On Tuesday, hundreds of MASA participants congregated in jerusalem at the Binyamina conference center for a "Next Step" conference. It would be the next logical step, after all the investment that has been made in us being here, for us to have some discussion of what is expected of us and where things go from here.
After opening remarks, we were treated to an interview / dialogue between an interviewer whose name I am not sure of and Nathan Sharansky.
(This actually followed a panel, but I felt like nothing of substance was discussed in the panel, nothing of depth, each speaker just got out their individual talking points, and the questions lacked any weight as well.) Back to Sharansky: it was awesome. In the first segment, which I unfortunately didn't capture on film, the interviewer probed Sharansky about his time in Prison and a Labor camp in the former Soviet Union. Sharansky talked about his childhood, different from others in that he was gifted in math and science and a chess master who eventually beat Kasparov!
He also apparently was a terrible singer, and told stories how his teachers used to tell him when they were singing class songs that he needed wait until later. When he arrived in prison, he decided later was now, and would sing much to the discontent of the guards.
SHARANSKY 1
SHARANSKY 2
SHARANSKY 3
Following that, there was a short graduation for the Leadership Seminar program I have been going to. Amidst the chaos we "graduated", and that was over, and then we were unable to attend the next segment, which addressed the world economy and strategy for job placement. I usually don't enjoy these talks because they tend to assume that all jewish kids want to work in either a hillel or in some jewish charity. Some of us have to be the bankers and consultants though to make the donations and philanthropic efforts to keep this stuff going. They don't seem to address those ever, but apparently, this one did. Unfortunate that our graduation went into it.
I had walked to Mehane Yehuda earlier for lunch, and had Kube which was excellent at a little place a few soldiers who came on our taglit (birthright) trip showed me. I decided to stretch my legs, and headed to Ben Yehuda street, to visit Sefer V'Sefel. I was looking for a book, and found out they had it, so I wanted to pick it up while I was in Jerusalem.
After we had to all go through security. I luckily meandered in early, and had no wait. I guess it's expected for the Prime Minister. He didn't say anything substantial either, but he is a good speaker, though his timing was off. He kept missing the moment of capturing the crowd, I felt like he would allow the energy to die off and so it never really built up throughout his speech.
Here were parts of his remarks:
After, we were subjected to Israeli hip hop. It was fun for a bit, but a little loud for my ears. There were people who were really into it though, as shown in my video below of a girl dancing on some chairs a few seats ahead of me.
CONCERT DANCER
Tonight I am heading into Tel Aviv for some more volleyball and tomorrow, we are heading to Eilat and Nick will be joining me in the evening.
Should be awesome!
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