It's all over

Well kind of only four more years.

My first year of rabbinical school is in the bag. And I have to say it was a pretty awesome. I learned a lot about Israel, jewish ancient texts, and I realized that I have some excellent classmates. I will reflect more on my year in a more detailed post ina couple of weeks.


For now I wanted to update you on my whereabouts. After not having enough vacation time during the school year (read with sarcasm). Arielle and I decided to take a mini vacation. Right now we are in Morocco for the next ten days, then a trip to Vienna to meet my older brother and a quick scoot down to Bratislava to see Taryn and Christoph. I know it is as tough life but some one has to do it.

I will try to update during our adventures but for now time to eat some marrakech tangier.

ERBP

Run in with Israeli Police Take 2

Yep you read it correctly... if you remember my blog post from the summer you will remember that I was walking home and got "pulled over" because the police thought I had drugs.

Well I got "pulled over" again. Not for the suspicion of drugs but for drum-roll please....

JAYWALKING!

Yep I got stopped by the Israeli police for jaywalking. Here is the story....

I was walking home from school like I normally do and I started crossing this very small one-way street (when I say very small I mean the crossing could not be more than 10 ft long). All of a sudden, I heard a man starting yelling at me. I knew right away what had happened. The little man was red and that I had crossed the street, I had just jaywalked.

I decided that I would forget all the Hebrew, I knew and act like a dumb American. The police officer started yelling more at me and I just looked at him blankly, telling him that I don't speak any Hebrew. I wasn't the only jaywalking culprit, the police officer also "pulled over" a young orthodox family. The police officer asked us for our IDs in Hebrew, and I continued to act dumb and say I don't understand. He finally said ID to me in English, so I gave it to him.

After the Orthodox family was given a 100 Shekel fine (about 30 dollars), the Police Officer started talking to me. He asked me if I knew what I had done. I said no. He then told me that the little man was red and that I wasn't following the rules of the road. I acted surprised and was profusely apologetic, telling him that in NYC where I come from, everybody just walks across the street.

After our short discussion, he called his supervisor. After a two minute conversation he handed back my ID and in a thick Israeli accent said... "Ethan, be careful."

As I continued to walk away, relieved that I did not get a ticket, I saw the police officer grab 3 more people for jaywalking.

I couldn't believe it was a Jaywalking "speed" trap.

Next time you are in Israel. Make sure to look both ways before cross the street, the drivers are crazy but the jaywalk traps are even crazier.

Peace,

ERBP

PS: I still Jaywalk

Baruch Hashem Jews are Dentists

Yep I had a cavity. It sucked. But I decided to try my hand at some medical tourism and call a dentist in Jerusalem.

Here are some highlights from my dentist appointment.

1. On my dentist's bookshelf he not only had books about dentistry, root-canals, and other fascinating teeth books, but I also noticed that there was a copy of the Torah, the Talmud, and famous Rabbi's interpretations. I wonder what the Torah says about teeth whitening... I might write a rabbinic responsa on that.

2. You might not know this but Israel is known for being on the forefront of technology. Many big time companies including Intel and Google have offices and factories in the Holy Land. My dentist was on the forefront of technology too. There were two flat screen televisions in the exam. One in front mounted on the wall and one on the ceiling for when you were put back in the dental chair. The TVs not only had 100 channels, but they also could show you where your cavity was, where you should be flossing more, and the speed of the drill as it went through your enamel.

3. During my consultation with my dentist prior to my filling, he told me that he could operate on me right then and there. Unfortunately, I told him I had to go back to class and I would reschedule. With a sigh of relief, he explained that would be better for him too as now he could go next door and pray Mincha (the afternoon prayer service). Only in Israel...

Don't forget to floss!

--ERBP

BIG NEWS for KOTEL6!

Kotel6 is the 2nd Best HUC-Year in Israel Blog!!

Check out the award here.

(my grandma is going to be so proud of me-- even though I did just receive an email from her with the subject line... "No blogs lately." the email's body went on to read "still love you though -- love gma")

The award givers did did challenge me to blog more though. So stay tuned because in the upcoming days there will be blogs including....

1. A reflection about Yom-Hashoah (Holocaust rememberence day in Israel)
2. A visit to the dentist in Jerusalem
3. And Another run-in with the the Israeli Police

Catch you all later,

ERBP

As the Matzah Ball Turns

Hope all of you are having a grand Pesach Holiday or just a grand week for my non-Jewish readers. Pesach in the Holy Land has been wonderful. We had a great Seder in Israel (Click here to find out why we do two Seders outside of Israel and just one in Israel, there is more of reason than making it easier on family dynamics). Seder was at Arielle's cousins house in Jerusalem. We started the Seder at 8:00 PM and it lasted until 1:30 AM. Though a marathon, the Seder was very spirited. We read the entire haggadah in Hebrew, and had interesting conversations from why Moses is not mentioned in the Haggadah to how much time is allotted to eat the first piece of Matzah after the blessing (four minutes was the consesus).

Seder was wonderful though I did miss being home and with my family (get points for saying that!). And for those who asked, we still say "Next Year in Jerusalem," though under my breath I did say "same time, same place."

Another really cool experience was walking home from Seder at 1:30 AM, and seeing many other people doing the same thing and saying "chag sameach-- Happy Passover." I did see some stumbling Jews, I'm guessing they are light-weights from those four cups of wine.

So now we are on Passover vacation... It has been great hanging out with Arielle's mom in Jerusalem, spent the past couple of days exploring J'lem (including the biblical zoo, relaxing by the pool, and playing tennis next to the Foreign Minister of Israel-- Avigdor Lieberman) . Tomorrow we are off to Jordan and Southern Israel for four days, with a trip to Petra, Wadi Rum, and Eilat. Update of our adventures will follow!

Hope life is rolling for all of you and those bowels are moving...

Take it easy,

ERBP

HAPPY PASSOVER!!!

Though my streak of blogging seven days in a row came to a halt last night. I still have time to wish you all a Chag Sameach! Wishes for a wonderful Passover where ever you may be reading this blog from.

We are off to Arielle's cousins for Pesach Seder. It has a late start time (and probably a late end time) so we might be ending around around the same time. I'll make sure to blog up our Seder festivities, so stay tuned.

Chag Sameach,

ERBP

A Haiku for Day 4

Fun time with the Druze

I will show you tomorrow

Two days to Seder.

A short blog for tonight as we just got back from up North. But pictures and descriptions of our experiences tomorrow. (Though I think this still counts for blogging 4 times in 4 days.... I'm rocking at this... so you should comment on my blog too!).

Much love,

ERBP