Havdallah is wonderful. It marks the end of Shabbat, the beginning of the new week, and shows the change of time. During Shabbat, we reflect on what happened during the week--good and bad.
What happened to me? I made more friends from my class, made a terrific pasta salad, explored more parts of Jerusalem, finished registering officially as an HUC student, and too many other experiences for me to possibly find time to blog about.
What is going to happen this week? I'm soon to enter my third week in Jerusalem, which is still quite an amazing thing. While I have adjusted to many things about Israel, such as the community recycling bins for plastic only, thinking about money in terms of shekels, there will be more do to. I figure this will happen once classes officially start.
Tomorrow I begin Orientation, or as one scholar at the HUC Havdallah learning activity suggested "Dis-orientation." This will begin the biggest adjustment yet: learning to be an HUC student. I've been a Rutgers student, a Temple Sholom student, a Michaels student, a Rutgers Prep student, and so on and so forth, but I have yet to be a bona fide HUC student. What further adjustments do I need to make? First, the classes start at 8:30 AM. OK, I can put up with that. Next, this is a giant campus spanning two continents, four campuses, and different time zones. This adjustment might be easy since I'm used to a massive campus where each part seems like a different time zone (cough cough Rutgers). Then there's the coursework. I know how to study for a test or prepare for a lecture, but this will be different. My career will be tied up to everything I do. I need to take this seriously. No matter how good a student any one is, this is going to be the hardest task to overcome.
Big shout out to the interns for being amazing and helpful during these few weeks before Orientation. Thanks, Leslie, Daniel, and Amy! It will be such a pleasure to work with them one day since they are already terrific collaborators.
Another massive shout out to Nancy Lewitt, Helen Linden, Rabbi Yoshi, Rabbi Kelman, and all the amazing people who helped to put everything together over the last few months. I'll probably repeat these names with similar praises over the next few months, so you might as well get to know them now.
Nancy Lewitt is the Head of Student Services at the Jerusalem campus. Our introduction to her was, "Any questions, just speak to Nancy." Indeed, this is the case. A classmate needed baking soda, and Nancy came through!
Helen Linden is the dutiful Administrative Assistant who is beyond charming and helpful. I forsee many times where I'll be in her office to deal with the various HUC bureaucracies
Rabbi Josh "Yoshi" Zweiback is the Head of the Year-In-Israel program at the HUC and a very exciting and inspring person at that.
Dean Rabbi Naamah Kelman is the Dean of the Jerusalem campus and overseer of everything. EVERYTHING.
To this list I'm sure I will add all my wonderful classmates, other teachers and administrators, and friends.
It really bothers me that this blog doesn't like when I add pictures. Boo.
No comments:
Post a Comment