Perolman in the Promised Land

Put me on hold/ The Last Post

2006-06-07T18:29:00.000+03:00

I am supposed to finish packing for camp today.
I'm supposed to do all my laundry.
I'm supposed to finish packing and labeling the "New York" boxes, move them back into my room and let my parents have half their bedroom back.
I'm supposed to do all of this by 6:30pm so I can go with my dad to the Federation's annual dinner to honor 10 amazing Jewish women.
Am I doing any of this? Nope. I'm sitting at my computer, generally avoiding anything "real" I'm supposed to be doing. I'm planning on going to Starbucks in a few to get an iced coffee and then to the mall to return a bracelet I bought. Thats doing real stuff, right?

For those who are still reading, and others who care, this will be the last Promised Land post for a while. Maybe forever, I'm not sure.

I'll be at camp for the summer and will go almost immediately to New York to start my "A" year. Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

So make yourself a note to check back with us in early September and there will be an update. Either you'll be directed to a new site, or you'll just learn that Promised Land has moved on to that cyberspace in the sky.

Either way, thanks for being such loyal readers if you read- it made doing this so much more fun.

And like the song says, "I"ll see you in September..."

Love to everyone reading-

Home? Sweet, Home?

2006-06-03T02:17:00.000+03:00

Today my mom told me that I should update my blog in case people were still reading.

So for everyone reading: I'm alive, back in the states, slowly adjusting to life here.

Jet lag is over, shopping and American coffee drinking has begun, the endless social events and meals are continuing. Have new contacts, a cute new haircut and a supercool red cell phone.

Tomorrow I'm going up to see three of my best friends at the Appel Farm Folk Festival. I'll stay over in NJ and see Jamie before coming back to Maryland to have dinner with Adrienne.

One week ago I was davening under the stars in what I thought was my home.

Tonight I'll be davening under different stars and wishing I was back there.

Bittersweet? Liminal? Just plain hard. Yep.

SPELLING BEE!

2006-05-25T18:40:00.000+03:00

Let's do some spelling, shall we?

D-O-N-E. Thats what I am today!

R. Thats the letter I gained after this very long year.

T-W-E-N-T-Y P-E-R-C-E-N-T. How much of my Rabbinic Education I've completed.

K-A-T-H-A-R-I-N-E M-A-C-P-H-E-E. Who I want to win American Idol.

B-E-E-R A-N-D H-O-O-K-A-H. What I'm going to be enjoying tonight.

S-H-O-P-P-I-N-G. What I am going to do tomorrow.

S-H-A-B-B-A-T. My last one tomorrow.

P-A-C-K-I-N-G. What I MUST start doing ASAP.

B-I-T-T-E-R-S-W-E-E-T. What these past few days have been.

T-E-L A-V-I-V--F-R-A-N-K-F-U-R-T-- P-H-I-L-A-D-E-L-P-H-I-A. My route home.

L-E-H-I-T-R-A-O-T. Don't worry, we'll see each other again soon.

More End of the Year Pics

2006-05-21T22:16:00.000+03:00

Tonight my class, kitah gimmel traveled out of Jerusalem to eat dinner at the home of our [amazing] Hebrew teacher, Zohara. She lives in a *beautiful* house with her husband and three kids. Here is my class with Zohara [from R->L: Micol, Lauren, Zohara, Me, Luisa, Claire, Rollin, Josh, Elana, Shira (Zohara's daughter), Sarah, Heather).

Here I am with Zohara, the master [mistress?] of all things Hebrew.
Today: saw Mindy, did last-minute shopping, studied, dinner at Zohara's
Tomorrow: lunch with Mindy, studying with Julia
Tuesday: Biblical Grammar exam, studying/packing
Wednesday: Bible Exam, Liturgy Exam, studying/packing
Thursday: Hazal Exam, celebrating [on being done with my first year and having my R!]
Friday: clean and pack, pack and clean, goodbyes, last Shabbat...get on a plane...

Let the procrastination begin! Love to everyone still reading!

End-Of-The-Year

2006-05-19T15:07:00.000+03:00

The First Year class in Jerusalem 2005-6. I'm on the bottom right, second from the end.

The entire First year, Fourth year, Israeli Students, Staff and Faculty of HUC Jerusalem. Again, I'm on the bottom right.

End of the year pictures...end of the year picnics, end of the year Shabbat...must be the end of the year.

Finally. Finally?

2006-05-18T17:23:00.000+03:00

Today is the last day of school. The last day of my first year of rabbinical school. woah.

1 paper. 4 finals. 8 days.

Time to go party it up in Tel Aviv before the busy weekend of studying/socializing.

Love to all...feel free to leave encouragement/love/support.

