A month ago, the Reform Movement lost a power house of a musician, songwriter, leader, teacher and woman. The community here in Jerusalem came together to remember her life and her contributions to Judaism, the Reform Movement and my own life.
I have a new TCJewfolk post that ran recapping the evening. You can read that post at the following link.
In Joshua’s Shoes: A Tribute to Debbie Friedman (z”l)
Showing posts with label HUC-Jerusalem. Show all posts
Showing posts with label HUC-Jerusalem. Show all posts
Friday, February 11, 2011
Sunday, September 26, 2010
HUC Campus
Since very few of my family and friends will be able to actually visit HUC while I'm here, I thought I'd give you a virtual tour of campus. I didn't take a lot of pictures inside buildings since they're pretty standard rooms. Join me on a walk through HUC-JIR Jerusalem.
On my way to school, I come to King David, this is HUC from across the street.
Looking up the stairs is the Administration Building. To your left, after the first staircase, is an entrance that is only open when services are open to the public.
If you go in through the synagogue entrance, you walk into the back of the Mustein Synagogue.
Leaving the Administration building there are some stairs that take you down to the main courtyard. Across the courtyard on the right is the Abramov Library, straight ahead is the Archeology Building and in between the two the Skirball Museum. Follow the video into the courtyard.
This is the main courtyard, after you go down the stairs towards our library, this is our view.
From the museum you walk down a long hallway towards the academic courtyard where the majority of the classrooms and offices for our professors are.
On the left and right are the rooms. You can see a pretty nice fountain in the middle. When the weather was nicer they had water flowing through it.
From the left of the picture, there is a staircase that takes you down to what they call the student's courtyard. It's a nice spot that most of us sit in our shorter breaks.
On the right side in the student's courtyard is the Moadon, the cafe and all purpose room that we use all the time. The courtyard is really nice though.
To get to this spot, you have to walk a decent way up from the Student's Courtyard and head towards the main courtyard. Instead of going back up to the Administration building though, take a right and you find yourself in another little garden behind the Admin Building.
From that garden, you take these steps back up. You can see the Admin Building towards the back of the picture.
That about does it for campus. I hope that's enough so you can get a feel for what the place is like.
I hope you liked school!
On my way to school, I come to King David, this is HUC from across the street.
Looking up the stairs is the Administration Building. To your left, after the first staircase, is an entrance that is only open when services are open to the public.
If you go in through the synagogue entrance, you walk into the back of the Mustein Synagogue.
Leaving the Administration building there are some stairs that take you down to the main courtyard. Across the courtyard on the right is the Abramov Library, straight ahead is the Archeology Building and in between the two the Skirball Museum. Follow the video into the courtyard.
This is the main courtyard, after you go down the stairs towards our library, this is our view.
From the museum you walk down a long hallway towards the academic courtyard where the majority of the classrooms and offices for our professors are.
On the left and right are the rooms. You can see a pretty nice fountain in the middle. When the weather was nicer they had water flowing through it.
From the left of the picture, there is a staircase that takes you down to what they call the student's courtyard. It's a nice spot that most of us sit in our shorter breaks.
On the right side in the student's courtyard is the Moadon, the cafe and all purpose room that we use all the time. The courtyard is really nice though.
To get to this spot, you have to walk a decent way up from the Student's Courtyard and head towards the main courtyard. Instead of going back up to the Administration building though, take a right and you find yourself in another little garden behind the Admin Building.
From that garden, you take these steps back up. You can see the Admin Building towards the back of the picture.
That about does it for campus. I hope that's enough so you can get a feel for what the place is like.
I hope you liked school!
Friday, July 16, 2010
Orientation or Disorientation Week
After listening to four days worth of discussions, information and questions I think we have all become thoroughly disoriented. On Monday we started this process of getting to know each other with mixers and started to look at some basic texts. On Tuesday the discussion was framed about why am I here? We heard some speakers and learned a little about the college and our program. In breakout groups we talked a lot about our own personal journeys that led us to Hebrew Union College and why did we want to be here.
Wednesday was more interesting than orienting. After a series of discussions, the school wanted us to start tackling the questions of, "Why did you bring us here?"
