My Amazing Weekend

Shalom Everyone!

I’m here to update you on what’s happened to me here in Israel over the past weekend! It was a great weekend, and I can’t wait to tell you about it! I would like to thank Josh Sacks for allowing me to borrow some “snip-its” from his blog to help me out!

Friday morning, October 23rd, Josh and I board a bus from the central bus station en route to Bat Yam [meaning The Daughter of the Sea], a suburb of Tel-Aviv. One of my friends from Camp Chi and USY, Arielle Rosenberg, is currently on Young Judea Year Course (YC). Unlike Nativ, YC is split up in 3 different locations (Jerusalem, Bat Yam and Erad [A city in the dessert]). The three different groups rotate between cities every three months, and at the moment, Arielle is currently in Bat Yam, so Josh and I went to visit her! Arielle lives in an apartment with 4 other people, which is extremely similar to what I will be doing come February! The bus ride over to Bat Yam is about an hour and a half, so it was just the perfect amount of time to watch a video on my iPod (Thank You for Smoking). Unlike the cities that I have visited already on Nativ (Jerusalem, Kiryat Gat, Tiberius) - Bat Yam doesn't have a central bus station. You just need to get off at a stop that is near your destination. Unfortunately, we weren’t really sure where our destination was, so we accidentally passed it. It was ok though, nothing a 20-shekel cab ride couldn’t undo! Once we go to Arielle's apartment, we rang the door, and discovered that she was actually out, at the Laundromat! Her roommates let us in, and we hung out with them for about 10 minutes until she got back! Her roomies are actually really awesome people, as are all of her friends that I met this weekend! I really enjoyed hanging out with them, and cant wait to do it again in the near future! Josh and Arielle decided to go out for a walk, while I stayed and hung out with her guy friends and some of her roommates. I also snuck in a quick little shluf (nap)

After Shabbat started, and we went to a Year course Ulpan dinner. Josh, Arielle, Marissa (Arielle's roommate) and I walked towards the Ulpan, where the dinner was. On the way, we picked up one of the Tzofim (Scouts), Yoni, along the way. Tzofim are Israeli's that live with Year Coursers, just graduated high school, and basically are taking a gap year before the army in Israel. Each apartment has a Tzofim that stays with the students. Yoni is a really cool guy, and he cooked a delicious Challah for the dinner. There were about 20 people at this dinner. We did the blessings, ate, and played some games as a group. This was a cool experience for me because it gave me a little insight into what being on Year course is like. Apparently, this not only was my first official year course dinner, but Arielle's too. She said they don't really do the whole "communal meals" too often. That made me sad, because I really enjoy our Kehilla (community) that we have on Nativ. I feel like it gives me a much closer connection to everyone else on the program.

After a great dinner, filled with meeting lots of new people and having a great time, we made our way back to change into bathing suits. We were going to take a little night swim in the sea. Arielle lives about a 20-minute walk from the sea, which is incredibly nice! I barely had gone swimming here, and really do miss it in the heat! At the beach, we met up with a bunch of other Year Coursers. We didn't end up swimming, but just ended up talking and hanging out with them for a while. There were about 25 of us there, and I had a great time! Around midnight, we made our way back to the apartment for a good nights sleep.

[Side Story] So, everybody that we spent the weekend with, (Arielle and her friends) are all in Magen David Adom. They have been working shifts in Bat Yam and have some amazing stories to tell already! Arielle’s VERY FIRST shift involved somebody who had lost an arm AND a leg in car crash. She had to help carry them (the limbs) back to the ambulance, and eventually the hospital. Hearing them tell these stories made me realize how much of an impact I am going to be making by volunteering. I am excited to help out with MDA and make a difference! [End of Side Story]

The next day, we woke up around 11:30 and Marissa and Josh went to the boy’s apartment to get some eggs and bread so we could make French toast. And by we, I mean Arielle made French toast. It was delicious, and I’m not even that big of a French toast fan! After the Brunch, we all decided that even though we woke up about 2 hours ago, it was time for another shluf.

