Classes, Wine and a Broken Tailbone

I have successfully survived my first week of class! Classes are intense, but in a good way. A rundown of my courses:

- Modern Hebrew: I am in the absolute beginner’s class, which I like to call “baby aleph.” We have class three days a week, for a total of 8 ½ hours. From the very first day, pretty much no English has been spoken in the classroom, which I find frustrating because I am not always sure I totally understand what is going on. It’s not really my learning style, but I seem to be catching on fairly quickly, although my conversational skills don’t extend too far beyond stating my name and where I’m from and asking others their name and where they are from.

- Biblical Hebrew: I registered for Biblical Hebrew, but for the sake of my sanity, I am dropping this class. 19 credit hours and 23 hours in the classroom each week is just too much, especially if I want to have time to enjoy Jerusalem!

- Biblical Aramaic: Pretty excited about this class. In addition the Aramaic portions of Daniel and Ezra, we are also going to read some texts from the Dead Sea Scrolls and perhaps some Elephantine literature. I’ve been waiting for the chance to learn Aramaic!

- Jeremiah: I am all about the prophets, so this is a great class for me. And I am translating the texts, so I still get to use and develop my Biblical Hebrew skills, even if I am not taking the class.

- Approaching Classical Jewish Texts: We all know that I am Jewish at heart, but my knowledge of Jewish texts does not extend much past the Hebrew Bible. This is going to be a great class for me. I get to learn about and read from the Mishnah and the Talmud, along with other postbiblical texts (up until about 1000).

- Archaeology of Jerusalem: This is the class I am most excited about. Not only do I get to learn about the archaeology of Jerusalem, but I also get to tour archaeological sites (for free!) as part of the class! We are focusing on the First Temple period. Hopefully I will get to take lots of pictures to share with all of you!

Last night Annie and I ventured over to the German Colony in Jerusalem, to Jon’s apartment, for what appears to be the first of many “Wine Wednesdays” on the merpeset, which featured wine (and water for me) and dessert. I got to meet more Rothberg students, particularly more of the undergraduate students, along with several of Jon’s friends from outside of Hebrew U. It was an especially entertaining evening because the night before, to quote Jon, he “broke his ass” (aka his tailbone) when his pull-up bar detached from the doorway mid-pull-up. The poor guy was in pain and all drugged up, but he was in good spirits and entertained us with various stories as to how he injured himself, along with a long, drawn out account of what actually happened.

I am leaving at 6am tomorrow morning for the graduate student retreat at Tel Hai in Northern Israel and will not return until around 10pm Saturday night, which is why I’m writing now. I will hopefully have more to write (and lots of fun stories) when I return, along with pictures, so check back in a few days.

Love to all of you and Shabbat shalom!