![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
So it's still wonderful to be in Israel - and did I mention how pleasant the temperature is once we hit evening in Jerusalem? (and it's not like I get out much during the day...)
Yesterday was my second day studying at the yeshiva (by which I mean, for those of you who have not been paying attention, the Conservative Yeshiva, located in the middle of Jerusalem), and while the first day was so-so, the second was wonderful. Granted, I fell asleep in the middle of Talmud class... but that's what happens when I sit for too long. I hope to have solved that problem today, high school style - which is to say I have revived my 9th grade strategy - I bought chocolate. Hooray for caffiene/sugar/something to keep my mouth busy.
Most of my classes - maybe all of them - happen to be in the same room - the beit midrash, or study hall - that is, the main room of the yeshiva. It's a "basement" - which, in the hilly terrain of Jerusalem means one side of it is aboveground - and there is one door that leads directly outside, and another that leads upstairs. So it doesn't feel like a basement. But it is the bottom floor of a heavy stone building, so it has vaulted ceilings with thick columns. They look cool. And the ceiling is all fuzzy - to keep things from echoing. It's full of tables with decent chairs, and book cases with Jewish books. And there is an aron there for the Torah - because the room is also used for tefillot (prayer). It's a wonderful setting for learning - though a bit more air conditioned than I like... (better than not having the AC at all, though.)
As for the classes themselves, I have found that studying in chevruta (pairs/small groups) to prepare a page of Talmud before we learn it as a class is something I enjoy - it's a challenge, and I don't get tired of it. But learning it as a class for an hour and a half afterward is a bit harder - that's when I will pull out the chocolate. I really did fall asleep, head on the table, yesterday.
Then we had an optional Lunch and Learn - and they sell salads and sandwiches for about $2.50 each beforehand! Hooray for cheap salad. That was okay... today, we will have the option of meeting a soferet (scribe who writes things like Torah scrolls - in this case, female.)
Yesterday afternoon, we also had two wonderful classes - one on "women in the bible" - we are doing a close text study of the story of Sarai and Hagar - and one on the siddur. Those two are on Monday and Wednesday. The other days, I have one class in the afternoon - on Conservative Responsa. Yesterday was more of an intro, so I will have a better sense of it tomorrow.
It is also fun to be studying with my mother - and yet studying apart from her also.
Anyway, time to go to class. But it's going well.
Yesterday was my second day studying at the yeshiva (by which I mean, for those of you who have not been paying attention, the Conservative Yeshiva, located in the middle of Jerusalem), and while the first day was so-so, the second was wonderful. Granted, I fell asleep in the middle of Talmud class... but that's what happens when I sit for too long. I hope to have solved that problem today, high school style - which is to say I have revived my 9th grade strategy - I bought chocolate. Hooray for caffiene/sugar/something to keep my mouth busy.
Most of my classes - maybe all of them - happen to be in the same room - the beit midrash, or study hall - that is, the main room of the yeshiva. It's a "basement" - which, in the hilly terrain of Jerusalem means one side of it is aboveground - and there is one door that leads directly outside, and another that leads upstairs. So it doesn't feel like a basement. But it is the bottom floor of a heavy stone building, so it has vaulted ceilings with thick columns. They look cool. And the ceiling is all fuzzy - to keep things from echoing. It's full of tables with decent chairs, and book cases with Jewish books. And there is an aron there for the Torah - because the room is also used for tefillot (prayer). It's a wonderful setting for learning - though a bit more air conditioned than I like... (better than not having the AC at all, though.)
As for the classes themselves, I have found that studying in chevruta (pairs/small groups) to prepare a page of Talmud before we learn it as a class is something I enjoy - it's a challenge, and I don't get tired of it. But learning it as a class for an hour and a half afterward is a bit harder - that's when I will pull out the chocolate. I really did fall asleep, head on the table, yesterday.
Then we had an optional Lunch and Learn - and they sell salads and sandwiches for about $2.50 each beforehand! Hooray for cheap salad. That was okay... today, we will have the option of meeting a soferet (scribe who writes things like Torah scrolls - in this case, female.)
Yesterday afternoon, we also had two wonderful classes - one on "women in the bible" - we are doing a close text study of the story of Sarai and Hagar - and one on the siddur. Those two are on Monday and Wednesday. The other days, I have one class in the afternoon - on Conservative Responsa. Yesterday was more of an intro, so I will have a better sense of it tomorrow.
It is also fun to be studying with my mother - and yet studying apart from her also.
Anyway, time to go to class. But it's going well.
