#hbdjoe

It's really been a sick couple of days. I kicked off the sofash (weekend) thursday night with the classic thursday night dancing pre-sicha with Rav Bigman, the rosh yeshiva. I was pretty proud of myself because it was the first sicha that I understood fully, and his sichot are not easy to understand. It ended around 12am and Adin was already planning on going on a lil night hike around the mountain and I obviously wasn't going to turn him down so I threw on a jacket, filled my water bottle up with some tea and met up at the rendezvous. It ended up just being Adin, Matt, and myself, and it was killer. We got out of the kibbutz and Adin threw on some Zusha for the walk. We could easily been mistaken for some pagan worshipers who live in the mountains as we danced through the trees at night and howled at the moon. When we got to out lookout point, with a view of the neighboring arab villages, we broke the tea open and said "Le'Chayim" to what seemed like a moment of sheer serenity. Over cups of warm mint tea we shared the highs and lows of our week and reflected on where we felt we were at in life/yeshiva/personal growth. Around 2:05am we decided it might be time to head back so we started on our way. Only unfortunate part was I had to wake up around 9 the next morning to meet up with my friends Yoni and Yonah who were coming up for shabbat. Fortunate part was that they had only just left and I got to nap for a bit longer. I met the two of them at the maayan at Ein Hanetziv and showed them the Friday rituals of the north. They fell in love with Chummus Eliyahu and were already begging me to bring some down next time I come to Jerusalem. We had a great time together over shabbat and Saturday night as they were leaving I made the decision to go with them to Jerusalem for my boy Joe's birthday. Shoutout to Joseph Schnitzer for turning 18, happy birthday buddy. Made the trek down and surprised Joe, needless to say he was stoked to see me. I was super glad to be there for some of his first legal drinks! I went back with Jacob to sleep by him and woke up at 6:15 with the hopes of getting to yeshiva in time for morning seder. 8:04am right now, shiur starts at 9:45. Love looking around at the barren land of the West Bank but it's time for some sleep. Post Shabbos Feels? Mad lax. Shavua tov.