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!

My New Favorite Jewish Custom

Ok.

Judaism is full of different types of customs and traditions. I have experienced many of them, but none like the one I did today!

I went with a HUGE group (about 50 people) to the shuk (marketplace) to go do Kaparot. It is when you take a chicken, grab it by it’s wing’s and swing it over your head. Each chicken costs 50 Sheckles, and it all goes to charity.

The concept of the tradition is that you are transferring your sins over to the chicken before Yom Kippur, where you repent for your sins. You do this by swinging it over your head 3 times, and saying a prayer. After you are done, the chicken is slaughtered (kosher, of course) and donated to a family that can’t afford a meal before the holiday!

It was truly a bizarre, and fun way to prepare for Yom Kippor.

Here are some pictures!

Here I am, holding my chicken!

Yet another one of me holding him!

Here I am, in action!

Here's my hand, aftermath!