classes, shopping, karyoke

hello all,

   today, was yet another beautiful and blessed day in the holy land of Jerusalem! we are happy to inform that Jenna Bazelon is feeling much better but has decided to spend the day to further rest and fully recover! 

we began bright and early at neve with the enthusiastic, well educated Yocheved Angler, who spoke about tznius (selective revealing of our external selves) and how it ties into self-esteem. through deep discussion, we tried to see what tools people can use to get past the search for external approval and general approval from others. as a class, we came to the conclusion that when one internally knows themselves, the need for external approval diminishes. it is very difficult for a person to live a life of true connection if all one work towards is money, power, success and beauty.  we learned the deeper reasoning of dressing modestly and saw how this can help us with our connection to our environment and the vital appreciation for ourselves.

   next, we were lucky to be taught by Rabbi Kass, who continued to teach about our written texts. he very interestingly pointed out that each of our 613 mitzvot can fall into the categories of our ten commandments. we began talking about the first of the ten commandments, which is believe in Hashem. the conversation got very complex as the question was asked.. "how can something command us to believe."

    Rebbetzin heller introduced the topic of nature and the fact that nothing makes itself and also explained the difference between everything that exists in nature and human beings. we learned that everything in nature, other than human beings, cannot be measured in good or evil. for instance, an animal cannot be evil for killing another because that is part of its animal instincts and the animal knows no better. we, humans, have been blessed with the ability to reason, to speak and to make moral choices.

    our last class of the day, my personal favorite (and that's really great because each class is seriously mamash AMAzING), was with Rabbi Katz who spoke to our hearts. His topic today was Baseless hatred (sinat chinam). As much as it is a misfortune, each person at one point dislikes another person and although this person thinks it is justified, the reason for disliking a person is usually not a valid reason at all. An exercise that we have been working on in class is finding the positive traits in our fellow neighbors and not focusing on the negative. this seems easy but it is a process if we would like for this to occur naturally. love is a trained and conditioned emotion that is naturally within our souls.

    after our fulfilling day of learning, our amazing Madricha Kayla took 3 of us girls to meah shaarim, the most observant neighborhood in Jerusalem. Sadly, Sydnee, Jenna and Bayla were at the apartment not feeling 100 percent but i am excited and confident G-d willing that tomorrow on our blog we can inform everyone of the full recovery of all members of our group. the four of us spent about two hours in a book store where we each came out with valuable purchases :) (no worries parents not valuable as in money) 

     for dinner, Bayla took us to a beautiful and delicious restaurant in the city for yummy soup and salad. 

     After dinner Kayla, Ashley Jenna Bishop and I went to an all girls Karaoke club! it was so much fun but we missed out missing members! hopefully next week we can go as a full group! i hope all is well! greeting from the holy land! 

-Eleanor Ayala Cohen