Day 1!

Forgive the delay, it takes a rather long time to write this and I am in class for 10 hours a day.  I'll try and keep up better.

Today starts day one.  When I arrived, we first had the standard introductions.  It is nice to know who we are learning with I will admit.  We were split off into two groups for Shacharit.  There is a standard davening group and a learner's group.  I chose the learner's group.  While I know the service and can for the most part keep up, I decided it would be nice to understand some deeper understanding of what I am doing.  Understanding creates meaning which creates feeling.We delved into the opening sections of the service and as much as I understand it, I have a better understanding of why.  It was less davening and more learning, but I was perfectly ok with that.  After, we had a nice breakfast on the house this morning and I was able to bond yet more with my new friends and get to meet some of new ulpan classmates.

Now it is ulpan time!  I admit to slight terror.  My previous attempts to learn languages were not terribly successful.  Four years of French in school and nothing ever really stuck.  It was a source of constant frustration for me.  I am just hoping the ulpan method is more effective than the way language is taught in American public schools.  The method used is truly awful.  Don't even get me started on the complete illogic of first starting in Middle School vs pre-school/kindergarten.  We have our books and started straight in.  As many of you know, I can read block phonetically pretty well.  So can most american Jews, but of course no actual language skills.

Moving on to the actual class.  At first I am ok since I have my foundation and I do know a few random words here and there.  It is a start.  It actually made the first class relatively easy and that we haven't covered that much.  How much can I really say.  The class is done in Hebrew almost exclusively, which of course makes you just used to actually hearing Hebrew.  I fear it won't stick, so of course I plan to review it a lot.  I am throwing myself into this hoping it will actually be good.

I had a relatively quiet lunch on the house as well today.  Thank you so much CY for more pita.  As my facebook friends know, I have a rather low opinion of pita in LA.  I don't care how fresh it is, something is just missing.

The afternoon is my first class on Tanach, finding Gd's place.  It is a very fascinating look at Abraham's journeys first entering the land of Israel and his travels down and back up from Egypt.  You see the repeating patterns and the connections it makes later on.  It is the beginning of actually understanding the geography of Abraham's travels and what that really means.  I am thoroughly enjoying the class.

So now is time for Nusach.  I have been really looking forward to this class.  We are focusing primarily on the weekday service nusach, particularly the Amidah.  I am seeing the differences right away from the Shabbat melody.  Beyond the key change, they are subtle.  Again, I have to park my expectations at the door and start from scratch.  Did I mention my brain hurts?  I just keep getting that Shabbat melody in my head.  I have to force it out.  It is not easy.

After this very long day, I made a quick stop at the Shuk for dinner.  It is such a pain with almost no Hebrew skills.  I know very soon it won't be an issue for the most part, but right now it is driving me nuts.  I have taken to using 20 shekel bills and 10 shekel coins to pay for everything, leaving me with this mountain of small stuff.  It isn't easy with a small kitchen to cook either mind you, but I am muddling through.  I do miss my kitchen at home.

First Shabbat in Israel

First of all, I always love how the city sort of just stops.  The streets go from being one monster traffic jam to just a few cars, and everything closes.  It really gives it that feel that Shabbat is here.  I started Shabbat this week at Moreshet Israel, the synagogue that is part of the Conservative Yeshiva/United Synagogue complex.  It was my first opportunity to meet some of my fellow classmates.  I was able to say hello and got a first glimpse of how diverse the group of students are.  I had figured it would be a mix of retired people/college students.  It does seem logical just because for the most part that is who has the time to leave their daily lives for six weeks.  I was not quite accurate.  I found what I had expected, but also people here who are professionals in their lives who can take the time, non-Americans that I expect to have a different perspective, and even a couple non-Jews.  I suspect I will find their perspective the most interesting of them all.  They seem very open to the whole thing.

The service itself is what I would term traditional conservative, with mostly an east coast flavor.  It is a straight up follow the book service with a minimum of singing and more closely resembling weekly davening.    I know LA tends to be more liberal and straight up Friday nights are few and far between, but I do appreciate the difference.  I must admit I found that I miss what I am used to though.  It is to be experienced.  I do want to experience a wide variety of styles while I am here.  It is an opportunity that should not be missed.

