Happy Birthday, Israel!

I have just registered for next semester. EW! Well, at least all the classes I wanted were available. I AM TAKING EVERY CLASS (except for one) with ERICA! I am so excited!

Last night I went to the Stern/YU's Israel Club's Yom Hazikaron/Yom Ha'atzmaut program. (That sentence was brought to you by the backslash.)

It was beautiful. There were so many people there showing their support for our homeland. Okay, maybe it's because there were members of the other gender there, but we won't judge. :)

First there was the lowering of the Israeli flag in honor of the soldiers who have
fallen. Then there were some speeches. Members of the Israel club spoke about specific soldiers. Then Dr. Stuart Ditchek spoke about his long time friend, Zachary Baumel, and his tank crew, were captured. Please visit www.zacharybaumel.org for more information about how you can help .

After the speakers, we said some tefillos then there was a slideshow. It was very powerful. VERY powerful.

Then they raised the flag to commemorate INDEPENDENCE DAY! There was a slideshow with great background music (Come Back by Moshav). The slides were from the YU/Stern trip to Israel this past January.

Then Malcolm Hoenlein spoke. He is the Vice-Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations. Though his speech was the longest one of the program, it was very meaningful. He stirred up our emotions by giving numerous examples of how too many countries of the world are messed up and ignorant. It was a great speech.

After the program, we went over to the gym for the chagiga. Neginah orchestra was playing. I don't know what the whole thing about music during sefira on Yom Ha'atzmaut is, but there were enough people there to make me feel better about it. It really is a Yom Tov! Everyone danced their hearts out (I think I danced my lungs out too.) I danced for a couple of hours, then I left at around 11:45. I took a local to Devora's and hung out with her for a little while.

I was so happy that I went to the program last night. I really needed to hear everything I had heard (if you were there, you know what I am talking about, and even if you weren't, just use your imagination). It was a truly inspirational night.

In other news, I have to e-mail my English teacher and find out when I have to write the final draft of the paper. I handed in the rough draft on Tuesday, and I am pretty sure I will be VERY unhappy with the grade. Oh, well. I hope I can sleep tonight. Well, I had no problem sleeping last night, so I think I'll be okay.

Have a great day everyone!

Today's Thought:

Why is it that when a door is open it is ajar, but when a jar is open it is not adoor?