Current mood:	tired
Current music:	The World Series, Game 4

Month of Av-Elul 5766 - חודש אב-אלול תשס"ו (July 26 - September 22, 2006)
בס"ד

IY"H, G-dwilling, this is the last time I'll need to put 2 months in 1 entry. I'm caught up to Rosh Hashanah. Next entry I'll try to fill in Tishrei and get back to date.

**Note that when you see 2 asterisks (**) it means that I'm adding comments based on the fact that today is October 27 - ה' מרחשון and a lot happens in 1-3 months, some of which applies to stuff written in this journal.

Month of Av-Elul 5766 - חודש אב-אלול תשס"ו (July 26 - September 22, 2006)

Wednesday, July 26 - א' אב:
Tonight was my last night in the Machon Lev dorms, after 5 years.
I read the Torah this morning for Rosh Chodesh.
The apartment is almost ready to go! We got a refrigerator, dining room table and chairs, and bookcases today. It's a classic old fridge that still works from Meah Shearim for 500 ₪, and a wooden dining room table that fits 6 comfortably, up to 8, maybe even 10, for 300 ₪, 4 matching wood chairs with black metal back for 50 ₪ each, shipping was 100 ₪ for the whole thing, and 30 ₪ for the worker to help bring it up and reassemble it so it was 1,130 ₪ overall. From Home Center we got 2 book cases, 230 ₪ each plus 100 ₪ for shipping so that's 560 ₪ so basically it was a 1700 ₪ shekel day, but we got a lot of stuff that we needed.
dissappointed, v'hamevin yavin, but even if u know my code words and can guess what i'm talking about, it's more than that...
I found out tonight that the girl I went out with the other day is going to America for medical school next year. Apparently she wasn't sure the other day, but she pretty much decided by now. And it might not be just next year, it might be the next 4-5 years. Uch! I really liked her and I got the feeling that she kinda liked me too. So annoying! But at least it was only 1 date. So I was a little dissappointed tonight. But I didn't let it ruin my last night in the dorms.

Thursday, July 27 - ב' אב:
My phone line and internet got transferred to my new apartment this afternoon. Tonight, 3 friends (Shmuel, Yitz, Ariel) came over to help me move. Yitz brought his parents car, which was a HUGE help, and we spent all night moving. About 90% of the stuff is in the new place already. When we finished, we ordered pizza, relaxed, talked, put up more Mezuzot, and had a kind of Chanukat HaBayit. Ah it feels great to be sleeping in my new apartment for the first time!!!
My new address: Rechov (street) Heller 7, Apartment #16, 4th floor. 3 bedrooms, kitchen, dining room, living room, 2 full bathrooms. It's a great place. Come check it out!

Shabbat, July 28-29 - ד' אב:
I did some crazy shopping for my 1st Shabbat in the new apartment with Michael friday and met up with our old shul friend (Larry) by the shuk.
I spent my last Shabbat in Israel for the summer in my new apartment! It was a fun, quiet, and relaxing 1st Shabbat. I ate by Etan and Rosa Friday night (**who have since moved out of the neighborhood and had another kid), hosted Michael with my former roommate and current apartment-mate, Nachman, for lunch and Seudah Shlishit - our 1st Shabbat meals in the new place. We sang, talked divrei torah, played Set, cards, and watched a movie after Shabbat.

Sunday, July 30 - ה' אב:
I got paid for some of my photo essays on Jacob Richman's site today, then spent the bus ride back entertaining a baby. More apartment setting up, organizing, and shopping today.
We had a little ice cream and cake dessert for dinner tonight to celebrate my 23rd birthday - Vav Av - ו' אב - Av 6th - my Jewish birthday.
I talked to some family and an old friend today.

Monday, July 31 - ו' אב:
I davened shacharit at the Kotel and read the Torah (in another Kotel minyan) - my Bar Mitzvah parshah, then lots of errands in town - walked around for over 3 hours.
Michael came by in afternoon and we watched a movie before heading out for 2 more.
We went to 2 Gush Katif memorial video showings at Heichal Shlomo tonight - 1 about a boy from Morag and 1 about Netzer Hazani - from a basketall tournament to teens to the expulsion itself. The 2nd video is called Home Game and is worth seeing - www.homegamethemovie.com. Very well produced videos. Before the videos, I introduced Michael to the Zichron Moshe minyan factory. There are more events tomorrow (in Israel and across the USA) in memory of Gush Katif.
Today was 6 Av til sunset, so I'm officially 23 by the Jewish calendar!

Tuesday, August 1 - ז' אב:
Today is Gush Katif memorial day!
I went to the Gush Katif memorial rally at Gan Ha'Atzma'ut. I bought a letter in a Sefer Torah in memory of Gush Katif (that is going to be given to the Kotel until the return to Gush Katif when we will take it back) at the rally in the park, among many other things. There was a whole display from each yishuv. Many of the expellees were there and it was a moving memorial. Then we had a sea of orange march over to the Kotel with the Menorah from the Shul in Netzarim. There we joined the big prayer rally for the war with some big rabbis. That was followed by a Hachnasat Sefer Torah for the Torah in which I bought a letter a few hours earlier.
Tonight I went back to Machon Lev with my roommate and we finished clearing out our room completely and brought the last batch of stuff by taxi to our new home. That took longer than expected.

