I miss blogging everyday like I was when I first got to Israel, but I also realize that I don't want to blog everyday about the same thing over and over. So, this new setup I have works well enough. This week has been a great week. Classes all went well this week and we had great discussions and great learning. On Tuesday, I had a great meeting with the Director of Admissions of American Jewish University in Los Angles about college for me for next year. That night we had Erev Nativ and we previewed one of the two videos that would be shown on Thanksgiving. After that part of Erev Nativ we split up into groups and my group went and had a program that I have done many of times, including writing my own version of the program. We discussed Shirat HaSticker by Hadag Nachash. It is a song that takes different bumper stickers that you see in Israel and puts them all together to make somewhat of a controversial song about the politics in Israel.
Wednesday was a pretty regular day also with the exception of going out to a nice skewer restaurant for dinner. Wednesday night I spent a long time in the Beit Midrash of the Yeshiva working on Applications for college, which I now remember is a horrible process, but I need to just tough it out and get through it.
Thursday-Turkey Day I knew that Thanksgiving would not be a big deal in Israel because it is a strictly American festival. I also knew that Thanksgiving would be extremely different this year for me because I wasn't at Emtza Kinnus, which ironically was in Kansas City the year I wouldn't be there. It would be the first year in a long time that I would be able to get plenty of sleep, not get sick and eat pretty solid food, which is always a plus. I did just that. Thanksgiving for us on Nativ is a big deal. It is the one time of the year when Nativ all comes together for a festive meal and invites all Nativ Alumni and their respective families who are in Israel. We had lots of Nativers in the past who have made Aliyah and either live here with families, go to university, or who are in the army. It was a great site to see. We began the evening with everyone all together for a little intro ceremony in the sanctuary of the shul next door where we heard from Yossi, Nativ Director, Kol Nativ, Nativ's accapella group, and we saw a video that a few Nativers made about what we as Nativ 29 does everyday. It was a nicely made video and ceremony. After that we all headed to Beit Nativ for the meal. We were separated by track and then placed with past Nativ groups. We were in the main dining room with Nativ 1-23. Upstairs was Kibbutz and 24-28. As we walk into the dining room, there was a table with envelopes that had each of our names on it, so I grabbed mine. We all opened our envelopes and we discover letters that our families and friends had emailed to a secret account and our staff printed them out for us. For most people it was a tear fest, but I realized that I haven't had Thanksgiving dinner with my entire family in over a decade and haven't been home in 5 years for one. It was an extremely sentimental few minutes while people were reading their letters. I certainly enjoyed the letters that I received from my family. As we were all sitting down at the tables, Yitz Jacobson, the boss of the Fuschberg Center, brought out a whole turkey to carve in front of us. I went up to him and pointed to my piece, the turkey leg, and he saved it for me. I must admit two things about the dinner. 1. My father still carves the best turkey with the most precision of anyone I know and their is never any meat left on the carcass. 2. My mother still makes the best turkey I have ever eaten. With that being said, the meal wasn't horrible, it was pretty good for Beit Nativ standards. After dinner, my Nativ gathered in -3 for the big video that was put together by two Nativers that interviewed each of us asking us different questions relating to thanksgiving. It was a very well done video that was very funny at times.
