First Shabbos in Jerusalem

Shabbos ended in Jerusalem a few hours ago and I made it! Phew, this city is a truly magical place but none more so then on Shabbos. With a full moon rising over the Kotel (Wailing Wall) the black and whites as I like to call them (the Orthodox Jews) began to fill the area, I watching this with one of my new friends Yitzchak (he’s from South Carolina and a Jewish convert) we went down to the wall and davened before heading back up to the terrace, we talked for a while and then headed our separate ways. I went to dinner with old friends from NY one of whom’s brother lives two minutes away from me in the Old City, dinner was amazing, filled with children running around, lots of singing, drinking wine, and amazing conversation. Then I headed off to bed, I awoke full of vigor (late, I missed Morning Prayer but I’m still fighting a bit of jet lag) and then wandered around, hooking up with some new friends before heading off to lunch with one of the Rabbis who does work for Aish. Another illuminating and wild meal ensued before I sleepily headed back to my room. I met up with some roommates / friends, and we sat around our kitchen table, making jokes, talking about stupid stuff and just generally being stupid boys. As Shabbos came to a close we did the division ceremony and then the world went back to normal, phones were turned on, computers brought out and life went back to normal. Shabbos is amazing when you go a whole day without changing anything, even the mundane becomes extraordinary. Most people go there entire lives without realizing the miracle in the everyday, the ordinary. I had a wonderful first Shabbos in Israel, I’ve been shown nothing but warmth and kindness everywhere I go thus far and I’m truly grateful for that.

Jerusalem pt.2

Jerusalem is a festival and a lamentation. Its song is a sigh
across the ages, a delicate, robust, mournful psalm at the great junction of spiritual cultures. David K. Shipler

Jerusalem

I have arrived in Jerusalem; well to be technical I got here yesterday but just the same. As I write this I’m sitting in my new place with a bunch of guys around me, and I couldn’t be happier. I already feel like I’ve been here for a few weeks, everyone here is so welcoming, they immediately made me feel like I belong which is a huge relief. After stressing about what I’d be doing for the last few weeks it feels really great to be in it now, the anticipation of the event was as always more stressful then the event itself. Now I know as I’m here longer things will inevitably come up, I’ll meet people I don’t like, I’ll argue with people over lifestyle choices, etc. This is life after all and life is tough, but it just feels really good to be here now. I had my first day of classes, and there are a few Rabbis that I was drawn to immediately, so it all made for a very interesting first day that’s for sure. The flow of Yeshiva life is definitely going to be an adjustment, lunch for instance is a mad rush, I kept running into people, within five minutes I stopped apologizing and just pushed my way through. My head is on a swivel, every twenty minutes I find myself looking out the windows of Aish at the Kotel and thinking “Am I really here?” Yup! Highlights of classes today: Jewish History with Rabbi Ken Spiro, Practical Spirituality with Rabbi Yom Tov Glaser (who happens to be the brother of a Rabbi I know in New York) and Contemporary Issues with Rabbi Motty Berger (he’s very physical, always hugging everyone but a really genuine, good soul), a few pieces of knowledge for your pleasure:

There are four Holy cities in Israel: Jerusalem represents fire, Hebron (Earth), Tiberias (water) and Tsfat (air)

People are angered by critique only to the extent that they believe its true.

In the way man wants to be, God leads him

All is well, I’m looking forward to Shabbos tomorrow. Much love and Eretz Israel.

Jersey

Its really starting to feel real now just had to say it. Yesterday I moved out of New York and now I’m sitting at home talking with my parents, unpacking so I can repack and realizing that in less then five days I’ll be gone. It’s hard to explain the gamut of emotions that I’m dealing with on a daily basis but at the end of it all I’m just really excited and I feel ready for the next challenge. I’d like to take a moment to thank all of the wonderful people in my life for being so supportive I feel truly blessed to be surrounded by so many people who want nothing more then to help me, I do not take it for granted. Now I’m sitting here in the quiet town I grew up in, after living in New York for a year its weird to realize that I had gotten used to a general level of background noise all the time. Out here in New Jersey there is none of that, especially on a beautiful autumn Saturday. That’s all for now.

A view from my window

Looking down



North

South

Looking out from 57th street and 5th avenue, my former office. Excellent view, good people, off to Israel in 13 days.

Next Year in Jerusalem

I got this quote from a great article titled “Next Year in Jerusalem” it is an incredibly moving piece of journalism. It chronicles a young mans journey from secular life to Orthodox Judaism. I don’t relate to any one character in it more then any other, I just think it’s an exceedingly honest account of the intellectual and emotion struggle involved when one has their faith or lack there of challenged. A copy of the article in its entirety can be found in PDF format here.

It seemed that losing your faith and losing your lack of faith had much in common. At some point you were suspended between two competing, self-consistent realities, knowing you had to go back or forward, with no one to help you and no net. And once you were out there, you realized that skeptic and believer were mirror images, reflecting a vision of logic in the universe. – Next Year in Jerusalem p.14

The countdown officially begins

Isn’t it weird how you can trick yourself into believing things sometimes? Case in point I spent all last week ‘not’ freaking out about my trip. I talked to tons of people most of which I got one of two responses from: “That’s amazing, have a wonderful time”, or “Wow your effing crazy” and everyone asked me how I was feeling. And I glibly assured everyone that I was feeling great, wasn’t worried a bit and taking care of business. And I even managed to convince myself of this. But here is there truth: I was freaking out, totally and completely. Luckily for me I have wonderful people in my life. On Saturday me and an old college roommate, one of my best friends caught the New York Metropolitans game in Flushing Meadows, a weekend we had had planned for over a month. When we made the plans we weren’t expecting the Met’s to be fights for their playoff lives, but they were. And so we witnessed a truly magical game, needing a win badly the Mets put a hurting on the visiting Nationals. The intrepid John Maine came within four outs of a no hitter, it was one of the greatest games I’ve ever been to. (note: they got creamed the next day and missed the playoffs, in one of the biggest collapses in sports history but I don’t want to talk about it) that game was still remarkable. The next morning we caught the new Wes Anderson movie the Darjeeling Limited. I could try to describe why I love his movies so much but as with all great art I can’t. This movie like his other three, The Life Aquatic, The Royal Tannenbaum’s and Rushmore just makes me feel good about life. It might be the best of the bunch, maybe it’s just because it’s a story about a spiritual journey and I’m about the embark on my own, but I couldn’t hide my smile as I walked out of the theatre. As we walked home I was stuck (not for the first time) by the beauty of New York, it was a picture perfect autumn day. And I was inspired to create a: why I love New York post for this blog. I can think of no better tribute for the city that has given me without a doubt the greatest year of my life. Look for a picture collection courtesy of my new camera before I leave. I then spent the rest of the day with my family, watching football and sleeping on the couch. It was just what I needed to clear my head. Because as I was saying at the beginning of this post I was not dealing with my move well, it’s not easy to just pick up a leave a place you love to chase a dream. What if that dream is just a seductive illusion? What if I find out my adventure is an exercise in futility and I could have gotten what I wanted in New York, a place where I’m happy? These are questions that haunt me. Unfortunately I’ll never know the answers all I can do is trust my instinct and accept that I’ll never know everything. I have to thank my wonderful family and friends for helping me collect my thoughts and for listening to me. I am truly blessed to have people in my life who understand me so well. And so my journey is a scarce three weeks away. My plans are now coming together; I got accepted into school, made my flight plans and created a very long list of things to do. It’s all beginning to become very real now. Enjoy the beautiful autumn season.