The Holiday Spirit

שלום לכולם (Hello Everyone!)

This past week has been busy, productive, and positively COLD! It's suddenly winter here in Jerusalem, making me ever so grateful for the central heating in our apartment. The jackets and boots have come out in full force, just in time for Hanukkah next week.

The holiday season is fascinating here in Jerusalem. You know in your head it's the holidays, but you don't see a single Christmas tree. You listen for the sound of sleighbells, but hear only Hebrew. You walk through stores and restaurants expecting green and red regalia, but see only the usual chaotic mess. On the flipside, menorahs and Hanukkah decorations are sprouting up everywhere. And tomorrow when I buy my Hanukkah gear, I'll hopefully find some "Nes, Gadol, Hayah, POH" dreidels! (Denoting that a great miracle happened here, not "there!")

It's really quite cool, and yet strangely jarring, to only see one holiday represented in the bubble in which you live. To be greeted and left the same way by strangers - "Chag Hanukkah Sameach," doesn't faze me in the moment; yet when you think about it, you realize that everyone here speaks a collective Jewish language. Unlike at home, where you hear "Merry Christmas" and , if you're lucky, "Happy Holidays," here in Jerusalem only one holiday matters: Hanukkah. I'll be sure to blog about the various goings-on of the holiday here in Jlem next week.

This coming week is our last full week of school; the following week is pre-finals (complete with a New Years Eve prom) the week after is finals, and then I'll be home in Los Angeles with my beautiful family and Adam! I'm so excited, I can practically taste it. And quite honestly, this semester has been so long and so challenging (mono, anyone?) that I just want it to be over. It needs to be done! I hope I learned something, but it doesn't matter if I get an A; just that I pass. Words to live by, as written by J.Fro.

In other news, last night I had my one and only assigned service of the year. Each rabbinical student has to lead services once and give a d'var Torah once; I give my d'var in early February on Beshallach, the Song of the Sea. After you lead services, you get scrutinized and criticized up the wazoo by faculty, and students are invited to tear you apart, too. While some of the comments are helpful and productive, it's mostly an amusing forum where people get to channel their personal anxieties and frustrations with prayer onto those who lead it; the "reviews" tend to become big bitchfests. Our review is Tuesday, and I can't wait! Regardless of what is said, I'm proud of myself, and that's what matters.

Leading Kabbalat Shabbat with my roommate Lauren was a wonderful, positive experience. It was my first time ever being in the rabbinical role, though we sang almost everything together. I felt we crafted a beautiful service; people seemed really into it, enjoying themselves and praying along with us. Lauren is a supremely talented human being, and we worked off each other really well. She inspired my iyunnim, (otherwise known as the little nuggets of rabbinical wisdom in between songs) and I helped advise her on the music. All in all, it was wonderful.

It felt good - really good - to stand up there on the pulpit again. I feel comfortable up there, and not because I want to be the center of attention or the star of the show. I truly enjoy leading others in prayer. I love smiling into a congregation and seeing them smile back. To know that you are working hard to provide yourself and others with a meaningful Shabbat experience just fills the soul with nachas; it feels damn good. And it felt really awesome to finally show the HUC community what brought me to this school in the first place.

The theme of last night's service was light; specifically, bringing your light into the darkness around you. As we look to Hanukkah next week, we also see the official start of winter. As the days grow colder and the nights get darker, we light the candles of Hanukkah against that darkness, and bring our own illumination into the world.

To each of you who celebrates the holidays in your own unique way - may it be a beautiful season of warmth, togetherness, and illumination.

Missing you all,
Jaclyn