In honor of our addiction to the HBO series "Rome," courtesy of Netflix, I'm wearing my "SPQR" shirt today. One of the graduate students stopped me in the hall to say - "Okay, I just have to ask - why are you wearing 'Property of the Roman Senate' on your chest?" I looked down at said chest; there really was no good answer. :)
School is going very well. In my Life Cycles class, in which we're still on funerals, we had a reading on pet loss. I love that! The article talked all about the different roles that pets provide in a person's life, and how and why Judaism needs to respond to that loss, albeit in a different fashion than the death of a human. I had no idea there were official rituals for it.
Yesterday was the first day of Sunday school. I had such mixed feelings - everyone was so nice, and the community was very inclusive. But it just wasn't Temple Israel. The kids (3rd graders) were great, but a bit quiet. Though I guess it's all in what you're used to - my main experience is with junior high school kids, and getting them to sit down and listen is a feat in itself.
Last but not least, I was just told that the motel in Mattoon has free wireless. This is exciting! I'm now planning on bringing my laptop with me on Wednesday.
Shanah tovah u'metukah! (Literally translated, "good and sweet new year." In common parlance, "have a great Rosh Hashanah, blow the shofar, and eat lots of apples and honey.")
Monday, September 10, 2007
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Yay!
I just finished writing my second sermon! Rosh Hashanah is now covered. Now onto the ones for Yom Kippur...
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Library loveliness
Remember last year when I complained about the HUC-Jerusalem library, saying its collection wasn't very impressive?
It's the exact opposite at HUC-Cincinnati, which is known for having the best Judaica library in the world outside of one in Israel. First thing this morning in my Rabbinics class we took a trip to the Rare Book Room. 8am and I was as wide awake as I'll ever get. I touched the pages of one of the very first Mishnahs printed in 1492. It's printed on handmade linen paper and feels almost like cloth. I held a Talmud printed in the 1500s with a pigskin binding. I lifted up the tissue paper to examine the red, yellow, and blue illustrations on a handwritten manuscript from the 1400s. And for the crowning touch, I saw a leaf of the GUTENBERG BIBLE! (read here for info). Were it not for the presence of so many other people, I would have squeed like a fangirl.
But, oh, how wonderful, I get to do research here! I browsed the stacks today in search of information for my High Holiday sermons and got a bit lost, to tell the truth. There's more Hebrew books than I could ever begin to understand, and German, and French, and Italian, and reprints of things in Latin and Greek, and I'm sure many other languages I didn't even see. Lo and behold, I came home with a very heavy backpack and plenty of "light" reading material for later. Hermione cracks, begin now...
It's the exact opposite at HUC-Cincinnati, which is known for having the best Judaica library in the world outside of one in Israel. First thing this morning in my Rabbinics class we took a trip to the Rare Book Room. 8am and I was as wide awake as I'll ever get. I touched the pages of one of the very first Mishnahs printed in 1492. It's printed on handmade linen paper and feels almost like cloth. I held a Talmud printed in the 1500s with a pigskin binding. I lifted up the tissue paper to examine the red, yellow, and blue illustrations on a handwritten manuscript from the 1400s. And for the crowning touch, I saw a leaf of the GUTENBERG BIBLE! (read here for info). Were it not for the presence of so many other people, I would have squeed like a fangirl.
But, oh, how wonderful, I get to do research here! I browsed the stacks today in search of information for my High Holiday sermons and got a bit lost, to tell the truth. There's more Hebrew books than I could ever begin to understand, and German, and French, and Italian, and reprints of things in Latin and Greek, and I'm sure many other languages I didn't even see. Lo and behold, I came home with a very heavy backpack and plenty of "light" reading material for later. Hermione cracks, begin now...
Saturday, September 1, 2007
Fondue shout-out
In a much-needed break from school, Carri and Scott came over for chocolate fondue. It was the first time we'd used the fondue pot we'd gotten from Becca. I may have actually OD'd on chocolate, between the dipped bananas, strawberries, dried apricots, cranberries, cake, and graham crackers and marshmellows (which actually made pretty good s'mores). We watched Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet, and waxed nostalgic about pretty Leo and getting married at 14. Though, as Carri pointed out, when your life expectancy was barely 40, it doesn't seem so young. The cats couldn't care less about the fondue or the movie, but they were fascinated by 3-month old Joseph, who gurgled and cooed throughout.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Midway through the first week
My Bible teacher talks a mile a minute, and wants us to outline the entire Torah (aka 5 books of Moses, aka Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) by the end of the semester.
The Biblical Grammar prof is a grad student who got into languages because she plays piano. We ask so many grammar-ignorant questions that we're already behind in the syllabus (after two days), but she laughs and likes us anyway.
My history prof is the only ordained rabbi who has a full professorial chair in the New Testament. He was one of seven people to read the screenplay of The Passion of the Christ before it came out. After he wrote his critique, Mel Gibson promptly sued him. (The suit was later dropped).
