7-30-08 2nd Moshav Trip!

Wow so this past weekend was pretty awesome. I think one thing I haven't written enough about is... Kate! She is what we call in Yeshiva... "The dopest of the dope" or "The Princess of Awesomeness". I am having an amazing time here and it's all thanks to her! If she hadn't pushed the possibility of taking the year in Israel, it would have never happened. And if she hadn't made me be logical about what yeshiva was, I probably would never have given it much thought. It's been really awesome and I'm so excited for the rest of the year.

So this weekend Rob Schlissel, Myself, Yoni Ganger, Ezra and Shira went to Rabbi Stein's home. He is an amazing man and has a beautiful wife and family. (She makes some really delicious food as well). Rabbi Stein was the valedictorian of Wharton, went into film in Hollywood and then got smicha. He has some unbelievable stories. They took us in for all 3 meals of Shabbat! I had an amazing time playing set and definitions... but I should have slept more haha.

I got a brand new bike from this woman online and Kate helped me bring it home. And tomorrow we're waking up very early to go to the Moshav again and eat fruit off trees and hike and swim etc. etc. I'm so excited. Rabbi Siglers entire family of 11 are coming... yes eleven! And they are all a lot of fun! And some of the older guys from the Yeshiva are coming.

Speaking of the older guys, a second guy got engaged. His name is Itai(I have no idea how to spell it) but he is sephardi and really cool. And Jews have something really cool called a Vort (meaning word or speech) where the groom to be speaks and other people speak about the couple. They are awesome and deliciously festive.

Todays my moms bday! She sends me the cutest emails that I would share if that wasn't really weird to do. But I got to talk to my mom and dad on skype which is much more fun than a phone.

Anyway I gtg to bed so I can wake up and do some traveling. Hope all is well with my readers.

C YAZ
Omri

7-24-08 2nd session of STEP begins

This week wasn't too out of the ordinary. I have had a few small adventures in trying to make myself more comfortable in Israel. One of them is in trying to acquire, for myself, a bike. Haha I should just write entire blogs in Talmud language... which is very similar to Yoda coincidentally... anyway I want to get a bike because it would make going out much less of a day trip than it currently is. I took a bus today, for example, to the Kotel(Western Wall). I had heard it was a long trip and I made jokes about it zig zagging accross Jerusalem... not knowing how right I was. This bus literally drove North (while the Wall is south east of me) and proceeded to zigzag through almost every major neighborhood between here and the Wall. There was literally a point (I was following on my map) where we were traveling north east and then south west... not only zigzagging but literally going backwards!

Anyway, I've kind of given up on the bike because they're all really expensive new and Israels craigslist and other similar sites are barely used. So now I'm searching for inexpensive ways to buy the books I need for Yeshiva come September. I almost bought a set of the Torah with commentary for $165... luckily, with all the time I have, I searched for other places and ways to get it. I eventually contacted the publisher who gave me the personal number of the distributor in my area. They then sent me to their shop which is really hidden in a building in a religious neighborhood's shopping center. Although she lied to me on the phone and said it was only around $110, it actually is around $125! Saved a bunch... and the dollar is getting stronger!!! So I'm gonna wait and hopefully buy it when the dollar gets even stronger!

I guess none of that is too exciting but today was pretty awesome. I went with my cousins to this crazy "time elevator" thingy that goes through the history of Jerusalem. There was a whole part about Jesus that was really dramatic and I was turned off by it at first. But then I realized how they were trying to make it work for Jews, Christians and Muslims and I was actually impressed by how well they presented all the material. It was definitely for the younger crowd but it did leave me with a greater sense of appreciation that I have the ability to live here this year and come back as much as I want. I love Israel... so holy... so good

Anyway, we walked around a bunch. I love my cousins. I want us all to live together in California. I have a plan with Karen and Brent to move to CA and then make the rest of the cousins follow.

I felt weird today because I keep finding myself babbling on about the Talmud and Judaism etc. It's tough when you get asked a question and you've been talking about the information in serious depth every day haha. I hope I'm not coming off as a crazy religious person. In this blog I don't care cuz your choosing to read it so you can complain all you want but it'd be easier to just stop reading. But in person, feel free to gently slap me cross the face.

