February 2010
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You're a Rubenstein Too?!
Who knew Molly had family living in Israel that she’d never met!? Okay fine, we all did. But the big news is that Molly finally got around to meeting them. Molly traveled up to Netanya to spend Shabbat with her cousins, the Bilders.
Here is Molly’s Top 5 List of Newly Discovered Cousins:
1. Hana - Hana’s mother’s name was Molly (named after the same shared relative I was...
Ya'amdu Magbiah v'Hagolelet!
Bam! Molly was the magbiah today in our student-led tefillah. Which means she did the job of Hagbah. Which means she used her super-human strength to lift the Torah at the end of the Torah service. Learn more about Hagbah & Gelilah.
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Don't Talk to Strangers
How to collect the most unofficial data of the public opinion in Jerusalem’s neighborhoods: send a bunch of American HUC-JIR students in jeans into religious neighborhoods. Oh wait….I thought the mission was “how to turn off religious Jews and send them fleeing into their apartments so there’s no one to talk to”?! Mission accomplished…
“Happy Birthday to our classmate, Josh Beraha!”
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A Whole Lot of Heschel
Day Two of HUC’s Mid-year Colloquium:
The title sums it up. We spent the hours between 8:30 AM this morning until 3:30 PM this afternoon being immersed in Heschel’s life and works. Instead of delving into his plethora of written works we’ll just give you some tasty tidbits about his life.
Top Five Fun Facts About Abraham Joshua Heschel (courtesy of Michael Marmur)
1. He...
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Hey, It's the Midyear Colloquium!
No one ever said rabbis are good at math (although we know one future rabbi that loves a good logic puzzle). Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback and Sara Lee put together a fabulous three-day program entitled, “Visions for Jewish Life in the 21st Century: Perspectives and Issues” and today’s session was on a Reform vision for Jewish life.
Here is our Top 5 of the first day:
1. The 1999...
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“You just HAD to go to Fruit Bar!!!!”
– Molly to Bess before their Tel Aviv adventure
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It's ain't over till it's over.
So, funny story. Remember that time that we put three months of hard work into getting the student discount on our Jerusalem property tax? Well, apparently our hard work only ended up helping our landlord’s mother. Somehow in the mix up we paid Hanna’s taxes instead of our own…we know, we were surprised too.
The point is, because of all of this and needing to pay the 2010 tax...
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The Rise of the NGOs and the Decline of the...
In this week’s Israel Seminar, we studied the rise of the Third Sector in Israel and the decline of the centralized welfare state, specifically looking at social justice and environmental issues and the role of NGOs in effecting policy in Israel.
Here is our top 5 of the day:
1. Our first guest speaker, Naomi Schahter, from Shatil, spoke about the place of the Third Sector in the weakened...
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"Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Adult...
This evening Molly attended Rabbi Elyse Goldstein’s professional forum session called “Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Adult Education” where, coincidentally, she learned everything she ever wanted to know about Adult Education. Well, not exactly, but it was an AMAZING session. We are so lucky to have Elyse as a resource this year.
Rabbi Elyse Goldstein is the Director...
“Thanks for the shout-out, Drew!”
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Shabbos Rest & Relaxation
While Bess was in Amirim this Shabbat, Molly spent the weekend recovering from Encounter with some nice rest and relaxation.
Here is Molly’s Top 5 of this Shabbat:
1. There is nothing like a bike ride around Jerusalem on a beautiful Shabbat morning. I rode up to Gilo, the neighborhood I lived in during EIE. Maybe next time I’ll stop by the Ben-Gigi residence to say hello….
2....
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The Encounter Continues
Even though the second day of Encounter was technically shorter, it seemed to go on forever! Maybe it was the lack of sleep. The last time Molly felt that tired was at a NFTY event.
Here is Molly’s Top 5 of Day 2 of Encounter:
1. No need to hold back! We started off the day with what Encounter called “The Political Presentation”, which was an overview of current issues in the...
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“Sick day for Molly and Bess on Moshe Hess :(”
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Galilee Diaries: Galilee Encounters →
Dear Marc Rosenstein,
We have long suspected that even though most of our jokes fall flat-to-the-floor with you, that you secretly like us and read our blog with a devotion likened to Dave Mendelsson. Our suspicions proved true, since you obviously read and GRANTED our January 27 request to have a shout-out in your next Galilee Diary! We realize you used general terms like “HUC class”...
January 2010
42 posts
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Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the Union...
Professional development sessions just keep getting better and better! Tonight we got to spend one very special hour and a half with Rabbi Eric Yoffie, President of the URJ.
Here is our Top 5 of the evening:
1. Rabbi Yoffie’s challenge to us to take a moral inventory of ourselves
2. Rabbi Yoffie speaking about creating (not breaking down) community through the internet and blogs!
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“Happy Birthday to our classmate, Rene Pfertzel!”