Today was Tisha B'Av, the Ninth day in the Jewish month of Av where we remember the destruction of the First and Second Temples and other atrocities that have afflicted the Jews. We had to go to Ulpan for our Hebrew class for the first part of the morning where we read some Hebrew text about the holiday. Afterward we met to discuss some English texts as a whole about the holiday and observances. Some overlapped with our Hebrew texts. Was very interesting discussing the holiday and how many negative things have happened to the Jews on this day....for many what will be happening in the next few days will become associated with this list (the dissengagement of the West Bank).

We got to hear Anat Hoffman today who is a strong voice in equal rights for all in Israel and Jerusalem. She spoke about her work with the Arabs, prostitution prevention, women's rights to pray, and many important subjects. She is really remarkable to hear, especially how she made certain ideas pass on the Jerusalem City Council despite their large Orthodox majority. (She would make her proposals while the religious were taking a break to daven Mincha, thus having a more supportive group to accept her ideas).

We then davened Mincha together and left school very hungry and very cold from the air conditioning. Got hit by a blast of inferno outside where it was around 102 degrees Farenheight!

Came home and decided I needed to break my fast because I was just feeling delirious. Did some Hebrew homework and wrote a bunch of letters to folks at home. Had dinner with the roomies, finished some Hebrew work and am now going out to Restobar with Rollin to say goodbye to one of our interns, Adam who is returning to the States on Tuesday.