We are two HUC rabbinical students living in Jerusalem for the year on a street that happens to rhyme with our names - a match made in heaven? We think so.
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04
May
See you in LA, Dave Mendelsson!!!
24
Mar
Update: HUC-JIR’s First Annual Falafel Eating Contest raised almost $1000 to benefit a hunger organization!!
Ladies and Gentlemen, allow us to introduce the contestants of HUC-JIR’s First Annual Falafel Eating Contest hosted by Va’ad Tzedakah. The winner of the contest gets to choose which hunger organization the money raised will be donated to.
Competition Rules (the abridged version):
- No techina may be used in competition
- If a competitor has balls in his (or her) mouth when time expires, those balls count so long as the competitor is able to swallow them.
- Rules concerning vomiting:
Sponsor Agreement:
I, the undersigned, hereby accept all fiscal responsibility for any short-term or long-term health effects that may result from participation in the HUC Falafel Eating Contest. I understand that these effects may include extreme over-satiation, flatulence strong enough to register on the Richter Scale, temporary or permanent obesity, and heart disease. I understand that the HUC Va’ad Tzedakah is also not liable for any non-health related effects, including the loss of significant others, serious damage to one’s toilet following the competition, change in pant size, and an inability to ever eat falafel again.
By signing here, I agree to all of the rules and conditions of the HUC Falafel Eating Contest. I agree to abide by all rules of the IFOCE (International Federation of Competitive Eating), the AICE (Association of Independent Competitive Eaters) and the ILEGJ (Israeli League of Extremely Gluttenous Jews). My signature also confirms that I believe that all members of HUC Va’ad Tzedukah are extremely cool, and that the little thing you put under a pot to prevent the table from getting burned is, in fact, called a trivet.
19
Mar
Professor Dave Mendelsson Appointed Schusterman Visiting Professor of Israel Studies at HUC-JIR/Los Angeles and USC for the 2010-2011 academic year.
We’re pretty sure Dave Mendelsson is just being proactive about his impending separation anxiety regarding Molly and Bess, but we’re not complaining! Another year with your favorite students from Moshe Hess! Just be careful if he invites you over for Shabbos dinner…
09
Mar
Spaghettis at Mamilla Mall was all abuzz with FSU Pesach Project supporters!
Here is our Top 5 List of Celebrity Sightings:
1. The entire HUC-JIR Cantorial Class!
2. Dave Mendelsson was spotted there in the early hours, enjoying a bowl of Muesli.
3. A table full of Kol HaNeshama members, including Terry, Terry’s daughter, and Terry’s daughter’s friend.
4. Fantastic Rhea Hirsch Education classmates who ate at Spaghettis not once, but twice!
5. Abraham Joshua Heschel, waiting for Michael Marmur, with a rose tucked in the manuscript of his soon-to-be-published posthumous book, Man in Search of Spaghetti.
Bonus Sightings:
-Bess AND Tess
-Danny Schiff and family were seen walking towards Spaghettis, and we have complete faith that he was, in fact, on his way to support the FSU Pesach Project.
Special shout-out to Marc Rosenstein, who, we are almost positive, was there in spirit.
Thank you to Noa (KH member and manager of Spaghettis) for generously supporting the FSU Pesach Project, and a big thank you to Amanda and Rachel for organizing this event!
02
Feb
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” so as not to offend, but we know who you’re really talking about.
Maybe one day you’ll agree to a video blog….
Thank you kindly,
Molly and Bess on Moshe Hess
27
Jan
Longest. Best. Israel. Seminar. Day. Ever.
If you ever need to know how to get through a 12-hour day without Dave Mendelsson, just come ask us…we have first hand experience. And we’re not bitter at all.
Here is Molly and Bess’s Top 5 of Israel Seminar Day:
1. Starting off the day at Shorashim with Marc Rosenstein talking about Arab-Jewish relations in the Galilee. We’re hoping to get a shout-out in next week’s 10 Minutes of Torah…what else would he write in his diary?!
2. Meeting with Iman Kadah, a 21-year old religious Muslim woman from the Galilee. Iman has 16 older brothers and sisters (17 babies in 25 years…talk about population growth)
3. Most of our class ate a delicious lunch together prepared by Kamla Musa. We say most of the class because Molly was exiled to another room with those classmates who chose to bring their own lunches. In other news, Bess ate her weight in grape leaves.
4. Going to Zippori and seeing where Mary (that lady that gave birth to that nice Jewish boy, Jesus) was born.
5. BLAUPLUNKT
13
Jan
Happy Birthday to our Professor, Dave Mendelsson!
17
Oct
HUC-JIR Homecoming Game 2009!
