October 31, 2004

So the French are now caring for Arafat. This is the same nation that John Kerry so desperately wants to bring into the coalition in the War on Terror. Is it just me or do you sense that Kerry's preparing to offer Israel up as the sacrificial lamb in order to bring the USA back into the good graces of the Europeans and the UN??? Not sure he has any other chips to offer, and besides, what would ever make them happier.........

I found this quote on Ribbity Blog

THE HOLY CITY

Why do Western journalists insist upon adding the words "the Holy City" to the name of Najaf every time they mention it. To the best of my knowledge, none of the Western news services reported that a Palestinian tried to cut the throat of a Jewish policemen in the Holy City of Jerusalem; or that the Palestinian bomers who were intercepted a few days ago were attempting to carry out an attack against hte Holy City of Haifa (it is the Bahai world centre); or that al-Qa'ida are threatening massive terrorist attacks in the Holy City of Rome.

Why does the Shi'ite Holy City merit this unique epithet?

Any love that depends on a specific cause, when that cause is gone, the love is gone; but if it does not depend on a specific cause, it will never cease. - Pirkei Avot 5:19

Have a wonderful week

October 28, 2004

I'm heading to Tel Aviv for a party tonite and then tomorrow I'm going back to Maale Chever to be with with my teachers family for Shabbat, so this is going to be the last posting for a few days.

There are certain things that you encounter in Eretz Yisrael that you just don't find anywhere else in the world. During coffee break (man I miss the huge Starbucks cups) this morning, I was talking to a guy (about forty years old) who'd been living near Chicago before he moved to Israel. When the guy told me the name of the town, I knew he must have been one of the only Orthodox Jews in the area. When I asked him about this, he gave me a recap of the last twenty of his life, in a nut shell.

It seems this guy grew up in a secular family with no attachment to religion whatsoever. He married a non-Jewish women a little more than twenty years ago and they "somehow" ended up visiting Israel as part of their honeymoon. One day he wanted to go to the Kotel (Wailing Wall) and she wanted to go shopping, so they parted ways for a few hours. While standing at The Wall, this guy was approached by someone who asked him if he was Jewish, and if so, would he like to put tefillin on. He did so and enjoyed the experience very much.

Well, he and this woman returned the to the States and stayed married for the next twenty years. All the while, he was living with the struggle of wanting to become more Jewish. About five years ago he began driving to Northbrook for minyan every morning, but still he continued to return home everyday to his non-Jewish family. Finally, about a year ago, he spilled the beans to his wife. She understood that he couldn't live like this anymore and she agreed to divorce him - for close to a million dollars. He was willing to pay the cost, and they parted ways. The next thing you know, the guy's on a plane to Israel. He's now officially made Aliyah and he's recently gotten re-married to a Jewish women. He's in our ulpan learning Hebrew during the morning and he runs a software development company in the afternoon.

And I got to meet him. An amazing story.

Congratulations to all you Red Sox fans. Nomar who?

Perhaps we'll have some good news from Ramallah by the time I blog again next week.

Have a wonderful shabbat.

October 27, 2004

Went to the hafgana (rally) today outside the Knesset. It was amazing. Thousands and thousands of religious zionists gathering in support of Gusk Katif and the Shomron region. Music, speeches, Tehillim. It was an awesome feeling to be there with so many of our brothers and sisters.

Unfortunately it wasn't enough to turn the tide in the vote this evening. What next?

I saw the Washington Post article that said the park was filled with thousands of settlers. I guess I'm a settler now.

October 24, 2004

Week Four

So first of all, I'd like to give a big THANK YOU to my dear friend with the precious mind for directing and orchestrating the redesign of my blog. It's gonna to be a work in progress for a while, but I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. In case you can't tell, I'm really diggin' this whole journal thing.

And if I may be permitted, I'd like to also give a shout out to my amazing ulpan teacher. In all my schooling (and I've had alot), I've never encountered a teacher with such patience, knowledge, desire to help, kindess, etc... She'd be so happy to know that I'm actually sitting here tonite listening to Israeli music and understanding some of the words the singer is saying. It's hard to believe how much a difference two weeks can make.

