Lech lecha Meartzcha

This shabbos was an orientation for first year anglo Bar Ilan students. I davened at the Bar Ilan kollel where there was a crazy disproportion of females to males. I would guesstimate 3:1. The gabbai at the kollel is none other than Frisch alumn E. Hinden, D.’s brother. (I ate at them for lunch - which was very nice.) I actually met E’s wife, R., the first day I came to Givat Shmuel. Basically 5 hours after I got off the boat (plane), I went to the grocery store to see what there was to purchase. As I was perusing the isles, figuring out what my staple foods would be for the next year, R. came over and asked if I was an American because I look “very lost.” To which I should have responded “ani lo medaber anglit,” but instead explained that I wasn’t lost but just learning about the food situation. (Sadly most of the food was not particularly appealing so I only bought noodles and those instant Osem food containers. There will be a lot of takeout this year.)

The theme of the shabbos, or at least the topic that was brought up in every divrei torah, was how lech lecha is a very meaningful parsha for olim. The community is really special because it really is true, every one here has gone through their own nisayon of leaving their homeland, their birthplace and their father’s house. These are all people that decided that “talk is cheap” and if they really believe Israel is an important place they are going to live there regardless of other issues. It seems that most of the people I have become friends with have had moments of difficulties due to their decision to make Aliyah but have managed to prevail. (I have a gut feeling that there are some people would not make Aliyah again if they knew what they were going to have to go through.)

Overall it was a very enjoyable shabbos and I met a lot of interesting people and managed to get in some learning, which unfortunately has been lacking since I came here due to work.

A lot of people here are worried about another potential strike at the Israeli universities – this time by the professors and upper management. These strikes are truly ridiculous and are a big drain on the Israeli system. Based on the small amount of knowledge I have on the situation I think the students should have accepted the small tuition increase. Look at the cost of an American institution verse Bar Ilan. It is very expensive to run a university and people can’t expect the government to be able to pick up the tab for everyone. Right now, the average Israeli student has 0 student loans. That is nearly unheard of in the US. The government needs to take a strong stance on these strikes and/or become better negotiators.

Thanks for all those that wrote to me about pushing through on the work issue. Agreed, it is only the first week and I am definitely going to see how things pan out. I just don’t want to work the 90 hour weeks anymore – one year of that was enough for me. Life is too short for that.

Some other odd tidbits that I would make into a longer story but I am way to busy to do so now are:
1) I learned how to play Settlers last week at my cousins and played again this week- it is very awesome. I recommend highly to anyone that hasn’t played yet. (And yes, I am aware I am very late to the game.) (Risk partners, let’s switch to Settlers next time we get together.)
2) Definite work on Sunday is terrible.
3) I have been listening to some oldies but goodies songs I recommend you all take another listen to: Overkill (Men at Work), Angels (Robbie Williams), Heart Shaped Box (Nirvana), Stuck in a Moment (U2), Save Tonight (Eagle Eyed Cherry) and a newer one: Hey There Delilah (Plane White T’s).
4) The Office this season has been phenomenal.