| David Helfand | | Print | |
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Friday, October 30, 2009
Friday, February 19, 2010 What a great week it has been since moving and settling into Yerucham. It has been full of smiles, giggles, good HOMEMADE food, bonding and relaxing. I am so thrilled about the way that this past week has gone and I can't wait for the rest of the time in Yerucham to be as fun filled as this past week. I started working on Monday at the religious elementary school in Yerucham, Kol Yakkov. I am working with five other Nativers and we are all teaching English to 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th graders. It is quite harder then I expected. Imagine that you don't speak your native language of English, and you are having people try and help you learn English but you are unable to communicate with them because you speak a different language, its tough. My Hebrew teacher in high school would probably tell you that my Hebrew is near fluent and that I speak and write very well for an American. It is extremely hard for me not to speak Hebrew to the kids to help them understand what it is that they are learning in English class. I know that I have only been teaching English at Kol Yakkov for a week now, but I am not the largest fan of the English Program that they have at the school. I feel that the English program just force feeds the kids the language, but they don't understand what is that they are learning. I can't say that I have been 100% truthful about not knowing Hebrew, like the teachers want us to be, but I also feel that when I do speak in Hebrew to explain things to the kids, it helps them understand what it is that they are learning and they have a better chance of wanted to learn more in the future. Since I only work from about 8:15 in the morning to about 1:35 in the afternoon, my afternoons and evenings have been free. I have been playing soccer in the park with friends as well as starting to run again which is enjoyable. We have also been doing a lot of bonding with in the apartment and within the boys in the group. We had our first of hopefully many Mens Pasta Nights. That was really fun cause we all got together and cooked and then ate different pastas together. It was a great bonding experience. Also, every night at 9 we have started to say Maariv at Affikim, our base shul. It has been a fun 15 minute activity to end the day. At first it was just us Nativers who went, but now that the people know about it we are starting to get a little more of the people of Yerucham which is great. Yerucham is just an awesome place to be living. On Wednesday night, Ilana and I went to our host family for the evening. You never know what to expect when you go to an Israelis house for dinner that is not Shabbat. We walk in and we sit down at the table and all of a sudden we have dough in our hands making our meal of pita. Fresh pita is so incredible. We ate it with Hummus(which I still don't eat), cream cheese, butter, cottage cheese, eggplant spread and other tasty treats. It was such a good evening. The kids are adorable, the pita was yummy, and it was a break from cooking for myself or the apartment. Anyways, the week came to an end on Thursday afternoon when I had my USY on Wheels interview for my summer job. The interview went well and I think I did fairly well. I then hopped in the car with Elkana, the assistant director of Nativ, and Aviva who works with USY and we headed to Jerusalem where I met up with a bunch of friends. I am spending Shabbat with my friend Seth at my friend Elan's apartment. We are having dinner with Jules and Yehidis Gutin and then lunch with some friends that I was at the Yeshiva with. It is set to be a nice and relaxing Shabbat. Motzei Shabbat I will head back to Yerucham for another great week of work and then at the end of next week, PURIM!! Shababt Shalomt to all and a Refuah Shelemah/Speedy Recovery to my Aunt Susan, Sarah bat Basha!!! David Monday, February 15, 2010
Post Long Awaited...
