studying vs living and forever frozen

I hate Americans. Actually, allow me to clarify. I hate loud, drunk, immature high school, college students who make life a living hell for Israel and us ex-Americans living in Israel. Over the past few weeks, young American Jews have embarked on Birthright trips all over Israel during their college winter break. I myself participated on a Birthright Israel trip a few years, which helped foster my love for eretz Yisrael and greater Zionism. We partied it up spring break style during that trip, but we never engaged in some of the activities I've seen some of these students and young adults commit within the last week. Now, I fondly remember my college days. If it wasn't for all the pictures I took, G-d knows I would only have dazed, fuzzy memories of Beer pong, strip-poker, and the Sunday morning walk of shame. However, I never welshed out on a bar tap or got so drunk that strangers need to call me a cab out of concern. Some of the younger students are really young Yeshiva (Jewish academy) students just out of American and European high schools. I never drank in high school; I made up for lost time in college though. When you travel abroad, you are an ambassador of your country. Your behavior is under constant scrutiny by the locals. You want to get blitzed beyond belief, fine but don't be surprised if the neighborhood pub wont serve you or your friends the next night after you recover. Over the years, the international community has learned that American youth like to drink, listen to loud music, and than leave the locals to clean up their mess. This is just a small part of why the world hates us; we also ruined Iraq, but minor details.

As I mentioned, many of these walking, drunk zombies are religious yeshiva students which I find very interesting. If emma (mom) and abba (dad) sent me to some far off, poorly supervised, program where I'm on my own for the first time, than I would go hog wild. These are suppose to be nice, religious Jewish boys engrossed in Mishna (commentary of the Torah) study. Many of these students have a superiority complex about their relationship with Judaism. It's as if they have a monopoly on G-d's love. I can't be a true believer because I dont spend all day in yeshiva learning about Halacha (Jewish law) even if they spend all night drinking. I admire the religious, but sometimes they drive me crazy. I had a 30 minute conversation with an old friend the other day. He's an ex-American, Orthodox Jew living in Israel. I mentioned how much exhausting fun I had watching the Patriots defeat the Jaguars between 3-6:30 AM the other day. He congratulated the hometown team, but told me to not waste too much time on hobbies. Apparently, anytime not spent studying Torah, is a waste of energy. Now, this individual is a nice guy, but he's very skeptical even cynical of the outside secular world. He only values Torah. He spends very little time reading outside news because he feels as though he can't trust the news agencies. He isnt concerned with music, culture, art, social events. According to him, the secular world is a corrupt, cesspool of perversion. You only trust what you know, and the only thing we know is the Torah. I always thought people could be trusted after a probationary trial period. G-d makes us neither good nor evil, but neutral with the capacity to chose our holiness or evilness. This guy spend almost every living moment studying. As far as I've known him, he's always only reading, praying, or studying various religious texts. I am envious of his knowledge and devotion to Judaism. To be honest, I wished some of his habits rubbed off on me, but I could never view the world as he does. I grew up in the secular world. I was taught to read various newspapers, enjoy music, art, sports, food, and the company of good people. What kind of world are we living in if you can't trust anyone? It's okay to trust G-d, but not His creation? The ultra-orthodox world digs their heads in the sand (or the Torah) while the outside world around them is forever changing. We can't ignore technology, politics, fitness, woman's rights among other important social causes for traditional ghetto values. We can take the goodness from the haolam goyim (the non-Jewish world) and mix it with our Jewish values. Besides, dont you think G-d sits back with a nice glass of Brandy and enjoys some Mozart after a long day of work?

So, I'm freezing my ass off, wasting more non-Torah time watching the Giants-Cowboys game at Mike's Place in Jerusalem. I might as well be in New York with all these crazy Brooklyn Jews screaming for Tony Romo's head on a platter. I understand New England will experience a blizzard today and tomorrow. The weather is amazingly frigid here even though we average temperatures in the 50's. I have never been this bone-chilling cold, this long before in my life. The problem is that NOTHING NOWHERE has heat. The hostels, restaurants, synagogues, and the homes don't use heat. It's incredibly expensive so Israelis just learn to freeze, and than in the summer, they sweat. Like I said, it's not even that cold out, it's just cold enough everywhere.

Please, feel free to send comments and winter gloves to Mountdew2891@aol.com

Shavua tov,

David