Just because its been awhile...

I promised myself I would not RANT during finals, and as usual I will now break that promise. I just finished my first of 4 finals, which was a "24 hour takeaway exam" according to the lashon used by the law school people. I have never experienced a test of this nature, and hope not to experience it ever again. They give u 24 hours, which made me feel compelled to spend all 24 hours working on this test. Furthermore, there was a word limit of 3,000 words, which meant that I spent the majority of my time trying to cut out things I already wrote in the first 6 hours. Now, in all seriousness I did not spend 24 hours on this test, but I bet there were some overly-efficient Asian students that may have. Consequently, their were work is probably superior to mine and they will grab the few A's and A - 's that are available as part of this unfair bell curve. This all means that I, who spent about 8 hours on this - which is what a normal person would do- , will most probably thrown into the B category. If anyone understood that entire discussion, good job.

So what else did I do during this 24 hour period of exam-fun? Well, I did what every 22 year old introspective person would have done...thought about deep life issues. The first of these issues is how school is going to completely ruin my Pesach. Forget the fact that I will have to read this crap during the holiday. More important is that my "simchas Yomtov" will be completely destroyed. How am I supposed to enjoy time with my family and friends when I have two finals hanging over my head? Yes, life is tough indeed. I
It was quite the polar opposite scenario last Pesach. I was a guy with no worries, and was down in Florida for a little vacation. This now leads to an inevitable discussion of Florida on Pesach. Is there something inherently wrong with spending Pesach, the symbolic holiday of our redemption from exile, in Florida? I think the answer is no, but you still have to wonder about many many people deciding to spend their money and take their families to the beaches of Miami, rather than taking their children to kiss the Kotel in Jerusalem. Can one go to Miami on Pesach and still make it a spiritually uplifting experience? The answer is probably yes, but it also probably requires a much higher degree of effort. Lets be honest right now. The majority of us go down there, and love the "scene". Some of us will speak openly about how we hate the "scene" but our actions do not validate our words. Some of us will comfortably label ourselves as "religious", but then make our Pesach holiday about what color shirt to wear at the Eden Rock. Thats not freedom, thats exile. Thats not L'shana habah B'yerushalayim. Thats L'shana Habah B'eden Rock...with nicer pants from Banana Republic. And if anyone feels upset by what I just wrote, I am talking to myself here, so dont take it so personally.

So this year I did something that I never thought I would ever have the will power to do. I had my flight to Florida booked and ready to go. I was only going to be down there for the last 3 days, but hey "thats plenty of time to show my face, and make my presence known." 3 days is plenty of time to run into people, pretend you dont see them, and then run into them over and over again. But this time I broke the pattern. This time I called up the airline, cancelled my ticket, and payed the cancellation fee. This year I realized that spending my Pesach in Florida, as carefree as it may have been, will not help me yearn for our people's redemption. If anything, it will make me feel comfortable with the way things are. This year I decided I wanted to feel Pesach.