Day 31 (what a Shabbos!)

Spent Shabbos in the Old City (of Jerusalem). This meant that as I davened Kabblas Shabbos on a balcony overlooking the Kotel, I got to watch the city's blazing whites and tans fade to a softly glowing pink which revealed the underlying blues and purple. This is the city I fell in love with ten years ago.

We ate all meals with Husbinator's yeshiva (from back in the day). I was blown away with how polite and chivalrous the boys are. Such mentchen! They independently made sure there were enough chairs (on both sides of the mechitza) during davening, picked things up that people were likely to trip on, help clean up meals, etc etc etc. This is not to say that they aren't a large group of boys between 18 and 21: they are. We are in a large room with a tile floor and stone walls, and this, my friends, is the classic "pirates booming a sea shanty in a tavern" image that I have never quite internalized. The noise was overwhelming, but not quite unpleasant. Very nice, in fact, although it felt like the walls were attacking my eardrums. Baby Spidey loved it.

Also, the Husbinator has not been exaggerating when he has described how close he and his yeshiva are. Over the course of Shabbos, they had him made kiddush Friday night, gave him the aliyah of zachor, had him lead lunch, speak at shalosh seudos, lead shalosh seduos bentching, and make havdala. Apparently, they told him on Friday that they'd like him to speak at dinner today, so he prepared a very nice speech about Purim.

As the Rosh Yeshiva was about to get up to introduce the Husbinator, he (the head of the yeshiva) let him (Husbinator) know that he (Husbinator) was to speak about himself (still the Husbinator). The Rosh Yeshiva felt that the Husbinator's life story was inspiring, so tell it. Surprise! The speech was very, very good. Husbinator opened with, "I'm going to start by addressing my appearance, because that's what you see, and I'm sure you're all wondering about it. Specifically, you're all asking yourselves, 'How is he so attractive?'" Much laughter from the crowd. Husbinator let it die down, paused, and confided, "It's the fur. Everyone looks good in fur." But yes, his life story is a good lesson. I was a little surprised, and very flattered that the Rosh Yeshiva asked him to tell it.