The woman who teaches Hebrew literature is reminiscent of every other English professor I've ever had. That will be the easiest, most familiar class, if anything because we started it off by discussing the definition of "canon."
My Rabbinics/Mishnah class is at 8am, so even though the history part looks interesting, it's early in the morning. And there's lots of primary Hebrew text. That's all I have to say about that.
I also have the PDE classes (Professional Development) of Education (how to be an effective teacher) and Life Cycles (mentioned previously with the current work on funerals).
All in all, my classmates are nice, the teachers are fun, and the work doesn't seem so overwhelming. I'm really excited!
The Biblical Grammar prof is a grad student who got into languages because she plays piano. We ask so many grammar-ignorant questions that we're already behind in the syllabus (after two days), but she laughs and likes us anyway.
My history prof is the only ordained rabbi who has a full professorial chair in the New Testament. He was one of seven people to read the screenplay of The Passion of the Christ before it came out. After he wrote his critique, Mel Gibson promptly sued him. (The suit was later dropped).
The woman who teaches Hebrew literature is reminiscent of every other English professor I've ever had. That will be the easiest, most familiar class, if anything because we started it off by discussing the definition of "canon."
My Rabbinics/Mishnah class is at 8am, so even though the history part looks interesting, it's early in the morning. And there's lots of primary Hebrew text. That's all I have to say about that.
I also have the PDE classes (Professional Development) of Education (how to be an effective teacher) and Life Cycles (mentioned previously with the current work on funerals).
All in all, my classmates are nice, the teachers are fun, and the work doesn't seem so overwhelming. I'm really excited!
Monday, August 27, 2007
Why my husband rocks, part umpteenth
Jonathan wrote me an email today from work. I'm reprinting it here, with his permission. Its title is "Wisdom for our son(s)":
"I just went into the restroom and there is pee sprinkled all around the urinal. It's disgusting! I mean, it's a really big target at point blank range, how can you screw up nailing it? I am going to drill in our boys a little poem to help them be considerate.
If you miss when you piss
be a man and clean the can.
Nothing like a rhyme to make things memorable."
One, I feel lucky to be married to someone hygenic. Two, I feel lucky to be a woman! Our restrooms don't tend to have these problems...
"I just went into the restroom and there is pee sprinkled all around the urinal. It's disgusting! I mean, it's a really big target at point blank range, how can you screw up nailing it? I am going to drill in our boys a little poem to help them be considerate.
If you miss when you piss
be a man and clean the can.
Nothing like a rhyme to make things memorable."
One, I feel lucky to be married to someone hygenic. Two, I feel lucky to be a woman! Our restrooms don't tend to have these problems...
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Jonathan says I'm twisted
The second-year rabbinic class already got homework for one of our classes, even though our first day isn't til tomorrow. 200 pages of reading on funerals and Jewish mourning practices. It's in-depth, practical, philosophical, and very very long.
I love it.
I think the "twisted" comment came up though when I was reading some of it aloud, and he said that I had way too much glee in my voice. Which I was, which in truth probably wasn't very suited to the occasion... but I'm finally learning what I came to rabbinic school for! It's exciting.
And just to share something that I thought was fascinating, this is from page 18 of Maurice Lamm's The Jewish Way in Death and Mourning. This excerpt discusses why Judaism is against embalming.
"The art of the embalmer is the art of complete denial. Embalming seeks to create an illusion, and to the extent that it succeeds, it only hinders the mourner from recovering from his grief. It is, on the contrary, an extreme dishonor to disturb the peace in which a person should be permitted to rest eternally.
"It is indeed paradoxical that Western man, nourished on the Christian concept of the sinfulness of the body, which is considered the prison of the soul, should, in death, seek to adorn it and make it beautiful. Surely, the emphasis on the body in the funeral service serves to weaken the spiritual primacy and traditional religious emphasis on the soul."
I wonder; what does Judaism explicitly say about the relationship between the body and the soul? It wasn't in any of our literature. If a loved one dies and we think the soul is gone, then why does it matter what happens to the corporeal form? It's not the person anyway. And if the body and the soul are intertwined, as this passage implies, then I don't understand why it makes a difference. One respects the soul by the eulogy, prayers, etc. And one respects the body by treating it with care, which some can argue is embalming. I personally happen to agree with Lamm's assertions; I just feel that there are a few steps missing in how he got there.
Thoughts, comments? I'm interested. I'd write more, but it's way past my bedtime.
I love it.
I think the "twisted" comment came up though when I was reading some of it aloud, and he said that I had way too much glee in my voice. Which I was, which in truth probably wasn't very suited to the occasion... but I'm finally learning what I came to rabbinic school for! It's exciting.
