It's been one week

I’ve now completed my first week here at the yeshiva. Thursday afternoon I participated in the Gemilut Hesed (loving kindness) project to do community service in locations around Jerusalem. I had signed up for community gardening, in part to be in the spirit of the Beth Israel garden back home. My group went to the Jerusalem Bird Observatory, which is between the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) and the Supreme Court.

The Jerusalem Bird Observatory is the first wild life preservation area in Israel. The group from the yeshiva learned about the observatory and then spent time picking up trash, cutting out craft projects for a kindergarten group that would be visiting the next day, and watering plants and trees. The plants, trees and spices planted there are specifically selected to attract birds (or bugs the will attract birds) without damaging the existing vegetation. Many of the plants are along their drip arrogation lines, but the water pressure is not high enough to reach all of the plants, so the rest have to be watered by hand. Israel is currently in the fifth year of a drought, so many of the plants that had been planted just two weeks ago were already starting to dry out and not take root from the lack of water.

Friday evening I met up with Rabbi Dobrusin and the rest of the group from Beth Israel. They have been having a fabulous time touring around in Tel Aviv, the Negev, visiting the Bedouin tent, and hiking Masada. We went into the Old City, where had had brief Kabbalat Shabbat services on a balcony overlooking Jerusalem. Next we went down to the Western Wall to experience the ambiance and atmosphere as dozens of minyanim davened Shabbat services. We then went back to the Dan Panorama, the hotel where there are staying during their time in Jerusalem, for a large buffet spread for dinner.

This morning my cell phone alarm (which I had been relying on thus far in my trip) failed to go off. Yet somehow I still awoke early enough to meet up with a handful of people from the Beth Israel group to go on a Tzedakah walk with Danny Siegel at 5:30 in the morning. yup. me. no alarm. 5:30. am.

Danny Siegel is truly an eccentric individual, who has spent his life teaching, writing, and working on tzedakah. We spent the morning walking around the nearly empty streets learning about the people many of the buildings had been named for and hearing stories about Danny’s “Mitzvah Heroes” – ordinary people making the world a better place through their extraordinary acts. When Danny heard that I was in Jerusalem for six weeks he was excited to get together with me again later during my trip.

Afterwards we returned to the Dan Panorama for breakfast (where I ate too much), followed by Shabbat services at various locations. I went to the Italian synagogue, which I visited earlier this week. The services were quite interesting, with a uniquely Italian Nusach (style and melody of the prayer service). While we were there a boy celebrated his Bar Mitzvah, chanting fro parshat Balak. The boy (who looked no more than 8 years old) did a fantastic job, chanting almost all of the parasha. As he came to the end of the sixth aliyah he nearly passed out, looking very pale from exhaustion. He was taken out of the sanctuary for some water as someone finished the Torah reading. He returned just a few minutes later to many congratulatory handshakes and “mazel tovs” from the men in the sanctuary (with much more color returning to his face).

After the service ended, we (the Beth Israel group and I) gathered at the Conservative Yeshiva for an opportunity to study with one of the Rabbis there, followed by Shabbat lunch (where I ate too much).

Shabbat is now over in Israel. The morning brings with it week two of my time at the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem. Shavua Tov!