I'm really excited to see these people

2006-05-15T09:00:00.000+03:00

Here they are at a Family Fraternity Event (I'm not sure what that means, beer pong and bagels?)

12 days...

To do before then:
Hebrew final, Part II (May 16)
Israel Seminar Paper (May 23)
Biblical Grammar Final (May 23)
Bible Final (May 24)
Liturgy Final (May 24)
Rabbinic Literature Final (May 25)

Pack boxes to be shipped (May 19)
Pack suitcases (everyday)

Today is Founder's Day (again, I don't know what that means) and we're having a closing ceremony and mandatory BBQ [Q: what kind of school has mandatory meals? A: A jewish one]

Friday night is our last Kabbalat Shabbat and dinner as a first year class. After that, people will be leaving as soon as their finals are over, some as early as Tuesday of next week, some are staying all summer, and still others leaving somewhere in the middle. I leave on May 27th and will be returning to the East Coast around 2pm that day.

At home I'll be celebrating all the holidays and birthdays I've missed and also my brother's graduation from Towson [yay dave!] I'll also be attempting to see most of my friends in the area and family before going to camp on June 11.

Hopefully before this experience is over I'll make some time to reflect on this year, this blog and other random things I like to talk about here. Topics may include: how many mulletts I've worn this year, obsessive internet tv watching, why i love the color pink and the hebrew root kuf, resh, nun. Stay tuned.

You look good for 58

2006-05-04T17:14:00.000+03:00

Yesterday was Israel's 58th Birthday. Starting Tuesday night, this country was CRAAAZY complete with Israeli flags EVERYWHERE, kids in the streets with cans of silly string and shaving cream, the LOUDEST music I've ever heard and tons of Jews from all over the world partying it up in J-town.

This is Ben Yehudah Street at the begining of the night- you can see that there are lots of people in the distance- the ENTIRE street was full of people singing and dancing and drinking, of course.

This is on Yom Haazmaut at the softball game/BBQ that we had at Kraft Family Field. From L-R: Lev, Mel, Shayna, Me, Rena and Sandi. I "womaned" the grills with Rachael and cooked lots of meat...most of which I don't think I'll ever eat again. The BBQ was quite possibly the most fun I've had in a while- good food, great friends, sunshine, Israel etc.

I am SO happy that today is Thursday aka last day of the week aka two more weeks and then finals and then I'm outta here! No really, it's bittersweet.

But between then and now I have about a hundred social events and a hundred things to do including: [actually copied from my real "to-do" list]: finish writing my Bible paper, start packing my shipping boxes, buying lots of stuff that I have wanted all year, and start packing one of these days.

But like the weeks before I came here...I'll leave the packing and saying goodbyes for later- I'm too busy enjoying my sof ha'shavua. Let the weekend begin- love to all who are still reading!

Life Catch Up

2006-05-01T22:05:00.000+03:00

Go ahead. Vote me worst blogger ever. It's ok. I never update, and when I do, I give general updates without pictures. No wonder you're reading Pink Is The New Blog instead.

I actually have lots of say about lots of things here so I'm going to break up the thoughts into some sections. Can you tell I've been writing a lot of papers lately?

School: 12 days to go. 2 papers written, 2 more to write. 5 finals to study for a take. I really can't believe that I'm about to be 1/5 of a Rabbi. Give me an R!

Professional Life: I was chosen as #22 out of 23 students for our New York High Holy Day pulpit lottery (yes, we actually have one of those.) Sad news for Karen. I'm working on finding a myself a HHD pulpit- any ideas?

I have gotten myself a teaching job on the Upper West Side teaching 4th grade 2 afternoons a week. I'm hoping to add another afternoon/evening and some tutoring/songleading to help with the income. Anyone know of a good place to get buisness cards printed? I already looked at vistaprints.

Apparently people think I can play guitar since on Saturday night at our Artists4Darfur benefit, I led Havdallah, accompianied a cantorial student and performed. Dar Williams, I hope I made you proud. Play the greed, dar, play the greed.

Not at the March, but we still did something to support Darfur relief. We had a program at school, Artists4Darfur planned by Jill, Owen and Julia- we raised $1000 and had activism-themed performances and watched two films put out by the SaveDarfur Coalition. Despite the small turnout, I was really proud of us--

In the last two days, I have received seven social invitations- every Shabbat between now and going home is booked. Good to know I have friends. I can't believe everyone isn't coming back to New York. Gulp.

And finally...some pictures to prove to you that I'm not dead, chas v'shalom. They're both from our pre-Pesach tiyul to the desert. I'm playing guitar and hanging out with my roomies-Rena, Mel and Shayna. update: yeah, blogger isn't behaving right now. we'll try pictures again tomorrow.

