Two and a half months and still not used to the water

Thank G-d that's the only thing I haven't gotten used to. Well, maybe the whole white shirt, black pants routine looks a little mundane, but who am I to judge fashion?

This past week went by quickly. The school is still on break so I spent a lot of time in the beis (pronounced bayes) studying. I've taken a liking to the Musar (pronounced Moos-ur) movement. You can wikipedia it, but basically it was a movement that began right before the reform movement in Germany that intended to revive an awe of G-d and development of the self through the use of psychology. So yea, pretty cool stuff. There's one auther called the Ramchal that never wasted a word. Every sentence packs tremendous meaning, it's like nothing I've ever read!! If you're interested, look up "Path of the Just" or "The Way of G-d". Truly amazing things that will tax your brain.

Also, last weeks parsha, section of the Torah dealt with two important messages. The first one involves Aaron's sons being killed by G-d for lighting a "strange fire" upon the altar. While they were correct halachically (halacha or halakah is the Jewish Law) correct, the reason they died was because they did not ask their teacher Moses or their father, Aaron, what to do. This message comes to me at a time when I'm beginning to really learn all this Jewish stuff and able to formulate my own opinions and arguments. This parsha, however, reminds me that no matter how much I know, I must show respect for my teachers and elders in addition to beware of arrogance.

Secondly, the parsha mentioned that we never truly run from our sins. When Aaron approached the alter to begin his duties, he saw the golden calf (the altar formed the appearence of a cow because it had "horns") and recoilled back. Moses had to snap him out of it and said, "Aaron, it's time to do your duties and move past your sins but don't forget." I read today that "Woe to the man who forgets his sins" because he/she will never learn or inevitable make the same mistakes.

Now, I've always been the "I never regret anything" kind-of-guy, but this says otherwise. Regret is indeed important if you did something without thinking or that was foolish. Could be a person you shouldn't have hooked up with "just because you were drunk" or buying that lame-ass Smashmouth album back in the day. Referencing more to my relationship with other people, I did some stupid things like people do. But where I'm changing as a person, is that I don't want to hurt people ever again. Whatever I did to people, I strongly regret hurting them. I publicly apologize to all those I hurt through my actions and ask for their forgiveness as I was always and will always be held accountable for my actions.

But like Moses said, time to move on. I don't want to "live" in my regret, but learn from it to make myself better.

We'll see what this week has to offer and I hope that everyone has a fantastic week. This is Zack signing out from Jerusalem

Peace

Pesach Cleaning

It's currently the Pesach break at the school (Yeshiva) so most of the school left to travel or go back home. I however chose to work for 11 days cleaning houses. Just when I began to think Jews were not so bad, I became their slave (which will bring a new appreciation to Pesach this year when the Jews left the slavery in Egypt). But what a couple of chemical burns and a cough that sounds like the black lung as a result from inhaling oven cleaner? I'm doing it for the good of Jewish families and they appreciate what I do. Plus it means I can stay at the Yeshiva for at least a year.

Speaking of staying at the Yeshiva. My appartment was police raided a couple of days ago. They were looking for drugs 0n a student in my dorm that was fortunately leaving for America that night. However, they found 80 grams of weed on another student in my dorm. He's now fighting for his right to stay in the school. Personally, kick him out. On the other hand, he messed up and deserves a second chance. Thus, I'm torn on the issue.

In a couple of days begins Pesach (Passover). People are buying suits and new things. I need deoderant. The weather is slowly warming up finally. I know in a couple of weeks I'll complain about the heat. There's just no pleasing me I guess. Once I'm no longer working, I can begin planning for my neuroscience class that I will teach at the school. There's so much religion and philosophy, yet no science. So, I guess it's up to me. And no, I don't have a messianic complex because the messiah comes from the family of David whereas I'm a Cohen. Hopefully the class will provide people with a better understanding of just how amazing the brain is so they can appreciate what a gift it is.

Zack's final thoughts:
If the paint on the bench is wet, get off.