Not just a summer blog anymore...

It's been a busy two weeks since I last updated, full of planning, contemplation, and exploration. After much deliberation, I've decided to defer from rabbinical school for a year in order to stay at Pardes for their year program. The learning I've been doing for the past four weeks has been incredible, and I'm being exposed to so many new aspects of Jewish life that I never got a chance to see in Spartanburg or in Houston. Shabbat in Jerusalem is such a beautiful, communal experience, and the rhythm of life here is unlike anywhere else. I decided that I wanted to give myself a firmer foundation not only in Jewish text study, but also in living an observant Jewish life and figuring out many personally perplexing spiritual issues before starting rabbinical school at Ziegler next year.

Plus, Pardes is tuition-free for 2009-2010! There's an organization called MASA which provides loads of funding for long term programs in Israel, and with their grant and help from Pardes, I'll hopefully be studying here at little cost to myself or my family. What could be better?

It was a tough decision though, having already begun to made connections in LA and planning my year around that original plan. Currently it looks like I'll be flying back to SC on July 28, home for 3 weeks, then flying to Houston to pick up my car and most of my stuff on August 17, driving back to SC (hopefully with Drew), and returning to Israel sometime at the very end of August.

In other news, we've been on break for the last week, so I've gotten to explore the city a little bit. Last week we went to the City of David where we got to explore the ruins of King David's Jerusalem, hear about the history of the monarchy, and trek through Hezekiah's Tunnel - a tunnel created to divert water inside the city. We waded through the fresh running water in this tunnel for about 20 minutes in the dark, and at points the water was probably 2.5 feet deep. The diggers of the tunnel started at opposite ends, and as they approached each other in the middle, they began digging back and forth in rapid diagonal lines so that they wouldn't pass each other. When you're halfway through, you can see where they did almost miss a couple of times.

I also visited the Museum at the Seam, which showcases contemporary art with strong political and environmental commentary. It's called the Museum at the Seam because it is right on the border between East and West Jerusalem, formerly Israel and Jordan before 1967. The outside of the building looks like a war zone, covered in bullet holes, but the inside looks like any other modern art gallery, except for the bunker-style windows on the top floor. Most of the art we saw spoke to the problem of man vs. nature, highlighting images of industrialization and the toll it takes on the natural environment. Of course, the museum did have its share of art on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with one striking photograph of the Dome of the Rock in the back ground and a heap of trash and discarded appliances in the foreground, presumably taken from East Jerusalem.

Tonight I'm changing apartments, so I'll be living with Renee and her family for all of July. I've heard that the place is beautiful, so I'll post pictures when I get there! Pardes July session starts tomorrow, so I'm trying to get back in my regular routine before then.

Finally, if you read this and I haven't heard from you recently, drop me a line to let me know how your summer is going!