Another day has passed in the holy land of Israel. Of course we had amazing classes with Rabbi Marcus, Rabbi Greenfield, and Rabbi Katz. We moved on to the letter Bet, which is the letter of connection, relationship, and "twoness." Connections and relationships can either be positive or negative. A majority of "twoness" in the Torah is disconnected because we need to overcome those struggles and challenges to connect back to G-d. Another interesting fact about the Torah is that G-d changed systems when explaining the creation of the universe. He started out with using day one and then switched to using second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth for the rest of the days. Day one was the only day where the mask of G-d's oneness was so thin that it was still directly accessible. After day one, the mask got thicker since He created the ability for us to disconnect to Him. After being inspired by Rabbi Marcus, we had the pleasure of learning from a new Rabbi. Rabbi Green field focused on the purpose of life and how it is for G-d to have a relationship to us rather than us to have a relationship with Him. This relationship is fostered by the revelation, organization, and structure of the universe. And then last, but not least, was Rabbi Katz. We were going to go over Pirkei Avos (the ethics of our forefathers), but got a little sidetracked. The chapters of Pirkei Avos involve the ultimate goal of Jewish self-development, which is that your reflex itself is an extension of what is good in the best possible way. It provides no embarrassment or discomfort to the person on the receiving end and should be given with sensitivity. Once we filled our brains with some knowledge, we figured it was time to fill our stomachs with food.
After eating some delicious pasta salad Bayla made for us, we headed to Yad Vashem. I had not been to a Holocaust museum or memorial in a long time, so I was very excited to take a tour. Even though the tour was rushed, I felt immense feelings that I have never dealt with before. I had never looked at the victims of the Holocaust as people who had lives like we have before. That is mostly because I did not know how my own Pop lived before the Holocaust began. Also, there was a point in the tour where we were standing on part of the road from the Warsaw Ghetto, where my Pop lived before he was sent to Auschwitz. If they were able to pass down Judaism and keep it alive during those times, there is no reason why we should not be doing that today.
Of course the last couple events we had involved food. We went to a lovely woman's house to bake some challah. Six braided challah! It was not that difficult and they all turned out delicious. This was before dinner though. Bayla made us tofu stir fry before we all passed out. It has been a long couple of days, but at least Shabbos starts tomorrow!
Love and miss all of you!
<3 Jenna Bishop
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