No Justice, No Peace

That’s right, folks. I’m on strike! As an employee (though I haven’t been paid yet; paperwork pending) of the Israeli Ministry of Education, and a teacher in one of its high schools, I am on strike. I’m not quite sure why, but I’m home today instead of in the classroom. I showed up at school anyway (there was no picket line to cross) but classes were all cancelled, and the students were all gone. This is in addition to the numerous classes that were cancelled last week for the onset of Adar and its festivities (I confiscated a bottle of vodka from a high-school student’s locker after he was stupid enough to open it in my proximity), and in addition to the two days that will be cancelled for Purim next week. Great timing, no?

It’s a good thing that I have five other jobs to keep me busy. I’ve been meaning to list them, and now is as good a time as any:

• Teaching math and English in a local Yeshiva High School, 7 periods/week (see above)
• Teaching Halakha in a post-high school seminary, 5 hours (= 6 teaching hours) a week.
• As I mentioned before, I’m translating a weekly Parsha sheet for Tzohar that’s geared toward businessman and managers. It’s about 2 hours per week.
• I write news briefs for Arutz 7’s English news site. I do one shift per week, 6.5 hours (recently cut back from 2 shifts = 10 hours).
• I’m currently translating an article on mistakes in the standard Vilna edition of the Mishneh Torah, for an organization that is printing an accurate version.
• Starting next week, I will be grading standardized tests on-line. It will probably be 2 shifts/week, or about 7 hours.
• I should hear very soon about a larger writing/translating project that will last a few months.
• My ‘main job’ right now is working on an new adult education/ Community Beit Midrash initiative for English speakers in the Modiin area. Currently, my main two tasks are putting out a weekly Parsha sheet which includes Divrei Torah, zmanim, and shiur schedules, but also includes advertising. Between designing, editing, printing, and distributing it, not to mention soliciting ads and making sure they are paid up, takes a lot of time. I also send it out on email, which also takes time and effort. I’m also working on an English-language speaker series for Sunday nights, and will start giving a regular shiur next week. The program is a new division of Lamdeni.

Believe it or not, I actually enjoy the diversity. It’s great for ADD. Never bored, and jumping from job to job. The other great thing about it is that almost all of them are from home. The two teaching jobs and part of the adult ed is outside the house, but the high school is down the block, the Beit Midrash we use is inside the high school, and the whole thing is in the Modiin area. So even though I’m working upwards of 50 hours per week, there’s very little commute time, and I’m pretty much home.

All in all, I’m busy, I feel productive, I see my kids a lot, and I’m scraping together a living (the Rebbetzin’s three jobs help a lot, too!). Most of the jobs involve learning on some level. It’s been six months since Aliyah now, and only the past month have things begun to click; we will make it here.

Another milestone: This is my 500th post. Kein Yirbu!