Wednesday, August 2 - ח' אב:
My flight was supposed to be Motzaei Tisha B'Av, tomorrow night, but I had a miscommunication with El Al. The best I could do with rearranging my ticket was to get it for this morning, so that's what I did. That sure beat flying on Tisha B'Av itself or flying into Newark last night - early this morning. So this morning, after not sleeping at all last night because cleaning out our room took too long and other stuff and 45 minutes of packing before the 5:45 AM minyan, I left Israel as a tourist for the last time.
When I changed my ticket, I had asked for a Glatt Kosher meal (all meals on El Al are Kosher, but you can request a higher standard of Kashrut), but apparently my request was too late. Normally I wouldn't care so much, but you're not supposed to eat meat during the 9 days, especially the week of Tisha B'Av, so I knew the Glatt Kosher meal would be Pareve. But they didn't have extra Glatt Kosher meals, and I don't even remember if I asked for a vegetarian meal or not, but I was way too tired to start complaining so I took the regular meal and ate a little bit of the chicken.
My parents picked me up at the airport and we came home with just enough time to go to Minchah and eat our last meal before the fast.
You're not supposed to greet people on Tisha B'Av so it was weird for all my friends who wanted to greet me tonight at shul. Ma'ariv and Eichah at Utopia were, well, Ma'ariv and Eichah. But it's just not the same as doing it in Jerusalem. You may feel the exile more, so from that perspective Tisha B'Av would seem to be more meaningful outside Jerusalem, but you also feel more removed the land and the city so it's not as meaningful as actually being in the city and feeling the destruction of the Temple and hearing the Arab moazin coming from where the Holy of Holies, may it be rebuilt and established speedily, stood.

Thursday, August 3 - ט' אב:
I read the Torah for both minyans at Utopia Jewish Center this morning - the Torah reading comes from this week's Parshah, which is my Bar Mitzvah Parshah. I also did the haftarah for 1 of the minyanim, which is tough because you have to go back and forth between Eichah trop and regular haftarah trop. The fast went well - I spent all morning saying Kinot and all afternoon watching videos - 1st I watched a few Gush Katif memorial videos, then the Chofetz Chaim Heritage Foundation video at shul, followed by the OU / Aish HaTorah video, then Michah, Ma'ariv, and the fast was over. A much easier fast than last year, but as I mentioned above, not as meaningful. IY"H next year, not only will I be in Jerusalem, but we'll all be there, celebrating Tisha B'Av with Mashiach (when he comes, all fast days will become holidays).

Friday, August 4 - י' אב:
I went laptop shopping with my dad today. We weren't sure whether to buy or rent, and if to buy, whether to try to get something cheap, because I don't know how much I'll need a laptop. (My old one is more or less dead.) But a deal on a Compaq AMD Turion 64 x2 with 1 GB RAM and 100 GB HD caught my eye and for $1050 my dad bought it for me. **It's been great so far. I used it all over Arizona, and in my Succah last week.

Shabbat, August 4-5 - י"א אב:
This Shabbat was my 10th Bar Mitzvah anniversary. I read the Torah at shul. Uncle Morris came over Friday night and slept over so he could hear me read the Torah Shabbat morning.

Sunday, August 6 - י"ב אב:
My annual family vacation started today. This year's destination - Arizona!
We flew into Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. The flight was good. I think I watched a movie, but I don't remember. There were some great views out the window that I caught with my camera. We saw a bunch of Jewish youth at the airport. Apparently this week in Arizona is the Maccabiah games. We rented our car and drove to Scottsdale to check in at our hotel. We spoke to the concierge, who happens to be Jewish, then drove around looking for shuls and kosher restaurants whose addresses we had. We stopped at Chabad of Scottsdale and the next door restaurant, got a snack, then drove down to Old-Town Scottsdale. It was cool to see the old saloon and stores. One of the shops had some cool Jewish art and one of the restaurants was a "kosher-style" deli, with cute figurine of a Jewish guy with a talit outside. We walked around the very pretty City Hall plaza area. Finally we took a trolley car around the whole downtown area and the driver acted like a tour guide as we spoke along the route. It was interesting. We drove back via downtown Phoenix, scouting out the Jewish parts of town, and made it back to Chabad of Scottsdale just in time for Minchah, followed by Ma'ariv. Dinner was next door at the restaurant. Then we came back to the hotel, started to do a little planning, and got some sleep.

