a small service, with only about 15 people, but it was very nice and I'm glad I went. In the past month and a half I've also gone to many student-led services, to Kol HaNeshama, which is a large progressive synagogue, and to Nava Tehila, which is a Renewal community (it was a little too "hippy dippy" for me, but I still took away positive things from it). I want to keep trying out non-Reform services in the remaining six and a half months (and yes, there are only six and a half months left!)
My d'var Torah advisor is Rabbi Stanley Davids, who is a wonderful person and rabbi, and we've been meeting about once a week to work on my d'var. He was the rabbi at a big congregation (in Atlanta, I believe) as well as the president of ARZA, AEPi, and more. He has not only taught me a lot about writing a d'var Torah but also about Reform Judaism and more. Sam and I went to his house for Shabbat a few weeks ago and it was a very nice time.
On 11/12 we had a Latke vs. Hamentashen Debate, where four of our professors, two on each side, debated (in scholarly fashion) which one was better, latkes or hamentashen. It was hilarious. While I think the two Americans, Professor Joel Duman and Rabbi Naamah Kelman, had the better academic arguments (for latkes), the two Brits, Rabbi Michael Marmur and Dr. David Mendelsson, were funnier in their fight for hamentashen. It was a hilarious event.
HUC had the ordination ceremony for Israeli rabbinic students on Wednesday 11/14, and that was great to watch. We interact with the Israeli rabbinic students a little, such as a joint shacharit service on Tuesdays and in one of our lectures, but unfortunately we don't do too much with them.
Last Saturday was Sam and my first year anniversary, but since we were on the tiyul we celebrated the next night. We went on a date and recreated our first real date: we went to Burgers Bar (last year we went to Luxburger) and then watched The Muppets (last year in the cinema, this year on a laptop). It was a great anniversary. Let's hope we stay together many more years! (If we don't kill each other first!)
That's pretty much it for now. If you haven't seen, I was "published" in yesterday's "Ten Minutes of Torah," a weekly email sent out by the Union for Reform Judaism, and also on their blog. You can read it here: http://blogs.rj.org/blog/2012/11/30/letter-from-jerusalem-reflections-of-a-first-year-rabbinic-student/. It's very similar to my piece that was featured in Temple Sinai's monthly scroll, but with a few edits.
Today is Shabbat, so I spent the day at Har El, then at Shabbat Sha-sport. My ankle still hurts, but after hiking in the south last weekend and having no issues (some small temporary pains here and there), I've decided to start doing physical activities again. Yesterday Sam and I climbed for the first time in two and a half months, and there was no ankle pain...but there was pain everywhere else. Not climbing for two months REALLY made us terrible at it. My hardest climb was a 5.8 or 5.9, and I only got through about five or six climbs until I started falling on 5.8's. My strength is mostly gone, but at least my technique is still there, and as long as I can go once a week I think I'll be able to get back into it a bit. Later, once I update my blog, I'm going to relax with Sam (I've introduced her to Arrested Development so maybe we'll watch that) and then do homework and practice guitar.
So that's it! Sorry for the late response, and maybe (MAYBE) I'll be able to update more often. I might post some of more of my writing soon, too.
Shabbat Shalom!
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