b"H
If you are a "regular" reader of my rantings, I must apologize wholeheartedly for my lack of writing and my constriction of your ability to actually read "regularly". It isn't for lack of time, necessarily. It is just that I keep getting overwhelmed with all the things I want to say and end up saying nothing. Well, I am going to try, again, to not do that anymore. I will again be trying to write more regularly. For now though, a brief update on the last - wow, just short of two weeks since I last wrote... terrible...
Okay, anyway. I'm going to just put some random experiences out there! If anyone wants to get any more information on anything that I list here, please, feel free to comment or email me (I have to check if my email is available on the main page, but if not, be'ezrat HaShem, I will get it up there soon) and I will answer whatever questions you might have to the best of my ability!
About a week and a half ago - the day after my last post actually, we went to Hebron for the brit milah of one of the Rabbis' son. It was an afternoon brit, and turned into a very powerful day. We spent the morning learning as usual (gemara takes up the whole morning from 9am until about 12:45pm) and then we all (well, most of us. Some people decided not to go.) boarded a bus. It was a full size coach. The route to Hebron drives through a number of Arab towns which are rather hostile to Jews, so the bus was bulletproof, but if you didn't know, you wouldn't know. It was a nice drive, maybe 30 minutes from the yeshiva. We pulled up to Me'arat HaMachpelah (the cave of machpelah / the doubled cave) and if looked as it has looked in every picture I have ever seen, but with one big difference: I was actually there! For those who are not aware of the significance of the place, it is where the forebearers of the Jewish people are buried. That is, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, and Leah (Rachel has her own place in Beit Lechem (Bethleham)) are buried there. It was very powerful! Although the external walls of the place were clearly modeled after Herodian period construction - there is a debate if it is actually from the Herodiam period of if it is from the period of the crusaders and modeled after the Herodian manner, or if it is some combination of the two- the internal aspects were very Muslim in appearance which leads one to imagine it as being put together during the Muslim rule of the land. Either way, the construction is at least 1000 years old. I don't have my camera with me right now, so I can't upload any pictures, but I do have them, so feel free to request them. Okay, anyway, the brit took place in a room that was surrounded by the traditional burial sites of Abraham on the South, Sarah on the North, and Isaac and Rivkah on the East. It was very powerful! The whole thing was quite surreal actually. The baby was crying the whole time and what was totally amazing is that the moment that the mohel (who performs the circumcision) made the blessing ("BA"H, EM"H, ahl hamilah") the baby stopped crying! Yes, you read that correctly - the baby STOPPED crying when the circumcision took place! It was totally amazing!
Anyway, the meal was fantastic and there was lots of singing. Before going to the meal though, I stayed behind and went to each of the graves and said a prayer to rectify my nature with that of the Holy souls at whose tomb I was standing. It was actually a VERY powerful moment personally. It took me a few days to notice that with the trip to Hebron I had been to all of the four holy cities - Hebron (Earth), Tzfat (Air), Jerusalem (Fire), and Tiberius (Water). Baruch HaShem that I merited to accomplish something so spiritually powerful!
I had never spent a Shabbat in Tzfat before, so I decided to spend Shabbat there an it was everything I could have hoped for and more. I ended up davening by ChaBaD minyanim a bunch - it just worked out that way even though it certainly wasn't the plan. In fact, on Friday night, I davened at Ascent, the hostel where I was staying (which happens to be a ChaBaD institution) and they actually asked me to be Shaliach Tzibur (the leader of the congregation) for Kabbalat Shabbat! They set me up to spend Shabbat with a family who lived close by, the father of which runs a Carlebach minyan in the area. It was a very nice dinner and the family were very gracious hosts. I slept in in the morning and given that ChaBaD tends to daven later than anyone else, that is where I went in the morning and then in the afternoon, I sat at ascent and learned Torah until a little before Ma'ariv.
(There was mincha at Ascent at some point in the afternoon, after lunch. Oh, yeah. At lunch they asked me to give a dvar Torah on one foot. We had just sung the song "Kol HaOlam Kulo Gesher Tzar Me'od, Veha'ikar Lo Lefached Klal" - The whole world is a very narrow bridge but the main thing is to have no fear at all - by Rebbe Nachman. I related it to an analogy that I heard at The House in Toronto during one of their Saturday night JAMs. The idea was that one a narrow bridge - or the narrow streets of Tzfat - if there are two cars coming in the opposite direction, one person has to stop and possibly even back up to let the other through and that we should all strive to work together in order to perfect the world that there should be nothing to fear. In that morning's parasha (weekly Torah portion) "VaYechi" Jacob blesses his sons and his grandsons Ephraim and Menashe, Joseph's sons. There is a lot of commentary about the nature of that particular blessing. Menashe was the older of the two sons and should therefore have been blessed first, but Jacob put his right hand on Ephraim - thus granting him the first blessing. It is explained that the two boys had different roles in life - Menashe worked for Joseph, in the political realm of Egypt, as an interpreter for his father. He was deeply engaged in worldly affairs. Ephraim, on the other hand, is explained to have spent much of his time learning Torah and connecting with his traditions. This dynamic of two brothers taking these two paths mirrors Jacob's own life - Jacob having learned Torah and his brother Eisav having been a hunter (engaged with the world), and Jacob eventually started to engage with the world himself, but there was MAJOR tension between the brothers (Eisav wanted to MURDER Jacob). Jacob's blessing was showing the brothers that through Torah values, the most spiritual and the most physical endeavors can be achieved in harmony. The uniqueness of Ephraim and Menashe is that they accepted each other for their differences and decided to work together using their respective strengths to support each other. In this way they were able to walk on the "gesher tzar me'od" of this world and "to have no fear at all"! I then wished that we should all merit to be able to work together and live this same dynamic with everyone we each encounter in our own lives! Baruch HaShem, I don't know where that whole shpiel came from, but it seemed to go over well.)
For Ma'ariv and havdallah, a friend and I went to the Carlebach minyan. There was some powerful nigunnim sung there and there was lots of singing and dancing! Baruch HaShem, it was fantastic! It mamash helped the power of Shabbat flow into the rest of the week! It was a great motzei Shabbat, walking all over Tzfat trying to get lost and realizing it is absolutely impossible!
On Sunday I started making my way back to the yeshiva, missed the earlier bus and the next one was 3 hours later, so I hung around Tzfat for a bit, went to some bookstores and found some GREAT deals, so I bought a few books, and eventually went back to the bus station. There were accidents on the road, the trip back took an extra hour and I missed my bus back to the yeshiva from Jerusalem, so I had another hour to get through. I started walking around, got poured on, got on a bus, and eventually got back to the yeshiva! It would've been a miserable day, but I had such a good time in Tzfat, and was able to read/learn lots of good Torah, so Baruch HaShem I got back to the yeshiva with a huge smile on my face!
The last week has been a full one, with lots of learning. Nothing too special has happened, except lots of Torah learning and there is nothing better in the world than learning Torah! Well, actually, something did happen. I went to Jerusalem on Wednesday night with one of the guys from Yeshiva for a shiur by Rabbi Shalom Arush and even though the whole thing was in Hebrew, I was very pleasantly surprised that I understood the majority of what he was saying!
This past Shabbat I had Friday night dinner at one of the kollel students from the yeshiva and his wife's house. It was a great time. He is also from Toronto, and went to many of the same schools as me, so there was a lot of time to reminisce. Also, their daughter - I think they said she is a year and a half - is adorable! For lunch I went to one of the Rabbis' house! It was also a really nice meal. Baruch HaShem, Efrat is an awesome town. Getting to the Rabbi's house was the first time I really took time to walk through Efrat and it turns out the whole town is a really nice, calm, and peaceful place!
Also, this Shabbat, there were a few guys from the Darkeinu yeshiva - which is for students with special needs! It was actually really special to daven with them and to eat Seudat Shelishit with them. After Shabbat I was checking email and about to go to bed when one of the guys got a phone call looking for someone to do Shmira (guard a body before it is buried) over night and I decided that I would do it. I don't know why, but it seemed like the thing to do. So, I spent all night, from around 11pm Saturday night until 8am Sunday (this morning) saying tehillim and learning Torah! Baruch HaShem, the night actually flew by and I didn't even feel at all tired until around 630am. I got back to the yeshiva at around 845am, at something to have some strength, davened Shacharit, and started learning morning seder (gemara) but, totally unable to focus, I went to sleep, missed lunch, made my own something, davened Mincah and continued the day. Now this day is at an end and I am quite tired.
Before I go, I just want to express to everyone reading that, no matter what you might read in the news or see on T.V., Israel is SO great and I am 100% loving the life that I have been blessed to lead while I am here. I will, G-d willing, be starting to find ways to earn a parnassa while I am here, including continuing what I was doing in Toronto, teaching Bar Mitzvah lessons. I have a few other things that I am slowly working on and it all seems promising - even within the parameters of the minimal time available to commit to each thing! May it be HaShem's Will, that by His Loving Grace, all those who need His Support should receive everything that they require, and more so, that He should Grant us ALL everything that He Wants us to have, from financial stability to Peace in our lives!
May we all merit to live in Israel, physically, spiritually, or both! :)
L'Shalom!
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Life goes on...
b"H
So, it turns out that a week has gone by and I haven't taken the time to let anyone (except the parentals and other family) know how I have been. Especially given the current situation in Israel, I really should be posting as well. I apologize to all those who have been interested in reading more, and who have, given my lack of total dedication, been left disappointed.
Since my last entry, I have actually started in Yeshiva! It has been just over a week, actually, and what a week it has been. I am really enjoying this whole "learning for 14 hours a day" thing. I think that is partly due to the small nature of the yeshiva, and thus a very close community atmosphere.