Monday, August 7 - י"ג אב:
We got off to a late start today (after Shacharit at Chabad of Scottsdale), after a tiring day yesterday and not much sleep before our flight. We started out the day at the Hall of Flame / Firefighter's Museum. They have over 100 models of old fire engines, from the 18th century through today. It was very interesting. In the Hall of Fame section, they have a special memorial to the firefighters who lost their lives on 9/11. They also have patches and badges from fire departments all around America, and even some international FD's. I should really go visit the Jerusalem fire dept, which is only a few minute walk from my apartment, and pick up a badge to send them. On the way there we had passed by the Oakland Athletics spring training complex, so on the way out, we drove around to take pictures. Our next stop was the Desert Botanical Gardens. In most botanical gardens I've been to, there have been many different types of plants, from all sorts of climates. This botanical garden is dedicated to the hot, desert climate. Thus the main feature were sooo many cacti of all different kinds and sorts. There were also various birds, rabbits, and other wildlife around. It was fun to walk through, interesting to see and photograph. It was quite hot, but Dad and I didn't let that bother us. We had enough water. Mom rested by the air conditioned gift shop. From there, we went to Papago Park and took a few pictures by the lake, ducks, and mountains. We davened at Chabad of Scottsdale again and ate out at a Russian Meat restaurant called Haifa - great food, horrible live music. At least the food made up for the dirges in the background. And yes, we went to Haifa during the war. ;-)

Tuesday, August 8 - י"ד אב:
Today was the start of a 2 day scenic excursion from the Phoenix to the Grand Canyon. We drove up along I-17 to route 69, a scenic rode through Prescott, a town with and old and new look, which was once the capital of Arizona. From there, we drove along a very scenic road, 89A, through the mountains. Amazing how the Arizona cacti become the Colorado Rockies as you drive up a mountain. We drove through a town called Jerome, built on the side of a mountain. Bayit Vegan is also built on the side of a mountain, but nothing like this small town which is on a very steep mountain, an almost treacherous drive on the main street. Eventually the road led us to the gorgeous Sedona red rock formations. We took a scenic 2 hour jeep ride (Pink Jeep Tours) through a row of formations. Amazing how nature, controlled by Hashem of course, produces wonders like this. We ate lunch there and took many pictures, besides the jeep ride, and as we left, we took a scenic drive past more Sedonian rocks and a student of Frank Lloyd Wright's rock chapel. We took 179 south to 17 north, past Flagstaff, then more scenery and much barrenness along route 180, past the Franciscan Mountain Peaks. We stopped by the side of the road to daven Minchah and saw a beautiful sunset. We also stopped by a gas station near Flagstaff and saw a Quality Inn with a sign that read, "To Martians Welcome". Finally we made it up to the Grand Canyon area, where we checked into our hotel, then ran to catch the last Grand Canyon Imax showing of the night. It was a well done movie and gave us a good idea of the wonder in store for us tomorrow. Back to our hotel by the Grand Canyon for some sleep.

Wednesday, August 9 - ט"ו אב:
Today we went to the Grand Canyon. Wow! It was amazing, breathtaking, truly a wonder. We went along the Southern Rim, stopped at most of the overlooks, even walked along the trail for a while. I took many pictures (615), all of them beautiful. Among the highlights, a squirrel that ran around the edge of a cliff, came right up to me for pictures, then ran back to the cliff and just layed down on the edge admiring the view. The clouds can be viewed as a highlight or a downside. The view would've bee nicer in the sun, but the clouds made for nice effects. There were times it was raining over part of the canyon, but dry by us. There were times it was sunny over part of the canyon but cloudy by us. On our way out of the canyon area, we stopped by a lighthouse with an amazing view, then made a religious family from NJ and took pictures for them. They had a cousin from Israel with them who I talked to in Hebrew briefly. You always meet Israelis at tourist spots like this. He was at least the 3rd in the last day. **I just finished putting together my Grand Canyon panoramas. Wow, stunning!
After the Grand Canyon, we drove east, then north, around the canyon to the Vermilion Cliffs. The cliffs were gorgeous, glowing red as the sun was setting. The sunset was absolutely breathtaking. Up there with the Gush Katif sunsets as most beautiful I've seen. We davened Minchah, then after the sun set, we headed back to Scottsdale.
מה רבו מעשיך ה', כלם בחכמה עשית, מלאה הארץ קנינך! - How abundant are Your works, Hashem, with wisdom You made them, the earth is full of Your possessions - Psalms 104:24 really describes what I was thinking seeing the wonders of the last 2 days.

Thursday, August 10 - ט"ז אב:
We slept a bit later this morning. That will happen when you get back around midnight - 1 am, after a 4-5 hour drive. Our first stop today was Frank Lloyd Wright's winter house - Taliesan West. Still used as a school for architecture students, the house and complex were very interesting. Wright was an incredible architect and had an amazing creativity. Very impressive. From there we drove over to the park in Fountain Hills, which features the highest shooting fountain in the world (Guiness World Record), 560 feet - higher than the Washington Monument. Three 600-horsepower turbine pumps deliver nearly 7000 gallons of water per minute through an 18 inch nozzle. (Though the fountain is capable of soaring 560 feet into the air, the daily height is generally around 300 feet using two of the three pumps.) The fountain shoots off every hour from 10 AM - 9 PM on the hour for 15 minutes. We watched the 5 PM fountain and took a lot of pictures. A rainbow spread between the pond and the middle of the fountain. It was a cool site. We also drove through Fountain Hills. It is an interesting community, fancy Arizona style, adobe style homes. It was supposed to be a lakeside community, as the guy who bought it had planned, as a plan to build a dam was going through Congress, but the local Indians won, and he was left with a lot of land and no lake. Resourcefully, he took some old airplane engines and made the fountain, and thus Fountain Hills got its name and claim to fame.
We came back, ate dinner, and then Dad and I went on an expensive, but very exciting and unique nighttime Hummer tour of the desert. We went with an animal expert and brought special army night vision scopes and a heat sensor. The trip is at night because that's when the animals come out. We saw a scorpion, tarantula, diamondback rattlesnake (the 1 the Diamondbacks got there name from), and more. The driver also gave us a feel for the power of the Hummer driving fast over big hilly bumps, leaving us dangling over 1 to show us the balancing capabilities, and driving up a ~70º incline. Excellent and very thrilling tour!

