It appears that I have not posted since September 7. For this I apologize. I really am very sorry, but I have been so amazingly busy. There were some days where it was slightly on the edge of possibility that I might blog, but I ended up taking a nap or reading or going for a swim or writing a college paper or some other such more creative use of my 45 minutes. I am going to try to be as concise as possible about any particular thing that I did, and if you wanna know more, just email me talinuxactly@gmail.com.
On 8/9 (we read the date backwards here), we had a charity project called "Table to Table" or m'shulchan l'shulchan. We went to onion fields and picked over 850 kilos of onions to donate to charity. I almost envy those poor people, because those were really tasty onions. For services we went to kol hanishama, the premier progressive (reform) temple in Israel. My friend David plans on being a rabbi in the future, and is at the moment trying to tackle how his Judaism looks and feels. He was hoping that kol hanishama would be amazing, and he was really excited about it. He was really turned away by it thought because intelectually/spiritually he is a litvak (this means that he does not believe in religious hocus pocus- just cold hard rational approach to religion) and kol hanishamah is spiritually hasidic (the opposite).
On 11/9, we went on tiyul to a whole slew of places: Sataf, Har Adar, and the Tayellet. Sataf was an ancient Israelite village (moshav) that used terrace farming and had two types of agriculture (spring and ba'al [dependend on the rain god]). We went inside the caves of the springs, and learned A LOT. Har Adar was nothing special. The Tayellet is a promenade that overlooks Jerusalem old and new. We learned there that the biblical city of Jerusalem is not in fact the old city that we know and love but what is now an arab village. On that note, the next day, we went to the ancient city of David. We explored some nuances of the bible there regarding the capture of Jerusalem from the Jebusites and other interesting things. We also explored Hezekiah's tunnel (the Gichon spring which watered ancient Jerusalem was deferred from the pool that it usually went to and was led into a tunnel that wound for over 500 meters [this is solid rock mind you] into a different pool so that if Jerusalem was besieged, they would not capitulate because of lack of water). That was also a lot of fun, and for future reference, I always try to be right next to Reuven (my j-hist teacher) during these tiyulim so as to absorb his knowledge. So far so good. The first tiyul of this paragraph took the whole day while the second one was only in the morning and we came back for general studies.
Skipping now to the 14th, we had a study session for the first j-hist exam. It was on the entire bible period minus the second temple times. The exam was the next day, and we were given from 8:30 to 12:45 to complete it (it was supposed to be a tough test apparently). I completed it at about 9:45. All of the questions were short answer and you didnt have to answer with Reuven's opinions. If you had an opinion that you could back up as well as he backed his up it was still correct. There was also an essay: Write about any topic of interest in the bible. My essay was about the Babylonian influence on the early stories of the Torah (I was flying by the seat of my pants. He had told us that that was the essay prompt, and I hadnt thought of anything. When I got to the essay, I had an epiphone and all of this evidence was suddenly overflowing from my head). We also had to hand in a homework essay on the topic of "What is the author of the book of Jonah trying to show his audience?" We got the grades for all that back today (27/9) and of course I got 100% on the test and an A on the Jonah paper. Pretty proud of myself...Reuven seems to have noticed this affinity, and often suggests "Oh, Tal you could write your doctorate on this." By my count, I have 43.628 doctorates to write...
Later on the 15, we did another tzedakah project (we do them on most Fridays). This time we went to an old folks home and sang shabbat songs to them and gave them roses and shannah tova (literally, good year) cards. It was really very awkward because many of these venerable people were senile or deaf or parapalegic or other things. Sometimes they were pretty healthy but then they didnt speak languages that we understood. No one knew English, and some knew Russian, French, Spanish or Hebrew. Afterwards, David and I went with Walter Zanger (he deserves an entire entry all to himself) to Ein Karem where we stayed with him for Shabat. He had many guest over for shabat dinner and during shabbat day, many guests came through just to say "hi" (most often unannounced). One such guest was an Eitan Chamberlin. He is currently trying to publish a book by the name of Ikkibu. It is much like Harry Potter but with Babylonian and Sumerian mythology. I've read the first three chapters, and it is simply incredible. Don't be surprised if it replaces Harry Potter. The next day David and I went off through Ein Karem and did some 'sploring (much like 'splodey but with a ring instead of a dey). We went to knisyyah yochanan ba'harim (birthplace of John the Baptist, now with a church/monastery over it), ein miriam (mary's spring), and knisyyah haorcheut (church of the visitation). If my Latin was better, I would be able to tell you what the last one actually is, but I know it has a burial crypt, a HUGE sanctuary, a tabernacle, and some amazing artwork. For lunch, David and I went to the Pundak Cafe (pundak means inn). We had an absolutely amazing pizza with some coke (coke is a shabat ritual for David. If he doesnt get coke on shabat, he becomes very grumpy so I've made sure that it can happen every shabat). Somewhere during this action packed shabat, David and I watched Serenity with hebrew subtitles, pausing every so often to check the meaning of a word.
