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 Lasting Impact of Yallah! Israel

The Lasting Impact of Yallah! Israel

Shabbat Shalom from Rome!  What a week it has been! As we enter our final Shabbat together, we’re leaning into a powerful theme, impact. We are mindful of the impact we’ve had on each other, the impact these places have had on us, and the impact this journey will...

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