Four months?!

Suddenly I’m four months into my year at HaRova and I’m just not too sure how that’s happened. This week an amazing amazing group of 23 South African and Australian girls finish their Shana Aleph and many of them are going back to their respective countries (with the exception of a handful of Shana Bet and one Aliyah). So far this is my biggest wake up call. When I came to HaRova four months ago I was completely clueless, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing or what on Earth was going on. But it was reassuring to see that it was possible to survive the beginning and really get into the groove of learning by seeing what MTA (the southern-hemisphere programme) were like. Some saw it as an indication of the people they could be after seven months at HaRova and others just took comfort in the fact that the girls all seemed relatively normal and very happy. This time last year I was interviewing for sem and simply trying to work out how I was going to get there. Now I’m here. Now I’m here and in the core part of the year. The section of the year where we really create our routine. At this point I am looking back a lot to the beginning; at the goals I had and the expeditions I set of myself. I’m also looking forward; at the Jew I want to be when I go back to London, the person that I want to continue to be outside of the Rova. I finally feel like I’ve settled into my routine at HaRova. Pushing my Torah knowledge far more than it has ever been before, questioning and considering more than one viewpoint and learning independently as well as in classes. Sadly as happens every year at HaRova, a proportion of our year are about to leave. Seeing them prepare for the challenges that will face them at university and in life after sem motivates me more to continue as I have been; it reminds me why I chose to spend my year learning and encourages me to trust in myself and the programme set out for me at HaRova.