It has not only been learning though. Last week, one of the Kollel (ie. Rabbinical) students celebrated his son's brit milah (ritual circumcision) at the yeshiva. He had a lot of family here and there was a very big and delicious breakfast. The best part about it was the coffee. In Israel, you can get a "nescafe" which is simply any kind of instant coffee (they actually charge the equivalent of $2 - $3 for a cup of this in some coffee shops) or you can get a 'cafe hafuch' which is pretty much a latte/cappuccino or you can get a 'cafe shachor' which is a turkish coffee. At this meal, they had "real" percolated north American style coffee. It was fantastic.
Also, one day we played soccer in the evening! It was muchos fun! It turns out I'm a terrible soccer player, but then again, there were some native Britonians there who have been playing their whole lives, and I haven't played soccer in a few years...Oh, also, i think that I am scared of the ball was a bit of an issue.
This past Shabbat was an "in-Shabbat" which means that it is spent at the yeshva. It was really nice. A lot of the married guys came with their families and there are tons of little kids running around the whole time. I was asked last week to prepare some Torah reading, which I did with pleasure, and Shabbat morning, I was asked if I can "daven" (lead part of the service), so I lead Shacharit, and b"H, people seemed to enjoy it. Someone came up to me and said that it was nice to hear a solid traditional davening as opposed to the particular style that seems to have permeated the entire of the Jewish world. This was not meant as anything against that style (for he and I both agreed about its value) but more to say that there is a lot of merit in the traditional way as well. Moving into the future with a strong connection to your heritage and traditions - sounds like a pretty nice way to summarized Jewish practice, to me. I find myself saying "It's all about balance" an awful lot! But, that is because it is! :)
One of the divrei Torah on Shabbat was an insight into the uniqueness of yeshiva lifestyle and how there are things we have the opportunity to do here, that once we return to the "real world" stop being an option, namely, the ability to learn Torah constantly. This total immersion in a learning/praying/learning-some-more life is definitely not the norm and everyone here is very aware of that. It is actually a really great thing! We are totally disconnected from the real world, but are all very aware of that, and are planning on using our experiences in this particular lifestyle to enhance our lives as we embark on whatever paths we take in life. There is really a great balance here between everything. I couldn't be happier with the yeshiva! It is exactly what I was looking for.
Meanwhile, I can't ignore what is going on in another place in Israel. Another interesting thing that took place over Shabbat was the attendance by a group of random soldiers! They were supposed to go to Gaza on Friday, but something changed in the plan and they were here over Shabbat. It was nice to have them here. They joined us for davening and the meals and although they kept mostly to themselves, they were definitely a welcome group and it brought this whole conflict very close to home. On Sunday, one by one, they got picked up by army trucks and taken to their stations. Right now, they are probably all involved in what is going on in Gaza. May HaShem guard them, protect them, fight for them, and bring them home safely! Amen!
Today was a fast day - the 10th of Tevet - which commemorates the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem which lead to the destruction of the first temple! Ultimately the commemoration is to remind us of what we, the Jewish people, did wrong as a collective group that led to our downfall. The message of the day should be to reflect on our past so we don't make the same mistakes in the present, which would, G-d forbid, lead to further destruction in the future. Those who don't learn from the past are the only ones surprised when it repeats itself! The message of the TaNaKh, and the prophets of those days was to return in a complete Teshuva - repentance, to HaShem! If you are not sure what that means, look up to Heaven and cry out "HaShem, I know I am not perfect! I know I have flaws! I know I need to correct myself, both in my physical actions and my spiritual ones. HaShem, I don't know what I have to do to correct myself! I don't know what to do to do what needs to be done! HaShem, help me make teshuva!" Something along these lines anyway. Or, better yet, there is always "HaShem? Are you there? A little help, please?"
If you are thinking that you are perfect just the way you are, I hate to burst your bubble. If you think that you don't have anything the requires changing - wake up call - you are arrogant and wrong! Life is a process of perpetual growth. This means constant self introspection and constant self improvement. One doesn't need a "self help book" or some sort of motivational CD series to grow. One simply needs to take some time out every day to reflect on the days events, and what was done right, and what was done wrong - not just for your own benefit, but how did your actions affect others - and from this analysis make the efforts to grow and change. And don't necessarily do this because it will give you a better life. It may, but it may not. Do it because it is the right thing to do! A tzadik, a totally righteous person, is someone who has spend his or her life doing what is tzodek - the right thing! Jewish law is halacha, from the root "lalechet" which means "to walk". Halacha is the way to go! It is very simple. Halacha isn't there to make anyone a good Jew. It is there to make you the best PERSON you can be! The greatest contributions you can make to the human race will be through the observance of halacha! If you meet someone who espouses to live an halachic life and yet they are a generally rotten person, they are falling far short of the requirements of an halachic lifestyle.
Israel is now in another war. This time it is not against the Babylonians, and it seems like we have the upper hand, but ultimately, we are still under siege. Lebanon to the North, Syria to the North East, Egypt to the South, and Iran lingering just beyond all of them, quietly funneling resources into all of them, building up for the destruction of Israel. No, the Babylonians are nowhere to be found, but their siege is still holding strong! The Babylonians destroyed the temple and exiled the people because the people refused to return to the path of Torah and HaShem. The current situation sees us without a temple and leaving exile. The current enemy doesn't have a temple to destroy, nor does it care to exile the people. The current enemy wants to destroy the people! With HaShem and Torah in our hearts, they have no chance!
Take a moment, look up, thank HaShem for everything good that you have in your life! Then ask for some help in fulfilling His Will!
I have been blessed with a HUGE bracha, that I am currently in a place where I get to spend my days fully immersed in Torah and thoughts of HaShem! Thank G-d I have merited to be here! However, one does not need to be in this kind of environment to live a life committed to HaShem and Torah. It is often MUCH better to do a very little bit with totally proper intentions than to do a lot with no intention at all. Parents, get your kids to say the "Shma" before bed! As I said before, look up to HaShem and thank Him for everything good you have! Take some time to introspect and better yourself! Read one line from the TaNaKh, and reflect on it for the course of the day. Learn one halacha every day. These are very small simple things that can have a HUGE effect on the state of the Collective Soul of the Jewish People, and on the state of the world as a whole! These small actions can protect our brave and Holy soldiers who are risking their lives for the benefit of our lives! Look up to HaShem and ask Him to protect our soldiers as they protect us!
Everyday I look up as I hear the jets flying in the distance and see their smoke trails overhead. Every day I open my ears for a moment during the quiet of the day and sense a siren going off in the distance. Everyday I look up and hear the propeller of surveillances helicopters overhead ensuring my safety! Thank G-d that we have all these things in place to protect us! May it be HaShem's Will that our protective measures should be successful, that the miracles He has shown us in this current battle should continue, that all of our soldiers should be safe, and that there should be minimal, if any at all, casualties on both sides. May it be His will that all this should come to a final conclusion soon, where we can all live our lives in a world of Shalom, Peace! As it is written, U'fros aleinu sukat Shelomeicha! Amen!
Tomorrow there is another brit milah, this time of the son of one of Rabbanim here! We are going to Me'arat Hamachpelah in Hevron, where Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rivkah, and Leah are buried. We are going in an armoured bus! May it be HaShem's Will that we go in peace and come back in peace!
I titled this post "life goes on". I was originally alluding to the fact that I haven't written anything in over a week, but now I see a whole new meaning to it.
We have an option. Life can go on, and we go along for the ride doing the best we can to not lose our grip, or we can truly get on life, and use it for the purpose it was given, the return to HaShem! And no matter what else is happening, to serve HaShem takes precedence. Even with everything going on, life also goes on. New life is brought into the world, and the most physical action of the brit-milah, is the essential connection to the ultimate spirituality and a connection with HaShem!
May we all merit to get on life! Etz Chaim Hi, Lamachazikim bah! She (Torah) is a tree of Life to everyone who holds on tight!
Keep smiling! Life is SO good!
So, it turns out that a week has gone by and I haven't taken the time to let anyone (except the parentals and other family) know how I have been. Especially given the current situation in Israel, I really should be posting as well. I apologize to all those who have been interested in reading more, and who have, given my lack of total dedication, been left disappointed.
Since my last entry, I have actually started in Yeshiva! It has been just over a week, actually, and what a week it has been. I am really enjoying this whole "learning for 14 hours a day" thing. I think that is partly due to the small nature of the yeshiva, and thus a very close community atmosphere.
It has not only been learning though. Last week, one of the Kollel (ie. Rabbinical) students celebrated his son's brit milah (ritual circumcision) at the yeshiva. He had a lot of family here and there was a very big and delicious breakfast. The best part about it was the coffee. In Israel, you can get a "nescafe" which is simply any kind of instant coffee (they actually charge the equivalent of $2 - $3 for a cup of this in some coffee shops) or you can get a 'cafe hafuch' which is pretty much a latte/cappuccino or you can get a 'cafe shachor' which is a turkish coffee. At this meal, they had "real" percolated north American style coffee. It was fantastic.
Also, one day we played soccer in the evening! It was muchos fun! It turns out I'm a terrible soccer player, but then again, there were some native Britonians there who have been playing their whole lives, and I haven't played soccer in a few years...Oh, also, i think that I am scared of the ball was a bit of an issue.
