Crispy around the edges...

Hey...



My mother was in the country for the past week or so. She left yesterday, and her departure happened to coincide with the moment I burnt out.



Generally speaking, when a yeshiva guy burnt out, it means that he's come to the point when he can't fathom going to the beis medrash in the near future. Sometimes, burn out can last a week; sometimes, though, it can last for a longer time.



Thankfully, I've been doing well this zman, kicking it in every seder every day, but I felt like I needed a serious break, some time off. I knew that if I could just chill for a little bit, I'd be able to come back within a day even, refreshed and better than ever. I told my chavrusa for the morning yesterday, and he told me that if I needed, then go away for a day, provided that I use the time to refresh myself.



The question was, where should I go? I didn't want to travel, because aside from the money issue, there was also a lot of time taken up for traveling. I gave up last night, figuring that I wouldn't get away, and the burn out would continue.



My chavrusa called me early this morning, telling me that his daughter was sick and that I had two choices: come to his house and learn, or, because he knew I needed it, take the morning off.



Which one do you think I did?



After davening, I got back into bed and slept until the crack of noon. Puttered around for an hour in my apartment. Ate cereal. Read a book. By four o'clock, I was going stir crazy, and I took a walk. I went into town to the music store and just hung around for a little bit, talking shop with the owners, comparing notes, the usual. I left with three CD's and wandered around for a while longer. I got the new Tool, the new Funkenstein, and Balkan Beat Box. The new Tool is really good, but I haven't finished it, so i won't go int details yet.



Anyway, on my way back to my place, I found this amazing little place off of Rav Kook street. It's a museum called the Museum Of Psalms. It's a very unique place, with paintings for every chapter in tehillim. I've never seen such a style before, and the depth of each painting is amazing. The propreitor is also the painter, and if you're lucky, he can take you around, explaining each painting. he did for me, and it was truly amazing. There's a website, www.museumofpsalms.com , but if you really want to experince it, you have to go yourself.



Check it out if you're in Jerusalem. It's not expensive ( a suggested donation of 7 shekels), and definitely worth the time.

Originally posted Friday, 23 June 2006