More to come on the Israel High Holy Days, wrapping up here, and how you can find me once I stop writing on this [gassssssssssssp!] Sorry to say it, but I'm not sure the blogging will continue after Israel. We'll see. More to come...check back later.

One Month Left

2006-04-26T07:43:00.000+03:00

Gulp. I seriously cannot believe it.

In the next month I will:
-write 3 more papers (History, Israel Seminar, Bible)
-take 5 exams (Liturgy, Hazal, Bible, Hebrew, Grammar)
-have 4 more Shabbats here
-try to live it up as much as I can for as long as I can.
-say goodbye to my life here in Jerusalem and many of my friends who won't be coming to New York.
-pack up my life into suitcases to take back to Maryland.

So there. Now it's on record, I can't take it back

What to do? Have the best month here. Do it all. Stop saying I'm going to do things and just do them.

May/June 26th '05- Maryland
July 26th '05 -J'lem
April 26th- J'lem
May 26th- Maryland
June/July 26th- Camp
August 26th- NY.

Time flies when you're having a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

The End of Matza Season

2006-04-19T19:24:00.000+03:00

I love vacation. LOOOOOVE. L-O-V-E.

Mostly because I haven't had to do anything. I've slept in every day except for one when I got up at 9:30am. I've seen 3am for three mornings in a row.

I've watched 18 episodes of the second season of Grey's Anatomy. [I love this show- I miss American TV!]

I've listened to 8 L Word podcasts.

I've eaten easily a whole box of matza by myself as well as 2 passover chocolate cakes. My digestive system HATES me right now. Probably because I've eaten no salad or fruit in the last 7 days.

In the last two days I've begun to get some work done. I've written 4 pages of the Liturgy paper that I will finish tomorrow. I'll start Bible on Friday.

Passover is over here and I am super-excited to get some chametz in this city.
CHAG SAMEACH CHAMETZ Ya'll!

See Karen's Sad Face :(

2006-04-14T15:30:00.000+03:00

Ali left this morning. You know that someone's a life-long, amazing, best friend when you haven't seen them for 10 months and then they come for three days and suddenly you can't remember life without them. Plus, theres nothing like seeing someone whose known you longer than 9 months. She and I really had an amazing time. Lots of snuggling. Lots of Center Stage. Lots of laughing.

So yeah.

I finally got to sleep in today. It was fabulous. Beyond fabulous.

And now, it's Shabbat. I'm going to Shira Chadasha tonight after a 3-month hiatus. With the influx of Pesach tourists, I hope I can even get a seat. Then dinner with Rena and Michael's families. I'm making my guacamole.

Tomorrow I MUST [repeat MUST] begin my tons of work that I told myself I was going to do during break. In a week and a day I'll be back at school and I'll be kicking myself for being lazy during vacation. I think I'm going to try and tackle Biblical Grammar and save the paper writing for Sunday.

And thought some may argue with me, I LOVE PESACH FOOD. Matza brei, matza with cream cheese and jelly, matza with chooclate spread, matza with egg salad. Matza in chiken soup. It's all wonderful. Ask me again in 6 days how I feel, ok?

Time for guac-making and lazy friday-enjoying. Oh yeah, and some homework.

Lehit, ya'll.

Passover in Israel in Pictures

2006-04-13T20:13:00.000+03:00

The Kotel all empty and clean in preparation for the Chag.
Lots of Chasidish guys burning chametz near the Kotel. I though there was a fire or something. It made the Old City smell kind of gross. What's cool about this is that I had never actiually seen people "burning" their chametz before.
This is a sign when you walk into the Jewish Quarter of the Old City reminding everyone not to bring their chametz [levened bread products] into the city. Ali and I ended up eating latkas and salad at a cafe b/c there was no bread. Turned out that only made us want bread so much more. So we went home and before the seder ate pita and hummus, tortilini and chocolate with peanut butter. Then we felt really sick.
A great sign welcoming Pesach and visiters to the Old City. Actually, this sign is all over the city. What's funny is that the pictures is of Jerusalem is made out of Matzah. Ha ha. [sorry, bad Jewish/Rabbi humor]

More pictures from Ali's visit and a post on my first Pesach as an Israeli. It was awesome. To those celebrating second seder/day in the states- Chag Sameach V'Kasher!

Negev Pics

2006-04-11T19:57:00.000+03:00

share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AaNWTlq2bOXmA

Check 'em out!

Not so much sleep but whatever...