Friday, November 27, 2009
Classes all went well this week and we had great discussions and great learning. On Tuesday, I had a great meeting with the Director of Admissions of American Jewish University in Los Angles about college for me for next year. That night we had Erev Nativ and we previewed one of the two videos that would be shown on Thanksgiving. After that part of Erev Nativ we split up into groups and my group went and had a program . We discussed Shirat HaSticker by Hadag Nachash. It is a song that takes different bumper stickers that you see in Israel and puts them all together to make somewhat of a controversial song about the politics in Israel.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
These three sessions were the concluding and follow up sessions to the previous sessions we have had that were led by Rabbi Roth and Rabbi Artson. Jules took a different approach to talking about Conservative Judaism. He actually spoke about how the movement works and how it has adapted over time. I had heard him speak on this topic before but it was interesting to see the reactions that the rest of Nativ had when they heard what he had to say. It was a very informative weekend with lots of learning and discussion with Jules and an overall nice visit with him to speak about many things. It is always interesting to listen to people talk about Judaism especially Conservative Judaism. It is interesting to hear why people consider themselves to be Conservative Jews and I can say that after we have heard from all of our speakers about Conservative Judaism my opinions haven't changed but I bet most peoples have. After Shabbat, about 40 Nativers and myself headed to Tel Aviv for the 14th Anniversary celebration of the life of Yitzchak Rabin (z"l).Rabin was Prime Minister in two seperate occasions (1974-77 and 1992-95), he is arguably one of the most decorated politicians and generals in Israel's history. As Prime Minister for a second term, this time in the 1990's, Rabin helped foster the Peace Process all the way through the Oslo Accords. After an event in Tel Aviv, Rabin left the stage and walked towards his security where he was shot surprisingly by Yigal Amir. Rabin was rushed to the hospital but died while in surgery.
After a very standard week at the Yeshiva and nothing to spectacular to blog about I have decided to blog about something that has happened several times since I have been in Israel. If you notice the title of this blog post, it is dedicated to the Weather Girls and their classic song, "It's Raining Men." In Israel, people care a lot about the rain, more so then they do in the United States. Rain is a precious thing in this country that we constantly ask for it and don't get it. However, this year I have a feeling that we will be shocked to see how much rain we will get. Last night, Thursday, we had our weekly NBA(Nativ Basketball Association, games. As we all go to Gan Hapaamon to play and we stretch out and take the court, I notice some drops coming from the sky. I say to my team, play smart its going to get wet and slippery, which it certainly did. We ended up playing basketball in a very constant and heavy rain for about an hour and a half. It was one of the coolest things I have ever done. Growing up and throughout high school it was a normal occurrence for it to rain while playing soccer games or at practice. But, I had never ever played basketball in the rain. It was also a tradition that after those rainy and muddy games, my mother would put me or my brothers into a giant yellow trash bag because she didn't to get her car dirty. So as I was walking home from the games, I called my mother and asked her if she would meet me at the park and to bring a giant yellow trash bag, to which she responded with laughter. Generally speaking, I don't praise the rain or any of the natural wonders that come to us, however now that I am in a country that celebrates and enjoys rain as much as they do, I have a new found appreciation for the rain. May we continue to see much rain in the country for the remainder of my year and continue to get wet while just merely walking down the street in the middle of the day!!!
Sunday October 25,2009 Today was the same as every other day at the Yeshiva. I had Talmud in the morning and then Pirkei Avot followed by Tanach. The excitement was what happened at night. MASA is an organization that helps Jews from the age of 18-35 get to Israel on different types of programs. Nativ is a program affiliated with MASA. Sunday night MASA held its annual concert for all particpants on MASA Programs. The concert was held at Binyanei HaUmah, which is a beautiful theater directly across the street from the Central Bus Station of Jerusalem. The special performer at the concert was none other then the Idan Raichel Project. The Idan Raichel Project is a group comprised of musicans from all across the world who have different styles of music to create one amazing band. I had never seen them before but I had always been told that they know how to put on a show and they most certainly did. He started out very chill and calming with everyone sitting in their seats. After four songs he starts his fast paced songs and his songs that people get out of their seats and go crazy for. And we did exactly that. I have 4 favorite songs that he plays and it was nice because he played 3 of the four songs; Mimamakim,Brong Fraye,Bo'ee, but he did not play Im Telech, which happens to be my favorite of his songs. It was an incredible concert that I will never forget and I can't wait to go and see him again when he comes back to Jerusalem. After such an amazing concert it was time to get on a bus and head back to base and reflect on the night as well has listen to his music on my IPod as I fell asleep.