After services, we had a nice dinner where I started to bond with some of my classmates.  I ended up sitting with a group of younger college age students.  We got to bonding sitting around the table eating.  As expected, it was a meat meal.  While the potato borekas and salads were really good, it was less than satisfying.  I am still waiting to eat a proper egg challah here.  I have yet to experience a challah I like here.  Marzipan does have some good looking challot, perhaps next week I shall try theirs.  If their challah is anything like their rugalach, you know the rest of that story.  I must report for the Manischewitz concord grape haters, kiddush wine is even worse here. It is brown, I think that is sufficient explanation.

I am just so pleased to make some new friends.  It is an intersting group, a Hillel professional, a couple college students, and one Belgian.  They all roommate together so they are a natural fit and I live closeby.  After we ate, we did some singing and Birkat Hamazon.  Sometimes I wonder if we should add a bit of it to Valley Ruach.  Really, we always just let it fall by the wayside after.  It is worth considering.

We met up with the sizeable British contingent.  We all decided to group together and go to the Kotel after.  I have never experienced the Kotel at night so it is definitely something I want to try.  \  We ended up having this very long discussion about the nonsense about the separation of the Women's side from the Men's side.  We get this huge infrastructure and 70% of the wall and the women get one table a couple bookshelves with siddurim in them.  Let alone the women actually try and pray there.  I of course find the whole situation ridiculous.  It was an experience to behold though.  I really did get to like the Brits and enjoyed bonding.

As we walked home, we were deciding our Saturday morning options.  My little group of four that I met at dinner thought it would be nice to go to Hebrew Union College tomorrow to experience something different. I was quite happy with that.  As I know where it is from my previous visit to Jerusalem, we decided to meet at a train stop closeby on Jaffa St.  It turns out their apartment is very close.

So the next morning we met up and went down.  I happened to see Sara, hi!  She was able to say hello and chat with her fellow ex-Hillel professional friend.  Of course, HUC being Reform we were treated to a mostly Reform service.  It is much closer to a Conservative service than some Reform services and for me I was just fine with that.  It is a lot more singing and participation which is definitely more my style.

After, we all kind of went home to nap. Walking in Shul clothes in the Jersualem heat is not easy.  I had to be ready for our Mincha+Sleudah Slishit+Maariv.  I had a nice quiet afternoon hanging out with Brent a lot playing card games and some reading.  When I went down, I had a nice time with my friends and we did a great deal more davening.  I am getting more comfortable with the whole davening thing as time progresses.  It is definitely one of those practice deals.  I do miss a musical Havdalah though.  Debbie Friedman has changed Havdalah forever and the world just needs to cave and give in.

After, my new little group went out for a nice glass of wine and dessert.  It is so amazing how Jerusalem is like a complete luddite town during Shabbat and less than an hour later right back up and busy as can be.  We found a little place of Ben Yehuda street and if you haven't seen my picture on Facebook, go check it out.  All in all, it was an amazing Shabbat and now I really have to focus on my classes.  Be well all!

Yes, I made it here safely Mom.

I am here finally!  I somehow lucked out and didn't have that awful middle seat to Toronto, so I am very pleased to report that.  Also, I felt completely disappointed at Israeli security.  I was never questioned once the whole way through.  As I have told many people about my last trip, Israeli security seemed very fascinated by what I had to say.  This time, nothing.  Not in Toronto, not in passport control, nothing.

The only thing that Israelis are still obsessed with about me is my luggage.  X-ray it to the hilt.  I just got off the plane, isn't it kind of pointless to X-ray after the fact?

I had my first adventure here, dealing the the Nesher shuttle.  If you have taken it, you know what I mean.  I was able to meet one of Sara's classmates, Lindsay.  We were both headed the same way, so we had a chance to chat.  I think Sara is going to have yet another awesome friend to learn with this year.  Just as it was last time I was here, no one seems to understand just drop me off on Agripas near the Shuk.  It always seemed easy enough for me.  Of course, Nesher switched drivers on us and of course apparently Lindsay and I are a couple.  Ok...  Somehow it is my responsibility to load everyone's luggage too.  I am quite confused here.  Am I the being paid?  I don't think so.  So that didn't last long.  I met this nice American who made Aliyah who was quite helpful with the driver being a complete moron.  She finally made him understand where I wanted to go.  It wasn't terribly difficult.

