What are you saying? Honesty.

What am I saying, really I mean whats going on here? Some thoughts and reflections from the last week, I've been working my schedule around this last bit and I think I'm finding something thats working for me. Namely waking up for Scharit the morning prayers then one or two classes in the morning usually Mishna and half of my Gemara class and then a full afternoon of classes. Mussar, Ulpan, Chumash, and Navi. Now you might be asking yourself what all the words mean and what the hell is it I'm actually doing so far from home.

Glad you asked here what my typical day is like. My alarm goes off at around 7am I roll out of bed, turn off my alarm, get dressed, grab my bag and off I go. To Aish HaTorah for davening. Scharit is usually 50 minutes long depending on whether its Monday or Thursday. Those are the two days we read from the Torah during the week and its one of the most beautiful moments of the week. The Torah gets brought out, people get called up to make Alliyah's. It would be easy for a person to think that we that is Jews worship the Torah its can be at times very questionable. People kiss it as it goes by and stand for it. The truth of the matter is we don't worship it, its the words themselves contained within it that are so important. According to Jewish tradition, Hashem created the entire world from the words contained within the Torah. Its all deeply Kabbalastic.

At the end of prayer, I typically eat breakfast and come back to my apartment I use the time to write or work on Hebrew or just read the sports scores and chill out. At 10am its time for Mishna class, a usually entertaining class where we simply read and talk about the Oral Law, it covers every single aspect of a Jews life. And that with the Torah encompass the laws brought down on Mount Sinai. It is the core of Jewish existence and self identity either a person believes they were given at Sinai or they don't and the fundamental answer to that question then dictates how one chooses to live their life. If it was brought down then one must do their best to follow it. It is an absolute reality that we relate to subjectively i.e. it is the guide for living a fulfilling life. Now figuring out what that means for your life and how its ultimately expressed through ones actions is in no way black and white. But that does not negate the world view that ultimately the world does have an objective truth. But I once again digress. My next stop is Gemara my time in that class is mostly spend unlocking the door to a crazy world of nitpicking. The Gemara's role is to help us understand the Oral Law or Mishna better, it picks on every nuance in the language and the Rabbis of blessed memory argue about it all. It combined abstract reasoning and logic, I've never seen anything quite like it. It is an exhausting but rewarding exercise.

My afternoons are a little different and 2pm I have Mussar. Mussar is about connecting ones intellectual knowledge with their emotions and using that to line up our actions. Thought it a person hopefully can connect their whole being together: mind, heart and hands. Most of the time we talk about day in and day out struggles. What am I struggling with this week? why have I not been able to get up and accomplish what I need to do... If I know this is right then why am I not doing it, etc. Its all about the decisions we make every moment of our lives. After that its Ulpan time, where every does their best to keep up with our amazing teacher Rabbi Gogeck. Through word and action association we (attempt) to learn the Hebrew language and I can safely say now that even though it's very hard I'm getting better and one day will be able to read and write fluently and get by on the streets. I can't stress how challenging it can be and conversely how rewarding. It is the core of everything we do, all the best commentaries and works are in Hebrew and if you really what to get inside Judaism it is a requirement. Lastly I have Chumash and Navi, both are taught by the same teacher and both dissect the inner truths contained within the Torah and the writings of the prophets. Right now I'm learning about King David's rise to power and it is fabulous stuff. And thats my day, rise repeat, rise repeat.