Tiyul Pictures

This is the Mt. of Olives.

The is me and other Yeshiva students at the Mt. of Olives.

This is a tomb carved out of the mountain.

This is me and some other Yeshiva students looking up at the tomb.

This is the southern retaining wall of the Temple. The weird looking new bricks were put in by the Jordanians after the Palestinians almost destroyed the wall (see Tiyul post)

These are the newest members of the Israeli Army. The are swarn in at the Western Wall. They receive a machine gun and a siddur.

Today's Miracles

This week has gone by very quickly so I do not know what to write about. This week has been a normal week. There has not been any excursions or such things, although I am going to the Old City to spend Shabbos with a friend who is studying at Aish. My week has been filled with learning. I am finally getting settled and have a set schedule outside of the Yeshiva's times. I now study mishna berura from 8:30 - 9:15PM and I study Berachos from 10 - 10:30PM from Sunday to Thursday. I also have decided to learn Makkos with Baruch when he has time away from his family and other learning.
One highlight of my week was the shmuze on Monday. Every Monday for half an hour a Rabbi gives a lecture on any topic they want. This week Rabbi Shuster gave an amazing lecture called "Mirrors, Wine, and Miracles: The Secret of the Jewish Woman." If anyone wants to listen to it they can e-mail me and I can send you the audio file. The lecture was about the specialness of a Jewish woman with side notes on the Holcocaust and why religious Jews drink. It was an amazing insight into how the Jewish people can be both sad and happy at once. For instance, many of the prophets in Tanach are told to tell the Jewish people about their horrible sins. These prophets must have been horribly scared but we know that a prophet can only receive prophecy in a state of happiness. Aaron HaCohen received prophecy after his two sons died. Jeremiah received prophecy after the Temple fell. This ability to be both horrified and hopeful at once has carried the Jewish nation through the centuries of darkness, through the pogroms and the Holocaust. The women in Egypt had this quality. These women who knew in their hearts that Hashem would save the Jewish people were able to withstand the horrible treatment by the Egyptians.
In the afternoons I am learning a book called "The Knowing Heart" by the Ramchal. In this book he talks about how Christianity agrees that God chose the Jewish people to be His nation, but then as a result of the Jewish people sinning God was so to speak forced to chose a new nation. This reasoning does not make much sense since Christians also believe that God is unable to go back on his word and there are many times in Tanach that God promises the Jewish nation that they will always survive and always be His chosen nation. The Rabbi leading the discussion pointed out that Jews were swayed by this argument. How is it possible that Jews living then could forget about these verses? The answer is that this happened while the Jews were in Europe. From the year 70 until 1948 the Jewish nation survived in exile with no hope. Even though it is true that God said he would save us, almost 1900 years later people start to question even God.
The miracles happening around us now are so blatantly obvious that it pains me when people do not recognize them. For 1900 years we cried to God to save the Jewish nation and return us to Israel. For 1900 years we were living in exile from our home. In 1948 the state of Israel was established as a Jewish country. The 6-day war was so obviously a miracle that the Prime Minister of Israel during the war, who was completely secular, started wrapping tefillin. The fact that there are still Jews alive in the world is a miracle, and the fact that we are finally living again in our homeland is an even bigger one. We have the undeserved privilege of living at a time in history like none other.
There is a Gemara in Sanhedrin that talks about how man was created on the sixth day. Every hour God did something to bring man into the world. There is also a Gemara that says the 6 days of Creation are a comparison to the 6000 years of the world. The Creation of man parallels the coming of the Messiah. We are now in the year 5767. The Gemara clearly states that the Messiah will come before the year 6000. If you calculate, the year 1740 of the secular calendar is the beginning of the 6th day of Creation. At mid-day the year was 1990. In 1990 Russia fell. The collapse of Russia made the US into the sole power in the world, enabling the Muslim world and the Christian World to start the war they are now in. This is amazing because the Gemara also tells us that the Messiah will not come until Christianity and Islam have a war to end all wars. Unfortuanetly it does not say who will win. Even more amazing is every hour of creation equals 42 years in the secular calendar. This means that 11AM of the 6th day of Creation was 42 years before 1990. That year was 1948. The miracles of today are hidden miracles. They are not as obvious as the Jewish people hearing Hashem speak, the splitting of the sea, or the killing of every firstborn Egyptian, but they are easily perceived when one knows what to look for.