I Came, I Hiked, I Conqured (10/04-06/2009) First thing Sunday morning was a wake up of 5:45am in order to be down and ready at the bus for a 6:15 departure to the South. Kibbutz and Kehilla would say goodbye to eachother until Monday afternoon. We headed to oppositie points and would meet up for about five minutes and overlap locations. Kehilla(my group) headed south to Beer Sheva right off the bat for Davening at a local Conservative Shul. We davened and then ate breakfast in the Sukkah and filled up our water bottles as well as used the bathrooms once more before heading on the bus to our drop of location to begin our desert survival.After we ended for the first day we set up camp and became familiar with our surroundings. I was used to camping in the woods and using the woods as a restroom however, some of the girls and a few of the boys were hesitant at first but slowly gave in because it was the only option. We had a fantastic dinner and a great little camp fire with a song session and we all headed to bed between 8 and 9:30 pm as it was dark very quickly in the cool and moon lit desert. Wake up at 5am is quite amazing especially when the moon has jump 180 degrees to the exact opposite side it was on when you go to bed. I was excited for the second day of hiking because I was told it would be more of a challenge. We all god up and got dressed and tore down camp and davened with our Lulavs and Etrogs in the middle of the desert and then ate breakfast and packed lunches and prepared ourselves for the day. We began the hike around 7:30ish I believe and it was already pretty hot outside, but we had a nice breeze that kept with us throughout the entire day. We hiked up a mountain for a long time and sometimes it was a little uncomfortable because of the heat or the terrain, but the feeling at the top was unbelievable. There was a wide range of ground cover, from sand to gravel to rocks to big flat boulders, and all different combinations of those four things. It made things difficult for the ankles. At every point that we stopped, people found flat rocks and went to sleep (this even happened to me, which I was not expecting!).The hiking went on like this for several hours. To pass the time, we sang and got to know each other and got to know ourselves. I was lucky enough to hike with Razie who was very timid and scared at points with the inclines and declines as well as the narrow paths so I was holding her hand and helping her get through the hike for the three days. She did an incredible job of conquering fears as well as keeping a positive spirit. Sunday, October 4, 2009
Thursday October 1, 2009 I couldn't have asked for a better start to today. I woke up for davening with the rest of the group and after davening, around 8 am, I went back to bed until 1 in the afternoon because I didn't have any classes at the Yeshiva cause we had just started our Sukkot break. It was an amazing morning. I hope to do that more often if I am alloted the opportunity. After I woke up around 1, I showered and got dressed and headed down stairs for lunch. After lunch all of the Hebrew U kids returned from school after taking their final tests and writing their last papers for the MiniMester. At around 2 in the afternoon we had mandatory sessions on Sukkot that were run by Nativers that were in the Yeshiva. The session was on the 4 species of Sukkot. After we had our session we all gathered in the lobby of the main building and prepared for going to the Shuk HaArbah Minim, the Shuk for the Four Species. Before we left their were a bunch of us who were wearing red shirts so we all took a pictures. Yossi was even in the picture! We start walking to the Shuk and once we get there we were overwhelmed with the amount of people buying their 4 species for Sukkot. Because the first day of Sukkot is on Shabbat this year everything was dirt cheap. The reason for everything being dirt cheap is because the commandment in the Torah states that you should use the 4 species on the first day, and because the first day is on Shabbat this year you don't use the species, which means everything is very cheap. I bought my full set and a carrying case for it all for 60 Shekels which is roughly $16. It is so much cheaper in Israel that what I used to pay in the states, around $50. After we came back from the Shuk, I put my 4 species in the fridge so they would stay healthy and then I got changed for the first round of the NBA, the Nativ Basketball Association. We have 5 teams of 4 people who just play basketball once a week in Gan Ha'Pamon. It was great to start playing sports again even though my sport isn't basketball. We played from around 6pm to about 10pm. I played in about 7 games of 12 minutes each. I had a great time and so did everyone else. We are going to be doing this once a week on either Sunday or Thursday depending on schedules. After basketball we headed back to Base and got cleaned up and just went out for a bit at night.
