This week’s Parash

This week’s Parasha reading (weekly Torah portion) was taken from Leviticus (Vayikra), chapters 14 – 16 and speaks mostly about the laws concerning a person having Leprosy. It’s amazing how Torah portions are so often linked with what is actually going on at the time, and this portion is certainly no exception. Leprosy is a just one of the symbols used to illustrate sin, and although leprosy is very obviously visible, sin often is not. This passage teaches us that we should examine ourselves for it and if we do find it, then it is something that can’t be dealt with alone but need to seek help of one in trusted position to help. After dealing with the matter, we then need to wait for a certain amount of time in order to be sure that the problem has been dealt with. This so wonderfully ties in with the time leading to Pesach, when we clean out our houses from top to bottom in order to rid them of trace of Chametz (another symbol of sin). In this incredibly special time we also search ourselves and our lives for any sign of sin that needs to be dealt with that will hinder us being ready for the moment when the Eternal one made death pass over us.

Here at Ulpan Aviv, we are not only furiously working on the website and conducting interviews to find just the right teacher to add to our great team, but we also busily preparing both ourselves and our students for Pesach with the materials that we have specially prepared for them for this time. In Israel in the last few days we have had many concrete opportunities to reflect on Chag Pesach. Due to the escalation of violence and the arrival of countless mortars and missiles in to Israel from Gaza, we are daily faced with the wonder of HaShem making death pass over us! With well over 100 rockets etc., arriving in Israel from Gaza in the last 48 hours, it has been miraculous that up until me writing this, not one person has lost there life. A real reminder of what Pesach stands for to us as a nation.
Well must go. No time to waste. Just off to re-stock on Cif, bleach etc….
Gil Pentzak
Ulpan Aviv director

Shalom le kulam!

Thankfully this week has so far been a relatively quiet week here in Jerusalem, although, things seem to be ‘hotting up’, in the surrounding countries. We’ll just have to wait and see the effect that this will have on our daily lives here in Israel.
Here at the Ulpan, things are moving forward with our new website. We had a photo shoot and are furiously writing and rewriting articles that may be of interest to both our existing and future students. I was also approached to write an article for the ‘ English/Hebrew by Subject Blog’. After much thought, I chose to write on a subject that most people struggle with, the’ dreaded’ subject of agreement (gender, number), between nouns, adjectives etc. The article should be published shortly on the following site. http://www.engheb.com/htm/blog.htm I hope it helps………..
Another highlight of the week was the return of one of our Canadian students. She is a musician and once, in a dream, she was playing her violin over the city of Jerusalem. For one of her lessons, I took her to the Promenade Haas, which has an amazing view of the city. There she was able to realize this dream. A very moving experience.
Well that’s all for now…..
Take care,
Gil Pentzak
Ulpan Aviv- Director

Shalom Lekulam! Ma Shlomcem?

Purim, turned out to be the most beautiful, sunny weekend which made the celebrations with family and friends all the more special.
This week at the Ulpan we have again been shooting the promotional video for our new website which will hopefully be launched in the next few weeks. The students that we had in this week were happy to “star” in the production (Hollywood has nothing on us!) and we all had loads of fun doing it. We are hoping that the video will give people who visit our site, a real insight into the sheer breadth subjects that are covered by our students here. From music to medicine, from law to literature, from media to business, general conversation etc. We really do have the most incredible range of diversity within the students that choose to study with us. A big TODA RABA to all of you who took part!
Hayom (Thursday) the weather was pretty miserable here in Jerusalem, which reflected so accurately the mood of the people here, following yesterday’s bombing at a bus stop near the Central Bus Station. Our own secretary, only narrowly escaped being at that bus stop at the time of the bombing, because I had to leave the office early and dropped her off on my way home. Another Purim miracle… Our thoughts and prayers do go out to the family of the lady that was killed, and to all the other victims. Another challenging week here in the Holy Land!
Yours truthfully,
Gil Pentzak
Ulpan Aviv - Director

Shalom everyone and Purim Sameach!

I really love Purim. It’s a day filled with joy and happiness. It warms my heart to see the little children wearing their costumes, carrying goody bags and giving them to one another. On Wednesday we had our own Purim toast at the Ulpan. All students and teachers gathered together in the study room and over wine and cookies. Each introduced him/herself in Hebrew encouraged by the others. It was great to hear all the students speaking in Hebrew in front of everyone and making the effort to break the language barrier. I proposed a toast for a Purim Sameach for everyone and explained why, we as a people, believe in the potential for miracles at Purim. My wish, was for those who say that it would take a miracle for them to learn Hebrew, to see this come true☺.
We all ate and drank together and the weather was absolutely beautiful. The storms we had had last week had blown over and a soft, warm spring sun was shining.
One my most heartfelt wishes for this miraculous day of Purim, is to finally have peace. In spite of all the celebrations and costumes we cannot forget what happened in Itamar last week. The cold blooded murder of 5 out of 8 family members including a 4month old baby, reminds us of the difficult and complicated reality that we live in.
Peace in the Holy Land would be the most appropriate and a wonderful miracle to wish for in these days.
Purim Sameach and best wishes ,
Gil Pentzak
Ulpan Aviv - Director

Shalom everyone! Ma Hamatzav? Ani Mekave Shehakol Beseder! (I hope everything is OK).