Friday, August 11 - י"ז אב:
We usually don't do much touring on Fridays, but we packed in what we could today. We drove up to the Montezuma Castle. It is amazing how Sinagua Indians managed to build a castle in the middle of the side of a mountain. They had some advanced construction technology hundreds of years ago. We took a scenic drive back down to Phoenix via routes 260 and 87, passed by mountains with trees, and deserts with cacti - that's the Arizona landscape. We got back with just enough time to heat up our Shabbat food and shower.

Shabbat, August 11-12 - י"ח אב:
We had a very quiet, relaxing Shabbat in Scottsdale. There was a reform shul in walking distance, but we weren't really interested in davening there. The Orthodox shuls, or even Conservative shuls, were all either too far to walk, or a long walk that would be too tough without carrying water along, but no Eruv, so no carrying. So we davened and ate in our place. We caught up on some sleep, had good take-out Shabbat food from Chabad, and did some learning.

Sunday, August 13 - י"ט אב:
I went out late at night / early in the morning to watch the Perseid meteor shower. I saw a few meteors, as well as the colorful fountains on the golf course on our hotel's complex.
Today was sports day. We checked out of our resort and drove by the sports complex where the Arizona Cardinals inaugurated their new University of Phoenix Stadium last night, next to Phoenix Coyotes' Glendale arena. The signs are horrendous, but we did eventually find what I like to call the "big bubble" because that's what U of P Stadium looks like from the outside.
From there, we went to the sports complex downtown where the Phoenix Suns (in the America West Airlines Arena) and the Arizona Diamondbacks (in Chase Field) play. We parked in the lot across the street from Chase Field and went in to the domed stadium, which looks more like an arena except for the actual field, to see the Diamondbacks host the Florida Marlins. It was a good game, won by the Marlins. I saw Shawn Green, the best Jewish hitter in the game, play a home game (2nd time for that - we saw him in LA a few years ago; **3rd time would be in a few weeks as a Met). The stadium is pretty nice. There are murals of places in Arizona and the history of sports. There is a big display of memorabilia from the D-backs 2001 World Series championship, including the trophy. Then there's the pool in right-centerfield. You don't see that in many stadiums.
After the game, we ate out at another Glatt Kosher Russian place, this one less fancy, with an Israeli Russian station playing via satellite instead of live dirges. We watched news updates about the war a little and I was translating the Hebrew interviews to English as the Russian subtitles went by. We davened at the Young Israel of Phoenix and spoke to a native New Yorker there for a while, then went to return our car.

Monday, August 14 - כ' אב:
Today was our return flight. I watched RV on the plane. With the timezone change, the flight took up most of the day. With that, my 9 day family vacation in Arizona ended. It was great - we saw a lot from the Grand Canyon to Sedona to cacti to desert wildlife on a nighttime Hummer tour, and of course, a Diamondbacks baseball game, as well as much more. We davened and ate at Kosher places from Phoenix to Scottsdale. It was a lot of fun, as our family vacations always are. Picture total: ~2,960.

Tuesday, August 15 - כ"א אב:
This morning I went to the Aliyah Center to apply for my Aliyah visa, then toured and photographed Grand Central Station while waiting for my friend, Aaron to come. When he did, we had lunch at Mendy's Dairy - my first time eating there.
Tonight, my good friend from Israel, Moshe Sladowsky (originally from Toronto - Far Rockaway), got married to Shani Glanzman (Kew Gardens Hills). I was at the wedding. It was an awesome wedding. I saw a lot of friends there, had a lot of fun, brought my Israeli flag tzitzis for good shtick, and took some great pictures, about 700 total.

Wednesday, August 16 - כ"ב אב:
My friend from Israel (Benzion) came over today to get pictures from Moshe and Shani's wedding last night. I was at the Yankees game tonight with my dad. They lost, but it was fun. There were some pregame honors as the Yankees broke ground on their new stadium earlier today.

Thursday, August 17 - כ"ג אב:
My 1st dentist visit in over 2 years went very well, he has some really nice photographs up in his office from Israel, and he's setting me up with a dentist in Jerusalem. It lasted too long though, so I didn't end up going to the Yankees game. I went out to eat with my mom instead, which was nice. Then tonight Aaron and I decided on the spur of the moment to go to the Giants vs. Chiefs preseason game. Aaron got us tickets for half price from a guy in midtown, off eBay, after work, and we went. The Giants won 17-0, and we got to see Eli Manning, Tiki, Amani, and the gang for the 1st 2 touchdowns before half time. Fun night.

