Cinco de Mayo in Septembre

This past Thursday evening I participated in my first ever Cinco de Mayo celebration in both Israel and September. Molly Kane, fellow Rabbinical student of the Sarahs celebrated her birthday. The exact date is September 11, but since 2001 she has chosen not to use that date as a celebratory day but rather throws a different themed party around Sept. 11 each year. This year was Cinco de Mayo. Some of you may have seen this coming based on the paper mache pin`ata in the shape of Mexico that has been hanigng in our dining room for the last 2.5 weeks. It was also a really nice way to end the week. (I will get back to the party momentarily).

I have officially completed my first week of classes at Pardes. My mind was/is racing and I can't wait to dive back into classes tomorrow morning. What was nice though was that we also had a second fellows meeting. The fellows will be meeting twice a week, once on Tuesday evenings and again on Thursday afternoon. The evening gatherings will be more informal where the Thursday afternoon ones will be text base and more of a classroom setting. We are currently in the process of deciding which topics we would like to cover over the duration of the year. They range from arts/culture/film to current events and the Jewish response. We have to ability to bring in speakers, read articles, view films, hold panels, etc... Again, its a diverse group and I am excited to be a part of it. For me there is nothing gained from nodding heads in unison, but much to learn from engaging, energetic and sometimes even frustrating conversation.

Okay, back to the fiesta. The pinata was complete and the roomates and I decided to show up to the par-tay in style, and that we did.

here is Tasman's explaination of the day:

Pin`ata set up and breaking:


Molly (birthday girl) and Jessy:


Living in a country with a 6 day work week is something I don't know if I could ever get used to. Friday is the only day od the week outside of Shabbat where we don't have class. It was also my first opportunity to sleep past 6:45 all week. Although I was up by 9am, I realized just how tired I really was. I spent the day doing a whole lot of nothing. Laundry, ironing, and watching a DVD. That night we had a Pardes student mix-up Shabbat where they paired up first year and returning students for dinner. Within a 1/2 hour of the meal I was able to figure out some kind of connection with each person at the table. The hosts were Nili (ne: Epstein) and Ezra Auerbach. Nili is a former fellow at the Hillel international center and her husband Ezra's family made aliyah from Baltimore 14 years ago. His uncle used to be my father's karate teacher. There was a guy there who shares my exact birthdate and year he went to high school with friends of mine from NY. Jewish geography connected a lot of dots but there was even a girl there who was in my bunk at camp 15 years ago and who I had not seen since! I ended up walking home with her and it turns out that we are both on similar journeys. It was good to reconnect.

Today I met Esty again at Shira Hadasha. I had another DELICIOUS meal courtesy of the Altshul fam. Always a pleasure to dine with them. Esty and I are planning on going over to the Shira Hadasha new members sign up tomorrow evening. I am hoping to secure my place there for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur--I can't believe how soon they are coming!! Shavuah Tov (Good week) to you all!