This past Shabbat was an "in-Shabbat" which means that it is spent at the yeshva. It was really nice. A lot of the married guys came with their families and there are tons of little kids running around the whole time. I was asked last week to prepare some Torah reading, which I did with pleasure, and Shabbat morning, I was asked if I can "daven" (lead part of the service), so I lead Shacharit, and b"H, people seemed to enjoy it. Someone came up to me and said that it was nice to hear a solid traditional davening as opposed to the particular style that seems to have permeated the entire of the Jewish world. This was not meant as anything against that style (for he and I both agreed about its value) but more to say that there is a lot of merit in the traditional way as well. Moving into the future with a strong connection to your heritage and traditions - sounds like a pretty nice way to summarized Jewish practice, to me. I find myself saying "It's all about balance" an awful lot! But, that is because it is! :)
One of the divrei Torah on Shabbat was an insight into the uniqueness of yeshiva lifestyle and how there are things we have the opportunity to do here, that once we return to the "real world" stop being an option, namely, the ability to learn Torah constantly. This total immersion in a learning/praying/learning-some-more life is definitely not the norm and everyone here is very aware of that. It is actually a really great thing! We are totally disconnected from the real world, but are all very aware of that, and are planning on using our experiences in this particular lifestyle to enhance our lives as we embark on whatever paths we take in life. There is really a great balance here between everything. I couldn't be happier with the yeshiva! It is exactly what I was looking for.
Meanwhile, I can't ignore what is going on in another place in Israel. Another interesting thing that took place over Shabbat was the attendance by a group of random soldiers! They were supposed to go to Gaza on Friday, but something changed in the plan and they were here over Shabbat. It was nice to have them here. They joined us for davening and the meals and although they kept mostly to themselves, they were definitely a welcome group and it brought this whole conflict very close to home. On Sunday, one by one, they got picked up by army trucks and taken to their stations. Right now, they are probably all involved in what is going on in Gaza. May HaShem guard them, protect them, fight for them, and bring them home safely! Amen!
Today was a fast day - the 10th of Tevet - which commemorates the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem which lead to the destruction of the first temple! Ultimately the commemoration is to remind us of what we, the Jewish people, did wrong as a collective group that led to our downfall. The message of the day should be to reflect on our past so we don't make the same mistakes in the present, which would, G-d forbid, lead to further destruction in the future. Those who don't learn from the past are the only ones surprised when it repeats itself! The message of the TaNaKh, and the prophets of those days was to return in a complete Teshuva - repentance, to HaShem! If you are not sure what that means, look up to Heaven and cry out "HaShem, I know I am not perfect! I know I have flaws! I know I need to correct myself, both in my physical actions and my spiritual ones. HaShem, I don't know what I have to do to correct myself! I don't know what to do to do what needs to be done! HaShem, help me make teshuva!" Something along these lines anyway. Or, better yet, there is always "HaShem? Are you there? A little help, please?"
If you are thinking that you are perfect just the way you are, I hate to burst your bubble. If you think that you don't have anything the requires changing - wake up call - you are arrogant and wrong! Life is a process of perpetual growth. This means constant self introspection and constant self improvement. One doesn't need a "self help book" or some sort of motivational CD series to grow. One simply needs to take some time out every day to reflect on the days events, and what was done right, and what was done wrong - not just for your own benefit, but how did your actions affect others - and from this analysis make the efforts to grow and change. And don't necessarily do this because it will give you a better life. It may, but it may not. Do it because it is the right thing to do! A tzadik, a totally righteous person, is someone who has spend his or her life doing what is tzodek - the right thing! Jewish law is halacha, from the root "lalechet" which means "to walk". Halacha is the way to go! It is very simple. Halacha isn't there to make anyone a good Jew. It is there to make you the best PERSON you can be! The greatest contributions you can make to the human race will be through the observance of halacha! If you meet someone who espouses to live an halachic life and yet they are a generally rotten person, they are falling far short of the requirements of an halachic lifestyle.
Israel is now in another war. This time it is not against the Babylonians, and it seems like we have the upper hand, but ultimately, we are still under siege. Lebanon to the North, Syria to the North East, Egypt to the South, and Iran lingering just beyond all of them, quietly funneling resources into all of them, building up for the destruction of Israel. No, the Babylonians are nowhere to be found, but their siege is still holding strong! The Babylonians destroyed the temple and exiled the people because the people refused to return to the path of Torah and HaShem. The current situation sees us without a temple and leaving exile. The current enemy doesn't have a temple to destroy, nor does it care to exile the people. The current enemy wants to destroy the people! With HaShem and Torah in our hearts, they have no chance!
Take a moment, look up, thank HaShem for everything good that you have in your life! Then ask for some help in fulfilling His Will!
I have been blessed with a HUGE bracha, that I am currently in a place where I get to spend my days fully immersed in Torah and thoughts of HaShem! Thank G-d I have merited to be here! However, one does not need to be in this kind of environment to live a life committed to HaShem and Torah. It is often MUCH better to do a very little bit with totally proper intentions than to do a lot with no intention at all. Parents, get your kids to say the "Shma" before bed! As I said before, look up to HaShem and thank Him for everything good you have! Take some time to introspect and better yourself! Read one line from the TaNaKh, and reflect on it for the course of the day. Learn one halacha every day. These are very small simple things that can have a HUGE effect on the state of the Collective Soul of the Jewish People, and on the state of the world as a whole! These small actions can protect our brave and Holy soldiers who are risking their lives for the benefit of our lives! Look up to HaShem and ask Him to protect our soldiers as they protect us!
Everyday I look up as I hear the jets flying in the distance and see their smoke trails overhead. Every day I open my ears for a moment during the quiet of the day and sense a siren going off in the distance. Everyday I look up and hear the propeller of surveillances helicopters overhead ensuring my safety! Thank G-d that we have all these things in place to protect us! May it be HaShem's Will that our protective measures should be successful, that the miracles He has shown us in this current battle should continue, that all of our soldiers should be safe, and that there should be minimal, if any at all, casualties on both sides. May it be His will that all this should come to a final conclusion soon, where we can all live our lives in a world of Shalom, Peace! As it is written, U'fros aleinu sukat Shelomeicha! Amen!
Tomorrow there is another brit milah, this time of the son of one of Rabbanim here! We are going to Me'arat Hamachpelah in Hevron, where Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rivkah, and Leah are buried. We are going in an armoured bus! May it be HaShem's Will that we go in peace and come back in peace!
I titled this post "life goes on". I was originally alluding to the fact that I haven't written anything in over a week, but now I see a whole new meaning to it.
We have an option. Life can go on, and we go along for the ride doing the best we can to not lose our grip, or we can truly get on life, and use it for the purpose it was given, the return to HaShem! And no matter what else is happening, to serve HaShem takes precedence. Even with everything going on, life also goes on. New life is brought into the world, and the most physical action of the brit-milah, is the essential connection to the ultimate spirituality and a connection with HaShem!
May we all merit to get on life! Etz Chaim Hi, Lamachazikim bah! She (Torah) is a tree of Life to everyone who holds on tight!
Keep smiling! Life is SO good!
Saturday, December 27, 2008
A little bit of light and a little bit of darkness...
b"H
Shabbat recently ended, the 7th light of Channuka was lit, and Rosh Chodesh (the new moon [of]) Tevet is upon us. I am happy to say that the light in the title is referring to my own life, and that the darkness will only be referenced quickly here at the beginning.
I decided to look at ynet news and found that over Shabbat 170 strikes were carried out against Chamas targets in Gaza, 22o people lost their lives and more and more rockets continue to slam southern Israel. The world apparently continues to urge Israel's "restraint" which is totally naive - I'd like to see what "the world" would do if their neighbours, no matter how tense their relationship, kept launching better and stronger missiles at them day in and day out. Maybe country terms are too big... I like to see what any individual would do if their next door neighbour kept throwing rocks through their windows saying "we liked our old neighbours better". You might tell them to stop, but eventually you'd call the police...and the police might say stop, but eventually there is going to be some repercussions on that "neighbour" for their actions against you. Pardon the vulgarity of it all, but restraint my butt!!! (And for all those of you laughing saying "that wasn't vulgar at all!!!", we live in a relative world - vulgar for one might be quite tame for another...)
Anyhoo, ultimately, with this whole situation, I say we have to fight fire with fire - but it is definitely not what you are thinking... Achmadinajad (I don't know or care the exact spelling of that name) has said that Israel's attacks are a legitimate retaliation against the palestinians, but with G-d's help, Israel is going to lose. He is right about two things: Israel's actions are a legitimate retaliation and that the winner will be determined by the hand of G-d! The Land that I am in, Israel, a land that the Torah, Bible, and Koran acknowledges was gifted by G-d to the Jewish people (yes that is right...If you get into a political argument with someone siding with the Palestinians just say "G-d gave the land to the Jews. He took it away for a bit, and now He has given it back!". They will not be able to argue it because they know it to be true. See Rashi's commentary on Bereishit 1:1). This is the reason we should be fighting for this Land! Not because it is a safe haven, not because we don't have elsewhere to live, but because the Creator of everything imaginable and way more beyond that, gave it to us! It is ours!
That sad thing is that right now it doesn't feel like that so much! Why not? If a person received a birthday present from someone their told is one of their best friends, and asks "which friend, who?" and gets no response, it will be hard to accept the present from "whomever" because you don't know who that person is! (We're not talking charity here...) The present will only be openly accepted when we know who gave it to us! I think too many Jews, both religious and secular have no clue who HaShem is! Not only that, they don't care! They are happy reading and learning religious texts and praying the words from a siddur and never ever close their eyes or look up to the sky and ask "HaShem? G-d? Are you there? Where are you? Can you hear me? Who are you? What is all this happening to me?" People constantly claim "I don't think this is what G-d wants..." when they experience some negative association with something religious, or otherwise. I only want to know how they know? I don't know what G-d wants!!!
