Shabbatathon!
This weekend was the much-anticipated shabbaton in Jerusalem, but I'm afraid it wasn't quite what it was hyped to be. Or perhaps we gave it more attention than it deserved. Most of my friends have shabbatons in Eilat, or Ein Gedi, or Tzfat, so I guess spending the day the way we did felt very ordinary.
The Americans had their regular shuttle to Jerusalem Friday morning, and a few of us got breakfast and played Yaniv inside the bus station for a bit. Benjamin and I spent the next few hours at the Israel Museum, a place I had not previously seen. We walked around some art
exhibits, saw the Dead Sea Scrolls, and felt our jaws drop at the three actual intact synagogues that were displayed inside. We taxied to Emek Refaim, lunched at a pizza shop, and walked for 45 minutes to the site of the shabbaton. We passed this shop, called Yoni. Good photo, "Yonis in Israel." We were almost lost for a bit, as I couldn't remember the name of the street-- Nurkin? Nurnik? Nukarin? We finally found it, right there at 35 Nikanor Street, at the edge of the Katamon neighborhood.
The site of the shabbaton was the Jerusalem Bnei Akiva building/youth hostile, which happens to be the Bnei Akiva headquarters of the world. Yeah, you heard right. The world. Yet despite the thrill of being in Jerusalem, the shabbaton still tasted heavily of Ma'aleh Gilboa. The davenning was the same, the routine was the same, the food was close enough. In short, we merely transported the yeshiva to a building in Jerusalem. And since the weather was uncooperative, we had to cancel our tish at the house of some rebbe. Instead, we tished (?) with our own rabbis, who told us of their pasts.
(Note: birthday time. Adam/Fred/Jeff/Whatever Bain- you are now seven! Wow, I can remember when you were born. That's scary...
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to Adam,
Happy birthday to you!)
Saturday was also pretty routine. Same davenning, same Anim Zmirot, speeches, food. I gave the Dvar Torah at lunch, then had the follow-up honor of leading Birkat Hamazon. My speech was about the groupings of the Ten Plagues, which I concluded with a playful jab at Rav Bigman.
After lunch, I played Yaniv and lost, meaning I will have to clear an entire shabbat table. I also finished my third Gregory Maguire book, "Mirror Mirror," which set Snow White in early 16th-century Italy. After shabbat, there was another lecture, and after that, while we waited for the bus to arrive, people were amazed by the game "Pass the Pigs." Though I have absolutely no idea why.
So now I'm back at yeshiva, still with no computer, still working on our Super Bowl plans, still carefully monitoring my voting situation (my ratings dropped to 33%). Later folks. Keep voting; only four more days!
The Americans had their regular shuttle to Jerusalem Friday morning, and a few of us got breakfast and played Yaniv inside the bus station for a bit. Benjamin and I spent the next few hours at the Israel Museum, a place I had not previously seen. We walked around some art
exhibits, saw the Dead Sea Scrolls, and felt our jaws drop at the three actual intact synagogues that were displayed inside. We taxied to Emek Refaim, lunched at a pizza shop, and walked for 45 minutes to the site of the shabbaton. We passed this shop, called Yoni. Good photo, "Yonis in Israel." We were almost lost for a bit, as I couldn't remember the name of the street-- Nurkin? Nurnik? Nukarin? We finally found it, right there at 35 Nikanor Street, at the edge of the Katamon neighborhood.The site of the shabbaton was the Jerusalem Bnei Akiva building/youth hostile, which happens to be the Bnei Akiva headquarters of the world. Yeah, you heard right. The world. Yet despite the thrill of being in Jerusalem, the shabbaton still tasted heavily of Ma'aleh Gilboa. The davenning was the same, the routine was the same, the food was close enough. In short, we merely transported the yeshiva to a building in Jerusalem. And since the weather was uncooperative, we had to cancel our tish at the house of some rebbe. Instead, we tished (?) with our own rabbis, who told us of their pasts.
(Note: birthday time. Adam/Fred/Jeff/Whatever Bain- you are now seven! Wow, I can remember when you were born. That's scary...
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to Adam,
Happy birthday to you!)
Saturday was also pretty routine. Same davenning, same Anim Zmirot, speeches, food. I gave the Dvar Torah at lunch, then had the follow-up honor of leading Birkat Hamazon. My speech was about the groupings of the Ten Plagues, which I concluded with a playful jab at Rav Bigman.
After lunch, I played Yaniv and lost, meaning I will have to clear an entire shabbat table. I also finished my third Gregory Maguire book, "Mirror Mirror," which set Snow White in early 16th-century Italy. After shabbat, there was another lecture, and after that, while we waited for the bus to arrive, people were amazed by the game "Pass the Pigs." Though I have absolutely no idea why.
So now I'm back at yeshiva, still with no computer, still working on our Super Bowl plans, still carefully monitoring my voting situation (my ratings dropped to 33%). Later folks. Keep voting; only four more days!
posted by Yoni Bain | 4:52 AM
1 Comments:
Yoni, "Pass the Pigs" is a brilliant game and only the intellectually superior understand it's excellence. We have those pigs itemized on our household insurance as it is now impossible to replace. You have to know strategy and JUST how to angle your hand in tossing the pigs. It's skill and intellect. And best of all, you only have to be about 18 mos. old to play and understand it...
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