It's September and I'm still here. Weird.

It's starting to get darker, earlier. Which lends the distinct air of back-to-school. But it gets dark very early here, about 7pm right now. My Dad once taught me about how sunset has something to do with where you are placed in the time zone you're in... sort of (sorry Dad), so Jerusalem must be pretty far East in it's time zone or something - bottom line, it's dark. Early. Which, in my head, equals Autumn. But it's still hot. Which in my head, equals Summer. My head is quite confused. It's also September... and the summer has flown, as it usually does. Only this time the end-of-summer = start of real classes. And back to school jitters. And the whole darkness thing. Not to sound pathetic, but, it makes me a little homesick and slightly nervous about facing the early-dark-getting-winter time here. But I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

I've just had the first few days of real Rabbinical school classes. So far, I'm really enjoying them. I feel like such a nerd. For instance, yesterday morning I was packing my backpack (I used to make fun of grown men and women who carried backpacks, but now I understand just how necessary they are), and realized just how nerdy the contents were. Notably the JPS Hebrew-English Tanach (Tanach is an acronym for Torah, Neviim (Prophets) and Ketuvim (Writings)), the siddur (prayerbook), and my tallit bag... I mean there were other less nerdy things in there, but the combination struck me as uniquely... well... yeshiva boy. Or, well, girl as the case may be.

So now I know a little bit more about my classes, of which there are really only a few right now and at very strange intervals. I started off the day yesterday with Modern Hebrew. As it was the first day of school, and I was moving up to a new class, I was actually really full of first-day jitters. Not the first-day jitters of college, more like the first-day jitters of elementary school. It was weird. I didn't get to sleep until about 3 am the night before, and had already (mentally, mind you) picked out what I was going to wear to school. So, right, Modern Hebrew. The teacher is great, and, she has my favorite Israeli name: Osnat. Brilliant. Immediately after Modern Hebrew we were treated to the wonder that is Biblical Grammar. We learned about consonants, and vowels, and syllables. It was just like preschool, only different b/c the chain-smoking teacher had an unlit cigarette in her hand for the last half of the class. Her name is Sima. She is also tiny, but hysterical. She makes jokes at other people's expenses, which is funny... until it's my turn.

Sima also teaches our Hebrew literature class, which we had today. She's still terrifying/hilarious, but a lot less terrifying in that class. It's like she's a different teacher. I think she enjoys it more, as I only noticed the cigarette (virgina slim, no less) in her hand briefly during that class.

What else... oh... I've got Bible which is quite fascinating. Right now we're reading Genesis 1 and closely reading about 5 verses at a time. That means using this super fancy Biblical Grammar Dictionary, the BDB, and another super fancy Biblical Study book called "The Concordance" (sounds impressive, no?) to look up specific words for their definition and their context - namely where else they appear in Tanach. I translated the first five verses of the Torah last night... for homework. I'm gonna love this gig.

Today we had our "Contextualizing the Zionist Movement" History class with Dr. David Mendelsson - who has a great reputation, and I can see why. He's British, funny, sweet, and an engaging lecturer! We're mostly focusing on the experience of Jewish life in Europe and the things that have led up to the creation of Zionism and the Jewish State. Thursday we have Liturgy - and that about rounds out the curriculum. We've also got an Israel Seminar every Wednesday, but those don't start until after the High Holidays... oh... and a professional forum... and electives... so... yeah I guess there are a lot of classes. Plus community service (I'm going to be volunteering with an organization that helps out families of victims of terror - intense)... the Israel committee... and choir. I guess I need to enjoy this free time. It might be my last for a while!

So that's the first-week-of-school update!

Until next time...