I learn Torah, I keep mitzvot and I have no clue!!! I can only do the best with what I have, to try and build a strong relationship with HaShem! As The One who created everything, who allowed me to exist within His creation, I think that is the least I can do...try to find out who He is that has given me this gift, so I can say "Thanks Dude!!!" yeah, that's right, I just called G-d "Dude!!!" I related to many of my closest friends as "Dude". Why shouldn't G-d be among them?
This I think is a major issue in Israel today! We are fighting for a gift and we don't understand where the gift came from! As such, many people feel it is better just to give away the gift than to say "It is mine! I got it from Him! If you don't like it, tell Him that, not me!" Unfortunately, the enemies of Israel, the Palestinians and many of their supporters around the world DO know who we got the Gift from! They acknowledge that HaShem gave us the gift. They acknowledge that HaShem can take it away. They say "G-d willing we will defeat Israel" and we say "Machine gun willing we will defeat them". Until we come back and address the situation properly and say "G-d gave me this gift! It is mine! If you don't like it, take it up with G-d, but leave me alone!" we have no chance of victory. We can bomb and bomb and bomb, and they will keep doing the same. If we don't know who gave us the gift of Israel, than how is He ever going to come to our defense!? (Please note, this is not saying that the army shouldn't fight. They should just fight with the intent that G-d is fighting for them, and they are merely His vessels of manifestation in the world. The gun can shoot 1000 rounds, but it is only by the Will of HaShem that any of them will hit anything...)
It is our time to turn our hearts to Heaven and for everyone one of us, Jew or non Jew to say "G-d, I'm here! I know we haven't spoken much lately! My Bad!!! Let's catch up a bit!" This might be a start! May it be HaShem's will that All his children, Jews and non-Jews alike, start acknowledging Him for all the gifts He has given us, and start establishing some sort of relationship with Him! Amen!
Okay, that said (some "quickly here at the beginning", eh?) on to more personal matters! The reason for this whole thing is to keep those who care updated on my life!
I left off a week ago, on route for Tsfat. I went to Tzfat and went directly to Ascent, a hostel that teach Kabbalah and Chassidut, mostly as taught by ChaBaD and tied in with many of the teachings of Rav Ginsburgh, shlit"a. The best part was that they offered classes on various subjects based on the teachings of the Kabbalah and Chassidut (two official classes a day) and for each class you attend, 10 NIS were taken off of the cost for staying. Learning Torah AND saving money! What a deal! :)
Oh, and just so you know, this is the view from right outside of my room at the hostel.
Okay, so, I was there for the first couple of nights of Channuka! We lit candles and sung songs,
and they hosted Birthright groups and we got MANY soufganiot (greasy jelly doughnuts) and one of the Rabbi's invited me and another couple of the guests over to his house and they were very hospitable and it was overall a GREAT experience. I would recommend to anyone of all ages to check it out next time they are in Tsfat! Their official website is www.kabbalaonline.com. I will include this in my list on the right hand margin after I conclude this post. Anyway, I made some great friends there, some of whom I have been keeping in touch with since then! Baruch HaShem for meeting nice people wherever I have been going!
One of my days in Tzfat I went to the Mikveh of the Arizal (Rabbi Yitzchak Luria Ashkenazi, z"l) and then, instead of going right to his kever (grave site), I went to the bottom of the cemetery to the Ohel (tent/building over the grave site) of the prophet Hoshea. I really wanted to sit there and read the revelations that he brought down and the prophesies he had, but there was no TaNaKh (Torah, Nevi'im, Ketuvim - the three parts of the Jewish Bible) in the building, so I recited the tikkun klali, the general remedy, 10 chapters of Tehillim (Psalms) as revealed by Rebbe Nachman of Breslov (Psalms 16,32,41,42,59,77,90,105,137,150) that are a general rectification for any blemishes on the soul. I actually said the tikkun about six or 7 times that day as I said it again and again at every kever of a Tzaddik that I stopped at, all the way up to the Arizal. It was raining the whole time and a very powerful experience. My little tikkun klali booklet is totally water damaged!! :) Anyway, that night, after all that happened was such an over all great night. I can't put it into words. A lot of the stuff I mentioned earlier took place and I generally had a very good mood about everything going on around me, Baruch HaShem!!!
While in Tzfat I picked up an email from the Yeshiva where I will eventually be studying saying that my room is ready and to be in touch! I left Tsfat for my family in Binyamina where I had left many of my things.
En route to Binyamina, I stopped by Meron - about 10 minutes away from Tzfat to visit the kever of the Holy Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, Rashb"i, who revealed to the world the teachings of the Holy Zohar - the premise for most of what is understood today as Kabbalistic wisdom. At his kever I said the tikkun again, and in the stack and stacks of seforim (religious texts) there, I was able to find a copy of Hoshea. I found a cave on the hill (the kever is atop of mount Meron), one which I had discovered (not for the first time) during Lag Ba'omer this past spring, and in that cave I took shelter from the rain, lit Channuka candles, lit more candles for ample light (you are not supposed to used the Channuka candles for anything but to look at them) and started reading the book of Hoshea in the cave. Between chapters, I would glance up and stare at the candles glowing....
It was quite a powerful experience. Especially once I got to the end it carried special significance as my last bar-mitzvah student before I left for Israel had the haftarah (prophetic reading) from the last chapters of Hoshea!
I soon after left Meron and headed back towards Binyamina. I JUST missed my bus, and had to wait about 45 minutes to an hour until the next one showed up, but it did, I found my way back, left my hat on the bus :( oops, and was back with family!
After spending a week in Jerusalem and Tzfat, 2 of the 4 Holy cities, being in a town like Binyamina was actually quite difficult! I mean, it was great to be with family again, but rather difficult to get into a spiritual mode which came so naturally in those other places. I got in touch with the yeshiva and arranged that I would go there after spending a second night in Binyamina. While I was there my cousins with whom I was staying were blessed to become grandparents!!! It was very exciting! They were very excited! It was great to see and to be there with them. They were truly SO good to me during the time I was there. I could have asked for more or be more thankful that they were there for me to give me a place to stay.
At about 1130am the next morning, I made sure that everything I had was in order and started the shlep of 160 pounds of stuff (what was I thinking) from Binyamina to Efrat. 1 train, 2 buses (which turned into 3 - I'll get to this soon) and a whole lot of shlepping!!!
Getting to the train was fine, I figured out a decent way to lug all my stuff, putting my stuff down and sitting on the train worked well as I sat right next to the luggage rack, getting off the train was just more shlepping - thank G-d for elevators - and here is the first trouble I had. I had been to the station before last time I went to Jerusalem. I thought I remembered which way I walked...I didn't. I walked down the long hallway that crosses over half of the highway, exited and looked around thinking "now, where are those buses...?" After asking 3 or 4 or 92 people, I was finally informed they are on the other side of the highway. oops. So, I had to remind the guy that I had just left 3 minutes earlier, had to cross the same half of the hallway, tell the lady at the ticket booth that I exited the wrong side, cross through the train station, cross the other half of the highway, and finally get to the buses. Okay, so now, with two broken shoulders and aching forearms, I finally get to the buses. My bus came quickly and I loaded up and got a nice rest. The Jerusalem central bus station has some serious security. I had many bags, one of which is VERY large. Okay, 20 minutes later, I entered the bus station and had to figure out which bus I needed and it happened to be all the way on the upper level, which required 2 elevators and walking through crowds of people (with all 160 pounds of my bags). I found the place, got on the bus 20 minutes later and sat down for a ride that I have never taken before. It wouldn't have been a problem...it shouldn't have been a problem. I didn't hear the driver call "tachana achrona" - last stop, and then I realized that we were leaving Efrat and heading back to Jerusalem. I asked the driver if I had missed my stop (duh) and he explained that he had said last stop and I didn't hear him. He was nice enough about it though and let me know when the next stop was that I could cross the street and get back on the same bus. So, back out of the gush etzion block, and into the outskirts of Jerusalem, I got let off the bus, grabbed all of my 160 pounds of stuff, and started trudging, now in the rain, across the street. There was lots of traffic and I had to wait for four lights - anyone who knows Israel's traffic light system will understand this. As I approached the stop, I looked up to see my bus.....driving away! In the next hour, I watched a busy trempiada (hitchhiking spot) and 2 packed bus stops empty of people, leaving me and my HUGE bundles of stuff alone in the darkness in the rain. I smiled! I looked up, and said "HaShem! OY! What have I done to deserve this? Is it a test? Are you trying to see how I'll react to a given situation? Well, I know that You are behind all of this stuff and I know that even though it seems like a giant hassle to me, if it is from You, it MUST be good!!! Please HaShem, bring me my bus! It is getting chilly out! I have a lot of stuff and I just want to get to the yeshiva!" I went on like this for probably the next 2 minutes. I would've kept going but the third time I said "Please bring me my bus" my bus turned the corner!!! Baruch HaShem!!! :) (If your a skeptic and are thinking "the bus would've come anyway whether i had asked HaShem or not..." I don't really care if it would have! All I know is that my conversation with HaShem made the smile on my face bigger and bigger by the second! How big is your skeptical smile? ;) I sat in the front row this time and had a whole conversation with the driver who actually drove me a little out of his way to drop me directly at the gates of the yeshiva!
I called the madrich (the advisor) who had left my key with someone, aaaaaaaaannnd.....he didn't answer! I called again...still no answer. I remember him saying something about his neighbours. I looked on the doors of a bunch of the units and found one with his last name. I went to the neighbours and knocked. No answer. Once again, OY! I knocked again! Nothing. I looked up and asked HaShem to get me to my room so I could put my stuff down and relax for a bit. I noticed the door bell. I pushed the button - it buzzed really loud! The window behind me opened up and a lady, wife of one of the Rabbinical kollel guys, said "they're not home! Can I help you?" I explained that I was a new arrival and that they were supposed to have my key. She said "hold on", called them, found the details, and Baruch HaShem 7 hours after leaving Binyamina I got to my new apartment.
