First I have to apologize for not updating in a month, but the lieberman stuff was just too good... Anyway, New Year's in Jerusalem passed without too much excitement. We partied as hard as a bunch of rabbinical students can, and I'd say we had a pretty good time. The highlight of this past month (if I had to say one highlight) was visits by several friends, starting with Mike's family who introduced me to all you can eat sushi at the David Citadel, a meal I would return to with Josh Ladon and Sarah Kader a week later. Speaking of Josh, Josh came and visited for a week, and hopefully you will see a report here by Josh soon (Josh, could you write something for the website?) While Josh was here, I had one of my larger hosting encounters, having Shabbat lunch at my place for over 15 people. My contribution was Joel's world famous tuna salad, and for those of you who've never made 12 cans of tuna at once, I highly suggest it. Dave came down from the Kibbutz and helped with the whole process and then we went bowelling (as they call bowling here). Anyway, we miss you Dave...
While Josh was here, I also had a visit from Sarah Kader who was here from Tucson for a WUJS conference. Sarah has the challenge of being another Joel Simon follower as president of UofA's Hillel, but I think she'll do just fine... The three of us went to the excavations at the southern wall and had a great time. We watched one of the greatest movies ever with some unforgettable scenes and had the all you can eat sushi you've already heard about.
Later that week, Michael and Ella took some time off from their wedding planning (MAZAL TOV MICHAEL AND ELLA!!!) to spend the day with us. Back to the old city we went, and we had a great time. Michael even met Eliyahu Hanavi on the street and had an unforgettable experience...
Then Josh left and I had finals and our final colloquium which were both a lot of fun, and then I spent some time with Zim who was here for the same conference as Josh but he stayed after while Josh came before. After Mark and Rachel Ann left for the states, I had Zim, and we hit the town, the Israel museum, and had one of the best super bowl parties ever, considering it didn't start until 1 in the morning. (Pictures from visits)
So, I was up until 4 in the morning that night, then the next night I went to a Star Wars marathon at the cinemateque that also went until 4, but this time, Jay and Julie picked me up at 420 and we went to the airport to drop off Julie, and Jay and I were going to spend the day in Tel Aviv. Unfortunately, we had forgotten that we would be at Tel Aviv at 5 in the morning on election day, and we found that there wasn't much to do except sit in the rain, so we came back home. I slept while Israel voted, but after dinner in Abu Ghosh, Jay and I watched all the results on TV in hebrew and found that elections in Israel are much more exciting than in the states, as you have to worry about all the coalitions and other things I won't even try to explain here.
I leave in a couple days for London, a last minute trip I'm really excited about. I've never been, and I can't wait for tea with the queen, but I'll save all that for that web site...
Anyway, today was a very sad day for Israel and the world with the Columbia re-entry, and I'm going to get back to the news, but I hope you are all doing well, and I'll write again when I get back from the motherland...
Joel
I got back from England a week and a half ago, and I had an incredible time. Make sure you check out the Joel in London website for all the details! I got back and got right into classes. I'm now in my second semester of Rabbinical School, and it's going great. I really am learning a lot and enjoying the people in my class. Things are intense in Israel right now, and the possibility of war with Iraq is looming, (although the vice president of Iraq said they have no interest or ability to attack Israel if there is a war...) but the morale in Jerusalem is still high, and I'm loving every moment of living here.
Mike and I led the school's Reform Liturgy Workshop service Monday morning with Mike as the Rabbi and I was the Cantor. It was a lot of fun, and we worked really well together. We definitely didn't have a hard time finding meeting times and places...
This week presented many exciting visits from the states. We had a group of second year students here giving us advice on getting ready for next year. Last night we had a dinner with Rabbi Eric Yoffie, the head of the UAHC. He had a lot of interesting ideas, and it was really nice to see him here. That's it from here. Talk to you all soon, (if you e-mail me that is)
Joel