February 5, 2008

9:04 am
About to finish the Navi shiur. So- a lot to talk about: Sunday night-- Adele's wedding. A girl from Shearim got married and many of the people from Shearim went to dance-- we all looked so different! Really good! In school you just-- come. Some people put on make-up, but for the wedding everyone got dressed up. The wedding was really nice-- my first Israeli wedding.

Yesterday, Monday, Feb. 4, about 25 of us went to a few of the kvarot up North-- Rabbi Meir Ba'al HaNess, the Rambam, Rabbi Akiva and the Ramchal, and Amuka. It was incredible. You felt the holiness and spirituality at the kvarot, like it was tangible. Wild. (addition, not in my handwritten journal: I wish I had better words for it, but I don't. It was a spirituality and kedusha, but instead of those being abstract concepts, there was almost a tangible quality about it-- it was in the air, and you could feel it on your skin. I really wish I had proper words for it.) Rabbi Levy came and brought his son Moshe.
--Rabbi Pavlov just told us about a pigua in Dimona-- there were two bombers. The first one blew himself up in a cafe, and one woman was killed and her husband severely injured

12:03 pm
(continuing) There was an MD at his clinic nearby, and after the pigua, he went to treat the wounded, and the first person he found was wearing explosives. So he backed away and called someone, and there was a senior police officer there, and he shot the person 4x, and then the guy wasn't dead, so he shot him again. Really-- hashgacha pratit.

Okay, so back to the kvarot-- We went to Rabbi Meri Ba'al HaNess first, then we drove to to the Rambam's kever, then to Rabbi Akiva and the Ramchal. Rabbi Levy spoke a bit before we went to each kever and told us a bit about each Tzadik. Then we had lunch in Teveriyah, on the boardwalk-- it was great weather-- sun, warm-- by the way, I now understand how you can have all 4 seasons in one day in Israel-- it was winter in the early morning (rainy and cold), spring in the mid-morning (sunny and cool-warm), summer in the afternoon (sunny, very warm), and fall in the evening (cool, crisp). That was a cool experience. Overall the weather was perfect.
Oh, there was a really cool...phenonemon, for lack of a better word. There's a spot in the forest on the way to Amuka where the road angles/slopes down, but if you put the car (vehicle) in neutral, it goes backward-- up the slope. Logically, if the road slopes down and your car is in neutral, the car should go down-- gravity. But on this road, the car goes up. THAT is not normal-- that is supernatural. And wild.
After we got back, I had a yoga class in my apartment; a few people came, and it was good- a good class. As that was going on, the 6th floor was moving up...and that happened all night. Including moving beds. Bracha and Shelly moved one of the beds from downstairs upstairs. The fun part was getting it into the room and moving around the other two beds-- in and out of the room-- including bruises, pokes, and smushed hands. Anyway, sof davar, the beds are in and Bracha and Shelly were up until 5:30 and 4:30 am respectively. Oh, and another girl moved in. So now the apt. has 6 girls' stuff in it-- and there is so much STUFF there and it...looks like moving day.
Well, I have to pack up my stuff today, I'm glad it's a 1/2 day.
Speaking of packing, I'm going to Rita and Dov's tonight! And Sunday I start MDA...and I might not be able to extend my insurance through MDA, which would be a problem because then I won't have Israeli insurance for ~2 weeks...not good. And this pen is dying, so I'm going to end here.