I have my own bedroom, living room, bathroom, and kitchen sink with a few cupboards (no stove or fridge). I couldn't be happier. I was expecting a bed, a shelf, a desk and a roommate or two. Upon letting me in Karina had invited me over to meet her husband (soon to be Rabbi) Baruch and their son Dovid! Cute kid! haha... Anyway, I went over, did a candle lighting and ate some latkes (fried potato pancakes...mmm..)
I went back to my room, unpacked, was greeted by a couple of my neighbours (who also learn at the yeshiva) and eventually went to bed. I woke up at 6:45am in time for 7am Shacharit and as I stood up, this is what I saw...:
Welcome to Yeshivat Torat-Yosef Hamivtar in the Judean Hills, Israel! :)
Shabbat recently ended, the 7th light of Channuka was lit, and Rosh Chodesh (the new moon [of]) Tevet is upon us. I am happy to say that the light in the title is referring to my own life, and that the darkness will only be referenced quickly here at the beginning.
I decided to look at ynet news and found that over Shabbat 170 strikes were carried out against Chamas targets in Gaza, 22o people lost their lives and more and more rockets continue to slam southern Israel. The world apparently continues to urge Israel's "restraint" which is totally naive - I'd like to see what "the world" would do if their neighbours, no matter how tense their relationship, kept launching better and stronger missiles at them day in and day out. Maybe country terms are too big... I like to see what any individual would do if their next door neighbour kept throwing rocks through their windows saying "we liked our old neighbours better". You might tell them to stop, but eventually you'd call the police...and the police might say stop, but eventually there is going to be some repercussions on that "neighbour" for their actions against you. Pardon the vulgarity of it all, but restraint my butt!!! (And for all those of you laughing saying "that wasn't vulgar at all!!!", we live in a relative world - vulgar for one might be quite tame for another...)
Anyhoo, ultimately, with this whole situation, I say we have to fight fire with fire - but it is definitely not what you are thinking... Achmadinajad (I don't know or care the exact spelling of that name) has said that Israel's attacks are a legitimate retaliation against the palestinians, but with G-d's help, Israel is going to lose. He is right about two things: Israel's actions are a legitimate retaliation and that the winner will be determined by the hand of G-d! The Land that I am in, Israel, a land that the Torah, Bible, and Koran acknowledges was gifted by G-d to the Jewish people (yes that is right...If you get into a political argument with someone siding with the Palestinians just say "G-d gave the land to the Jews. He took it away for a bit, and now He has given it back!". They will not be able to argue it because they know it to be true. See Rashi's commentary on Bereishit 1:1). This is the reason we should be fighting for this Land! Not because it is a safe haven, not because we don't have elsewhere to live, but because the Creator of everything imaginable and way more beyond that, gave it to us! It is ours!
That sad thing is that right now it doesn't feel like that so much! Why not? If a person received a birthday present from someone their told is one of their best friends, and asks "which friend, who?" and gets no response, it will be hard to accept the present from "whomever" because you don't know who that person is! (We're not talking charity here...) The present will only be openly accepted when we know who gave it to us! I think too many Jews, both religious and secular have no clue who HaShem is! Not only that, they don't care! They are happy reading and learning religious texts and praying the words from a siddur and never ever close their eyes or look up to the sky and ask "HaShem? G-d? Are you there? Where are you? Can you hear me? Who are you? What is all this happening to me?" People constantly claim "I don't think this is what G-d wants..." when they experience some negative association with something religious, or otherwise. I only want to know how they know? I don't know what G-d wants!!!
I learn Torah, I keep mitzvot and I have no clue!!! I can only do the best with what I have, to try and build a strong relationship with HaShem! As The One who created everything, who allowed me to exist within His creation, I think that is the least I can do...try to find out who He is that has given me this gift, so I can say "Thanks Dude!!!" yeah, that's right, I just called G-d "Dude!!!" I related to many of my closest friends as "Dude". Why shouldn't G-d be among them?
This I think is a major issue in Israel today! We are fighting for a gift and we don't understand where the gift came from! As such, many people feel it is better just to give away the gift than to say "It is mine! I got it from Him! If you don't like it, tell Him that, not me!" Unfortunately, the enemies of Israel, the Palestinians and many of their supporters around the world DO know who we got the Gift from! They acknowledge that HaShem gave us the gift. They acknowledge that HaShem can take it away. They say "G-d willing we will defeat Israel" and we say "Machine gun willing we will defeat them". Until we come back and address the situation properly and say "G-d gave me this gift! It is mine! If you don't like it, take it up with G-d, but leave me alone!" we have no chance of victory. We can bomb and bomb and bomb, and they will keep doing the same. If we don't know who gave us the gift of Israel, than how is He ever going to come to our defense!? (Please note, this is not saying that the army shouldn't fight. They should just fight with the intent that G-d is fighting for them, and they are merely His vessels of manifestation in the world. The gun can shoot 1000 rounds, but it is only by the Will of HaShem that any of them will hit anything...)
It is our time to turn our hearts to Heaven and for everyone one of us, Jew or non Jew to say "G-d, I'm here! I know we haven't spoken much lately! My Bad!!! Let's catch up a bit!" This might be a start! May it be HaShem's will that All his children, Jews and non-Jews alike, start acknowledging Him for all the gifts He has given us, and start establishing some sort of relationship with Him! Amen!
Okay, that said (some "quickly here at the beginning", eh?) on to more personal matters! The reason for this whole thing is to keep those who care updated on my life!
I left off a week ago, on route for Tsfat. I went to Tzfat and went directly to Ascent, a hostel that teach Kabbalah and Chassidut, mostly as taught by ChaBaD and tied in with many of the teachings of Rav Ginsburgh, shlit"a. The best part was that they offered classes on various subjects based on the teachings of the Kabbalah and Chassidut (two official classes a day) and for each class you attend, 10 NIS were taken off of the cost for staying. Learning Torah AND saving money! What a deal! :)
Oh, and just so you know, this is the view from right outside of my room at the hostel.
Okay, so, I was there for the first couple of nights of Channuka! We lit candles and sung songs,
and they hosted Birthright groups and we got MANY soufganiot (greasy jelly doughnuts) and one of the Rabbi's invited me and another couple of the guests over to his house and they were very hospitable and it was overall a GREAT experience. I would recommend to anyone of all ages to check it out next time they are in Tsfat! Their official website is www.kabbalaonline.com. I will include this in my list on the right hand margin after I conclude this post. Anyway, I made some great friends there, some of whom I have been keeping in touch with since then! Baruch HaShem for meeting nice people wherever I have been going!
One of my days in Tzfat I went to the Mikveh of the Arizal (Rabbi Yitzchak Luria Ashkenazi, z"l) and then, instead of going right to his kever (grave site), I went to the bottom of the cemetery to the Ohel (tent/building over the grave site) of the prophet Hoshea. I really wanted to sit there and read the revelations that he brought down and the prophesies he had, but there was no TaNaKh (Torah, Nevi'im, Ketuvim - the three parts of the Jewish Bible) in the building, so I recited the tikkun klali, the general remedy, 10 chapters of Tehillim (Psalms) as revealed by Rebbe Nachman of Breslov (Psalms 16,32,41,42,59,77,90,105,137,150) that are a general rectification for any blemishes on the soul. I actually said the tikkun about six or 7 times that day as I said it again and again at every kever of a Tzaddik that I stopped at, all the way up to the Arizal. It was raining the whole time and a very powerful experience. My little tikkun klali booklet is totally water damaged!! :) Anyway, that night, after all that happened was such an over all great night. I can't put it into words. A lot of the stuff I mentioned earlier took place and I generally had a very good mood about everything going on around me, Baruch HaShem!!!
While in Tzfat I picked up an email from the Yeshiva where I will eventually be studying saying that my room is ready and to be in touch! I left Tsfat for my family in Binyamina where I had left many of my things.
En route to Binyamina, I stopped by Meron - about 10 minutes away from Tzfat to visit the kever of the Holy Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, Rashb"i, who revealed to the world the teachings of the Holy Zohar - the premise for most of what is understood today as Kabbalistic wisdom. At his kever I said the tikkun again, and in the stack and stacks of seforim (religious texts) there, I was able to find a copy of Hoshea. I found a cave on the hill (the kever is atop of mount Meron), one which I had discovered (not for the first time) during Lag Ba'omer this past spring, and in that cave I took shelter from the rain, lit Channuka candles, lit more candles for ample light (you are not supposed to used the Channuka candles for anything but to look at them) and started reading the book of Hoshea in the cave. Between chapters, I would glance up and stare at the candles glowing....
It was quite a powerful experience. Especially once I got to the end it carried special significance as my last bar-mitzvah student before I left for Israel had the haftarah (prophetic reading) from the last chapters of Hoshea!
I soon after left Meron and headed back towards Binyamina. I JUST missed my bus, and had to wait about 45 minutes to an hour until the next one showed up, but it did, I found my way back, left my hat on the bus :( oops, and was back with family!
After spending a week in Jerusalem and Tzfat, 2 of the 4 Holy cities, being in a town like Binyamina was actually quite difficult! I mean, it was great to be with family again, but rather difficult to get into a spiritual mode which came so naturally in those other places. I got in touch with the yeshiva and arranged that I would go there after spending a second night in Binyamina. While I was there my cousins with whom I was staying were blessed to become grandparents!!! It was very exciting! They were very excited! It was great to see and to be there with them. They were truly SO good to me during the time I was there. I could have asked for more or be more thankful that they were there for me to give me a place to stay.
