I took a 3+ hour stroll last night with my flat mate culminating at the Western Wall and thought I would share a couple more pictures.

For those of you who have not been there, the area is separated into a men's side and a woman's side. You can see this in the first picture. The second picture is a closer look from the entrance to the men’s side.

While it cannot really be seen here, there is an archway leading to another area along the wall where Torahs are kept for use and where additional prayer areas are located. The third picture shows a section of this interior room.

The final picture was taken from just outside the archway. You can clearly see white around many of the stones of the wall. These are prayers that people have written and put into the wall.

There were many different groups of men doing the evening service, each with a minimum of 10 men. Immediately after taking this picture I found a new group starting and joined in.

A Quick Update

As I indicated in my last post, Sunday was a day completely set aside for cantorial practice, homework and studying for the big test on Monday.

On Sunday it seemed like some of the melodies were starting to “click”, but I still have much work to do. The lesson on Monday went well, as did the one today. Every time I go I get a new piece and sometimes multiples, so it for sure will not be boring! The instructor seems to think that I am making good progress, as today he told me that he thought I was “firing on all cylinders”. I am glad that he sees progress, as it boosts my confidence in what I am doing and is reassuring.

The big test on Monday turned out not to be as difficult as I thought, although I did spell some things wrong and used the wrong sex verb once. Nonetheless, I got a 93 on it so am pleased by that. Speaking of sex, now I find that even the numbers are different if you are talking about an object (or person, of course) that is classified as male or female. And, of course, there are lots of exceptions! And on top of that the numbers used for time or female objects/people and those used for male objects/people do not follow the standard “rules” for male and female forms of words. Well, a couple do. OY VEY!!!

In the meantime, the new stuff is coming hard and fast. I bought the CDs that go with the book so that I could hear more repetitions of the dialogues, and hopefully that will help make this a little less difficult. I guess I have to remember that I’m not 20 anymore and it is going to take extra work. The instructors don’t seem to be concerned, so I guess I shouldn’t be either.

This coming weekend I am going to a settlement for Shabbat. I will be leaving on Friday afternoon and probably coming back Saturday night. I am looking forward to the opportunity to meet new people and experience another Shabbat with fully observant people. (No, I do not know the people whose house I will be staying at. That is just the way it is here!)

Friday and Shabbat

On Friday I decided to take the morning off and relax a little.

My flat-mate was going to look at puppies in hopes of getting one, so I decided to go along. We wandered down to Emek Refaim, which is a street a few blocks from the apartment. This street is well known because of the plethora of restaurants in a several-block portion of the street.

After wandering for a while and not seeing the dogs we headed back to the apartment so that I could go back to Ben Yehuda Street to meet someone from my Ulpan class to review before out test on Monday. The good news is that I retained more than I thought. We’ll see what that translates into on Monday.

As for the dogs, we left about 30 minutes too soon to see them on Emek Refaim. My flat-mate when to an area near Ben Yehuda that also has puppies, but came back empty-handed this time. I guess he’ll go next week and try again.

After a bit of quizzing each other, my classmate and I started walking back towards my apartment. It turns out that she is staying only a few blocks away from me. It was a nice pleasant walk and, once we got back to my apartment my flat-mate invited her to stay for Shabbat dinner.

We had a very nice dinner and pleasant conversation. After dinner my flat-mate and I walked her home and came back to relax for the evening.

Shabbat was very peaceful. I went to a synagogue about a block from the apartment. There were one or two familiar melodies this time, which helped make me feel more comfortable. After services I met a gentleman that lives right across the street from me, so I am sure that I will be seeing more of him.

After services I naturally had to take the obligatory Shabbat nap. When I awoke I practiced some of the cantorial pieces that I had been given on Wednesday. The pieces are getting much more involved now, but the melodies are quite beautiful. I am looking forward to mastering and sharing them with my congregation at home.

As Shabbat came to a close I walked back to Ben Yehuda street (this is a pedestrian mall with lots of shops and places to eat). When I arrived I found it to be in full swing already. There were tour busses dropping off their tourists and revelers on the mall. There was even a group of Orientals that formed a small group and were playing music and singing, much to the delight of the tourists.

I met a number of friends there and stayed for a while. We eventually made it to a pizza place just off Ben Yehuda, where I was treated to some of the oddest (at least to me) pizza. I had one that was topped with sweet potato and mushrooms. It was actually quite good. I headed home after that as Sunday was being set aside for me to practice and also to review more before the test.

All in all, it was a wonderful Shabbat.