I feel like there is so much to say that it's hard to know where to begin. So let me start by saying this: I love this program. It's absolutely and exactly what I was wanting and hoping for. I have learned so much about so much in such little time that it has left me spinning and ready for more at the same time.
This program that I'm studying with has been able to incompass a broad range of deep, insightful, relevant, and historic topics. Each day we (there's 40 of us in this program) get up for breakfast together and then start classes around 9am. The day is packed with classes back to back that are taught by the most phenomenal women, brilliant Rabbis, and scholars.
Let me back up for a moment. The idea of studying and living with 40 young women in dorms for 3 weeks scared the hell out of me. For those who know me, you know that I don't have many women friends and I have never lived in a dorm. So I, in part, picked this program to learn to live with different people and experience things outside of my normal comfort zone. I am lucky to have incredible roommates and that the program split the "older girls" from the "younger girls" into separate buildings. Thank you Jewel for not rooming me with an early 20 something girl since I think this experience would have been totally different for me! Haha. I try to wake up early to hit the shower first and do some stretching since the tiny bunk bed I'm sleeping on is less than comfortable. It helps to set the tone for a good day ready to absorb information.
One of my favorite parts of the program is studying in the Old City of Jerusalem. The building is owned by Aish HaTorah International and is about 75% of the front facing property of the Western Wall (Kotel). So here I am in a beautiful and modern building, faced with ancient Jerusalem stone, looking out the window onto the Kotel plaza. Breathtaking. We enter the Old City and walk up a few flights of Jerusalem stone stairs to get to the main entrance of the 5 story building. As we walk, we can hear drums and Shofar (a ram's horn) blowing as boys come to read Torah and become Bar Mitzvahed at the Wall. It's surreal and at the same time, feels like home.
One of my absolute favorite day's was last week during a seminar we took at the Aish Center. The seminar was called "Discovery" and proved to be one of the most interesting (and mind blowing) days. Discovery's seminar is a full day class where Science and Religion meet. As you may or may not know, I am a VERY rational and analytical person and am consistently on the search for proof and concrete fact surrounding Religion and (of course) particularly Judaism. This seminar was just the answer to my long lasting question... Prove it. The seminar was taught by Rabbis, a Physicist from MIT, and Mathematicians. If you're at all interested in what was said I encourage you to go to http://israel.aish.com/discoveryisrael/home.html and attend a seminar. Also there are book's written by Physicist (not a Rabbi) Gerald Schroeder about Gd and Science. His portion of the lecture was incredible. He spent an hour explaining how creation in the book of Genesis and the Big Bang theory are scientifically proven to be one in the same. It was incredible. The information was far to intense to explain in a blog, so if you want to know more I'd be happy to set up a skype date and tell you about what I learned. A great quote from the class was, "You can have faith"..."We [Jews] have science."
Other classes have touched on American and Iran relations, the 3rd Jihad, Israel in a Nutshell, along with esoteric, religious, and philosophical topics. I enjoyed a lecture by Rabbi Yom Tov Glaser about finding your true "Essence" and how to manifest that into healthy relationships and personal happiness. You can do a youtube search for him and I believe that class is also available online. Again, I'm happy to skype and reteach the information to anyone who wants. This class was very practical and for my non-Jewish friends... it can totally apply to you too and is good information to know about yourself to be able to find inner peace and contentment.
So now the fun stuff. We went on an overnight trip around Israel this past week and saw and experienced a LOT! We started off by driving south towards the Dead Sea in the Judean Desert for Jeeping and ATVing. My half of the group piled into 3 Jeeps and drove through the desert to an incredible look out point. From here we could see all the way to the Dead Sea with Jordan in the background and the city of Jericho to our left. After this we swapped places with the other half of the group for some ATVing (all terrain vehicles). With 3 in my ATV we zoomed along the dusty Judean mountains and through a Bedouin encampment. From here we piled back in the bus and drove north to a spot south of Tiberius for a water hike. By the way, if an Israeli ever tells you that you're going on a water hike be prepared to get wet. As in mid calf water levels at some parts type of wet on this hike. It was beautiful and we watched the sun start to set as we hiked back to the bus. After the long day we drove up to Tiberius and spent the night.
Bright and early the next morning we piled back in the bus and started the day off with another water hike in the Golan Heights overlooking the Sea of Galilee. This water hike was with water mid calf high at some parts and climbing up a trickling waterfall in others. In case you were wondering, yes I did the waterfall climb and no I did not do the mid thigh walk... I walked around since I didn't think my sketchers could take much more under water time. From this hike we drove even further north to the Jordan river and went rafting. Now I was expecting rafting... like white water sort of rafting. This was more like a lazy float down the Jordan, which after all the hiking was a welcomed break. The girls and I decided to lay back and let the current slowly float us down the river. After rinsing off and drying out a little, we hoped back on the bus for Zefat (which is where the Kabbalah was written). We spent a couple of hours, walking around, shopping a little, and having dinner before loading ourselves back on the bus to drive back to Jerusalem.
I've included a few pictures from the overnight trip and, as always, the majority of the pictures are on my facebook page.
I almost forgot... I also baked Challah bread for the first time this past week! So I've included a picture of what they looked like when all was said and done.
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