At about 1130am the next morning, I made sure that everything I had was in order and started the shlep of 160 pounds of stuff (what was I thinking) from Binyamina to Efrat. 1 train, 2 buses (which turned into 3 - I'll get to this soon) and a whole lot of shlepping!!!
Getting to the train was fine, I figured out a decent way to lug all my stuff, putting my stuff down and sitting on the train worked well as I sat right next to the luggage rack, getting off the train was just more shlepping - thank G-d for elevators - and here is the first trouble I had. I had been to the station before last time I went to Jerusalem. I thought I remembered which way I walked...I didn't. I walked down the long hallway that crosses over half of the highway, exited and looked around thinking "now, where are those buses...?" After asking 3 or 4 or 92 people, I was finally informed they are on the other side of the highway. oops. So, I had to remind the guy that I had just left 3 minutes earlier, had to cross the same half of the hallway, tell the lady at the ticket booth that I exited the wrong side, cross through the train station, cross the other half of the highway, and finally get to the buses. Okay, so now, with two broken shoulders and aching forearms, I finally get to the buses. My bus came quickly and I loaded up and got a nice rest. The Jerusalem central bus station has some serious security. I had many bags, one of which is VERY large. Okay, 20 minutes later, I entered the bus station and had to figure out which bus I needed and it happened to be all the way on the upper level, which required 2 elevators and walking through crowds of people (with all 160 pounds of my bags). I found the place, got on the bus 20 minutes later and sat down for a ride that I have never taken before. It wouldn't have been a problem...it shouldn't have been a problem. I didn't hear the driver call "tachana achrona" - last stop, and then I realized that we were leaving Efrat and heading back to Jerusalem. I asked the driver if I had missed my stop (duh) and he explained that he had said last stop and I didn't hear him. He was nice enough about it though and let me know when the next stop was that I could cross the street and get back on the same bus. So, back out of the gush etzion block, and into the outskirts of Jerusalem, I got let off the bus, grabbed all of my 160 pounds of stuff, and started trudging, now in the rain, across the street. There was lots of traffic and I had to wait for four lights - anyone who knows Israel's traffic light system will understand this. As I approached the stop, I looked up to see my bus.....driving away! In the next hour, I watched a busy trempiada (hitchhiking spot) and 2 packed bus stops empty of people, leaving me and my HUGE bundles of stuff alone in the darkness in the rain. I smiled! I looked up, and said "HaShem! OY! What have I done to deserve this? Is it a test? Are you trying to see how I'll react to a given situation? Well, I know that You are behind all of this stuff and I know that even though it seems like a giant hassle to me, if it is from You, it MUST be good!!! Please HaShem, bring me my bus! It is getting chilly out! I have a lot of stuff and I just want to get to the yeshiva!" I went on like this for probably the next 2 minutes. I would've kept going but the third time I said "Please bring me my bus" my bus turned the corner!!! Baruch HaShem!!! :) (If your a skeptic and are thinking "the bus would've come anyway whether i had asked HaShem or not..." I don't really care if it would have! All I know is that my conversation with HaShem made the smile on my face bigger and bigger by the second! How big is your skeptical smile? ;) I sat in the front row this time and had a whole conversation with the driver who actually drove me a little out of his way to drop me directly at the gates of the yeshiva!
I called the madrich (the advisor) who had left my key with someone, aaaaaaaaannnd.....he didn't answer! I called again...still no answer. I remember him saying something about his neighbours. I looked on the doors of a bunch of the units and found one with his last name. I went to the neighbours and knocked. No answer. Once again, OY! I knocked again! Nothing. I looked up and asked HaShem to get me to my room so I could put my stuff down and relax for a bit. I noticed the door bell. I pushed the button - it buzzed really loud! The window behind me opened up and a lady, wife of one of the Rabbinical kollel guys, said "they're not home! Can I help you?" I explained that I was a new arrival and that they were supposed to have my key. She said "hold on", called them, found the details, and Baruch HaShem 7 hours after leaving Binyamina I got to my new apartment.
I have my own bedroom, living room, bathroom, and kitchen sink with a few cupboards (no stove or fridge). I couldn't be happier. I was expecting a bed, a shelf, a desk and a roommate or two. Upon letting me in Karina had invited me over to meet her husband (soon to be Rabbi) Baruch and their son Dovid! Cute kid! haha... Anyway, I went over, did a candle lighting and ate some latkes (fried potato pancakes...mmm..)
I went back to my room, unpacked, was greeted by a couple of my neighbours (who also learn at the yeshiva) and eventually went to bed. I woke up at 6:45am in time for 7am Shacharit and as I stood up, this is what I saw...:
Welcome to Yeshivat Torat-Yosef Hamivtar in the Judean Hills, Israel! :)
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Days Go By
b"H
Days come and days go by and with so much going on, and mostly every second filled with a new and often profound experience, I have not been finding the time to write! I am still inexperienced at this whole thing, so maybe with time I will improve...
It has been a week since the last entry - wow. A lot has happened! I'll try to avoid in depth explanations (except when I really feel it absolutely necessary - which may tend to be more often than not) and I will try to stick to summing up many of the events of the last week.
Last Tuesday was Yod-Tet (19) Kislev, which is known as the Rosh HaShana of Chassidut, especially amongst ChaBaD chassidim as it was the day the Alter Rebbe of ChaBaD, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi was release from prison and was able to start freely teaching in Czarist Russia. I went in to Jerusalem to meet up with my Rav, and then to go hear his Rav lecture at a Farbrengen, also known as a chasiddic gathering where there is much Torah and much booze. Some people really like that second part! The lecture was long, but with intermittent breaks - every hour or so, where there was time to get some food and drink, or sing and dance!
Interested in what I heard that night? Well, here it is translated in English! (I was sitting behind the computer watching as this was being translated on the spot! It made understanding the concepts presented possible!) http://www.inner.org/lectures/19-Kislev-5769.php
Wait, didn't I say there was singing and dancing? Check it out! (I am having way too much fun with the rediculousness of technology!)
I just rewatched the video now that I've posted it. This was probably the tamest dancing of the whole night (this is from the first round of dancing. As the night went on, it got wilder and wilder!) I heard the whole thing is currently or is going to be on Google Video, eventually...
Anyway, that was that.
The next day there was a shiur with Rabbi Lazer Brody, whose website is actually in the margin here. It was at a breslov Yeshiva, Chut Shel Chessed, just on the outskirts of Me'ah She'arim (100 Gates) a SUPER VERY REDICULOUSLY chassidic/chareidi neibourhood in Yerushalayim. It was great! I have seen him speak a few times and it is always a pleasure!
I also saw a guy there, Eliyahu, who I met in Meron on Lag Ba'Omer when I was in Israel in the spring. I've kept seeing Eliyahu around since we first met and I was really happy that he was one of the first people I ran into in Yerushalayim - I actually saw him earlier today in Meron (I'll get to this in its time). Anyway, it is a pretty long story about how he and I met. It could take up enough space for 713298071293847 posts. (Note: number may be "slightly" exadurated.)
From there I proceeded to the Old City of Jerusalem!
I went to the heritage house, a hostel in the Old City, where I met another friend from my last time here, Shalom! It was nice seeing him again! We ended up going to a shiur that night (for those who are thinking "two shiurim in one night?" please remember I am ultimately here to learn in yeshiva. That is a day that is nothing but shiurs! :) and then I made my way down to the Kotel to say hello to an old friend!
I davened ma'ariv, the evening prayer, here and then went up to the wall, and did my own personal private little prayer. Without revealing too much, ultimately I just expressed how thankful I was to be in Israel, in Jerusalem, by the Kotel! I gave the wall a HUGE hug - literally! I reached around one of the giant stones and hugged it tight! There is something so special there, it is beyond words to describe it! Reb Shlomo Carlebach once taught "In Yerushalayim, everything looks different!" When I first got to Israel last week, I expanded it and said "In Israel, everything looks different!" When I got to Yerushalayim, I realized the total truth of his words and that "In Yerushalayim, evering [DOES] look diffferent!". That night I learned something new! "By the Kotel, everything IS different!"
The next day, I did Shacharit by the Kotel, went with Shalom to his Chavruta with a Rabbi - the Rabbi ended up inviting me for Shabbat dinner - and then I went and read a lot and then ran some errands. The primary errand - I opened an Israeli bank account! I don't know that it was totally necessary, but I felt it would be helpful in the long run!
From there I went back to my Rabbi's house where I baby sat his kids (ie. I sat there tying new tekhelet, the blue string, into another pair of tzitzit and watching "Evan Almighty"). I slept, learned a bit in the morning, and then got ready for Shabbat. I went back to the heritage house for Friday night and Saturday night!
Shabbat was amazing! Kabbalat Shabbat was at the Kotel! I ran into some old friends and more recent friends from Toronto, people whom I never would have expected to see! It was great! I found a great little Carlebach style minyan with a lot of ruach (spritual energy) and then met up with the Shalom and the Rabbi and went for dinner! It was yummm! He and his wife were great hosts. From there Shalom and I went to a chassidishe tish! It was Shabbat. I don't have any pictures, but oh, I wish I did...
...wait...hold on...
Okay, so you didn't notice me checking out youtube to find an example. This example is a bit bigger than what I was at, but just so you get an idea...
