Contemplating the End of Summer

By Corey Rudman, Bus 18

Hello to all. My name is Corey Rudman. In contemplating what to write for this very blog post that you, the parents, are currently reading, I had a variety of options to choose from; I could’ve written about the past week in a basic format, write a recipe, or a whole variety of other things. Instead, I have elected to write a poem, with the genre being open. In all honesty, I have written this very quickly, in an effort to return to the free time I have given up to write this very poem.

As I sit in a floating chair, in a kibbutz outside of Tel Aviv, I can’t help but contemplate the speed of time. No sooner had I landed in Israel, blinking my eyes, did I come to understand that suddenly we have but a week left. So much has occurred, and yet it feels like so little. The time we have spent in various activities has been lovely, but the time I have enjoyed the most is the time with my friends. It’s the little things that matter, I often hear people say, but it takes experiencing the little things to understand this often cliche phrase. As I continue to write this poem-like trail of thoughts, I look at my friends surrounding me, giggling, talking, kibitzing like the good Jewish children we are, and I despise the fact that we will have to be separate so soon. These are the years that are so important in the foundation of who we are as people, and I am so lucky that I get to grow into the person I will one day become among all of my peers on this trip. As I finish up whatever it is I have just written, I will end with a phrase that means a lot to my friends and me: “How lucky I am to have something that makes goodbyes too hard.”

The Blessing over the Children of Israel on Shabbat. 

The Blessing over the Children of Israel on Shabbat.  יְבָרֶכְךָ יְיָ וְיִשְׁמְרֶֽךָ. יָאֵר יְיָ פָּנָיו אֵלֶֽיךָ וִיחֻנֶּֽךָּ. יִשָּׂא יְיָ פָּנָיו אֵלֶֽיךָ, וְיָשֵׂם לְךָ שָׁלוֹם. Y'varechecha Adonai v'yish'm'recha. Ya-er Adonai panav eilecha vichuneka. Yisa Adonai panav...

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Last Shabbat in Israel

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Dear Families of Yallah! Israel, As we arrive at our last Shabbat in Israel, it feels like time has flown by. On the one hand, it seems like the days have sped past, while on the other, even last Sunday feels far away given the wealth of experiences we've packed into...

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