19/9 we had no 5th period and went to the Israel museum to learn about Roman Jerusalem (there is a HUGE model of her with lots and lots of detail and you can walk around [its not to scale] so as to tour in the first century CE). The next day we went back to the Israel museum to learn about the dead sea scolls and the writing of different alphabets (a very popular subject in j-hist). We also went to visit a Herodian mansion underneath the Jewish quarter of the old city of Jerusalem. Also Spectactularifous.
I will continue the rest of your update after dinner.
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
First off, I dont like photobucket....It is not very tasty....It said that I could upload 19 photos at once and so it proceeded to do that...It only managed to swallow 6. It made me unhappy. So, my uploading of photos will be a slow process.
In other news, we had our first official tiyul today. It was of course to a tel. We went to Tel Gezer, one of the first excavated cities of modern Israel. It was once a canaanite city then became an Israelite one, and all good stuff. It was very cool, and I took a whopping 6 pictures. I will post them once photobucket stops being a butt.
Speaking of photobucket...it sort of goes backwards. So the fortress stuff that is on there (as well as the fortress stuff that will be on there is from our tel not tel gezer).
Extensively tired, so signing off. Good night!
In other news, we had our first official tiyul today. It was of course to a tel. We went to Tel Gezer, one of the first excavated cities of modern Israel. It was once a canaanite city then became an Israelite one, and all good stuff. It was very cool, and I took a whopping 6 pictures. I will post them once photobucket stops being a butt.
Speaking of photobucket...it sort of goes backwards. So the fortress stuff that is on there (as well as the fortress stuff that will be on there is from our tel not tel gezer).
Extensively tired, so signing off. Good night!
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
The tel
Somehow I neglected to mention that on Saturday, we visited a tel. But not just a tel, our tel. We have our own crusader fortress on location (as well as ancient pagan temples and other amazing things). A tel is a mound where a civilization that used the remnants of an old city as a foundation for their own. For example, Stamford would be a tel if if was built on the location of an earlier city. That sort of thing. Our tel's latest civilization was the crusader's and we have a very nice fortress/castle there. It has four cisterns, very strong defenses, secret rooms, and of course cohorts and ramparts (every castle needs them). I decided that it was finally time to take pictures so I did. You can view them at my photobucket (the link is to the right on this page).
Some other interesting things...with a sched
So yesterday, I was updating my blog, and the computer went to sleep. It, however, did not wake up from said nap, so I lost all that I had written :'-( So i will start again, and hopefully you will like this version more.
On friday, we went to on an archeological dig. I have done this before, but nevertheless it was still fun. We excavated the ancient site of Marisha, now called Tel Marisha. We found a signet ring, an intact amphora, lots of chicken bones, and a whole slew of pottery shards. We had to dig, then sift through everything with metal screens. We put all of the interesting things in "finds buckets" and handed those over to the real archeologists. We also went spelunking (climbing, crawling, and careening through a non-excavated cave), and I thought (as I did last time) that it was the best part. In the evening, we went to the old city of Jerusalem to shaar tzion where we were given sprigs of rosemary as our personal shabat spice. It was all very nice. We then went to the southwestern portion of har habait, the temple mount. We had our shabat services there, and then went to hakotel, the western wall. We had curfew at 2 in the morning that night (usually at 11 at night) which i spent getting to know some of the more interesting personalities on my trip.