Shabbat morning I davened at the Kotel with a sephardi minyan - I believe they were Iraqi, but I'm not totally sure, and then I was invited to two kiddushes where I ate and was stuffed! Then I decided anyway to go to Rav Machlis for lunch! This is a guy who every Shabbat, for dinner and lunch hosts over a hundred people in his house! It was a very powerful experience and he some how makes every single person feel like a guest of honour! It was an unbelievable experience. After lunch I went to a local shul in the area and then went back to Rav Machlis' for Seudat Shelishit (the third Shabbat meal). There were "only" 30 people there for that one!
Motzei Shabbat (Saturday night) Shalom and I walked around Ben Yehuda street and people watched and enjoyed the random drum circles that just kinda kept sprouting up out of thin air! Watched an artist draw some amazing portraits, and shmoozed and talked Torah and just had a nice relaxing night!
Sunday morning, I davened at the Kotel and then made my way to the Jerusalem central bus station and got on a bus headed for the Holy city of Tsfat, in the North of Israel! I was there for a couple of days! I'll have to, G-d willing, get to this tomorrow! I am very tired! It is very late!
Chag Samei'ach! Have a happy and healthy Channuka filled with lots of Torah and inspiration!
Days come and days go by and with so much going on, and mostly every second filled with a new and often profound experience, I have not been finding the time to write! I am still inexperienced at this whole thing, so maybe with time I will improve...
It has been a week since the last entry - wow. A lot has happened! I'll try to avoid in depth explanations (except when I really feel it absolutely necessary - which may tend to be more often than not) and I will try to stick to summing up many of the events of the last week.
Last Tuesday was Yod-Tet (19) Kislev, which is known as the Rosh HaShana of Chassidut, especially amongst ChaBaD chassidim as it was the day the Alter Rebbe of ChaBaD, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi was release from prison and was able to start freely teaching in Czarist Russia. I went in to Jerusalem to meet up with my Rav, and then to go hear his Rav lecture at a Farbrengen, also known as a chasiddic gathering where there is much Torah and much booze. Some people really like that second part! The lecture was long, but with intermittent breaks - every hour or so, where there was time to get some food and drink, or sing and dance!
Interested in what I heard that night? Well, here it is translated in English! (I was sitting behind the computer watching as this was being translated on the spot! It made understanding the concepts presented possible!) http://www.inner.org/lectures/19-Kislev-5769.php
Wait, didn't I say there was singing and dancing? Check it out! (I am having way too much fun with the rediculousness of technology!)
I just rewatched the video now that I've posted it. This was probably the tamest dancing of the whole night (this is from the first round of dancing. As the night went on, it got wilder and wilder!) I heard the whole thing is currently or is going to be on Google Video, eventually...
Anyway, that was that.
The next day there was a shiur with Rabbi Lazer Brody, whose website is actually in the margin here. It was at a breslov Yeshiva, Chut Shel Chessed, just on the outskirts of Me'ah She'arim (100 Gates) a SUPER VERY REDICULOUSLY chassidic/chareidi neibourhood in Yerushalayim. It was great! I have seen him speak a few times and it is always a pleasure!
I also saw a guy there, Eliyahu, who I met in Meron on Lag Ba'Omer when I was in Israel in the spring. I've kept seeing Eliyahu around since we first met and I was really happy that he was one of the first people I ran into in Yerushalayim - I actually saw him earlier today in Meron (I'll get to this in its time). Anyway, it is a pretty long story about how he and I met. It could take up enough space for 713298071293847 posts. (Note: number may be "slightly" exadurated.)
From there I proceeded to the Old City of Jerusalem!
I went to the heritage house, a hostel in the Old City, where I met another friend from my last time here, Shalom! It was nice seeing him again! We ended up going to a shiur that night (for those who are thinking "two shiurim in one night?" please remember I am ultimately here to learn in yeshiva. That is a day that is nothing but shiurs! :) and then I made my way down to the Kotel to say hello to an old friend!
I davened ma'ariv, the evening prayer, here and then went up to the wall, and did my own personal private little prayer. Without revealing too much, ultimately I just expressed how thankful I was to be in Israel, in Jerusalem, by the Kotel! I gave the wall a HUGE hug - literally! I reached around one of the giant stones and hugged it tight! There is something so special there, it is beyond words to describe it! Reb Shlomo Carlebach once taught "In Yerushalayim, everything looks different!" When I first got to Israel last week, I expanded it and said "In Israel, everything looks different!" When I got to Yerushalayim, I realized the total truth of his words and that "In Yerushalayim, evering [DOES] look diffferent!". That night I learned something new! "By the Kotel, everything IS different!"The next day, I did Shacharit by the Kotel, went with Shalom to his Chavruta with a Rabbi - the Rabbi ended up inviting me for Shabbat dinner - and then I went and read a lot and then ran some errands. The primary errand - I opened an Israeli bank account! I don't know that it was totally necessary, but I felt it would be helpful in the long run!
From there I went back to my Rabbi's house where I baby sat his kids (ie. I sat there tying new tekhelet, the blue string, into another pair of tzitzit and watching "Evan Almighty"). I slept, learned a bit in the morning, and then got ready for Shabbat. I went back to the heritage house for Friday night and Saturday night!
Shabbat was amazing! Kabbalat Shabbat was at the Kotel! I ran into some old friends and more recent friends from Toronto, people whom I never would have expected to see! It was great! I found a great little Carlebach style minyan with a lot of ruach (spritual energy) and then met up with the Shalom and the Rabbi and went for dinner! It was yummm! He and his wife were great hosts. From there Shalom and I went to a chassidishe tish! It was Shabbat. I don't have any pictures, but oh, I wish I did...
...wait...hold on...
Okay, so you didn't notice me checking out youtube to find an example. This example is a bit bigger than what I was at, but just so you get an idea...
Shabbat morning I davened at the Kotel with a sephardi minyan - I believe they were Iraqi, but I'm not totally sure, and then I was invited to two kiddushes where I ate and was stuffed! Then I decided anyway to go to Rav Machlis for lunch! This is a guy who every Shabbat, for dinner and lunch hosts over a hundred people in his house! It was a very powerful experience and he some how makes every single person feel like a guest of honour! It was an unbelievable experience. After lunch I went to a local shul in the area and then went back to Rav Machlis' for Seudat Shelishit (the third Shabbat meal). There were "only" 30 people there for that one!
Motzei Shabbat (Saturday night) Shalom and I walked around Ben Yehuda street and people watched and enjoyed the random drum circles that just kinda kept sprouting up out of thin air! Watched an artist draw some amazing portraits, and shmoozed and talked Torah and just had a nice relaxing night!
Sunday morning, I davened at the Kotel and then made my way to the Jerusalem central bus station and got on a bus headed for the Holy city of Tsfat, in the North of Israel! I was there for a couple of days! I'll have to, G-d willing, get to this tomorrow! I am very tired! It is very late!
Chag Samei'ach! Have a happy and healthy Channuka filled with lots of Torah and inspiration!
Monday, December 15, 2008
From One Home To The Next!
b"H
My whole life, as I'm sure anyone reading this will know, I have been living in Toronto (minus a couple of years spent in Port Perry) and now I am, for the next 6 months, going to be living in Israel studying at Yeshivat Torat-Yosef Hamivtar, in Efrat, approximately 20 minutes south of Jerusalem, in the Gush Etzion area. This first entry is actually coming from Israel. I have been here for just over 1 day. This entry will recollect, to an extent anyway, the events of my trip to Israel, and of my first day here.
I was taken to the airport by my parentals and my brother, went through the check in process, and got to the baggage exray / body scanning metal detector thing. I hate that thing. I have never made it through one of those without beeping. This trip was no exception. As I was emptying my pockets into the litle basket, which actually wasn't that little at all, I found something very important: my parents' van spare-keys! It is a good thing they waited until the last second that I was in sight, so as long as they could see me, and I them, I could run back and give them their keys, which I did. I think they appreciated it. Anyway, I went through the metal detector, beeped as usual as I had forgotten about my belt, took off my belt, held up my pants, went through again and was successful on only the second try. I put my belt back on, repacked my bags - my computers had to go through separately - and proceeded to gate 174. I looked back a couple of times and noticed my family still watching. When I turned the corner and knew I was out of sight, I decided to give a phone call to my mom to let her know I was okay! She didn't answer.... I started to wonder "I hope SHE'S okay!!!"
I prayed for the best and continued to the gate. I picked up some food (which I still haven't eaten) and a coffee...mmm...Tim Horton's has some great coffee! Espeially when you know it is your last Timmy's coffee for quite some time. I'm not sure how this turned out, but let me show you what a guy who is leaving everything he has ever known and loved and is about to drink his last Tim's looks like:
So, apparently not all that great, but not a back picture given that I took it myself. I always find that anticipation of travel while sitting at the airport very unnerving. All these random people are looking at each other seemingly thinking "Are you going to be sitting next to me? Well, if you are, you better not smell bad after 11 hours in a cramped little seat..."
