Jewish education

Every summer I see ads for the Florence Melton Adult Mini-School, a two-year (one night a week, 30 weeks a year) program of adult Jewish education. Several people in my congregation have taken it and said good things about it. I've been deterred by two things: (1) many of those people did not start as advanced as I am now (so would the program teach me enough to be worthwhile?), and (2) the remarkable lack of detail about the curriculum. If I'm going to commit that kind of time (and pay tuition), I want more than one-paragraph blurbs about four courses. On the positive side, the people who've spoken well of it are smart people, and one of the rabbis at HUC also recommended it to me last year.

Last week I saw an ad for an informational meeting about the program -- first time I've seen such a thing. It was tonight, so I went to check it out. Two of the rabbis who teach in the program were there; one just moved to town and will be teaching for the first time, and the other is well-respected in the community and has been teaching in the program since the beginning. Each of them gave short (15-minute) samples -- lesson excerpts and an outline of how an entire class on that topic might go. I found that very helpful.

Both rabbis were friendly and articulate and seemed to be quite knowledgable. One had a more participatory style, which can be good or bad depending entirely on how well the teacher can keep things on track, and the other was more lecture-oriented. (Both did both and said the classes are balanced along that line, though.) I connected more with the new rabbi (whose teaching style I like), and if I sign up he'll be one of my teachers. (Two classes each year, so two teachers. I don't know who the other would be.)

The program doesn't mandate a particular level of learning coming in, and neither of the rabbis said much that I didn't already know. The lectures might fill in gaps here and there, but they're not going to be the strong draw, I don't think. However, the curriculum lists many topics that ought to produce stimulating discussions; this of course depends on the quality of the students and the ability of the rabbis to steer a conversation. We usually have this kind of discussion at the Shabbat-morning torah study, with my rabbi doing a good job of managing the conversation, and I enjoy that a lot. (I wonder how many students are typically in a class. I didn't ask.)

After the formal presentation I talked with both of the rabbis, saying I have a decent background already and I was trying to figure out if this would be a good fit. One of them suggested that it would be possible for me to come to the first couple sessions and then, if it's not working out, get a refund on tuition. I need to confirm that with the administrator of the program, but if that works, I'll probably give it a go.

One down-side is that the class meets on Monday nights. I've been thinking about returning to the SCA choir in the fall (there've been changes since I left), but it meets the same night. I suspect that the choir will have to wait.

interesting teacher

One of the mini-classes tonight was well-done in terms of technique. (This is the rabbi I particularly liked, the one who just moved here.)

He said he was going to talk about Tisha b'Av, since it's timely, but first he wanted to talk a little about something else that's timely: the conflict in the middle east. After a minute or so he mentioned the custom of leaving notes (containing prayers) in the wall in Jerusalem, and then handed out paper and asked us to write whatever prayers felt appropriate as if we were there. (He said no one else would see them.) He collected the folded papers and set them aside.

After writing "Tisha b'Av" on the board in Hebrew and deconstructing it for those who don't know the language, he talked about all the bad things that have happened on that day throughout history -- the destruction of the temple (both times), and more recent events continuing into the 20th century. The latest thing he had was Iraq walking out of talks over Kuwait (IIRC); he asked if that spooked anyone else. A couple people nodded and he asked why, and someone said "makes you wonder what's going to happen on Thursday" (Tisha b'Av this year). Some in the room were thinking of that from a "theology" perspective (what does God have in store for us?); I found myself thinking that Jews aren't the only ones who know about Tisha b'Av and if I were a terrorist who wanted to wipe out Jews, I'd plan something impressive for that particular day. But I digress.

He showed a short (3-minute?) video depicting the destruction of the second temple (obviously this is a reconstruction), and asked how we think we would have felt if we were living through it. He got "depressed", "angry", and "scared" out of the class pretty easily, and also a comment about losing faith.

Then he gathered up those papers (remember the papers?), took one, and set it on fire. To drive the point home about how crushing this must have been.

So, in 15 minutes, we had lecture, video, discussion, a class activity, and a "non-traditional" way of making a point, and it all worked. I'd like to see more of what this rabbi has to offer.