Susiyah. Shabbos and such.

So, the school offers us optional shabbatons to interesting and exciting locales, like random kibbutzim, and I always sign up. It's nice to see sides of Israel I'd never see on my own. (On my own I've manged to see lots of Beit Shemesh. And Efrat, once.)
So, this time it was Susiyah, this random yishuv south of Hevron and Yattah. There was a town there, an old Jewish one, built around 400 years after the destruction of the second temple, and it grew to prosperity in Talmudic times before becoming suddenly abandoned for unknown reasons. There are archaeological excavations still going on there. The yishuv is right over the next hill, and they share the name.
So we got on the bus around 10:30 in the morning, and we stopped at the old site first and got a brief tour. It was really cool, different biblical and talmudic references existed for these people. There were holes for mezuzot in the walls, and a burial cave that was something referenced in a story in the gemarah (all of this was so cool).
The shul is one of the most amazing finds. The archaeologists originally thought it was a church (before they figured out it was a Jewish town, clearly) but then they found it was facing Yerushalyim and when they got to the floor they found mosaics of menorahs and the beit hamikdash and other clear Jewish symbols. It's pretty big and the shul in the yishuv is modeled directly after it. (A little frustrating, as the original didn't have a women's section, so the women's section just got added to the back, and it's was a tight squeeze when we were added to the local population in shul)
Then we went to the oil press, which was really cool, and we talked about how the oil that was used for the menorah in the Beit Hamikdash was made for a bit. Then we haded back to the bus for a 2-minute ride back to the yishuv proper. Then we set up in our rooms (I was with Miriam, Shoshi L., Michal and Eliana L. Awesome room. We stayed up far too late talking) and prepped for shabbos. We stayed in a visitors center. I don't know what the proper name is, but every smaller community seems to have one. It's youth hostel-like, with rooms packed with beds and a yard and a communal dining hall.
The shul was lovely, even if it was squishy. The community is very idealistic and has been slowly building up the shul as funds come in. We all had dinner together, and there was a talk afterwards about Susiyah and what makes the community so great. (Michal decided that if she ever makes aliyah, she'd like to move there.) Rav Br. and Rav Finkl. both came with their families, which was really nice.
Shabbos day was laid back. There was some optional stuff in the afternoon, but I just napped after lunch (along with Michal. The rest of the room trickled in over time.) I should mention that this weekend was cold cold cold. And I love the winter, but the heat in the room (which was on 30 degrees celcius) didn't seem to have any effect, and we all huddled under multiple blankets. Before Shabbos our madrichah came into the room to turn down the heat because she thought 30 degrees would be uncomfortably hot for us and we chased her out, yelling.
After shabbos we caught the bus back, and Michal and I went out to meet up with Avishai and Nate at Emek R'faim. (It's actually a long story, which I'll try to sum up. A few weeks ago Avishai called me Saturday night and invited me to see Juno, which had just started playing at a little independent theater in Yerushalyim. I invited Michal, and Michal and I went to Emek R'faim to hang out before the movie. Then we found out that the theater was sold out. So Avishai came to meet us and we were walking up and down, talking to each other and trying to keep warm, when we bumped into Nate. We were having a fun time hanging out and freezing the tips of our ears off, and we decided to try and go see Juno another week, all four of us. Then shabbos started getting later and our schedules are hard to coordinate, so we elected to go out to dinner instead.) We went to Tal Bagels, my first time, and just stayed there until Nate and Avishai HAD to rush to the Central Bus Station to catch the last busses home, and Michal and I headed back, exhausted, but plenty before curfew.
So in one weekend I managed to have a great shabbos and socialize. And make it to shiur the next morning on time! (I really miss Sundays sometimes...)

I'm Way Behind: Football

So, football. American football, specifically, as the British girls will remind you on occassion. I can't say I ever really understood the sport. My description was always, "a bunch of guys line up in lines, run around jumping on each other, and then line up somewhere else. Sometimes a bone breaks." But I love love love football movies. Remember the Titans, Varsity Blues, Rudy...you get the picture. I just never really understood the whole scoring system, which was frustrating, because there's no reason (as far as my basketball/hockey oriented mind could comprehend) that you should be able to get 7 points at once.

Well, anyway, the superbowl was coming up, and one of my really good friends, (and gemrah chevrutah,) Abby, really wanted to watch it. As well as some other people, such as most of the girls I went to HS with, and some die-hard fans. So after chatting with Tova, the school agreed to set up a screen for us in Yefe Noff (the common room) hooked up to the game in America. And the school would supply us with tradition fuel in the form of deli sandwiches, soda and chips. They'd even have class start a half-hour late, but we all had to show up. Note that the game starts at 1 in the morning in Israel. Predicted to end around 4:30, I think. And Abby promised to explain what was going on so I wouldn't be confused. Also, Rav Sh. (my old ram) was a big Giants fan, making the whole thing that much more exciting.

I texted Avishai over at Gush, to find out if he was having anything, because it was fairly well-konwn that boys were keeping up with American sports despite the distances and crazy hours.