2006-04-11T18:27:00.000+03:00

Thursday morning we left on our final tiyul, this time to the desert. I'll recap the highlights since most of the four days were spent relaxing and enjoying the beautiful scenery with my friends. Thursday after visiting Miztpe Ramon we drove to Kibbutz Yahel (the first Reform kibbutz) and picked up camping gear. We drove an hour south into Eilat and camped near the Israel/Egypt border.

I thought the camping was great, but some of my classmates didn't agree so much. Especially after they told us there would be a bathroom and there wasn't. Ashkenazi stomachs + every other girl on her period = need for bathrooms. Some people went back to the kibbutz to sleep, others stayed at the campsite. I ate dinner, smoked hookah and drank wine with Sandi, Mel, Rena and Shayna before getting some shut eye beneath the stars. I can't remember the time I've seen stars that bright and beautiful.

Friday we woke up, packed up the campsite, went hiking for about 5 hours and then went back to Yahel for Shabbat. I stayed with Rena, Mel and Shayna who turned out to be *fabulous* roommates and provided for much late-night entertainment. Plus, we had 5 episodes of L Word - Season 3 to start watching. I'm so hooked. [I've only watched 1-5 so please don't spoil the other espisodes- especially what happens with Dana...I have two weeks of waiting until the next episode!]

Shabbat was wonderfully restful- I helped lead tefilot in the morning and took and long shluff in the afternoon. I also led Havdallah with Emily Dunn. After dinner we watched more L Word and then joined in the fun at the group kareokee event. My standard piece, "Papa Don't Preach," wasn't available so I sang "Always be my Baby" by Mariah Carey. It was a really fun night [I mean, who wouldn't want to sing kareokee with Paul Liptz, Moshe and Gingi?!]

Sunday we woke up and visited Kibbutz Lotan before getting back to J'lem around 6pm.

Sunday night I met up with Rena, Deb and Rena's parents who are in town for Pesach. We had dinner at Foccacia Bar- [yummy bread before we can't eat it anymore] and I got home late in order to unpack, gather my laundry and clean my room.

Monday I met Rena early to have breakfast with her parents before getting Asher and getting in the car for a little day trip. We went to Rosh Pina, a little town about 3 hours north of Jerusalem. We shopped a little and had a late lunch at Shokolateh, a *fabulous* chocolate-oriented restaurant. Right before dessert we ran into Yael and Simon, the daughter and son-in-law of Rena's mom's friend's sister [confused? don't worry- i am too!] who are in town from London for the seder that we'll all be at on Wednesday night. We left Rosh Pina and made it back in time for me to go to dinner with my friend Robyn and SEVEN of her family members that are visiting. After dinner I rushed home for a quick shower and job interview with a religious school in New York. Assuming my references check out, I'll have a 2-3 day/a week job at a wonderful shul in the city. Names and details to come once it's official. After the interview and on cloud 9, Rena and I went out to celebrate Shayna's 27th birthday with Mel and Lev who were leaving at 2:30 am for Bellarus.

Cut to Today- Tuesday.
I got up at 4:30 am to get in the car to get to Ben-Gurion by 5:30 where my very best friend ALISON RACHEL was waiting for me there! Yay! I haven't seen Ali since July, before I left for Israel. She's on the last leg of her spring break trip (Budapest, Prague, Israel) before heading back to Madrid for the rest of her semester abroad. We took a quick morning nap, met Rachel for coffee, shopped til we dropped (literally) and did the Passover food shopping thing.

Then I aluminum foiled my entire kitchen in preparation for Pesach. I made chicken soup. I moved the chametz stuff into the oven room. I got a new toothbrush. Pesach is here whether I like it or not. Don't worry, I like it.

Plan for the rest of Ali's visit:
-Old City/Kotel
-Seder
-Day trip to Masada, Dead Sea and Ein Geddi.

Sleep? It's for the weak. Or, I'll start catching up soon. Pictures from the tiyul to come tonight.

Pre-Tiyul Post

2006-04-05T22:34:00.000+03:00

So what's more fun than missing school for a week, then having a 4-day week and then having a 4-day tiyul?

Oh yes, having 10 days off from day for Pesach Break after that. Can you see my smile from where you're sitting? It's HUGE! No school until April 23rd! Wahooooooooo!

I'm about done packing for our Negev tityul where we'll visit Mitzpe Ramon, S'de Boker, Eilat, Kibbutz Yahel, sleep under the stars, hike, snorkel and enjoy a lazy, chill Shabbat. I wanna get my brother one of those Kibbutz Yahel shirts that we all got when we were here on our NFTY trips.

I'm rooming with Mel, Shayna and Rena which should prove for an enjoyable time. AND, Rena was able to download the first five episodes of L Word. Sooo excited. I bought wine and cookies. Yes, its going to be a great weekend.

