Ahuva and I have been trying to plan a Shabbat together for quite a few weeks now and we finally did it. I met her at the central bus station and we made our way to the bus to Alon Shvut. We got on the bus and about an hour later, we got off and walked to her brother's apartment. Her brother, Dani and sister in-law, Sarah, have the cutest son named Aryeh. We basically played with him for the whole time. Aryeh is a little over a year old and he just learned how to walk so he was running all over the place.
Since their apartment was pretty small, we stayed in another apartment in the building of a family who wasn't there. After we got ready for shabbat, we lit our chanukkah candles, which we had to melt a lot to make them fit in the candle holders, and then went to shul. After shul we went back to Dani and Sarah's apartment for dinner. Their house was the most familiar place that I'd been to on Shabbat because we were talking about New York and Brooklyn and Flatbush, because they both went to Flatbush. Also, even though I don't think I've ever spoken to Dani before this Shabbat, I've known Ahuva and her family for a very long time.
The next day wasn't very different. We ate and talked and played with Aryeh the whole time. When we left their house on Saturday night, it was raining, and it didn't stop raining until Monday morning. Yeah, that's a lot of rain! While I was walking from the bus stop back home, I got soaked!
The next day, Sunday, the Moshava Reunion Committee ( of 2: Michal and Yifa't [who are awesome!]) originally planned for us to go to some sort of festival, but unfortunately it was raining. So, we all met up at the central bus station (I'm gonna start saying CBS, okay?) to try to decide what to do. Well, after an hour of standing around, half talking about what to do, half talking about something else waiting for someone else to make the decision, we finally decided to go to Talpiyot to go bowling. Then we had to figure out which bus took us to Talpiyot, which took a little while longer, but soon enough, we were on the bus. After we got off at the wrong stop, and walked around for a while, we finally found the bowling place. We went up to the bowling alley, made reservations, and went to get lunch for an hour until our lanes were ready. I'm not even going to talk about how long it took us to decide where to eat. Once we got back to the bowling alley, we found out that our reservations didn't hold and we had to wait on line all over again. So we waited for a long time and people began to get bored so they started coming up with a new idea. They discovered that there was a showing of the Muppets Movie across the street. As we began finalizing plans to go to the movie, our names were called because there was an available lane. Somehow, we decided to stay and go bowling. Once we started, it was a lot of fun. After bowling, some people had to go home, so we all went back to the CBS. A bunch of us who didn't really have anything to do, made our way to the food court. We all put chairs around the table and we didn't really move from there for the next three hours. We played all kinds of games and ate food and just chilled out. Once it started getting late we all decided to go home.
I was staying over at Nishmat with Noga. When we got to Nishmat, we lit Hanukkah candles, and I made them dinner. They don't really have proper dinners at Nishmat because they have to make dinner for themselves which they don't really do. Whenever I come over I like to make them dinner so they can eat real food and also so I can use their kitchen, so I made macaroni and tuna for them. Then we watched a movie and went to sleep.
Today, I woke up and had to leave kinda early because I was meeting up with my cousins in Netanya for a Hanukkah party. When I got to the CBS in Netanya, I met Miriam and Dov. Miriam's mother is my grandmother's cousin. On the way home, we made a stop to see Miriam's father, Hershy who is in an old age home. It was really nice to get to speak with him and it was really cool that he knew who I was and was happy to see me. Afterwards, we went to their apartment. Their I met Miriam's daughters Sigal, and her kids Gal and Tal, and Racheli and her kids Or and Nadav. We lit candles, had a great dinner (filled with oily food) and then they pulled out a deck of cards. Turns out, they love playing poker. We used matches as chips and played a bunch of rounds of 5 card stud. At the end of the night, I came in second place. I had a really great night and a great vacation. Wishing you all a Happy Hanukkah! Shalom V'lehitraot!
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Happy Birthday to Me!
12/21
3:00 PM
My friend Aliza texted me to tell me that I had a package waiting for me in the school building. I of course, was taking a nap so I didn’t find out about this until a couple of hours later.
My friend Aliza texted me to tell me that I had a package waiting for me in the school building. I of course, was taking a nap so I didn’t find out about this until a couple of hours later.
6:00 PM
I meet Aliza by the school building and she tells me that my present is in the fridge and she assumed it was some kind of cake. The package was in a box that had a card on top of it that said Happy Birthday, from Mom, Dad, Seth, Aviva, and Bubbie, and attached to the box by a string was two balloons. I brought my cake back to my dorm room where my roommates and I each ate a big piece.
