Saturday, May 19, 2012

End of Year Wrap-Up!

Well folks, it's been quite a journey since we first moved "Straight to Yerushalayim." Thanks for following our adventure. (Sorry for the three month posting-hiatus this spring.) For our final post, we'd like to share this toast we offered our classmates at the last Shabbat together. Enjoy! (Words are below the video.)

With love,
Leah and Daniel



It's time for reflection
And deep introspection
On our class's connection
We've made here at school.

We started rehashing.
Ideas starting flashing.
We wrote this while crashing
the King David pool.

We arrived in July,
Expectations were high
When we landed, I cried.
I admit, I'll confess.

After one week of ulpan—
Our books on the shulchan—
We realized the school
Conned us into this mess.

But with trips to the wall
Shabbas sounding her call
We were destined to fall
With an image ideal.

And what's not in your guidebook
Will give you a side look
No starry wide-eyed look.
This city is real.

Headlines we're digesting
Are so interesting
Ha Am is Doreshing
Tzeddek Chevrati

The news that took shape here—
Did you not buy the paper
On the day of escape
For one Gilad Shalit?

We went over the green line
In order to refine
Or perhaps even define
What "pro-Israel means"

You can't quite explain it
Though we've heard a refrain that
It's more complicated
Than everything seems.

The polarization
Of our Jewish nation
So much fragmentation
It does us no good.

Mechitzas divide us
But what unifies us
Can help us to rise up
And that's peoplehood.

On Shabbat it's no problem—
Barechuni l'shalom—
A minyan to daven
Is just down the street

A day that's been blessed
To give money a rest
But you walk into Resto
It's all HUC.

If you want a waffle
Babette's isn't awful
You're talking falafel?
We're talking top tier.

If you're looking to nom
On the best hummus stam
Ben Sira's the bomb.
Hey, you can't say that here.

Our time at the College
Is building our knowledge.
We all feel enthralled with
Our liminal space.

And although the classes
Have beaten our asses
The truth is the staff is
The heart of this place.

Dave and Jeremy's framing
And Helen's emailing
Nancy deals with complaining
They make this place flow

And we garner respect
From the students at Schechter
Our program director
Wrote "Pharaoh, Pharaoh."

We've finished our classes
Paid Arnona taxes
And all made our last
Shabbas shop at the shuk.

Our time here is waning
But don't start complaining
The memories worth framing
Are on the Gimbel's Facebook

So if you'll please raise a glass
To one hell of a class
And we'll toast to our last
Shabbas meal as a group

From Eilat to Haifa
This year's seen some strife
But l'chaim, to life!
To our year in Yerush!

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