Monica

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During the break I was talking with another student (from my congregation); she asked me if I'm fluent and I said no and I'm trying to learn but having to do it on my own. Doesn't AJL teach Hebrew? Modern conversational, I said, but not biblical/written; there's no one other than Pitt teaching that as far as I know, and I can't take time during the work day. That other Hebrew-reading student was nearby and he said "Kollel will teach you". That's news to me; I get their class lists every semester and haven't seen language classes. But what I actually said to the student is "for women?". You see, Kollel is an Orthodox institution and is generally gender-segregated; they mark a very few of their classes as "for women" and I'd been told that if it doesn't say that, it's for men. Most formal learning in the Orthodox community is done by men, so that isn't surprising. But it means I've never actually been in the Kollel, because their women's classes so far either haven't appealed or haven't been at times I could go.

Anyway, so this student said "I'm sure they'll teach you, and if they can't help you I will find you a chevruta (study partner)". Wow! So I'll send email to Kollel, and if they can't help me I'll ask this student for help.

This readiness to help a stranger (I don't know the guy outside of our shared class) is characteristic of the best of Orthodox Judaism. There are unhelpful people in that community to be sure, as there are in any community, and good people outside of it, but if I had to pick a Jewish community in which to seek help from an arbitrary stranger, the Orthodox community is where I'd look. They get this in a way that a lot of the rest of us don't. It makes me a little sad to think that if someone sought similar help from a member of my community, the odds are much higher that the answer would be "I don't know" or "you should ask so-and-so", not "I'll help you get an answer". I am guilty of this too, and it's something I'd like to improve.

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Two words are used in Hebrew to convey separation. One is "kadosh", which means to sanctify or set apart. Yisrael is set apart for a particular purpose; we set Shabbat apart from the rest of the week; when we marry we set our spouses apart from all other people (kidoshin); etc. The other word is "havdil", which I gather is a more "mundane" separation. This is the word used in the torah when God separates light from darkness on the first day. That makes sense; it's not like one of them is in any way elevated over the other. But, if that's the reasoning, then what of havdalah, the ceremony we do to mark the end of Shabbat where we say that God separates (havdil) Shabbat from the rest of the week? We elevate it but God doesn't so much? Must think more on this. (The rabbi only pointed out the use of "havdil" versus "kadosh"; the rest of this ramble is me. So don't hold him accountable if I'm off-base.)

The days of creation pair up as follows: day one light/dark and day four sun/moon; day two waters and day five water creatures; day three earth and vegetation and day six land animals and man. I never noticed that before.

(I, by the way, have no problem whatsoever with light on day one and the sun not showing up until day four. God can make light come from anything he wants, or nothing at all. He doesn't require a star to create it. I've met people who see a difficulty here.)

The word "hashamayim" (heaven(s)) contains "mayim", water. Day two talks about separating the "waters above" (heaven) and the "waters below" (sea). I don't really think of heaven as a place requiring a snorkel and fins to traverse; I wonder where the "water" association disappeared? (There is midrash about Moshe going up to heaven, so we can't just write it off as "God can live in any environment". The midrash doesn't talk about Moshe breathing in water while there.)

The rabbi asserts (I haven't confirmed) that the only time in B'reishit that God seems to talk about himself in the plural is when creating man (the first time), when he says "let us make man in our image". One could write off the "us" as referring to the heavenly court, but tradition teaches that man is made in God's image, not the image of God and his underlings, so the "our" is problematic. I read it as the royal "we" and don't worry about it, but I'm sure there are people out there who use this as a basis for polytheism. (I should mention that I've been taught that early Judaism was monolatrous; monotheism came later.)

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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.