I'm also looking forward to having some time with my BFFAE, Miss Alison Rachel Petok who is coming on TUESDAY! [yay yay yay yay yay!] I haven't seen her since June. There is much catching up to be done. We'll do the Pesach thing, the shopping thing, the laying-in-bed-watching-center-stage-thing and the going to Masada/Dead Sea thing.

After that It'll be time to get down to work- make-up Hebrew work, a Bible paper, biblical grammar, a liturgy paper and research on my Kadima paper. I know it doesn't sound like so much fun, but it'll be really nice when all this work is done at the end of break and I just have to worry about finals. [Finals start in about 7 weeks if you can believe it.] [I'm going/coming home in 54 days. No I can't believe it either.]

For those who are curious about my post-biking recovery, I'll just say that most of the rashes have cleared up nicely. There is almost no pain in my knees. I even went to the gym today. I feel great and am super excited for the hiking, swimming and just being in the 90-degree desert weather!

Tiyul and biking pictures to come...Chag Sameach everyone...

Day 5: The "Aliyah" Day

2006-03-31T08:35:00.000+03:00

It's 7:34am the day after the ride. I'm awake because I went to bed at 9pm. I went to bed at 9pm because I was so physically exhausted that I was starting to get grumpy and whiney. So I went to bed. And now its 7:34 and I'm awake. Fabulous.

What hurts:
-my calves
-my stupid sunburned lips
-everything below my bellybutton
-my neck and shoulders
-my nose (stuffy)
-my throat (sore)
-my ears (just hurts)

What I need to do today:
-take my laundry in
-get a massage (12:15)
-get my haircut (1:30)
-finish writing my thank you notes and buy stamps
-get all the work I missed
-and on and on

How am I feeling NOT physically?
-exhilarated
-"the highest high I'll ever need" -me after going down the biggest hill
-SO SO SO proud of myself
-kind of amazed that I did it all. Some walking. NO riding the bus. Mostly biking. I rode myself all over Israel and most of the time I had a smile on my face.
-like I met some really amazing people-- from my classmates who I bonded with on a totally new level, to my classmates who I didn't really know before, to my future colleagues to the men and women who inspired me, motivated me and kept me going when the going got tough.
-my muscles ache, but I feel really really good physically and know that I'll feel even better physically when I'm recovered a bit.
-I climbed up that road in that picture. Yes, that tiny one in the distance. I still can't believe it.

The last day [bum bum bum bum BUM-- appropriate theme music]
So I had heard over and over and over again how tough the last day was going to be. How the climb into Jerusalem was going to be like anything I had ever done before. Blah blah blah. After Thursday afternoon I was pretty sure that I could handle anything they put before me. Ok, that works...until I saw the climb. It was a very very long hill...that just kept going and going and going. It didn't want to end. I rode most of the way with Neil and Claire who were *amazing* biking buddies. Finally, after the "main" climb, we had to ride up another big hill that almost seemed like it was going to be the end of me. Finally (after about 4 1/2 hours of riding) we got to Mivaseret Zion, the congregation outside of Jerusalem where we had lunch and heard about their community. One of our riders, Michael is a member there and told us all about it including their amazing Rabbi Mya who won a Supreme Court case to buy land from the government to build a building. Now their building (which I visited earlier in the semester) is built, but isn't finished yet.

We had lunch and then got back on the road so we would arrive at HUC exactly at 3:30 for the welcoming and closing ceremony. We had a police escort all the way into town and even though the final hour was tough and my body was hurting including my knees (which was a common problem since Claire and Rachael already had taped knees) I kept going-- adrenalin or just plain excitement- I don't know which. And then suddenly, we were done. We came through the tunnel and then were on Betzalel, then King George, then Hillel then Yaffo then King David and then 13 King David Street. Home. We ended up being a few minutes early so we got to hang out and hug each other before cutting the ribbon and running into the courtyard. Rachel and Bekah were playing "Heveinu Shalom Alecheim" and "Simin Tov U'Mazel Tov" and everyone was singing. From there it was kind of a blur but at one point all the HUC riders who had been away from their significant others for the week were kissing- I hope someone got a picture of it. It was priceless. Everyone also got roses and flags from the kids at the gan who were also waiting for us.

Anyway, after all the hugging we sat down for the closing ceremony and everyone who spoke on the first day spoke today. Michael Marmur told jewish biking jokes (the "chain" of tradition," and that the month of Nissan was named after a Japanese car company!). We got all received certificates and had our names called so people could cheer for us. Then there was cake (with a biker on it) and then a group picture up at Mercaz Shimshon. Then I got my stuff and went home where I laid on my bed for about an hour before moving again.