I meet Aliza by the school building and she tells me that my present is in the fridge and she assumed it was some kind of cake. The package was in a box that had a card on top of it that said Happy Birthday, from Mom, Dad, Seth, Aviva, and Bubbie, and attached to the box by a string was two balloons. I brought my cake back to my dorm room where my roommates and I each ate a big piece.
8:00 PM
We went to
our Rabbi’s house for a Hanukah party where we ate doughnuts, sang, and played
games.
11:50 PM
Back at the dorms, I had no idea what to do in the ten minutes leading up to my birthday, so I took out my gemara and started reviewing what we had learned.
Back at the dorms, I had no idea what to do in the ten minutes leading up to my birthday, so I took out my gemara and started reviewing what we had learned.
11:55 PM
My roommate, Hadassa, comes barging in and tells me that she is kicking me out of my room so she could set up for the party so I went outside with my gemara and sat on the window sill.
My roommate, Hadassa, comes barging in and tells me that she is kicking me out of my room so she could set up for the party so I went outside with my gemara and sat on the window sill.
12/22
12:00 AM
Hadassa and a few other girls burst out of the room and started singing Happy Birthday to me. Then they said I had to stay outside because they still weren’t ready for me.
Hadassa and a few other girls burst out of the room and started singing Happy Birthday to me. Then they said I had to stay outside because they still weren’t ready for me.
12:10 AM
While I was waiting for them, my awesome chavruta Joelle got me an amazing doughnut from the bakery down the road.
While I was waiting for them, my awesome chavruta Joelle got me an amazing doughnut from the bakery down the road.
12:15 AM
The preparations were finished and the party was finally ready to begin and when I walked into my room I saw candy in bowls all over the place and a huge chocolate cake that my roommates bought for me. All of my friends came into the room and by the time everybody left half the candy and almost the whole cake was gone.
The preparations were finished and the party was finally ready to begin and when I walked into my room I saw candy in bowls all over the place and a huge chocolate cake that my roommates bought for me. All of my friends came into the room and by the time everybody left half the candy and almost the whole cake was gone.
1:30 AM
Bedtime! Long day tomorrow!
Bedtime! Long day tomorrow!
8:30 AM
This was the saddest part of the day because all of MTA was leaving which meant my two roommates, Gabi and Ricky were leaving. We waited with them until their bus came and then said goodbye.
This was the saddest part of the day because all of MTA was leaving which meant my two roommates, Gabi and Ricky were leaving. We waited with them until their bus came and then said goodbye.
10:30 AM
Now that half of our room was empty, Hadassa and I decided that we need to clean up and reorganize our room. First we swept out most of the large chunks of garbage. Then we took out all of the smaller pieces of furniture such as the night tables and swept behind that and under the beds. Then we started moving furniture around so there would be more space in the room. We moved one of the beds away from the window so we could get more sunlight in the room. We moved the other bed across from that one so there would be more space. These aren’t light pieces of furniture that I’m talking about here. They’re heavy wooden bunk beds and closets half full with our stuff. As we were moving stuff around we found a big bucket and a couple of rags in a supply closet and we got down on our hands and knees and began mopping the floor. When we finished moving everything, we did a final sweep and a final wipe down of the floor and our room was so beautiful and clean. Both Hadassa and I moved from the top bunk to the bottom bunk beds. One of our new roommates, Reva who’s from New Jersey, also began to move in today. Tash, our other new roommate from England is with her family so she will probably be moving in next week.
Now that half of our room was empty, Hadassa and I decided that we need to clean up and reorganize our room. First we swept out most of the large chunks of garbage. Then we took out all of the smaller pieces of furniture such as the night tables and swept behind that and under the beds. Then we started moving furniture around so there would be more space in the room. We moved one of the beds away from the window so we could get more sunlight in the room. We moved the other bed across from that one so there would be more space. These aren’t light pieces of furniture that I’m talking about here. They’re heavy wooden bunk beds and closets half full with our stuff. As we were moving stuff around we found a big bucket and a couple of rags in a supply closet and we got down on our hands and knees and began mopping the floor. When we finished moving everything, we did a final sweep and a final wipe down of the floor and our room was so beautiful and clean. Both Hadassa and I moved from the top bunk to the bottom bunk beds. One of our new roommates, Reva who’s from New Jersey, also began to move in today. Tash, our other new roommate from England is with her family so she will probably be moving in next week.
1:00 PM
My two awesome roommates took me out for lunch! We went to café café where I got this amazing pasta dish with this yummy cheese sauce. Then they bought me a doughnut from Roladin.
My two awesome roommates took me out for lunch! We went to café café where I got this amazing pasta dish with this yummy cheese sauce. Then they bought me a doughnut from Roladin.
