Ten Days

I should confess that since the day in January when I booked my plane ticket home in May, I have had a countdown on my Google homepage. It started at more than 100 days. It seemed like forever. Don’t get me wrong: I’m happy here and this has been a fantastic, educational, eye-opening, growth-filled year. When I first posted it, the countdown was really counting down to when I would be home for the first time in eleven months, when I would see everyone at home again. The countdown was likened to a high fever, a hot day, a beautiful spring day, a cold winter day. Now it’s at ten days. A week and a half. (“Less!” says Michael.) It is still counting down until I see everyone again, but now it’s also counting down my time in Israel in a way it wasn’t before. Lauren and I tried to schedule a fun shopping trip together. There isn’t time. Between my exam schedule and her work and travel schedule, there is no afternoon we can spend together before I leave. I had to go to my favorite Friday night service for the last time last week, because with the other Shabbat activities that were scheduled, there was not time for me to go again after that. It is strange to think that I really did, eventually, adjust to living here, and now I’m doing things for the last time. I cannot wait to come home. But I also know that I will be leaving here with the knowledge that through all its problems and issues, I love Jerusalem and Israel, and I will be back. When I return, it will not be as a tourist looking at things for the first time, but the way I return to Princeton. I will notice everything that has changed, visit all of my favorite places, and try to cram my whole experience of this year into a visit of a few days. I look forward to that challenge. Or, I will, once I’m at home and have given big hugs to everyone I haven’t seen in months, and I realize how much I really do miss life in Israel.

At HUC, we have two dominant topics of conversation right now. One is leaving. We discuss packing progress (none), shopping trips, apartment issues (such as potentially having to cancel internet a few days before leaving), what we’re going to miss, what we’re looking forward to at home. The other is exams. What we’ve finished (all my written work: three papers and an assignment in Hebrew, and my oral Bible exam), what we still have (oral liturgy exam, Hebrew exam, Biblical Grammar exam), when we finish (Tuesday morning!), our studying progress (well, I’m blogging). We had an end of the year ceremony on Thursday, where each teacher and administrator was individually thanked by one student. The presentations were remarkably well done. Most were under a minute, but evoked the relationship we have with our professors and staff here. Most of the presentations shared some memories of time spent together, and all of them were heartfelt thanks to the people who have taught us so much about our religion, our history, our country, ourselves.

Last night we had an HUC community Shabbat, with our own services and dinner. Services were outside on the lawn, and we were literally facing the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City. Every week, anywhere in the world, we pray facing in Jerusalem. In Jerusalem, we face toward the Old City and the Temple Mount. But from inside, anywhere in the city, the old city is not usually visible. But last night, we were literally facing Jerusalem. We watched the sun set over the walls. We sang “Yerushalayim Shel Zahav” (Jerusalem of Gold) and watched the walls turn gold with the setting sun. That view cannot be beat anywhere in the world. After services, we had dinner, also outside. I love that it’s finally (more or less) warm enough and dry enough to plan outdoor events with confidence. We watched a slide show that was put together by a couple of my classmates, showing pictures and video footage of the whole year. Some of the pictures went all the way back to last summer, and we laughed at events that had been forgotten (like Ethan’s attempt at a Kilo Burger) and hairstyles that have changed. We were one community, but in the back of our minds was that we were one community that, by Shabbat next week, is no longer going to be together.

I cannot wait to get back home and have so many reunions with people I have not seen for so long. I am looking forward to all those hugs! But before that, there are the hugs goodbye. There are so many people here who I will have to say goodbye to. Some I will see over the summer or in Cincinnati next fall, but others I will not. Some are staying in Israel, and while I am confident I will see them again, I have no idea when. Some are going to the other HUC campuses, and while we promise to visit and keep in touch, they’re going to be big hugs, because only time will tell when I will next see them again. HUC has been my family this year. We’ve gotten each other through so much. And I’m going to try to have the best last ten days here that I can. Or a productive three-and-a-half until my last exam, and then a great last week.

Shabbat shalom!