The week after....

Well, I officially survived the first week of advanced! You may think, "big deal, the first week of classes," but, really, I cannot describe the feeling of release I experienced Thursday night as the last class of the week finished up. On one hand, my brain felt like jelly from the rigorous schedule, on the other hand, I felt incredible accomplished. After discussing it among each other, all the Advanced girls agreed that we LOVE it! It's such hard work, but it's almost always done with a huge grin on our faces.

Thursday morning we had our first test on Rashi's commentary on the Parsha (Torah portion). We had to prepare 3 chapters (out of 5) of the Parsha and then Rabbi Chalkowski quizzed us - 20 questions! We all worked very hard, and I think we all did well. It was an oral test, and afterwards we went around the class and answered the questions out loud. One of the best things about it is the knowledge that we are acquiring about the Torah. How wonderful!

This coming Sunday we will give a Dvar Torah (literally: words of Torah) where we have to use 3 sources. It's best if they're all Rishonim, but we can also use 2 Rishonim and 1 of the Acharonim. We can't rely on Rashi, though. We can use Rashi, but he doesn't count as one of the required sources. Last Sunday was the first time we gave our Divrei (plural of Dvar) Torah, and every girl was shaking!!! They are giving in front of Rabbi Chalkowski, and we were all very nervous to do well. Baruch Hashem, we all did do well (the Rav said so!), so I think we will all be slightly less nervous this coming Sunday.

What else? There are only seven girls in the level (so far), and it's clear that we're all going to be very close, as we spend the bulk of our day together. The majority of the level (4 girls) live in my apartment. It's intense - the other girls on the floor keep kidding us that they never see us. It's kind of true. I feel like the library is my new home, next to the classroom! However, it's a wonderful feeling. We are all on the same page, approximately, and so during our Chavrusa time (once or twice a day - like a study hall), we review our assignments with each other (translations of different texts), and everyone pitches in and helps each other. It's so inspiring!

We're learning the book of Jonah, which is very appropriate since it's read at Mincha time on Yom Kippur. I just learned that the boat which Jonah was on was the only boat in the ocean affected by the storm G-d sent - the sailors could see that the other boats were coming and going in peace (according to Rashi and Radak), but their boat was about to break from the storm. Can you imagine!?!?! How terrifying!

My two roommates arrived this week!! It's so nice to have them in the room! I also acquired some pink curtains, two throw rugs, and some more cloths/scarves with which to cover tables. The apartment is really comfortable! Thank G-d, both of my roommates are interested in being homey, tidy, considerate living buddies. It's such a luxury!

That's it for now. Good Shabbos!