Erev Succot

Couldn't post this before Chag because there wasn't internet available, but here's what I typed up to post before Chag.

Today is Erev Succot.  Our entire program was shipped off to Ramat Beit Shemesh, and sent to different houses to stay at.  We left at 11 AM and landed in a Kibbutz called Yishi.  The plan for the day was to swim at this family’s house, whose pool we rented for the afternoon, and go shopping/play basketball down the street.  First the guys played basketball while we swam, then the guys swam as we shopped.  The weather today was not so particularly beautiful, which I thought would ruin the swimming experience.  But alas, I was wrong.  We walked down this pathway, which led us past a very open and spacious one-floor house, and it winded around through beautiful shrubbery, flowers, and trees.  Looking out into the distance, there is a great view of mountains and what I think is Ramat Bet Shemesh.  After continuing on the lush pathway or about thirty seconds it opened up completely.  On the right there were about five shower stalls, and in front of us through a trellis with inviting vines wound around it was a very large tile swimming pool.  The deep blue color of the water, because of the reflection from the tiles, was basically screaming, “swim in me!”  We all put our stuff down and changed to swim as quickly as possible.  As everyone was jumping in, I took an extra couple of seconds to really just appreciate where we were.  I looked around and saw a beautiful view, an incredible assortment of flowers and trees around us, and a ridiculous pool.  It was really amazing.  We enjoyed the pool and played random water games for about an hour, at which point it was time to shower and get dressed.  I thought I was in heaven in the pool, but I was SO wrong.  Let’s talk about outdoor showers for a second… WOW.  My new life goal is to have an outdoor shower.  Why?  Because there’s nothing more perfect than showering, tanning, and having vines/trees/nature directly around you.  I really cannot think of many times in my life where I’ve felt so totally at peace… Amazing. 

 Tell me you don't just want to jump in...

When everyone finished showering and getting dressed the boys came to the pool as we exited towards Rabbi Bryks’ car.  We piled in and he drove us to this kind of shopping center area in Beit Shemesh.  The goal was to have pizza for lunch, buy gifts for the people whose houses we were staying at from this totally humungous candy story, and also have some time to just hang around if we wanted.  The pizza place that we went to was kosher Pizza Hut!  I totally wish I could have eaten the pizza, but instead I just had a salad.  The cheesy smell and steam floating off of it was more than welcoming to my taste buds.  I just wish I wouldn’t suffer such extreme repercussions from enjoying even one slice.  It’s okay though, the salad was great and it served the same purpose- to supply my body with energy to continue to function.  After lunch we walked around a little bit, but soon enough Rabbi Bryks came back to pick us up and we got in the car again.  We drove for about ten minutes to Ramat Beit Shemesh, where we were all given a map and a chart explaining where we were staying and eating and how to get to each place.  My friend Faye and I are staying together at this nice place about a block away from the synagogue and Rabbi Bryks’ house, and not so far from where we’re eating dinner tonight.  Though she will be leaving tomorrow night, I am planning to keep one and a half days of Chag- weirdest thing ever- so I’ll be here until Tuesday night.  One and a half days means that on the second day I keep all of the Torah level commandments and none of the Rabbinic level commandments.  In other words, I won’t be using my cell phone or turning on lights but I will pray as if it was a weekday and I’ll make Havdalah on Monday night.  I know—I’m a weirdo. Haha.

I want to leave you with an interesting thing that I heard the mother say to her children.  Usually, at least in my house, before a Chag a mother would be yelling at her kids for not setting the table, cleaning properly, or showering in a timely fashion.  However this mother was yelling at her kids for not learning enough Torah today.  I thought that was kind of cool, so I figured I’d share it.  

Chag Sameach and Moadim Le’simcha to all!

Shabbat and more

Pre-Shabbat pictures!!!

Shabbat was totally and completely GREAT.  Ilana Greenberg and Adina Polack stayed over at my apartment, and we made a very nice Shabbat together.  All of the girls on my program stayed for the weekend, and so did some of the guys.  We all hung out last night, as well as this afternoon, which was definitely fun.  Ilana, Adina, and I were the only ones who ate on campus for dinner, so when we finished we were hanging out for a couple of hours in the apartment across from mine.  After everyone else came back, most of the girls joined us and we just talked and hung out.  We went to sleep around 11:45, though some of my friends stayed up a bit later. 