2:00
We went to go see the play Les Miserables. For some of us, like me, it was our first time, but a few others had already seen it before.
We went to go see the play Les Miserables. For some of us, like me, it was our first time, but a few others had already seen it before.
4:00
Hadassa, who is an awesome roommate, picked up a package for me that my mom sent to me. Inside was two cards and lots and lots of candy.
Hadassa, who is an awesome roommate, picked up a package for me that my mom sent to me. Inside was two cards and lots and lots of candy.
8:00
We came back to the Rova where Melissa, Alona, Rinat, and I went to Burger’s Bar for dinner. We took the food to go and ate it in my room.
We came back to the Rova where Melissa, Alona, Rinat, and I went to Burger’s Bar for dinner. We took the food to go and ate it in my room.
9:30
For the rest of the night we just hung out in the room, finishing the cleaning and sitting on our new beds.
For the rest of the night we just hung out in the room, finishing the cleaning and sitting on our new beds.
Birthdays
in Israel are always so memorable because you have all of your friends so close
to you. People also love going out with
you and buying you food. This is
probably one of the best birthdays I’ve ever had. Shalom V’lehitraot!
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Ends and Beginnings
Today was a day of many ends that were just the beginnings and beginnings of the end.
1. Today, our gemara class finished our first masechet in gemara, Masechet Megillah. Learning a masechet in gemara takes a lot of hard work and dedication. We spent every Sunday, Tuesday, and Wednesday morning learning sometimes up to two dafim (double sided pages) of gemara. At the end of today's class, everyone gathered together as we made our siyum on masechet megillah. It was really nice because there was food, someone said a dvar torah/ gemara, and the whole school was there to celebrate with us. This isn't only the end of learning a masechet of gemara, at the beginning of next semester we will be starting a new masechet which we will hopefully be finishing at the end of the year.
2. Tonight is the first night of Hanukkah. It's the beginning of a holiday at the end of the month of Kislev. It's the beginning of winter, yet it's the end of the day light hours getting shorter. The lobby of our dorms was filled with girls as the sun set in Jerusalem. There was hardly enough room for everyone to put their chanukiahs out on the table, say the berachot, and sing a song or two. It was so nice to see everyone gathered to celebrate "The Festival of Lights." Afterwards, I went for a walk with my friend Adina, while wearing flip- flops I might add. We saw them lighting the huge chanukiah in front of the Chorva shul. Then we went by wear all the apartments are and outside every house, there were lit candles inside a glass box. It was so nice to see the rows of lights outside all the houses.
3. Tomorrow will be MTA's last day in Harova and today was their last day of classes. The South Africans and Australians run on a different schedule than us, so they leave in the middle of our year which for them is the beginning of the school year. Tonight we had a Messibat Siyum, a party to celebrate everything they've done. People made speeches, there was slide shows and videos, and giving out gifts. There was also an amazing dinner that they organized for us and great stuff for dessert. We're really going to miss MTA because they added so much life to Harova and we are really excited for the new MTA girls who are beginning in February.
These events are just the ends of one stage, but the beginning of another. Shalom V'lehitraot!
1. Today, our gemara class finished our first masechet in gemara, Masechet Megillah. Learning a masechet in gemara takes a lot of hard work and dedication. We spent every Sunday, Tuesday, and Wednesday morning learning sometimes up to two dafim (double sided pages) of gemara. At the end of today's class, everyone gathered together as we made our siyum on masechet megillah. It was really nice because there was food, someone said a dvar torah/ gemara, and the whole school was there to celebrate with us. This isn't only the end of learning a masechet of gemara, at the beginning of next semester we will be starting a new masechet which we will hopefully be finishing at the end of the year.
2. Tonight is the first night of Hanukkah. It's the beginning of a holiday at the end of the month of Kislev. It's the beginning of winter, yet it's the end of the day light hours getting shorter. The lobby of our dorms was filled with girls as the sun set in Jerusalem. There was hardly enough room for everyone to put their chanukiahs out on the table, say the berachot, and sing a song or two. It was so nice to see everyone gathered to celebrate "The Festival of Lights." Afterwards, I went for a walk with my friend Adina, while wearing flip- flops I might add. We saw them lighting the huge chanukiah in front of the Chorva shul. Then we went by wear all the apartments are and outside every house, there were lit candles inside a glass box. It was so nice to see the rows of lights outside all the houses.
3. Tomorrow will be MTA's last day in Harova and today was their last day of classes. The South Africans and Australians run on a different schedule than us, so they leave in the middle of our year which for them is the beginning of the school year. Tonight we had a Messibat Siyum, a party to celebrate everything they've done. People made speeches, there was slide shows and videos, and giving out gifts. There was also an amazing dinner that they organized for us and great stuff for dessert. We're really going to miss MTA because they added so much life to Harova and we are really excited for the new MTA girls who are beginning in February.
