So, I did have Gemarah class this morning, and I grabbed the right books and everything, but I managed to call my chevrutah Laura despite the fact that her name is Lauren. Obviously I still need more sleep. And maybe a better head for names. But after Gemarah, and the last Rotating Ramim session (We got Rav Brown. I love him, despite the fact the I understand probably less then 30% of the class I have with him) I crashed on my bed for most of lunch, not quite sleeping, but not that awake either. Then Becky came over and we had a great time before the session on keeping one day of chag vs. two days of chag in Eretz Yisroel. Hysterically, despite the fact that the talk took an hour, the whole thing managed to hinge on the ONE THING Dad discussed with me for five minutes in America, which still has troubling logic. I'm pretty sure I'm keeping one day now. Then I had my People of the Book classes (I have to give a full post for those classes, I really like them).
Now, last night, after Selichot (which were fantastic tonight, by the way. I'm going to miss them here a lot) my roommate mentioned that she had a craving for shwarma, and did I want to join her Monday night to get some? Monday nights are unique here. There are no night classes, so if you don't take any optinal classes, you're free from 5 o'clock onward. I take no Monday optional classes, so I packed a bag and hung out until 6, when my Daniella got out from Aggadah. We gathered a whole group of people (Me, Becky, Shani, Daniella, Yamit, Miriam, Eliana L., and Hepsi) and walked to Emek R'faim. It's my second time there, but it wasn't crawling with Americans like it was Sat. night, so it was much nicer. I got a falafel (A real Israeli one!) with lots of pickles, and we hung out for a while, eating and chatting. The walk isn't too bad, a little less then 45 minutes, but I'm a slow walker, and it's uphill to get back, so Becky and I walked slower, talking. Apparently, sweatshirts in England are called "hoodies" and she thinks our definition of jumper is totally nuts. She also laughs every time I exclaim "AWESOME!" excitedly, which might explain why I'm doing it more often then normal.
We got back more then an hour before Selichot (at 22:30) so I had time to drown about a liter of water, and sit down before standing for Selichot, which is a little more then an hour.
Anyway, I'm going to head to bed because it's late and we have a pretty busy day tomorrow.
You'll hear about it later!
Showing posts with label Selichot. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Selichot. Show all posts
Monday, September 10, 2007
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Selichot and Sunday Morning.
We're two for two in terms of Selichot inspiration, for those of you keeping track at home. But I did lose my place in the middle, 'cause the guy leading was great on the tunes, but not so great at the clear articulation.
I'm probably going to Becca The Madricah's room for baking tonight, to hang out with some people. I don't know what we're baking, but if we successfully manage it in her little itty bitty kitchenette, I'll be impressed with us.
Also, today was not the first day I woke up fifteen minutes before class, (which starts at 9:15 on Sundays and 8:30 on all other days) but today was the first day I grabbed the wrong books before class. That's a milestone, right? We have Chumash class on Sundays and Wednesday mornings for roughly 3.5 hours, and Gemarah on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday mornings for four hours, except when they do Rotating Ramim, more on that later. We don't have class on Fridays.) So I ran out of my room with my Rosh Hashana and my Jastrow dictionary, reached my room a few minutes early, saw that the Daf Yomi shiur was still in progress (My Ram gives Daf Yomi every day, sometimes before class and sometimes during lunch. I am not in this class, as it is optional and would take a HUGE chunk from my day.) I dropped my stuff in the classroom, walked down the hall eating my breakfast (my last green apple, I need to get more soon, before I start going through withdrawal) when it hit me that I had the wrong books. Oops. Luckly, I carry my Tanach with me everywhere, so I used it for the first hour or so of class until he sent us to chevrutah, when I ran up to my room and grabbed my Torat Chayim, my Mikraot G'dolot, and my notebook.
I'll do a rundown of my classes later, but suffice to say, I love my Chumash teacher, but the class is in Hebrew and I'm definitely missing at least 40% of what he's saying (Waaaay down from my estimation of 70% on the first day, though). And chevrutah is not really my thing. It's interesting, and it'll probably be the best way for me to learn post-Seminary, but I don't enjoy it that much, mostly due to my poor Hebrew skills. It's hard to learn with someone when she's translating for you ALL THE TIME. Also, Jewish Guilt kicks in, and I feel like I'm not pulling my weight, etc. I might start prepping my Gemarah classes in Night Seder, and see if that helps. But honestly, my Aramaic skills are much worse then my Hebrew.
