Chick flick or philosophical life ponderings?

I just watched Garden State. I liked it. A lot. Great movie. Natalie Portman is gorgeous, but that's not the only reason the movie is good.

The movie essentially follows Zach Braff (of Scrubs fame) as he returns to the Garden State (that's New Jersey for those Canadians who don't fly in to Newark every summer for camp) for his mother's funeral. Sad sad sad. His life ends up being changed when he meets Sam (played by Portman)

Okay, that's enough exposition.

The film definately has a lot of hidden and not so hidden perspectives on life, life choices, and life altering choices. So much of it resonated with me and my experience growing up in Thornhill - or Jewville as it is affectionatly known. But there's this thing tugging at me.... was it just a chick flick with good writing?

I don't think so. I hope not. Because when movies resonate philosophically with me, I love it. It gives me faith that there are true geniuses in the world, people who can tap into the human experience and project it in a media that's accesible by the masses.

That's what music is. Music taps into realms of the human psyche, translates the unintelligible nature of humanity, and projects it out into the world in an intelligble manner. As Nietzsche so eloquently put it: "Without music, life would be pointless"

So I'll sleep on it, dream of the beautiful Natalie Portman, and hopefully wake up not thinking I spent my evening watching a chick flick.

People I've run into in Israel

Israel is the coolest, you run into people in the most unexpected places and it's so fantastic. Here's a running tally of people that I've seen (all but one were completely unaranged and random!)

1. Wes Peskin
2. Rachel Petroff
3. Adam Rosenwasser
4. Seth Winberg
5. David Ladon's brother
6. David Singer
7. Noah Fabricant
8. Emma Gottlieb
9. Isaac Saposnik
10. Matt Rogers
11. Jason Fenster
12. Mike Fuld
13. Mike Mason
    
14. Noam Katz
15. Two cute Israei girls from Kutz a few summers back.
16. A ton of people who go to Hebrew U and know people I do back at York

So much fun.

Shalom M'Yisrael!

It's day 11 here in Israel, and the third day after the official end of the Hillel Pluralism trip. The details of the Pluralism mission are far too many to list right now, but I'll be sure to get into them at some later point. After the trip ended on Tuesday night, those of us who were staying on together headed over to stay at Beit Shmuel at Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem; we've been here since. Tuesday night I promptly fell asleep and stayed in a blissful state of rest for 11 hours. It was more sleep than I think I got on the whole trip.

Wednesday morning, we awoke to pouring rain, but nonetheless bounded out of bed, went down to breakfast, then headed out for a (wet) day on Rechov Ben Yehuda. Wandering around the shops was fun in the rain, and it was cool meeting all the kids from Birthright who are the first group to be allowed back on Ben Yehuda since the start of the Matzav.

Last night, we went out for dinner at Burger's Bar, which is by far the most amazing burger joint in the country. We went to the one on Emek Refayim our first night here, so it was fun to hit up the one on Ben Yehuda last night. After a great dinner, we headed out to a Hookah bar in the area and chilled for the rest of the night. It was Kol Tov.

This morning, Jessica, Shuli and I woke up early to grab breakfast and then head out to PARDES (the pluralistic Institute of Jewish Studies that we spent a lot of time at on the trip) for a day of studying. In the morning, I attended a Chumash class that was studying Lech Lecha this day. The intent of the teachers and students truly is awe-inspiring. They study the text so closely that they're only able to get through a few p'sukim (verses) each day. We got through four this morning - a high point for the class!

After the morning studying, we davened Mincha then had a delicious group lunch where a fantastic Jewish storyteller was speaking and telling stories. She was great. We ended our trip to PARDES by meeting with one of the adminstrators who answered some questions for us and basically just talked about what the institute has to offer. I am 99% sure that I'll be applying to spend a year there before I go to HUC. It will definately provide me with a stronger background in Talmud, Halachah, and Chumash. And Hebrew, of course!

For now, I plan on taking a nap, then later tonight we're going to the Kotel Tunnels. After that it will be chilling out in Jerusalem no doubt. For Erev Shabbat, a few of us plan on going to the Kotel, then to Kol Haneshama for T'fillah. Shabbat morning we'll stay at HUC for services. Once Shabbat is out, we'll be heading out to Haifa for the weekend, with a day trip to Tzfat in the works for Sunday.

Monday we'll probably spend in Tel Aviv, then Monday night we're off to the airport. I'd have to be up at 4:30 to get to the airport if we stayed in Tel Aviv, so a few of us are going the night before with the people who are leaving that night. We'll just crash on the floor somewhere and be able to save paying for a night in a hostel.

That's the plan for now, I'll be sure to keep this updated when I can. And stay tuned for pictures and highlites from the rest of the trip!

L'hitraot!