Absence makes the heart grow fonder

Hello again. Remember me? Oh, good. I'm glad you do. What have you missed? Oh, I'm so glad you asked.

The General Assembly

The General Assembly (GA) is an annual convention of Jewish leaders from federations across North America. Every 5 years, it is held in Jerusalem. I went 4 years ago, when the GA was in Cleveland, OH, for what ended up being a crash-course on the inner working of the Jewish world. This year, I was sponsored by Hillel in Israel (i.e. I went for free) but I found the whole thing kind of disappointing.

Highlights:
-I went to the Menachem Begin Center where I 1) learned about Menachem Begin and 2) was reminded how good Israel is at propoganda.
-I went to a session on Education in Israel, which will hopefully help me plan the Dorot seminar on Education in Israel.
-I saw Rabbi Sykes (former Director and Rabbi of Camp Ramah Darom), Rabbi Havivi (Max's Rabbi from Greensboro and my dear friend Daniel's daddy), Shari and Robin (two aquaintances from UNC who have since become very religious and go by Sarah Rivka and Ariel-Sara), Udi (a fellow counselor at Ramah Darom who is absolutely crazy), and many, many former campers from Ramah who are now on post-high school programs in Israel.
-I ate some free food.

Lowlights:
-I listened to a lot of boring people speak.
-I was angered by the propoganda presented to convince American Jews that the IDF can do no wrong.
-I waited in a lot of security lines because of all the Israeli "hot shots" that spoke at the opening and closing plenaries.
-The "cocktail hour and dinner party" was 700 people sitting on the floor eating hummus out of small plastic bowls and hotdogs. (I didn't eat the hotdogs.)

Aviva Zorenberg

I started going to a once-a-week class at Pardes on the Parsha HaShavua (weekly Torah portion) taught by a well-known scholar named Aviva Zorenberg. It was interesting, engaging, unique, and relevant ... and Aviva has a really charming British accent.

Hebrew Lessons

I started taking private Hebrew lessons with a woman named Sharon who is amazing!

Hartman English Open Beit Midrash

I went to an all-English open beit midrash at the Hartman Institute (where my teacher Noam Zion works).

Highlight:

-I did some really interesting chevruta-style learning with Kate and Shoshana, and realized that my Hebrew and text study skills are improving.

Lowlight:
-I have no idea what the speaker was talking about.

Iran Day

Last Thursday's seminar topic was Iran.

Highlights:

-We heard Lt. General Moshe Yaalon speak. Lt. General Yaalon served as the 17th chief of taff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) from 2002 - 2005.
-We spoke to Eldad Pardo, an expert in the field of Iran and a man whose bio is too long for this blog.
-I ate delicious Iranian food at the shuk.
-We drove out to Har Adar, to the home of Menashe Amir, the former head of the Israel Broadcasting Authority's Person language division and the current chief editor of the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Persian-language website.

Lowlights:
-I am feeling very conflicted about America's role in preventing Iran from gaining nuclear warfare capabilities.
-I am feeling very confused about Israel's role in preventing Iran from gaining nuclear warfare capabilities.
-Iran is a little scary.

Pancake Party

On Friday morning, Max and I hosted a pancake party.

Highlights:
-There were lots of delicious pancakes.
-There were lots of delicious toppings.
-There was a big, BIG bowl of mimosa.
-There were great people.

Lowlights:
-A lot of people didn't show up.

Weekend in Tel Aviv

Max and my friend Elliot invited us to the spend the weekend with him in Tel Aviv.

Highlights:
-Elliot, Yoshi, Alex, Max, and I had a delicious Shabbat dinner.
-We took a long walk to the beach, where we sat and drank cider until very, very late (or early).
-We had a delicious Shabbat lunch at Alex's house.
-We went to the mall and saw Woody Allen's new movie Vicky Christina Barcelona, which I liked a lot.
-We ate leftovers from our delicious Shabbat dinner (including strawberries which are finally in season!) with Elliot.

Lowlights:
-The weekend is over.

Oh, and I finally bought a computer! I probably won't have it for another month but somewhere in the distant future there is a computer for me.