Hello, everybody! I just finished perhaps the best month of my experience thus far at Hebrew Union College (but I say that every month). I am taking advantage of Israel’s close proximity to Europe by doing a lot of traveling this year. For Sukkot I went to Prague, Krakow/Auschwitz, and Budapest, and my airfare was only $450 round trip, I did the whole trip for around $1000. Keep in mind that from the US, this would be at the cheapest the cost of your airfare alone! Next month we have a four day weekend for Chanukkah, so a few friends and I are going to Sinai. Later in the year I’m looking forward to visiting the town where my grandfather was born in Ukraine; then after school gets out, going to Austria, Egypt, and a bunch of other places with Israeli friends that I have made since being here! Anyway, what made this past month so great? First, we had a three-day field trip to the north of Israel. I love the north, it is so beautiful. We explored a lot of the history of modern Zionism and the State of Israel, as well as our history to the land at ancient archaeological sites, such as Tel Dan. Following the trip, my mother came out to visit me! It was her first time ever in Israel, and it was great to see her. I really enjoyed showing her all around the country, and she totally thought that I was an expert on Israel when we were in the north, even though I was actually regurgitating the information that our teachers had told us just a few days prior. Though my Hebrew needs much improvement, my mom was so impressed with my ability to order in restaurants, ask for directions, communicate with cab drivers and talk in the market (the shuk!), and this was after only a few months of ulpan. Next month my brother comes out for his first trip to Israel and then my girlfriend comes out for a month to visit me during our two week vacation. This past month I have also gotten very close with the Ethiopian children who I work with as my Truma project at the absorption center. They are very cute and sweet kids who love to play.

Though the past month was fun, unfortunately I got really sick last week. I had a 1030 fever for three days. I live alone and I was wondering how I was going to survive and get caught up on my classes. The community here is amazing though, I have never experienced anything so wonderful. I actually had to turn my phone off to get some rest because of the amount of phone calls that I received from concerned classmates offering to bring me dinner, run to the grocery store for me, and bring over homework and their notes for me to copy. My teachers were also very accommodating, which is a nice change coming from a university of twenty thousand where you are mostly just a number to your professors. On a bummer note, we have had a lot of midterms over the past week, but many of them were take-home tests so it is pretty neat being able to take your exams in the comfort of your bed!

That’s all for now!
--Sam Spector