And just to share something that I thought was fascinating, this is from page 18 of Maurice Lamm's The Jewish Way in Death and Mourning. This excerpt discusses why Judaism is against embalming.
"The art of the embalmer is the art of complete denial. Embalming seeks to create an illusion, and to the extent that it succeeds, it only hinders the mourner from recovering from his grief. It is, on the contrary, an extreme dishonor to disturb the peace in which a person should be permitted to rest eternally.
"It is indeed paradoxical that Western man, nourished on the Christian concept of the sinfulness of the body, which is considered the prison of the soul, should, in death, seek to adorn it and make it beautiful. Surely, the emphasis on the body in the funeral service serves to weaken the spiritual primacy and traditional religious emphasis on the soul."
I wonder; what does Judaism explicitly say about the relationship between the body and the soul? It wasn't in any of our literature. If a loved one dies and we think the soul is gone, then why does it matter what happens to the corporeal form? It's not the person anyway. And if the body and the soul are intertwined, as this passage implies, then I don't understand why it makes a difference. One respects the soul by the eulogy, prayers, etc. And one respects the body by treating it with care, which some can argue is embalming. I personally happen to agree with Lamm's assertions; I just feel that there are a few steps missing in how he got there.
Thoughts, comments? I'm interested. I'd write more, but it's way past my bedtime.
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Our mighty hunters
Jonathan and I were busy today. I was writing service outlines for the High Holy Days, and Jonathan was reading Harry Potter. We didn't really want to play with the cats. But they meowed, and wrapped themselves around our legs, and overall managed to communicate their boredom admirably. Jonathan took pity on them, and attached a piece of ribbon to the grill of the fan. He pressed the "low" setting on the fan, and voila! Instant cat toy.
Friday, August 24, 2007
School
is overwhelming. The first week of orientation was wonderful, but absolutely draining. We had High Holiday prep, which meant literally going over each page of the prayerbook, singing specific bits of High Holiday music, and taking sessions on how to write a sermon. We had orientation for the Education program, for the Pulpit program, for the Liturgy (prayer services) program. We had tours of the library, of the American Jewish Archives, of the Skirball Center, of the Holocaust museum. We had presentations from Youth Programs, from the Rabbinical Student Association, from the Development Office. You name it, we covered it. Thankfully they fed us food throughout!
Every evening we had social programs, as well: dinner at the Dean's house, BBQ with the rabbinical and graduate students, pizza at a nice restaurant, and schmoozing with everyone.
One great thing to note: last year, before HUC officially started, Jonathan and I went on an archeological dig to Tel Dan. We made friends with an HUC Cincinnati Ancient Near East grad student who was on the dig for the experience. Lo and behold, who do we see at the BBQ but this same grad student and his wife! We talk a bit, and then tell them the area where we live. They say, oh, cool, we just moved from there. We tell them the specific area where we live. They say, cool, we were there too. We tell them the street where we live. They say, huh, is it house number X? We say yes, how did you know that? They laughed, and said, because we just moved out of there last month! They then proceeded to tell us all about our landlord. Apparently they moved out because it was too small after the recent birth of their second baby. Otherwise, they loved it. We promised to invite them over to Shabbat dinner soon so they can see what we've done with the furniture. :)
Every evening we had social programs, as well: dinner at the Dean's house, BBQ with the rabbinical and graduate students, pizza at a nice restaurant, and schmoozing with everyone.
One great thing to note: last year, before HUC officially started, Jonathan and I went on an archeological dig to Tel Dan. We made friends with an HUC Cincinnati Ancient Near East grad student who was on the dig for the experience. Lo and behold, who do we see at the BBQ but this same grad student and his wife! We talk a bit, and then tell them the area where we live. They say, oh, cool, we just moved from there. We tell them the specific area where we live. They say, cool, we were there too. We tell them the street where we live. They say, huh, is it house number X? We say yes, how did you know that? They laughed, and said, because we just moved out of there last month! They then proceeded to tell us all about our landlord. Apparently they moved out because it was too small after the recent birth of their second baby. Otherwise, they loved it. We promised to invite them over to Shabbat dinner soon so they can see what we've done with the furniture. :)
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Picnics and prayerbooks
I start school tomorrow, yay! I’ve got the back-to-school itch. They’ve got us booked pretty solid this week, with dinners and BBQs and lunches and too many seminars and High Holy Day prep sessions to count (which is a good thing, as I need all the help I can get!). Jonathan’s going to get to work early so he can leave a bit before 5, and come to all the evening events with me.
Today was the "Shalom Cincy Newcomer’s Picnic," put on by the local Jewish Federation. We schmoozed, ate hot dogs, and met lots of new people. Then we did a very new-age couple-y thing: Carri, Scott, the baby and myself and Jonathan all went shopping together! We hit Costco, Target, Petsmart, and Michael’s, then treated ourselves to bagels at Marx Bagels. I love the suburbs; all the shops are in one area.
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