My last day of classes at She'arim: It was a really good day - I was surprised that I was able to stay focused for the whole day. You know how it is, last day of school, last day of work before vacation - you're mentally checked out. But I wasn't.
I really wanted to get the most out of my learning, so I really engaged myself in every class.
We finally finished the halacha of muktsa - I can't believe it took 6 hours to just go over all the laws of Muktsa. I found out something very disconcerting in that class today. Apparently, animals are muktsa. It's a very difficult thing for me to understand because I have quite a lot of cats at home - I can't imagine not petting them on Shabbos. That is something I'm going to have to work on, for sure.
The other class that was really interesting was "Finding light in Darkness."
We went over the Arab Israel conflict from a very unique perspective. Basically, Avraham's son Yishmael's descendants are Muslims and Arabs. I don't know how we know this, but we know it. It says in a midrash that Yishmael's job in the world is to take the idolaters out of this world by force. He is described as a wild man - but his blessing is that his descendants will have control of Israel for a long time and stop the Jews from coming back to Israel. It's scary how accurate this is - and it was written so many years ago.
It was kind of a low note to end on, but it got me thinking. I just hope that we can find some way to live with it - I mean if this is what G-d destined for us, then this is what we will live with. If we can't have peace with them, we have to protect ourselves, and that is what we are doing - as Jews, as Israelis, as Americans and whoever else - we're protecting ourselves against any possible threat to our safety and our beliefs.
After classes, I went back to the dorm, cooked a delicious dinner of fish with a tomato based sauce and sauteed vegetables, and then just hung out the rest of the night. I packed a little but will need to finish packing in the morning.
I had a really good time here in Har Nof, but I am ready to go back home. I miss my family, my boyfriend, and my life back at home.
I will post one more time about my trip, but it may not be until I get home - I hear the air port in Tel Aviv has free wireless, so maybe I'll be able to post one last time in Israel.
As soon as I am home, this blog's purpose will essentially be over, but I am considering creating a new blog about my general life - I haven't quite decided what the topic will be or what the manifestation of that topic will be, but I'll keep you updated.
I want to say that I met a lot of wonderful people here - I met wonderful teachers, students, and felt my experience here was fulfilling in an educational, physical, and spiritual way. I do hope to keep in touch with the new friends I've made and the school that helped me grow so much over the short period of two weeks.
B'hatzlacha, L'hitra'ot!
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2 comments:
I may be wrong, but i'm pretty sure I learned that animals are only muktzeh *if they're not YOUR animal*.
Also, you're not allowed to make them work or do anything that would be breaking shabbos for you.
But I'm fairly certain you can feed them and pet them, etc.
Oh the reason why the ownership of the animal matters is because hunting ("tsayid") is not allowed on Shabbos, and apprehending an animal that isn't yours (for cuddling purposes or what-have-you) is effectively similar to trapping it like a hunter might.
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