These events are just the ends of one stage, but the beginning of another. Shalom V'lehitraot!
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Cookies and the Best Chavrutas Ever!
These two topics really have no connection. In fact, the second one is really the main topic, and the first part is what was just randomly on my mind right now. Well, it isn't so random because I just ate two cookies, but why is that significant to you, you might ask. Well , let me tell you the story of the cookies. Every Tuesday, a bunch of girls volunteer to get together and bake cookies and sell them in the Rova for a good cause, kind of like an Jewish version of the girl scouts. Every week they sell all of the cookies that they made. They usually begin baking cookies at around 2:00 and start to sell them at around 4:00. However, I leave to go volunteer at the hospital at around 2:30. So, how did I get not only one, but two of these cookies? I pre-paid my friend Melissa! So she saved me two cookies and even though I had to walk all the way over to her apartment to get them after dinner, when I got them and took a bite, I realized that it was all worth it because it was so yummy!
Chavrutas
What's a chavruta? Wiki defines it as a traditional approach to Jewish study in which a pair of students independently learn, discuss, and debate a shared text. I have many chavrutas who are all super awesome.
1. Avigayil: Sundays 8:00-9:00 PM
We decided that we wanted to learn the group of books in Tanakh called Trei Asar. These are 12 twelve books on the last 12 prophets of Israel. We are about halfway through the second prophet called Joel. We skipped the first one, Hosea, because Avigayil said that it's really inappropriate.
2. Previously: Rebecca... Currently: ?: Sundays & Wednesdays Machshava
From the first day of class when Rebecca and I sat next to each other, we decided to learn in chavruta together during this class. Machshava is a 3 hour long class and for about and hour every class we learn in chavruta either before or after our teacher lectures. Rebecca and I both did pretty well on the Hebrew sources, however, our main difference was that if there was a word we didn't know or couldn't translate exactly, I would want to skip it, but she kept her dictionary beside her to look it up. As the days went by, we realized that we were both learning from the other. She would realize that some words are just not important enough to take the time to look them up, and I would start looking up some of the words to understand the text better and learn more Hebrew. We were soon joined, one at a time, by three other girls, Julia, Giselle, and Arney, who had lost their chavruta either to another class or for some other reason. I too in turn lost my chavruta, so now we just have a large chavruta of people who lost their chavrutas.
3. Previously: Esther... Currently: Amy : Mondays and Thursdays Chumash BeIyun
Esther and I started out as chavrutas for the first couple of weeks of this class. Eventually we were joined by Rinat who switched in to our class and Amy who lost her chavruta. Our teacher, Rav Yonatan, wasn't too happy with people being in a chavruta with more than three people, so Amy and I split off from Esther and Rinat (who were eventually joined by Eliana who switched in to out class too). The day Amy and I started our chavruta, I was wearing my torah bowl shirt. On the back of our torah bowl shirts, it says the names of everyone on the team and it says "captain" next to mine and Ahuva's name. That was the day she started calling me "captain." A few weeks later a new nickname came up. When you talk about someone that you are learning in chavruta with, you call them your chavrusa, but to make it a term of endearment you might make it 'chavrusi.' Amy loves this term and she whenever she sees me she addresses me in the most high pitched screechy voice as "CHAVRUSIII!" Rav Yonatan found this quite amusing and he sometimes likes to make fun of it because it is pretty funny.
4.Joelle: Tuesdays 9:00-10:00 PM
In our Gemara Bekiut class we learn a lot of gemara so Tuesday nights is our catch- up/ revision day. Gemara is a very hard topic so we always have go over what we learned many times so that we can know it properly and remember it. We used to have about a half hour during every class to review but our teacher cut that out because he wanted to teach more during the class. Joelle is a great person to have as a chavruta because she's a great listener. The way it usually works is that I go over what we did in class by reading from the gemara and explaining it and Joelle goes "uh- huh" every once in a while. No, I'm just kidding, Joelle contributes a lot to the chavruta because if there's ever a line or a section that I don't know, she either knows it or is able to figure it out.
Tonight when we were learning Leora asked me to mention her in my blog... Hi Leora! It was actually her and Joelle's idea to write this blog post so thanks guys! Joelle also wanted me to mention to you to please feed the fishies at the top of the blog by clicking on the tank with your mouse. Shalom V'lehitraot!
Chavrutas
What's a chavruta? Wiki defines it as a traditional approach to Jewish study in which a pair of students independently learn, discuss, and debate a shared text. I have many chavrutas who are all super awesome.
