First off, there's a new post up at my other blog ariellerb.bogspot.com, which now has a title: If You Don't Have Anything Nice To Say, Maybe You Should Still Say Something Where as this blog is a log of my journey to becoming a Jewish Educator, that blog is a place for discussing issues as they arise.
Now on to this post....WARNING: The following is mostly gratitude and a little insight into some of the details of my life this summer, to expect much thought provoking content.
I need to start by publicly thanking Jesse Paikin. Jesse is in charge of staffing Birthright trips for Kesher - the Reform movement's group for college and university age youths. By pure luck, many of my friends received staff positions this summer. Thus, THANK YOU JESSE for sending me my friends!
My first visitors this summer were Aron and Jenn Katz. I went to lead Havdallah for their trip at HUC - this became a bit of a trend - and then met up with them for an evening on Ben Yehuda St. We had a lovely dinner at Burger's Bar and it was great to see familiar faces from home so soon after arriving in Jerusalem.
Next came Shayna Goldberg. Shayna was not sent to me by Jesse, but rather Canada Israel Experience - thank you Barbara Reich??? :S After spending a month, post-Birthright, touring India, Shayna stopped by my apartment for 4 nights. She helped me to decorate it and cleaned out some drawers, which was such a great help in making me feel more settled. She was also a trooper. She came with me to not one but 4 HUC events that weekend, although one was a party. Shayna was with me for services on Friday night and Saturday morning and then came to an intimate Seudah Shlishit/ Get To Know You/ Havdallah at Rabbi Naama Kelman's (the Dean of HUC in Israel) house.
August brought lots of quality time with Dave Vaisberg and Miriam Sherman-Palmer! First off, was the usual Havdallah, except we didn't do Havdallah together, followed by dinner on Ben Yehduda. This time we went to Tmol Shilshom and got to watch from above as the protestors marched to Kikar Zarfat to demonstrate for cheaper housing. After their trip, Dave came to stay with me for a night, he came with me for yoga and then showed me one of his favourite bars in Jerusalem. Dave went to his family for Shabbat, but returned on Sunday for more yoga and to take me to IKEA! This was not only fun but essential. By means of his rental car and previous experience setting up in Jerusalem, Dave was invaluable in helping me buy what I still needed for the apartment. Dave departed the next morning to pick up Miriam from the airport and travel for a few days. The following Friday, I hosted them for a lovely Shabbat dinner, complete with Schnitzel, at my friend Nicole's with a few of my friends from HUC and on Saturday I joined them for a lovely Shabbat lunch hosted by Nanacy, the Director of Student Life for us at HUC.
As my visit with Dave and Miriam ended, my visit with Jesse started. Later on Saturday, I went to HUC to host Havdallah for Jesse Paikin and Shelly Vaisberg's bus. It was one of the best Havdallah's thus far - there was great energy and lots of presence from the leadership perspective. I then walked with them to Ben Yehuda and got to hang out with everyone for a bit. On Sunday, I took a cab ride with Jesse from HUC out to Harel Mall in Mevasseret Zion where he was reconnecting with his bus after some meetings on campus. It was brief due to timing but a quality trip none-the-less. With that my stream of regular visitors ended.
I am expecting some family and more friends in the coming months, still not positive of any of these plans. In the meantime, I am so appreciative of the fact that I've had a regular stream of friends to help ease me in to life so far away. I am forming a great social group here, but it's always nice to see a face from home.
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