It’s been about a month since we’ve been in Israel, and it feels both like it’s only been a week and that we’ve been here forever.

We just finished our intensive Ulpan (Hebrew immersion) course which was just 3.5 weeks, but they really pack information in there! We had class for five hours every day, then homework and studying, small quizzes every morning, and finished with a long midterm. But by the end, both Bruce and I could write an 8-10 sentence essay about why Shabbat in Jerusalem is different than any other city in the world! (Stores are closed, people stay at home with their families, there are no buses so you walk around, etc…)

This is Bruce’s voice. From time to time I’ll be writing in italics. Shabbat in Jerusalem is pretty unique, whether or not you are Jewish and whether or not you are observant. All the stores close around 4 or 5pm Friday afternoon and don’t reopen until Saturday night or Sunday morning. ALL THE STORES INCLUDES FOOD STORES!!! Our first shabbat in Jerusalem, we realized around 3pm that we hadn’t yet shopped for the weekend and had no food in the refrigerator. We were on a bus going home wondering whether the supermarket was already closed and if we would slowly starve on Shabbat…… But we made it, and they closed the doors behind us ten minutes after we got in. The moral of the story is Shabbat is very relaxing but preparing for Shabbat can be harrowing!

Generally adjusting to daily life has been pretty easy and made easier by local friends, family, and Google maps. One of our favorite observations of the city is the men’s clothing stores we see while passing through Meah Shearim, an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood. The store walls are covered with the exact same white buttoned down shirt in different sizes, black belts, and black shoes. There are no other clothing options in the store!

We’re excited for the start of Pardes but a little sad to leave our classes–we spent a lot of time with those people! We will try to keep working on our Hebrew outside the classroom, maybe with some children’s books for 5 year olds… our current reading level 🙂

We are also appreciating how nice and welcoming everyone is here–something we weren’t quite expecting! Everyone in our ulpan courses and dorm suites has been super nice, hanging out during breaks, inviting us to Shabbat dinners, walking around the Shuk, etc. We’ve already met a few incoming Pardes students at social events and in our ulpan program, so we’re excited to get to know them better when it starts next week.

My birthday was on Tuesday, so we went out to a nice dinner in “Kikar Hamusica,” or Music Square, which has a bunch of different restaurants that share outdoor seating in front of a stage. Last week, all of the Aleph ulpan classes had a singing session with a guitarist who taught us some Israeli songs. And then lo and behold–our ulpan guitarist was the performer during our entire dinner!

After a week of intense apartment searching, which included me falling down a set of stone stairs (she’s ok though the bruise on her butt looked TERRIBLE), we finally settled on a beautiful sublet in the Talpiot area with two other Pardes students. (It has a garden and a COMPOST BIN!! AHHHHHH! ) We had to move out of our dorms on the 28th and can’t move into our sublet until September 1st, so we’re currently spending the weekend in Tel Aviv and Givatayim with Meirav, Bruce’s sister-in-law’s mom.

With lots of love,
Jhena & Bruce

One week ago today, Bruce and I left our homes in New York City to live in Israel for 10 months. For the month of August we are taking an Ulpan (immersive Hebrew) course at Hebrew University, and starting in September until May 2020, we’ll be studying at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies.

It’s been a whirlwind so far, and feels like we’ve already been here for months! So far we have: exchanged money, set up Israeli sim cards and Rav Kavs (transportation passes), taken and missed trains, buses, and light rails, fought with taxi drivers, maneuvered 8 bags of luggage through Jerusalem, bought groceries, started Ulpan and learned ~200 words, made new friends from all over the world, AND visited family.

This weekend was also Tisha B’Av, which commemorates the destruction of the temple (and many other Jewish tragedies), and is celebrated by fasting and sitting on the floor, among other things. We heard the chanting of Eicha (lamentations) on Saturday night and then went to the Kotel to hear it again on Sunday morning. As we left there were people still streaming in with their low stools and pillows to sit on!

We also had today off from Ulpan for Eid al-Adha, which according to Wikipedia, commemorates Abraham sacrificing his son as God commanded. Interestingly, Jews believe that Abraham was about to sacrifice his son Isaac at this moment, but Islam believes that the son mentioned is Ishmael!