חזרתי!

חברי,

Well it has been some time since I've last written. Sometimes it's easy to feel that nothing is changing, while everything is new. As I recall the last time I wrote was about visiting Tsfat, which was almost two months ago now. I suppose nothing too eventful has happened since then. I'm still in ulpan in Jerusalem and I'm still pretty much in the dark about the army. 

In terms of summer plans I'm working for Young Judaea as a counselor (madrich) until the beginning of august. At this point it seems I'll be coming back to the states in August for at least a few weeks. Afterwards my life pretty much depends on the army. I have been told, by a second hand source, I will be doing chemistry, but I have received nothing in writing or any verbal confirmation of placement. As things often happen with the IDF there is a chance I could end up doing something completely different. My enlistment date is still December 21st, as I was told to wait to hear about chemistry before trying to change it. I would like to make the date earlier, to sometime in October, if possible. I probably won't know anything about this for some time, as it is with the army. 

My ulpan is over in three weeks! It's crazy! Also, this week marks a year since I was last in Israel and started mulling over Aliyah. I've come a long way in the past 362 days! It's amazing how much one's life can change over the course of a year. I've since turned 21, graduated from college, emigrated to another country, and have learned a significant amount of hebrew. Speaking of which, this is the time when real life starts. 

Luckily for me I have a job that starts literally the day they kick us out of the absorption center. There are people still trying to find jobs, apartments, roommates, and the money and strength to start "real life" in Israel. Needless to say most people have been freaking out around here. This is the time when true perseverance is needed, there's no more mommy holding an umbrella over our head; it's time to get wet! Most of the people I know are staying in Jerusalem, with the second majority heading to Tel Aviv. These are both good places to get started in Israel, as there are large anglo communities and most people already have friends in both cities. It's also nice for me, because I now have many friends I can go visit in different places. I hope that things work out for every single person, and no one is forced to make yerida (leave Israel) due to financial straits or whatever the obstacles may be.

Last week was a lot of fun! We had a trip up north on wednesday, among other places we visited Rosh HaNikra, the border with Lebanon. At Rosh HaNikra there are natural grottoes that were carved out by the waves of the mediterranean, and are simply stunning. In order to get to the grottoes we took a cable car, the "shortest and steepest cable car in the world." It was really a beautiful day, we were able to see Haifa from the lookout. Wednesday night was Yom Hastudentim (student day), an all night festival with live music until sunrise. Idan Reichel, Alma Zohar, and Macy Grey all performed. The whole of downtown was open all night, it was really great! If that wasn't enough, thursday was Yom Yerushaliym (Jerusalem Day) and there were tens of thousands of people dancing in the street. There was a parade of people that walked from downtown, in the new city, to the old city. Everyone was dancing and singing and there were Israeli flags everywhere!

This week is Shavuot. Last year I spent shavuot in the old city, stayed up all night (as is custom),  met my cousin Yaakov at 430 am and walked back to Har Nof to stay by his family. This year my plan is to go to Yeshiva Gush Etzion (in the Green Line) because I have a few friends there, and I think it will be a good new experience. 

As some of you may know, Jews count every day from when we left egypt (Passover) until the day we received the Torah (on Shavuot), this is called "counting the omer." There are 49 days in between, which are seven weeks. Each week represents on of the 7 Midot (character traits), and each day is a different combination of the midot. So day 1 is: Lovingkindness of lovingkindness; whereas day 2 is: Discipline of Lovingkindness and so on. As you may have figured out, there are exactly 49 combinations of the midot. During these 49 days we are meant to work on and purify ourselves, to better ourselves through introspection of how we live our lives and the different parts of our personality. The last few days are the hardest because everything is mixed up and we are about to be "made whole again" when we receive the Torah. This is certainly true for me (although I have not been consciously working on the specific midot everyday) recently I've been in a spiritual and existential funk. I find that I've added on a lot of new things in my life, in terms of religion, and I'm now trying to take a step back and make sure that I'm headed in a direction that I'm ok with. It's also hard because I find that my religious zionism conflicts with my idealistic zionism, and this is a dichotomy that is hard to tackle. I'm not sure I'll ever fully reconcile it, but I need to come to terms with it. 

In any case, In three weeks time I will no longer have a "home" in one place in Israel for a few months, my home will be spread out at friends and family throughout Israel. When I find out more information about the states I will let you know, as I would like to see as many of you guys as possible when I'm back! I'll definitely be visiting NYC, Ithaca, and Charleston. I hope everything is going well! Feel free to drop me a line!!

Yours,

יחיאל