That's my biking story and I'm sticking to it. Expect more post-ride reflections and pictures to come very soon. Rumor has it that we'll be getting a CD with 1000 pictures on it from the ride and then I can pick and choose the ones I want to put up.

Thanks to everyone who has supported me through this entire adventure! Very soon I'll have a fundraising total and I'll be sure to post that right away. For now, it's 8:38 and I'm gonna have some breakfast and get ready for my recovery day. Happy Friday to all!

Day 4: The "Long" Day

2006-03-30T20:32:00.000+02:00

This is from yesterday, but we didn't have internet at the kibbutz, so I'll post it as if it were yesterday. Enjoy! And pictures will be up in a couple days-

Today was day 4. After 2 days of “easier” riding, we had heard that today was finally going to hard. We started off with some easy riding along the highway and moved into some off road riding. We took a few short breaks and only about an hour for lunch- certainly the longest of any day so far. After lunch we road to Modiin where we met with congregation Yozma- one of the newest Progressive congregations in Israel. One of their board members welcomed us and the schoolchildren in the Gan gave us medals that said “kol haKavod” on them. After the presentation by the guy we had a choice to either bike to Neve Shalom, or to ride in the truck. I heard it was hills with a steep uphill at the end. Yeah…that’s right…it was the hardest thing I have ever ridden- today and ever. It was one hill after another with almost no rest between them. I rode with Oded and Rachel C., who were great supports especially after my heavy breathing and slight hysteria caught up with me. Oded said I sounded like I was giving birth. Ouch. I told him that, similarly to giving birth, I was at the end, and I wanted it to be over. That’s why I was making those noises.

Now we’re at Neve Shalom for the night, our last night before the last day-- the hardest day, the day we’ve all heard about and dreaded. The ascent back into Jerusalem. All day we had aliyah jokes-- “its not called aliyah for nothing!” and “we’ll show them what it means to make aliyah.” And on and on. I also think that something started rubbing today during the afternoon which is making it hard to sit, stand, walk etc. Not such a fun feeling. But, depite the very long day and the killer hills, I actually feel ok. I think the two days of “recovery” riding really helped prepare my body for what we did today. And what we’re going to do tomorrow. I seriously can’t believe that tomorrow is the last day of the ride…after so many months of prep…its going to be over. Everyone is already talking about next year. Next year? How about next week- or next month when I will complete my first year of Rabbinical school. Or the month after that when I go to camp. Or two months after that when I move to NY…and here I go again. Time to focus.

Tomorrow is the last day of the ride when we’ll ascend into Jerusalem via Mevaseret Tzion and will complete our ride at 13 King David Street where, hopefully, lots of my classmates and friends will be waiting for us. Then, I want to go home where I want to take a very hot shower and get an amazing night of sleep.

At one point Howie said to Josh that he couldn’t believe that he had thought about not doing ride. Translation: He was really glad that he had decided to do the ride. And I am too. I am feeling really good about my decision to come on the ride and to ride all four days so far (and I’m thinking day 5 is gonna also be a 100% riding kinda day.) Time to shower, have some dinner and get to sleep in preparation for day 5. Laila laila!

Day 3: The "Easy" Day

2006-03-28T22:14:00.000+02:00

GO TEAM HUC!

I am writing to you from Kibbutz Shefayim near Neyanya. It's been a exciting and busy three days. Since it's 10:15pm and we have to get up at 6am, this post will be short and hopefully they'll be time for more later.

First of all, this is not easy. Even today, on our "easy" day, we still ride about 65 kilometes (39 miles) over about 9 hours. (Sunday and Monday we did about 75 km- 50 miles) The days are long. Wake up at 6am. Breakfast at 6:30. Services at 7:15. Start biking around 8am. Breaks at 9:30, 10:30, 11:30, 12:30. Lunch at 1:30. Riding at 2:30. Breaks at 3:30, 4:30. Finish around 5:30 more or less (actually the entire schedule is more or less since the first day we had lunch at 3pm and today we had lunch at 12:30. oh well). Whenever they say we're going to be there, we usually arrive about 45 minutes after that.

I've been going to bed around 9:30 and getting about 8 1/2 hours of sleep. This, plus tons of food and water is what has gotten me through the days. Oh, and sunscreen- except yesterday I forgot my lips and now they're a little burned :(

Today, while attempting a little water stunt, I fell into a pool of water-- causing everything I was wearing to be soaking wet including my *cell phone* which was in my bike bag. It's curently drying with the hopes that it will work again soon. My shoes, shorts and biking jersey are also drying in my room.

Tomorrow and Thursday are supposed to be hard days as we begin to ascend back into Jerusalem. The longest hill will be about 750 meters with several 400 meter hills along the way. Woah.

