Parashat Hashavuis

This weeks Parasha is נציבים-וילך. Ot starts off saying

"ט. אַתֶּם נִצָּבִים הַיּוֹם כֻּלְּכֶם לִפְנֵי יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם רָאשֵׁיכֶם שִׁבְטֵיכֶם זִקְנֵיכֶם וְשֹׁטְרֵיכֶם כֹּל אִישׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל:" 

The word Netzivim means standing. The first pasuk of the Parasha says that everyone is standing before Hashem. And then it repeats it twice. But no, כלכם means all of YOU. The whole man. That's how you judge a person favorably. Rav Hillel said ״אם אני כאן, הכל כאן״. It means that whatever he's doing, his whole heart is in it. Do everything with your all. Be totally immersed and involved and Hashem will be too. 

It says EVERYONE has to come because we are a whole and were only as strong as our weakest. We all benefit from eachother (like a minyan). It's interesting how this Parasha falls right before Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year.

In Parashat וילך we see Moshe Rabenu's farewell message. At the end of his life he says "לֹא אוּכַל עוֹד לָצֵאת וְלָבוֹא" 

At first glance it may seem as if Moshe is saying that he is weak. However it is the opposite. Moshe was growing every day of his life and he felt as if he reached his pinnacle. He was growing his whole life. 

Just like Moshe reached his full potential, so can everyone. We all have the ability to reach our full potentials and be the best we can be. 

נצבים and וילך are opposites but they work well together. 

STAND UP AND GO! (We're not here to eat potatoes, lol)

You can do anything you want to do. If you want to continue growing and developing and reach greater heights, you need to stand up and go. 

Shabbat Shalom! Enjoy 

Mon-Wed

We The past three days were great because I'm starting to feel the routine around here. The classes are nice and spaced out and we have a lot of free time. Only two of my days run late and I have frees those days which is great. 

We have so much free time but its important for us to realize that we have to use it wisely. My mom (hey mom!) isn't going to Staples for me to get my notebooks. I actually have to get on a train and go get them. Same thing for grocery shopping (were given meals but I don't always like them)    And also for laundry!! I did my own laundry the other day. Such an experience figuring out how to use the machines. It's a whole other world down there.

I Freaken had to fold everything and put it back. I'm really appreciating my house so much right now. Like the shower is so gross that I'm showering at the gym whenever I go. 

Another thing I have to do on my own is GO TO SLEEP. It's like a sleepover every night here and no one sleeps so its really my responsibility to listen to my body and just leave early when it gets too late for me (especially since I wake up early to exercise) 

  It's also a big thing for me that I'm living with two girls that Ive literally just met. ברוךה׳ I got normal room mates (I actually love them, hey guys) but its an enormous change especially since I had my own room all summer. 

I LOVE running here. I follow the new train tracks so I stay in the main parts of town. I even have a (new) friend that's like really fast. The hills are nuts and so is the heat and the wind. Brooklyn's gonna be a breeze when I get back. Plus I found a stunning gym that I signed up for. 

As if I didn't love the atmosphere in school enough, it got a lot better the other night. I was playin some uke the other night in the common area and a few other girls came to sing along. Little by little more girls were showing up with guitars and everything and we just had one giant jam sesh. Totally up my alley.

Another thing that woow-ed me was my rakezet (learning coach) . We were put into groups and were sent to our rakezets homes. When we walked in Lauren was holding her baby in one arm and holding her 3 year old daughter with the other. Her smile was brilliant and she was just glowing. So basically the entire time she was trying to give a shiur her kids were disrupting us to the point where I was wondering where her patience was coming from. After about ten minutes her daughter pulled the table cloth from under the table and Lauren just came out and said "HASHEM is testing me." For some reason this made my jaw drop. I was thinking like this girl is on another level. Later she passed around papers and has us write down our goals for the year so that during our private weekly meeting we could refer to it. 

At the end of the lesson as her daughter was tugging at her skirt she was like "I hope I passed the test" lol 

 

When it comes to little things like this, I remember the quote we learned ״אזו החכם הלומד מכל אדם״ which means that a smart person is someone who learns from every person they meet. 

