I'm writing this on a British friend's laptop. The keys are similar, but the e and r keys are backwards. it's a joke (see theatre v. theater)
\yesterday was o ur first day of classes. seren is taking a class on public prayer (reading the commentaries on the book of ester - the book read on purim - to discuss the nature of public prayer in jewish law) as well as on personalized prayer and on shabbat. i'm taking classes on public prayer (same class), modern history of israel and modern jewish philosophers representing each of the modern movements - ortho, cons and ref.
my classes were very interesting. as i previously wrote, we study in small groups - 2s and 3s. in my first class, seren, i and a third discussed how you fulfill the obligation of reading the story of purim - and whether there is such an obligation. in my second class, we discussed modern origins of zionism. its more of a history class where we read the primoary sources. the last class we discussed the philosphy of abraham joshua heschel. he's the leading modern rabbi of the conservative movement and lived a majority of his life in nyc. he was named after the school. the article we read argued taht the most important part of religion is wonder and amazement, not necessary belief. interseting perspective.
after class, we walked around emek refaim and had falafel for the first time. then, a classmate invited us to a david broza concert (he's an israeli-spanish guitarist). the concert was in a park under a windmill overlooking the old city of jerusalem. it was a beautiful scene and i really enjoyed myself. seren took a rain check and tried to sleep. i din't know how successful she was in that endeavour (brit computer).
today was day 2 of class. and we're done early because we're not taking ulpan (intensive hebrew learning). instead, we're going to shop for some food for shabbat. we're hosting sat. lunch. so we're looking to pick some stuff up. tonight, we may go to a shakespeare presentation. tomorrow, maybe to the jeruslaem philharmonic does bway showtunes. never a dull moment. alternatively, his afternoon, we're going to the thurs veggie market. crazy times as usual.
a word about our classmates. the estimate is that there are about 60 of us ranging in age from college age to retirees. i am one of the few people under the age of 40 who is not in education or a student. our classmates come mostly from the us, with a fair number of brits and canadians. there is also a frenchie, a brazilian (who lives in poland), a russian, a gibralatorite (who nows lives in israel). a few people live in israel. they are very nice. very smart. so much of this program relies on teh quality of our fellow students. after 2 days, i'm thoroughly pleased and impressed. until next time.
\yesterday was o ur first day of classes. seren is taking a class on public prayer (reading the commentaries on the book of ester - the book read on purim - to discuss the nature of public prayer in jewish law) as well as on personalized prayer and on shabbat. i'm taking classes on public prayer (same class), modern history of israel and modern jewish philosophers representing each of the modern movements - ortho, cons and ref.
my classes were very interesting. as i previously wrote, we study in small groups - 2s and 3s. in my first class, seren, i and a third discussed how you fulfill the obligation of reading the story of purim - and whether there is such an obligation. in my second class, we discussed modern origins of zionism. its more of a history class where we read the primoary sources. the last class we discussed the philosphy of abraham joshua heschel. he's the leading modern rabbi of the conservative movement and lived a majority of his life in nyc. he was named after the school. the article we read argued taht the most important part of religion is wonder and amazement, not necessary belief. interseting perspective.
after class, we walked around emek refaim and had falafel for the first time. then, a classmate invited us to a david broza concert (he's an israeli-spanish guitarist). the concert was in a park under a windmill overlooking the old city of jerusalem. it was a beautiful scene and i really enjoyed myself. seren took a rain check and tried to sleep. i din't know how successful she was in that endeavour (brit computer).
today was day 2 of class. and we're done early because we're not taking ulpan (intensive hebrew learning). instead, we're going to shop for some food for shabbat. we're hosting sat. lunch. so we're looking to pick some stuff up. tonight, we may go to a shakespeare presentation. tomorrow, maybe to the jeruslaem philharmonic does bway showtunes. never a dull moment. alternatively, his afternoon, we're going to the thurs veggie market. crazy times as usual.
a word about our classmates. the estimate is that there are about 60 of us ranging in age from college age to retirees. i am one of the few people under the age of 40 who is not in education or a student. our classmates come mostly from the us, with a fair number of brits and canadians. there is also a frenchie, a brazilian (who lives in poland), a russian, a gibralatorite (who nows lives in israel). a few people live in israel. they are very nice. very smart. so much of this program relies on teh quality of our fellow students. after 2 days, i'm thoroughly pleased and impressed. until next time.
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