Sorry to those who have written that I haven't gotten back to yet- I must must get to sleep and let my advil kick in so I have the strength to do it again tomorrow!

Love to all and thanks to everyone who has supported me thus far! Love to everyone!

PRE-RIDE EVERYTHING

2006-03-24T15:07:00.001+02:00

For 7 months I have been planning, training, working out, writing letters, making phone calls, entering information onto spreadsheets, going to meetings and talking about the

[insert appropriate pre-ride sound effects here]

RIDE 4 REFORM [wahooooo!]

The ride starts this Sunday, March 26th and I will return on Thursday, March 30th. I'll ride 220 miles through some of the most beautiful parts of Israel. I'll be sore, tired and hopefully, very very proud of myself.

Personally, I've raised $3000 [thats what you get when you send out 80 fundraising letters!] for the World Union for Progressive Judaism. The HUC team has raised about $11,000. I don't know what the entire ride has raised, but I can only imagine that its a big number.

There are ten of us: Ross, Matt, Howie, Neil, Oded, Josh, Claire, Jean, Rachael and myself. We represent 3 classes of future Rabbis and Cantors, HUC in New York, Los Angeles, Cincinatti and Jerusalem and a variety of ages (some of us just graduated college, some of us have children about to enter college).

How to keep up with me on the ride:

First, check out the riding4reform blog:

Second, check out the riding4reform website:

I am bringing my camera and computer, but I don't know what kind of internet I'll have. Hopefully I will be able to post every day, both on the r4r blog and my own-- feel free to leave comments on either blog so I know that you're reading.

How am I feeling?

I'm feeling good. I'm in the best shape that I can remember, I think, and I know that my body is physically ready to handle thing. However, one's physical abilities are often linked with mental focus and self confidence. Mentally I am feeling kind of scared and nervous about what I'm about to take on. I'm excited to meet the other riders and to see what all of our time and money is going to. I'm excited and proud to be doing something for the IMPJ-- a cause that I really support.

I love the feeling of riding and being so awed by the nature- the mountains, the green, the trees-- all of it. Riding my bike in Israel makes me fall in love all over again with this land, and in turn makes me fall in love with what I want to do with my life. I'm really looking forward to the stillness of the mornings and the sense of anticipation that I know I'll feel.

I know that I'm going to be sore, and that I'll hurt here and there. But I'm prepared with my bike shorts, comfy socks, special food bandaids, lots of ibprofin and my cool new bike helmet. So even if I'm super sore, I'll still look good.

Here's a pic from one of my first days of riding. Check back for pictures from my week of riding to come!

Thank you thank you to everyone who contibuted to this cause and helped me prepare- I am in debt to you. Feel free to comment and email during the week! Here I go!

bike? check. helmet? check. riding gloves? check. padded-butt riding shorts? check. tons of snacks? check. books, homework and knitting for the evenings? check. feeling of Oh my G-d, I can't believe its really here and I'm about to do this? check. i think i'm set.

Week Update

2006-03-24T14:07:00.000+02:00

This week was really busy- I'm not sure why exactly, but it seemed like every night was later than the next. A quick recep:

Sunday: class, voice lesson, dinner and NY Orientation with Rabbi Aaron Panken, the Dean of the NY Campus. Totally overwhelming with info on classes, working, living in NY (and paying for it!), finding an apartment, whicih neighborhoods to live in, financial aid and health insurance. Yep, it was pretty overwhelming. I sort of can't really believe that I am actually moving to New York next year.

Monday: Class, Reflection Groups, dinner with Jill.

Tuesday: Class, gym, choir.

Wednesday: Israel seminar all day, a visit from Shira Z., my old youthgrouper and friend.

Thursday: class, voice lesson, meeting up with Shira and her family, lunch with Rena, food shopping, cooking for Mexican night, Mexican night with Mel and friends followed by the L Word Season 2 finale. [Thank G-d Tina finally had the baby and she and Bette are back together], drinks on Rivkin, sleep.

Today: I took my bike to school in preparation for the Ride (more to come!), went to the bank, had breakfast with Rachel, cooked tofu and vegegtables for Shabbat dinner and am now enjoying some SATC and a quiet apartment.

Shabbat is also going to be busy: tonight I'm going to HUC to see my 4th yr. friends Howie and Jen lead services and drash. I'm having dinner at Ross and Rachael's wit the other HUC riders. Tomorrow I'm going back to HUC to hear Edie's sermon and then to have lunch at her house. Post- Shabbat I'll be packing for the ride and getting a *very* good night's sleep

I am going to try and post these Purim pictures from last week AGAIN. Let's see if it works this time. [15 minutes later] Doesn't look like its going to work. Oh well.

