change your place, change your mazel

We have completed our move into building four as of Wednesday, the day before classes started. Very exciting! Also, when I left, the bathrooms in our old building looked like this:



















Yikes (they're fixed now, don't worry!)! One of my former roommates and I cleaned the floor so that the girls just coming to Neve didn't have to deal with the war-zone looking floor. What happened? There was a burst pipe, which has now been replaced with a new, plastic, pipe.

Here are some pictures of my new room and the new setup. I was the only one of my three roommates to move in (the other two are madrichot - counselors - at a camp which hasn't finished yet), so I got to choose the arrangement of the furniture. Exciting!! See how I arraged my wardrobe to stand next to my bed, providing heightened privacy - a rare commodity in dorm life!




















Next, note the pink board above my bed? I like this much better than the red (the red clashed with my decor, and also, it's not my favorite color). It's the small things, right? Also, note that there are two shelves, not one. I love building four!! Now I can use one shelf for my books, and another for tchochkes, whatever, little pretty touches, which is critical as the nesting instinct kicks in.
















Here's the view from the doorway. There's a little table, with the gold cloth cover. On it I placed a little dish for our keys, a pretty bag with some flowers, a mirror. It's our foyer!! I must say, the room is getting pretty heimish, Baruch Hashem!!




















So there's my living situation. What of the learning situation? I'm so excited! The first day of classes was yesterday, and already we have homework, quizes, tests and a dvar Torah to prepare! Talk about being right up my alley! Plus, we get two hours of chavrusa (a learning partner), and two hours of tutoring! For my tutors I am working with Esti from Baltimore, who I worked with during the summer (she's amazing!) and for the second hour, I get to work with Bayla from Cleveland- who used to teach in St Louis - great!! I'm very excited about that. We translated some commentary on Mishlei (Proverbs) for R'Refsen's class. Also we're learning Yonah (Jonah) with Rebbetzin Bulman. We translated the Ibn Ezra for posuk aleph (the first verse). Then, there's a dvar Torah I'm to prepare for Sunday, using two of the main commentaries, besides for Rashi! This is great!

Needless to say, I'm going to be a little busy, but I'll try to update the blog on a semi-regular basis.

Good Shabbos!

scenes from har nof

I'm not feeling too chatty tonight. Here are some images of the sunset in Har Nof. The pictures can't do it justice. That neat-looking building is a yeshivah, I think.

redecorating

I was inspired by some Israeli girls and their very heimish (homey) room, so for a few shekels, I purchased some tablecloths and fabric to make the room a little more presentable. Nice, no? The additions are courtesy of Ramat Beit Shemesh's bedding and curtains store (thanks Vickie!). The new comforter/pillow sham were courtesy the hefker pile (this means: free). Since I'm planning on staying for a while, I thought I would settle in some more. Updates to come!!

"Before" pics

Elul is upon us!!!

These are words which strike fear in the heart of nearly every Neve girl. The mere mention of the month can send a shiver down one's spine. I heard a vort (speech - kind of) on Shabbos about how each prevoius generation lamented how the following generation "didn't feel Elul." I've also heard stories about how bubbies would faint in shul (synagogue) when Rosh Chodesh (the new month) of Elul was announced.

What is all this? Why the hubbub? Is it because of the intensity of the month? That people are more introspective, searching out the qualities and actions which they should improve? Shouldn't we be doing that all the time anyway? Well, yeah.

However, the Jewish Year lends itself to different things at different times. Like Pesach (Passover) is the time for personal freedom (want to kick a habit? there's your time). So, Elul is a time for introspection, a time when G-d is especially close to us, and will help us do teshuvah (repentance). Maybe girls start freaking out because to waste this time, the time when it would be "easier" for us to really work on ourselves, would really be chaval (a shame), to put it mildly.

Get ready!!! It's coming.......... duhn duhn DUHN! ELUL!

What is Elul?
Aish's info on the holidays
Rosh Hashana Survival Kit

At the Kosel

So this picture is actually a little dated, but really, it's timeless. Standing in front of the Kosel, the Western Wall, the place where we can cry our hearts out to our Creator, close to where our Temple stood.

There are tunnels which follow the length of the Western Wall. When you come to the end of the tunnel you are standing on cobblestones which were street level at the time of the second Beis HaMikdosh (Temple) and the reign of King Herod. That's around the first century B.C.E., to give you an idea of how old that is. OLD!!!!!