I woke up this morning at about 10:45, went to the kitchen so I could put our lunch food on the blech, then got back in bed.  I didn't fall back asleep, but I was resting nicely and even doing a little reading until Adina woke up.  When she woke up at 11:30ish, we hung out for a while on my bed until we eventually woke up Ilana.  In fear of waking up my roommate, we headed out of my room to continue our conversation. After a while, we set up shop at the kitchen table for lunch.  Before we started eating everyone else came into the kitchen and we were all hanging out, and continued to do so as the three of us were eating lunch.  Everyone else was making lunch for themselves and we had a good time.  After we ate we had a great dessert of fresh Rugelach from the store down the street, as well as two choices of cake- one honey and one cinnamon.  We spent the afternoon just chillin with each other and with everyone else around the apartment, until it was time for Seudah Shelishit.  We had a good meal then more cake-- all good things.  We even finished the meal off with some singing. Haha.

After Shabbat, Ilana and Adina headed back to Jerusalem.  Since then I've been packing for our trip to Ramat Beit Shemesh for the first days of Succot, and just enjoying the down time. 



Now, I have a couple things to say either just about this country or about myself in this country:

1) Some people say that the most important aspect of this country that relates to food is the fact that this is where the Shiva Minim (7 Species) grow... I say: This is where the world's best Matbucha can be found.  There's no doubt in my mind that that's the best food-related part of this country.  Actually, incredible frozen schnitzel might be a close second.  But I'll stay strong in saying that Matbucha is #1.

2) I love how I'm an awesome traveler.  I load up my backpack, and a small rolling carry-on bag if it's a multi-night endeavor, and I know exactly where everything is, and I never forget things.  I really don't want to jinx my capabilities by saying that, but I feel that my skills just need to be recognized somewhere.  I guess I'm just totally and completely proud of the fact that I have no problem kickin' it somewhere for a night or two and being prepared for everything.  Honestly, I've always been that way.  Really honestly, that's likely because of the always-camping or adventuring family that I was raised in... So props to my parents for that.  But I'm still going to go ahead and take some ownership for my awesome level of preparedness for anything and everything, at all times, in a foreign country. 

3) I love the number of times per day that I find myself laughing at random Israelis' ridiculous wanna-be-American garb.  All of the skin-tight Hollister or American Eagle shirts, Nike shirts that in some way or another say "I'm too cool for you," or shorts on men which look like they belong in a 1970's NBA game... I find it all absolutely hilarious, though I find myself saying, "poveretu" under my breath more often than not. Regardless, I get a good laugh on many occasions per day so it's all good.

4) I often find myself thinking, when I'm driving either in a bus or in someone's car, about what would happen if an experiment was conducted where a couple of Seattle drivers were put onto the roads in Israel.  That might be the most dangerous situation a Seattlite could possibly be in... Just saying.  The zig-zag, step-on-the-gas then slam-on-the-brake, always honking kind of driving that happens in this country is world's apart from the passive-aggressive, I'm-going-to-honk-at-you-because-you're-a-horrible-person-since-you-drive-a-gas-guzzler driving which occurs in Seattle. 

5) The abundance of cats in this country is absolutely ridiculous.  That is my humble, yet very strong, opinion. First of all, they're totally gross.  Second of all, they get attached to living spaces when they are fed in such spaces... Truthfully that's not totally the fault of the cats- more the fault of the feeder- but I'm gonna blame the cats partially.  Additionally, there are actually as many cats outside of my apartment each day as there are squirrels outside of my house in Seattle each day.  I hope you understand that that means that there are just too many cats around.  A couple of my friends and I have decided that we are officially going to be proactive about this cat issue, so if any of you have ideas about how to get rid of the nasty things you can feel free to share your ideas with me.  Here's a picture of me with one of them... Look at how it's looking at me devilishly with those eyes because it thinks that I am invading ITS home.  Unfortunately, it's wrong.  And we will find a solution to this problem. 

Erev Shabbat #3

I woke up at 8:00 this morning to talk to my Dad on the phone about Succot and some other things, and I just stayed up afterwards despite my tiredness.  I spent some time working on the computer, and watched the season opener of Grey's Anatomy!! What a weird episode... That's all I have to say.  Strange.  Afterwards, Ilana woke up and we hung out just in my apartment for a couple of hours.  We were feeling totally and completely lazy so we weren't moving quickly at all.  Eventually I got up because I had to go to the bank, before it closed, to take care of some things, then I met Ilana at the supermarket and we bought food to make for Shabbat.  We headed back afterwards, and we've been hanging out in the kitchen since then just cooking and hanging around with all of my friends.  

