Jerusalem Diary - Sunday

After a slow morning, I arrived at the Conservative Yeshiva at around 9:30. After I walked in, I saw Josh Kulp and went to give him a hug and catch up. A few of the other Kollel members and faculty came to say hello (Shlomo Zacharow who worked at Ramah and others). Also, I recognized a number of the students from dinner Friday and Kedem on Shabbat morning. After schmoozing with Josh, I started to go over the Talmud passage he would be teaching and then joined his shiur. They are studying a long section on muktzeh in the third chapter of Shabbat.

I left Josh's class at noon to meet with Clare Goldwater who was visiting the Yeshiva after I reached out to her. After time with Clare and Daniel Goldfarb (Director of the Yeshiva), I joined Clare for lunch at Masrik (great pasta). We talked about how I could return to Israel for a year with my family. Don't worry, it won't happen soon. Clare and I talked about some of my plans for Smith-Amherst Hillel (not ready for publication) and other developments. I always enjoy talking with her but can never get more than a few minutes at Hillel conferences.

I spent the afternoon shopping--getting nature material at SPNI for Deborah, a stamp book for Zev, gifts for the girls (they will remain surprises for them), and a few other items (also surprises but they come from Yirmiyahu's, Dahab, and a CD store). I then went to the Conservative Yeshiva for ma'ariv and some more schmoozing. At 7, I went to the apartment of a friend from Pardes (Craig Preston). Matt Berkowitz had been staying there and I said goodbye to him. Craig then took me to a great place for Israeli food--stekiat bibi in the industrial zone of Talpiot (near Pardes).

Craig drove me back to the apartment in Givat Mordechai to pack and post on the blog.

I walked a lot today, ate great food, learned some Talmud, and talked to amazing people--a typical day for me in Jerusalem. This will probably end my Jerusalem diaries as I meet the two Five College birthright Israel busses tomorrow afternoon and will have little computer access.

Tomorrow's plans: learning Talmud in the morning, dropping off my luggage at the hotel, meeting my group at the airport, and then heading back to Jerusalem for dinner and the start of their program.

Jerusalem Diary - Shabbat

The last day was a great Shabbat in Jerusalem. Last night, I arrived at Aryeh Bernstein's in the afternoon before an early Shabbat (candle lighting was a little after 4 with shkiah closer to 5). We went to the Minyan Shivyoni Baka and then to a great dinner at a friend's apartment. In addition to people from the Conservative Yeshiva, Pardes, and foreign rabbinical students, there was a couple from the US with two small children. The man, Alex, went to Maimonides with Deborah (even though they haven't seen each other since high school). Also, one of the rabbinical students has a brother and sister-in-law in Northampton.

It was a great night of intelligent conversation with people from a variety of Jewish backrounds. All of Aryeh's friends are intellectual and tend to be on the traditional end of liberal Judaism (or the liberal end of traditional Judaism). After a long, leisurely dinner, we walked back to Aryeh's apartment. At his apartment, we talked about critical Talmud study and halakhah until his lights turned out.

This morning, I went to Minyan Kedem. It was nice, Ramah-style davening. It did not seem like too many people spoke Hebrew as a native language. They had a great kiddush. Noam Raucher met me there. Noam was a CIT at Ramah and was a student at Hofstra when I worked there. It was great to see him now that he is a mature Rabbinical Student (at the Ziegler School in CA). He is spending his year at Machon Schechter. A JTS student and two HUC students visiting for their break joined us for lunch. I brough the Marzipan rugelach--yum!

At 3:30, I walked to the home of Audrey and Harvey Scher. Audrey is an proud Smith alumna who is friends with Renee. She returns each time her class has a reunion and is also the chair of the Pardes board. I spent around two hours talking to them about Smith, Northampton, me, and we played a few rounds of Jewish geography. They know people living in Northampton and their daughter worked one summer at CRNE as mishlachat. I returned to Aryeh's apartment after havdalah. Aryeh was hosting a number of people visiting Jerusalem who had attended Yeshivat Maaleh Gilboa with him. We all davened Maariv together and I got to hear him teach a little.

Thanks to Aryeh for an amazing Shabbat in Baka/Talpiot. Even though I have been to Jerusalem a few times since we last lived here in 1998, a Shabbat like this makes me realize that there is no place like Jerusalem (and especially no place like Baka/Talpiot/German Colony). I have to get my family here for an extended period (Deborah, I hope you read this. Start planning for a year here before Zev's bar mitzvah)!

Motzei Shabbat, I met Devorah Schoenfeld and we walked around, had some schwarma, and did a little shopping.
More later.

Joining Original Jewish; see my first post

I just joined with a diverse group of Jewish thinkers (most of whom have studied at the Conservative Yeshiva) who are forming a blog, Original Jewish.

Check out my first post. Depending on how it works, we will see what happens with this blog.

Shalom,
Rabbi Bruce