by Avraham Tsikhanovski ('16) Morah Haibi's rigorous Ulpan class is famous for teaching basic, conversational Hebrew to anyone who goes through it. And after a year of hard work, the senior class was treated to a meal at Golan with Morah Haibi and Rabbi Taubes. But there was a catch. You had to speak in Hebrew the entire time. The progarm began with the seniors walking into Golan last Thursday and ordering classics like "six-dollar sesame" or "teriyaki chicken." Expect they were quickly reminded by Morah Haibi that everything must be in Hebrew, even ordering the food. Without skipping a beat, the seniors switched to Hebrew and started ordering "'of b'sumsum" and "bakbuk mayim." If you do not know what those words mean then you should definitely join Morah Haibi's Ulpan class! After everyone received their food and took a seat, Rabbi Taubes gave a short D'var Torah about the importance of learning Hebrew. He quoted the Rambam who states that learning Hebrew is a mitzvah, as it enhances the learning of Torah. For example, while learning Torah in English is extremely valuable, it is a completely different and better experience when you learn it in Hebrew. The meal ended with a favorite game played frequently in Morah Haibi's classroom: Eretz Ir. With several teams pitting their knowledge of Hebrew against one another, the game turned competitive, but still fun, very quickly. Onlookers watched as a bunch of high school seniors sat around and frantically scratched their heads for words to win the game. Although all teams put up a good fight, Morah Haibi's team, with David Schmidt, Benjy Lamm, Yisrael Danesh, and Avraham Tsikhanovski, won the game. The meal ended with everyone conversing in Hebrew well enough to keep up a conversation. The seniors would like to thank Morah Haibi for a wonderful year of Ulpan. Although it was a challenging course, it was definitely worth it, because now we can speak Hebrew. We look forward to using the Hebrew we learned during our year in Israel and beyond.