I wish I had more exciting things to say before Shabbat, but the laziness of the day turned into total un-excitement.  Next week should be more eventful, with Succot and other things happening.

Until later, Shabbat Shalom to all!

B'nei Brak and More

What a productive day today was. 

I woke up, showered, went to the store, and ate lunch... All before 1:00.  At 1:00, we all met outside the gate to go to B'nei Brak for Lulav & Etrog shopping.  Here's a pic:

This is only half of it, but it was crazy awesome!! It was basically this humungous tent, in the middle of a dirt parking lot, filled with tables and tables of lulavim and etrogim.  Such a cool scene.  I bought a pristine etrog, and a great lulav, only for about sixty shekel- $15.  It was a total steal.  I loved bargaining with the guy who I ended up buying from, and in general just seeing all that each person had to offer.  Great experience!!

After we had all finished we went to a different part of B'nei B'rak, to R' Akiva street, where we just walked around and bought whatever we wanted.  I bought a machzor for Succot for the beautifully low price of twenty-five shekel. A.k.a. $6.25.  Not as cheap as my $5 Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah machzorim, but I was willing to cough up the extra $1.25.  I enjoyed walking around with my friend Zach as he purchased an endless amount of Succah decorations, and slowly but surely covered more and more parts of his body with them... By the end he was a walking Succah!

Then we drove back to our campus and plowed through the massive amount of obnoxious traffic.  Ew.  Truthfully I was a little bit nauseated by the time we got back, but that wasn't anyone's fault.  Plus I didn't really drink enough today, so that was definitely another factor.  When we got back to our campus, I got right back in the car with two of my friends because we wanted to go to Yesh (the Israeli Walmart) for a quick shopping trip.  Little did we know that "quick shopping trip" was literally impossible on a Thursday afternoon before Shabbat and Succot... Don't know why we didn't think of that, but we didn't.  So we just dealt with the ridiculous number of people that flocked the aisles.  At first there weren't any carts available, but I utilized my developing Hebrew skills to snag one after I had already filled my hands and arms with things to buy.  When I found everything I needed I got in line to pay... Not an exaggeration when I say I waited in line for thirty minutes before it was my turn.  And there were only three people ahead of me! Unfortunately those three people decided that it was important to stock up on everything they'd need for the rest of their lives... Ridiculous.  So that was pretty overwhelming and obnoxious. 

Then I walked outside, where my two friends had been waiting for me for a while, and we picked a direction to walk in because we didn't know where we were going.  Eventually we found a main street and decided against the fifteen minute walk to the bus stop, and went with a taxi instead.  Let it be known that that was the first taxi I have taken since I got here, because I am that good at saving money via buses.  The only reason we did it, though, was because it was cheap since we were splitting it for the three of us, and because we had all of our stuff from the store.  Too bad we didn't just walk because it would have taken half the time to get home... The traffic was, again, insane! Super nauseating.  And the taxi driver kept turning on and off his car each time traffic stopped, which I didn't understand because that uses more gas.  Weirdo, but whatever.

We got home, I hung out for a bit, and then we all headed to bowling at a nearby mall.  So fun! I came in third place for my lane.. Not too shabby.  After bowling, my madricha challenged me to one of the basketball arcade game things.  Let's just say: we each beat our own records, so we both won.  When that little duel finished I had dinner with Adina Polack in the mall because food in malls is Kosher in Israel! And it was meat Chinese food, at that!! Sooooo good. Yum.

Since we got back from the mall, I've just been hanging out.  Ilana and Adina are both here for Shabbat, which is going to be so fun! Tomorrow we're going to get everything together to make food and preparations for the holy Sabbath, which will of course be a party.  Can't wait! 

Until later, Lila Tov! 

P.S. It's the blackout game for the Huskies tonight-- GO DAWGS.

