Monday

The learning in this program is great. There's a lot of it, though; they're working us fairly hard. The day officially starts at 8:15 for shacharit and ends around 9:15 at the end of ma'ariv, with no breaks longer than 15 minutes so far (and precious few of those) -- and then there's the occasional bit of homework, and the planning sessions for the services we'll lead, and individual consultations, to say nothing of decompression time. For me, writing these notes is an essential part of distilling everything I've learned into knowledge that will survive the week. So, onward.

I am sharing the Friday shacharit service with two other people (for reference, Steve and Diane). We had a huddle at lunch today, where we talked broadly about the style we'd like and decided which siddur to use. (HUC has several.) We ended up deciding to use the latest draft of Mishkan T'filah (yes, they're doing weekday too and not just Shabbat), which has the advantage of being equally unfamiliar to all of us. This should involve pushing some boundaries, after all. We're all a little concerned about learning the weekday nusach (melodies) in time; I ended up telling them that I think I can do it and they said "ok, you do that then". I hope I can deliver. (The weekday nusach we use at my congregation is different from what they use here. I should check with the cantorial staff member about that.)

We were going to meet tonight after ma'ariv to discuss the service in more detail, but the organizers declared a group run to Graeter's ice cream, and a little casual social time sure seemed like a good idea. It was after 10:30 when we got back, though, so I'll find Steve and Diane at breakfast.

The instructors so far have all been great. Some of the classes have had problems of pacing and going off-topic (some rabbis are just too polite to curb conversation, it appears), but the people are great and there's still plenty of good material.

(Someone remind me later that there's some stuff I want to say about program organization and credentials, but it's too late to get into tonight.)

( morning service )

( class: Tanach )

( class: how to lead worship )

( chug: trope )

( Plum Street Shul )

( class: how to write a d'var torah )

( evening service )

And now, it is late and "laptop neck" is setting in, that kink in the neck that comes from hunching over to be able to see the monitor, so I'm done for tonight.