Monday September 21,2009
After coming off a pretty solid weekend with Rosh Hashanah, I began a new week at the Yeshiva and here on Nativ. Classes resumed as usual on Monday and continued for the rest of the day. Nothing to special took place on Monday with the exception of Tzom Gedaliah. Tzom Gedaliah is a minor fast that takes place the day after Rosh Hashanah that marks the memorial of a leader of the people as well as the completion of the destruction of one of the Temples. It is a minor fast, meaning that you only fast from sunrise to sunset, which was a large discussion in my Contemporary Halacha class last week with Reb Shlomo. They gave us a really easy and stress free schedule at the Yeshiva because of the fast. After Talmud we broke for Mincha and after Mincha I had Halacha Le'Maseh class. After Halacha Le'Maseh I had Advanced Midrash with Reb Mordachai who is beyond brilliant. We just did discussion because the class was shortened. We learned several Midrashim on Sukkot which I will share in a post we get closer to Sukkot. It was a great class full of interesting discussion about Sukkot. After classes ended I went back to my room for a little R&R before the fast ended. I ended the fast with some others and then I just stayed in for the night and took it easy and got to bed relatively early.
Tuesday September 22,2009
I can't say that I have had a bad day thus far on Nativ. Today was a great day though. This morning I had a great Chevruta discussions with some of the AJU Rabbinical students about the different Prophets that we are discussing in our Advanced Tanach class. They were impressed with my ability to take a text from the Tanach and analyze it and throw something brand new at them that they never thought about before. I felt accomplished. After a great Tanach class I met my friend Moshe and we went to Meah Shearim for a little bit. It was my first time in Meah Shearim, and I made the wise mistake of wearing a blue polo shirt and definitely stuck out like a sore thumb. Oh well!! After getting back from Meah Shearim I had my three hour lecture in Modern Jewish Thought. Today we spoke about Friedrich Nietzsche and his writings. Let me tell you, it is some pretty powerful stuff that I am learning in that class, but I am enjoying it nonetheless. After "Thought" I ate dinner and had Erev Nativ with the rest of Nativ. We had a speaker come and talk to us about a program called B'yachad which pairs American teens who work at Jewish Summer Camps in the States up with Israelis who go to American camps during the summer. It was a great idea and I would certainly partake in it if I knew what camp I would work at in the States. After that discussion we had several announcements about the week ahead and Yom Kippur from Yossi and then we broke up into four groups, two for each track. Within the groups we spoke about Shabbat in Israel and on Nativ. We had discussions of what we thought was allowed and not allowed on Shabbat. It was interesting to hear what some people thought of Shabbat and what made Shabbat unique for them. After the Shabbat program several of us were asked to go up to the office and meet with Yossi about something. So without knowing what we would be talking about we all headed upstairs to the office. Yossi then proceeds to congratulate us on making Magen David Adom. It was a great feeling to hear that. He then told us that we have the option of working in Jerusalem and Beit Shemesh during the first semester, something that was brand new this year. He also told us when the training would be and that he would help us with our class schedule. He asked us if we would accept the offer to do MDA and of course I said yes. He told us a bit about what it is like to volunteer for them and that it is 8 hour shifts at a time and that we can do it as often or as little as we like during the first semester. I left that meeting very happy and excited to get started with the training and get right into the action. I headed back to my room after the meeting and just hung out with my roommates and a few other people and then I headed to bed somewhat earlier then average.
Until next time..... DBH
No comments:
Post a Comment