Tangential Discussion
This week's parsha was parshat בשלח, and this totally scared me. Well, the fact that it is בשלח was not inherently frightening. Rather, when I saw on the shabbat calendar where we were, I gasped. (Well, not really a gasp, but more of a "urkh," but there is no real verb for making that sound. Well, there is now!) I urkhed because I've been in Israel for five months and one week. Time has really flown. I mean really really flown. To put that five months seven days in perspective, I have six weeks until I go home for Pesach. Then, after this month break, I have less than two months until I'm done for good in yeshiva (discounting shana bet, which is very unlikely). And all those high school graduates know that time zips by after Pesach.
Speaking of time, today I started an investigation into the workings of the Jewish calendar. Assisting me in my studies is kolelman Steven Exler, and a book about the workings of the Jewish calendar. The reason I wanted to look into the calendar is because I had heard that every nineteen years one's Hebrew and English birthdays coincide, but this year, they are a day off for me. Today we started with a prerequisite study, namely, understanding time with regards to astronomy. We looked at the three units of time: days, months, and years. Days, we read, are sunset to sunset, and hours, minutes and seconds are units of a day, and not units in and of themselves. Months and years, though they contain a specific number of days, are rather measured by cycles: the waxing and waning of the moon makes the lunar cycle, and the passing of four seasons makes the solar cycle. Steven and I were particularly puzzled by a certain graph, which led us to think the book had made a mistake.
Speaking of Steven, today was a birthday party for his roommate, Eitan Rubinstein. Eitan will be 24 on Wednesday, but since his girlfriend Arielle is here for Shabbat, we did the party today. All the Americans stopped by, and soon the dessert reception turned into a Shabbat sing-a-long (Shabbat-a-long?). Eitan gave a Dvar Torah, which everyone then bashed in appreciation of the birthday boy.
Speaking of the party, one of the Americans present at the party was one of our mothers, and a Level One fan of the blog (Levels will be arbitrarily made up from now on). Yes, Tina Epstein is here for Shabbat. Even before we were formally introduced, I knew it was her from her physical likeness to Benjamin, her Epstein sense of humor, her Texas accent ("y'all"), and her excitement about this blog. After shabbat dinner, she shared with us what she did in Jerusalem this week, told us about discovering the blog and recruiting votes for the contest, and divulged embarassing stories about her son. We also taught her to play Fa-No-Ha-So, in which I won one game and the lost the other.
Speaking of things won and lost, I made good on my lost Yaniv bet, and cleared an entire shabbat table. At least, I tried. Not everyone knew about my losing, and thus some people helped me clear. I didn't complain. I have fulfilled my obligations. To be honest, I think I know why people helped me clear: the food this week seemed worse than usual, from the soup to the cholent.
Speaking of cholent, Cholent Bowl VI was a tremendous success this week. First off, we revoltionized the financial system, ensuring that everyone who eats pays. Actually, it was less of a revolution and more of an organization, merely collecting the money in advance. And the cholent was, I think, the best batch yet, though it was a little sweet. Most people opined the same.
Speaking of people's opinions, I am now starting a new feature on the blog, AskYoni. Write me an email with a question, and I when I have enough, I will write a post with the questions and my answers. Ask me about Israel, yeshiva, politics, food, sports, Ilan's smell, personal advice-- anything! This probably won't work, but it's worth a try. AskYoni- responding to your questions all the time!
Speaking of time, you know time has really flown?
Speaking of time, today I started an investigation into the workings of the Jewish calendar. Assisting me in my studies is kolelman Steven Exler, and a book about the workings of the Jewish calendar. The reason I wanted to look into the calendar is because I had heard that every nineteen years one's Hebrew and English birthdays coincide, but this year, they are a day off for me. Today we started with a prerequisite study, namely, understanding time with regards to astronomy. We looked at the three units of time: days, months, and years. Days, we read, are sunset to sunset, and hours, minutes and seconds are units of a day, and not units in and of themselves. Months and years, though they contain a specific number of days, are rather measured by cycles: the waxing and waning of the moon makes the lunar cycle, and the passing of four seasons makes the solar cycle. Steven and I were particularly puzzled by a certain graph, which led us to think the book had made a mistake.
Speaking of Steven, today was a birthday party for his roommate, Eitan Rubinstein. Eitan will be 24 on Wednesday, but since his girlfriend Arielle is here for Shabbat, we did the party today. All the Americans stopped by, and soon the dessert reception turned into a Shabbat sing-a-long (Shabbat-a-long?). Eitan gave a Dvar Torah, which everyone then bashed in appreciation of the birthday boy.
Speaking of the party, one of the Americans present at the party was one of our mothers, and a Level One fan of the blog (Levels will be arbitrarily made up from now on). Yes, Tina Epstein is here for Shabbat. Even before we were formally introduced, I knew it was her from her physical likeness to Benjamin, her Epstein sense of humor, her Texas accent ("y'all"), and her excitement about this blog. After shabbat dinner, she shared with us what she did in Jerusalem this week, told us about discovering the blog and recruiting votes for the contest, and divulged embarassing stories about her son. We also taught her to play Fa-No-Ha-So, in which I won one game and the lost the other.
Speaking of things won and lost, I made good on my lost Yaniv bet, and cleared an entire shabbat table. At least, I tried. Not everyone knew about my losing, and thus some people helped me clear. I didn't complain. I have fulfilled my obligations. To be honest, I think I know why people helped me clear: the food this week seemed worse than usual, from the soup to the cholent.
Speaking of cholent, Cholent Bowl VI was a tremendous success this week. First off, we revoltionized the financial system, ensuring that everyone who eats pays. Actually, it was less of a revolution and more of an organization, merely collecting the money in advance. And the cholent was, I think, the best batch yet, though it was a little sweet. Most people opined the same.
Speaking of people's opinions, I am now starting a new feature on the blog, AskYoni. Write me an email with a question, and I when I have enough, I will write a post with the questions and my answers. Ask me about Israel, yeshiva, politics, food, sports, Ilan's smell, personal advice-- anything! This probably won't work, but it's worth a try. AskYoni- responding to your questions all the time!
Speaking of time, you know time has really flown?
posted by Yoni Bain | 10:03 AM
2 Comments:
whats your email adress for the questions?
Good question.
YBAIN411@aol.com
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