After the nap, Josh took the lead and said "time to go swimming”. We got to the sea just in time to swim, and eventually see the sun set again. It was sooo beautiful. I forgot how much I love the yam (Sea)! It was so fun! After a good swimming/body surfing session we returned a final time to the apartment, made some pizza/pasta dinner and said goodbye. It was an incredible way to spend Shabbat!

Josh and I then boarded the bus, and went back home. Seeing and experiencing other study aboard program made me realize how happy I am that I was on Nativ. Not that I didn’t have a good time with YC, its just that Nativ is just SO perfect for me and my lifestyle. I was so happy to go back to Beit Nativ and meet up with my friends.

This was an incredibly busy weekend at Nativ, because 3 people (Michael Gelb, Max Gan and Becky Constantine) all had birthdays! Saturday night, we decided to go out and celebrate! By the end of the night, I was walking around with a group of 8ish Nativers trying to get random people to kiss Max on the cheek for his birthday. Our goal was 19, as that was the age he was turning. We happily settled for 51 different people kissing him on the cheek that night. It was just a really fun night with the Nativ boys!

Sunday was a great day, allowing me to recover from the night before by sleeping until 12:30, and going out for pizza with Tyler at Pizza Panini. Since I had no classes on Sunday, I had nothing to do! So, I thought I would be studious and start working on my homework for all of my classes! It was good to get ahead in my classes and stay on top of my work. As Mitch Lerman frequently says to me… “Don’t forget you’re in Israel for school…” Don’t worry Dad. I know.

That night, all of Nativ got dressed up in matching outfits (Nativ 29 shirts) and went to a MASA program. MASA is a government program that helps send people to Israel for school, through financial aid. At this program, there were over 3000 students from over 160 countries! It was at “Binyanei Hauma”, Israel’s National Convention Center in Jerusalem. The main event at the program was a concert by Idan Raichel, a famous Israeli Pop musician. I have already seen him in concert before, and I loved him then. His concert, which lasted about 2 hours, was totally incredible! They played new songs, and old songs! It was absolutely amazing! Not quite as good as Matisyahu, but still, really great. It was cool to see all of the students throughout Israel in one building. I ran into a bunch of people, including Omri Kempler, a girl who went on pilgrimage with me! I was so happy to see her, and it totally made my night. I forgot how much I missed her, and spending time with her brought back all of my good pilgrimage memories!

Monday, I had class as usual, nothing exciting there. But last night was the first game of the Girls Football league! A bunch of girls from Nativ are on a flag football team, coached by 4 Nativ boys. I was really excited to go to the game, and cheer on the girls! They play at a legit stadium, called Kraft Stadium. It is named after Robert Kraft, the owner of the New England Patriots, the New England Revolution, and Gillette Stadium. He is a Jew and donated money to create a stadium in Jerusalem. It is really nice and has a Patriots logo in the middle of the field. As I was walking into the stadium, a big bouncer stopped me and told me that I wasn’t allowed into the stadium. I was really confused, so I asked him why I wasn’t allowed in! As it turns out, there are a lot of really frum (religious) girls in the league, and since they weren’t wearing skirts, they didn’t want to be seen by men. Even the 4 Nativ boy coaches had trouble getting in (but they were allowed to be inside after talking to the commissioner) It really frustrated me, but I could understand why. The guard told me that I could watch the girls from outside of the stadium. So I scaled a wall, and watched from above the bleachers. It was actually really cool. The girls lost 27 – 0, but apparently, this looks like the best Nativ team they’ve had in years. We’ll see! Despite the loss, and the whole not being allowed in thing, I still had fun watching the girls play!

While I was watching the game from the bleachers, two Yeshiva girls came up to me, told me that they were interested in starting a team from their school. The Nativ boy coaches told them that they should come talk to me about coaching them! I told them to get things organized, and if they get a team together, complete with a sponsor (every team needs one), then I would talk to them about helping them coach! It should be interesting to see how it plays out!

SO… that’s what’s been happening here!

Hope all is going well, whereever you are!

HU begins!

So, today was the first day of classes! It was weird to see how crowded Hebrew University was! I am so used to seeing it nearly empty during mini-mester, and now, it is really crowded! It’s almost like a whole new experience!