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I attended a shiur (class) last night, where I heard an amazing analogy from Rebbetzin Malky Friedman. We have eyes to see, but the actually part with which we see is the pupil, the dark black spot in the center. When things are dark, the pupil expands, and when there is more light, it contracts. This is analogous to ourselves, more so, our egos. When things are dark, murky, and we're not recognizing the importance (or even existence) of G-d in our lives, we become big(-headed), the center of our own universe, the end-all-be-all (get the picture?). However, when we let in more of the Divine light into our lives, we become smaller, realize our perspective in the world, that we are really teensy, and that there are things which are far more important.

Isn't that great? I loved it!!

new links

Check out my new links - (1) Rabbi Brown's site "issness.net" - if you know him, it makes soooo much sense! (2) Vickie Lecy's website and (3) HonestReporting.com, to give you a less biased view of the events in the Middle East. It's a pity that there can't just be fair reporting about Israel - but, such is life. Keep yourselves updated with the REAL news, not the slanted slander.

Good Shabbos!!!!

a fractured foot!

Can you believe it? I broke my foot almost two weeks ago! How did such a thing happen? Well, I was immersed in thought and failed to notice the curb and promptly walked right off of it. Now, such graceful moments are relatively frequent in my life, so I thought I would just "walk it off," like so many other times. I hobbled up the hill to Neve, and elevated, iced, had Malka from upstairs (a nurse) take a look at it....but the next morning, when it wasn't better, I resigned myself to a clinic visit. Avital came with me (the tzedekes!) and it was possible the most efficient clinic visit EVER. My name was called practically when I started waiting. They took an x-ray of my foot and informed me that it was broken. This is the first bone I ever broke! It was kind of exciting. They also told me that it was a mild fracture and didn't warrant a cast.
Avital and I then went to Yad Sarah, a gemach (free loan center) for medical equipment and checked out some crutches. Also exciting - check them out!

So, the last couple of weeks have been spent mainly recuperating and being annoyed that I can't even get up to make tea for myself. Baruch Hashem, my apartment-mates are great and all jumped at the chance to help me. Such nice girls!!

A brief synopsis of what's occured since that fateful fall (I wasn't very mobile, but I was busy!) -

*The Shabbos after, a wheelchair was procured to wheel me to a Shabbos Kallah (a celebration for the bride-to-be on the Shabbos preceding her wedding) for Ilana, who lived across the hall from me. It was so sweet, and I was so glad to go! What a treat!

*The next day was her wedding, all the way in the old city. It was a beautiful wedding. I did a little shtick with the crutches: I used packing tape and secured an extra pair of shoes to the bottom of the crutches and proceeded to "dance on three." It was extra fun.

*The next day was the Summer Siyum (a party celebrating the completion of a book, or in this case, the summer semester), at which many girls spoke about their experiences, what they learned, what they'll take back with them. Our Rabbis also spoke. The food was delicious, the speeches inspiring, but it was bittersweet because of the war and because most of the girls were leaving very shortly. Our level (or what remained of it, that is) took a picture with Rabbi Chalkowski. We had such a great class - the energy was really great, and the comraderie as well. Most of us are staying and going on to "Advanced," where we get to learn Mishna Breurah with the Rav! This is really exciting!!!


*The next night (see, I was non-stop busy) was Sheva Brachos for Ilana (following a wedding, there is a dinner party of sorts every night for a week - it's a really amazing, beautiful tradition, welcoming the bride and groom into their new life as a couple) in Mea Shearim. It was so great - Ilana is to my left - isn't she beautiful? What a treat!


The rest of the time I chilled out - I went to an Orthopedic Doctor on Monday (the day of the Siyum), who was VERY Israeli (like, he told me to "not be a baby and walk on my foot even if it hurts, and if I really NEED to, I should take an aspirin."). He told me that I should start walking on the foot. So I have been, at an excruiciatingly slow pace, but, Baruch Hashem I can walk on it!! He was really pretty hysterical. When he found out I was staying until next June, he told me that I would "be a rebbetzin by then." Cute!

We're all still praying for the conflict to be over - an for the safe return of the soliders. Gilad ben Aviva, Ehud ben Malka and Eldad ben Tova. Please pray for their safe return to their families.