We got to sleep in on saturday. Yay. Breakfast was optional wand ended at 9:30. I decided that it was utterly necessary to have breakfast or else I would be unhappy for the rest of the day. I woke at 9 and went to breakfast. They had some of the tastiest things yet, and I was the only kid on EIE that actually had breakfast that day. Crazy.... I went back to bed because wakeup was at 11. I woke at that point, took a shower, and went to tefillah (prayer). It was a very nice service, and I had an aliyah to the torah. The afternoon was just nice rest and relaxation. In the evening for motza''sh, we went to a mall nearby. I bought a fast-food schnitzel (chicken-cutlet), and it was really gross. I also bought a cheap watch because I was unable to read the time on my phone. All in all, good clean fun. We went to bed knowing that soon school would start...
Sunday was the first day of classes. First was hebrew, and that was exactly what we did. The whole class, not a word of English was spoken, and I learned a lot from it. If it keeps up like that, I will be infinitely more proficient in hebrew by the end of these four months. Next was Jewish History; the coolest class ever. As I've told you, I like Reuven's teaching style, but this class is truly my kind of learning. We are currently studying historical Judaism using the bible as an analytical text. We have come to many conclusions most importantly that the bible is a religious document and not a historical one. It was probably compiled more than 1000 years after the time of Moses. Remarkable. There are lots of other things in that class, and it is certainly the best class I have ever taken. i will have to take a few bible clases in college... J-Hist is 2:45 long so there is a break in the middle and at the end is lunch. Lunch was pretty uneventful.
After lunch, I had AP Calc AB. We had homework, but otherwise, nothing special. I then had the next two periods off, only to have AP Physics C afterwards. Also pretty uneventful, and with no homework. Then I had the next period off. Then dinner and announcements then homework time. I of course finished my homework pretty quickly having had two free periods to help with that. Most everyone else stayed up very late trying to finish theirs. I DID have a LOT of hw for hebrew, and it was very hard (the other three in the class thought so too). We finally finished it with help from Tom our Israeli counselor. All in all, a very tough first day of school, but much harder for everyone that had a real schedule.
On monday, we had basically the same nonsense though with more hw. I also had a meeting (a one on one class) with my Latin teacher and she basically convinced me that my Latin knowledge is absolutely horrendous. All sorts of splodey stuff. In the evening, I had a meeting with my English teacher. He is having me write a paper about sillynesses. I don't remember what though. I also was assigned a paper in J-Hist: Read the book of Jonah and write a paper on what the author is trying to tell the reader. Very nice, eventful day.
Today, tuesday, is pretty boring...I had hebrew and j-hist in the morning and have had calc. I am in the second of my free periods, and will have physics later today (we had wierd hw last night).
My schedule is as follows:
1 Hebrew 8-9:30 (1-2:30 AM EST)
2 j-hist 10-12:45 (3-5:45 AM EST)
lunch -1:40
3 AP Calc 1:45-2:30 (6:45-7:30 AM EST)
4 (mon) latin 2:45-3:30 (7:45-8:30 AM EST)
5(thurs) latin 3:45-4:30 (8:45-9:30 AM EST)
6 AP Physics C 4:45-5:30 (9:45-10:30 AM EST)
7 Free 5:45-6:30 (10:45-11:30 AM EST)
Dinner 6:35-7 (11:35-12 EST)
HW time 7:30-11:00 (12:30-3 PM EST)
Light's out 11:30 (3:30 PM EST)
Some interesting tidbits: We do have school on Sundays! On Wednesday, there is almost always a tiyul (trip) so it's best not to call on Wednesday unless its after noon EST. 4 and 5 periods are only applicable on mon or thurs respectively. Now for the important one: to call me dial 011-972-52-653-8063, but please be courteous as to the times I've provided. I look forward to hearing from you.
On friday, we went to on an archeological dig. I have done this before, but nevertheless it was still fun. We excavated the ancient site of Marisha, now called Tel Marisha. We found a signet ring, an intact amphora, lots of chicken bones, and a whole slew of pottery shards. We had to dig, then sift through everything with metal screens. We put all of the interesting things in "finds buckets" and handed those over to the real archeologists. We also went spelunking (climbing, crawling, and careening through a non-excavated cave), and I thought (as I did last time) that it was the best part. In the evening, we went to the old city of Jerusalem to shaar tzion where we were given sprigs of rosemary as our personal shabat spice. It was all very nice. We then went to the southwestern portion of har habait, the temple mount. We had our shabat services there, and then went to hakotel, the western wall. We had curfew at 2 in the morning that night (usually at 11 at night) which i spent getting to know some of the more interesting personalities on my trip.