Speaking of that, I made a facebook group called Challenge a Rabbi. I want people to send me the hardest questions they possibly can to try and stump the Rabbis because that's what I do in class all day anyways haha. It actually helps me learn because I keep finding intricacies in the text and opening up discussions about them. Talmud is the only place this is allowed. Anywhere else people will just get angry at you when you ask such seemingly minuscule and detailed questions.

So today is the second session of STEP. I lost my chevruta(study partner) from last session because we have less people and he was added on for me last session. It's sad but he was nice and gave me his info to host me for Shabbat some time. However, I have Rabbi Silber now. And he is amazing. He actually taught one of our classes and was working with Akiva (who went home today but is much more advanced than most of us) and so I'm very lucky to have him as a partner because he understands everything really well. On top of that he's hilarious and fun.

We also got 2 new guys so far. One guy names Solo(like solomon i think) and I believe he's from Chile. He speaks Hebrew, English and Spanish and we tried to teach him pig-latin so he could have a 4th language. There's also a guy that just arrived from Ethiopia. Now you might assume he was black. Nope, he's actually a red-head from CA. He just travelled randomly with his dad to Ethiopia to be awesome and help people. He also did USY and goes to Columbia so we knew a bunch of the same people. Pretty cool stuff!

Anyway I hopefully will get to take my laundry out soon and go to sleep cuz its super late. BTW Marzipan is the best rugelach in all of Israel.

I'm out,
OMz

7-20-08 Fast day in Har Nof

Wow so I'm sorry I've been so bad about updating this thing. Today is a fast day so I have lots of time to write. First of all I just uploaded a bunch of pictures of the place we stayed up north and the hike we went on so check that out here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/Levin.Omri/Israel71008

I'm going to try and sum up everything else that's gone on since the last time I wrote but no chance it'll be in order.

So Kate and I spent some time with Rabbi Abramov for a second Fri night in a row and it was amazing once again. I read the male part of his and his wife's book "Two Halves of a Whole" which was an extremely great and concise lesson on how to be a good Jewish husband(or any husband really...) He has two daughters right now that are both pregnant and waiting to give birth! They were both at the second Shabbat with us. He also has another daughter who helps him and his wife with everything as well as a really cool son who is studying currently. It was truly inspiring to be in their home and see how healthy they all are. It was the experiences I've had like this that made me start asking questions about Jewish ethics... because when followed correctly they create the healthiest family environments I've every seen. And the most surprising thing is that, contrary to common belief, all of the laws that seem to control women are really liberating for them within their communities. It is something you can't believe until you see it. Men respect their wives in a way you don't see in every day life.

Anyway enough preaching I'm sure some of you aren't so interested in Jewish married life. So anyway I spent this whole week really working on Talmud study and I was so happy because at the end of the week I sat down with what we've learned and I can read the Aramaic and translate it to english without a dictionary! So much work but its paying off faster than I imagined.

Also I went to an insanely amazing wine tasting with Isaac the other night, thanks to Jen Keys, and saw probably every Jew I know thats in Israel. Literally, we ran into someone almost every 10 minutes. The list includes(sorry if I don't put you down) Jen Keys, Rob Schlissel and his friend Alex who went to Discovery with Kate and I, Rachel FS, Naomi from Israel Amplified, Dave Stollman(a speaker for Greek life across the country), girls from USY i didn't remember the names of, and even Michelle (the singer from that 10 ways to use matzah video or whatever). There were a bunch more but I can't remember so well cuz it was a wine tasting which gets to my next point. For under $20, 36 wine companies and other assorted cheese/olive/cracker/etc vendors were at the Israel museum. It was outdoors with music and unlimited wine tasting. AND almost every wine was kosher. SOOOO AMAZING.

I also went to Tel Aviv this weekend and got to see my Safta, Ophir and his sister Karen and her husband Brent. As well as a bunch of other family. They took me out to an amazing kebab dinner with so much delicious food. I had steak and spring chicken kabab... DELICIOUS. We also went out to an ELAL party... yes all the flight attendants were partying it up at one of the fanciest things I've ever seen. But really the best time was just hanging out talking with my cousins and Brent. They're so awesome! And they read this so now they know it!

Oh on Friday the Yeshiva went on a 15 mile bike ride... on and off-road. Pretty awesome until the 13th mile or so. We were all dieing. But at least they are keeping us in shape.

