Rosh Chodesh Adar started off with a bang when we woke up Sunday morning to sneakers hanging from the ceiling. The girls hung shoes from the ceilings throughout the school and turned things upside down, placing construction signs everywhere. Rabbi Meisels office was turned into Dunkin Dougnuts and Mrs. Seruya's office into Starbucks.
That afternoon we went to the 'Million Man Atzeres' and were inspired and suffocated by the multitudes of people that came out to daven, lol... no really- it was inane. On the insane but awesome side- it was wickedly eerie. Imagine the scene: Foggy day, slight chill in the air, hundreds of thousands of people walking quietly through the streets toward the center of the city..... We felt like something big was happening. When they blew shofar toward the end of the davening, I totally froze. I thought moshiach was here and I was so afraid that I hadn't done complete teshuvah yet. My heart was beating so fast... wow. I wasn't the only one who had that thought. Wow. What an experience...
On the insane and OMG side, was just getting through the crowds to and from the Atzeres. Trying to get back to sem was SCARY. I can not even begin to describe it to you if you have never experienced it for yourself. The P'ninim girls and I linked arms and made a chain. We didn't let go no matter what. We pulled each other through the crowd and it took us about an hour to travel across the one street to our sem. Most of it I was looking at the person's back in front of me so I wouldn't hyperventilate by looking around me or focusing on the hundreds of bodies pressing against me from all sides. also Wow. Afterward the girls were joking that we could probably bentch gomel that we came out alive. :) I'll second the notion.
In the second picture, you can see that halfway through the mob of people the picture changes from all black to colored dots. That is where the separation of men and women was. The street on the right going up is Yaffo and that is where the women were standing. I was standing there also but a little further up the street than can be seen here (farther up then those tall buildings).
Sunday night we spent decorating Rabbi Meisels office like a spy/private investigator 'lair'. We put in a computer with all the camera's hooked up to it, all the keys to all the places in this building, handcuffs, guns, gloves, fingerprinting powder, ashtray and cigarette butts, fake passports with all his 'alter egos' (pictures of his past purim costumes that the girls made him), pictures of him on the wall, photos of all the girls on one wall with notes on them as if he is always stalking them, and a wold map with points on the other wall. They also turned his bathroom into a torture chamber by putting a chair in a creepy room and a fake life-size dead girl (using a shaitel head and a giant footy pajama). On the wall behind his desk we put pictures of him in other costume and other funny pictures that we found of him on google. The girls left him a costume- trench coat, fedora hat, sunglasses, ear-buds, and a pipe.
On his desk we left him a randsom note saying "You think you know everything but do you know where we are? p.s. If you ever want to see Daniel again... bring pizza." The note was coffee stained and burned. The letters were cut and pasted out of a magazine, and it was closed and stamped with a wax seal.
In the morning we chartered a bus to the private beach in Ashdod and planned to take his 3 year old son, Daniel with us. We had planned to send him pictures every half hour with Daniel in them and with hints to where we were going. End result- Daniel never made it and Rabbi Meisels never saw his office until after we got back from the beach... so it ended up being a nice day at the beach anyways... and then we tried to kidnap Daniel again in the afternoon and time it for when Rabbi Meisels would arrive by his office. That didn't work either but we did still manage to get ice cream out of him... and a BBQ for another night at his house. :D The bright side is that though our plan was fail after fail, we had a blast at the beach and were able to be proud of what we had done together as a group! :0) Everyone walked away happy.
At the end of the day I did do a little kidnapping of my own... if you can call stealing rabbi meisels credit card kidnapping, and took the other madrichot out for food at shefa mall. I felt we deserved it after all our hard work ;) Thank you Rabbi Meisels for being such a good sport!!
Another exciting thing happening in P'ninim is that we are well underway in our 'redesign' the lounge project! :) We have 3 walls painted, 1 couch and 1 rug moved in and a lot of ideas! :)
This week shabbos I will be Imy"H going to Ramat Beit Shemesh for a mini shabbaton by our very own Morning Eim Bayit- Mrs. Sklar's house. I will also be on call as a backup doula for someone who can't make it if the birth is on shabbos. With Hashem's help I will be able to enjoy the shabbaton in relative peace and not have to run off for a birth, but if it would happen it would certainly be an exciting twist. Last week I had an awesome shabbos by Esti Sackton. I couldn't sleep there because there were many girls who had gotten sick and couldn't go out for shabbos. The cook made meals for them and before shabbos I worked very hard to set things up for the girls so that they could run the meals smoothly and nicely and have a nice shabbos even if I wasn't going to stay for them. We set up the dining room beautifully and prepared the small kitchen with everything they needed including setting up the Plata's (electric hot plates) with food on it. I heard it was beautiful and I'm so happy they enjoyed it. I also really enjoyed hanging out with my friends Esti and Anastasia (Zimra)!!! I always do.... :D (Dramatic Happy Sigh), what would we do without friends???
Speaking of friends:
MAZAL TOV SARAH EPSTIEN!
For all of you who don't know- my friend Sarah Epstien (who came in for sarah's wedding and the next summer as well, who came to visit me in Israel for a month long in both p'ninim and chedvas, who sent me to p'ninim in the first place, through whom I vicariously went on my first date, who has saved me and advised me probably hundreds of times over) is getting married tomorrow!!!!! She is such a beautiful and special person and I can't help but be bursting with pride and hope and joy for her at this time. I soooooo much wish I could be there with her right now but with Hashem's help there will be many more important and wonderful times together. Shout out to my lovely soon to be Sarah Elbaz!!- I LOVE YOU SARAH!!!! and MAZAL TOV ASHER-although i'm sure you know it- YOU ARE GETTING ONE AMAAAAZING GIRL!!!!!!!!!!! May you two merit to build a true bayis neeman b'yisroel filled with happiness, peace, love, and blessing!!!
Looking forward to lots of good things coming up Imy"H!! :D Stay tuned for more exciting and interesting stories...