After the video we had a few announcements from Yossi which included my evening plans. Thursday started an annual three week event of cultural arts events in Jerusalem. The one that caught all of our attentions was a Jazz music concert at the Davidson Center right next to the Kotel. We went and listened to some amazing Jazz music for about an hour. It was a great way to end a different yet great Thanksgiving. This morning(Friday), I woke up at 6:30am so I could skype with Emtza's Kinnus for about a half hour with a few other people from the region. It was nice to talk to the convention and advocate for Nativ. After that was done, I went back to bed and here I am now. Shabbat Plans Tonight I am going to go to shul somewhere and then I was invited out to dinner at a guy who studies at the Yeshiva every once in a while who was also a Nativ Alumni. I know his brother really well because he is a youth director in Chicago. So I am schleping a half hour to Talpiyot to go to dinner at this guy’s house which should be a nice meal. Tomorrow I will be going to shul again, but for lunch I will be going to another person from the Yeshivas who happens to be a Reb Student at AJU and a fraternity brother of my brother Corey's from WashU so that should be nice. A nice and restful Shabbat ahead of me. Shabbat Shalom
Friday, November 27, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
This week was actually quite good and very different then the weeks have been in the past. Yes, I had my regular classes and regular schedule, but this week added a few different twists to my life. My dear friend Jayne, who I have been friends with for several years, came to Israel this past week for a family Bar Mitzvah with her father and grandmother. I had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with them and that gave me the ability to do a few things that I don't get to do very often. I had the chance of learning about a very unique hobby of Jayne's father of collecting ancient coins from the 1st and 2nd centuries. He focused on coins from the time of the Bar Kochba Revolt which was in the year 135. The coins that he had collected and invested in while he was in Israel had inscriptions with the ancient Hebrew alphabet and had very unique pictures that would signify what time period it was from. It was interesting to learn about the history of the coins and trace it back to things that I had been learning about all my life.
It was great to be able to spend time with Jayne and her father and her grandmother. I had the chance to do my favorite thing which I don't get to do in Israel, eat out at restaurants. I have to say that I truly understand and respect what my brothers had told me throughout college. If you get a chance to have a meal with someones family and they are taking you out, YOU NEVER SAY NO!!!! I had more meals this week with several families of Nativers that I was full for an entire week. Each time I went out it was to a different restaurant that I can say was extremely tasty. I now have a good idea of the best of the best in Jerusalem. If anyone ever wants to come to Israel and is looking for a place to go for a meal, just let me know and I will be more then happy to show you where to go. I thank everyone who added to my imaginary weight gain this past week and encourage others to donate to it.
I would like to share what happens when people do stupid things and how it effects a lot of people.
Last night/early this morning(Thursday/Friday, someone decided they wanted to make some toast in the toaster in the kitchen outside of my room and in the hallway. All of a sudden while I am on the phone with someone I smell a burning smell so I immediately run from my room and I see whats going on. It turns out that the person who put the toast in the toaster forgot about it and left it to burn. The smoke and the smell set off the smoke alarms and then proceeded to start the fire alarms. This fire alarm sound was unlike any that I had ever heard in my life. It was one of the most high pitched sounds I had ever heard. It kept going for quite a long time. We opened all the windows to try and air out the kitchen area and started wafting the smoke out side but the alarm kept going. Meanwhile we loose power. This was the start to a perfect evening. I immediatly ran to get the security guard at the gate outside Beit Nativ. We didn't have any of out staff in our building and I figured that the guard would know how to turn off the alarms. He is a very lazy guy and doesn't really like us so much. He took his time to get to the building while I was explaining what had happened and I explained that their was no fire. He finally turns off the alarm and wanted to know where it exactly was so I showed him. After that whole process I kept trying to get him to answer me about turning the electricity back on, but he explained to me that he wasn't able to do so and he couldn't get a hold of anyone to do it till the morning. Meanwhile, I go back to the lobby of the main building and I am greeted by two of Jerusalem's finest Police Officers. They asked what had happened and I explained it to them and they started laughing and wanted to see where it exactly was. They basically said that the person who did it wasn't so smart. It was pretty funny to see them laugh about it all. They also said that it was a good thing their was no fire. After I showed them the scene we walked back to the lobby and they told me that the fire department was on their way. I said to them that I had never seen a fire truck or firefighters in Israel before and they said it would be my lucky day. The firefighters arrived and started yelling at the Police and the guard at base because we didn't call sooner. I was saying to myself, why didn't the alarms signal them to come and why did it take both squads so long to get to base. God forbid their wasn't actually a fire because God only knows what would have happened.
The end result of this entire thing was that we lost power until early Friday morning, I got to speak all in Hebrew to the guard, police and fire department, I found out that they have a fire department and fire trucks in Israel, and most importantly, the toast that was burnt, doesn't taste so good.