So today is the fast day that I always heard about but never actually practiced because... well no one else did. It's not so bad though because the fast starting at 5 am so I could eat last night. And it finishes very soon... that's why I'm writing... cuz you can use computers on this holiday and I need to not think about the awesome food that Ricky cooked for us that is waiting downstairs right now.

I got to spend some time with Kate and her friends on her JEC trip which seems like it's a lot of fun. Rabbi Sigler has been amazing to Kate and I btw. He's my Rabbi for this program and he invited us over for Shabbat lunch the other weekend even though he barely ever has girls over. He also has sat down with me to help me with any difficulties I've had with the program before I even have a chance to complain. Let's just say he is an awesome dude.

I'm getting to spend a lot of time with Kate too, just walking around and talking and spending some quality time together. She's so awesome. If any of you ever talk to her you have to tell her how awesome she is. It's really ridiculous.

Anyways I ought to go pray and eat. WOOHOO Judaism is fun. LOOK AT MY PICTURES

7/10/08 Har Nof, Jerusalem, Israel

Ok so I'm gonna keep it chronological... haha that could be some new slang thingy... keep it chronological. Or not... maybe I'm just super lame. Anyway, after that, I'm going to go out of order anyway.

So I ended last blog right before Shabbat on July 4th. So before we talk about Friday night I have to talk about the rest of the week... because Fri led up to some awesome dopeness that I bet you can't wait to hear about!

Saturday didn't sound like it was going to be fun at first. Kate and I woke up very early, well at least we were supposed to, to walk all the way to Rechaviya(the opposite corner of Jerusalem... very very far). So I woke up and got ready and when it came time for Kate to meet me she wasn't there. So I thought, o I'll suprise her... and walk toward her to meet her! I start walking... get halfway to the supermarket which is near her... pass the supermarket... head down the stairs and through the park(At this point I am pretty worried that I passed her and may be wasting time by going the wrong way... and by the way Kate didn't have her phone yet and it was Shabbat anyway so it wouldn't have mattered). So I get to Kate's building, walk up to her apartment and knock on the door... No answer... I knock again really loud... and out peaks Kate's sleepy face confused about what's going on... cute enough to make me forget how annoyed I was.

So she got ready and we headed over to the Great Synagogue. It was gorgeous. We attended the main minyan where there was a full out choir basically performing the service. It was like a concert... really cool! It was nice to go there too because the walk to Rechaviya was a long long walk... at least 2 hours if we had done it straight. And you have to remember that we were walking around noon in the summer in Israel.

So we head towards my uncle in law's mother's place and it's not the straightest path. So we are getting a little lost and a really nice guy comes up to us to offer advice but is speaking Hebrew... so I get out my "Lo Medaber Ivrit" which means I don't speak Hebrew in Hebrew...(haha that got me in trouble with someone once because he thought I was making fun of him... I guess that means my accent is getting better!) The guy then laughed and started speaking in French, English and something else I think to see what we did speak. Then he showed us how to get to where we were going and also invited us in for Kiddish. Now I would usually worry about a guy that was this nice but that's the great thing about being Jewish... he was actually being genuine! So we go in to his house and meet his daughter who speaks French and Hebrew but can't speak English very well so he forces her to speak to us in English. Then he tells us about how he used to fly planes, went to business school, did all kinds of cool things, just passed the bar... and so on. He was a pretty amazing dude and he fed us and sent us on our way.

We got to my G-ma-in law or whatever you call that relationship. Her place was on a hill that overlooked the Western Wall and the city of David. It was awesome. We had an amazing Shabbat lunch with some of her really cool friends, one of which knew Kate's Aunt who is a famous Yiddish singer (crazy connection). And we spent some quality time with Mark(the Uncle in law) and his mother. I can't wait to do that again because it was really nice. I also miss my cousins, his kids, so hopefully I'll see them all soon!

So Sunday we went to the Discovery seminar at Aish Hatorah... It tries to proof that man could not have written the Torah... Honestly one of the most amazing things I've gone to and I was definitely convinced much more than before... even though I really didn't think that was possible. Basically they are either insanely smart and really fooled me or it's true... I just don't see why there would be such a crazy conspiracy when they really have nothing to gain from it, unless they believe it themselves because then they get points with the holy dude himself. O and shout out to Rob Schlissel and his friend for coming out with me and Kate.