Luckily for me, I didn't have such a cramped little seat. Thank you very much to Keith Silverberg at Suntastic Travel in Toronto, on Bathurst Street in the same plaza as Richmond's bakery (yes, that was a totally shameless plug and here's why) for hooking this brother up with a window seat in the front row of economy which means extra leg room and not having to worry so much about getting up during the flight and getting around the guy next to you. It made for a very pleasant flight experience. How pleasant? Well, let's see another self taken picture - this will be the last one though, I assure you all. Well, the last one for this post anyway, but enough of my yammering on. Here is the picture:
Wow...my eyes are scary and my beard is uneven. Love it! :)
The guy sitting next to me, was a yeshiva bochur, who was in Toronto for his brother's wedding -a big Mazal Tov to him and his family- who grew up in Toronto but has been studying in Yeshiva his whole life. It actually bugged me a little bit. (And pardon me as I transition now into a bit of a political statement.) I asked him a few questions of halacha and he answered me with much uncertainty. He for sure knew better than I did, which is why I asked, but for a guy who has been learning his whole life, it should've been an easy answer. I also asked him what his plans for the future were, if he had any. He didn't - well, nothing beyond learning. No thoughs of business, of finances, for anything beyond the yeshiva learinng. Now, as a guy who is about to embark on a few years of yeshiva study, I find it incredibly commendable that he is so into his learning. But that is just the thing - he wasn't so into his learning. He had a gemara and an Aryeh Kaplan book with him. He had the entire masechet (tractate) of daf yomi (daily page) lessons on his new iPod, none of which got listened to, and in the last 2 hour of the flight he picked up the Kaplan book and read 3 pages before leaning over and telling me how he was zoning out and couldn't focus on it. I started discussing with him a whole bunch of issues that were in another Kaplan book on a related topic until something dawned on me. This guy, who has and is planning to continue learning in Yeshiva for his whole life was able to waste a 10 hour flight, with next to no Torah at all. It seemed like his life long learning had helped him establish a total desire to avoid Torah! He watched 2 and a half movies, ate (without making a single bracha), davened a full shacharit (morning prayer) in about 10 minutes flat - I'm pretty certain that is impossible to do, but whatever... , and ultimately it really seemed like everthing he did that WAS based on Torah was done totally as a force of habit with zero feeling and zero intention. Now, I know this happens, and I don't fault him for it. I watch movies too, and I don't fault him for that either. I sleep and eat forgetting to make brachot constantly, daily, sometimes even neglecting it, when I DO remember. But what did bother me is that without having any above average drive towards Torah and mitzvot, this guy was never planning to ever contribute more than his force-of-habit Torah study to the world. Similar to prayer, it is recorded by sages that learning without intention has no benefit to the soul, even though it might affect the mind. Even doing work is a Torah commandment.
In any event, this whole thought process made me realize how easy it is to get into the yeshiva world and yet to totally lose touch with the world at large! It was almost like a divine warning telling me to keep my head on my shoulders. I have been staying since I got here with my dad's cousin. I mentioned some of these thoughts as well as other opinions I have about the Jewish world in general and they gave me a bracha (blessing) that I should go to yeshiva and come out with the same thoughts on this topic that I have now! I said amen, and then told them that I am praying for the same thing!
Okay, back to the trip. We left a half hour late, but arrived a half hour early. Baruch HaShem (thank G-d) going through customs was no problem and the second I approached the baggage line, it took about 30 seconds until I had both my bags on the cart. I changed some money, the Canadian exchange blows, but it is what it is, and I got myself a train ticket. My big bag was too big for the aisle on the train but I yanked it through anyway and came to my dad's cousin in Binyamina, between Tel Aviv and Haifa. The train comes right across the street from their house, which is great, but there is a big staircase down and then another one up to exit the station. Now, that is all well and good, except for that big bag I mentioned earlier weighing 70 pounds! Oy, that was painful! The bag survived, I survived, I was covered in puddles of shvitz - eww - and after crossing the busy street that has major construction going on I was here. I took a moment, sat down to relax and waited for cousins to return home. We caught up a bit, ate a bit, had some tea and then I went up to my room and eventually slept. Depending on how things go, I might decide to fill you all in on "eventually". :) For now though, I think this will suffice. tomorrow evening, be'ezrat HaShem (with G-d's help), I will give an accounting of the events of today and tomorrow!
My whole life, as I'm sure anyone reading this will know, I have been living in Toronto (minus a couple of years spent in Port Perry) and now I am, for the next 6 months, going to be living in Israel studying at Yeshivat Torat-Yosef Hamivtar, in Efrat, approximately 20 minutes south of Jerusalem, in the Gush Etzion area. This first entry is actually coming from Israel. I have been here for just over 1 day. This entry will recollect, to an extent anyway, the events of my trip to Israel, and of my first day here.
I was taken to the airport by my parentals and my brother, went through the check in process, and got to the baggage exray / body scanning metal detector thing. I hate that thing. I have never made it through one of those without beeping. This trip was no exception. As I was emptying my pockets into the litle basket, which actually wasn't that little at all, I found something very important: my parents' van spare-keys! It is a good thing they waited until the last second that I was in sight, so as long as they could see me, and I them, I could run back and give them their keys, which I did. I think they appreciated it. Anyway, I went through the metal detector, beeped as usual as I had forgotten about my belt, took off my belt, held up my pants, went through again and was successful on only the second try. I put my belt back on, repacked my bags - my computers had to go through separately - and proceeded to gate 174. I looked back a couple of times and noticed my family still watching. When I turned the corner and knew I was out of sight, I decided to give a phone call to my mom to let her know I was okay! She didn't answer.... I started to wonder "I hope SHE'S okay!!!"
I prayed for the best and continued to the gate. I picked up some food (which I still haven't eaten) and a coffee...mmm...Tim Horton's has some great coffee! Espeially when you know it is your last Timmy's coffee for quite some time. I'm not sure how this turned out, but let me show you what a guy who is leaving everything he has ever known and loved and is about to drink his last Tim's looks like:
So, apparently not all that great, but not a back picture given that I took it myself. I always find that anticipation of travel while sitting at the airport very unnerving. All these random people are looking at each other seemingly thinking "Are you going to be sitting next to me? Well, if you are, you better not smell bad after 11 hours in a cramped little seat..."
Luckily for me, I didn't have such a cramped little seat. Thank you very much to Keith Silverberg at Suntastic Travel in Toronto, on Bathurst Street in the same plaza as Richmond's bakery (yes, that was a totally shameless plug and here's why) for hooking this brother up with a window seat in the front row of economy which means extra leg room and not having to worry so much about getting up during the flight and getting around the guy next to you. It made for a very pleasant flight experience. How pleasant? Well, let's see another self taken picture - this will be the last one though, I assure you all. Well, the last one for this post anyway, but enough of my yammering on. Here is the picture:
Wow...my eyes are scary and my beard is uneven. Love it! :)
The guy sitting next to me, was a yeshiva bochur, who was in Toronto for his brother's wedding -a big Mazal Tov to him and his family- who grew up in Toronto but has been studying in Yeshiva his whole life. It actually bugged me a little bit. (And pardon me as I transition now into a bit of a political statement.) I asked him a few questions of halacha and he answered me with much uncertainty. He for sure knew better than I did, which is why I asked, but for a guy who has been learning his whole life, it should've been an easy answer. I also asked him what his plans for the future were, if he had any. He didn't - well, nothing beyond learning. No thoughs of business, of finances, for anything beyond the yeshiva learinng. Now, as a guy who is about to embark on a few years of yeshiva study, I find it incredibly commendable that he is so into his learning. But that is just the thing - he wasn't so into his learning. He had a gemara and an Aryeh Kaplan book with him. He had the entire masechet (tractate) of daf yomi (daily page) lessons on his new iPod, none of which got listened to, and in the last 2 hour of the flight he picked up the Kaplan book and read 3 pages before leaning over and telling me how he was zoning out and couldn't focus on it. I started discussing with him a whole bunch of issues that were in another Kaplan book on a related topic until something dawned on me. This guy, who has and is planning to continue learning in Yeshiva for his whole life was able to waste a 10 hour flight, with next to no Torah at all. It seemed like his life long learning had helped him establish a total desire to avoid Torah! He watched 2 and a half movies, ate (without making a single bracha), davened a full shacharit (morning prayer) in about 10 minutes flat - I'm pretty certain that is impossible to do, but whatever... , and ultimately it really seemed like everthing he did that WAS based on Torah was done totally as a force of habit with zero feeling and zero intention. Now, I know this happens, and I don't fault him for it. I watch movies too, and I don't fault him for that either. I sleep and eat forgetting to make brachot constantly, daily, sometimes even neglecting it, when I DO remember. But what did bother me is that without having any above average drive towards Torah and mitzvot, this guy was never planning to ever contribute more than his force-of-habit Torah study to the world. Similar to prayer, it is recorded by sages that learning without intention has no benefit to the soul, even though it might affect the mind. Even doing work is a Torah commandment.
In any event, this whole thought process made me realize how easy it is to get into the yeshiva world and yet to totally lose touch with the world at large! It was almost like a divine warning telling me to keep my head on my shoulders. I have been staying since I got here with my dad's cousin. I mentioned some of these thoughts as well as other opinions I have about the Jewish world in general and they gave me a bracha (blessing) that I should go to yeshiva and come out with the same thoughts on this topic that I have now! I said amen, and then told them that I am praying for the same thing!
Okay, back to the trip. We left a half hour late, but arrived a half hour early. Baruch HaShem (thank G-d) going through customs was no problem and the second I approached the baggage line, it took about 30 seconds until I had both my bags on the cart. I changed some money, the Canadian exchange blows, but it is what it is, and I got myself a train ticket. My big bag was too big for the aisle on the train but I yanked it through anyway and came to my dad's cousin in Binyamina, between Tel Aviv and Haifa. The train comes right across the street from their house, which is great, but there is a big staircase down and then another one up to exit the station. Now, that is all well and good, except for that big bag I mentioned earlier weighing 70 pounds! Oy, that was painful! The bag survived, I survived, I was covered in puddles of shvitz - eww - and after crossing the busy street that has major construction going on I was here. I took a moment, sat down to relax and waited for cousins to return home. We caught up a bit, ate a bit, had some tea and then I went up to my room and eventually slept. Depending on how things go, I might decide to fill you all in on "eventually". :) For now though, I think this will suffice. tomorrow evening, be'ezrat HaShem (with G-d's help), I will give an accounting of the events of today and tomorrow!
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