First Week at the Conservative Yeshiva

During my last trip to Israel with Bonnie and CBST I wrote daily. The activities stimulated my creative juices and I had a strong urge to share the information. But this trip is different. I have been calm and engaged in all the activities but nothing feels particularly unusual enough to enter in a blog. And I have been exhausted. Not sick exhausted, just exhausted from the long days at the Conservative Yeshiva and late nights trying, trying to study Hebrew. I could use as another excuse that I don't have a desk in my room and using the dining room table inconveniences others but that is probably 1/10 of 1 percent and a pretty poor excuse. So tonight I have blocked out some time to just write. I am hoping that I can create something interesting.

 Ellyn and I met up at JFK June 19 in the evening. She came from Tampa while I took the A Train and the Airtrain to the airport. The time in the airport and the plane ride were so delightfully boring that they hardly deserve comment. I put on my head set and listened to Audible's version of Herzog by Saul Bellow. I slept like a baby. We arrived in Telaviv on time or early, made it through customs, got our acts together and took a Sherut (group taxi) to the apartment where we would be staying for the next 3 to 4 weeks. We are subleasing/renting rooms with Laura Marder, my 1st cousin once removed apartment. Unfortunately and fortunately she will be gone while I am here. I was hoping to get to know her a little better. The first couple of days before school started a blur. We were hosted for Shabbat dinner by the Conservative Yeshiva helping to get us integrated into a community. Incidentally I sat next to a woman who comes from Brooklyn and we have friends in common and synagogues in common although we never met before. Shabbat day was like a million degrees but we with Laura, Hannah and Naomi, roommates walked over to a park for an afternoon picnic. It was nice even though I felt like a zombie. That evening even before Shabbat was over Ellyn and I took the Palestinian bus from Derech Hebron to the Yaffa Gate and walked around the Old City, stopping to eat dinner at an Armenian restaurant in the Armenian quarter. I can't remember how we got home but we did.