hm

i ask you: What if....we realize how powerful we are and crown ourselves?

I have once again, found I am loved and in a loving relationship with God.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4-BCagHSz0&feature=related

rabbinical school, weddings, wow!

Bzrat Hashem.

I got into rabbinical school. The school is AJU (american jewish university) formerly known as UJ (university of judaism). The rabbinical school is called Zeigler. You can look it up at: www.ajula.edu and look under rabbinical school or zeigler.

I still am in partial disbelief..I am just so overwhelmed with gratitude, joy, happiness, nervousness and excitement.

I was a part of a random Conservative Jewish wedding the other morning!! Talmud class had just gotten out and people in the beit midrash-where we study (literally house of explanation) were talking about a wedding in a park. I perked up and said, "what? wedding? where?" It turns out, there was a couple both in there 80's who were both widowed who came to Israel to get married and then were going back to the states. They needed a minyan (a quorum of 10 people) for the rabbi to be able to preform the wedding. So, a handful of my fellow yeshiva colleagues and i went upstairs (it was too cold outside for the couple) and we took part in their wedding! I held one of the poles for the chuppah and saw the wedding taking place literally right before me. Other yeshiva students also held the 3 other poles for the chuppah and said the shevah brachot (the 7 blessings). It was incredible. AND since we are learning about divorce in talmud, we also had to learn a bit about marriage. SO, I was able to apply what I have learned here in yeshiva to my life! It was AWESOME. The couple were so thankful and happy we (yeshiva students) were able to participate because if not, they would not have been able to get married. It was beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.

You know what I LOVE about being here? (One of the many things of course) I get to see Israeli friends of mine I have not seen in ages! AHH :) It's GREAT!!

Wow.

I love when hard work pays off...fingers magen david for the second round ;o)


Ahhhh!! Yay!!!

Progression.

Papa would be proud

I just talked to Aunt Lynne.

She asked "Is it true you are studying to be a rabbi?", I answered yes (well I have to get accepted, etc, but yes I am."

and what she said next took my breath away...

"Papa would be proud."

That's basically all the motivation I need right there. I can now fly through these essays.

I am staying safe due to recent events in Gaza...It is different actually living here when these things happen, as opposed to reading about them in American newspapers.

Love to all.
-Lauren

Oh My Goodness!!!

I had a wonderful, wonderful evening!

Colleen and I went to the Kotel this evening.

Guess who I ran into...Daniela Feldman, Evan Gadol and Zach Wienstein!!

Daniela and I screamed when we saw each other, ran and gave each other hugs (multiple hugs of course) :)

I just kept on bumping into people I knew from camp!

AND it happened to be the same night that 3 units of the IDF were having their ceremony to be initiated into the Israeli Army! I heard "Shomone Alienu" and of course Hatikva. It was the first time I heard Hatikva here in Israel and it was in Jerusalem, as I stood with my face touching the Kotel. Pretty powerful stuff.. Amazing, amazing night...

Now off to write more essays...

Baruch...Dayan HaEmet

 Baruch...Dayan HaEmet-Blessed are you Lord...the Judge of truth

I decided to take the day off from yeshiva because of Great Grandma.

Initially I was going to try to go and see how I felt, but I just could not focus-I ended up crying in the bathroom. I talked to a good friend of mine who I've met at the yeshiva and told her why I was upset and what was wrong. Strangely enough, I called her this morning-I had absolutely no idea I called her.

I decided to talk to Reb Shmuel (the Rosh Yeshiva) about the particularities of mourning. He said that I can say kaddish only if no one else is saying it for her and I get permission from my parents (because Baruch Hashem they are both still alive). I have not found out if someone will be saying kaddish for her.

I plan to go to the Kotel (Western Wall) with a great friend of mine from university. I want to take advantage of being able to actually go to the Kotel. 

Bbye for now.