I never thought I would say this, but I love living in Yerucham. It is such a hospitable and welcoming community. Let me catch you up on what I have been doing in Yerucham since Shabbat.
Friday night, the boys in the apartment and myself huddled around our small stove and lit our Shabbat Candles from my candles sticks that I use every time I travel over Shababt. It was a pretty cute experience if you ask me, but one that will not happen very often with all of us together. Friday night we went to our Home Base Shul, Affikim B'Negev. It is a really nice shul. It is nothing compared to the shuls that I go to in Jerusalem, but I enjoy the davening there. We were graced with the opportunity to lead services, so Judah led both Kabbalat Shabbat and Maariv. After services, we all gathered outside the shul and started to go to dinner with our host families for the semester in Yerucham. I got paired with my friend Ilana and an absolutely incredible family. They have 5 kids(3 girls and 2 boys) ranging for 14 to 3 years old. They are so adorable. We went to their house for a great and fun Shabbat dinner. We were there for about four hours just eating and then playing with the kids while the parents just relaxed. We had so much fun. I can't wait to go back there hopefully this coming Wednesday.
Saturday morning we went to different shuls in the community. A unique fact about Yerucham: Yerucham has 27 different shuls. I went to a Persian shul for services which was a unique experience, but it was something I was somewhat familiar with being that I have Persian cousins. After shul, we had a session with a speaker in the park that was about a Jewish text. The teacher will be offering a session to Nativers once a week for those of us who want to learn a little. After lunch we had a nice shluf session back in my apartment. After shulffy, we gathered back at Affikim for Mincha and another session about volunteering from the potential new Mayor of Yerucham. After that we had Seduat Shlishit and Maariv to end Shabbat.
Motzei Shabbat I decided that since I wasn't going to be working until 1:30 in the afternoon that I would go and work the graveyard shift for Magen David Adom. I was really excited to work a shift for MADA because it was my first shift and because I was the first Nativer to do it this year. I worked from 11pm to 7am. I got two calls over the course of the night. The first call was around 11:30pm. It was a 74 year old man who suffered a stroke. We immediately rushed him to the Hospital in Beer Sheva which is a half hour away. The second call was around 3:45am and was a 54 year old woman who was suffering from hypothermia and a lung condition. Her case I am still not entirely sure about, but needless to say we also rushed her to the hospital in Beer Sheva. It was a busy night for Yerucham standards. It was a great first shift. I look forward to many more shifts in the upcoming days and weeks.
On Sunday afternoon I had a meeting at the religious elementary school that I am working at, Kol Yakkov. We met with the English teachers and they helped us get familiar with what will be doing. We are going to be assisting the kids in English class in any way we can without speaking Hebrew to them. Out of the 6 of us working at Kol Yakkov, I think it is going to be the hardest for me to not speak Hebrew. I figure it will all work out for the best.
Well that is what I am up to. I will be posting hopefully on a regular basis since I am in Yerucham.
Keep the comments and emails coming.
David
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