The past week was really intensive here in Jerusalem. New students arriving from all over. All starting courses at different levels. I love the excitement of meeting a new student for the first time. Always something new, always an interesting story. We also started to film a short video about the Ulpan. It was definitely an experience! As a linguist, I can definitely say that I am a man of words. Expressing myself has never posed any major difficulty for me, not even in front of a lot of people. But having a camera in front of me and being asked to talk about the Ulpan was completely something else. The phrase "Try not to think about it as explaining to the whole world about what you do", that sentence didn’t really help me… All of a sudden, I found myself stuttering and even putting together a sentence correctly became a major task. In Hebrew, like in English, we have a saying, “ Whatever does not kill makes you stronger.” I guess I’ll live to tell the tale!!
Now I would like to give something to think about…..
If you were given 1 minute to think about things that annoy you in learning a new language, (not Hebrew of course, because that is always fun ☺ ), what would you say? Would you say 'being stuck for words' was one of them? I am sure that that you would. Often for people who are very articulate in their native language, a great challenge is to learn how to express complex thoughts in a very simplified form. This challenge is usually caused due to a lack in vocabulary. How many of you can identify with the lady in the poster below? I think I can imagine…
Until next time,
Shabbat Shalom!
Gil Pentzak
Ulpan Aviv - Director

Shalom everyone! Ma Shlomchem? Hakol Beseder? I hope so. I am OK TG and things are great here in Jerusalem.

Last week I wrote about some of the advantages we offer our students here at Ulpan Aviv. Before I tell you a story that happened to me this week at work, I wanted to mention the fact that we have people from many different backgrounds and walks of life, coming to learn Hebrew at Ulpan Aviv.  Some are new immigrants (Olim Hadashim), some, tourists, some are reporters from all over the world, some, students from an academic institute in Israel, and we also have some diplomats! The one thing that each of the students has in common is that they are unique!   Each one needs a flexible program suited to their individual situation.  Here is a little story about what happened to me this week. As I told you before, Ulpan Aviv is situated in Jerusalem city centre. I do however,  also teach two days a week in Tel Aviv (Tuesday, Thursday). One of my students in Tel-Aviv is a 35 year old woman, who is really nice and also fun to learn with.  She also happens to be a single mum of a very cute 14 month old daughter.  Since she is completely by herself here, she has a real need and desire as well as the motivation to learn Hebrew. For this particular student it is essential that I help her to acquire good conversational skills and as well as technical language in order for her to communicate comfortably with her little girl’s care-giver etc. This week, however she wasn’t able to come to her lessons as, unfortunately, her daughter had to be hospitalized. Due to the personal approach and friendship that is created between a student and a teacher here, there was no question that she would not be able to postpone her lessons without being penalized. I was comforting to me to be able to reassure her and to be able to tell her that we would meet once everything was OK again. I was even able to prepare learning materials for her to take to the hospital and practice there!  I think that this is a wonderful example of what the personalized Hebrew programs here at Ulpan Aviv are really all about.

We are currently launching a new advertising campaign. It is very witty and dynamic. I’ll tell you all about it next time. Have a great weekend!

Gil Pentzak

Ulpan Aviv - Director   

This is just one example and next week I will write more about the other situations I used. Hope you will all have a great weekend.

Shabbat Shalom!      

Gil Pentzak

Ulpan Aviv - Director   

Shalom everyone! Ma Nishma? I hope all is good.

Last week I wrote about some of the advantages we offer our students here at Ulpan Aviv. Before I tell you a story that happened to me this week at work, I wanted to mention the fact that we have people from many different backgrounds and walks of life, coming to learn Hebrew at Ulpan Aviv.  Some are new immigrants (Olim Hadashim), some, tourists, some are reporters from all over the world, some, students from an academic institute in Israel, and we also have some diplomats! The one thing that each of the students has in common is that they are unique!   Each one needs a flexible program suited to their individual situation.  Here is a little story about what happened to me this week. As I told you before, Ulpan Aviv is situated in Jerusalem city centre. I do however,  also teach two days a week in Tel Aviv (Tuesday, Thursday). One of my students in Tel-Aviv is a 35 year old woman, who is really nice and also fun to learn with.  She also happens to be a single mum of a very cute 14 month old daughter.  Since she is completely by herself here, she has a real need and desire as well as the motivation to learn Hebrew. For this particular student it is essential that I help her to acquire good conversational skills and as well as technical language in order for her to communicate comfortably with her little girl’s care-giver etc. This week, however she wasn’t able to come to her lessons as, unfortunately, her daughter had to be hospitalized. Due to the personal approach and friendship that is created between a student and a teacher here, there was no question that she would not be able to postpone her lessons without being penalized. I was comforting to me to be able to reassure her and to be able to tell her that we would meet once everything was OK again. I was even able to prepare learning materials for her to take to the hospital and practice there!  I think that this is a wonderful example of what the personalized Hebrew programs here at Ulpan Aviv are really all about.

We are currently launching a new advertising campaign. It is very witty and dynamic. I’ll tell you all about it next time. Have a great weekend!

Gil Pentzak

Ulpan Aviv - Director