What an exciting end to a great week. And just for a cautionary note, I did not burn the toast!!!!
Shabbat Plans
This Shabbat I was invited out for both meals. Friday night I will be davening at Shira Hadasha as usual and then heading to a Rabbincal student from AJU that I am in the Yeshiva was for dinner. On Shabbat morning I will be heading to Yemin Moshe for Davening and a great kiddush. I am then going to lunch with Judah to Rabbi Paul's and Nina's. I have been told that they aren't the best cooks so that is my logic in going to the best kiddush in Jerusalem before hand.
Anyways,
Shabbat Shalom
DBH
It was great to be able to spend time with Jayne and her father and her grandmother. I had the chance to do my favorite thing which I don't get to do in Israel, eat out at restaurants. I have to say that I truly understand and respect what my brothers had told me throughout college. If you get a chance to have a meal with someones family and they are taking you out, YOU NEVER SAY NO!!!! I had more meals this week with several families of Nativers that I was full for an entire week. Each time I went out it was to a different restaurant that I can say was extremely tasty. I now have a good idea of the best of the best in Jerusalem. If anyone ever wants to come to Israel and is looking for a place to go for a meal, just let me know and I will be more then happy to show you where to go. I thank everyone who added to my imaginary weight gain this past week and encourage others to donate to it.
I would like to share what happens when people do stupid things and how it effects a lot of people.
Last night/early this morning(Thursday/Friday, someone decided they wanted to make some toast in the toaster in the kitchen outside of my room and in the hallway. All of a sudden while I am on the phone with someone I smell a burning smell so I immediately run from my room and I see whats going on. It turns out that the person who put the toast in the toaster forgot about it and left it to burn. The smoke and the smell set off the smoke alarms and then proceeded to start the fire alarms. This fire alarm sound was unlike any that I had ever heard in my life. It was one of the most high pitched sounds I had ever heard. It kept going for quite a long time. We opened all the windows to try and air out the kitchen area and started wafting the smoke out side but the alarm kept going. Meanwhile we loose power. This was the start to a perfect evening. I immediatly ran to get the security guard at the gate outside Beit Nativ. We didn't have any of out staff in our building and I figured that the guard would know how to turn off the alarms. He is a very lazy guy and doesn't really like us so much. He took his time to get to the building while I was explaining what had happened and I explained that their was no fire. He finally turns off the alarm and wanted to know where it exactly was so I showed him. After that whole process I kept trying to get him to answer me about turning the electricity back on, but he explained to me that he wasn't able to do so and he couldn't get a hold of anyone to do it till the morning. Meanwhile, I go back to the lobby of the main building and I am greeted by two of Jerusalem's finest Police Officers. They asked what had happened and I explained it to them and they started laughing and wanted to see where it exactly was. They basically said that the person who did it wasn't so smart. It was pretty funny to see them laugh about it all. They also said that it was a good thing their was no fire. After I showed them the scene we walked back to the lobby and they told me that the fire department was on their way. I said to them that I had never seen a fire truck or firefighters in Israel before and they said it would be my lucky day. The firefighters arrived and started yelling at the Police and the guard at base because we didn't call sooner. I was saying to myself, why didn't the alarms signal them to come and why did it take both squads so long to get to base. God forbid their wasn't actually a fire because God only knows what would have happened.
The end result of this entire thing was that we lost power until early Friday morning, I got to speak all in Hebrew to the guard, police and fire department, I found out that they have a fire department and fire trucks in Israel, and most importantly, the toast that was burnt, doesn't taste so good.
What an exciting end to a great week. And just for a cautionary note, I did not burn the toast!!!!
Shabbat Plans
This Shabbat I was invited out for both meals. Friday night I will be davening at Shira Hadasha as usual and then heading to a Rabbincal student from AJU that I am in the Yeshiva was for dinner. On Shabbat morning I will be heading to Yemin Moshe for Davening and a great kiddush. I am then going to lunch with Judah to Rabbi Paul's and Nina's. I have been told that they aren't the best cooks so that is my logic in going to the best kiddush in Jerusalem before hand.
