post-HUC thoughts

Sunday morning we had a low-key service and then a wrap-up session where we talked about taking what we'd done there back to our congregations. It was a mellow day. Then we turned in our evaluation forms and keys, said our goodbyes, and left.

The drive home took me five hours, with three quick stops. (I've discovered that my steering wheel vibrates just a little; I found I needed to rest my hands. I wonder what that means.) Sunday drivers seem to be more annoying than Friday drivers, but whatever. I was glad to have music and AC in the car. :-)

At the final session one of the other students asked the group how many would be interested in a program next year focused on text study. About a dozen hands went up, which I find gratifying. I feared that there were only four or five of us, which wouldn't be critical mass. (It would be if we were all in the same city or at least region, but not spread out over the country like we are.) And there'd be no reason not to open it up to previous classes too, up to whatever size limit makes sense, so we could do this. A couple people volunteered to host it, but I still want to see if we can do it at HUC. For one thing, it's a compromise for everyone. But more importantly, how can you do serious text study without the resources of a good library? Their library is very good.

So I plan to ask Rachel (the main organizer) if "we're not doing it" means "we aren't doing the work" or "not here". If they'd let us use the site, I think others of us can arrange for there to be a program of study for the people who come. Heck, I could organize something like this, assuming they're willing to put us in touch with student rabbis and maybe even some faculty. Obviously we'd have to talk a lot about money, but since the actual organization would be by volunteers (mostly) and the faculty shouldn't be more expensive than this year (we'd probably use more students and fewer faculty), it ought to be possible to do it for no more than what we paid this yaer -- unless HUC subsidized the program. Ok, that's another thing to ask about.

I'm also going to look into Melton and Drisha and Hebrew College and other ideas, and I'll see what my rabbi thinks would make sense (since he knows me well). Everything's wide open at this point.

I need to work on Hebrew if I'm going to go much farther, I think. I haven't been able to coax much useful information out of University of Pittsburgh's web site. They offer Hebrew courses (that much I can tell); I can't tell whether Biblical Hebrew is an entry point or if they have you take modern first. And they don't have a fall schedule up, nor fees. I'll have to check back later.

a ritual note

I learned something interesting one morning last week. During the service my group led, we introduced the part where you gather the tzitzit of your tallit together. I was helping to lead the service and wearing a small tallit, so this was nothing special for me. But I also own a larger tallit, and during the morning service a couple days later another group did this and I got to experience it as a congregant.

The usual way of wearing a larger tallit results in two of the fringes hanging in front and two in back. In order to gather all four you have to drop the back ones down and then reach around and gather them. In other words, you end up really being wrapped tightly in the tallit in a way that doesn't work with the small ones. I found the close physical quarters to be evocative of the closeness we can have with God. I want to keep that.

This only works if (1) you're standing and (2) you aren't fussing with a siddur in your hands. So in congregations where you sit for the v'ahavta (like mine) it's not going to work. And while they surely didn't anticipate it, this group encumbered the process by choosing to read the English instead of the Hebrew for that part. I know the Hebrew by heart and wouldn't have needed to keep a book open and handy for that.