1. Avigayil: Sundays 8:00-9:00 PM
We decided that we wanted to learn the group of books in Tanakh called Trei Asar. These are 12 twelve books on the last 12 prophets of Israel. We are about halfway through the second prophet called Joel. We skipped the first one, Hosea, because Avigayil said that it's really inappropriate.
2. Previously: Rebecca... Currently: ?: Sundays & Wednesdays Machshava
From the first day of class when Rebecca and I sat next to each other, we decided to learn in chavruta together during this class. Machshava is a 3 hour long class and for about and hour every class we learn in chavruta either before or after our teacher lectures. Rebecca and I both did pretty well on the Hebrew sources, however, our main difference was that if there was a word we didn't know or couldn't translate exactly, I would want to skip it, but she kept her dictionary beside her to look it up. As the days went by, we realized that we were both learning from the other. She would realize that some words are just not important enough to take the time to look them up, and I would start looking up some of the words to understand the text better and learn more Hebrew. We were soon joined, one at a time, by three other girls, Julia, Giselle, and Arney, who had lost their chavruta either to another class or for some other reason. I too in turn lost my chavruta, so now we just have a large chavruta of people who lost their chavrutas.
3. Previously: Esther... Currently: Amy : Mondays and Thursdays Chumash BeIyun
Esther and I started out as chavrutas for the first couple of weeks of this class. Eventually we were joined by Rinat who switched in to our class and Amy who lost her chavruta. Our teacher, Rav Yonatan, wasn't too happy with people being in a chavruta with more than three people, so Amy and I split off from Esther and Rinat (who were eventually joined by Eliana who switched in to out class too). The day Amy and I started our chavruta, I was wearing my torah bowl shirt. On the back of our torah bowl shirts, it says the names of everyone on the team and it says "captain" next to mine and Ahuva's name. That was the day she started calling me "captain." A few weeks later a new nickname came up. When you talk about someone that you are learning in chavruta with, you call them your chavrusa, but to make it a term of endearment you might make it 'chavrusi.' Amy loves this term and she whenever she sees me she addresses me in the most high pitched screechy voice as "CHAVRUSIII!" Rav Yonatan found this quite amusing and he sometimes likes to make fun of it because it is pretty funny.
4.Joelle: Tuesdays 9:00-10:00 PM
In our Gemara Bekiut class we learn a lot of gemara so Tuesday nights is our catch- up/ revision day. Gemara is a very hard topic so we always have go over what we learned many times so that we can know it properly and remember it. We used to have about a half hour during every class to review but our teacher cut that out because he wanted to teach more during the class. Joelle is a great person to have as a chavruta because she's a great listener. The way it usually works is that I go over what we did in class by reading from the gemara and explaining it and Joelle goes "uh- huh" every once in a while. No, I'm just kidding, Joelle contributes a lot to the chavruta because if there's ever a line or a section that I don't know, she either knows it or is able to figure it out.
Tonight when we were learning Leora asked me to mention her in my blog... Hi Leora! It was actually her and Joelle's idea to write this blog post so thanks guys! Joelle also wanted me to mention to you to please feed the fishies at the top of the blog by clicking on the tank with your mouse. Shalom V'lehitraot!
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Derech Hashem- God's Oneness
This is class is very interesting because it talks about the ways of god. Each class shows a different aspect of god, or it goes into more detail about a subsection, or it explains why god might do certain things. It is based on a book called "The Way of God" that bases a large amount of the knowledge about god by knowing that fact that god is one.
Monotheism is actually good because it promotes unity between many of the nations. There are other nations, such as Muslims and certain types of Christianity, that worship this one god. Our teacher brought us a source that everybody know from the Passover Haggadah where it says, " Who is one? God is one." From this we bring up the question, doesn't everybody know that God is one? No, they don't. Everybody has heard that god is one, however, most don't know for a fact that there is one god. This knowledge that god is one is so important because knowledge can be equated to love.
There are 5 major mistakes that people make about god's oneness.
1. Supernatural forces can be used against god.
The way that god set up the world, makes it completely unable to be used against him. God can't be forced into anything. Since god created the rules, he is above the rules and can either follow them or break them whenever he chooses.
People sometimes ask trick questions or paradoxical questions about god, such as, can god make a four sided triangle? No, he can't, because by the way god defined it, it would then be a square. Can god make 5 be more than 10. No, because the way god defined 'amounts,' 5 can't be 10 unless you add 5 more.
2. Evil things oppose god's will.
Evil things only operate that way because god wants them to. Christians make this mistake in thinking that god has to fight against evil. This isn't true because god is the one who created evil in the first place.