Anyways,
Shabbat Shalom
DBH
Friday, November 13, 2009
Daily Life...
I thought about doing something different for this blog post. Since I have been doing the same things over and over every day, I thought I would tell you all about the classes I am taking since I have not spoken about them in quite a while.
Talmud-I am learning the Tractate of Bava Kama which deals with damages to people and the compensations for them. We are learning the 8th chapter of the Tracate which is called HaHovel which deals with personal damages in five different categories; damage,pain,medical,employment,embarrassment. The part of the Gemara that we are learning deals with the concept of an eye for an eye and the technicalities of the concept. As like any study of Talmud their is constant back and forth argument about in my opinion pointless issues and specific situations. However, I am learning about the basic structure of Talmud and I am learning about the process that the Rabbis use to debate a case in the Talmud. I enjoy the class and I am excited to continue learning Talmud in the future.
Tanach with Commentators- This is probably one of my favorite classes because of the teacher. Vered is an amazing teacher who just has a passion for teaching. Her source sheets that she prepares for us each class take about 8-10 hours for her to prepare. My chevruta, Joel, and I go through them with so much care because it is an amazing way to learn. We have been learning several of the minor prophets: Amos, Hoshea, and now we are beginning Isaiah. I never really learned the prophets when I was in school, so it is a great way for me to become familiar with the prophets and learn the commentaries that go along with them.
Advanced Midrash- Reb Mordechai teaches us several intense and fascinating Midrashim on the weeks Torah Portion. We have a 5 or 6 person Chevruta where we all take turns reading and translating and help each other understand what the Midrashim are all about. It can sometimes be very difficult to understand what is going on because the text is in both Hebrew or Aramaic and they expect you know a lot more background information then we do. I enjoy this class but find it to be a struggle sometimes depending on the Midrash that we are studying.
Poskim- This is the one opportunity I have to learn with the Rosh Yeshiva, Reb Shmuel. We are learning different Halachic works that deal with the Laws of Tzedakah. It is a class that is focused on the process in which Jewish Law is derived over time. We have learned texts from the 12-15th centuries and we are now getting into 20th century texts that will be able to help us interpret Jewish Law. It is incredible to sit in this class lecture because Reb Shmuel is so brilliant and is so quick to throw a new source at us to help clarify any issue at hand. It is too bad that we only meet once a week for this class.
Pirkei Avot- Their is nothing really to special about the class. We learn several Mishnahs from Pirkei Avot every class period, however the best part of the class is the teacher, Rabbi Goldfarb. He is the Director of the Yeshiva and just an all around funny guy. He is always so fascinated with anything that anyone says about the text we are learning, even if what someone says is completely irrelevant. We like to class this the Goldfarb Comedy Hour because we always leave class with a smile on our faces because of Rabbi Goldfarb. I defiantly go to the class for the Comedy Hour and not the learning.
Halacha Le'Maseh- This class focuses on the practical daily use of Halacha. It is taught by the same teacher that teaches me Talmud. I find this class to be very frustrating because of the multiple levels of knowledge in the class. It ranges from not knowing anything to knowing more then you need to know to not be in the class. I am not entirely sure why I stay in the class, but I also realize that their are plenty things that I don't know about everyday Halacha. The thing that I don't like about the class is that he just reads the text book to us and we don't practice our Hebrew or our understanding of the text. My Rabbi I studied with in High School always told me he would never teach a class like this because he said if he wanted someone to read a rule book they don't need to be taught that. I feel like this is the exact situation. I have second thoughts about this class, but I realize that since it only meets once a week for an hour and a half it really isn't worth dropping.
Contemporary Issues in Halacha- This is an all Nativ class taught by my other favorite teacher and my Nativ Yeshiva advisor, Reb Shlomo. His has the voice of god that I have spoken about several times. He takes a different topic every week and prepares a source sheet and discusses it with us. The topics range from second day Yom Tov, minor fast days, pre-marital sex,homosexuality, kosher cheese, and so on. It is a great class because it goes in-depth on issues that we face everyday. I wish that my classmates would take it more serious and play a more active roll in the discussion instead of messing around on their computers during class. The real reason I think that this class is so good is because of the amount of love that the teacher puts into the source sheets and to helping the students learn about the different topics.