If any of you are planning to come to Israel and are interested in a serious ulpan (in one of the most beautiful spots on this great planet) full of awesome people and outstanding teachers, I definitely recommend the Alon Shvut Ulpan in Gush Etzion. The teachers are extremely patient, talented, kind and funny. They dedicate their lives to helping new olim overcome many of the fears, barriers, and challenges that all new immigrants face.

Anybody that's ever been to Israel knows that this country is the true "melting pot" of the world. In our school alone, there are newcomers from Thailand, France, Russia, Ethiopia, USA, and Argentina sitting together everyday, getting to know each other and learning to speak the same language. Each class has its own uniqueness, and in mine it's got to be the feeling as if we're one big family. This may have something to do with the fact that we've got a woman from France and three of her children (ages 13 - 16) in the class, as well as another mother-daughter combo from Florida too.

It's very exciting to learn about people from so many faraway places, all of whom share many of the same dreams as myself. And I can't describe how much fun it is to watch everybody develop over time. Two weeks ago I met someone who had difficulty with three word sentences, and this morning I bumped into him during coffee break and he's putting together complete questions and answers. Its quite an incredible experience. We're all nervous about whether or not we're actually learning anything, but when I sit back and watch, I see each one of us growing more comfortable with things that only yesterday gave us great difficulty. It's a great feeling to know that one of the biggest obstacles to integrating into society is being overcome before our very eyes. And it's all due to our teachers efforts, our own hard work, and of course, the Big Guy upstairs.

So I mentioned last week that my teacher invited me for Shabbat. What an experience! Her family lives in Maale Chever, which is directly at the edge of Midbar David (David's Desert) and about fifteen minutes from Kiryat Arba and Chevron. I can't even begin to speak of the breathtaking beauty of this area so I hope the picture below will give you an idea of what these people get to wake up to everyday.

The Yishuv consists of fifty-five families and I must have met them all. Everybody seemed geniunely outgoing and happy to have guests over for Shabbat, each with their own individual, warm personality. I picked up a ride from a guy in Kiryat Arba and he spoke very little English. While he had some difficulty understanding that I was trying to find a woman for whom I had no last name, nor home address, he didn't seem concerned or worried in the least bit. I felt totally comfortable that this guy would get me where I needed to go. He even pulled over and let me snap a few pictures of the gorgeous view. Through my broken Hebrew I somehow managed to explain that my hostess teaches at the Ulpan in Alon Shvut and he immediately knew who I was talking about. Not only did he take me directly to her home, he even walked me straight to her door. Turns out that their families are good friends. I found out the next morning that he's also the gabbai of the shul in Maale Chever.

My teacher and her husband have eight beautiful children, all of whom made me feel loved and welcome from the minute I arrived. The three youngest children greeted me with a plate of homemade chocolate-chip cookies (how'd they know?) and cold water, so obviously it took no time at all for us to become fast friends. We all helped set the table and clean up before Shabbat. My teacher and I began conversing in my pathetic Hebrew for a while, and then it was time to go to shul with her husband. He's the head of security for the Yishuv and also the principal of the kindergarten. Very cool. Friday nite davening was extremely spirited - Carlebach tunes, dancing amidst the hordes of children clinging to their abba's, and the feeling that only Shabbat in the shtachim can give you. Oh, did I mention the sunset??? Holy Sabbath!

After a tasty dinner, we went on a short walk thru the Yishuv and then they escorted me to my teacher's brothers home to sleep for the nite. He's got a bunch of chickens and goats in the yard. He also has a bunch of little kiddies running around everywhere and I fell in love with them instantly. The nine year old even goes to Vatikin minyan with his abba at 4:30 AM. I on the other hand went to the late 7:30 AM minyan. We were done by 10:30 and ate lunch and sang till about 12:30. There was a bar mitzva on the yishuv so we went to a nice kiddush for a while. After that it was nap time for the next two hours. At about 4:45 we had an hour and fifteen minute seuda shlishi during which I actually learned many of the songs I should have learned years ago. My teacher's oldest son gave me a ride back to Jerusalem after Shabbat and I sat in a coffee shop working on my Hebrew for a while. Then back to Efrat for a little catching up with my own family.