A pre-ride post and pictures will be up next. Love to all!

Purim Pictures Part Two

2006-03-18T21:34:00.000+02:00

Ok, I just spent an hour trying to post the pictures...so i'm going to post this and try the pictures in a little while. Until then, enjoy!

Ok, Purim, Take Two.

After spending most of Tuesday recovering from Monday night's adventures, I finally got up and dressed in time for Megillah reading at school.

I went as a red-headed Rabbinical student...or just me wearing a red wig (see pictures above)

The Megillah reading was done by our professors...dressed up of course! Eli was a wizzard of some kind, Tamar was wearing a sign that said "Laila Tov Yareach- Good Night Moon" and Naamah was a clown, I think. Rabbi Marmur's impressions of a first year student were especially entertaining.

After the reading, Mel, Sandi, Jill and I went to Joy Express for dinner and met up with Rena before getting some drinks at a bar on Rivlin. There we ran into an entire barful of HUC people...see the picture above of Neil, Claire, Rachael and myself-- Riders4Reform doing some "training."

Following the bar, a bunch of us went back to Shushan for dancing and fun. We left the bar late and woke up on Wednesday morning, er, afternoon. I did some homework, cleaned up the apartment and caught up on emails.

When I woke up on Wednesday, I received an email that the two-day encounter trip I was taking on Thursday and Friday had been cancelled. The trip was into the West Bank to visit with Palestineans in a safe environment and to learn about life on the other side of the "kav hayarok-- the green line" However, after the week's earlier incidents in Jerico, the organizers didn't feel so confident in bringing 45 Jewish tourists into the WB. Truthfully, I was not so sad as I was feeling kind of overwhelmed about schoolwork and some previous committments. The trip is supposed to be rescheduled when things calm down a bit, but I am quickly realizing that I don't have too many free weekends- between the ride, our Negev tiyul, Pesach break and finals.

Shabbat was a little busy-- I helped lead a Shabbaton for college students studying abroad- I led services, did the Torah reading and led Havdallah. I also attended the Bar Mitzvah of my friend Sean this afternoon. Plus, my usual Shabbat nap was moved so I could do history work with Rachel. I said I was going to go to bed early, but I'm not sure thats going to happen anymore.

6 days and counting until the RIDE! YAY! I can't believe it's so soon! Time to finally get to work- Shavuah Tov, Happy Weekend and love to all!

Purim Pictures Part One

2006-03-17T14:58:00.000+02:00

Purim was an all week party here...no seriously, Jerusalemites love to party and a holiday that commands one to "drink until you don't know the difference between Haman and Mordechi" is right up their alley. Or as my friend Mel says, "Ad-DeLow- Yodeah" Until DeLowe knows.

So Monday night, my friend Matt and all of us on the Ride4Reform team had a fundraiser/pre-Purim Party entitled, "Matt gets by with a little help from his friends." Matt has written a bunch of new music this year that he wanted to play for people- so there was a concert, dinner cooked by Rachael, drinks made by Nathaniel, a Purim Shpeal written and performed by a few of us and lots of Matt's friends who performed with him.

The first picture is of the shpeal- Howie is playing a first year and is holding a sign that says "I'm a First Year at HUC- everything is perfect and I trust the process" and I'm leading "faux" services. We got lots of laughs.

Next is me performing-- I played "What do you hear in these sounds?" by Dar Williams-- i love that song. Sean taped the whole show, so soon I will have an MP3 if you want to have a listen.

Next is David Segal as the real Texan inside him.

Finally, Matt and Jen- perhaps the most adorable couple in the world singing Babylon. Can I hear an awwwwww?

After the show, a bunch of us went to Shushan, an appropriately named club off BY street for a little Purim fun. There was drinking, dancing and a whole lot of Purim festivities. Certainly a night to remember.

Part two to come...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

2006-03-14T16:52:00.000+02:00

Happy Birthday to the Dad with the best advice, worst jokes and coolest hair. Hope you have a wonderful day! Love from your favorite daughter~

Pictures- finally

2006-03-12T17:43:00.000+02:00

Here are some some long overdue pictures from The Vagina Monologues- As you see I had some pretty dramatic costume changes! Mel also got some video from "My Short Skirt," but I haven't figured out how to let you see it yet- soon, I hope.

I'm finally home today after my Hazal (Rabbinic Literature) midterm, which was very fair, but very very long- my hand hurt from writing! I also just got my take home Liturgy Midterm and duedates for my Liturgy, Bible and History papers. Luckily, we have two days off for Purim this week and I hope that I can get something done then.

Time to go eat New Deli with Mel. Yumm.