Tuesday September 22,2009
I ate dinner and had Erev Nativ with the rest of Nativ. We had a speaker come and talk to us about a program called B'yachad which pairs American teens who work at Jewish Summer Camps in the States up with Israelis who go to American camps during the summer. It was a great idea and I would certainly partake in it if I knew what camp I would work at in the States. After that discussion we had several announcements about the week ahead and Yom Kippur from Yossi and then we broke up into four groups, two for each track. Within the groups we spoke about Shabbat in Israel and on Nativ. We had discussions of what we thought was allowed and not allowed on Shabbat. It was interesting to hear what some people thought of Shabbat and what made Shabbat unique for them. After the Shabbat program several of us were asked to go up to the office and meet with Yossi about something. So without knowing what we would be talking about we all headed upstairs to the office. Yossi then proceeds to congratulate us on making Magen David Adom. It was a great feeling to hear that. He then told us that we have the option of working in Jerusalem and Beit Shemesh during the first semester, something that was brand new this year. He also told us when the training would be and that he would help us with our class schedule. He asked us if we would accept the offer to do MDA and of course I said yes. He told us a bit about what it is like to volunteer for them and that it is 8 hour shifts at a time and that we can do it as often or as little as we like during the first semester. I left that meeting very happy and excited to get started with the training and get right into the action. I headed back to my room after the meeting and just hung out with my roommates and a few other people and then I headed to bed somewhat earlier then average. Sunday September 20,2009 Thoughts on Rosh Hashanah in Israel Coming into this Rosh Hashanah I was nervous about being away from home. Rosh Hashanah is one of my most personal and spiritual times for me. This year was going to be tough because I would be without my family for the first time and it would be a completely different environment. I think for the first of the Chagim away from home I was still connected. I think the reason for being so connected to my daevning and Chag was because I was in Jerusalem. This Rosh Hashanah brought new thoughts to my mind about how I will act as a person in the year to come. I don’t want to say that I have New Years resolutions in the traditional sense of the phrase, however I have goals for the upcoming year. This coming year is going to be a true challenge for me. I am away from home for a full year, I will be entering college in the fall, and I will start leading more of an independent lifestyle. It will be challenging at first however I am fairly confident that I will have enough will power to get my way through. Gmar Chatimah Tova Wednesday, September 16, 2009 Well today was just another day at the office. Early morning minyan and then off to the Yeshiva for four hours of Talmud followed by lunch. Lunch today was a slight bit different. We had a all Nativ Yeshiva meeting with my Talmud teacher, Dr. Josh Kulp who acts as the head adviser for the Nativers. We were all then given a different sub adviser to go to for problems. I got really lucky and got an amazing adviser who not only knows me, knows my brother and my Zaddy, Reb Shlomo. He is a great guy who I will be able to talk to and have as a great resource. After lunch I had a break for about an hour and a half so I did some work as usual and listened to music. After my break I had Poskim 2 which is basically in depth study of commentators of Halacha. During my class, I had my interview for MADA, Magen David Adom also known as the Israeli Red Cross. My goal for the second semester of Nativ is to be a volunteer paramedic in the south of Israel in Yerucham. It is new this year for us that you can do volunteering in Jerusalem during the first semester. The interview went very well and it was conducted in both Hebrew and English. I am not sure when I hear back from them about it, but I assume its within the next week cause the training course starts the first week of October. Today I also finialzed my plans for Rosh Hashanah. I am going to be davening with Nativ the first night and going to Mayanot for shul on Saturday morning, which is about a 45-50 minute walk from me. I am also being hosted for lunch by a family near that shul with my friend Seth which is going to be really fun. I am also excited for that meal cause it is going to be my first time buying a bottle of wine and bringing it to a home for a gift. I will probably daven Mincha and Maariv at Moreshet Yisrael right next door to Beit Nativ. On Sunday for the second day I will most likely be going to a shul called Kedem on Emek Refaim. After that I will be going to lunch at my Tanach teacher, Vered's house, as well as some of my classmates in her class. I will once again probably daven Mincha and end Rosh