Life

The squash turned out GREAT and one squash ended up feeding three people for 1.5 days! Today was the second day of class. Had fabulous teachers all morning and afternoon, until the Halacha class where I was the only one. Either everyone else ditched (not that many people, anyway) or had private tutors during that hour. It was kind of awkward. The rabbi wasn’t very interesting, and he spoke very quickly. I’m actually hoping to get a private tutor myself, for Hebrew! Ani rotza lilmod ivrit! I want to learn Hebrew! It’s really helping that I can read it, thank goodness! A couple tidbits from what I learned today: In “Exploring Torah,” I learned that the Torah was given outside the land of Israel so as not to connect the Jews to a land. What connects the Jews is Torah and other Jewish people; this is how we were able to survive the exile as a nation without being in our land; this is why there can be so many Jews living in so many parts of the world without losing themselves. Usually, a nation has a land, but we weren’t tied to one. Yes, it’s a reward to live in Israel, but it’s not necessary for our survival as a nation. In “Ethics” we had a substitute, Shani, who is just wonderful. She is very young and has a two-year-old daughter. We read from a book called Striving for Truth. The chapter we read was on giving and taking. It says that at any given moment, we are either givers or takers. But we can’t be both. There are two types of taking: selfish, maximum profit for yourself with the minimal effort; and, taking in order to give back to others, such as taking tzedakah (money for charity) or taking “knowledge” in order to perfect our souls and teach others. To be a positive taker, you have to ask yourself the question, “Am I taking in order to give?” To see if you’re slipping up, ask “Am I giving in order to take?” I think this is a hugely important concept! Shani said this book is part of working on our “midos,” or character traits. Judaism is huge on that!

In the Siddur, our prayer book, we read a portion from the Shmonei Esrei, the personal prayers said three times a day. In the part where we pray for G-d to gather everyone in exile together, Rebbetzin Appell pointed out the word freedom in the portion, in Hebrew, also means engraved. What’s the connection? G-d engraved our mitzvot (commandments) on stone. Engraving is more permanent than just writing. This makes the Jewish people One with the mitzvot and the Torah. Contrary to what many may think of religion, it does make us free to live spiritually. Otherwise, we get enslaved to physicality. In my opinion, no rules = more freedom doesn’t really hold true in most cases. People get lost, get hooked on unhealthy things, get depressed, don’t know what to do with themselves…whereas some rules in life can actually be very healthy!

In other news, I signed up for some kitchen duty twice a week as a work-study because I can’t afford to pay the seminary tuition. The way it’s supposed to work is that you pay them what you can or you pay later in life (I’m hoping!). I thought that I’d do what I can right now, so I’m glad I found out about the work-study. Also, I was able to get a hold of my relatives in BeerSheva. I talked to Gera and Rita and Lena. I’m coming this Thursday evening to spend the weekend! Well, unfortunately, not the full weekend, because in Israel Sunday is a workday due to Friday off or half-off. Darn! But I’m SO excited to see them! And my mom called, which was fabulous! And my grandparents called yesterday night, which was also fabulous! J

Tonight, Melody, Laura, and I went to the school where a Chilean Jewish girl, Macarena (yep, that’s her name!) was holding Zumba class. She’s actually a professional! It was VERY good! An hour long – just perfect. Shower and bedtime, right away. Tomorrow, we’re leaving at 7am to go to the Golan! It’ll be a fun two days! On the schedule is a hike (including a water hike) and the holy city of Tzfat, as well as fun stuff in between!

Ahava from Israel!

Elina