I really hope I can review and reflect often because one of my main goals is to absorb and take in everything I find inspiring this year and apply it to my life. 

Carrying Iz back to school cuz she broke her toe!?

Reunited!!!

We went to the beach to watch sunset. Obv I had a crowd to please

Brooklyn meets Britain 

We think he was trying to split the sea

Wearing shorts has never felt so amazing 

Welcome to Israel. Three girls getting off the train with me. The oldest one can't be more than 8 Years old

First day of class

Wow so long day

I am sooooo happy with the classes I chose. They aren't really so religious I picked more philosophical and spiritual shiurim. At some points during lessons I was ready to jump out of my chair because I was so happy to learn the way we learn. It's for ourselves and not a test and the notes I'm taking are to review for life. Not because I have to spit it back later on. 

I don't really agree with a lot of the teachers but I like the challenge and the change of perspective. 

Funniest thing ever was signing up for Ulpan which is a Hebrew class. I'm totally switching out of that one. We were literally learning first grade Hebrew and we couldn't stop laughing the whole time. I'm gonna take something else instead and read the Israeli newspaper with a dictionary. The best way to learn a language is to get out there and speak so I guess I'll also have lunch with the teacher and speak in Hebrew. 

So I really never thought of myself as a typical Syrian (cuz I'm not) but its crazy how much it comes out around these ashkenaz girls. The culture is so different like I was explaining how we make our fiancés a kuratcha and they thought it was absurd. That's just something really small but I won't get into it. Oh and everyone knows everyone from camp which is a thing apparently. 

It's so great to get out of the bubble and make new friends with a different mindset. They're so down to earth and I've really been bonding with girls over actual intellectual topics rather than materialistic ones. 

Not that my friends at home are materialistic it's just not common I have a deep conversation with someone I met a few days ago. Ja feel?

First Shabbat (in)

Wow so it's so different here. I was having a culture shock with all of the ashkenaz stuff going on. I like the warm environment though like the dvar Torah and stuff. Whenever I get homesick I just think about how much I wished to be here when I was home. I was craving inspiration and now I have it all around me. It was so crazy for me to eavesdrop on Rav Eitans convo with his wife cuz they were having a deep Torah conversation like casually at the table. I don't even know what I think of that yet I'm still taking it in. 

The school is doing a good job preparing us for class tomorrow with a ton of sessions about learning and how to motivate yourself to learn. I took a lot of notes after Shabbat. 

Obv I rubbed my belly to ברנהנה at tish infront of everyone (I don't know how many people who read this will know what that is and I won't explain it) 

After a longgggg Shabbos I went out to Mamilla with my friend Ariella from Manchester, England to get Aroma coffee and make fun of all of the price tags 

This was nicer in person hahahaha 

Shavuah Tov everyone

Pre shabbos ruach!!!!!!!!

Post run early morning shuk. I bought a pomegranate the size of my head. (Photo credit to Reb Rahmey on first 3 photos)

This was so Freaken loud

Duhhhhh

Lunch at Spaghettis on Mamilla rooftop . Photo cred to Gabe B. 

Good thing I saw these people or I would of been so homesick wowwww 

 

This was 50 shek shakshuka and it came with a salad a basket of bread and a hot and cold drink. Obvs wasn't mine hahaa

Flatbush Crew!!!!!!

Good Shabbos 

8-22-13

ISo I ran. It was so hot wow so I did like a bit over 5k. Hills are nuts too

So I got a lot done today. 

I made my rough draft of my schedule. So basically the thing about my school is that they want us to learn what we want to learn so we get to switch in and out of classes as we like for the first couple of weeks until we make a final schedule 

A bunch of us took the train to town to buy Israeli metro cards which felt cool cuz like we're actually living here. It's crazy how many errands we have to do and it's crazy not having parents to help us plus we take train and bus everywhere. It was cool looking around the group of girls I was with and realizing I didn't know any of them until literally 3 days ago and now I'm just like having coffee with them.

