yonkeltron

I lift my eyes to mountains and sky,
Hashem is there in the rocks and in the clouds.
I find your animating force in things all around me,
and I feel holiness in the cosmos I cannot see.
Each atom rejoices in the glory of existance,
The sould of Yerushalayim smiles with love for you.
I sing aloud my love, exalting in your magnificence.
My arms reach toward the stars at night,
to discover that you were beside me all along.
My resolve is strengthened by your presence,
Zion is strong and strengthens powers deep inside.
With khesed in my heart I am driven away from evil.
Your love is a moist breeze in a parched desert,
I bind myself to your oasis of knowledge and beauty.
Israel holds us together like mortar between bricks,
Life is your sacred temple and my holy fortress.

Not only did the doctor say I have an ear infection, I also have a perforated ear drum which explains the excrutiating pain. They put me on hardcore antibiotics and some painkillers but I need to rest. Good thing I have all of Shabbos to relax.

Also, minyan tonight in SEM II B2105 at 7:00pm. w00t!

Lord raise me up, raise my soul up
Lift my spirits and restore me to Zion
Far too long have I spent my days away from study
Far too long have I spent away from you
I can never know you from where I sit
The sunshine of your glory is out of reach
The raindrops hit my face and I stare upwards
My love for you defends me from evil
Love for Zion protects and shields me
Your love for me keeps my hardships in check
I long to be reunited with your city of gold
My heart cries out for you and burns for peace
Are my songs loud enough? Do I warrant your mercy?
I give myself to you in love and devotion
You fill me with all flavours of emotion
Water rises all around me but I do not fear

It’s been a long time coming but it appears as if there will, for the first time ever, be a minyan at Evergreen. The Evergreen Jewish Cultural Center (JCC) will be holding it somewhere in Seminar 2 this Friday night at 7:00pm (PST). If you are a Jew related somehow to Evergreen, please tell people. We actually need 10 people to show up in order to make this work. We’re trying as hard as we can.

More details to come as we progress.

My good buddy Andy, in his seemingly infinite wisdom, has sent me these aweome Heschel quotes:

“Just to be is a blessing. Just to live is holy.”

“The road to the sacred leads through the secular.”

Ok, so in a quick survey of some interesting news posts, please peruse the following:

• Iranian president says that Israel is a “disgraceful blot” that should be “wiped off the map.” only to be scolded by Condi earlier today. (ABC NEWS)
• The U.S. CIA is using what is being called a “stolen laptop” filled with documents that attest to the alleged development of a nuclear warhead by Iran. (The New Zealand Herald)
• Public unrest in France continues as the city of Lyon sees more violence. (The NY Times)
• In the ongoing investigation regarding the recent bombings, it becomes apparent that the New Delhi bombers intentionally stayed away from the heart of the city. (Delhi Newsline)
• All the recent hubbub regarding the Sony DRM rootkit it appears that it may actually be in a serious breach of the LGPL. (De Winter Information Solutions)

Interesting stuff if you ask me. It always amazes me how good the internet is at getting us new information. Like news. News is good stuff.

Thanks to me seriously excellent parents, I was able to make Havdalah for the first time in over a month. It was awesome in so very many different ways. I can now move on with some piece of mind.

So the really good news that I didn’t get to share before Shabbos began was that I have a rather restful week ahead of me. My professors (in thier seemingly infinite wisdom) have declared an amnesty week for the purposes of making sure that people do not lose their minds. Instead of a paper on a new book, we have a three paragraph response to a book we already read due by seminar on Friday. This might not sound like a big deal but the other people in my program are starting to lose it due to the overwhelming amount of work. It is getting harder and harder to complete all the reading and then muck about with the writing in order to get everything in on time. Also, class has been canceled on monday afternoon and wednesday morning.

It has been doubly hard for me to get all this done as the program assumes that every student has seven working days a week. On a normal week, I would have only six. Then there is the fact that I have not had a full week of class since the first week as a result of Jewish holidays. Furthermore, I will not have a full week until next week after the conclusion of Shmini Atzeres and Simkhas Torah. It has been super difficult to tackle all of the things that need tackling.

The other thing that is contributing to my current frustrations is the fact that there is such a large discrimination component that is overwhelmingly centered on race. Of the ten or so books that our program has been assigned to read, only 3 of them have dealt directly with education or schooling. The rest have been about discrimination based on class, gender or, as mentioned before, race. The argument that it is important for teachers to know all of this is a relevant one. The problem is that issues like dealing with kids with a different sexual orientation or religion are not covered along with things like immigrant children or the mainstreamed mentally ill. Race is a dominating factor and, while important, it is rapidly becoming off topic in a program entitled “So, you want to be a teacher?”.

What a week! Spent Yom Kippur at the Conservative shul in town. They are a small lay-led operation with about 30 families. They do however, have a nice small hebrew school which I hope to be volunteering at to get my 3 required hours in as far as my program requires. It looks like a nice little place with a great deal of potential.

As this shabbos approaches, I am feeling a little bit of anxiety regarding my workload and all of the accompanying stress-factors. It is such a great deal of stuff to do and even my profs are hinting that it may be a little bit too much. We will just have to wait and see. In the mean time I look forward to a whole lot of well needed rest and a good amount of reading.

Sitting here with Johann on my balcony watching people from other dorms go by. Yep. Shabbos is coming soon so I need to get myself in gear and get ready to go to shul. I am going to try and get a job teaching at one of the hebrew schools in town so that I can get my three weekly hours that my program requires.

It will have to be at the recon shul because I can get to it on my own using just the free bussing. I will of course, not be able to get to the conservative shul because it is EIGHT FREAKING KILOMETERS outside of town. I will be trying to get in there to doven this Yom Kippur though.

I know I haven’t posted in ages. I have been very busy completing my first full week of class and the last one for a good long time. There are so many Jewish Holidays in the month of October and I will be missing something like 5 days of class as a result. Even so, I have already written my first paper and turned it in. Because of the holidays though my next few papers will need to be posted online early. Sigh.

I am going up to Seattle for Rosh Hashanah to stay with my friend Matan and all of that. I will be leaving tomm afternoon (yes on my birthday) in order to make it to his house and get my affairs in order before sundown.

In the meantime, check out these cool pictures my father sent me of people rescuing Torahs in New Orleans.