Shabbat, August 18-19 - כ"ה אב:
It was a nice shabbat in NY. Friday night Unc came over for a nice dinner. Shabbat lunch and Seudah Shlishit were at shul for Zehava (Bloch) and Dovid Yudkowitz's Sheva Brachot - great food!
Tonight I went bowling with Michael and Aaron - that was fun - 2 games, 105 and 118.

Sunday, August 20 - כ"ו אב:
Great Mets game today - El Duque pitched a shut out and the Mets hit 2 home runs in the win over the Rockies. It was 1986 commemorative weekend so the Mets were wearing their old racing stripe uniforms. That was neat. I was there with Aaron.
Then we came back to my house and watched Shattered Glass, had a little catch, set up my vcr to tape the History channel's Exodus Decoded tonight, and went out to eat at Dougies. Mmm... While we were eating, Aaron noticed 2 tickets on someone's table and asked if those were to get a discount, because Dougies used to give discounts if you were at a Mets game earlier in the day. The woman said no, they were tickets for the Cyclones game Tuesday and we could have them for free. So we took them.
Finally, I came back and watched the Yankees come back and beat the Red Sox on ESPN. Great game!

Monday, August 21 - כ"ז אב:
More Aliyah visa issues - I had to pick up my passport today so I can get more pages added, because there's no room left for a visa - I've been doing to much flying back and forth.

Monday night - Tuesday, August 21-22 - כ"ח אב:
I slept in Washington Heights tonight, at the house of the Hermans, who picked me up on their way home. The reason - Israel Baseball League (IBL) tryouts!!!
Go to www.israelbaseballleague.com for more information. The IBL is starting iy"H next summer (June 22 or 24, 2007). Professional baseball in Israel - 6 teams, 48 games. They hope for it to be the equivalent of A-level minor league baseball. At no point did I ever think I would be good enough for the league, but I was not going to pass up the opportunity to try out for the inaugural Israel Baseball League as long as I could get a ride to Dan Duquette's facility in Hinsdale, MA. I did get that ride, from the guy whose apartment I slept over. He's on the Yeshiva University baseball team and many of them tried out. He and his wife are very nice and their 2 month old baby is adorable!
We woke up at 3:45 AM and headed out a little after 4. We got stopped for 2 stupid tickets by the state sheriff. 1 because we didn't realize the speed limit on the road and the state sheriffs thought we drove by them too fast while they were giving someone else a ticket and didn't even have the speed gun on them, the other because the signs were horrible and started to go off the wrong exit and had to veer back onto the road and the police blamed that on our speed. We made it to Albany just in time for the 6:45 AM minyan. We ate a little breakfast, then headed off to Hinsdale, Massachusetts for the tryouts!
The inaugural tryouts for the IBL were very cool. You walk onto a nice field, in the middle of nowhere, with an Israeli flag on the fence. Commissioner and former ambassador Dan Kurtzer was only there for the 1st day yesterday, but former general manager of the Expos and Red Sox, and IBL director and owner of the facility, Dan Duquette spoke to us. There were only 15 people with me today, as opposed to the 50 yesterday. First thing was warmups, then we jogged around the field twice. Then they timed us on the 60 yd dash. Then some catch to warm up our arms. Next was fielding tryouts - I tried out for the infield - they put everyone at SS, 1 at a time, and all got 4 grounders, 1 at you, 1 to the right, 1 to the left, 1 slow grounder to charge. My throws to 1st were bad because I was rushing to make it fast and good, and I'm not used to throwing a baseball on a full size field (used to softall on a much smaller field) so 3 of my 4 throws bounced, but I fielded it well. That was followed by hitting, which was like 7 swings from a fast pitching machine. If they liked the way you hit, they gave you more swings from live pitching when they tried the pitchers out. During the batting practice, everyone was in the field, but no one really paid attention to the fielding. Today there were 3 guys that were really solid and good enough to play in the league, maybe 2 others that were decent. The 2 YU baseball team guys that I went up with and I are definitely not good enough. Apparently most of the YU team tried out yesterday because their coach is involved with the league. I doubt I made it but didn't expect to (**I didn't). I got a certificate and official IBL ball signed by former ambassador and league commish Kurtzer. It was worth the $50 plus gas cost.
I made it back just in time to go to the Brooklyn Cyclones game tonight with Aaron on the free tickets that we got from someone at Dougies Sunday night. They lost 6-0, but it was a fun game.

Wednesday, August 23 - כ"ט אב:
I was at Shea Stadium to see the Mets take on the only other good team in the NL, the Cardinals. I was hoping to see Shawn Green, but his Mets debut will be tomorrow. It was a great game though, won by the Mets. The 1986 World Series trophy was on display. They wouldn't let you take pictures with it, but they had Mets photographers taking pictures that you can buy later.

Thursday, August 24 - ל' אב:
I spent most of the day in the lower part of Manhattan - from the passport center, where I brought my passport to get a lot more pages added after a really long wait, to City Hall Park for pictures and J & R to look around. I got a shwarma from a place around the block from J & R and ate it in the park. Back to Queens for minyan, then back to Manhattan with Michael to help him set up his apartment, where he made food and his brother, Meir, and Aaron joined us for the movie, 16 Blocks. It was a great movie.

