What's New With Me (and, you know, Israel)

I don't know if there's so much new with me, but it's been an interesting week and it's worth an update anyway. Since the beginning of the semester I've been learning at the yeshiva full-time, which is about 8+ hours a day, 4.5 days a week. The first semester I was studying Hebrew in the mornings, and now I am studying Talmud. I read it without translation (which means, in Hebrew and Aramaic) and even after I finally figure out what it says (with a lot of help from my teacher), it still really hurts my brain to figure out what it means. I'm not sure I'm a natural-born Talmud scholar, but I do enjoy working my way through it. I'm definitely set on continuing my learning when I return to the States in whatever way I can.

On other news, yesterday was the first (and, as far as I can tell, the only) secular national holiday they've had here since I've arrived——Election Day. It was nice to have a day off; it was not nice, however, to see just how far right the war has turned Israelis. Months ago, when Livni was elected head of Kadima, the "central-left" party (which was not so very left) had so many seats in the Knesset it seemed pretty clear she would be the next prime minister. At this point, even that seems unlikely. I won't say anything else you can read in the newspaper, but I will say that it's difficult for me to watch. I typically think there's a lot of undue negativity about Israel in the foreign press, but I'm disheartened by a country that takes what happened in Gaza as a sign that the oppression is insufficient and the wars are not severe enough. I'm still trying to get familiar with the subtleties of all sides, but, in my mind, the big picture is definitely not a pretty one.