Yom Ha'Kippurim

With Yom Kippur starting at 4:50, I had Seudah Ha’Mafseket with Garce and her parents at 4:00.  We had a uniquely chopped and totally delicious salad, as well as chicken with potatoes and vegetables.  And the world’s best Pita- not a joke.  It was a great meal, with a great balance of filling and not too heavy.  Plus I love being in the presence of the Almo family… They welcomed me with totally open arms, and made me feel very at home.  After the meal we took the six-minute walk to the beautiful Sephardic synagogue, where we prayed for just less than three hours.  My first thought, by the way, upon opening the 661-page machzor was that in only twenty-five hours I would be looking at the last page.  I didn’t really know if I would be present for all of the pages, but I knew that I would feel a sense of accomplishment at the end of Arvit tonight.  Let’s put that thought on hold while I share more about my day today…

Shacharit started this morning at 6:45 AM, and amazingly Garce, her Dad, and I were actually present for that.  Garce and I were the only females in sight for quite a while, which was nice because we got to sit wherever we wanted.  As in-to Shacharit as I was, there was definitely a period of time where I was really fighting sleep.  In order to combat that issue I decided to assume my regular standing position, which thankfully turned out to be quite effective.  Sadly Garce wasn’t feeling so great so she had to head home at some point in the morning.  One of the first women to come after us was this woman who I thought really didn’t like me because I was “disrupting her prayers” last night by standing near the doorway.  After Garce had left I found out that this woman actually really liked me… She asked me many times if I wanted to sit next to her because, “my constant standing was making her tired.”  Of course all of these quotations are translated from Hebrew, because that is the only language that I thought she spoke.  However, as soon as I said that I was from America she flipped on a random English switch and that is how we proceeded to converse. 

In order to share with you lovely people the most exciting part of my day I must first explain the layout of the Synagogue.  Similar to SBH or BCMH, the women's section sits above and wrapping around the men's section.  However, unlike those two Synagogues, the women's section is about fifteen feet about the men's section, and some of the men sit facing the women.  In order to combat the whole men-looking-at-women-during-Tefilah thing, the women's section is hidden by white curtains which have the ability to be moved to the side.  Hopefully you understand the layout...  So, in the front row sat two women, at opposite ends, who both completely and totally refused to close the curtains.  Even though the Rabbis were very blatantly telling the two women to close the curtains, they continued to keep them open.  Then a little bit of a riot broke out... This woman who was clearly of the opinion that the shades needed to be closed, went over to one of the women and ripped the curtain out of her hands and yelled at her with very fast Hebrew words.  Of course the woman sitting in the front wasn't feeling that, so she grabbed the curtain, pulled it back, and yelled back in faster Hebrew words.  Haha.  So basically for like three minutes of Torah reading there was a real-live, loud, cat-fight screaming and grabbing match happening just above the Mizbe'ach.  All the other women were just looking down and hoping that the cat fight wasn't as loud and attention-calling as it was, and trying not to laugh hysterically at the ridiculousness of the extent of the argument on the Day of Repentance itself.  

Though they eventually calmed down, the argument re-surfaced when everyone came back to synagogue after an hour break for Mincha.  The woman who wanted the curtains to be closed yelled even louder and used even more Hebrew words to convey her feelings to the woman at the front.  This, for your information, took place during Selichot of all times, and it was even more difficult than the first round for the rest of us to continue to focus on tefilah and avoid laughter.  But we made it work, and eventually the woman who wanted the curtains to be closed just let it be. 

Moral of the story is... Despite the excitement I managed to remain in Tefilah from 6:45 until the break and from Mincha through Arvit.  In other words, I not only survived, but actually enjoyed, about ten hours of Tefilah.  Good work, me.  Haha.  For real though, the Tefilah was great... Super similar to EB/SBH, but there were definitely things I missed about being at EB.  Hands down, the number one thing I missed was the Ladino Booklet.  That thing is awesome, and I wish it could be implemented into the Tefilah in synagogues world-wide.  Another thing I really missed is the complete and total spaciousness that is available.  The last thing I'll mention that I missed about Seattle is seeing all of my people in Synagogue.. It was kinda lame not being able to look around and see the smiling faces of people I've known for my whole life. But I guess that did contribute positively to my ability to stay focused on Tefilah all day long.  

Now let's talk about the things that were totally and completely new to me, and unique to Israel.  First of all, the whole city shut down.  Streetlights were all flashing yellow, there were literally no cars driving, and everyone walking was clearly dressed for Yom Kippur and said "Shana Tova" or "G'mar Chatimah Tovah" as we passed each other.  Secondly, as opposed to the phrases that people scream 'Amen' to at EB like, "... open the gates of Refuah Shelemah," people scream 'Amen' to phrases like, "Let it rain in The Land in its proper time."  Cool, and interesting to hear that.  

Now I'm going to talk about random things that I want to mention, haha.  