Friday, August 25 - א' אלול:
I went to the city this morning and picked up my fat passport, with 3 times as many pages as before.

Shabbat, August 25-26 - ב' אלול:
Another nice NY Shabbat. We davened at the Plag Minyan instead of the 7 PM minyan, which was very nice. Following Halachah more strictly tends to be more nice. Then Unc and Ed came over for dinner. Shacharit featured an Auf Ruf, for which there was a luncheon. After Minchah, Seudah Shlishit featured Sheva Brachot. Simchas, Baruch Hashem! That's 2 weeks in a row having simchas at lunch and Se'udah Shlishit.
Toinght I went to see Invincible with Aaron. Good sports movie. We then talked outside my house for over an hour.

Sunday, August 27 - ג' אלול:
I was in NJ all day by family (mom's mom's side - Warings). They hosted a very nice lunch and afternoon. Very nice family that I hadn't seen in long time.

Monday, August 28 - ד' אלול:
I was back at the Aliyah Center this morning to drop off my passport again. I walked through the rain to Grand Central Station, then headed over to Shea Stadium in a train packed with mostly tennis fans hoping the rain wouldn't spoil their day. You take it for granted that it doesn't rain in the summer in Israel. Then you come to America and baseball games start getting rained out. The Mets got rained out yesterday (when I couldn't have made it anyway), so I went today (and got a chance to see a Jew as a Met). I got to see Shawn Green, the Mets 1st Jewish ballplayer in a while. That's the 3rd time I've seen him play at home (LA 4 years ago, Arizona 2 weeks ago), 2nd time at Shea (saw him while on the Dodgers), at least 3rd or 4th time in NY (saw him on the Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium back in the day). It was a crazy game, which luckily did not get delayed by the weather. The Mets won again. I'm 8-0 for the season at Shea Stadium.
When I came back, I showered and headed out to wedding #2/2 of this trip, #5/7 of the summer. This time it was a close neighborhood, family friend, so my parents, and many other people from our shul, went too. It was a nice wedding. Everyone was very happy and excited for our friend. I sat with a few friends (Michael and Jeremy), one who I hadn't spoken to in a long time (Boaz). Lots of cute kids as well, and of course, lots of good pictures.

Tuesday, August 29 - ה' אלול:
Here we go with the rain again - the Yankees game got rained out tonight so I'll be going tomorrow afternoon iy"H. I did some stuff around the house and on the computer instead.

Wednesday, August 30 - ו' אלול:
I finally got my Aliyah visa today!
I was at the Yankees game this afternoon with dad. Chien Ming Wang pitched a shut out and the Yankees won 2-0. It was a great game. That's 2 straight afternoon rain-out make ups for me. At least the Israel Baseball League won't have to worry about that!
From there we went to a family get together in Manhattan, as my cousins (Schloss) had a room named in honor of my great aunt (Frances) at the UJA building in midtown. It was a nice ceremony. I took a bunch of pictures. It was great to see family and there was good food too.

Thursday, August 31 - ז' אלול:
I was at a great Yankees game today! I bought a ticket for the actual value of it from a scalper (who had gotten it discounted so he made money) - that's the only way to get Yankees tickets on the day of the game these days. Randy Johnson pitched well and A-Rod broke out of his slump. This was my last baseball game this trip and this season. That makes 8 games at Shea Stadium (8-0 Mets), 5 games at Yankee Stadium (4-1 Yankees), 1 game in Philly (beat Yankees), 1 in SF (beat Rangers), and 1 in Phoenix (lost to Marlins), plus 1 minor league game (Brooklyn Cyclones lost).
We hosted a family party tonight for Uncle Morris' birthday tonight, featuring dad's brother's (Uncle Joe, Viv, and Mike) family, Unc, Ed, a Hillcrest Jewish Center friend, Mom's aunt (Cele) and cousin (Artie). The party featured bagels, beer, cake, lots of pictures being shown by Viv and myself, gifts, and a little too much politics, as always, but a fun get together.

Friday, September 1 - ח' אלול:
I got my bike packed up to take to Israel in the morning and went laptop shopping with Chaya and Yisroel Rosengarten this afternoon.

Shabbat, September 1-2 - ט' אלול:
Very quiet, rainy last shabbat in NY before becoming an Israeli citizen. I opened the ark and got the last aliyah at Shacharit, and led bentsching at Se'udah Shlishit at Shul.

Sunday, September 3 - י' אלול:
I paid a shiva call this morning, with my parents, to the Bermans. Then we went shopping around Queens, had dinner and spent time with Uncle Martie and my parents, showing pictures.
I saw Accepted tonight with friends (Michael, Aaron, and the following people) - great movie. Then I went back to the house of 2 of the friends (Shatz) to hang out and have a L'chaim to celebrate 1 friend's birthday (Barry) and my aliyah, but not before picking up another friend (Klags) from Flushing with Jeremy - long, fun night!

