A wise person once told me that getting sick is the body’s way of telling you to slow down. I conveniently forgot that piece of sage advice until today, when after a particularly frustrating morning, I called my teacher Leah to vent about pretty much everything. I told her about the tough transition to this new place and how hard it is being pregnant and running around every day. I told her about how I’m not excited about my classes at MRC but am pushing myself to go because I want to learn how to learn text. The problem with that is that I’m completely exhausted and am sometimes too sick to concentrate. I told her how I want to be inspired but feel like I’m not getting anywhere. And then I told her I want to go home.

“Well, first of all, sweetie,” said Leah. “You are doing way too much. You’re chasing after one baby and you’ve got another baby growing inside of you. You’re completely worn out.”

Alright, I would give her that.

“Second of all, you are in Eretz Yisrael, the land of Israel, which is the headquarters of learning. If you’re not jazzed about your midrasha, don’t go there anymore. It sounds to me like you need to slow down and stop running all over the place. Maybe you could find someone to learn with you one-on-one, even two days a week, to build your skills, and then the rest of the time just find classes that get you excited”.

Could it be that simple?

Leah gave me some suggestions and we talked some more about how hard it is to be in Israel. She reminded me of what we learned last week about Avraham Avinu, our patriarch Abraham, and his adventures with the three visiting angels on the third day after his circumcision. Most authorities agree that third day is the most difficult day in terms of post-op pain, which makes Avraham’s eagerness to welcome guests into his home on that day all the more praiseworthy.

“When you first come here it seems like such a great idea,” Leah told me. “But there are a lot of third days in Israel. It’s really hard, but don’t give up just because you’re having a third day. Just try something different. Remember, Eretz Yisrael is the land of emuna. Even when you come here and you feel distant and you’re not sure you’re getting anywhere, you are. Stick around and let the land work its magic on you”. By the time we got off the phone I felt like a new woman.

So it is time for a learning makeover. I’m now on the market for a new tutor and am scavenging the area for different classes that strike my fancy. I’ve already signed up for a few art and Torah classes, so we’ll see what else is in store for me. It is such a relief not to force myself to do something just because I think I “should”. Something else I had to learn, I guess.

My sister is arriving in less than a week and she’s ready to hike Jerusalem. On Shabbat, she wants to walk to the old city and explore: “It’s only two miles away”. Gd bless her, the naive, childless girl. I tried to break to her gently that long-distance hiking is not so simple with a toddler and when you’re pregnant but I’m not sure she got it. Instead, she directed me to Babies R Us so I could buy a new carrier to hitch Yonah to my back instead of shlepping the stroller. Interesting. I’ve decided that if she makes me walk too far I will be forced to hit her with something heavy and stuff her into a cab.

The Rosh Chodesh celebration at Moshav Modi’in is next Tuesday and I am so excited. I’m trying to arrange a caravan of friends to go together in a sherut (a giant taxi-bus thing) so we don’t have to deal with the tricky bus situation back to the city. I’m also hoping that if I get enough of my single friends to come they will help me entertain Yonah all day (sneaky, sneaky). I could be purely selfish and arrange to have the sherut leave from my house, but maybe I’ll be generous and have everyone meet up in the center of the city. Maybe.