summer learning

[cellio]

After dithering for a while, I've decided not to go to the program at Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem this year. It was going to be expensive before the dollar tanked (let alone now), and I haven't been able to find out a lot about it, and I figure I can wait for a review from the fellow congregant who's going and re-evaluate for next year.

I am pretty sure I am going to National Havurah Committee's summer institute, unless all the classes I'm interested in have filled up since the list went live a couple months ago. (I've sent email to inquire.) This is the week after Pennsic, which is a little awkward, but I should be able to make it work. (I want some down-time, but I'll come home from Pennsic on Friday and not need to leave for this until Monday morning, probably.) Do I know anyone else who is going this year? I know magid has gone in the past.

(By the way, can anyone from the area tell me what NH temperature and humidity tend to be like in mid-August? This informartion seems remarkably hard to gain via Google.)

I have also heard some really good things about a short program called Limmud. When I first heard of this what I found was a weekend(-ish) program in the UK, which seemed rather a bit of trouble for something so short. (At the time I didn't have a passport. I do now, so it would just be about time and airfare.) But someone on a mailing list recently mentioned the New York instantiation. This program is for a long weekend in the winter. They don't have any details posted yet, but I'll check back later. (I wonder what the least-bad way is for getting to the Catskills in January. Maybe some other congregants will be interested and we could drive; flying is not clearly a win.)

Comments

Re: Sorry you're not coming to Jerusalem for Shalom Hartman Institute :(

[cellio]

Thank you for this reply! I wish I'd made contact with you three months ago.

I heard about the program through my rabbi, who praises SHI highly (but didn't have experience with this specific program). The information I couldn't find was about the program content, calibration, and "style" -- large lectures or small discussions, academic or more casual, level of text knowledge that could be accommodated (beginner or more advanced?), full-day programming versus something more abbreviated, etc. My approach toward study programs tends toward "fill my day" and "fill my brain"; I love learning, and I love it to be challenging. (My past formal experiences: HUC/CCAR/URJ's Sh'liach K'hilah program, Hebrew College's Open Beit Midrash, and one year of the Florence Melton program. Informally, many years of chevruta study with my rabbi.)

In February I sent mail to the email address published on the site; after a full month I got a reply that repeated the information on the web site (which I'd said up front I'd already explored). I asked my questions again (I hoped more clearly), and my next reply was in early May saying a program book would be coming out soon. I haven't received that yet, but it's a little late for me to be making decisions now. Even now, I don't see more than this page on your site; did I miss something?

The financial issues are totally not under your control; I understand that. While the $1500 tuition didn't make me blink, by the time I added in air fare and housing the cost had tripled, not counting the effects of the weak dollar. I can spend that for the right program, but I didn't feel I could do it "blind". Your institute has an excellent reputation, but I needed to know a little more abut what I was likely to experience in this specific program. Does that make sense?

For next year I'll have much better data; a fellow congregant (who was already committed to going to Israel this summer for other reasons) will be attending, and I'm looking forward to hearing what she says about it when she returns.

I hope to meet you there next year.