At least the ride was interesting.  There was a Palestinian couple on our ride who needed to be dropped off at the checkpoint for Ramallah.  It took me a while to realize just how deep into the West Bank we went to drop them off.  Looking at it on Google Maps after the fact, it was rather surprising.  I got a very interesting first hand view of the separation wall.  I must admit to being thankful I am on the side of that wall I am.

Not that this the end of my Nesher adventure mind you.  The driver still wasn't happy about dropping me off on Agripas.  Give me my money as I got out.  Here you go, good riddance!  I was rather happy to be done with that experience.  I have decided I am taking the bus to the airport and not Nesher.  Yes, customer service does make a difference in your business.  You lose repeat business and get negative word of mouth.  Just a thought.

Now for fun with friends and a nap, later!

Two days out...

Welcome to my adventure in Israel.  Join me as I spend six weeks delving into my Jewish heritage with learning and study in the heart of Judaism itself, Jerusalem.  What will I learn?  How will I feel religiously after?  Is committing to this whole enterprise an exercise in folly?

I will be studying at the Conservative Yeshiva, a place I was first introduced to by my dear friend Jessica Kendler-Yarkin.  As many of my readers may know, I visited Israel last fall.  I had the fortune to spend a portion of my trip in Jerusalem and sit in on a couple classes with Jessica.  Somehow, despite me being sick as can be and not quite conscious I was sufficiently inspired to drop work for almost two months to study there.  Note to self, do NOT eat dodgy falafel again.  Stick to quality falafel stands.  Beyond that, my fellow companions from my Israel trip last year know I swore to get back to Israel this summer somehow.  In fact, the consensus of the group was that I would be the first to return and indeed I will be.

What was the first thing I did when I got back you ask?  I spent the couple days resetting myself back to LA time researching potential summer programs.  Thankfully, my work for the United Synagogue put me in a position to find Conservative Yeshiva.  There were other programs, but they didn't seem right to me.  The moment I found Conservative Yeshiva's summer program, I was all over doing it.  I immediately started the process of getting the trip organized.  It has taken 2 excruciating months to accomplish, but it is done.

Here I am with two days until I board a plane for my 17 hour journey to Israel.  I am finally over my first adventure, getting the trip organized.  What an adventure it was.  I had to make sure I could take off SEVEN weeks from work, arrange for housing (Thank you for everything Brent, I owe you way more than beer.), finding an affordable plane ticket, asking for financial help to make this whole trip doable(Thank you to Conservative Yeshiva for their most generous scholarship.), and so on.  All I have now is to finish packing and make sure I have everything.

I was gently reminded last night by re-reading an email sent to me by Conservative Yeshiva recently that is an academic exercise and I need to be prepared to actually study for real classes.  I am now of course trying to remember how to do these things.  My last class in college was a mere eight years ago.  I have to remember to take notes and read, discuss what I learned with my study group, and all that school stuff.  Oh dear.  Hopefully I won't have to write any long essays!  I also seemed to forget that I may want to have basic school supplies.  OOPS!  I am torn between how much to bring and how much to buy there.

I will relate to you some truths about my feelings about this trip.  Of all the fears that have come and gone, the only one that means anything to me is that I will come away uninspired.  It is the most terrifying thing to me.  Thankfully, I will have two wonderful friends from LA there with me and I know all the new friends I make amongst my fellow classmates will make this the most inspiring two months of my life.

On a more positive note, I am so excited for my classes despite my slight terror about going to school for over six hours a day for the first time since high school.  First of all, sitting in a ulpan all morning for six weeks I have a feeling my Hebrew will finally be something more than a smattering of random words that I cannot make into a sentence and the ability to read phonetically.  My hope is that my Hebrew ability will be to the point where my Hebrew speaking friends will no longer converse with me in English.  I very much want to become proficient in a second language and this is the language I choose.  My afternoons are equally exciting to me, studying a mountain of torah and ending my days with workshops on both torah chanting and service leading.  Just you wait for this fall all of you who frequent Valley Ruach Shabbat, you may find me leading services here and there.

I do have one more joyous thing to report.  I will only be required to spend one flight in a middle seat and it is the comparatively short hop from LA to Toronto.  After that, it is an comfortable aisle the rest of the time.

Stay tuned for more...