Hashanah at Moreshet Yisrael. I am excited for the Chagim but at the same time it will be very weird not being with my family at shul at home and not leading Junior Congregation services. I can't wait for the Chagim. Tonight for dinner, Judah and I went and met Rabbi Paul and Nina Freedman for dinner. They are such a cute and sweet couple who are so hospitiable it is amazing. We ate dinner at Cafe Joe and sat and schmoozed for a while and caught up. It was a great chance to be with them and hopefully we can do this more often. After dinner we had an all boys Yerucham night where we discussed several key issues that would be considered Lo Matim/no appropriate to say on the blog. It was a good conversation that needed to take place and was especially important given the time of year we are in. Today was a pretty good day in the life in J-Town. Stayed for tomorrow post as well as the first of many Drashot/Commetaries on something Jewish. חלומחת פז/Sweet Dreams! After my productive few hours of work I went to my Modern Jewish Thought class that only meets once a week for about 3 and a half hours. It is turning out to be a pretty interesting class with a unique approach to Zionism. Our teacher is a very interesting and engaging individual so it helps make the pace of the class enjoyable. After Modern Jewish Thought class it was time for dinner and then Erev Nativ, which is the once a week opportunity for an all Nativ program. This week, we learned about a certificate that restaurants receive that is called The Tav Chevrati/התו החברתי. It is a seal of approval granted free of charge to restaurants and other businesses that respect the legally-mandated rights of their employees and are accessible to people with disabilities. It was something that I had never heard of and it will make me think the next time I go out to eat in Israel. After Erev Nativ, I took it easy and just enjoyed the night and went to bed at an early hour. Today was definitely a typical day, nothing to out of the ordinary. We will see what tomorrow brings. Tuesday, September 15, 2009 Wow.... What a day. Sundays and Mondays are the busiest days because I am in the Yeshiva from about 8:30 in the morning until about 6:30 in the evening. On a given day I will be studying throughout that entire period of time with no more then a 45 minute break for lunch. It is quite a switch from high school let me tell you. Today was no exception. Today during Talmud class, my chevruta Judah and I sat and looked at the same four lines of the Talmud for about 2 hours. It was the start of one of those days. Normally, Judah and I are very into the studying but today we just weren't feeling it. So after we did our one on one studying we went to Shiur/class where we discussed what we were learning and we finally got into it a bit more. After Talmud we broke for our usual lunch of Beit Nativ food. After lunch I joined the Yeshiva as I do everyday for Mincha. After Mincha I went to Halacha Le'Maseah class which is a class that covers the basics of practical Jewish Law. The class is made up of a lot of Nativers and some CY students but also we are joined by the Cantorial Students from JTS which is a nice addition. After about an hour and a half of Halacha class I went to my next and final class of Advanced Midrash with Reb Mordachai. It was a great class. We were studying a Midrash about different people who were doing Teshuvah over the history of time. It was a very illuminating Midrash. I will be posting a piece of it later this week before Rosh Hashanah and I will be discussing it also. Midrash put me into a great mood for the evening. After Midrash ended around 6:30 I went to dinner with a large majority of Nativ at Beit Nativ. After dinner we had auditions for the Accapella group of Nativ, Kol Nativ which translates to the Voice of Nativ. I sang HaTikvah in my two auditions. We will see what happens next. I am pretty confident that not only I will make it but everyone who tried out will make it also. All this leads up to the great night I had. If you look at the title of this blog post it says a night on the town. The title doesn't lie, I did indeed have a night on the town. Tonight on Emek Refaim, the German Colony, there was a street fair with live music, foods, and other performances. A bunch of people went for a post dinner dinner and hung out and listened to the many different types of music. It was a great and relaxing conclusion to a busy yet educational day. That will do it for today. I am sleepy and I need to get up at 7 for davening. I guess we will see what tomorrow brings me. Lila Tov Sunday, September 13, 2009 This weekend I spent Shabbat in Ein Gedi with the my fellow Nativers who are studying at the Conservative Yeshiva as well as the other students who are studying at the CY. We went early Friday morning to Ein Gedi for a hike and swimming in the waterfalls. We had a great Friday evening with a beautiful and inspirational Kabbalat Shabbat, Welcoming the Shabbat, and Maariv, evening service. After praying we had dinner and then after