Tiyul

On Tuesday of this past week I went on my tiyul (trip). The first activity we did was to sift through dirt of an archaeological dig where they are trying to find archaeological stuff from the temple period. What happened was that the Arabs who have control of the temple mount asked permission to build a fire escape in case there was a fire. The Israeli government said fine and the Arabs proceded to take 300 bulldozers full of earth on the temple mount and dump it into the Kidron Valley. Once the Israeli's found out what happened they stopped the Arabs from destroying more of Jewish history. The City of David organization is attempting to sift through all of the dirt that was on the Temple Mount. They have already found amazing artifacts like writing from the Temple periods with last names of people from the Tanach and coins from all throughout history.
We then went to a cemetery on the Mt. of Olives and I saw the graves of people who I am learning about. There are Rabbi's who comment on the Talmud and their commentary is placed in the back of the book. The first commentary I ever looked up was a Rabbi named the Rashash. I got to see his grave at the cemetary. I also heard crazy stories about the cemetary. For example there was a man named the Orech Chaim who was a huge rabbi. When the Jordanians had control over the mountain where the cemetery is they destroyed a lot of the graves with bulldozers and such. When they got to his grave the bulldozer flipped, so they tried it with a second guy but that bulldozer flipped also and the driver died. His grave is in perfect condition while a lot of the graves surrounding his are completely destroyed.
After the cemetary we had lunch in the Old City. I bumped into my friend Danny, who is learning in the Old City, so we had lunch together. For those of you who have been in the Old City of Jerusalem you know how often you run into people you know. After lunch we went on a tour of the Third Temple Institute where the different vessels that will be used in the Third Temple (may it be rebuilt soon) are being built. They have already built the lechem hapanim (bread table) that always will have twelve loaves of challah on it, different vessels such as shovels for cleaning the alter after the offerings have finished burning. They have built silver trumpets and harps for the Leviim who will stand on the steps and play music while the offerings are being burned. They have also built the garments that the Cohanim will wear, complete with the gold tzitz (it goes on the Kohen Gadol's head and has the name of God on it) and the urim v'tumim (breastplate with twelve stones for the twelve tribes of Israel).
After the tiyul ended I went to the Western Wall and saw the newest soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces get sworn in to service. They are presened with a machine gun and a siddur. It was very amazing to see. Don't worry dad I am not joining.
This week is an in-shabbat which means all of the Yeshiva students are staying in town and we all have Shabbat together at the Yeshiva. I am very excited to spend Shabbat with all my new friends.

I will add pictures of the tiyul after Shabbat.

The Second Week

Hello again. After two weeks of yeshiva I am happier than ever. Unfortunately the details of my learning that I wrote in my last blog was a waste since they have changed. I am still not sure why but the Rabbis here think I am very smart. They have moved me up to level 7 of a possible 8 levels of Gemora. The time it took for me to get into level 7 in Gemora was extremely fast. It could possibly be one of the fastest in the yeshiva's history. This means I am on the advanced track and am studying talmud 8-10 hours a day with the head of the yeshiva as my Gemora teacher.
Since some of you would most likely want to see some of the people here and some of the places I am going to try to post pictures in my blogs starting with this one. The first picture is of one of my roomates and I, the second is my good friend Baruch Rubin and I, the third is the dining area, and the fourth is some yeshiva students hard at work learning Gemora.
Although this yeshiva is very focused on learning, it also has a love of eretz yisrael and has therefore planned a trip for all the yeshiva students on tuesday. We are going to the Mt. of Olives cemetary, on a tour of the city of David, and to the (Bill) Davidson Center to see the newest excavations of the Western Wall. I will write about the trip in my nest blog entry.
I am very busy here so I will try to post a blog on friday every week.

I am in Israel

Welcome to my blog. Hopefully I will keep up with this even though I have little time here and do not enjoy writing. I would also like suggestions or questions about the Yeshiva where I am staying so I will have something to write about. So whoever is reading this, please comment.
I am sitting here in my room before Shabbat and thinking about what to say on this first blog of mine. I guess I should say a little about where I am staying. The Yeshiva is called Darche Noam and the boys program, which I am in, is called Shapel's. It is a very nice building with a kitchen area, a place to learn and then a lot of rooms. A lot of the students here stay in the building so everyone gets to know each other relatively quickly. I live with two other guys in a room that has it's own shower and facilities. A normal day here starts at 7 AM. Everyone goes downstairs for Shacharit (morning prayers). That usually lasts until 8. Then we have breakfast until 9. From 9 until 1 we learn Talmud (roughly speaking the oral Torah). I am learning the second chapter of Bava Kamma which explains all the laws of damages. For instance, if my animal damages something, what do I owe the owner of the item my animal damaged? At 1 we have lunch and then a break until 2:40. At 2:40 we have mincha (afternoon prayers), which usually goes until 3, and then we learn until 7:20. The learning in the afternoon includes Chumash, Halacha, Talmud, and Hebrew. From 7:20 until 8 there is dinner. Following dinner we learn until 9:45. The learning at night is not scheduled but is more of a casual "learn whatever you want" time. At 9:45 we have Maariv (evening prayers) and then the day is officially over. Most people learn after dinner for a bit. I usually learn until 12 and then go to sleep. It sounds like a lot of learning, but every day I go to sleep wishing I spent even more time learning.
Other random information about the Yeshiva. The food is excellent, which was a very nice surprise. They make sure to keep us relatively healthy by supplying fruits and vegetables at lunch and dinner. The people here are very nice and are all enthusiastic about being in Israel and especially in yeshiva, which gives everyone a very positive attitude.
I have taken mini-trips around Jerusalem to pick up random things and to see places. I have been to the Kotel (Western Wall) twice and have taken a bus to Mea Shearim to get very cheap Hebrew books. I have seen many friends from home, some who are learning with me at the Yeshiva and others who are on trips here. It is getting late and I have to get ready for Shabbat. I hope everyone is doing well back in America and I would just like to say I am having a wonderful time so far in the holy land but I miss everyone from back home so please write!