We had prior "engagements"
Most yeshiva students in the Jerusalem area routinely experience their Saturday nights "on the town." For reasons obvious to those who have been reading this blog faithfully, I do not do a whole lot of Saturday Night Living "on the town." However, last night, I was able to taste the Israeli nightlife from a place not inhabited by cows.
Leor and I took the 154 bus from Mevaseret Zion to the Central Bus Station in Jerusalem, where we met up with... Amanda Gelb! Yes, the Amanda Gelb of the Shalhevet Class of 2005, who just arrived in Israel to study for a semester at Michlelet Esther! We caught up on old times as we cabbed our way to 32 Yossi Ben Yoezer Street to the engagement party I mentioned yesterday.
As we made our way through the winding streets of the Katamon area, I thought about the bride-to-be: Dorit Bat-Ami. Her last name isn't really Bat-Ami; rather, that was her job at Shalhevet last year, when she served a year of Sheirut Le'Umi (national service, an alternative to the army for girls). As was the case with all the Bat Ami's, Dorit brought a taste of Israel to the students of Shalhevet, putting in countless hours into skits, posters, games, parties, and activities. However, tonight was all about her.
The party site, 32 Yossi Ben Yoezer Street, was actually Yeshivat Eretz HaTzvi. The party room was the yeshiva lobby, generously arranged by yeshiva teacher and Dorit's brother-in-law, a familiar looking guy named Mordy. After a few minutes of chatting, I remembered that he was a counselor at the NCSY camp I attended before sixth grade. I hadn't seen him since. Just another example of the Jerusalem Mentality, hard at work.
This was my second engagement party in Israel, and I was more prepared for this one. For one thing, I was still clad in my Shabbat clothes, thus more presentable than when I wore jeans, a T-shirt, and a baseball cap. I also attempted to put into play a valuable lesson: don't be on time, and definitely do not be early. Heck, don't even be late by less than half an hour. I realized, after arriving at 8:30, exactly 30 minutes late, that the last part of this adage needed extension. Despite our best efforts, we were still relatively early; we were one of the first people there. We talked to Dorit, and then Leor, Amanda and I sat in the corner and talked while Dorit's friends and family chattered excitedly.
When I had first found out about the party from Alon Sasson, I was informed that it would be a mini-reunion for Shalhevet people. I guess that was the only reason we stuck it out. First to arrive to the Shalhevet engagement (ha, ha) were the rest of last year's Bat Ami: Miriam, Malki, and the one whose name I do not remember. Around 9:30, Alon, Micah Saiger, and Eliya Shachar showed up. We talked for a while, took some pictures, and freeloaded off the refreshments. Micah and Eliya left soon thereafter, and joining the festivities were Liora Pollick, Ruthie Glass, Batya Weinstock, Gabe Miller, and Lisa Shainberg, who also just arrived in Israel for a semester at Hebrew University. Too soon, however, it all had to end: the girls left, Alon taxied to a bar on Ben Yehuda Street to watch the football game, and Gabe, Leor and I bused back to Mevaseret, and at midnight climbed into bed for a well-deserved night of sleep.
Or not. Turns out that the Mevaseret Americans are louder than the Israelis here. (By the way, the Israelis here have been noticably quieter since October. I thoroughly approve.) And, they also don't know how to listen. Leor and I asked them to be quiet many times, to no avail; the last time I went out was 2:45 in the morning.
The counselors woke us up at 8:00 for davenning at 8:15. Two things struck me about this. The first is that they have counselors. Counselors. These Americans, on the cusp of university next year, still need someone to be waking them up in the morning and enforcing their curfew. We have lots of freedom at YMG, but most of us know when to step up the learning and discipline ourselves, when to get up and when to put ourselves to sleep.
This leads in to the second thing: davenning at 8:15. This seems ridiculously late when compared to the 6:45 davenning up here, but even more ridiculous when compared to the fact that normal YSMZ davenning is at 7:15. I mean, the fact that everyone goes out on Saturday night should not mean that the yeshiva should compromise its values, right? And on top of this, unsurprisingly, the students do not appreciate this insane gift, figuring that since davenning is put off 45 minutes, they can stay out until 1:00 and then talk until 3:45. Show some maturity!
The final thing I noticed about YSMZ was the type of people who are there. Leor pointed this out to me, and I agree, that the people there seem so... shallow. Shallow and immature. I did not feel comfortable with the overall chevreh (group of guys) there as I do with the guys of my yeshiva. Leor noticed the quality of guys immediately when he visited here earlier this year, and I also noticed how shallow those guys are in comparison to the YMGuys. Heh, I like that. YMGuys.
It rained all morning at Mevaseret, and now, after the usual lengthy busride, I am back to Ma'aleh Gilboa, and hopefully, my routine as well.
Today, January 8, is my father's birthday! Hazoo! That's like Huzzah, just not! So let us sing together:
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to Daddy
Happy birthday to you!
P.S. Here's something we were discussing over dinner: if the twelve tribes were a baseball team, where would everybody play? After much careful consideration and deliberation and research into the parsha (?), we arrived at the following results.
CF 5 Naftali
SS 12 Zevulun
LF 33 Gad
1B 24 Yehudah
C 40 Dan
RF 17 Reuven
3B 1 Benjamin
2B 10 Issachar
SP 27 Joseph
SP 31 Levi
CP 59 Shimon
Util. 28 Asher
Oh, the things we think of...
