On the Fringe

      After struggling with the header for about an hour, I've decided to just start writing. It's not the way I'd like it to be, but that's OK for now. I'll return to improve the aesthetics later.     As to the title, David actually suggested my blog be titled, "Learning to be Illiterate," as that is a large part of what our first 2 weeks here have been about - and is likely what we'll be grappling with for the next 4 months. With David's zero knowledge of Hebrew and my weak grasp of it, even after 2 years of biblical Hebrew at UMich and some odd years of classes at Beth Israel, it is very clear to everyone here -- we are ILLITERATE. We are learning to embrace this fact. As educated people, this is not how we normally see ourselves, and it's not a state we feel fully comfortable with. But it's the truth of our state here in Israel. Very fortunate for us, many people here do speak English and speak it very well.  But not everyone does, and