This morning, I got up and got on a coach bus that took all of the Nativers to HU and started my semester with Hebrew at 830 in the morning. I was nervous, because I expected a bunch of people who I didn’t know to be with me, but it turns out that it is only the 12 people who were in my Ulpan class from minimester! Yay! I was so happy because I feel comfortable around these Nativers and I get to keep my same “Bezugot” (Partner), Jordana, who is incredible and helps me out a lot! We have a new teacher, and I still haven’t decided how I feel about her. During Minimester, we were in Ulpan from 9 to 1:15, so when we were in class for an hour and a half today, it felt so short, which was a weird feeling, but hey, i'm not complaining!

After Hebrew, we had a short half hour orientation with the director of the Roethberg International School at HU, which was really boring, since we’ve already had a Nativ orientation about the same thing. So I kinda just tuned out, and talked with friends!

After Orientation, I went to my Battle of the Bible (BOTB) class. The teacher is a guy in his mid 30s-ish, and he’s really cool and interesting! The class is a mixture of Nativers and other HU students, so I got to meet new people! The class was interesting-ish. We learned about the roots of the Jewish and Christian Bible, so I was intriguing, but a little dry. Also, since he is in the Army reserve (like all citizens are until the age of 35), he will be missing the last two classes. Nice!

I then had a 2-hour break, where I went to the library to start on some BOTB homework, which I got a lot of work done. I sat with Razie and we got really frustrated by a person who was chewing his gum really loudly. It was really distracting and obnoxious.

After Razie and I left “Gum-chewer”, I went to my Holocaust class. It was really interesting, thanks in large part due to the professor! He graduated from Yeshiva University High School in Rochester, Graduated from Harvard, and now is not only a professor at Hebrew University, but also is a director of Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum here in Israel. Needless to say, he is incredibly interesting to listen to and really shows that he has a vast amount of knowledge on the subject! Today we learned about the Nazi’s policies that lead up to the beginning of the extermination. It really is a new perspective for me to learn about, so it is interesting!

And that’s my day at HU!

I’ll update you soon!

Peace!

Allergies: The Fun Killer

As stated in my previous blog post, I was supposed to go up north to the Kineret to go camping with a bunch of people, but Wednesday night, something funny happened to me.

I was lying in bed, and I started to get really itchy. I passed it off as nothing, and continued to ignore it. Later that night, I took off my shirt to change and I noticed that I was really red, and blotchy. I had no idea what it was from, but it was for sure an allergic reaction to something. I called mom, freaking out, giving her my best description of what it looked like. Apparently, I didn’t explain how massive it was, because I took a picture of it and sent it to her. Her reaction kinda freaked me out, as she told me that it was worse than she expected...

So I covered my body with hydrocortisone cream and took a benedryl, and fell asleep shortly thereafter. I thought I was in the clear.

The next morning I woke up, and it was all clear, so I felt good! I went about my day as normal, and was having a great day, passing my MDA exam! I updated my blog, and almost immediately after, I started to break out in the same exact thing that happened to me the night before. Again, I did the same exact thing (cortisone and benedryl) and crashed again. However, I woke up in the middle of the night, itching and scratching. My arms were now breaking out too!

So I woke up the next morning at 7 and went to the doctor with 2 other people. The doctor drew blood and took a chest X-Ray (not sure why) and gave me 3 different prescriptions to help with the breaking out. I got back to base, and I figured that with everything going on with my body, now was not the time for me to be going out into the wilderness and “roughing it”. So I regretfully informed the people in my group that I wasn’t going to be going with them and that I was going to stay at base for Shabbat and sleep.

Which is exactly what I did. It was incredibly relaxing and I caught back up on my sleep! I have felt great and haven’t broken out in rashes or anything since my doctor’s visit! I heard that the group had an incredible time, and spent the majority of the time swimming in the Kinneret. I am sad that I missed it, but glad that I am feeling better!

Today was the first day of the Hebrew University semester, but since I don’t have any classes on Sunday, I had the day off! I went to Ben Yehuda and got some school supplies for tomorrow! I am really excited!

