Visiting Mevaseret

It’s crazy to think that I came for the year to seminary in Israel 8 years ago!  Livimg here now still reminds me of some of the good times I had then, but for the most part, it’s something of the past.  What’s fun for me is that my brother is currently spending his year in Israel, and the other night I got to taste a night in the life of a seminary boy (or Yeshiva Bochur, if you will).

Mevaseret Tzion is located a few Kilometers outside of Jerusalem, and there you will find a Yeshiva full of boys shteiging away at any given moment.  Moshe (the brother) invited me to come check it out, and so I did.  Not ever having been there before, I needed explicit directions of which bus to take, where to catch it, and where to get off.  I was told that once I get on the bus, I should just ask the driver to let me off at a specific landmark, and for certain he would know where it was.  Obviously, the driver responded to me that he had no idea what I was talking about and he was pretty dismissive.  Luckily, though, someone behind me heard that I was going to the Yeshiva, and started asking around for anyone that was getting off at that stop.  The elderly gentleman behind me said that he was, and let me know that he would tell me when it was time.  My only other gauge of where I should alight from the bus was approximately how long the bus ride should take.  When it was approaching the given time, I started looking around for the landmark on my own because the man wasn’t saying anything to me.  When he saw my wandering eye, he got my attention and gave me the quintessential Israel “wait a second” look accompanied by the hand gesture (all fingers together, pointed up, shaking back and forth).  In order to best show what it looked like (because it made me laugh at the time, as this man’s version was so exaggerated), I later asked Moshe to try and replicate what it may have looked like – this is what we came up with:

Anyway, we finally reached our stop, and Moshe and his friend (also a new friend of mine) Jake, came to meet me.  Like true Seminary boys, they took me straight to get something to eat.  Instead of going to the Burger’s Bar joint across the street from their school, we went to this sketchy convenience store next door and ordered the most delicious sandwich ever for half the price that it was offered under the brand name.  Of course I was privy to watching the guy behind the counter (same one who prepared my sandwich and did everything else in the store) hand out his private cell phone number to my brother and friend so that whenever they want a sandwich, they can just call in advance and it will be ready for them when they arrive.  Sketchy doesn’t even begin to describe it. 

After dinner and watching an episode of How I Met Your Mother on the big screen, I got a tour of the Mevaseret campus.  It kind of felt like visiting day at camp as Moshe took me around, showing me all the favorite spots and introducing me to everyone.  I even got to hang out in his room – a strictly BOYS ONLY spot.  Hanging with the summer camp motif, it kind of felt like I was on a raid and any second the counselors could catch me and send me to Chana’s office (that’s a Moshava reference for all you Alumn).  It was funny that I was the object of Moshe’s show-and-tell for the evening as many of the guys on his floor came by to say hi to the taboo girl in the dorms. 

Yes, the dorms were kind of smelly.  Yes, the rooms were pretty messy.  Yes, there was an illegal fridge stocked with stale cake and bottles of beer.  But all of that gave me a real look into the life of a modern day seminary boy.  It was great fun hanging out with Moshe and his friends and getting a peak into his experience – one that seemed as though it didn’t differ quite so much from my year in Israel.  If it follows the same path, maybe in 8 years from now (or hopefully less) I will find that I can greet Moshe on his incoming Nefesh B’Nefesh flight into Ben Gurion airport as he makes Aliyah as well.