Overall, I really enjoy the classes I take at the Yeshiva. I am glad that I am not taking classes at Hebrew U and not doing Ulpan because the Yeshiv is a once in a lifetime opportunity for someone like me who is passionate about Jewish education. Where else can you go everyday and sit down and learn with people who just want to learn and become more educated about your Jewish heritage and learn from some of the best teachers in the world? I am glad that I decided to be at the Yeshiva for the semester on Nativ.
For Shabbat I have no special plans. I am going to go to shul both days at Shira Chadasha and then eat Friday night dinner at Beit Nativ and Saturday lunch at Rabbi Jerry and Jane Epstein's apartment right near base. It should be a very nice, relaxing, and short Shabbat. After Shabbat, my friend Jayne, who is in Israel for a week for a family Bar Mitzvah, will be coming to Jerusalem and I will get to see her and hang out with her the night which is super exciting.
Shabbat Shalom from Jerusalem!!!
David
Talmud-I am learning the Tractate of Bava Kama which deals with damages to people and the compensations for them. We are learning the 8th chapter of the Tracate which is called HaHovel which deals with personal damages in five different categories; damage,pain,medical,employment,embarrassment. The part of the Gemara that we are learning deals with the concept of an eye for an eye and the technicalities of the concept. As like any study of Talmud their is constant back and forth argument about in my opinion pointless issues and specific situations. However, I am learning about the basic structure of Talmud and I am learning about the process that the Rabbis use to debate a case in the Talmud. I enjoy the class and I am excited to continue learning Talmud in the future.
Tanach with Commentators- This is probably one of my favorite classes because of the teacher. Vered is an amazing teacher who just has a passion for teaching. Her source sheets that she prepares for us each class take about 8-10 hours for her to prepare. My chevruta, Joel, and I go through them with so much care because it is an amazing way to learn. We have been learning several of the minor prophets: Amos, Hoshea, and now we are beginning Isaiah. I never really learned the prophets when I was in school, so it is a great way for me to become familiar with the prophets and learn the commentaries that go along with them.
Advanced Midrash- Reb Mordechai teaches us several intense and fascinating Midrashim on the weeks Torah Portion. We have a 5 or 6 person Chevruta where we all take turns reading and translating and help each other understand what the Midrashim are all about. It can sometimes be very difficult to understand what is going on because the text is in both Hebrew or Aramaic and they expect you know a lot more background information then we do. I enjoy this class but find it to be a struggle sometimes depending on the Midrash that we are studying.
Poskim- This is the one opportunity I have to learn with the Rosh Yeshiva, Reb Shmuel. We are learning different Halachic works that deal with the Laws of Tzedakah. It is a class that is focused on the process in which Jewish Law is derived over time. We have learned texts from the 12-15th centuries and we are now getting into 20th century texts that will be able to help us interpret Jewish Law. It is incredible to sit in this class lecture because Reb Shmuel is so brilliant and is so quick to throw a new source at us to help clarify any issue at hand. It is too bad that we only meet once a week for this class.
Pirkei Avot- Their is nothing really to special about the class. We learn several Mishnahs from Pirkei Avot every class period, however the best part of the class is the teacher, Rabbi Goldfarb. He is the Director of the Yeshiva and just an all around funny guy. He is always so fascinated with anything that anyone says about the text we are learning, even if what someone says is completely irrelevant. We like to class this the Goldfarb Comedy Hour because we always leave class with a smile on our faces because of Rabbi Goldfarb. I defiantly go to the class for the Comedy Hour and not the learning.