Right now I'm getting ready to wind down this wonderful Sunday. Sunday's in Israel are not like Sunday's in America. There's no sleeping late, watching football, or whatever....... Everybody gets back to work and of course, I was back at ulpan brite and early this morning. After class I spent the day getting my haircut, doing homework, babysitting for my sisters kids, and voting for the President of the United States.

Lets all pray that Hashem Yitborach spreads his canopy of peace and safety over us in the coming days as the election approaches.

May there be peace within our walls.

Avi

Ulpan

Maale Chever Shabbat

Maale Chever Shabbat

View From Efrat

October 21, 2004

Jewish Reggae

To all of you in the Chicago area, I see that Kfar is bringing Ari Ben Moses to town next week. There's a reggae star here in Israel called Moshe Ben Ari and if this is the same guy, my advice to you is pack whatever you need and get to this show. I just got one of his CD's last week and it's amazing. His music is all over the country right now. Should be a great nite in The Windy City.

Enjoy!

October 20, 2004

Quote of the Day

Do not be scornful of any person and do not be disdainful of anything, for you have no person without his hour and no thing without it's place.
- Ben Azzai

Pirkei Avot

Starting today a new theme is being incorporated into ReJewvinating: The Pirkei Avot Quote of the Day. I'll do my best to update daily. Here we go...........

"Receive everyone with a cheerful face"
- Shammai

October 18, 2004

Wait till next year Braves and Cubs fans

So just a quick update on the latest and greatest from The Holy Land. Ulpan is really exciting and uplifting. Exciting because I know that learning the language is probably the most productive thing I can do right now, and uplifting because the Ulpan is filled with immigrants from France. It's good to see people finally waking up.

When I began ulpan I was in the lower of the three levels. Yesterday I was moved up to the middle level and the workload has suddenly increased ten-fold. Most everyday so far has consisted of waking up at 6:45, davening, and riding with my sister to ulpan. Her office is located only 50 meters from the my ulpan so I get to stop in and say hello during breaks. This is one of the benefits of living in the Gush. I haven't lived within 1500 miles of my oldest sister since I was a kid and now I'm living in her home, eating dinner with her and her husband and the kids, riding with her to ulpan, etc.... I even helped my niece with her homework this evening. This is all very special to me.

So anyway, ulpan ends at 1:00 PM and I usually hitchhike or take the bus to Jerusalem for the afternoon. Sometimes I walk around all day and other times I sit in a sidewalk cafe drinking coffee and working on my Hebrew studies. The people here have been surprisingly friendly, helpful, and willing to assist with my Hebrew, especially when they find out I just moved here only a couple of weeks ago. I don't think there's a country in the world where the people are as happy to meet someone who has decided to make this their home. Whether religious or not, most everybody seems to realize that we're all in this together and that being here makes a difference.

I try to get in atleast one adventure every day, whether it's discovering hidden parks, shtiebels, shortcuts, neighborhoods, etc... By the time I catch a bus and make my way back to Efrat, it's usually time for a late dinner and then relax till bedtime.

So that's my daily routine right now. I'm trying to take ulpan very seriously so it consumes most of my time. I have to keep telling myself I'm not on vacation. Otherwise, I may find myself taking a weekly tiyul, eating falafel and schwarma at every meal, and just generally being distracted by all that this wonderful country has to offer. Most importantly, I can't forget that I'm on a mission to actually build a life here. There will be plenty of time for all that other stuff later on, especially when you all come visit, but right now the most important thing for me is to be able to speak the language of the people, by the people, and for the people. I'm even reading this really old (1967-ish) book called How the Hebrew Language Grew. It's got a lot of etymological roots and metathesized words from interchanged letters. Did I just say that?

