hirhurim (musings)

I especially love the pool at the "country club" that I joined here. I put country club in quotes, because even though that is what they call it, it's more like a cross between a really mediocre gym and a public pool. The pool is actually really lovely. The workout room (called the kosher room in Hebrew) is small and dinky. The guy who works there is hilarious. I can just picture him as a drill sergeant in the army. Every time I go there he says "tank you very much, nice to meet you" but it sounds like he's actually saying "why do I have to put up with stupid, wimpy American girls in my gym." Anyway, I like the pool.

On my way back from the pool, feeling cool and refreshed, I heard a minyan davening the kedusha. I looked up and there were about 10 men squished on a small balcony. The nusach (tune) was the same, but slightly more exotic sounding. I knew pretty quickly that it was a shiva minyan. Why else would they be davening at someone's house? Then I noticed that down on the ground level the patio was filled with people. One observation was that it must be nice not to have to worry about having a minyan of people who know how to pray. On the other hand, it was only men. In any case, I felt bad for the family and wondered who the person had been, what had happened, etc.

One interesting this about this summer has been the juxtaposition of emotions. I wouldn't call them mood swings, because my mood has stayed steadily happy. I feel like my life is going well, I'm enjoying my everyday existence and I'm feeling grounded. However, sprinkled amidst that happy mood is my recognition of the pain and suffering going on around me. The homeless men sleeping on cardboard outside the bus station, the refugees from Sudan and Eritrea who are seeking asylum in a country that doesn't really want them and is trying to segregate them into the northern and southern parts of the country, the crowded "kindergartens" of the foreign workers and just the general fatigue of the city. Noticing these things makes me sad and it's an interesting kind of sad, because it is a sympathy sadness. It is also shortlived. Again, I wouldn't describe this as a mood swing, but more as a peppering of sadness in an otherwise sweet kugel mood.

I must be getting tired. I really wanted to write about the rest of the Talmud classes with Ari which have now come to and end and the people who are leaving the program, who will be greatly missed, but that will have to wait for now. So I'll just say this: Jill, Ellie, Alissa, Billy and Meredith--may your journeys be blessed with continued learning, may you encounter people and things that challenge (makshe) you and may you have what it takes to respond to (mefarke) them. Please stay in touch.