We also had some interesting lesson in Women and Halacha tonight, but they might be a little risque for my newly-minted blog, so I'm holding off on in-depth discussions about my learning for now.
See you next break!
I'm probably going to Becca The Madricah's room for baking tonight, to hang out with some people. I don't know what we're baking, but if we successfully manage it in her little itty bitty kitchenette, I'll be impressed with us.
Also, today was not the first day I woke up fifteen minutes before class, (which starts at 9:15 on Sundays and 8:30 on all other days) but today was the first day I grabbed the wrong books before class. That's a milestone, right? We have Chumash class on Sundays and Wednesday mornings for roughly 3.5 hours, and Gemarah on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday mornings for four hours, except when they do Rotating Ramim, more on that later. We don't have class on Fridays.) So I ran out of my room with my Rosh Hashana and my Jastrow dictionary, reached my room a few minutes early, saw that the Daf Yomi shiur was still in progress (My Ram gives Daf Yomi every day, sometimes before class and sometimes during lunch. I am not in this class, as it is optional and would take a HUGE chunk from my day.) I dropped my stuff in the classroom, walked down the hall eating my breakfast (my last green apple, I need to get more soon, before I start going through withdrawal) when it hit me that I had the wrong books. Oops. Luckly, I carry my Tanach with me everywhere, so I used it for the first hour or so of class until he sent us to chevrutah, when I ran up to my room and grabbed my Torat Chayim, my Mikraot G'dolot, and my notebook.
I'll do a rundown of my classes later, but suffice to say, I love my Chumash teacher, but the class is in Hebrew and I'm definitely missing at least 40% of what he's saying (Waaaay down from my estimation of 70% on the first day, though). And chevrutah is not really my thing. It's interesting, and it'll probably be the best way for me to learn post-Seminary, but I don't enjoy it that much, mostly due to my poor Hebrew skills. It's hard to learn with someone when she's translating for you ALL THE TIME. Also, Jewish Guilt kicks in, and I feel like I'm not pulling my weight, etc. I might start prepping my Gemarah classes in Night Seder, and see if that helps. But honestly, my Aramaic skills are much worse then my Hebrew.
We also had some interesting lesson in Women and Halacha tonight, but they might be a little risque for my newly-minted blog, so I'm holding off on in-depth discussions about my learning for now.
See you next break!
Shabbos #3 Part 2
So we asked, and got, some help on the bus. First, we chatted with some Israel guys who must have had American parents, because their accents were perfect, and they translated for us to this Israeli woman who said she'd tell us when we got to Beit Shemesh. Then, when we got to Beit Shemesh, she asked us where we wanted to go, and told the driver to take us to Rachov Reuven. People here tend to be really nice when you need help with instructions. Street names aren't used as much as in America, it's more of pointing and gesturing, but I've never had anyone refuse to give me instructions, despite my terrible Hebrew skills.
Anyway, we got off the bus and Betsy M. came to meet us, and brought us to her house, where we met the rest of the family briefly before heading upstairs. We were staying in Zvi M.'s (although he might spell that Tzvi in English...) room because he was going to be in the army for the weekend, and he had an impressive weapons collection, which we admired for a bit, because some of those knives were pretty cool. Also he had a gun. (A rifle, I think) propped up next to the bed. I think guns are awesome, so I loved it. I wondered if he was supposed to have that with him, though, if he was at the army for the weekend, though...
Anyway, night was pretty simple. We went to shul, and came back and had a great dinner. Hillel M. (the youngest son, who is about a year younger then me) was the only one home, so we chatted with him during the meal.
In the morning we headed for shul (a little late...but we caught leining and the Rabbi's speech, most of which was lost on me). After shul we headed back to the house and had a little kiddush, which was a nice difference from home, as shul gets out MUCH earlier then at home. Then we headed to Pam and Gary's house, where we had lunch. I don't really remember meeting people from when I was six, but they were really nice, and I'll probably see everyone again in a few days on Rosh Hashana. Hillel and Gracie talked with Eliana and me about stuff like the army and Bagrut in this country, stuff I'm really interested in, actually.