Tonight, we have another couple of games for the NBA, so I am going to go and get ready!

I’ll let you know how the first day of classes go!

Yay!!

So, I just got out of Magen David Adom training, and I have really exciting news to share with everyone!

I PASSED!

I am now a certified EMT first responder!

I am so excited! I went to the MDA center today, and we went inside of the ambulances, and got adjusted to them!

I guess those intense 2 weeks of training really paid off!

I can’t really talk now, but I just wanted to let you know!

This weekend, I am off to go camping!

I’ll updated you when I get home!

Schedule for the Upcoming Semester!

So today, I selected my courses for the upcoming semester! It’s a good schedule and I am very pleased with it!

Sunday: I have NO classes, so that’s really good if I’m traveling for the weekend! It means I don’t have to be back at base until Sunday night instead of Saturday night!

Monday: By Far My hardest day

• 8:30 to 10:15 – Hebrew
• 10:30 to 14:45 – Battle Over the Bible – where we are talking about opposing viewpoints in the bible!
• 14:45 to 16:30 – Break
• 16:30 to 18:15 – Jewish Viewpoints on the Holocaust

Tuesday

• 10:30 to 12:15 – Hebrew
• 12:15 to 14:30 – Break
• 14:30 to 16:15 – Modern Jewish History: History of the Jewish people throughout the past 200 years through film

Wednesday

• 8:30 – 12:15 – Hebrew
• 12:15 to 16:30 – Break
• 16:30 to 18:15 - Jewish Viewpoints on the Holocaust

Thursday

• 10:30 to 12:15 – Freshman Writing (only the first 6 weeks)
• 12:15 to 14:30 – Break
• 14:30 to 16:15 – Modern Jewish History: History of the Jewish people throughout the past 200 years through film

The freshman writing class only last 6 weeks, so after the class is done, the only class I will have on Thursday is MJH from 14:30 to 16:15!

Hope all is well!

Video Updates

Hey Everyone!

Ok, so here are the updates that I promised you!

The first video is about 10 minutes long, and the second video is about 8 minutes long!

Here they are!

Here are some links to pictures that i've taken!

Random Nativ Pictures

Desert Survival Pictures

Matisyahu Concert Pictures (You HAVE to check them out!)

Pictures taken while bored

Also, here are the some videos from the Matisyahu Concert

If you look at about 5 Minutes and 45 seconds in this video, you can see where Matisyahu jumped into the crowd, hitting me in the face, breaking my glasses and knocking off my hat...

This is his song "King Without A Crown"

Here is the video of one of my favorite songs by him, "Jerusalem". It was the final song of the concert and it totally rocked!

A (VERY) Belated Yom Kippur

So, this was bound to happen. I apologize for my horrible job at updating you on my life in Israel. Here is a blog post that I start after Yom Kippur, but didn’t finish until now (almost 2 weeks later). I am going to be leaving a video and photo post before Sunday night, catching you up on the past 2 weeks, which included finals, 3 days in the dessert, Magen David Adom Training and an unbelievable concert by Matisyahu!

Here is the blog I started typing two weeks ago... enjoy!

I keep feeling like I keep saying this over and over again, but I had the most incredible experience of the trip/ possibly my life. Now, I know I have said this before, but I am almost 100% sure that this moment will not be topped. It was the greatest religious moment of my life. But I’ll get to that later in the blog.

I’ll start with Thursday Night, and work my way to today…

Thursday Night: after we did Kaparot, we went back to base, and instead of going out on Thursday night, like we do every week, I went to play basketball with about 16 other guys (and Haley [props to her, she held her own with the boys!!!!]). At some point this week, we will be starting the NBA [Nativ Basketball Association], a 5-team league (4 people per team) that will last throughout the semester. It was a great and fun way to spend the night!

