tefillin its the new jew!

I just tried on some tefillin for the first time. I really want to try wearing it for a service one morning. It's going to happen. I'm thinking either tomorrow morning or thursday. Or whenever. You know. :]

Anyways. on to LIFE!

Last night was the ethics program. AMAZINGLY written. We had a scene with 9 different people. We were in court. Rabbi Eve was the Judge. There were 8 people involved. Mike Fuld and REK (Rabbi Elisa Koppel) were two RA's. Jesse and Michelle were two friends covering for Sam and Ben (aka Jesus) who went to go hook up after cabins in, in the teyatron. But then there was a fire and they couldnt find them because the couple lost track of time and got in trouble for not being in the right place in case of an emergency. We herd the case and what everyone had to say about their part. It was really interesting. And something that could totally happen. Then we broke up into pairs and rated the ethics from the worst to the not so bad. Then we got into groups of 5 and well, as every program does, discussed. We figured out questions to ask each of the people. People had very different ideas. It was such a great program. I dont really feel like going into all the details of it, but I'll tell you about it at another time.

Then I talked to Josh Winston for a while. It was good. Then I talked to D.Singer with a side of Ben Zeidman.

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So I didn't get to finish that blog. And I didnt get to blog today because Kutz found out about going on the roof of the teyatron. And I had to write an essay as my punishment. Here it is for all of you to enjoy.

Rachel Wolman’s Essay
It was a foggy morning with dew on the grass when my alarm went off at 4:55 am. I woke up and got dressed to meet outside Gabi, Josh, and Benny for what I did not realize was going to be something I may remember forever, but something so stupid if I was to get in trouble. For some reason I felt the thrill would be worth it even if I was to get caught. There are so many reasons why this was a terrible idea, that didn’t seem to hit me that foggy morning. First off, if one of us were to get hurt, fall off the teyatron, that would have been horrible. Another thing is that I want to be a future leader of the reform Jewish movement and this is not the way to act like it. The last thing that would be horrible if the teyatron was to fall apart on us because of its age. That would not be an easy thing to clean up. There for even though we have a great memory it was not worth the camp having a chance of getting in trouble.
As a future leader of North American Federation of Temple Youth and future staff member I should be setting an example for everyone. If any of us has slipped and fallen or something of the sort, we could of gotten horribly hurt. There were no security guards around, or anyone for that matter therefore, we could have not gotten any help or medical attention of any sort. And one of us could have gotten a tick bite from walking through the grass. We could have prevented that from not going that morning. One of us may have not realized that we had a rash and could have gotten terrible lime disease. The fact that the camp is totally responsible for all of us, this was one of the most dim-witted things we could have done to make the camp in that much trouble. We acted in foolish ways.
The Union for Reform Judaism’s North American Federation of Temple Youth’s Kutz Campus for Reform Jewish Teen Life is a place that creates some of the most influential leaders of our movement. As someone who aspires to be that one day, doing something so senseless and ridiculous that could get back to the Hebrew Union College (a place I will hopefully attend in the future) would not be so good for me if I want to have a future there. That also goes for the Union of Reform Judaism’s North American Federation of Temple Youth’s Kutz Campus for Reform Teen Life. I have a desire to become a staff member for this beautiful campus for reform Jewish teen life. As a staff member it is your job to be part of this community and enforce the rules of it. You have to be a role model for the program participants. As a future role model it was not exactly the safest or smartest thing to go on the roof of the teyatron at five in the morning to watch a foggy sunrise.
The teyatron has lots of memories and years on it. The beautiful overlooking of the lake really adds to the uses it gives us. Which is why we want it to stay. The fact that four program participants at the Union for Reform Judaism’s North American Federation of Temple Youth’s Kutz Campus for Reform Jewish Teen life went on the top of it, could in fact cause it to break. We were lucky that it didn’t, but if it did we could have gotten in even more trouble. It takes so much money and time to create a building, especially something as beautiful as the teyatron. I know program participants at the Union for Reform Judaism’s North American Federation of Temple Youth’s Kutz Campus for Reform Jewish Teen Life would be extremely upset with us if we did somehow destroy the teyatron. It’s something that really adds to the Kutz experience. We got extremely lucky.
Living in the Jerusalem of NFTY for the past five and a half weeks has been one of the most amazing experiences ever. I am just a teenager out to make careless mistakes. I am truly sorry for what I did and did not realize my errors in my ways. Now I have really though about the wrong doings I have done and can assure you that something like this of any sort will never happen again. When program participants of the Union for Reform Judaism’s North American Federation of Temple Youth’s Kutz Campus for Reform Jewish Teen Life think about going on the roof of the teyatron I can easily tell them many reasons why not to. They could get hurt, they could lose respect of their peers and elders, they could break the teyatron, and lots of other things. Thank you for taking time out of your day to read my essay. Shalom.