Hello everyone!
Happy Tuesday! This week has been busy (and its only Tuesday!) and its only about to get busier! Yesterday my Hebrew class took another field trip and we went to the Knesset building. I had been there several years ago when I came to Israel the first time with my family, but this time the tour was in Hebrew! It was really fascinating, and gave me a first hand glimpse into what Israeli politics is like. It's one thing to read Ha'aretz or Jpost, but to really see where the action happens is incredible. The building itself isn't particularly interesting, but there were two things in particular that stuck out to me. As part of the tour, we got to visit the room where the knesset members meet, and it was really cool. Very different from the capitol in DC. The room itself clearly hasn't been renovated since the early 70's, and the whole beige/orange/brown decor is pretty terrible. But, it was still really amazing to be in a room where so many powerful people sit, and where so many important decisions are made. The guide we had told us that the cameras that film the knesset meetings are always facing the opposition of the party that is in power. This is because apparently they make for more interesting television! It's more exciting to see their reactions rather than those who already agree with what's going on, so they focus the cameras towards them. Hilarious. Also, there was apparently a problem in the past with members pressing the voting buttons of their neighbor, in the hopes of scoring some more votes, and so they had to put people's names on their buttons to make sure it didn't happen again! Sneaky Israeli Knesset members! The tour was pretty awesome, and I understood about 70% of what was happening, which I was happy about. Clearly my Hebrew is improving! Always a good thing.
This week the Board of Governors of the college is visiting, and they are all on campus in meetings and such all week. They are even coming on our tiyul with Israel Seminar tomorrow--which should be interesting. Tonight we met with the president of HUC-Rabbi David Ellenson. I had met him several times before, because his son was actually a camper of mine at OSRUI, but it was nice to see him again (and he most definitely had no idea who I was, so I had to introduce myself again. Totally understandable---I am sure he meets and talks to a million other more important people than his son's summer camp counselor!) The conversation we had was really nice, it was certainly very candid and honest which I appreciated. He talked about his own journey to his job, which was cool to hear. He also touched on the financial situation of the college, which also was interesting. He told us the outrage that people felt at the thought of closing one of the campuses, and how they had to come up with other ways to cut costs so all three could stay open. I appreciated his willingness to be open and honest with us!
In other news, I am leading services again next week, which I am very excited for. This one is a mincha (afternoon) service, which means its a lot less work and a lot fewer prayers than the one I led before. I am MUCH less stressed about this one. The support I felt from my classmates when I led a few weeks ago was unreal, and I was so grateful to each and every one of them. I am struck constantly by the incredible generosity of so many of my classmates. Example: I needed someone to co-lead services with me, and I was having trouble finding someone who was able to do it because everyone was already leading the week before or after, or was already participating in some way in the Torah service. My friend Lenette immediately offered to lead, even though she certainly didn't have to because she was already leading later in the semester with someone else (we are only required to lead one of each kind of service this year). Also, when I asked my friend Jeremy to play the guitar for us he immediately said yes, no questions asked. I was so happy to have their support. And, when I was expressing how nervous I was before services, my classmate Yael said "don't worry about it, we will support you no matter what." It was so incredible to hear that. Not to mention reassuring! Everyone sang super loud and participated fully and it was so so so wonderful.
Ok, time to go finish studying for a Hebrew test! Another post will come soon.
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