On The Game

Ever wonder how games like Twister or Monopoly get started? I know--I've been there.

Goofing off with friends

Mazel Tov. It means, basically, "congratulations" in Hebrew--but it has acquired a new meaning here at JUC. Mazel Tov is the name of the latest Big Thing here, a dice game that was made up in my very presence. Each player has four chances rolling five dice, aiming to roll 26, which is Mazel Tov. Rolling a five would be a Meshuga (Hebrew for "craziness"), and rolling higher than 26 is a zero. Each person in the game starts one round of four, so there are as many rounds as there are people. At some point in the four rolls, each player has to stick with one of the numbers he or she rolls, and then at the end of each round of four, the player with the highest score gets +1, while the player with the lowest score gets -1. Rolling a Mazel Tov is an automatic +2. This is a very simple game--a friend picked 26 randomly, we started rolling, making up rules as we went, and it is sticking. And tonight I made Mazel Tov history. That's right folks, I am the first, and currently only, person in the world to ever roll a Mazel Tov. It was a beautiful thing. Amazingly enough, I also rolled a 27 (another Mazel Tov first) in the very next round. So once we copyright the idea, I will probably become rich and famous very quickly, and you can all say you knew me when. Just to let you know.

On a completely different note, there are some seriously cool doings here in Jerusalem. Succot (the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths, where people build booths--a booth is a succah, plural succot--celebrating the finishing of the yearly cycle of reading of the Torah) is coming up really soon. Celebrations begin tomorrow night actually, and the entire thing lasts 8 days. It's very cool, I don't know if we're building a succah here but sleeping outside may be involved. I'm all for that, definitely. After Succot the Jews begin praying for rain; this is the end of the dry season. I'm hoping to see some of the festivities. There's a Jewish shopkeeper in the Old City who is this amazing resource. The main purpose of his shop is for people to come in and ask questions about Judaism; he does a lot of dialoguing between Jews and Christians. It's really really neat, he's an incredible man. We're going to visit him tomorow to find out exactly what is going on when.

On a Field Trip

I have a test tomorrow that I must study for, along with quite a bit of other homework that I should probably work on. It's so hard to come up with motivation here! But there is a time to work and a time to play, and this is probably the former. Nose to the grindstone and all...

Ciao!