Gush is a Cold Cold Place

I went to the Gush this last shabbos and stayed by my good buddy A. Hershkovitz. A. and I called up one of our friends who left me a rather enigmatic voice mail Thursday night saying “Call me back I have really good news!”

Based on my prior experience with these phone calls there were four possibilities what this good news could be:
1) “I’m engaged!” – This is usually what the good news is but this fellow was not dating anyone when I left to Israel about a month ago. (35% chance)
2) “X is engaged” – This could be possible but most of my good friends that get engaged generally call me directly rather than have someone else call me. Also he seemed too cheery for this to be good news about someone else. (20% chance)
3) “You’re engaged!” – This has never happened before, but you never know. I would imagine I would know before him but you never know. I lead a busy life. (10% chance)
4) “I’m moving to Israel” – This was the only other possibility that I thought had some chance of being real. Maybe my example led him to move to the Holy land as well? (35% chance)

Well in the end of the day he was engaged! It’s always good to get good news, especially erev shabbos.

So shabbos began very good and the rest of the shabbos continued in the same nature. It was fun to feel like I was back in Yeshiva again and to see all the new students that are now in the same place I was five years ago. It was amazing to sit back in my makom where I probably sat over 4,000 hours during my year. I started Bava Kama and hopefully I will be able to finish it by the end of the year. Ambitious but do able.

The only negative was that Gush is sooo cold. I thought Jerusalem was cold on Friday, but Gush was even colder. The only plus about Gush during the winter is the awesome fog. I remember one time I couldn’t find my way to the Yeshiva from the dorm because it was so thick. Baruch Hashem Givat Shmuel hasn’t been that cold, but it has been getting chillier.

On shabbos I also ate by Moreh Yaakov, my second grade teacher and chavrusa during Gush. It’s always a pleasure to see him. Throughout shabbos and m”s I saw old Gush friends that I haven’t seen in years. It was terrific.