Monday and Tuesday were amazing. We had our Yeshiva hiking trip. First of all we did so much hiking... I like hiking... I was so exhausted by the end of it! We stayed at this guy's house that was surrounded by just about every fruit you could imagine. I mean from fig to pomegranate... he even had grapes growing on vines lining a gazebo. Now this usually would just be visually appealing... however, it is the Shmita year in Israel. This happens once every 7 years and for an entire year a farmer cannot touch his/her land. They can't eat or sell the fruit. On top of this, anyone can come by and take fruit as long as they eat it themselves! So we had a lot of fun. He also had a mini basketball court, ping pong, an awesome yard and garden, fooseball and an awesome place for us to stay. I wish I knew his name cuz he deserves some serious recognition so hopefully I can post it all over this blog sometime soon.

Tuesday next day we went on a seriously illegal hike... I have pictures of the Rabbi holding up a barbed wire fence for us to crawl underneath... yes they will be up online asap. We also went to the Kineret which was so much fun to swim in and attack the waves. Izaac and myself spent the entire time trying to ride waves and also reverse their flow... in honor of Hancock(new Will Smith movie... watch the trailer if you felt left out by that joke...or maybe it just wasn't funny in which case maybe you are too good for this blog).

One thing I did notice for sure is that Rabbis don't sleep. I don't know if I can become too observant cuz I like to sleep. Like right now its almost 1 and I gotta be up round 6:30. I'll make due...

SOOOOOO Friday night Kate and I went to a Rabbi's house. His name is Rabbi Abramov. This man is behind the biggest Kiruv(outreach) program Judaism has ever seen. His wife is also a published writer of women's books on different topics... I believe about observance and being dope. Rabbi Abramov, who Kate and I just met again tonight, has invited us to head up some changes across the world(25,000 students are in these programs currently). We mentioned some of our ideas and he liked them so much he is basically giving us the ability to make a plan that would enhance programs like Maimonides and G2G across the world! I won't say much more but it is really really huge. Hopefully we'll be making a big difference.

Anyway it's late... hope all is well homiez!

Love,
Omri

The 4th of July... except in Israel that means nothing

So I barely realized that it was the Fourth of July today. More importantly, here in Israel, it is Rosh Chodesh and Shabbat (The new lunar month and the Sabbath day for Jews). It's pretty weird that I won't see fireworks but I did see them at Yom Yerushalayim a lil while back. Plus the sounds of explosions always scare the crap out of me here.

So big news... Kate and I moved into seminary and yeshiva early. We were getting a little bored in Tel Aviv except for the nights and also it wasn't the most comfortable place to be because we didn't get to really settle in... or for Kate "nest". I was worried about starting early but I am actually having a lot of fun here.

Before we moved in we went to see The Bank Job and The Zohan. I thought The Bank Job was pretty good although Kate hated the acting which was a legit claim. I just thought it was so stupid that they put sex and love in the movie... it was based on a true story and nothing in that story warranted the love story they added... and if they were going to add something they should have made it somewhat interesting. Anyway The Zohan was hilarious... for the first half hour. Granted it was late and I fell asleep for a little, it was a different type of humor that was good but not the best of Adam Sandler.

We also got to hang out with my uncle in law who invited Kate and I over for Shabbat day tomorrow at his moms which I am very excited for.

In terms of Fantasy Baseball, I am finally able to keep up with the team (although I barely know anything about baseball), and this week I am destroying David Sokolow... LET IT BE REMEMBERED... 7-1 currently.

On a more serious note, there was a terror attack while Kate and I were in Jerusalem the other day. Some really really ridiculously stupid idiot decided that he should drive a tractor through the busy streets of Jerusalem trying to kill and injure as many people as possible. I found out later that bills were being passed that day to destroy the homes of, deport the families of, take the social security away from the families of and do more to the terrorists. I was so happy to hear this because it is the only way to retaliate... Immediately after the terror attack, the mother of the terrorist was singing in joy on her porch about the incident with a crowd of supporters. I have plenty more to say about this but it is time to get ready for Shabbat.

I want to wish the people that are currently being healed from the incident a speedy recovery. And I also hope everyone reading this is having an amazing, healthy and happy summer and that nothing like this should ever happen to you or touch the people around you.

Love
Omz