Monday, September 4 - י"א אלול:
I don't remember exactly what I did on my last full day in America before making Aliyah, and somehow I misplaced my away message from that night. I 'm pretty sure I took a nap because I didn't sleep much at night. I know that there was a dinner with my parents and Uncle Morris, and I think Ed as well, at Skewer's. I also recall davening Ma'ariv at 9:45 at the Young Israel after dinner and seeing a friend there who is 1 of the editors of the Queens College Journal of Jewish Studies, for which I sent in a photo essay of Gush Katif before and the expellees odyssey after. I inquired about the journal and he told me it wasn't done yet. I also remember dad driving the Mondrows home after a catering job. I know I didn't pack much, or even at all because a day early is too early for a last minute packer. Oh now I remember! I went into the city and met Aaron. We met at Mendy's Grand Central, where I had an awesome corned beef - pastrami sandwich and matzah ball soup. Then we walked around the city so I could buy some stuff at CompUSA and Modell's. We also walked through the Yankees clubhouse store, and finally we went to ESPNZone for some sports game fun. Then I came back and had the family dinner out, followed by the Ma'ariv. Wow amazing how I remember things without my away message. Well I guess it's only been a month and a half...

Tuesday, September 5 - י"ב אלול:
I got up after very little sleep for the 6:30 AM minyan, where everyone gave me good wishes and loads of shaliach mitzvah money. I went to breakfast with Michael Mondrow at Bagels and Co, then came back and took a nap. Finally it was time to pack. Eitan Bitter came over with pizza for lunch. I finished packing just in time to pick up Unc and head to the airport. From here, refer to my aliyah post: http://msstein24.livejournal.com/30045.html
Registered with NBN, ceremony, goodbyes, flight...

Wednesday, September 6 - י"ג אלול:
I MADE ALIYAH TODAY!!!
Again, refer to my aliyah post for details from my flight until I left the airport.
When I came home, I spoke to some friends briefly, then went to a wedding, my 6th this summer. This time it was a Machon Lev friend, Shalom Fialkoff, at the Knesset Towers Hotel. It was a very nice wedding and everyone was wishing me Mazel Tov as well, on my aliyah.

Thursday, September 7 - י"ד אלול:
I was at the Jerusalem Beerfest with friends (Shmuel, Yitz, Ariel) tonight. Beers from around the world were on display and available for tasting (at a cost). I tried 2 of them, 1 of which was almost like a mix of beer and wine - tasty. There was also live music, and a whole outdoor festival with lots of different stands. I met some other friends there. We didn't stay too long, then went out for pizza and met another friend there. A very fun night. There was also a very partial lunar eclipse tonight. Somehow I was not aware of it beforehand, rare for an astronomy fan like me, but as it was happening, I looked up and saw it and said, "that looks like a partial eclipse". I was right. So I didn't take any pictures of it because I wasn't sure if I was right, but it's good to know that I can tell an eclipse from a normal waxing / waning moon.

Friday, September 8 - ט"ו אלול:
I went back to Machon Lev today to use the mikveh and hung out for almost an hour with friends in the old dorms.

Shabbat, September 8-9 - ט"ז אלול:
My 1st Shabbat as an Israeli citizen was a fun, relaxing Shabbat. Everyone in the apartment stayed around. On Friday night, the shul we davened at did Carlebach Kabbalat Shabbat. It was a pleasant surprise for us, the reason being a Shabbat Chatan. I had dinner and lunch by Amichai and Adina - their 1st shabbat at their new apartment, which I found for them. It was very nice. There was an Oneg, Seudah Shlishit, and Melaveh Malkah in my apartment with all 3 apt-mates, including a game of Settlers - they taught me.

Sunday, September 10 - י"ז אלול:
Sports day today:
- I went 5-7 with a few RBIs, runs, and catches, and threw a runner out advancing in 22-14 softball win.
- Meanwhile, every car that passed by was honking to a sports chant after Beitar Yerushalayim's upset of HaPoel Tel Aviv in week 2 of their season.
- I updated all at the game about NFL week 1 (Jets win) and MLB (Yankees win) from my cell phone.
- Roddick had a nice fight, but Federer is amazing - I followed the US Open final online.

Monday, September 11 - י"ח אלול:
I went back to Machon Lev today to pick up mail and ended up talking to a bunch of friends and hanging out in the office for a bit. Then I came back to Machon again tonight to help out with night seder. It looks like I'll be doing that 3 nights a week.

Tuesday, September 12 - י"ט אלול:
I was at Misrad HaKlitah (Ministry of Absorption) to find out about rights and benefits this morning. This afternoon I picked up my Teudat Zehut (Israeli ID card that every citizen is required to have on them at all times) from Nefesh B'Nefesh's office. I brought them pictures, and explored the bank and medical insurance fair they had going on. With my Teudat Zehut, I now have an ID with my real Jewish name - Yechiel David Stein! It also has my birthday on both calendars (but they're off on the Jewish calendar because I was born at night, so it was really the next day).
Tonight was my 7th and last wedding of the summer - an American friend from Machon Lev, Ezra Herschberg, out in Nes Tziona. It was fun, I went with my rabbi and some friends, met more friends there, but had to leave early though so I only took 500 pictures.

Wednesday, September 13 - כ' אלול:
I went to be a witness that a friend is Jewish and single for the Rabbinate so he can get married, but the government hasn't been paying them the last 3 months, so they are only open 1 hour a day and we missed it. I sent pictures to a lot of people that I owed, went to night seder, watched 2 Purim shpiels (ours from last year and 1 of my apt-mates, Nisan, from senior year of high school), and had people in and out of the apartment.

