Deep (dish pizza, with a pickle on top)

A random Photoshop creation. I think it should be on Wordboner.com or something. More importantly, do you feel the same way? Henry and I once had a spelling battle over this – I won. Same thing happened with “independent” (he claimed it was “independant”). It’s okay, Henry, you can own me in a game of chess. Hey, we haven’t played that in, what, two years? I smell a challenge *evil grin*.

Anyhoo, last night was my Hebrew school graduation! I was kind of bummed because Fridays are supposed to be relaxed and sometimes-usually-sleepover-ful (if that’s a word), but instead I had to go somewhere. On the upside, my Tuesdays will be free now! Wait, no, that’s not true. Next week is our last class (whaat?). We graduate with one class left? It’s just going to be a party, though, so it’s okay.

The graduation went really well. I’m going to miss my classmates. Hopefully we’ll stay in touch over the summer. I do plan on going back to Hebrew school next year, because I figure if I can juggle 7th grade and Hebrew school, I can do 8th grade (which is – supposed to be, at least – much easier than 7th, actually) and Hebrew school. Plus, next year I won’t have Bar Mitzvah training, and 7th grade grades are the ones that count (for high school), anyway. I’m not sure about Hebrew school in high school, but that’s kind of a long time away.

Our temple’s 93-year-old rabbi, the same wise Jewish sage who gave me a very special speech on my Bar Mitzvah, addressed our Hebrew class last night. As rabbis seem to do a lot, he told us a story. I don’t remember it exactly, but the meaning of it was how important “our children” are, and that we are the future, the guardians. I swear, that man is the most aware, un-senior-moment-having 93-year-old I’ve ever met/heard of. Like I said before, I think being such an enlightened and wise person must reverse aging to some extent – in your mind, at least. That’s my theory, anyway.

I’m so happy it’s almost summer. I can’t wait for camp! The school year has been long, and hard.. 7th grade is a //female dog//. But, it was worth it and I’m glad it’s pretty much over with. We still have three weeks or so left of school, but academics-wise it’s already done. The one thing left to do is finish my Independent Study whiteboard, and maybe some little filler side-projects our teachers might give us during these last weeks. Other than that, we’re just relaxing, etc. This week, we’ve been doing our mandatory 7th grade internships. I worked in a preschool class – but you’ll hear more about that later.

You might ask, why am I so happy that religious school is over? Besides the obvious, typical kid reasons, I have a few of my own. It’s not that I don’t enjoy these classes. They’re pretty fun, most of the time. I’m a Jew, and I chose to be a Jew because I like to learn about my culture and I like to learn about Judaism and its values – and I love my temple’s community. I don’t, however, want to read stories about three-headed-calves and look at maps of Israeli war tactics, etc. I understand that being taught biblical history and such is, per se, part of learning the things I want to, or “part of the package.” However, I have a lot more interest in Jewish philosophy and, basically, the Torah. I am a bit skeptical of even the Torah itself. Skeptical isn’t the right word (more like un-skeptical). “I don’t take it too literally” is what I’m trying to say. It bothers me a little bit when I see all the controversies regarding proper dates in the Torah/bible and whether or not this or that actually happened. Frankly, I don’t give a crap whether the earth actually flooded killing nearly every living being on it. And I don’t care if the Red Sea actually split to let the Israelites pass. The point is, they’re trying to teach us – teach us lessons about life and, well, life. And God? Personally, I think God is a name for the universe (this idea is called Pantheism, I think), not some Merlin wizard-dude up in heaven. I can’t see it any other way. Looking at God as the universe makes complete sense to me. They say there’s a little bit of God in everyone. We are all part of the universe. Some people also say that the Hebrew word (one of the many, I should say) for God can also be translated as “existence.” Existence, the universe, life.

Whoa – not woah – man, heavy stuff (due to mixed audience, stuff has substituted otherwise appropriate obscenities). I’m kind of notorious for repeating these ideas in almost every Hebrew/Sunday school class. It’s what I believe in, just in case you were wondering. ”You shall be holy, for I, the Eternal your God, am holy” (quote from my Bar Mitzvah Torah portion). If that was an algebraical sentence it would be GOD = HOLY = THE UNIVERSE = YOU. Heh, that doesn’t make much sense.

Or that I lived in the ’60s. But then there would be no internet. Eh, I don’t know.

*Deep breath*.. Today I went to my friend Adam’s Bar Mitzvah. It was a little uncomfortable at first because I knew hardly anyone there, and I’m not entirely used to Conservative synagogues like Adam’s. But as more people came (apparently I was early, even though it was in the ‘burbs and we got lost on our way there due to a screwy GPS) it became more bearable enjoyable. I got to see a lot of friends from camp and that made me even more excited for this summer. Tonight I have a Bat Mitzvah party to go to.. I don’t know the Bat Mitzvah girl very well, but we have very many friends in common so it should be fun. And tomorrow, is the last day of Sunday school! Finally, my weekends will be free! Wow, this makes it sound like every second of everything is filled with Bar/Bat Mitzvahs and Jew-school and whatnot (not that there would be anything wrong with that!). Those things do take up a lot of my weekend time – it’s true – but writing about it makes it sound a bit exaggerated. Jewish events have been especially high in volume lately because everyone’s trying to get their Bar/Bat Mitzvahs in before summer, and the religious schools are ending, so.. yeah.

Sleepover tonight, too! First one in what seems like forever. This whole year I’ve only been able to have a few because of, once again, Bar Mitzvahs and Sunday school and actual school and everything. When summer starts, though, I’ll probably be having a lot more*.

* If I decide not to be an anti-social hermit, that is. Sometimes I do tend to be a misanthrope. No, that’s not it. I think I just enjoy being home/with my family/by my internetz. Friends, don’t take this offensively. I love you!

Title courtesy of Sam.