Long Time No Post

I want to apologize for not posting in such a long time. I have been super busy with many different things. I promise to catch you all up on what has been going on with me in the past two and a half weeks. I am just going to talk about many different points in no particular order just to give you an idea of whats up.

Chanukah in Israel.
This is my second Chanukah in Israel and it has been just like what I had the first time around. Everyone gathering to light candles throughout Jerusalem. Whether your at the supermarket, a restaurant, a store, everyone takes a few minutes and lights the Menorah and sings songs. As Nativ we all gather in our computer room that has a side room that faces the street. We all put our Menorah on the windowsill and it faces the street and lights up the street and the room. It is quite a site to see, all of the Menorah glowing bright lights for several hours and 80 people light thing together and singing songs. The one sad thing about Chanukah in Israel is that it is very hard to find good Sufganiyot/doughnuts, and it is nearly impossible to find latkes. Nonetheless, I have enjoyed my second Chanukah in Israel and I look forward to having others here in the future.

Shabbat in Yerucham
Last Shabbat, I got on the bus with the rest of my track and we headed down south to visit our new home for next semester, Yerucham. After about a two hour drive, we made it to Yerucham. It is nothing too exciting to look at compared to Jerusalem. It is a very small city of about 10,000 people, but it is a strong city. It has a lot of immigrants from India and Morrocco within the community. We met our main contact in Yerucham that will help us with our volunteering, Yoram. We spent Shabbat at the youth hostel in Yerucham and heard from several significant leaders of the city and they told us their stories for why they are in Yerucham and what they do. On Saturday afternoon, we got a walking tour of Yerucham and the streets and where the apartments that we will be living are. Their is one main street that has a pizza place,a SuperSol(supermarket),community center, a huge playground/park, and several other things. Their are no bars or restaurants like we are used to in Jerusalem. It is going to be very different then what we are used to in Jerusalem, but I am very very excited for it. Motzei Shabbat we all went to a Chanuakah concert at the community center. It was the first performance in their brand new auditorium and we definitely made the minyan. It was a lot of Moroccan and Indian Jewish music, which we didn't understand, but we throughly enjoyed. We were back in Jerusalem on Sunday early evening in time for candle lighting and our regular evening activities.

End of the Yeshiva
This coming Tuesday I finish classes at the Yeshiva for Nativ. It is a bittersweet moment because I really enjoyed my learning at the Yeshiva and I also enjoyed everyone who I learned with at the Yeshiva. It will be different next semester having to learn on my own or with someone else and not be in the class room setting. The Yeshiva was an incredible experience for me and it helped me develop the skills necessary to learn independently and be able to comprehend what I am learning.

Other stuff
Over the past two weeks I have been doing lots of work for college applications and for USY International Convention. Both of these things have been keeping me very busy and very stressed. I leave to go back to the United States in less then a week to be relived of my duties as International President of USY. It is certainly a bittersweet emotion that I have. I am not sure what it will be like when I am finish, but at this rate I won't ever be finish because of th work yet to be done. I am sure I will post my post USY feelings in the next few weeks.

Shabbat Plans
This is one of my last Shababts to be spent in Jerusalem, so I am going to try and make it count. I am probably going to Shul both times at Shira Chadasha and then eating meals at base. I am going to just relax and enjoy Shabbat in Jerusalem. Motzei Shabbat I may be getting together for dinner with a bunch of people who I went to school from kindergarten through 12th grade with that are in Israel for the year and a few that are visiting over their winter breaks from college in the US. That should be exciting assuming it ends up happening.

That is about all that has been going on in the past few weeks. I hope all is well with everyone and that you enjoy your last day of Chanukah. May this Chanukah season brighten each of our lives and bring us nothing but happiness for the future. May your glowing candles be a light for the future. And mother, turn on the menorah above the front door and think of me as you do so.

Love,
David