Leor and I took the 154 bus from Mevaseret Zion to the Central Bus Station in Jerusalem, where we met up with... Amanda Gelb! Yes, the Amanda Gelb of the Shalhevet Class of 2005, who just arrived in Israel to study for a semester at Michlelet Esther! We caught up on old times as we cabbed our way to 32 Yossi Ben Yoezer Street to the engagement party I mentioned yesterday.
As we made our way through the winding streets of the Katamon area, I thought about the bride-to-be: Dorit Bat-Ami. Her last name isn't really Bat-Ami; rather, that was her job at Shalhevet last year, when she served a year of Sheirut Le'Umi (national service, an alternative to the army for girls). As was the case with all the Bat Ami's, Dorit brought a taste of Israel to the students of Shalhevet, putting in countless hours into skits, posters, games, parties, and activities. However, tonight was all about her.
The party site, 32 Yossi Ben Yoezer Street, was actually Yeshivat Eretz HaTzvi. The party room was the yeshiva lobby, generously arranged by yeshiva teacher and Dorit's brother-in-law, a familiar looking guy named Mordy. After a few minutes of chatting, I remembered that he was a counselor at the NCSY camp I attended before sixth grade. I hadn't seen him since. Just another example of the Jerusalem Mentality, hard at work.
This was my second engagement party in Israel, and I was more prepared for this one. For one thing, I was still clad in my Shabbat clothes, thus more presentable than when I wore jeans, a T-shirt, and a baseball cap. I also attempted to put into play a valuable lesson: don't be on time, and definitely do not be early. Heck, don't even be late by less than half an hour. I realized, after arriving at 8:30, exactly 30 minutes late, that the last part of this adage needed extension. Despite our best efforts, we were still relatively early; we were one of the first people there. We talked to Dorit, and then Leor, Amanda and I sat in the corner and talked while Dorit's friends and family chattered excitedly.
When I had first found out about the party from Alon Sasson, I was informed that it would be a mini-reunion for Shalhevet people. I guess that was the only reason we stuck it out. First to arrive to the Shalhevet engagement (ha, ha) were the rest of last year's Bat Ami: Miriam, Malki, and the one whose name I do not remember. Around 9:30, Alon, Micah Saiger, and Eliya Shachar showed up. We talked for a while, took some pictures, and freeloaded off the refreshments. Micah and Eliya left soon thereafter, and joining the festivities were Liora Pollick, Ruthie Glass, Batya Weinstock, Gabe Miller, and Lisa Shainberg, who also just arrived in Israel for a semester at Hebrew University. Too soon, however, it all had to end: the girls left, Alon taxied to a bar on Ben Yehuda Street to watch the football game, and Gabe, Leor and I bused back to Mevaseret, and at midnight climbed into bed for a well-deserved night of sleep.
Or not. Turns out that the Mevaseret Americans are louder than the Israelis here. (By the way, the Israelis here have been noticably quieter since October. I thoroughly approve.) And, they also don't know how to listen. Leor and I asked them to be quiet many times, to no avail; the last time I went out was 2:45 in the morning.
The counselors woke us up at 8:00 for davenning at 8:15. Two things struck me about this. The first is that they have counselors. Counselors. These Americans, on the cusp of university next year, still need someone to be waking them up in the morning and enforcing their curfew. We have lots of freedom at YMG, but most of us know when to step up the learning and discipline ourselves, when to get up and when to put ourselves to sleep.
This leads in to the second thing: davenning at 8:15. This seems ridiculously late when compared to the 6:45 davenning up here, but even more ridiculous when compared to the fact that normal YSMZ davenning is at 7:15. I mean, the fact that everyone goes out on Saturday night should not mean that the yeshiva should compromise its values, right? And on top of this, unsurprisingly, the students do not appreciate this insane gift, figuring that since davenning is put off 45 minutes, they can stay out until 1:00 and then talk until 3:45. Show some maturity!
The final thing I noticed about YSMZ was the type of people who are there. Leor pointed this out to me, and I agree, that the people there seem so... shallow. Shallow and immature. I did not feel comfortable with the overall chevreh (group of guys) there as I do with the guys of my yeshiva. Leor noticed the quality of guys immediately when he visited here earlier this year, and I also noticed how shallow those guys are in comparison to the YMGuys. Heh, I like that. YMGuys.
It rained all morning at Mevaseret, and now, after the usual lengthy busride, I am back to Ma'aleh Gilboa, and hopefully, my routine as well.
Today, January 8, is my father's birthday! Hazoo! That's like Huzzah, just not! So let us sing together:
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to Daddy
Happy birthday to you!
P.S. Here's something we were discussing over dinner: if the twelve tribes were a baseball team, where would everybody play? After much careful consideration and deliberation and research into the parsha (?), we arrived at the following results.
CF 5 Naftali
SS 12 Zevulun
LF 33 Gad
1B 24 Yehudah
C 40 Dan
RF 17 Reuven
3B 1 Benjamin
2B 10 Issachar
SP 27 Joseph
SP 31 Levi
CP 59 Shimon
Util. 28 Asher
Oh, the things we think of...
posted by Yoni Bain | 7:52 AM
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