Holiday In(sights)

Here's hoping everyone had a refreshing and meaningful New Year. I know the highlight of my Rosh Hashana was turning on the faucet to wash my hands the first night, only to have the handle come off in my hand, and subsequently being thoroughly drenched in water. It was one of those "you had to be there" moments.

In case you were wondering, here was my Rosh Hashana schedule:
Pray, eat (kiddush), pray, eat (lunch), sleep, pray, eat (dinner), pray, sleep.

If that's not exciting, I don't know what is. Additionally, tomorrow is the Fast of Gedalliah, so I get to fast as the learning goes by ever slower. But before the joys of gmara on an empty stomach, I have another rabbi to introduce:



Rav Yehuda Gilad
Glasses usually found: on top of his head
Handouts for lectures: newspaper-sized
Ran for Knesset: yes

For the first couple of weeks, I thought Rav Gilad and Rav Yehuda were different people. Now I know better. Rav Gilad, as I think I am going to call him, is a very thoughtful and wise man. His Hebrew, as well as his lectures, are challenging, but not on the impossible level of other rabbis here. In addition to being a rabbi here, Rav Gilad ran for Knesset and is politically active, though I'm not exactly sure for which party or what he does. I do know that he wrote an article that appeared in the Jerusalem Post Sunday Magazine. Rav Gilad is a good guy to go to if you have a question.