Today was our homecoming kickball game, boys against girls. We won’t say who won, but it was a close(ish) game. Here’s our Top 5 of the Homecoming Game:
1. Imagine this: Bess is in the outfield. The ball is kicked towards her. The ball hits a random kid on the head and bounces right into Bess’s hands! The best out ever.
2. David, the first random Israeli that joined our game.
3. Liron, the second random Israeli (from Detroit) that joined our game. He kicked the ball with his youngest daughter in his hands and then ran the bases with three children hanging off of him. Impressive.
4. Dave Mendelsson and his son, Itai, joining in on the fun. Dave getting Itai out might not help the father-son relations, but their participation certainly made an impression on our student-teacher relations. We have the best faculty ever!
5. Referee Lauren. She can get pretty feisty and it’s always entertaining to watch.
04
Oct
Guess who our third Ushpiz is…
1. He loves Moshe Hess
2. He’s a Capricorn
3. A strong wind could blow him over
4. He’s part of the British Underground to take over HUC-JIR Jerusalem
5. He’s a whirlwind of intellect
It’s…Dave Mendelsson, our Israel Seminar and Modern History professor!
The Project: Invite members of the HUC Community into our virtual sukkah as our Ushpizin (guests). We asked each of our guests to answer one question - If you could invite one person, living or dead, to be your Ushpiz (guest) in your sukkah, who would it be and why?
10
Sep
Shalom! We just returned from our three day tiyul to the Galilee/Golan. Hopefully we’ll be able to add more photos in the future, but for now here are our Top 5 Highlights of our Tiyul:
1. “Meeting” the famous Moshe Hess (see photo above) at the Kineret
2. Swimming at Sachne, which was beautiful and refreshing despite the unnatural fish
3. Learning with another one of our new professors, Jeremy Lee, about the “New Jew” that emerges in the late 19th century and early 20th century by watching clips of old films about the “Chalutzim”.
4. Visiting Tel Dan on Thursday with our professor, David Ilan. Even though it was a long and hot day, this site had both archaeological interests as well as a beautiful nature preserve (Keara and Molly pretended they were in the Pacific Northwest for a precious 5 minutes while walking through the nature preserve).
5. Our Wednesday evening “sing-song” (song session) with classmates, professors, and plenty of random Israelis who joined in on the fun
Every rose has a thorn: When the post-tiyul survey asked if anything was missing from the tiyul, we so desperately wanted to write “Dave Mendelsson”. The heartbreaking truth was that Dave had the stomach flu and was not able to come on the tiyul with us, and for that we are still in mourning.
08
Aug
The following post is the result of an assignment we gave our history professor - to help us learn about the man (pictured above) who’s the namesake for our lovely street.
Five useful things to know about Moshe Hess:
1) Moshe Hess is often understood to be the first thinker to integrate Socialism and Zionism
2) According to his writings, he had been estranged from his Jewish roots for twenty years during which time he was a central figure in the Communist movement.
3) His book, Rome and Jerusalem published in 1862 is said to have solved some sixty copies when it was first published.
4) Hess is buried in the Kinneret Cemetery after his remains were brought here from East Germany. In the days of East German Communism, Hess was one of the icons of the Communist movement. The others were Marx and Engels. We shall be visiting Moses Hess’s grave during the Northern tiyul.
5) In Jerusalem, adjacent to Moses Hesss street is Zamenhof street, who is considered the founder of the “international” language Esperanto. Needless to say Zamenhof was a Jew.
THANK YOU DAVE MENDELSSON!
28
Jul
Molly and Bess have been pestering me for a small contribution to their blog. Aside from offering five useful facts about Moses Hess, it occurred to me that our fine student body should become familiar with the stunning and profound phenomenon of cockney rhyming slang. Cockney’s are those Londoners born within the sound of the Bow Bells, a church in the heart of the East End of the city. Over the years Cockneys have developed their own slang which is a code of speaking wherein a common word can be replaced by the whole or abbreviated form of a well-known phrase which rhymes with that word.
so here are five examples to begin with:
So for example, if you were to say, “I’m going up the frog,” cockneys would understand you to be saying I’m going up the road. Similarly, the expression “I’m going home to trouble” would be understood as I’m going home to (trouble and strife) the wife. Once you have understood the principle, feel free to go to the following website for a Cockney - English dictionary of terms.
15
Jul
Yom Molly - יום מולי
Top 5 of Molly’s 26th Birthday:
1. The “Facebook wall” full of birthday wishes made on a typewriter
2. Not-quite-as-good-as-last-time-but-still-tasty Chocolate Balls - כדורי שוקולד
3. Skipping around the auditorium, even though Dave Mendelsson wasn’t there to witness
4. First official day of orientation!
5. Yummy dinner made by wonderful friends
