Classes

Classes have been in Session for a while now so I think it's time to tell you all about what I'm learning!

Hebrew
Ok there's not much I can say about Hebrew. We have Hebrew 4 days a week for 1.5 hours (3 hours on Tuesdays, how lucky). It's a lot of verb drills, newspaper reading, vocabulary learning, and talking. I have to say that my favorite day of the week is news day because we read real Israeli newspapers and listen to the real news- we have a lot of help from our teacher, but it's fun to be reading what the Israelis read!

Classical Grammar
I love our teacher, but this is a reinforcement of what I learned in Dave McCreery's class (Hi Dave!) in college. It's nice to have a class where I feel confident and on top of everything.

Tanach (Bible)
Basically my favorite thing to do, 4.5 hours a week. We go through the text in Hebrew, translate, and discuss the nuances in Hebrew and in the larger Biblical context. It's a blast.

Ancient History- 2nd Temple Period
A continuation of the 1st Temple Period archaeology class we had over the summer. Basically a lecture class, the title speaks for itself.

Liturgy
Taught by a Rabbi who works with the Shalom Hartman Institute and who comes with rave reviews. It's a fun class where we go through the Israeli Prayerbook "Rinat Yisrael" and translate and discuss the prayer service. One of the goals of the course is that we will be able to pick up any prayerbook and feel comfortable with it. I am definitely looking forward to learning the ins and outs of the siddur.

Modern Zionist History
With the lovely Paul Liptz whom I met when he was in Portland last year lecturing for the Federation's Community Relation's Council. This class is fascinationg, especially since before this year I have learned basically nothing about modern Israel Zionist History.

Israel Seminar
In this class, we learn about Modern Israeli History and Society by taking Tiyyuliim (field trips) around Israel. A very fun way to learn about Israel outside of the classroom, but still with the direction of Dave Mendelsson.

In addition to 7 classes at HUC, I am also taking voice lessons with the lovely Sonia Nizny (a Significant Other of a Cantorial Student). It has been a nice creative outlet for the stress of living in Israel and studying almost nonstop.

I'm also starting a Rabbinic Students Seminar with the Shalom Hartman Institute! I haven't started yet, but here is the basic concept. Rabbinic students from different movements get together to study texts such as the Zohar and also to discuss various topics such as "the soul of the sinner: from chet to geulah". Needless to say it should be a fascinating and challenging opportunity. It's also led by Rabbi Bill Berk, formerly of Temple Chai in Phoenix, Arizona!

I'm also busy writing my first HUC D'var Torah on parsaha Toldot- if you'd like to give me any insights, they are all welcome!

So if you all are wondering why I don't write as often, this post should give you a better idea of what is keeping me busy over here.

I hope everyone Stateside is doing well!

Aharei HaHagim

Israelis have a saying אחרי החגים that means "after the holidays" and I never quite understood it until living in Israel for the holidays. Basically everything stops during the months of September and the beginning of October, and as soon as Simchat Torah is over in October, everything picks back up again in full force. It is quite a strange phenomena and while it was nice to have experienced it, I am glad that everything is up and running again! This also means that I have not blogged in ages, but hopefully I will be able to get back into the swing of things again.

My High Holy Day experience was incredible, I have written A LOT about it, but it was much too wordy to post on a blog, if you are interested in reading let me know and I can send it to you!
We had a 10 day break during Sukkot and my boyfriend Jason came all the way from Portland to visit! It was a wonderful and relaxing vacation, and I'm posting some pictures below.







My first meal in a Sukkah! Nearly every restaurant in Jerusalem turned its patio, or the walkway in front of the restaurant, into a sukkah! This is Jason and I eating at an asian restaurant











We went up to Haifa for a couple of days and had a wonderful trip! This is Jason and I on the Mediterranean right before sunset.

I posted pictures from the Baha'i Gardens in my post about my first trip to Haifa, so here's a non-scenic picture of Jason and I at the Gardens!

(ps, contrary to what you may think, the Trailblazers did not actually pay Jason to wear their shirts every day in Israel...)

We went to the Kotel!

School has been back in session for a couple of weeks now, and boy is it busy! I am taking 8 courses plus a program at the Hartman Institute where I get together with Rabbinic Students from the other movements to study Texts every week. Look for more posts about my classes!