For myself, this has never been a hard question. It would only make sense that we should spend time in Israel to learn the history of the country and immerse ourselves in Israeli culture. I guess this has been harder for other people and a much more difficult question for them.
Why has it been so easy for me to come to Israel? One of the skills that I believe we all need is a command of the Hebrew language. Understanding the history of Reform Judaism and knowing that historically Hebrew has not been an integral part of the movement. However, the times are changing and there is a sense that the early reformers missed something in throwing out that aspect. Logically, it would seem that we need to learn Hebrew in this new phase of the reform movement and it is only possible to truly get a handle on a language by being in the land that it is spoken.
As a historian, I also believe that in order for us as the future leaders of the Reform Movement to understand the past of Israel as a land and as a country. Many people in the United States have questions and frustrations with the country of Israel and already I have been asked by people to defend the country's actions. Again, there is no better place than in the land that it happens to study it.
We had a little Tiyul (hike/trip) to look at Jerusalem from a different view. We looked at it from the side that you can completely see the different parts of the city, new old and then there is the wall or border or fence that cuts through the country.
Yesterday was focused on community and understanding peoplehood. We had some more fantastic speakers talk to us and then we went on a Tiyul again. We looked into Jerusalem from Mount Scopus and from the Mount of Olives. It was incredible. Despite the dirt and grime, this country is so beautiful. I couldn't imagine better places to start to learn. I haven't put pictures on my computer yet, so when they are up, you can look at them on Facebook.
It is starting to hit me that school is really just about to start. We've already started to learn Torah and Talmud and it's fantastic, although we don't really delve into that until September. We do get to start to work on Hebrew on Sunday morning. Class starts at 8:30AM! On that note, we also learned our placement for Ulpan. I was surprised to learn that I am going to be in the 4th level out of 5. I don't know how I feel about that. I'm glad that I was placed high, but I don't know that my Hebrew is that good.
We will have to wait and see on Sunday.
It's almost Shabbat and I have a lot to do. So with that,
Shabbat Shalom
Wednesday was more interesting than orienting. After a series of discussions, the school wanted us to start tackling the questions of, "Why did you bring us here?"
For myself, this has never been a hard question. It would only make sense that we should spend time in Israel to learn the history of the country and immerse ourselves in Israeli culture. I guess this has been harder for other people and a much more difficult question for them.
Why has it been so easy for me to come to Israel? One of the skills that I believe we all need is a command of the Hebrew language. Understanding the history of Reform Judaism and knowing that historically Hebrew has not been an integral part of the movement. However, the times are changing and there is a sense that the early reformers missed something in throwing out that aspect. Logically, it would seem that we need to learn Hebrew in this new phase of the reform movement and it is only possible to truly get a handle on a language by being in the land that it is spoken.
As a historian, I also believe that in order for us as the future leaders of the Reform Movement to understand the past of Israel as a land and as a country. Many people in the United States have questions and frustrations with the country of Israel and already I have been asked by people to defend the country's actions. Again, there is no better place than in the land that it happens to study it.
We had a little Tiyul (hike/trip) to look at Jerusalem from a different view. We looked at it from the side that you can completely see the different parts of the city, new old and then there is the wall or border or fence that cuts through the country.
Yesterday was focused on community and understanding peoplehood. We had some more fantastic speakers talk to us and then we went on a Tiyul again. We looked into Jerusalem from Mount Scopus and from the Mount of Olives. It was incredible. Despite the dirt and grime, this country is so beautiful. I couldn't imagine better places to start to learn. I haven't put pictures on my computer yet, so when they are up, you can look at them on Facebook.
It is starting to hit me that school is really just about to start. We've already started to learn Torah and Talmud and it's fantastic, although we don't really delve into that until September. We do get to start to work on Hebrew on Sunday morning. Class starts at 8:30AM! On that note, we also learned our placement for Ulpan. I was surprised to learn that I am going to be in the 4th level out of 5. I don't know how I feel about that. I'm glad that I was placed high, but I don't know that my Hebrew is that good.
We will have to wait and see on Sunday.
It's almost Shabbat and I have a lot to do. So with that,
Shabbat Shalom
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