Raining in Yerushalayim

It's raining in Yerushalayim
The skies have open wide
Emotions of the heaven
No longer seem to hide

When tragedy strikes
Can the world mirror our pain
As the waters of our tears
Are reflected in the rain

Is this an overt blessing
Or just a terrible curse
Is life going to get better
Or only become much worse?

It's raining in Yerushalayim
The clouds wish to console
As it revives earth and life
We can finally reflect its role

Sufferers

Cognitive Dissonance is a disease. And the world suffers from it.

 

Symptoms include:

Delusions and Hallucinations

Inconsistent behavior

Lack of gratitude

Lack of recognition

Irrational actions

Rude speech

Causing harm to others

Anxiety

Low Self Esteem

 

Treatment: Redemption

Roller Coaster of Change

The world is changing fast

Can you keep with the pace?

Are you standing firm

Or thrown all about the place?

Did you read the paper?

Did you hear the news?

Everything is changing

Whether or not we choose

For good or bad

To lose greatness and splendor

Or to hear of celebration

In a gruesome murder

A prisoner finally free

How long we waited for this day

Even at the high price

We were forced to pay

What remains

When everything changes so fast

Can the only thing that will last

Be the memories we hold dear in our past?

A roller coaster of emotion and change

No one planned this track

We keep moving forward, gaining speed

And there is no way to go back

Hold on for this ride

We are heading straight for the unknown

Remain strong and true

You'll be safe, you won't be thrown

What happens when there are no more words left to write?

Noam Esther

I went to the wall

To pray for a girl

But I was too late

She'd already left this world

 

How could it be?

How could this be the plan?

G-d, I turn to you

An answer, I demand

 

I believe completely

With full faith I trust

That we live for a time

And then return to the dust

 

But a child, so dear

How can it be her time?

She barely had a chance

To live and to shine

 

I know that prayers

Did not go unheard

But in my limited mind

This still feels absurd

 

But now that she is gone

There is only one thing left to ask for

Let her reside near you

Healed, happy and smiling forevermore

 

L'ilui nishmas Noam Esther... keep singing...

Reminds me of a song...

The sheer irony of being in Jerusalem never ceases to amuse me. People who you would never see otherwise are suddenly boarding the same bus as you, turning the same corner, or eating in the same place.

Friends... acquantices... Or someone who knows someone who is in the same place as you... Your roommate... your cousin... a friend from camp... There was a group on Facebook (Sefer HaPanim as I like to call it) called Six Degrees of Seperation... and in Jerusalem, it's less than that. In a way it's comforting... you are never alone... you know someone and as a member of Klal Yisroel, Yidden are always looking to help. And in a way, it's rather disconcerting. It means being on your best behavior cuz you never know who will see you. It means in order to be by yourself, to have a moment to think, you have to escape far away.... and within in certain time constraints, it's sort of hard.

Coming to Israel has been an adjustment on many levels... a new school... a new housing situation... a new country... and way too many opinions and expectations. What is suitable for Ben Yehuda is no wheres near appropriate for Meah Shearim... and they are only a few blocks away! It's a lot to try and understand.

I have been here for a month almost. In that time I have spent many, many shekalim, collected a nice amount of maavers (bus passes), used one cartisiya,  been to several neighborhoods in Yerushalayim (Beit Hakerem, Bayit Vegan, Har Nof, Sanhedria, Rechavia, Geula, Meah Shearim, Kiryat Belz/Sanz, Ben Yehuda, Old City, Kotel), traveled outside of Yerushalayim, and gone on the light rail more times than I can count. One month, and it feels like a lifetime.

It's Yom Kippur on Shabbos. I can't say I am ready for it. I don't even think I am fully aware of the awesomeness of the day.. yet, I am prepared to go to davening and tell HK"BH that I want to live... I want to be inscribed for life... I hope He agrees.

Gmar Chasima Tova

 

(By the way, did you guess the song?)

 

 

City Streets and Catching Up

Walk through these streets... I don't think I have ever seen a painting so colorful... heard a song so lively and loud... smelled an aroma so deep and inviting...

Ah, the streets of Yerushalayim... I am amazed, shocked and amused every time I walk the streets, get on a bus or board the now functioning Light Rail (a life saver for poor Seminary students... its currently free!)

I have spent a good part of my time here so far wandering the streets, lost in my own thoughts, admiring the different people and sites. The other day I got lost going to the Kotel (Don't laugh) and ended up between two churches in the orange glow of the street lights at night... when the church bells tolled the time, and all I could do was laugh at myself...

I have been to the Kotel in the morning, just as the day is beginning... the world feels fresh and new... and the calm at the Kotel square feels just like home. The afternoon hustle and bustle makes me edgy and the heat as the sun sets on the wall always burns... but night- now that is an experience. You can almost feel the urge and the need, the want and the desperation to be next to the wall... to simply pray and talk to G-d... or to unburden a whole day or week's worth of pain and frustration...

Every time I go out I feel myself go on high alert- who will I see? What amusing event will happen? The world seems so much smaller in Yerushalayim... it's comforting and confusing all at the same time.

Rosh Hashana was pleasent... I stayed with my cousins near Modiin. They live in a Yishuv where there is every kind of person- from shorts and tshirts to curly payos and sheitels... In a moment of bravery, I asked to have the fish eye... of course, the moment it landed on my plate in all it's jelly, gooey glory I lost my sense of adventure... At least I tried :)

I have been in Israel for almost a month and have fallen in love with life here... sure, it's not as cushy as America and I feel the strain of living as my own person, it's still incredible and I am extremely blessed to have the chance to learn here.

It's a new year... I can't wait to find out what's in store...