I did get to go to Tel Aviv for a great Shabbat last week. My friend has a rooftop balcony over Dizengoff St. which can hold about 30 people comfortably. He moved here about four months ago and yet he has made many new friends. We had a really nice lunch with about ten people from all over the world. There was a girl from Germany who converted to Judaism only two months ago, another girl from Germany with German-Hungarian descent, two or three folks from England, an Australian, and even an Israeli or two at the table. And of course, you can't beat Israeli challah and chumus. The wine's pretty good too, and cheap! I'm trying to put together a trip to Gaza for this coming Shabbat which should be fun and provide lots of writing material later.

So tomorrow (no ulpan on Tuesday) I'll be making my second attempt at getting the ball rolling to establish A-1 status, which will allow me to get National Insurance and a work permit until I officially declare Aliyah. I plan on being on the 6:25 AM bus so I can be near the front of the line. Otherwise, the Israeli Administrative Office can be a real baalagan. Wish me luck.

Oh yeah, by the way, my ex-Colgate colleague got himself a real nice job working for another Consumer Products company. Lets all wish him great success and happiness.

Peace.

This picture is right near Tzomet HaGush, where I usually catch a tremp to Jerusalem....

October 15, 2004

Chodesh Tov

It always nice to end the week on a sweet note so here's a quick story from my travels this week.....

I spent some time up north visiting with friends from the States who are here visiting family in Acre/Haifa. Most of their family can be classified as your average, secular, non-religious Israeli family consisting of five children, two sons serving in the IDF, living in a cute but cluttered and tiny apartment that somehow houses 5-6 people on any given night, and a father that's been out of work for quite some time. Money is tight and luxuries are non-existent. Yet within this home there are constant examples of kindness and love from which we can all learn important lessons.

I'll spare the many details of how they eagerly welcome any and all guests into their home, feed them with hearty food, provide sleeping quarters and a shower, rides to and from the bus station, and offers of unlimited future visits. What I really want to share is how impressed I was with the way the children honored their hard-working, dedicated parents.

Mrs. M. was concerned with the impression I would get from seeing their sole bathroom which was small and cluttered and had a shower which had only a slow steady drizzle. She asked her son, a twenty-one year old, two bar soldier in an elite unit of the IDF, if he would be embarrassed if I used their bathroom to shower. His reply: "Ema, I would never be embarrased about even the dust in your home." I was so impressed with this.

Sometime's we forget what true love, honor, and respect for one's parents really means.

As Ben Zoma states in Pirkei Avot, "Who is wise? He who learns from every person."

Shabbat shalom and chodesh tov.

October 13, 2004

Extremism

I’m just gonna come out and say it – I don’t much care for, nor enjoy, the Mea Shearim neighborhood. It’s not so much the neighborhood itself, but rather the religious extremism, separatism, and intolerance that bothers me. (An interesting choice of words - in contrast to the”Friendly Confines”).

The issue of intolerance I’m referring to extends far beyond the communal demand for tzenua (modest dress) for women. From “Kosher L’Mehadrin” buses (as if the buses everybody else in Israel rides on are not “kosher” enough) to six year old boys assaulting fellow Jews simply b/c they snapped a picture of them playing during recess, I find an attitude and lifestyle that has brought divisiveness and scorn amongst brothers.

It seems that for many in the Ultra-Orthodox community, “learning” Torah has not imbued upon them the critical values and ethics contained in the age-old tenet “love your neighbor as you love yourself.” Or perhaps, they’ve decided to apply these values only to those wearing the official “religious” garb consisting of black hat, long beard and payot, white shirt, and black pants.

In my humble opinion, this type of extremism will be more far reaching and more dangerous than the extremism exhibited by the politically right-wing settlers dedicated to holding the Land of Israel for all our brothers and sisters.

