Yicchus not Yuck-us

"The Torah can get you so high... I mean so, so high. Like you have no idea," said the man with a look of sheer ecstasy (no pun intended) on his face.

Everyone from Yeshiva started laughing. One thought went through my mind: Tzfat sure is quite a place. Where else could you hear a religious man with a long beard talk about highs the Grateful Dead would have envied? Even that conversation, though, couldn't begin to prepare me for my Shabbat stay in the holy city. 

When we arrived in Tzfat and looked out from the city's Jerusalem Street, one couldn't help but feel in a different world. White puffy clouds surrounded the entire city, which appeared to be floating in the sky. It was as if we were in heaven, only I envision heaven as having better pizza.

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Once in a lifetime?

People always asked me why I decided to go to Yeshiva for the year, and before I arrived in Israel I never really had good answers. To learn Jewish texts, well sure, that was an integral part of it, but I guess I could have learned anywhere in the world for the year. So when asked, I kept falling back on the good 'ole  "It's a once in a lifetime experience" line. It was great: a taut one-liner that somehow convinced most people that I knew why I wanted to go to Israel. In hindsight, that platitude was only a self-justification, a way to convince myself that I was making the right choice. Once in a lifetime experience--big deal, there are a lot of things that I might only have the chance to do once, but I don't put off college to do them.

But off I went, and now here I am, four months in and having a great time. Am I glad I came?  No doubt about it. Do I know, in hindsight, what are the "real reasons" to spend the year learning in a yeshiva in Israel? Maybe not 100%, but I think I'm getting there. 

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