Throughout the day on Friday we had three seminars (with food in between, of course). For each seminar we were given two options of lectures. Since all of the options seemed interesting, choosing was a serious dilemma. However once I finally chose, I was not let down.
My favorite of the three seminars was one entitled, "Jonah: The "Art" of Prophecy" given by Rabbi Matt Berkowitz. In this seminar we dissected the Torah portion about Jonah (which is read on Yom Kippur afternoon) through artwork. Rabbi Matt started by showing us a piece of artwork by David Moss where he depicts each verse of the story of Abraham through the use of colors and shapes. After looking at the story of Abraham, we then created our own story of Jonah in a similar fashion.
Moss's artwork works as a scroll with the first section being the top photos seen here. In this initial frame, Moss presents a key that shows what each color represents. For instance, blue is God, white is Abraham, red is Isaac, and brown is land. After this frame, he then goes on to show each verse as a new picture. In the clip I have chosen (as seen in the second photo above), Abraham is taking Isaac to the mountain and they are climbing up it. As you see the white circles (Abraham) are going with the blue triangle (God) up the brown (land) mountain and at the top of the mountain is white (Abraham) and red (Isaac). I found this artwork extremely cool and was really excited to create our own version for the story of Jonah. We gave our scroll to one of the OTZMA staff who said she would scan it for us, so once we are given an electronic version of it I will post it as well. However, if you are interested in seeing Moss's full work you can find it at http://www.davidmoss.com/category.aspx?id=39&subcategory=87&page=0
Friday night after our last dinner (Seudah Mafseket), I went with about a dozen people to Kol Nidre services at Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem. First off, the services were beautiful. However, even more than that, it was incredible to be in an English speaking service with a to die for view. The Bima was located in front of a wall full of windows that overlooked the old city. To make it even better, during Kol Nidre the sun set and we were able to watch a beautiful sunset over the old city of Jerusalem. Needless to say, the service was an incredible experience.
After sleeping in on Saturday, a few friends and I took a walk to the old city and walked through a dead city. The beauty of Jerusalem during Yom Kippur is that there is not a single car on the road so everyone walks (and bikes) in the streets. There are tons of little kids biking around and families walking to and from shul, however absolutely no cars. It is quite a site to see.
Anyways, it was an incredible weekend but now I am back in Ashkelon and need to go study for a quiz tomorrow in Ulpan.
Hope everyone had a great Yom Kippur.
GO BLUE!
Jenn
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