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Hi - I've moved to Life in the Married Lane - come and visit!

MAZEL TOV

due to tremendous time constraints, I will update briefly with this:

I did not return to Israel

I got engaged!!!

To: Raphael Silver from Memphis, TN.

IY"H, the chassunah will be Dec 16, in St. Louis, at the Holiday Inn Airport West. Chuppah promptly at 1:45pm. :-)

summer sabbatical

Tzipora Elefant's wedding was such a treat!! Baruch Hashem I was able to go. Really a wonderful Simcha. I ended up staying in Williamsburg that night (no one was going anywhere near Manhattan and I was not crazy enough to take the public transport from Brooklyn), and shopping the next day. The family I stayed with was the Hoffman's and they were so sweet. It was such a nice experience! When I was out on the street that day I felt a little bit like I was in Geulah/Meah Shearim because of all the chassidic ladies (and men) in the street. It was so nice.

But...back to St. Louis. Shabbos was nice, if a little weird. Everything in St. Louis is kind of the same, except everyone has a new sheitel. And there are more Starbucks everywhere. And we have a Macy's. Stuff like that. B'ezras Hashem, I'll be back to Israel soon!

Considering this blog is titled "Inspirations from the Holy Land," and St. Louis doesn't really fall into the category of holy... I think I'll take a brief hiatus from detailing my life until I return to Eretz HaKodesh around Elul. Have a great summer!!!

t-minus 33 hours

Yes, it's true. The time has really come. I'm really leaving tomorrow night. I've been going through various stages of shock with coming to terms with this reality. At least I'm leaving with both of my roommates. Emily and I are even on the same flight! No joke!!

So, next Shabbos I'll be in the states. In St. Louis. Wowza.

This past Shabbos I davened Kabbalat Shabbos at the Kotel, then walked to Rabbi Chalkowski for dinner. For lunch I went to a lovely family called the Bronchers. Most of the day I spent sleeping, to make up for the extreme sleep defecit I was dealing with. For third meal, I ate with everyone in the dining hall, and one of the madrichot asked me to give a dvar torah. I was a nice end to a wonderful Shabbos, but I was so sad for it to end. All good things...

In any case, tomorrow I return to Chutz L'Eretz, and embark on my summer journey. It's been an amazing year and I'm SO glad I came!!!!

the impending trip back....

Well, it's really happening. I'm really coming back to the states. And soon. June 5, to be exact. Hashem, in H-s continual kindness, has set me up wonderfully for my time back. I'll be living by the Greenwalds (by the way, the "by" really means "at." It's just a frum thing, what can I say - frum grammar has its own rules), and working for Kramer and Frank - the law office I worked for before I was priviledged to work for Reb Yari. This is mutual beneficial, I know their official and procedures. Also, they know me and my religious needs. I'm looking forward. What else? I get to be home in time for Tzippora Elefant's wedding (I think I already mentioned this). These are only a few of the things which are making the trip back that much more pleasant.

Of course, I'm not looking forward to the culture shock, but b'ezras Hashem, it will be okay, and I won't faint when I go into Target for the first time (from the sheer amount of items available for purchase).

Neve is doing a play, "Elevated," about two girls - one frum and one not who are stuck in an elevator together and are forced to bond. It's cute. I'm "in charge" of the music for it (I guess that makes me the musical director, which is exciting), so I'm doing the choir, arranging the music, etc. It's a lot of fun, but also a lot of work.

Oh, by the way - Shavuous is tonight!!!!! After this holiday, I'll have experienced all the holidays in Eretz Yisrael. That's very exciting. I'm eating by Maya Davidovici's cousins tonight (The Epsteins) and then classes, walking to the Kotel, and then lunch tomorrow (at 3pm) by R'Chalkowskis. That is very exciting. The second day, myself, Maya and Sharone (two of my friends and apartmentmates) are eating food which Maya and Sharone made (I contributed only financially this time - they are great cooks these girls). I'm looking forward.

Chag Sameach!

has it really been 2 and a half months?

What can I say? Baruch Hashem, I've been super-busy with other things in life and have had no time to type. Also, since my camera is still broken, my incentive has been greatly diminished. However, a brief update:

My schedule is still the same - learning all the time! Yay! We're now learning Megillas Rus (for Shavuous) and Sefer Daniel (for the Aramaic - R'Chalkowski told us that after we can read this sefer, Hebrew will be no problem for us!!!). It's a lot of fun. I'm really enjoying myself.

What else? There's a play which Neve is putting on June 3ish. I get to organize the music. Our Eim Bayit (house mother) wrote the melodies, I put the chords to it and and am giving it to a girl to play piano. I'm directing the choir, doing the harmonies and finding flute and violin players. I might even play sax. We'll see. There are only two songs, which is good, because otherwise I would probably be totally overwhelmed!! It's going to be really good, I think. I also get to play the character of the mom of one of the leads (which is actually played by one of my roommates!). It's cute.

We took a trip up north right before Rosh Chodesh, so that was really fun. I hope to put up some pictures of it (maybe) before I leave. We'll see. At the rate I'm going.... Really, though, it's become a bit of a shlep to get to internet access, and since my life is, Baruch Hashem, fairly routine, I just don't get around to it much anymore!

Finally, I'm coming back to the states on June 5. I get to go to Tzipporah Elefant's wedding in NYC, due to the timing of my arrival back in the states. I'm very excited for that.

That's all for now!

me on a camel...and more!

The Eilat trip was amazing. It was very well organized, packed with activities and, thankfully, I feel very, very refreshed. We went on hikes every day, to unbelievably beautiful areas. We went camel riding, to the beach, had a bonfire (including marshmellow roasting!), went to an acquarium where we saw coral reef and the corresponding fish life. Enjoy! Of course, the pictures don't do justice to the real thing.