Catch up!

I haven't posted in a while but today I thought I better since time is getting very tight near the end of the semester . . . So this is a compilation post working backwards in time . . .

Today was my first service leading in front of my classmates.  I am so lucky to have paired with my cantorial partner Kenny Feibush.  He definitely made things easy for me: great sounding board for my own ideas, brought his own to the table, respected my overall theme . . . and most importantly was a wonderfully calming person to lead with . . . Thanks Kenny!

I received quite a few compliments on the service.  I hope it was a prayerful experience for everyone.  I did present a Hasidic style tale that I wrote myself.  My faculty advisor thought it was very good and I believe he was pleasantly surprised to learn I had written it myself.  Something I have neglected for a long time is my creative self.  So this was very important to me and I am thrilled for the positive feedback.  Here is the text . . . A Tale of Letters

Just a few other things . . .
This past weekend we went to Qumran.  It was a great trip led by our 2nd Temple History instructor, David Levine.  The best part was hiking up the Qumran wadi.

A few weeks ago we went south to the Arava for tiyyul.  We stayed at Kibbutz Yahel, and visited Kibbutz'm Lotan and Ketura.  They had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner for us at Ketura.  One of the best Thanksgiving's I can remember.  Again, the best part of the trip was a hike.  This time up Mt. Shlomo in the Eilat Mountains.  This was a challenging hike and a little bit of a fear of heights I didn't even know I realy had made it even more challenging.  My friend Polly talked me through many of the harder parts.  I returned the favor by helping her out when she got just a little sick on the way down the mountain.  Definitely made the hike memorable . . . Thanks Polly!

A few weeks before that was the Parallel Lives weekend.  Parallel Lives is a program that pairs IDF soldiers from the elite Maglan unit with YII students so we can learn about each other.  I am paired with Danny Sorkin, a really great young man with wonderful friends.  I stayed with him and his family in Lod . . . which I am happy to tell you is a nice place.  It definitely does not deserve its reputation which I wont even bother talking about because its not true.  I met some of his friends who are all interesting people.  Young Israeli's definitely know nothing about Reform Judaism and definitely think it is strange for someone to say they are studying to be a rabbi when they are not wearing a black suit and hat.  They did have a lot of questions and I think and hope they found it refreshing that I am just like them, a real person.  They do stay out a little late . . . I was definitely exhausted when the weekend was over.
A very warm thanks to Danny and his family.  His parents were great.  They put up with my lack of understanding Russian, Yiddish, and almost no Hebrew.  No one can beat Mrs. Sorkin in the Jewish mother category.  She stuffed me silly with Russian food.

The weekend before that was a Tel Aviv weekend with Natan and Lenette and their friends for erev shabbat . . . then Yael and her friends Netta and Iyella for wine and dancing - definitely great to hang out with three gorgeous ladies in Tel Aviv . . . although again, a little late for me . . . I only say that because I really wondered if I would make it through a day on the Mediterranean with Natan and Lenette.  A yummy Aroma ice coffee helped me recover and I was ready to go.  A great windy day on the boat.  I am truly lucky to have such good friends . . . Yael, Natan and Lenette.

If there was something before this I hope I think of it later . . . enough for now.