The following warnings occurred:
Warning [2] Undefined property: MyLanguage::$thread_modes - Line: 46 - File: showthread.php(1617) : eval()'d code PHP 8.1.27 (Linux)
File Line Function
/inc/class_error.php 153 errorHandler->error
/showthread.php(1617) : eval()'d code 46 errorHandler->error_callback
/showthread.php 1617 eval




Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Newbie here!
#1
Greetings to all. My name is Ezra. I'm new here to the Jewish Forums. 

I was born and raised in Texas. Recently I moved to Massachusetts. I've been living here around Springfield for about a month now. I'm 19 years old. 

I have aspirations of going to college here soon. I started a semester back in Texas but dropped when I moved here to Mass. There are tons of education options here in Mass, so I'm definitely going to look into enrolling somewhere soon! I don't (as of now) know what I want to do career wise, though. Right now I'm just working in a grocery store (something I've been doing since I was 17).

When I was younger I was enrolled in the Nigri International Jewish Online School. It's a Jewish day school online that's put out through the Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch (which is the central Chabad-Lubavitch educational organization in Crown Heights). I learned there because there was barely any Jewish presence in the town I grew up in -- and when I say barely, I mean it! There wasn't even a single synagogue. The closest thing Jewish was 15 miles away and it was a small, dying Reform community. Since I was being schooled Orthodox, my family and I would have to travel at least 4 hours away to get to the closest Orthodox synagogue. 

Like I said, I recently relocated to the Springfield area in Western Mass, and am apart of one of the Orthodox communities here. Since most of my schooling and Jewish experiences come from Chabad, I would consider myself to be somewhat Chabad. (I daven from Siddur Tehilas Hashem, I wear a hat and jacket on Shabbos, etc.) 

I'm just looking for a place to talk and discuss Yiddishkeit. English is my first language, but I'm proficient in both Hebrew and Yiddish. I look forward to schmoozing with all of you here on the Jewish Forums. 

If you have any questions about me, please ask below! 

Also check out my profile on Mi Yodeya, the Judaism Stack Exchange: https://judaism.stackexchange.com/users/...ab=profile
Reply
#2
Hello Ezra and welcome to the forum, glad you found us!

Just to let you know, the first 3 posts are moderated to help keep out spam and bots.

Thank you for your introduction, glad you found a community in Massachusetts.

Looking forward to seeing more of your posts and interacting further.

Smile
Reply
#3
Hi, Ezra. Welcome to the forum!

I can imagine that moving from Texas to Massachusetts would be a huge change!

I worked in a couple of grocery stores (Kroger in Columbus, Ohio, and Walmart in Joplin, Missouri) while I was in college as a cashier. It wasn't a bad way to make money while studying and didn't require too much thought investment. Did you also work in a grocery store when you were in Texas? Smile

I have to admit that the Ashkenazi Shabbos (שַׁבָּת) and Inyonim (for עִנְיָנִים) is difficult for me, especially how tav becomes sav and kamats becomes o – especially when there is no kamats in the word (like in עִנְיְנֵי חִנּוּךְ)! We have a living, spoken, native form of Hebrew that all Jews in the world can know and share, so why be different? Yemenites now use standard Hebrew, as do Moroccans and all other groups that come to Israel. Even Charedim who live in Israel use the normal pronunciation any time that they're in public. That's just one of my own issues, since I live in Israel and really enjoy the Hebrew language.

It really is an interesting concept to put a Jewish day school online. Chabad really tends to come up with creative ways to include the excluded, such as in this case when they thought about people who live in rural America and don't have traditional connections to Judaism. Very forward thinking in this regard!

I'm putting together a full course in biblical Hebrew at the moment (http://moodle.thehebrewcafe.com), to start in January. I've got four chapters of the curriculum sorted into activities. Just working on building the materials before I open the course. Online learning really is the future!
Reply
#4
(11-16-2019, 01:55 PM)Jason Wrote: Hi, Ezra. Welcome to the forum!

I can imagine that moving from Texas to Massachusetts would be a huge change!

I worked in a couple of grocery stores (Kroger in Columbus, Ohio, and Walmart in Joplin, Missouri) while I was in college as a cashier. It wasn't a bad way to make money while studying and didn't require too much thought investment. Did you also work in a grocery store when you were in Texas? Smile

I have to admit that the Ashkenazi Shabbos (שַׁבָּת) and Inyonim (for עִנְיָנִים) is difficult for me, especially how tav becomes sav and kamats becomes o – especially when there is no kamats in the word (like in עִנְיְנֵי חִנּוּךְ)! We have a living, spoken, native form of Hebrew that all Jews in the world can know and share, so why be different? Yemenites now use standard Hebrew, as do Moroccans and all other groups that come to Israel. Even Charedim who live in Israel use the normal pronunciation any time that they're in public. That's just one of my own issues, since I live in Israel and really enjoy the Hebrew language.

It really is an interesting concept to put a Jewish day school online. Chabad really tends to come up with creative ways to include the excluded, such as in this case when they thought about people who live in rural America and don't have traditional connections to Judaism. Very forward thinking in this regard!

I'm putting together a full course in biblical Hebrew at the moment (http://moodle.thehebrewcafe.com), to start in January. I've got four chapters of the curriculum sorted into activities. Just working on building the materials before I open the course. Online learning really is the future!

Thanks for the warm welcome. Yes, I also worked for a grocery store back when I worked in Texas, although it was a different corporation than the one I'm working for now. 

As for my Hebrew, I am quite content with my Ashkenazi tongue. If that bothers you, well, I don't know how to answer you. And while your statements are true for everyday conversation, it is far from true when discussing the way those diverse groups pronounce Hebrew within their own communities or in religious settings. I will continue to pronounce words like an Ashkenazi - I see no advantage to Israeli Hebrew.
Reply


Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)