I went back to the dorm and guess what I diddddd

I TOOK OUT THE GARBAGE WITHOUT ANYONE ASKING 

I swear its such a big deal cuz our garbage was overflowing and there was no bag so I had to get it all in the garbage bag I found and sweep up the over flow into it. It smelled gross and I was gagging but seeing it there was so much for me to handle. I guess it'll build character 

I really love the girls here everyone is so warm and I can really feel that our grade is going to get close. Even the shana bet girls say they see it 😄 

So we had a beis (beit kinesset) session today. We had to read and interpret on our own with a dictionary. Everything we do like that just makeshift want to go to class already. I'm so excited about what I chose. ( ill put a final draft of my schedule up)

Tonight on ben yehuda was a huge social scene I saw so many people I haven't seen in ages it was nuts

Us not getting fat

Flatbush crew yayyyy. And it's like not even a fraction of us

Day 2 8-21-13

Day 2. Aug 21 

So I've been up in bed for a couple of hours now and there's so much time to kill until wake up. Good thing girls from last year left weights in my closet! How many lbs is 5 kilos? 

I also got to hang up most of my pictures .check it and I'm not even done yet

Today was mentally exhausting. I sat through so many orientations its ridic that I'm not asleep right now. 

So we met our רקזות , or learning coaches, who are really so adorable! It was such a tease I wana learn already but class doesn't start until Sunday 

They were talking about such spiritual topics which is right up my alley. 

Basically right now were in the month of אלול which is the month of תשובה so we spoke about a few aspects of that. It got me so excited for the year to start already like I just want to be settled in ya know?

We got to leave to go to קבר רחל where I read the special prayer. I read it in English and it was so special. 

A few years ago a woman was Murdered the night before her wedding along with her father. It was such a tragedy in Israel and in her memory, her mother put her wedding dress in רחלs tomb. Visiting and praying is really such a great way to keep her name alive and eternalize her. 

We went to Rav Eitans house for a BBQ which was actually delicious and we played ice breaker games like freshman lol

Went to Ben Yehuda with Rebecca and met up with some Shraga boys 

It's a cinnamon stick. Relax. 

Classic sem pic always necessary

When we got back I stayed up late making my schedule. I'll let you know how that goes 

It's 2 am and I want to wake up early to run sooooooo yeah 

Day One. August 19-20 2013

So we landed in Tel Aviv and went straight to הר הזיתים which is on the east side of Jeru. We took in the fact that were so excited for our year here but not everything is perfect. Straight ahead of us was הר הבית and right in the middle of that, where the third beit Hamikdash should be, is a huge golden dome. It's bittersweet but it's really great to be home. This is where the heart is. 

We learned that the Ramban cried when he got to Jerusalem because he saw it in ruins. He left his life and family and went to Jerusalem at an old age just to find two families living there. Today there are over 800,000 jewish people living in Jerusalem alone. Imagine how Ramban would react?! Since he mourned when he got there, we did krya and ripped the (school spirited!) midmo tshirts we were given. 

After this we drove down the mountain to the kotel for a quick picture and mincha. (If you gave me a note I put it in for you)

I'm so excited to look back on this day as what feels like a Freshie, in June and admire how much I've learnt and grown since now. 

When we got to school (we call it home) they called me aside in the Lunch room. Guess what?!?? They know I'm gluten free cuz I wrote it on my item so while everyone had pizza I had Tuna salad. Guess whoes not getting fat?!  Me!!

Ok so when I met all of the girls it's like Facebook in real life I swear. I stalked these girls so hard. Wanted to make sure they were normal hahahaha

So I finished unpacking which took 3 hours and I surprisingly didn't need so much space which is surprising because I paid almost $400 for overweight luggage and an extra one which was also too heavy . Can you say JAP??? 

So I was syked that it was 90 degrees out until I remembered I have to cover my elbows lol so fun 

My madrichot are scute! One of them plays guitar so I got my ukulele and we played Let it Be. Syked  for that.
Oh btw my room mate saw my kale chips and she thought it was weed haaaaa
Bathrooms gross also I have to squeegee the floor after I shower and its just bloody hell
Enjoy the pics! (Looked gross today!)

This is part of the common area. S'cute!

This is my bed lol. Notice the health food up there

Big apple salad yum

Claaaasic sem pic no?