3. Things in this world operate according to nature.
God primarily runs the world in two different ways. Either through, what we call "luck" or coincidence, or through reward and punishment. In every situation, god chooses the proper one to use because that is how he wants the world to run.
4. There is a god for good and a god for evil.
Zoroastrians believed this and called the good one, Ahura Mazda and the evil one, Ahriman. They believe that the good one is the god of spirituality and the evil one, the god of the physical. This is incorrect because physicality doesn't go against god because he was the one who created it.
God is the one and only force who rules this world and can do anything. It is god who decides what is going to happen in his world.
5. God can be served through idol worship.
Most people don't believe in this anymore because most of the pagans converted to a monotheistic religion. We call this avodah zara, strange worship. Any type of fulfilling the desire of anything that isn't god is considered avodah zara.
The job of people is to realize that god is in every single thing and we should fulfill his will because he created us and this world. This world was created for us to recognize god. I hope I was able to simplify and help you understand this complicated concept. Shalom V'lehitraot!
Monotheism is actually good because it promotes unity between many of the nations. There are other nations, such as Muslims and certain types of Christianity, that worship this one god. Our teacher brought us a source that everybody know from the Passover Haggadah where it says, " Who is one? God is one." From this we bring up the question, doesn't everybody know that God is one? No, they don't. Everybody has heard that god is one, however, most don't know for a fact that there is one god. This knowledge that god is one is so important because knowledge can be equated to love.
There are 5 major mistakes that people make about god's oneness.
1. Supernatural forces can be used against god.
The way that god set up the world, makes it completely unable to be used against him. God can't be forced into anything. Since god created the rules, he is above the rules and can either follow them or break them whenever he chooses.
People sometimes ask trick questions or paradoxical questions about god, such as, can god make a four sided triangle? No, he can't, because by the way god defined it, it would then be a square. Can god make 5 be more than 10. No, because the way god defined 'amounts,' 5 can't be 10 unless you add 5 more.
2. Evil things oppose god's will.
Evil things only operate that way because god wants them to. Christians make this mistake in thinking that god has to fight against evil. This isn't true because god is the one who created evil in the first place.
3. Things in this world operate according to nature.
God primarily runs the world in two different ways. Either through, what we call "luck" or coincidence, or through reward and punishment. In every situation, god chooses the proper one to use because that is how he wants the world to run.
4. There is a god for good and a god for evil.
Zoroastrians believed this and called the good one, Ahura Mazda and the evil one, Ahriman. They believe that the good one is the god of spirituality and the evil one, the god of the physical. This is incorrect because physicality doesn't go against god because he was the one who created it.
God is the one and only force who rules this world and can do anything. It is god who decides what is going to happen in his world.
5. God can be served through idol worship.
Most people don't believe in this anymore because most of the pagans converted to a monotheistic religion. We call this avodah zara, strange worship. Any type of fulfilling the desire of anything that isn't god is considered avodah zara.
The job of people is to realize that god is in every single thing and we should fulfill his will because he created us and this world. This world was created for us to recognize god. I hope I was able to simplify and help you understand this complicated concept. Shalom V'lehitraot!
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Trip to Binyamin
My alarm and three other alarms in my room went off at 6:00 in the morning. We all wanted to make sure that we would be able to wake up for our trip. We quickly got ready and got to the buses by 7:00. The bus ride was short so we didn't get much time to nap. We arrived by a very interesting spring. This is a natural spring that had an enclosure built around it. The water in this spring would fill up this very tall tub-like structure and then trickle back down into the ground. We were lucky to be able to see this phenomenon in the early morning. We also ate breakfast here, although in my opinion, it was more like a snack. We got chocolate milk, rugelach, and a challah roll for breakfast. Not very filling, but somehow we survived.
After breakfast, we began to hike. We were originally told that it would be something of a nice walk, but we later realized that it was much harder than the hike we did in the Negev. We had to climb up and down mountains, go through caves, tunnels and forests, and cross rivers by stepping on the smallest of stepping stones without falling in, all of this without getting lost. It sounds a bit crazy and exaggerated, but we actually did it. Yes, people did slip into the rivers but they were barely ankle deep so it was okay. Yes, people also got a bit lost in the middle of the desert/ forest. We were a large group, I was at the front, of course, and our tour guide walked pretty fast and didn't really take any breaks. There was one point when about twenty of us were together at the front with the hiking guide and we didn't see the rest of the group behind us, so we stopped and waited about a half hour while the tour guide went to go look for them. There was one point towards the end where there was a big pool of water, so a few of us decided to go dip our feet in. It was shallow so we didn't get too wet and there were little fish swimming all around our feet. The rest of our group who was watching us started to try to convince us to go all the way in and go swimming. Nobody really wanted to at first but then I decided to go in. It was really nice and refreshing even though it was also kinda freezing. Our hike ended about 15 minutes later at a very pretty picnic spot. It was lunch time so a few of us volunteered to go get lunch from the buses. There was no road near the picnic spot, so we had to walk for a few minutes to go get the stuff. Lunch was these really cool professionally packed sandwiches. There were a bunch of different kinds of sandwiches and those of us who went to get it got first dibs which was especially good because we didn't have to fight when the rest of the Harova animals were attacking.
