In other news, life is great!! I have a lot of school work and class time these days, so I've been doing less blogging and more homework. Monday I had a big day of davening, school from 8-6, and the girls' football game! We have a big team and I am not one of the starring players so I didn't play for long, but it was really fun to cheer and run around and I love the team!
On Tuesday, I did homework during the day and then we had an evening program. Rabbi Artsin came to speak with us about God and it BLEW MY MIND! He has a really interesting view of God, and I felt like that's what I've thought all along I just haven't been able to verbalize. Basically, this is the premise: he rejects the Greek notion that God is all powerful (it's a moot point anyway, because can God create something he can't lift? WOW!), all knowing (it would mean that we wouldn't actually have free will), and outside of time and space. He argues that God is a local force, within us, around us, etc. He did a lot of comparing his relationship with God to his relationship with his wife and daughter, about love and creating meaning. He talked about the commandments, and how mitzvah means "connection" in Aramaic, which suits his argument well. It's great to think about the commandment to pray and keep kosher as a means to connection with God. I was just sooooo happy about this talk-I really want to read a book by him!
Wednesday was another long, long day of school. Everything was really interesting though, although once the sun goes down in Israeli Politics and Society, I am a goner. After school, I ditched my scheduled activities and went out to dinner with nine of my girlfriends and Ariella's mom. It was a beautiful evening, and the restaurant was so cute and cozy. It was covered from top to bottom with books and everything was delicious. When I got home, I finished my freshman writing homework (in case you don't check facebook, my freshman writing teacher-a stickler on spelling and homonyms-sent me an email saying I have a week argument in my outline) begrudgingly and went to bed.
Thursday was a glorious day. Freshman writing was funny because it was so pointless so we just goofed off, although I missed Brian's company (he went to Jordan with his mom!). After freshman writing, we peaced outttt of Hebrew U and I began the planning process for THE ADINA ALLEN BIRTHDAY EXTRAVAGANZA!! I went to Elkana (the logistics coordinator for Nativ) to get suggestions for classy bars, since we usually go to mad sketchy places. He recommended a few places, so I went on a walk by myself to scope out the scene. My walk ended up taking me all over Jerusalem, and I wandered in and out of the Russian compound, past an exact replica of a Florentine tower, along the walls of the Old City, through religious neighborhoods, and all different places that I always see from the bus but never actually investigate. It was cool and sunny, and I had my iPod, and I was totally in my element.
When I got home, I napped a little bit and sewed up a muscle shirt for Adam. I was really proud of my handiwork and it looked so good! Everyone had dinner at home and then we went to watch the boys play basketball. It was really rainy and coldish but I was with Emily (she went on Nativ last year and came back to study here and now we are bffls) and we stayed for two exciting games. Then we went back home and got ready for the d-boat!!
The night began with a visit to an ice cream/waffle bar with Adina, Debbie, Rachel, Ariella, and Seffi, and I treated myself to a glass bottle coke that I had been craving. Razie, Max, Jonny, and Jesse joined us afterward and together we went to the bars I had scoped out earlier in the day. The bars hated life though and decided to be only for over 24 year olds; some nicer bars do this to avoid the gap-year customers and the soldiers. So then we were purposeless for a moment, until someone suggested Sideways and we headed there.
Sideways was a good call, because it was off the strip by just enough that there was room for all of us and a significantly lower chance of getting raped or cut by flying glass bottles. Sideways was very hospitable to our birthday girl, and all of Nativ turned out for the celebration! We took over the whole street. It suddenly began pouring and we all huddled under the awnings (some people danced in the streets and I would normally be one of them...but the night was so young and I didn't want to ruin my hair).
From the awnings, we migrated to the bar strip and hung around. I went into a bar to dance for a little while, and that was fun, but the night was already winding down. There were lots of party pictures to be taken, so I made that my job. I was Adina's personal paparazzi because it was her birthday, so I followed her around and made everyone take pretty pics with her. I did a good job.
Today started late-around noon. I had lunch at home, ran around in the rain, put on a slicker, and went to the supermarket across the street to buy snacks for Shabbat. I am going to try to stay more on top of blogging from now on! I know you missed me....
We DID miss you - you SEWED????????
ReplyDeleteJordana, Was that Rabbi Bradley Artzon from CA, Dean of the Ziegler School? If so, I have heard him speak and he is very impressive. The topic is one that always fascinates me, and Jeff and I actually had a discussion about whether G-d is omnipotent when he was in last weekend. I tend to agree with you, although I am not sure that being all knowing necessary precludes free will. The reason I say that is that I am not sure that "all knowing" is necessary a static state, or necessarily implies that what G-d knew at the inception of the world is all there is or that G-d's knowledge can't be impacted by the exercise of man's free will. I would like to hear your thoughts though, because my opinion is constantly evolving.
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