FIST: Ezra and David

FIST: new and improved!

First Impressions:
Well, Ezra and David. Ezra comes from Maryland, near DC. He comes from a conservative synagogue, and sometimes grapples with the Talmud and Judaism as manifested here. He wears a lot of basketball shirts. His nickname is Ezra the Scribe because he writes perfectly legible notes for everything. Actually, that's not really his nickname, but it fits. He is one of the only people who does not wear white on Shabbat (he wears gray).

David has a very excellent birthday, but was born at night and thus has a different Hebrew birthday than yours truly (I am the 12th of Nissan, he is the 13th). He is one of two Americans who sleeps on the roof, and the only one who mixes all of the breakfast foods together into one bowl (see picture) before eating them; methinks he has already lost his tastebuds. Hehe, I just said "methinks." I'm not quite sure who Aryeh is; there is an American older student named Aryeh, but he hasn't been here for weeks. There is a rumor going around that we are going to shave his poofy hair; admittedly, I started that rumor, but it's still fun.

Second Thoughts
In the world of academics, talmud, and Learnometers, much hype is bestowed upon the David Zvis and the Aarons, but Ezra Fishman is underrated and underhyped severely. He attends shacharit regularly, or so he tells me, as I don't always make it. He always is involved in discussions, so much so that all the rabbis know his name, whereas fellow Learnonomist David Zvi is oft mistaken as "Moshe Zvi." He challenges constantly, espouses his Conservative (his dad is a rabbi) and feminist (his mom is a woman) beliefs, and knows the many theologians mentioned when Rav Bigman goes tangential on us. He still takes the group notes for Rav Bigman's American lectures, because he seems to be the only American who has legible handwriting. The basketball shirts I previously identified are Stu Vetter shirts. When Ezra stretches, his back seems to disappear (?), leading to Ronen's Tu B'shvat riddle "who doesn't have a back?"

"'Cause I'm DMD, I have big hair
DMD, and I just don't care"

Some people just have a song, and David Mayer-Deutsch (DMD) is one of them. Music seems to be good fit for DMD: he sings and dances constantly. And like music, DMD sometimes seems to be beyond words. He just seems to be... from another planet sometimes. The intensity. The uncouth afro. The sleeping on the roof, or on the grass. The way he wears sandals and socks, or four shirts at once. The fact that he still mixes everything into a bowl and eats it, apparently with no regard for taste. David does his own thing, singing and dancing to his own drummer. Learning-wise, he speaks in a careful, measured tone and makes accurate points. His mom is a rabbi; I think about half the Americans have parents who is a rabbi/Jewish educator. DMD is into nature, the beauty of YMG. DMD at YMG seems to be a good fit, for him, the yeshiva, and all of us.