After lunch we got on the buses to drive to our next stop which was in Shiloh. This is the place where the tabernacle rested for 369 years. There is a small, but growing Jewish community there. At the beginning of our tour, we saw a Byzantine church which had a Jewish star painted on the floor. Before it became the symbol of Judaism, it was just another pretty geometric shape that made their church look nice. Later on in history, Christians began using the star to represent Jews. As we walked along, our tour guide told us that this was a great place for archaeology because the Israelites used to break their dishes when they were done using them to eat the holy sacrifice so shards of pottery were found everywhere. We also saw a stone structure that they dug up that they discovered to be a kitchen because they found jugs with charred olives and grapes. At the end of the tour, we saw the place where they estimated that the actual tabernacle stood.
Our last stop was in a winery but it had nothing to do with wine. It was actually a very interesting way to sum up the days events. First there was an interactive computer game that was trivia about Israel. Through this we got to learn interesting facts and also why the West Bank is essential to the survival of the State of Israel. We then saw a fictional movie about an Israeli who was moving to London and gets transported to past historical events. These events, along with a pretty Israeli girlfriend, convinced him to stay in Israel. It was a very long and exhausting, but fun day and I enjoyed it very much. Shalom V'lehitraot!
After breakfast, we began to hike. We were originally told that it would be something of a nice walk, but we later realized that it was much harder than the hike we did in the Negev. We had to climb up and down mountains, go through caves, tunnels and forests, and cross rivers by stepping on the smallest of stepping stones without falling in, all of this without getting lost. It sounds a bit crazy and exaggerated, but we actually did it. Yes, people did slip into the rivers but they were barely ankle deep so it was okay. Yes, people also got a bit lost in the middle of the desert/ forest. We were a large group, I was at the front, of course, and our tour guide walked pretty fast and didn't really take any breaks. There was one point when about twenty of us were together at the front with the hiking guide and we didn't see the rest of the group behind us, so we stopped and waited about a half hour while the tour guide went to go look for them. There was one point towards the end where there was a big pool of water, so a few of us decided to go dip our feet in. It was shallow so we didn't get too wet and there were little fish swimming all around our feet. The rest of our group who was watching us started to try to convince us to go all the way in and go swimming. Nobody really wanted to at first but then I decided to go in. It was really nice and refreshing even though it was also kinda freezing. Our hike ended about 15 minutes later at a very pretty picnic spot. It was lunch time so a few of us volunteered to go get lunch from the buses. There was no road near the picnic spot, so we had to walk for a few minutes to go get the stuff. Lunch was these really cool professionally packed sandwiches. There were a bunch of different kinds of sandwiches and those of us who went to get it got first dibs which was especially good because we didn't have to fight when the rest of the Harova animals were attacking.
After lunch we got on the buses to drive to our next stop which was in Shiloh. This is the place where the tabernacle rested for 369 years. There is a small, but growing Jewish community there. At the beginning of our tour, we saw a Byzantine church which had a Jewish star painted on the floor. Before it became the symbol of Judaism, it was just another pretty geometric shape that made their church look nice. Later on in history, Christians began using the star to represent Jews. As we walked along, our tour guide told us that this was a great place for archaeology because the Israelites used to break their dishes when they were done using them to eat the holy sacrifice so shards of pottery were found everywhere. We also saw a stone structure that they dug up that they discovered to be a kitchen because they found jugs with charred olives and grapes. At the end of the tour, we saw the place where they estimated that the actual tabernacle stood.
Our last stop was in a winery but it had nothing to do with wine. It was actually a very interesting way to sum up the days events. First there was an interactive computer game that was trivia about Israel. Through this we got to learn interesting facts and also why the West Bank is essential to the survival of the State of Israel. We then saw a fictional movie about an Israeli who was moving to London and gets transported to past historical events. These events, along with a pretty Israeli girlfriend, convinced him to stay in Israel. It was a very long and exhausting, but fun day and I enjoyed it very much. Shalom V'lehitraot!
