It’s been 5 months since I’ve posted anything on this blog, and it’s not because I’ve been too busy. I’ve just been journaling every day, and it fills me up so much that I forget to write here. Side note: … Continue reading These 5 Ways of Thinking Have Changed My Life

Ok ok ok ok it’s time for a brain dump! I have learned SO many things in the past few months. I’ve learned how to have better boundaries (but it’s a work in progress!). I’ve learned a new language; how … Continue reading Oh, The Places You’ll Go!

This is my kinda my life here. I live somewhere just long enough to get settled, and then I pick up again. I’m feeling down right now. It has been a really blessed 4 months of being a madricha (dorm … Continue reading This is The Life

I reluctantly admit that I should probably be calling it Sukkot by now, but that challenges my allegiance to family tradition. I can’t be fully Israeli, you know? Besides, I practically bargain on my groceries at this point, so I feel like I passed the Israeli test. It was so beautiful to see all the preparations for the Yom Tov going on all around me. (These pictures are from the Sukkah Shuk [market] down the block from me.)   I made a little video for you of what it looked like: https://youtu.be/rJiJ3dXlp3A Beginning the hour after the Yom Kippur fast ended, … Continue reading On Sukkah Skylines and Moving On

I asked my teacher if everything that we saw on the cancer would be on the test. She looked confused. That’s when I learned that sirton (film) and sartan (cancer) are not the same thing. Earlier this year, I accidentally … Continue reading How’s Your Hebrish?

You know those people who drive you mad in the morning being all cheerful before you’ve had your coffee? I’m afraid I’ve joined their ranks. Pesach has come and gone, and I can honestly say that I feel freer. My … Continue reading The Art of Map Drawing

My heart has been pumping on gratitude these past few weeks, and it’s been on my lips at night before going to sleep. I am bad at receiving. On top of that, I’m fiercely independent and tend towards people-pleasing. Giving … Continue reading Being Brave

I got to spend shabbos with the Werners, close family friends who I’ve known since age 7. They had a really difficult aliyah, harder than most people can imagine. Everything unexpected that could have happened did, and there were many … Continue reading Surviving or Thriving?

It’s been just two days since my last post, but things changed so immediately. Sometimes I wonder if surprise and spontaneity are part of the building blocks of Israel; maybe they’re just part of developing faith. Or maybe I’m growing … Continue reading In the Blink of an Eye

I spent Friday night with an old Moroccan couple down the block from me. Their house looked like it hadn’t been renovated for hundreds of years; there were domed ceilings and narrow doorways, and old menoras hanging on the wall. … Continue reading Moroccan Shabbos, Jobs, and the Gift of Friends