We all know stories of women being taunted and/or pelted with garbage, rocks, etc… by “religious” Jews b/c their sleeves weren’t the “correct” length, and that cars driving thru on Shabbat run the risk of leaving Mea Shearim with a broken windshield, but today I witnessed something beyond all that. A twenty-something American, sporting a rock and roll t-shirt and wearing a kippa sruga and tzitzit hanging down over his trousers, pulled out his camera for a picture of Haredi boys playing in a park. As soon as one of the boys spotted this guy peering thru his lens, he called to the other kids in Yiddish to charge this poor fellow. All of a sudden there were thirty or so little Jewish boys w/ kippot and payot screaming, picking up stones, dirt, and anything else they could get there grubby hands on, running towards this poor guy. Picture taking guy scurried away very quickly. As disturbing as all of this was, it was even more upsetting that no adult, parent, or teacher made any attempt to reprimand these kids. It was as if their behavior was completely normal for little Jewish children.

As we see with our Muslim enemies, here again is an entire generation of children being taught to distrust, dislike, and disavow other Jews. Is it any wonder that secular Jews feel such animosity towards the religious?

The saddest part of this story is that, like me, most of you will hardly be surprised to read any of this. That’s quite a statement on the society we’ve created amongst ourselves. What kind of chilul Hashem was this behavior? Should the foreign, Gentile tourists pouring into our country witness this kind of behavior amongst Jews? What kind of example are we setting?

And this leads to the ikkur (main point). If we have no qualms about showing the world we don’t care about each other, why should the world care about us? Should we really expect the world’s sympathy for the Jewish people when we can’t even get along with each another?

What happened to tikun olam? How are we going to perfect the world and bring the seventy nations together as one if we can’t even get along with each other? Have we not learned anything? Do the lessons of the Torah mean nothing? How can we study the words of the Torah and not apply them to our daily actions?

The Beit HaMikdash was destroyed not b/c Jews stopped performing the mitzvot, on the contrary, the generation of the Beit HaMikdash was filled with Talmidei Chachamim (learned in Torah) and baalei mitzvot (observers of mitzvot). Rather, the downfall of Hashem’s resting place was brought about b/c of a baseless hatred between “religious” Jew and fellow “religious” Jew. The problem then was the same as it is now. Each Jew felt the he was more “religious” than the next and he held others in contempt due to their difference in religious holdings.

And more than two thousand years later, most of us still don’t “get it”. How “religious” are we if we ignore G-d’s commandment to treat each other with respect and love. As long as we continue to ignore our relationships with our fellow man, our relationship with G-d will suffer.

Looking at this from the opposite perspective, what would happen if the world saw us actually embracing each other with love and respect regardless of how learned we may or may not be? A look at how animals interact with each other may give some insight into how a behavior shift among Yiddim may change the public attitude towards us and even towards themselves. Take tigers for example. Everybody loves them. We watch these shows on The Discovery Channel and see these gorgeous cats clean each other, protect each other, play together, and hunt and eat together. None of us can resist seeing a mother tiger care for her loved ones. Seeing the little pups playing together always pulls at our heart strings. And yet, in reality, these animals are vicious killing machines that prey on other animals and humans as well. They could kill any of us in a minute. Still, we love these creatures b/c the scenes we see on TV depict beautiful animals playing gently with each other and generally caring and helping one another.

On the other hand, most people feel much less concern for animals such as hyenas, jackals, spiders, and various reptiles b/c these animals tend to leave the family unit very early on and concern themselves only with their own personal well-being. Documentary films about these animals usually focus on their ruthlessness and skills as hunters and predators.

I’m sure you can see the lesson to be learned from this comparison. Human beings instinctively feel compassion for, and respond positively, to the family that shows care, concern, and love for one another. Unfortunately, human beings tend to instinctively think of themselves first and exhibit less concern and care for others. And we are no different in that regard from anyone else. It is overcoming this tendency towards selfishness that should be a Jew’s life-long goal so that we can come together to bring warmth, closeness, and happiness to the world. If we can accomplish this among our own people, in our own land, the rest of the world will notice. And that’s a good thing.

