I’m going to try my best to catch up to current events. High Holidays will probably need a whole entry of their own.

Mayanot has about 60 bocherim, though during the summer they have almost twice that. The guys are from all over the English and Spanish speaking world. I’m lucky that I can speak both languages, but it makes learning Hebrew that much more confusing. I can’t count how many times I’ve accidentally ordered a falafel or tried to buy something in the shuk in Spanish instead of Hebrew.

I was worried my Hebrew would stagnate here, being around Anglos and Latinos instead of Israelis, but there is plenty of opportunity to improve if you’re motivated. We have written Ulpan for 4 hours a week, and spoken Ulpan for 6; most of the guys who have already been here a year or more speak Hebrew fine. I hope I’ll be at that point by the end of my stay here.

Our spoken Ulpan teacher is an older Temani man who we call moreh Atzmi. He’s clever and funny, and speaks with that funny Temani accent. The other teachers are all Chabad rabbis with a few exceptions. The Navi teacher has Rabbanut smicha, and I think our written ulpan teacher does as well. The faculty is a pretty mixed bag overall: There’s a chasid from Antwerp, Belgium, who teachers Chumash, our history teacher moonlights as a dentist, and my Gemara teacher is actually a Mayanot graduate himself.

If I were to go all the classes, including the lectures and tutorials in the evenings, I could literally be studying for 9 or 10 hours a day. Add eating and sleeping and basic hygiene, and I could never leave the walls of the yeshiva if I wanted to. Fortunately, neither I nor most of the bocherim are quite so inclined. Jerusalem is an interesting and exciting city after all, and we make sure to get out at least every week. There’s a group of guys who like to perform on Ben Yehuda; one does devil sticks, one juggles cigar boxes, and another guy does a routine involving a burning rope.

Shabbos is coming early. More later.

Yoel David