Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Shabbat in Jerusalem

Friday evening I went to Alicia's (cantorial student here with her husband and two young children Ben 8 and Coby 4) for Shabbat dinner where I met my classmates for the first time. Everyone seems very nice. We had a pot luck dinner and said the blessings together. I chatted with a bunch of people. Jacklyn (rabbinical student) with her boyfriend were there. Daniel played guitar for a good portion of the evening which was lots of fun. I left on the earlier side of the evening as I was still trying to recover from my jetlag.

I went to Shabbat morning services with Nancy (cantorial student who I met in NYC) on Saturday morning. We both cried this morning! A hearing aid started squaling and I thought of home and lost it. It was nice to have her there next to me though. I felt better after a little while. After services and oneg we went to a pinic where I got to actually talk with more people. I spoke with Jessie (cantorial), Mirah (wife of a rabbinical student), Jason (Rabbi), Jim (rab), and a few other random conversations here and there. It's weird having to make friends again, but I'm slowing finding a great bunch of people to hang out with.

After taking a Shabbos nap, I went back to HUC for a shiur given by the dean (Rabbi Marmur) and the president of HUC (Rabbi Ellenson). It focused on Abraham Joshua Heschel's writings. I got a little lost be the end but it actually sparked a bunch of interesting conversations afterwards among students.

After ice cream and havdalah, Lauren, Nancy, Nikki (rabbi), Rachel (Nikki's partner), and Melissa (an intern) and I went to a cafe around the corner from my apartment called Cafe Joe. I'm becoming particularly close with Nancy and Lauren which is really nice. Can't wait for this week!

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