Friday and Saturday: This weekend was really awesome for me. Josh and I went to Kiryat Gat (More specifically- the moshav [community] “Sheqef”) to visit our friend Roi. I met Roi last year when he stayed at my house for 4 days before spending a week at Camp CHUSY at Camp Ramah Wisconsin. Getting to know him last year was awesome, but getting to spend time with him in his environment was totally astounding. When we first saw him, he took us to the top of a mountain, where we met up another friend (Miki) from camp! It was a clear day, and we could see for miles! We wee basically in the west bank, and we could see almost everywhere in the country! We saw Tel Aviv, The Med Sea, The Dead Sea, Beer Sheva and (way off in the distance) Jerusalem! It was totally beautiful, and we stayed there and watched the sun set over the Mediterranean Sea. His mother made dinner Friday night, and we then met and hung out with some of his friends. Getting to know them was an incredible experience, but really difficult. There were 4 girls and 3 guys there and they were all really nice. BUT… they didn’t really speak English. Some people sorta knew how to speak very basic English, but it wasn’t their main language (obviously), Which kinda was a problem for me. Josh has studied Hebrew for 2 years at Deerfield High School, so he was really holding his own! But, I struggled a lot BUT I learned a lot of Hebrew (because English wasn’t an option). Roi and Josh were really nice and helpful translating for me, but I felt bad that I had to keep going to them to find out what everyone was saying. It was just a great way to relax, meet new people and have a great time with an old friend!

Saturday Night: It was David and (our Staff) Cori’s birthday, so we HAD to go out to celebrate, but since I was really tired, so I didn’t party hard at all. But we went to a bar called “Sideways”, so that was fun! But I went back and crashed early, and got ready for the big day that awaited!

Sunday/Erev Yom Kippur: The day started out incredibly similar to Erev Rosh Hashanah. I woke up, went to services, and then went to learning sessions. I learned about the Yom Kippur War in 1973, where Israel was caught off guard and lost a lot of land. Afterwards, I went to a “learning about the service” session, and it was really interesting. Since the fast was beginning around 5, our eating schedule was really off for the entire day, as the kitchen staff had to be back to their own homes by 430 to prepare for themselves. So, at 1130 am, we had a (not so delicious) lunch. We then davened (prayed) at 12, to prepare for the upcoming holiday. We were also told what to expect for upcoming holiday. There was going to be A LOT of praying, almost no technology, and an incredible experience. Needless to say, I was really excited for Yom Kippur in Eretz Yisrael. That night, Seffi, Michael Gelb [of the Gelb network], Gabe, Tyler, Josh, Helf, and I went to Kol Rina, the synagogue in the bomb shelter, for Kol Nidre. The service was great, even though it lasted over two hours.

After the services ended, the previously mentioned moment started to happen. We walked back to base, taking a couple detours (Ben Yehuda Street and “Crack Square”, a place where a lot of people from Nativ like to go on Thursdays night) and were amazed at how dead the streets were. There was nobody on the roads (so we walked down the middle of them) and enjoyed the silence of Jerusalem. It was absolutely crazy. (Side story: Beit Nativ is located on the corner of HaMelech George and Agron Street, which are two very busy streets. There is always a lot of traffic and it is loud, and hectic). When we got back to beit nativ, the boys and I Joined in with everyone from nativ, sitting IN the intersection, singing songs. It was sooo wonderful, and people from all around walking home from services stopped to join in and watch us sing! There wound up being over 300 people standing in the middle of one of the busiest intersections in all of Jerusalem! It was unbelievable to feel the Ruach (spirit) of everyone that was there! We even made the paper, the Jerusalem Post (the story can be found here.) it was an incredible experience that I wont ever be able to duplicate (unless im back in Israel for Yom Kippur again!)

Here are some really cool pics of J-town on Yom Kippur

The next day, I went with almost everybody from the previous night to a synagogue at Yimen (previously called “Immen” in past blog posts) Moshe. The service was 6 hours long, and the repetition of the Amidah in Musaf lasted about 2 hours. It was kinda brutal, but still an incredible expierience. Afterwards, I went back to my room, took a long 3 hour nap! When I woke up, Parritz (my roommate) and I went right outside of our room, to Moreshet Israel, A conservative synagogue for Neila. The service was actually really short, and ended with an incredible break fast!

Ok, that’s all for now!

I’ll leave you all a fantastic video and photo blog post soon!

I Promise!