It’s obvious that there are many great things going on in the Jewish world today. One of them is the kiruv (outreach) work being extended from the religious community to the secular. I think it may be time to consider a new angle which would bring kiruv to those in the religious community who may have missed the message of such teachings in the Torah.

Peace

October 12, 2004

For Your Viewing Pleasure

A joint Palestinian-Syrian drama series telling the life of Hamas bomb-maker Yehya Ayyash is poised to become the most popular show for tens of millions of Arab viewers during the holy month of Ramadan, which begins Friday.

Ayyash, who was nicknamed "The Engineer" because of his expertise in preparing and handling different kinds of explosives, has since become a legend for Hamas and other Palestinian groups. Some have gone as far as comparing the Bir Zeit university graduate to Salah Eddin, the heroic Muslim warrior who drove the Crusaders out of Jerusalem. Ayyash, a resident of Rafat village in the northern West Bank, was responsible for a spate of suicide bombings that killed more than 100 Israelis between 1994 and 1996.

INTERESTING POINT OF NOTE - Actress Matia Nabwani appears as Ayyash's wife, Hiyam. Hiyam, who remarried a few months after her husband's death, expressed hope that the new drama would accurately reflect the reality and present her husband in a fair manner. Hiyam said she was concerned that the drama would present her without a hijab (head cover) or in an "unacceptable conduct" with her husband. "I still don't know how they will present me," she added. "If I appear without a hijab it will be a disaster and I will boycott the series."

UNRWA

C'mon, is anybody really surprised that the UN employ's Hamas members. Please.......

October 10, 2004

Day Six

Started Ulpan this morning in Alon Shvut and it was great. I’m really surprised at how excited and enthusiastic I am about being a student again, especially since we’re literally starting from scratch. I had to sit thru the aleph bet for about an hour today because the class is a blended mix of immigrants from all over the world with varying levels of Hebrew language skills. It’s going to be fun watching others around me develop and hopefully I will as well. All in all, five months from now I should be somewhat more adept at speaking the language here, which will be a huge relief. It’s really quite frustrating to be lacking the ability to speak to strangers in a country where everybody is one.

The classroom is situated up in the hills next to Bat Eiyen and the view is spectacular. I didn’t take a picture yet but I did manage to sneak one in the classroom.

After class, I tremped to Jerusalem and went to the AACI (Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel) to see what services they could offer. The nicest thing about my visit was being able to apply the newest word in my vocabulary, Savlanut – PATIENCE. I literally sat in the waiting room watching the blades of the ceiling fan swirl slowly around and around while the hands on the wall clock slowly made their way around two full rotations. All just to ask about insurance and bank accounts. A little piece of advice: Never leave home without a book, some food, and a phone. Hopefuly you already knew this.

That’s it for now. Peace.

Welcome Home

Even though I started this blog over a month ago, it feels like today is the true beginning of whatever is about to unfold. I’m finally here in the Land of Israel and my attempt at planting my roots starts now.

Just to recap the events of the past few days…… after an amazing final 12 hours in Chicago that included a rooftop party at 2650 and a farewell brunch at the ASBI succah, I said goodbye to the friends and city that made this past year so incredible.

Somehow I managed to sleep most of the journey to Tel Aviv so the entire trip seemed like only thirty minutes. I must say that it was the best flight of my life.

After dropping to kiss the holy soil, I made my way to the Offices of the Administrative Interior to obtain my initial three month visa, after which I had my passport stamped in the “foreign passport” line. It was at this point that I felt the nagging desire to become an Israeli citizen immediately. It’s a really weird feeling to have left my career, my family, my friends, my home in a city that I really loved to come live among my brothers and sisters in the land promised to my ancestors, yet still feel like an outsider. In the days since, this has become a recurring emotion that will likely bother me until I accomplish two things: Learn to speak Hebrew proficiently and declare aliyah. Right now, the plan is to stay here until June and then head back to the States for a little while, declare aliyah, grab my stuff out of storage, and then jump on the August ’05 Nefesh B’Nefesh flight back over here. Perhaps some of you will join me on that flight.