Thursday, September 14 - כ"א אלול:
I coached 10-12 year olds in baseball earlier and I may do it more often. It was fun, and if I commit there may be financial compensation. Go to www.iab.org.il to see how baseball is growing in Israel!
Tonight was a late night - we watched Raiders of the Lost Ark, played Settlers, and had an apartment meeting.

Shabbat, September 15-16 - כ"ג אלול:
This Shabbat was the 1st Machon Lev English Speakers' Program Shabbaton of the year. I stayed in to help out with it. It was very nice, I met some of the new guys, and hung out with a lot of old friends. Again people applauded me for making Aliyah while introducing me, which I didn't need, but made me feel good.
After Shabbat, I listened to the Yankees lose game 1 of a doubleheader. In the middle of the night, I went to Selichot at the Chevron Yeshivah. It's 1 of the largest yeshivot - black hat - in the world, and across the street from my apartment. They always inspire me with their Kavanah (intent) during davening and did it again tonight.

Sunday, September 17 - כ"ד אלול:
I spent most of the day trying to sort out router incompatabilities with the special Israeli cable L2TP / PPTP protocol (different than every other country), after switching from ADSL to Cable today. But by tonight, I was cruising at 3 mbps down (double what I had) & 278 kbps up (triple what I had). What a difference!
How about those Giants?!? What a comeback win! I followed it on my phone during a softball game that we lost in the bottom of the last inning. I was 0-9 even though 3 were deep (for me) fly balls. It was 1 of those slump nights.

Monday, September 18 - כ"ה אלול:
It looks like I'll be teaching Torah trop at night seder. I started doing that for 1 guy tonight. A Yemenite Israeli joined because he wanted to learn Ashkenaz trop. Fun stuff.
I went to coach another group of 10-12 year olds today, but there were no kids, just me and another coach. So we had a catch for a while. I'll probably be back Thursday though.
Selichot tonight at Gruss at 12:34 AM seemed more convenient than at tje shul down the block at 7 AM this morning.
The router's new firmware that we needed for our cable internet isn't great, but the speed of the internet makes up for it and more! 3 mbps / 278 kbps!

Tuesday, September 19 - כ"ו אלול:
I did some work on my friend's (Dani) E-Methods project and had another friend (Shmuel) help me procrastinate with an online game (Bubble Trouble) in which I beat him on my first day playing.
Tonight was another night seder, Selichot at Gruss, and a long talk with a friend (Joel) who was in my apartment while I was gone and there was a misunderstanding with money and terms.

Wednesday, September 20 - כ"ז אלול:
I did lots of errands in Meah Shearim today - Tzitzit, haircut, books, watch fixed, dry cleaning, and apartment stuff.
I finally finished my friend's project.*
I was at a Jonathan Pollard play in my neighborhood tonight. They did a good job portraying how he risked a lot and then got hung out to dry in a disgusting fashion by Israel. May he be released in the coming year!
So the Mets clinched the other day and the Yankees clinched tonight. I can't wait to host playoff parties at my apartment with mlb.tv and my cable internet bandwidth upgrade.

* Here's the story about my friend's project, from a conversation with my dad:
MSStein24 (04:05:25): emethods research report. it's a class that's taught all in english and there r no tests, only reports. but you have to do the research using this special dialog database service, you can't just search google. it's very time consuming
MSStein24 (04:05:27): the story i got was that his partner was supposed to do this, but lost his father and left my friend with all the work. it's my friend's last class and he needs to get in a transcript so he can start studying for his masters in london in less than 2 weeks. i think i got a 96 in the class when i took it so he asked me. but i took it in computers so my research was more tech based, his was more business based. and i forgot some of the special search strategies that were taught in the class
But at least it's done!

Thursday, September 21 - כ"ח אלול:
I coached baseball again this afternoon, then had friends over tonight. One taught me how to make mushroom sauce for pasta. We played a few net games of Liquid Wars.
I was at the Kotel tonight for the long Erev Rosh Hashanah Selichot. I finally tore a shirt - something that you're supposed to do when you see the Jerusalem and the Temple Mount in their destruction. Some say you don't have to do it anymore because we captured it, but even if you hold of that opinion, let's be honest - with the way we let the Waqf control it, we didn't really capture the Temple Mount. Until now, I either didn't know the halachah, went on a day on which tearing is prohibited, or sold the shirt I was wearing to a friend and bought it back later because you can't tear someone else's property. After that and some Tehillim, I spent a few hours doing the longest Selichot of the year. It was a very Holy night.

Friday, September 22 - כ"ט אלול:
I davened at the local shul which is a Shacharit minyan factory for the last day of 5766. I caught the last minyan, which was followed by Hatarat Nedarim. After davening, I went shopping, came back and went to the mikveh, and finally spoke to my parents and called Unc to wish them all the best for a happy, healthy, sweet, and wonderful new year!

May next year (**this year) be the best yet and see the coming of the Mashiach (Messiah) and the rebuilding of the Beit HaMikdash (Temple)!