dinner their was a Tisch, a gathering full of learning, food, songs, and schmoozing. It was a great Friday evening experience. Shabbat morning was a great experience also. A favorite teacher of mine at the Yeshiva led Schacharit, the morning service. It wasn't that special of a rendition, but the man has the voice of an angle. I always thought that the voice of God was either Morgan Freeman or James Earl Jones, but I was wrong. Reb Shlomo is certainly the new voice of God. I had the opportunity to read Haftarah, the Prophetic reading, this morning so that was a nice opportunity. After prayers we had a session with the Rosh Yeshiva, Reb Shmuel about Choosing Life. After that session we had lunch and then I had myself my traditional Shabbat nap. After napping we prayed Mincha, the afternoon service, and then had the chance to pick from three different sessions led by staff of the CY. I choose a class that dealt with the 13 Attributes of God primarily because it was taught by a teacher that I don't have, so I wanted to hear him teach. It was very insightful lesson and one that I will think about over the next few weeks. After Shabbat ended we headed back to Jerusalem for Selichot. Selichot are the prayers of forgiveness that are said leading up to Rosh Hashanah and tonight was the "opening round" of Selichot. Their were many options to choose from and so many people flooding the streets getting to their locations for Selichot. A bunch of us wen to a shul called Kol Rina which is located in a bomb shelter, but we got there 45 minutes before they were starting so we moved else where. We ended up in a few locations for a little time at each. It was a great chance to go Shul Hopping. Anyways, tomorrow starts a brand new week at the Yeshiva. Bright and early at 7 am for Davening with Nativ and then back to work learning til 6. This week we have Rosh Hashanah over the weekend which will be one of the hardest times for me on Nativ so we will see how I deal with it. Lila Tov from Jerusalem and Shavuah Tov.
Thursday, September 10, 2009 Today was the end of the first week of classes. I really enjoyed all the classes I have taken. Today I had the opportunity to begin my last two classes. The first one is a Shiur/Lecture for all the students of the Conservative Yeshiva led by the Rosh Yeshiva Reb Shmuel. It was an incredible lecture about the Kingship of God through Creation leading up to Rosh Hashanah. That lecture happens once a week and I am excited for those to turn out. The second class was just for the Yeshiva students on Nativ. This class is Contemporary Issues in Halacha/Law with Reb Shlomo. He has the soothing voice of an angle, one whose voice I wouldn't mind listening to all day. It will be a great class, just today wasn't the best leading off discussion.After my morning and afternoon at the Yeshiva, I went with a friend to the old city to buy a book that we both were going to need for classes for the rest of the semester. We then hung out at Beit Nativ until a few of us ran and got dinner before the all Nativ program tonight. Tonight's program was a program for 9/11. We watched United 93 and everyone was blown away because of the movie and a powerful speech that Yossi, the Director of Nativ, gave before and after to bring it all home. It was a perfect segway into the weekend as well as into the time for the Holidays and Selichot on Saturday night. This weekend I am going to Ein Gedi for the Conservative Yeshiva Shabbaton. We are leaving bright and early on Friday morning and we will be driving to Ein Gedi to do a hike, play some games, swim at Ein Gedi as well as the Dead Sea and then off to the Youth Hostel for the Shabbaton. We will be back in Jerusalem Saturday night for Selichot, the repentance prayers said one week prior to Rosh Hashanah. It is hard to imagine that next week is Rosh Hashanah and it is the first time in 18 years that I will not be spending the Holidays with my family. That is going to be the biggest adjustment for me, however I am excited for what will come. Shabbat Shalom m'Yerushaliyim. Shabbat Shalom from Jerusalem!!! -DBH
09/09/09 What An Awesome Date!!! With a date like 09/09/09 it is bound to be a good day. Today was my first day at the Yeshiva to learn Talmud. I was placed in the second highest level of Talmud and I am in a class with Rabbinical Students from the American Jewish University. My teacher, Dr. Josh Kulp was a former teach of my brother Corey's also so that was pretty cool. It is pretty cool to be in a class level that high given that these people are already in Rabbinical School and are so close to being a Rabbi and I am just out of high school. I guess that 13 education that I received from the Academy is really paying off. In Talmud class for the first few weeks we are learning material about Sukkot. We will then start discussing a Tractate called Bava Kama just after the Holidays. We had Talmud for about 2 hours just one on one and then we moved into a discussion setting with the rest of the class which is about 12 people give or take a few. |