So anyway, my sister and her family picked me up at the airport with welcome signs, balloons, and hugs and kisses. It was pretty emotional and there may have even been a tear or two shed.

After piling into their van, we headed for their home in Efrat, which is in the Gush Etzion bloc on the West Bank of the Jordan River. Before reaching our final destination though, I got my first taste of participating in a mitzvah that can only be performed in Eretz Yisrael. We stopped at a major intersection which is a popular stopping point for soldiers traveling on their way to various posts, bases, and assignments. When the current war began, the communities around Efrat set up a rest area and café with free coffee and cakes for the soldiers. There’s even a nice kosher succah up for the soldiers to sit around and shmooze in. The whole project is run entirely for the soldiers and is staffed by volunteers from the neighborhood. Its even open 24/7. It’s really a beautiful thing. So anyway, my sister pulled out a cake that she baked that morning and we all went into the succah to wish a chag sameach and kol hakavod to the young chayailm. We left the cake and the guys were extremely appreciative. It was a really nice moment and a great way to start my life in The Land.

Later in the day we had a really nice BBQ in my sister’s succah which included burgers, dawgs, and yes, even chicken wings! It seems that I can’t stay away from those tasty little guys even if I try.

The next day (my first full day in Israel) we had to sit around until noon to wait for my luggage which did not arrive in Israel when I did. After getting everything back in my possession, we drove to Jerusalem to walk thru the Old City. Because the entire country is on Succot vacation, the streets and alleys were more crowded than I’ve ever seen. At the Kotel there must have been over three thousand people – at four in the afternoon. We davened mincha and then took my niece to the official Jerusalem community succah which was lit up by over 18,000 lights. There was food, live music, and a real festive atmosphere.

My family and I then separated for the evening and I went to a couple of shiurim at the Israel Center in honor of Leil Hoshana Raba. I heard two amazing Rabbi’s who left me feeling inspired and grateful to be here. I also walked away feeling even more confident, more secure, and more resilient than ever that we must protect the Jewish people at any cost.

On Wed. morning, I went to a 6 AM minyan and beat the aravot as customary on Hoshana Raba and I then took the bus to meet several friends in Tzfat for Simchat Torah. We rented an amazing apt. overlooking the mountains and the weather was awesome. I got my first taste of an Israeli sunset overlooking the beautiful mountains of Tzfat.

We spent the evening with the Breslovers in their beautiful new shul and learned that the custom of dancing with the Torah on Simchat Torah was actually started right there in Tzfat. Next day was spent dancing like a madman at Carlebach and the hakafot didn’t even end until after 3:30 PM.

I decided to observe the chag as all other Israeli’s do, so Yom Tov was only on Thursday. It was a little strange observing only one day, but I think I’ll get used to it. After the chag we drove to Tel Aviv where we spent the night and hung out on my buddy’s rooftop over looking the city. Even went to the beach and got my feet wet from the warm Mediterranean water. It’s amazing how warm the Mediterranean water is compared to Lake Michigan.

Friday was spent getting my first Holy Land haircut. Its not al it’s built up to be. I then traveled back to Efrat, listening to the news updates of the Taba bombings, and then prepared for Shabbat. It was a beautiful Shabbat with everybody feeling like the year is finally now beginning.

Now, I am preparing to check out an Ulpan which is beginning tomorrow morning at 8:15 in Alon Shvut in the Gush. If I decide to stick with this ulpan, my plan is to attend that in the mornings and then start learning in a Yeshiva in the Gush during the afternoons. I’ll keep you posted as to where I end up, but I’m feeling really driven to spend some serious time in this part of the country. My brother-in-law is putting me in touch with the head of security in Efrat and I hope to become a part-time guard as soon as possible.

Gotta get some sleep.

Peace

PS - THANKS TO ALL MY WONDERFUL FRIENDS WHO HELPED PACK ME UP AND MOVE ME OUT OF MY APARTMENT IN RECORD FASHION. YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE AND YOU ARE AWESOME! I LOVE YOU.