Halacha Le'Maseh- This class focuses on the practical daily use of Halacha. It is taught by the same teacher that teaches me Talmud. I find this class to be very frustrating because of the multiple levels of knowledge in the class. It ranges from not knowing anything to knowing more then you need to know to not be in the class. I am not entirely sure why I stay in the class, but I also realize that their are plenty things that I don't know about everyday Halacha. The thing that I don't like about the class is that he just reads the text book to us and we don't practice our Hebrew or our understanding of the text. My Rabbi I studied with in High School always told me he would never teach a class like this because he said if he wanted someone to read a rule book they don't need to be taught that. I feel like this is the exact situation. I have second thoughts about this class, but I realize that since it only meets once a week for an hour and a half it really isn't worth dropping.
Contemporary Issues in Halacha- This is an all Nativ class taught by my other favorite teacher and my Nativ Yeshiva advisor, Reb Shlomo. His has the voice of god that I have spoken about several times. He takes a different topic every week and prepares a source sheet and discusses it with us. The topics range from second day Yom Tov, minor fast days, pre-marital sex,homosexuality, kosher cheese, and so on. It is a great class because it goes in-depth on issues that we face everyday. I wish that my classmates would take it more serious and play a more active roll in the discussion instead of messing around on their computers during class. The real reason I think that this class is so good is because of the amount of love that the teacher puts into the source sheets and to helping the students learn about the different topics.
Overall, I really enjoy the classes I take at the Yeshiva. I am glad that I am not taking classes at Hebrew U and not doing Ulpan because the Yeshiv is a once in a lifetime opportunity for someone like me who is passionate about Jewish education. Where else can you go everyday and sit down and learn with people who just want to learn and become more educated about your Jewish heritage and learn from some of the best teachers in the world? I am glad that I decided to be at the Yeshiva for the semester on Nativ.
For Shabbat I have no special plans. I am going to go to shul both days at Shira Chadasha and then eat Friday night dinner at Beit Nativ and Saturday lunch at Rabbi Jerry and Jane Epstein's apartment right near base. It should be a very nice, relaxing, and short Shabbat. After Shabbat, my friend Jayne, who is in Israel for a week for a family Bar Mitzvah, will be coming to Jerusalem and I will get to see her and hang out with her the night which is super exciting.
Shabbat Shalom from Jerusalem!!!
David
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Conservative Judaism with Julesy and Rabin Memorial
I know it has been a while since I have last posted, but I promise that this post will be one full of good stuff for your enjoyment. As I have mentioned recently, the days here in Israel are getting to be very standard and nothing special happens unless their is a special occasion during the week or unless it is Shabbat. This weekend we had a special visitor who came and did sessions with all of Nativ about Conservative Judaism. Jules Gutin, who is the International Director of USY, aka my boss, came to Israel and led sessions for us about Conservative Judaism on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
These three sessions were the concluding and follow up sessions to the previous sessions we have had that were led by Rabbi Roth and Rabbi Artson. Jules took a different approach to talking about Conservative Judaism. He actually spoke about how the movement works and how it has adapted over time. I had heard him speak on this topic before but it was interesting to see the reactions that the rest of Nativ had when they heard what he had to say. It was a very informative weekend with lots of learning and discussion with Jules and an overall nice visit with him to speak about many things.
It is always interesting to listen to people talk about Judaism especially Conservative Judaism. It is interesting to hear why people consider themselves to be Conservative Jews and I can say that after we have heard from all of our speakers about Conservative Judaism my opinions haven't changed but I bet most peoples have.
After Shabbat, about 40 Nativers and myself headed to Tel Aviv for the 14th Anniversary celebration of the life of Yitzchak Rabin (z"l).Rabin was Prime Minister in two seperate occasions (1974-77 and 1992-95), he is arguably one of the most decorated politicians and generals in Israel's history.
As Prime Minister for a second term, this time in the 1990's, Rabin helped foster the Peace Process all the way through the Oslo Accords. After an event in Tel Aviv, Rabin left the stage and walked towards his security where he was shot surprisingly by Yigal Amir. Rabin was rushed to the hospital but died while in surgery.
