Sunday, June 29, 2008

Leaving for Israel on Tuesday!!

Below is a copy of the email I sent with all of my information for the next year. Look forward to some (more) exciting entries once I arrive in Israel!

Dear Family and Friends,

Shalom!!

On Tuesday, July 1, 2008, I’ll be leaving to start my first year of rabbinical studies at Hebrew Union College- Jewish Institute of Religion in Jerusalem, Israel. Following my year in Jerusalem, I will be studying for four more years (graduation and ordination as a Rabbi will be June 2013) at the HUC-JIR campus in Cincinnati, just down the street from the University of Cincinnati. I am very excited to start my five year journey to becoming a Rabbi, and I hope to be able to share a lot of this experience with all of you.

**As with all email updates, I wanted to include an “unsubscribe” option. I will refrain from sending a lot of emails, hopefully one every other month, HOWEVER- if you would like to removed from the email list, I would be more than happy (and not offended AT ALL) to take you off. Please just let me know! **

I will be living in Jerusalem from July 2, 2008 until May 24(ish), 2009. I will be living in a Jerusalem neighborhood called Rehavia, which is a 8-minute walk to school at HUC. I am living with two girls, Lisa and Deana, who are also rabbinic students, and am VERY excited to see my new apartment. I’ll be sure to send pictures ASAP. If you’d like to send any mail, your best bet is to send it to HUC. The address is: 13 King David St., Jerusalem 94101, Israel.

I would love to hear from all of you throughout the year, so please, feel free to email, call, chat online, send mail, etc. An important new contact tool is my Vonage phone- I will have a “landline” phone in my apartment that has a Cincinnati, OH phone number. I have unlimited calling to anywhere in the U.S., and this number works just like any other U.S. number, so you can call me for the price of any call you might make to a Cincinnati number!! If you are visiting Israel anytime throughout the next eleven months, please let me know so that we can meet up! All of my contact information is listed at the bottom of this email. **Please keep in mind that it may take a few weeks to get my internet set up in my apartment, so I while I will be able to answer emails and any calls to my Israeli cell phone, please wait until I give you an internet update before you try calling my Vonage phone!

Perhaps the most important thing for all of you to know about is my BLOG! I will do my best to update this blog as often as possible, and hope to include pictures with each entry. The blog address is: http://www.buckeyeinisrael.blogspot.com Please check the blog often!!

I am looking forward to a great year in Israel, but I’ll certainly miss everyone at home, at Ohio State, and throughout the country. Please stay in touch, and remember, I’m only a phone call or an email away!

Love,
Meredith

CONTACT INFORMATION:
Email: meredith.kahan@gmail.com or kahan.7@osu.edu
*see email for the rest of my contact info, I didn't want to leave it out on the blog!!