After lunch, everyone headed for naps, except me, I read a Stephen King book, Misery, which I like a lot. Apparently there's a movie I need to see.
We had Shalosh Shuddis (which is how it's pronounced, even if it isn't how it's normally spelled) and I had tuna fish for the second time since I've been here. I can't believe how much I'm missing it, actually. (And Mom, no, I'm not obsessing about food. I just miss tuna, OK?)
After Shabbos we caught the Shuttle (Sheirut is the Hebrew word, I beleive) back to the main bus station, and a taxi from there. We were among the first girls back, which was nice, as I got to unpack, straighten my room a little, and then take the time to start this blog.
After I put up the last post, I went to a little talk from one of the teacher here, Sally. She spoke about a son of hers that was born a little more then a year and a half ago, names Moshe Rephael. He was born months early, and she went through a very difficult time in her life that she spoke to us about. I don't want to sound corny, because it wasn't. It was very inspiring, actually. She spoke to us about how different prayers affected her and her family differently due to that difficult time period, to lead into our Selichot.
I'm willing to admit that I've never had Selichot properly explained to me, either their exact purpose and what all the words mean, so I've never found them particularly inspiring. (The school offered a shiur that I meant to go to, but I was still walking back from the Kotel during the shiur. Story for another time.) Between the talk beforehand and the excellent, passionate tunes that were sung during Selichot, I actually found them very inspiring, despite the fact that we ended around 1:30 in the morning. I can't wait until the next round tonight.
More stories later!
Anyway, we got off the bus and Betsy M. came to meet us, and brought us to her house, where we met the rest of the family briefly before heading upstairs. We were staying in Zvi M.'s (although he might spell that Tzvi in English...) room because he was going to be in the army for the weekend, and he had an impressive weapons collection, which we admired for a bit, because some of those knives were pretty cool. Also he had a gun. (A rifle, I think) propped up next to the bed. I think guns are awesome, so I loved it. I wondered if he was supposed to have that with him, though, if he was at the army for the weekend, though...
Anyway, night was pretty simple. We went to shul, and came back and had a great dinner. Hillel M. (the youngest son, who is about a year younger then me) was the only one home, so we chatted with him during the meal.
In the morning we headed for shul (a little late...but we caught leining and the Rabbi's speech, most of which was lost on me). After shul we headed back to the house and had a little kiddush, which was a nice difference from home, as shul gets out MUCH earlier then at home. Then we headed to Pam and Gary's house, where we had lunch. I don't really remember meeting people from when I was six, but they were really nice, and I'll probably see everyone again in a few days on Rosh Hashana. Hillel and Gracie talked with Eliana and me about stuff like the army and Bagrut in this country, stuff I'm really interested in, actually.
After lunch, everyone headed for naps, except me, I read a Stephen King book, Misery, which I like a lot. Apparently there's a movie I need to see.
We had Shalosh Shuddis (which is how it's pronounced, even if it isn't how it's normally spelled) and I had tuna fish for the second time since I've been here. I can't believe how much I'm missing it, actually. (And Mom, no, I'm not obsessing about food. I just miss tuna, OK?)
After Shabbos we caught the Shuttle (Sheirut is the Hebrew word, I beleive) back to the main bus station, and a taxi from there. We were among the first girls back, which was nice, as I got to unpack, straighten my room a little, and then take the time to start this blog.
After I put up the last post, I went to a little talk from one of the teacher here, Sally. She spoke about a son of hers that was born a little more then a year and a half ago, names Moshe Rephael. He was born months early, and she went through a very difficult time in her life that she spoke to us about. I don't want to sound corny, because it wasn't. It was very inspiring, actually. She spoke to us about how different prayers affected her and her family differently due to that difficult time period, to lead into our Selichot.
I'm willing to admit that I've never had Selichot properly explained to me, either their exact purpose and what all the words mean, so I've never found them particularly inspiring. (The school offered a shiur that I meant to go to, but I was still walking back from the Kotel during the shiur. Story for another time.) Between the talk beforehand and the excellent, passionate tunes that were sung during Selichot, I actually found them very inspiring, despite the fact that we ended around 1:30 in the morning. I can't wait until the next round tonight.
More stories later!
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