We got to sleep in on saturday. Yay. Breakfast was optional wand ended at 9:30. I decided that it was utterly necessary to have breakfast or else I would be unhappy for the rest of the day. I woke at 9 and went to breakfast. They had some of the tastiest things yet, and I was the only kid on EIE that actually had breakfast that day. Crazy.... I went back to bed because wakeup was at 11. I woke at that point, took a shower, and went to tefillah (prayer). It was a very nice service, and I had an aliyah to the torah. The afternoon was just nice rest and relaxation. In the evening for motza''sh, we went to a mall nearby. I bought a fast-food schnitzel (chicken-cutlet), and it was really gross. I also bought a cheap watch because I was unable to read the time on my phone. All in all, good clean fun. We went to bed knowing that soon school would start...
Sunday was the first day of classes. First was hebrew, and that was exactly what we did. The whole class, not a word of English was spoken, and I learned a lot from it. If it keeps up like that, I will be infinitely more proficient in hebrew by the end of these four months. Next was Jewish History; the coolest class ever. As I've told you, I like Reuven's teaching style, but this class is truly my kind of learning. We are currently studying historical Judaism using the bible as an analytical text. We have come to many conclusions most importantly that the bible is a religious document and not a historical one. It was probably compiled more than 1000 years after the time of Moses. Remarkable. There are lots of other things in that class, and it is certainly the best class I have ever taken. i will have to take a few bible clases in college... J-Hist is 2:45 long so there is a break in the middle and at the end is lunch. Lunch was pretty uneventful.
After lunch, I had AP Calc AB. We had homework, but otherwise, nothing special. I then had the next two periods off, only to have AP Physics C afterwards. Also pretty uneventful, and with no homework. Then I had the next period off. Then dinner and announcements then homework time. I of course finished my homework pretty quickly having had two free periods to help with that. Most everyone else stayed up very late trying to finish theirs. I DID have a LOT of hw for hebrew, and it was very hard (the other three in the class thought so too). We finally finished it with help from Tom our Israeli counselor. All in all, a very tough first day of school, but much harder for everyone that had a real schedule.
On monday, we had basically the same nonsense though with more hw. I also had a meeting (a one on one class) with my Latin teacher and she basically convinced me that my Latin knowledge is absolutely horrendous. All sorts of splodey stuff. In the evening, I had a meeting with my English teacher. He is having me write a paper about sillynesses. I don't remember what though. I also was assigned a paper in J-Hist: Read the book of Jonah and write a paper on what the author is trying to tell the reader. Very nice, eventful day.
Today, tuesday, is pretty boring...I had hebrew and j-hist in the morning and have had calc. I am in the second of my free periods, and will have physics later today (we had wierd hw last night).
My schedule is as follows:
1 Hebrew 8-9:30 (1-2:30 AM EST)
2 j-hist 10-12:45 (3-5:45 AM EST)
lunch -1:40
3 AP Calc 1:45-2:30 (6:45-7:30 AM EST)
4 (mon) latin 2:45-3:30 (7:45-8:30 AM EST)
5(thurs) latin 3:45-4:30 (8:45-9:30 AM EST)
6 AP Physics C 4:45-5:30 (9:45-10:30 AM EST)
7 Free 5:45-6:30 (10:45-11:30 AM EST)
Dinner 6:35-7 (11:35-12 EST)
HW time 7:30-11:00 (12:30-3 PM EST)
Light's out 11:30 (3:30 PM EST)
Some interesting tidbits: We do have school on Sundays! On Wednesday, there is almost always a tiyul (trip) so it's best not to call on Wednesday unless its after noon EST. 4 and 5 periods are only applicable on mon or thurs respectively. Now for the important one: to call me dial 011-972-52-653-8063, but please be courteous as to the times I've provided. I look forward to hearing from you.
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