Pictures of HUC campus in Jerusalem

I arrived in Jerusalem just before Shabbat was beginning on Friday. What a special day to arrive to Jerusalem. I could hear people around me talking about their Shabbat plans and rushing around to get everything done before sun down. It also was a bit stressful of a time to arrive because everything closes for this day of rest until Saturday night. Fortunately, a friend of mine from songleading at Camp Newman, Aaron Gertz, met me at my new apt to help me get settled. He made aliyah (became an Israeli citizen) a year and a half ago and is on vacation from the military for a month. It was so comforting to see him. He served as a great translator between my landlord and me. Thank goodness because I barely know how to talk about leases, contracts and electricity companies in English! Aaron invited me to a Shabbat dinner with him and we played music into the night.

After a LONG night of sleep, Aaron and I went in search of food. This was not an easy task because I was really jetlagged and my stomach was telling me so AND it was Shabbat so barely any places were open. So what is open to eat in Jerusalem on Shabbat?? You guessed it……the YMCA!

Saturday evening I went to HUC for the first time to attend an alumni event which first year students were also invited to. It was a really sweet evening. It felt appropriate that my first time at HUC was surrounded by alumni, people who made the same journey that I am beginning this year. Director of the Year in Israel Program, Josh Zweiback and visiting Rabbi and musician, Ken Chasen, led Havdallah with the Director of the Cantorial program, Tamar. In a beautiful courtyard, I sat next to some of my fellow cantorial students and we instantly harmonized and welcomed in the new week together. A bunch of us went out to eat on Emek Rafayim. Again, not surprisingly, we got to know each other that night through playing music until I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer.

Today it was time to get down to business. Remember the workweek here is Sunday-Thursday. Today I took a tour of the beautiful HUC campus. I have been getting a lot of registration tasks done, taking a break of course to buy some felafel with potatoes on top. YUM. Still today I need to take a history placement exam and another Hebrew placement exam. I also really need to go grocery shopping so I have food to eat!

I can’t wait to tell you more about my apartment! I’ll save that for the next post.