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Shabbat at Oriah's House!
A couple of times a year, the Israeli girls in our program invite us over to their houses for Shabbat. I went with Talia and Rebecca to Oriah's house in Karnei Shomron. When we first got there, she showed us around the house and took us to our rooms. We then went downstairs and asked if we could help with anything and they put us to work right away. Talia and I made this kind of cookie/ cake. We dipped tea biscuits into a coffee mixture and laid them out in a pan. Then we put some kind of cream on top of it. We did a couple of these layers. Then we began on the vegetables. Rebecca squeezed lemons, Talia peeled carrots, and I grated them. Then Talia began chopping some kind of herb, I think it was parsley, I peeled potatoes, and Rebecca grated tomatoes. We helped out as much as we could in the kitchen until it was time for Shabbat.
The shul that they went to was right across the street from their house. It was more like a boy's school then a shul because the woman's section was tiny and the men's section was like a library. When we got home it was time for dinner. Oriah's brother was also visiting with his wife and five kids. Their family is Yemenite so when they speak, some of their letters are heavily accented and sometimes they pronounce vowels differently then the way I learned them. It was interesting to see their customs and the different type of food that they made. The food had something distinctively Yemenite about it, even though I had never tasted real Yemenite food before. One of the interesting discussions that came up at the meal was the difference between the State of Israel and the Land of Israel. They were telling me that they only believe in the Land of Israel and not the state because they don't approve of how the government is run and they believe that government should follow Jewish laws.
At the end of the meal, the little kids asked me to play with them so I did. But the problem was that they all wanted to play different games. Somehow I managed to play three games at once. I played some kind of version of Go Fish with the older ones, at the same time was playing pick-up sticks with the middle one, and at the same time I was playing some made up game with the little one. I also invented a new game that they probably won't forget. At the end of the night, everybody has tea but there were so many different types of tea that the kids didn't know what to choose. So what I did was, they gave me their choices of tea, I put them behind my back, one in each hand, and then they chose a hand and that was the tea flavor that they had.
The next day, we woke up at around 8:00 and went to shul. We got there a little bit late at around 8:45 because there was only about a half hour left. For lunch, I went to the Goldschmidts because they live about three minutes away from where I was staying. It was really nice to go there for lunch and I had a good time. After lunch, I went back to Oriah's house and explored a little bit. She has a really cool roof where you can see her whole garden around her house and she told me that on a clear day you can see the sea. In her garden they have so many different types of trees. They have mango trees, pomegranate trees, lemon trees, fig trees, and a couple others. After a while I went to take a nap for an hour. I woke up for dinner which was really nice and similar food to the night before and then it was time to go home. I had a really good weekend at Oriah's house. Shalom V'lehitraot!
The shul that they went to was right across the street from their house. It was more like a boy's school then a shul because the woman's section was tiny and the men's section was like a library. When we got home it was time for dinner. Oriah's brother was also visiting with his wife and five kids. Their family is Yemenite so when they speak, some of their letters are heavily accented and sometimes they pronounce vowels differently then the way I learned them. It was interesting to see their customs and the different type of food that they made. The food had something distinctively Yemenite about it, even though I had never tasted real Yemenite food before. One of the interesting discussions that came up at the meal was the difference between the State of Israel and the Land of Israel. They were telling me that they only believe in the Land of Israel and not the state because they don't approve of how the government is run and they believe that government should follow Jewish laws.
At the end of the meal, the little kids asked me to play with them so I did. But the problem was that they all wanted to play different games. Somehow I managed to play three games at once. I played some kind of version of Go Fish with the older ones, at the same time was playing pick-up sticks with the middle one, and at the same time I was playing some made up game with the little one. I also invented a new game that they probably won't forget. At the end of the night, everybody has tea but there were so many different types of tea that the kids didn't know what to choose. So what I did was, they gave me their choices of tea, I put them behind my back, one in each hand, and then they chose a hand and that was the tea flavor that they had.
The next day, we woke up at around 8:00 and went to shul. We got there a little bit late at around 8:45 because there was only about a half hour left. For lunch, I went to the Goldschmidts because they live about three minutes away from where I was staying. It was really nice to go there for lunch and I had a good time. After lunch, I went back to Oriah's house and explored a little bit. She has a really cool roof where you can see her whole garden around her house and she told me that on a clear day you can see the sea. In her garden they have so many different types of trees. They have mango trees, pomegranate trees, lemon trees, fig trees, and a couple others. After a while I went to take a nap for an hour. I woke up for dinner which was really nice and similar food to the night before and then it was time to go home. I had a really good weekend at Oriah's house. Shalom V'lehitraot!
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