I always remembered learning about Rabin every year in school and he was generally speaking praised by my Hebrew teachers. I was excited to be able to go and celebrate the life of a hero in the hearts of many. However, I found it slightly upsetting that the speakers who spoke at the ceremony turned this memorial of a peace seeking man into a battle of right vs. left. Politics certainly do play a large part in everything. We heard from many famous names including, Tzipi Livni, Ehud Barack and President Barack Obama. President Obama actually received the greatest applause after he spoke via video recording. The evening ended with two special performances. One was by Hadag Nachash which is a famous Israeli rap group that sings a song about Israeli bumper stickers. The final perfomrance was done by Miri Aloni and she sang both Shir LeShalom and Hatikvah. Shir LaShalom was the song that Rabin was singing when he was shot and since then it has become the anthem for peace in Israel as well as the memorial song for Rabin. It was a very emotional period of the evening because everyone connects the song with Rabin and it was an amazing way to end such a important memorial ceremony.
Yitzchak Rabin z"l
May his memory be for a blessing
DBH
These three sessions were the concluding and follow up sessions to the previous sessions we have had that were led by Rabbi Roth and Rabbi Artson. Jules took a different approach to talking about Conservative Judaism. He actually spoke about how the movement works and how it has adapted over time. I had heard him speak on this topic before but it was interesting to see the reactions that the rest of Nativ had when they heard what he had to say. It was a very informative weekend with lots of learning and discussion with Jules and an overall nice visit with him to speak about many things.
It is always interesting to listen to people talk about Judaism especially Conservative Judaism. It is interesting to hear why people consider themselves to be Conservative Jews and I can say that after we have heard from all of our speakers about Conservative Judaism my opinions haven't changed but I bet most peoples have.
After Shabbat, about 40 Nativers and myself headed to Tel Aviv for the 14th Anniversary celebration of the life of Yitzchak Rabin (z"l).Rabin was Prime Minister in two seperate occasions (1974-77 and 1992-95), he is arguably one of the most decorated politicians and generals in Israel's history.
As Prime Minister for a second term, this time in the 1990's, Rabin helped foster the Peace Process all the way through the Oslo Accords. After an event in Tel Aviv, Rabin left the stage and walked towards his security where he was shot surprisingly by Yigal Amir. Rabin was rushed to the hospital but died while in surgery.
I always remembered learning about Rabin every year in school and he was generally speaking praised by my Hebrew teachers. I was excited to be able to go and celebrate the life of a hero in the hearts of many. However, I found it slightly upsetting that the speakers who spoke at the ceremony turned this memorial of a peace seeking man into a battle of right vs. left. Politics certainly do play a large part in everything. We heard from many famous names including, Tzipi Livni, Ehud Barack and President Barack Obama. President Obama actually received the greatest applause after he spoke via video recording. The evening ended with two special performances. One was by Hadag Nachash which is a famous Israeli rap group that sings a song about Israeli bumper stickers. The final perfomrance was done by Miri Aloni and she sang both Shir LeShalom and Hatikvah. Shir LaShalom was the song that Rabin was singing when he was shot and since then it has become the anthem for peace in Israel as well as the memorial song for Rabin. It was a very emotional period of the evening because everyone connects the song with Rabin and it was an amazing way to end such a important memorial ceremony.
Yitzchak Rabin z"l
May his memory be for a blessing
DBH
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Frequency of New Blog Posts
Hello Everyone
I have stumbled across a patch of repetition. The days are starting to turn into the same just different classes, different clothes, and different weather. I have decided that the frequency of my posts are going to start becoming more infrequent and potentially sporadic. I will certainly be posting before Shabbat about the week as a whole as well as including my Shabbat and weekend plans. So look forward to those.
I promise to have new things to update you with as they happen, but for now I am experiencing the same things daily.
Check back frequently for new posts and pictures.
David
I have stumbled across a patch of repetition. The days are starting to turn into the same just different classes, different clothes, and different weather. I have decided that the frequency of my posts are going to start becoming more infrequent and potentially sporadic. I will certainly be posting before Shabbat about the week as a whole as well as including my Shabbat and weekend plans. So look forward to those.
I promise to have new things to update you with as they happen, but for now I am experiencing the same things daily.
Check back frequently for new posts and pictures.
David
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