1) My Bubbe used to say, "The first one to step off the sidewalk always gets mowed down by the cars."  Well, I usually try live by this.  But, I've learned that in Israel you just gotta walk.  Doesn't matter if the pedestrian guy is red or green, you just look both ways and walk if there aren't cars.  Ye who wait for the green pedestrian will never get anywhere.  That's my advice, haha.

2) The temperature difference between Jerusalem and Ramat Ef'al is totally ridiculous! It's actually cold at night in Yerushalaim, and it's a perfect temperature all night long in Ramat Ef'al.. It's also so much hotter during the day where I live than it is in Yerushalaim. It's crazay!

Tomorrow we have shopping in B'nei Brak for a Lulav and Etrog, then building a Succah, then going bowling.  I'm definitely going to have a chill morning... Maybe get a workout in or something.

I hope everyone had an easy fast and meaningful Yom Kippur! Good luck to those in Seattle who still have a couple of hours to go!

Shana Tovah U'metukah :)

Erev Erev and Erev Yom Kippur

Yesterday- Erev Erev Yom Kippur- Monday.

You know that lovely feeling that happens when you wake up, look at the clock, and realize that you have less than sixty seconds to be dressed and in a classroom?  I had the pleasure of experiencing that yesterday because I ignored my alarm.  Smart move, I know.  Funny that it was only two days ago that I learned and posted about how a person should take at least twelve seconds to get out of bed, because I most definitely did not achieve that threshold for healthy blood flow.  I totally and completely jumped out of bed, ran into the bathroom, brushed my teeth, threw on a t-shirt and shorts, and managed to be ready in four minutes.  The time was now 9:18, so I was only three minutes late.  Or so I thought... Little did I know that class actually didn't start until 9:30.  In other words, I was actually twelve minutes early.  You would think that this would bring happiness and joy to my face, but to be quite honest it made me mad. I could have had sixteen whole minutes to get up, dressed, and eat breakfast... Lame.  I got over myself, though, and walked to class bearing a notebook and a pen.  Our first class was basically about setting goals for ourselves in this important time of self-reflection and introspection.  At the end we did an assignment which I have done for the past four years in Mrs. Margolese's class, and it made me happy that we could do it again.  Our teacher told us to write down goals and steps to achieving those goals, which we hope to have accomplished by next Rosh Hashanah.  With Mrs. Margolese we wrote letters to ourselves, which she would later in the year mail to us, but the assignments are similar enough.  I definitely enjoyed that class. 

After class, we had a thirty minute break until the next class.  Because of my very hectic morning, I took the liberty of using that time to take a shower, which was lovely.  I think I even grabbed an apple on my out the door as I headed to our second class of the day.  During Mincha of Yom Kippur the Haftarah we read is the book of Jonah.  The topic of our second class was the reasoning behind reading Jonah on Yom Kippur.  For this class we were more text-based, which was great.  I enjoyed that class, as well.

When we were done with our classes it was about noon, and we had a free afternoon until we would meet at the bus at 6:00.  I spent my time grocery shopping, eating lunch, and working on my computer.  Since I lamely had to nullify my deferment to Rutgers University, I have had to begin the college application process all over again.  Though most apps aren't due until much later in this year, or even early next year, I decided that I should try to get as much as possible done now because once real school starts I won't have as much time.  So I've been using every minute I can find to fill out apps and write the necessary essays.  It's most definitely obnoxious, but it has to happen so I'm making it work. 

At 6:00 we boarded our bus and headed out to Yerushalaim.  We were told that we'd be eating a beautiful Italian restaurant, so we were all wearing nice clothes.  Our bus driver dropped us off below Sha'ar Yaffo (Yaffo Gate), and we walked up the stairs so we were across the street from it.  We turned left and there we were... A mamash beautiful restaurant called Luciana.  They sat us down at a long table, which already had incredible looking food on it.  The first course was these garlic bread things with tomato, basil, and cheese on top-- could not have looked more delicious.  There was also this great looking tomato and basil and cheese platter.  Thinking I could have a little bit of the bread, I washed and had a piece from the end of the bread which didn't have any cheese on it.  I went into the meal prepared to not really eat, but to more just enjoy looking at the food so it was totally okay.  (For those of you who are wondering what in the world I'm talking about, I haven't been eating dairy since May.  And if I eat dairy it gives me a hooooorrible headache and stomach-ache, so it's not at all worth it to me to eat dairy.  It also has made me feel a lot healthier since I stopped, so I'm totally good now at not eating dairy.)  But anyways, basically the food looking absolutely incredible. There was fresh green salad with all different kinds of cheese in it, pizza, two or three different kinds of pasta, this cheese with a thick tomato sauce on it, etc, etc, etc... The food did not end, and it all looked totally incredible.  I was happy that my friends got to enjoy such an amazing meal, and I was kinda living vicariously through their facial expressions of satisfaction and bliss.

