Brothers and Empires

Zak arrived in Vienna without a hitch. It is great to see him-- he has really had an amazingly transformative year. It is great to hear his stories and see the ways in which he has grown. It's been good spending time with him so far, and I am really looking forward to having two weeks of real brother time.

Last night, we walked down to Hofberg Imperial Palace complex in the center of downtown Vienna. We lay out on the concrete entrance yard in front of one of the main palaces and gawked. It is very imposing. We wandered around and explored a little bit further, and then found ourselves locked into the compound. We had a jump a quite spikey fence to get out-- so spikey that it punched a hole clear through the sole of my shoe; thankfully, however, it stopped short of entering my foot itself. I suppose that the Hapsburgs did not want unannounced company.

The hostel is very nice. It is clean, modern, and our six other roommates are quiet sleepers. No complaints.

Today we took in many of the other amazing sites in Imperial Vienna. We walked to the Schonbrunn Palace this morning, and spent a large part of the day exploring the extensive grounds. I think that Zak and I both agreed that the best part of the whole thing was the hedge maze. I kept hoping that we would bump into a centauer or something from Harry Potter. No luck no that, but it was pretty neat-o anyway.

We went the Vienna State Opera this evening. The building is very ornate and it was fun to watch all the ritzy looking people milling around. We got 2 euro, standing-room only, tickets. I wish I could say that it transformed me into an opera-lover, but I kept falling asleep and so it was hard to follow the plot. We left at intermission-- 1 hour of opera was enough to say that we had the experience, but I think more than that might have left me comatose.

We toppped the evening off with the classic Vienna dessert, a Sacher torte, at the Hotel Sacher in downtown Vienna. It was worth the cost of the flight (almost.)

Travels in Germany and Austria

This is my first chance to sit down at a computer in the past few days-- so there are many more updates to share than just the few I will be able to post now.

Since Tuesday, I have been in four cities: Munich, Salzberg, Rattenkirchen, and currently Vienna.

I landed in Munich on Tuesday evening-- and caught the train with my cousin Benjamin to his uncle and aunt's home in a very nice, central Munich neighborhood.

On the way, I had my first surreal German experience. We sat down on the train, and immediately noticed that the couple in the seats adjacent to us were speaking Hebrew (and I could understand, yay UJ!) and then we looked out the window to see that the train coming in opposite direction was headed to Dachau. This sort of thing kept happening.

We spent Shavuot in Munich-- wandering around the city and sticking our heads into various churches and other sites. On the first night of the holiday, we went to synagogue and then back to the home of the Rabbi and his wife for late night food and, since it was Chabad, booze.

Thursday evening we went o Salzberg, and met Benjamin's half-brother and his family there. We took at late dinner on the street watching the people walk by and Ben's enthusiastic, young nieces doing cartwheels and other gymnastic tricks.

In the morning we explored Salzberg-- which looks amazingly like it fell right out of a fairie tale. It has colorful domes and spires and a real-live castle up on the hill. I kept looking around for a booth selling Mickey-Mouse ears.

We got into Rattenkirchen an hour or two before Shabbat. Rattenkirchen is a small, Bavarian village about an hour from Munich, where Benjamin's grandfather and his wife live. The house was very beautiful and we had the most relaxed Shabbat that I can remember for a long time.

I got into Vienna about an hour ago, and just checked into the hostel. Zak arrives from Israel in a few hours. I am counting on him being pretty mopey the first couple of days-- he has just finished his year in Israel, and I doubt that even these adventures will compare with that. However, I am really looking forward to seeing him and exploring together.

That's all for now-- hopefully, I will have the chance to write again soon.

Eyes, Ears and Conscience

This blog's name: "Eyes, Ears, and Conscience" comes from Kurt Vonnegut's novel, Breakfast of Champions. In it, he writes:

"What is the purpose of life:
to be the eyes
the ears
and the conscience
of the Creator of the Universe."

I believe that this is my job description as a future rabbi,
as a Jew, and as a human being.

I believe this this is everyone's job description.

"The day is short and the work is great."

R is for Rabbi

At 3 o'clock this afternoon, I finished my first year of rabbinical school. In the lingo that means that I am now officially an "R" (after second year-- RA, after third year-- RAB, and so on until ordination.)

It is both terrifying and amazing to think that I have finished an entire year of rabbinic studies-- that I am a whole 20% of the way through this process. On one hand, I have learned a ton this year, and on the other hand, I am becoming ever more cognizant of how much there is to learn. Tonight, however, I will allow pride in myself to be my dominant emotion-- later I can indulge in feelings of inadequacy.

One of the mistakes I made in the hustle and bustle of this year was not committing enough of my thoughts and experiences to writing. I will try to use this blog to correct that error.

This summer should have some big blog-worthy experiences. Here are my plans:

Europe with Cousin (Ben) and Brother (Zak):
May 21-27 Munich, Germany with Ben
May 27--29 Vienna, Austria with Zak
May 30-June 2 Budapest, Hungary with Zak
June 3- 7 Prague, Czech Republic with Zak
June 8-10 Back to Vienna and then Home

June 10-18 Long Beach

June 18- July 25th-- Faculty at PANIM Summer JAM in Washington DC

Please check in with the blog-- I will try my best to update frequently through these adventures.

Much Love,
adam