Week Zero

This week, school started. Classes do not begin until Sunday, October 22nd, but we began Monday the 16 with orientation. Fortunately, I had begun to meet some of my fellow students and their spouses (read: wives) in the weeks prior so it was not too overwhelming on the first day.

The day began at what is called HaKotel haMasorti, the Kotel (Western Wall) of the Conservative Movement (called Masorti in Israel). It is a part of the Wall that was not made an official synagogue by the Israeli rabbinate (s0 a mixed group of men and women is allowed) and it is further away and more secluded from the main plaza in an area also known as Robinson's Arch. The area is very peaceful and beautiful, and as the pictures show, there is a platform for bar/bat mitzvahs and it is wheelchair accessible. We met there because Bill Davidson, huge philanthropist and owner of the Pistons, had a Torah written and donated to the movement (maybe even the school, I'm not sure) for us to use. It is a beautiful Torah in the Sefardi style of standing upright and we sang and danced a bit after the dedication.

Then we headed back to the Schecther Institute for our meetings. They were all in Hebrew and involved speeches, presentations and a lot of information about what classes we need to take, what things are expected of us (I have to give a 10 minute sermon on the Torah portion in Hebrew) and we were interviewed to detirming our placements. By 4 p.m. , I was fried. I had a few hours to myself before I had to go to dinner at the home of one of my teachers, Rabbi Shlomo Tucker. We met as Israel Seminar groups and so we ate pizza and got to know one another a bit by telling our stories. Whereas I am unique in being a rabbi's child in rabbinical school, it is fairly common at JTS. I wonder how this year is going to go being around so many men. I did not realize that having half of my class be women at Ziegler would be such a rarity. Though the two classes that entered Ziegler after I did are predominantly male....There's just a lot of testoterone....

Tuesday was low key with only my advisory meeting. They were scheduled in 15 minute back- to- back incriments so of course, they were running an hour late. I need more advisement than just "quick, you have two minutes to decide what class to take". Then, we were hosted at the Conservative Yeshiva with a bbq. Israel has pretty tasty veggie options. I had a Tivol patty (Tivol makes yummy tvp products) with sweet chili. Yum!

Wednesday was a half day informal learning session on ideologies and depictions of Israel pre 1948. Then we read Shai Agnon stories in the neighborhood of Nachlaot near the shuk to get a feel for them. It was nice to be outside and having conversations.

Thursday, we ventured out of Jerusalem early to drive up to the Galilee near the Kinneret. There we expanded the conversation on the early Zionist ideals and the actions of those who held different beliefs about the land and its redemptive quality. We ended the day by visting Moshav Shorashim, a one time cooperative founded by American Jews that affiliates with the Masorti movement. We heard about how they privatized after ten years of being cooperative, how the religious life there works and how over time, ideologies change or they are not sustained. Very interesting...

Now, I am spending a restful weekend with the Carmel family in Givat Elah near Natzeret and Afula. So peaceful here! I need to save my strength because next week, it begins for real. The day starts early and ends late.

Shabbat shalom!