After dinner I met up with Dena in the Rova and we hung just hung around.. This woman asked me to buy her a Diet Coke, so I did, and out of thanks I was given a beracha.  It went a little something like this (translated from Hebrew to English): "You should find a good Shidduch (person to marry) quickly and easily; a boy, or a girl-- whatever you please."  Hello! Best beracha ever!!! Loved it.  Anyways, we bumped into a lot of people she knew and introduced me to, as well as some people that I know.  It was great to have some time to just spend with her because it obviously does not happen anywhere near as often as it used to.  We found Adina Polack and Ilana, who were also great to see. 

At 11:20ish I started to make my way with some people from my program to the main attraction of the night-- the Kotel.  On the night before Yom Kippur, hundreds of thousands of Jews from all over Israel come together to say Selichot (special prayer services for the time around Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur) for the last time.  Ha'Rav Ovadia Yosef himself, the Chief Sephardic Rabbi of Israel, lead most of the Tefilah.  There were so many people that they actually closed off the entrances to the Kotel because there wasn't enough room for all of the people to fit there.  Here's two pictures of what I was looking at during the Tefilah service:

The number of people is totally unbelievable.  And to think about what it will be like when Mashiach comes and all of the Jews of the world are at the Beit Ha'Mikdash?  Unimaginable.  I was discussing that idea with my madricha Shev.  Crazy! After Selichot, when everyone was trying to get out of the main Kotel area as fast as they could, I went down there to say Arvit.  By then it was about 1:00 AM, which was definitely another really cool aspect of the whole scene... Cool that everyone was awake at that time, and all right there.  After Arvit I went back to the Rova to try to find Ilana's dorm, because that's where I was planning to stay the night.  Ilana and fallen asleep and I was having trouble finding the correct entrance, so Dena kinda saved me in my time of need and brought me to her place.  Another problem was that my phone died, so... Issues.  It's all good though, Dena helped me out and I got there safely.  When I got to her room she happened to have woken up a couple seconds before so she was able to help me get set up with a bed and everything, which was so nice.  I enjoyed reflecting on the incredible experience which I had just had, and after that I slept really well.


Erev Yom Kippur.

This morning I woke up in Ilana's dorm, and within two minutes was greeted by a smiling Sarah Varon.  What a great person to wake up to! Then Ilana showed up, so we were hanging out for a while, until we got the call we had all been waiting for.  Garce was in the Rova! Hurray! Sarah and I went down to the street to get Garce, and we brought her back up to Ilana's room.  We hung out for a while, checked out Sarah's room, woke up Dena, dropped off Sarah, then the four of us headed out towards Garce's apartment outside of the Old City.  Only a fifteen minute walk from the Rova, we got there quickly.  I was so excited to say Garce's parents, as well as the place that she has been excitedly talking about forever.  Though I had seen pictures of it at some point last year, I was still totally amazed at how incredibly beautiful the apartment is.  Every part of it was clearly extremely thought out and it truly shows.  It seems like the perfect place for Garce's family, and I am so excited and thankful that I get to stay with her family for Yom Kippur.  We went to Mincha a couple blocks away at 12:30, and since we got back we've just been hanging around.  Garce is napping now, and I'm about to shower.  But it's a beautiful day in Yerushaliam, and I could not be in a happier place for this holiday. 

I wish you all a G'mar Chatimah Tovah, and easy and meaningful fast, and may Hashem accept all of your tefilot as we continue this new year.

Tizku L'shanim Rabot.

Return of the Ants

Later tonight I'll write a detailed post about my day, but I thought I'd send out a little update on the nasty ant situation from Shabbat.

I don't know why I didn't think to look underneath the toaster oven as I was sanitizing the counters on Shabbat, but I didn't.  Unfortunately I made the mistake of picking it up about twenty minutes ago, and this is what I found:

In case you can't tell, that's literally hundreds of dead ants.  I almost threw up the second I saw that, but I managed to hold it in so I could repeat my sanitation skills on this small part of the counter.

YUCK.