His response: "Nope we get a bunch of shiurim about hos a ben torah doesnt watch the super bowl in yeshiva. R u watching it?" I thought this was hysterical and texted back "Yeah. We're having a party tonight complete with deli and soda. We might get a half-time shiur if any teacher is willing to stay up. And we're a bunch of girls!" Apparently he showed this to a bunch of people in Gush that night.

(About the half-time shiur. The school asked R. Sh. to give it because they knew he'd be un, but he declined, becuase he said he'd be to wrapped up in the game emotionally. S.T. (my halacha teacher) gave a short speech in which she defended sports in general, but expressed her general dissaproval of the school hosting a superbowl party. She was thinking about giving a half-time shiur, but didn't in the end, which was probably a good idea, as she has a crazy enough scheduale as it is. I ended up checking my e-mail during half-time, because there was no one in the computer room)

I took a nap after night seder, and then popped up, ready to go at 1. We had a whole group of girls ready to party, and except for some speaker problems (the sem. didn't have any, we had to provide our own, and no one could find any that fit the outlet. It was crazy for a while) it was great! We were mostly Giants fans, with very few exceptions. I was a Giants fan mostly due to my 8th grade teacher, who was such a big Giants fan the we used to check the scores before class every day to find out what mood he was in.

(Just for fun: When the players came out, everyone cheered for their respective teams. When Tom Brady came out, everyone shrieked. The Massachusets girls especially. It was hysterical.)

Abby explained the basic rules at the begining of the game, and I finaly started getting what was going on! It was great. She expalined finer points of the game as we kept going, whenever I was confused. It should be noted that both of us were frustrated at the constant fumbling and dropping of the football. Over and over. Abby pointed out that if she were payed that much to baically run and catch a ball, she'd be working much harder on catching occasionally.

Anyway, the add were lots of fun too, and there was an Iron Man movie add at one point, and I was easily the most thrilled girl in the room, and had no one to sympathize with me. So I texted Nate, who was at a different Yeshiva then Avishai, so I figured they might have a showing. He might be up and watching it on the net regardless. We ended up texting the rest of the game. Note that all my transcriptions are exact, so there are many grammatical mistakes to be had by all in our rush.

Me: Did you see the iron man add?

Nate: No when was it

Me: Earlier in the game

Nate: We haven't seen any real commercials here

Nate: How was it

Me: Awesome. How are you not seeing any commercials?

Nate: I think we have an israeli feed of the game and you have the regular one. How many people are up watching the game

Me: We have 19ish. We had more before half-time. How many do you have?

Nate: Around twenty awake another ten sleeping. Never thought we would have less people watching than at a seminary

Me: Ha! Girls rule! We started with a bunch of *my HS* girls, but I think it's just me and Louisa now.

Nate: That's not surprising. anyone else there I know

Me: I don't think so. Michal went to bed way at the begining. I just cheered for the wrong team. Man, I'm tired.

Nate: Wait! you're rooting for the giants right

Me: Uh, duh. One of my roommates is rooting for the patriots, thought.

Nate: YES THAT WAS AWESOME

(the Giants made some amazing move. I think that was when they blocked the Patriots...This was at 4:50:51 my time)

Me: I KNOW!


Me: Hey look. Someone caught something!

Nate: That was descriptive

(there was another great Giants play)

Me: YAY! Before I was just talking about how nice it was that the giants didn't fumbled again.

Nate: I'm so jealous my bro and dad are their right now


Me: I'm loving my party. :D Sleep isn't necessary.

Nate: Amen. I already told god if the giants win i'm learning the rest of the night

Me: We're down to 13 girls now. A bunch went up after the giants got ahead


Me: Never mind. A bunch just came back.

Nate: A bunch here woke up so its still even

(Patriots made some amazing move. Around 4:31:42 my time)

Me: Ah! Stop them! Are you guys watching in hebrew or english?

Nate: English this is awful

Me: Two girls keep clapping. Everyone else is moaning and nervous

Nate: Same situation here i'm going nuts.

(another good patriots move)

Me: NO!

(silence on both ends. Giants did some good stuff, we were all on the edge of our seats. The Giants pull ahead.)


Me: Now just let them hold for 35 seconds.

(and the game ends!! I'd live everyone to note that the last second was hysterical. Everyone was partying and dumping water on coaches and whatnot, and the refferees ushered them back on the field to play the last second on the clock)

Me: wooo!

Nate: yes yes yes

After the game everyone basicall headed to bed. Abby and I cleaned up a bit, gave some extra food to the night-guard, who probably thought we were insane. We were all in pajamas, by the way, with skirts thrown over. I was wearing my robe and slippers too. Then Abby and I figured it'd be great to text Rav Sh. (how often can you text a teacher at 5:13:52 and know that they'll be up?) So I sent: "Mazal tov! - Chana and Abby" and he replied a few minutes later with a "thank you".

Whether you think our seminary should have hosted this or not (and it should be noted that most yeshivas hosted something, while few seminarys did) it was fun, and I I did make it on time to class the next day, on my scant hours of sleep.