School on the Weekend

School on Friday was exactly what school is on Fridays everywhere, except that for us it also meant the loss of the weekend. Instead of sitting in class, getting ansty because the weekend was approaching, we sat there getting antsy because our weekend was quickly slipping away. This was offest by the wonderful news that for homework we would get to write the ending to a story about an ant and a grasshopper! Huzzah! The best part of school today was when we were suddenly transported to some sort of cross between CenterCamp (a day camp for kiddies in Buffalo) and Leo Baek (a Reform school (not reform school) in Toronto). During one of our lessons, the entire level (about 70 people) tramped down to the auditorium for - what else - a singalong. We were given neon photocopies of Shabbat classics like "Chiri Biri Bim" and "Adon Olam", and asked to sing along with an overzealous teacher and a clearly bored woman playing the keyboard with her index fingers. Oh, and don't forget that after chorale we found a delicious treat awaiting us in the hallway - mini-challas and dixie cups of grape juice! But don't worry, nobody was bitter about losing their Friday to join the Mickey Mouse Club. Not at all.

For Friday night I tried to follow the two pieces of advice given to me about finding a shul - follow the sea of white shirts, and don't go to Yakar. So I followed the white shirts, and found myself in Yakar. The singing was nice, but only for about 15 minutes. The second, third, fourth, and fifth set of yabbabais and babbaboos seemed a little unnecessary. On the upside, I was pleasantly surprised to see Shai Mintz, a rabbi from my childhood in attendance, and we got to catch up (and get invited to lunch, of course).

In case you are concerned about any seeming bitterness in this post, please be comforted that it is (mostly) for Zvi's benefit, seeing as he went to all that trouble to use a big word like "sardonic".