2012-2013

There are but a few minutes of 2012 left and I find myself alone and working. Not that this brothers me any. In fact given how I spend a deal of my time it seems most suitable really.  I am back in Stoke and although Rebecca and Said and Aaron were here earlier they have gone now and mum and dad are in bed.  I have been working on my essays all day and have more or less finished the one for psalms. It is about 90% done.  I still have a single paragraph to right and I need to add a fourth appendix and then it is done.
I have been preparing for my essay on the Aleinu-essay. The third essay is in many ways both the most interesting and most difficult it is for history and on the subject of the Kararites.  I have been researching it today. Mainly by reading Kararites websites.  I was surprised a) that there are still Kararites and b) still so much opposition to Pharisaic-Judaism (even using that term says a lot).
Anyway as the fireworks have started I know that it is now 1st of January 2013.
I will probably head off to bed soon so as to be able to work better tomorrow.

Post-limmud

I am still buzzing with ideas and the general after effects of having been at Limmud, today I took it easy after a late night last night just chatting (this was really my first opportunity to do this as its just been one thing after the other).
Currently I am tidying my room really trying to get it nice so its a pleasant environment for to work (and sleep in). I am also thinking about my three up-coming essays and my presentation as well as getting ready for a quick trip back home to Newcastle tomorrow.
I am planning on writing something a little more substantial that grew out of one of my limmud sessions  in this blog shortly.
But for the time being I'd better get back to tidying my room and getting ready for my trip home.

limmud update

As I type I am still at Limmud and am having a truly amazing time. Attending sessions, many of which have been expectional. But I have also been meeting up with people, old and new, as well as networking.
I have enjoyed being part of the Limmud chevrota project, and I think that the first of my two sessions went well. My second session (which is on Tamar and Judah) is later on today. A couple of the sessions will really stay with me, I think that some of the materials I learnt in Yehoshua Engelman, will give me food for thought in the coming weeks and months.  I am certain that the session I attended on Tuesday by Levi Lauer will not only give me intellectual stimulus but will also provid me with the impetus to attactually get up and do stuff.
I am only sad that it is drawing to a close as I feel that I could do with a lot more limmud, but I still have the remainder of today and at least a part of tomorrow to look forward to. I am currently looking after the LBC stand in the 'market place'. And will go to a session by Naamah Kalman, shortly.
I hope that everyone to whom it is applicable had an amazing Christmass.

Limmud

I am currently at Limmud, I travelled up here this morning on the limmud coach with Emily. My room is really pleasant and it has been really good to meet up with limmud friends from years gone by. I have had a bit of a look though the program which looks great as always. I am starting to feel that limmud buzz, which I have really missed these past two limmudim. There are still a few people whom I want to catchup with but I am sure that the opportunity will present itself over the course of the next few days.

Back now to studying the program, thinking and socialising.

Hag limmud samche

A Review of the year

I am slowly getting ready for Limmud, printing off hand outs and thinking about what I'll need while there, packing and the like.  I am also cleaning my room a) because it really need it I have been run off my feet these past few weeks and months and also because b) its what I nearly always do when there is stuff on my mind.
Don't worry nothing heavy or dramatic is happening just all the normal pressures of the life of a rabbinical student.  But it did feel like now was a good time for a 'review of the year post'. Albeit that the beginning of the year feels so very long ago that I can barely remember it.  I do remember that I was very tired and rather fed up. But looking back I learnt a lot JCM was also a good experience and something of a highlight and then there were the ending of the year; with Kol Bo and the rush to do essays.
Then I had the all too brief summer with visits up north and family time.  Then there was the start of this academic year which of course starts with the High Holy Days.  This went so well this time around and the community was really welcoming it and made me feel like everything had gone well.
After this came the long never-ending fall semester.
Things learnt: Lots more Hebrew and text ability. (I was really surprised and pleased that I could read Radak unseen.) This certainly would not have been the case even at the end of the second year, and I know it was not the case last year.
I also think that because of practice; and my extra classes with CM my skills as a sermon giver have come on enormously.
I have also been out a couple of times, which for me is a lot. And I hope it continues next year. So hears hoping next year will also be a year of growth and change (almost certainly yes) and hopefully less stressful and more relaxing.

Half way point

Today I had my last classes of my fifth semester, which means that I am actually half way though.  I am not sure about wether to laugh or cry about this.  It feels as though it has taken so much just to reach this point in terms of energy/time/money/emotional resources just to reach this point.  And it also feels as though I have been doing it forever.

And I think that, wow, half what does the next half bring. But on the whole I'm pretty happy about it and am enjoying having reached this stage.

It is also exciting because I've grown and changed so much in these past two and half years.  And I think what will the next two and half years bring as I move more and more out of the classroom and into the real rabbinic world.

Today was the last day I visited the particular day care centre I have been working in it has been very interesting but the program still needs working on.  

Academic things are going very smoothly I am happy and although I still have three essays to write (Liturgy, Psalms and History) I am happy with what I am going to do for liturgy and psalms; which is to be based on the presentation I did on psalm 114. I am a little less happy with history albeit that I have selected my title.  The only other thing that is need is a presentation of prophets but that is not scheduled to take place until the 28th of January. 

Emily and I go to Limmud on Sunday, I am very excited about that. It has been too long since I have been able to go so it will be good to see my limmud friends.

I am rather tired. But am generally happy. 

The end of Hanukkah

Hanukkah is over (well very very nearly) and so is the semester.  Emily and I have done our presentation for Psalms (I was actually really pleased with how it went).  We have also had our last class on reflecting on our experiences with/at Jewish care. So the rest of the semester one week is really a bit of a drawing in especially as we have some cancelled classes next week.
There is of course the assessments for the first semester which remain: Three essays (One for liturgy, one for History and one for psalms [based off our presentations] and one of the mini-essays for Rabbinic literature.  I do of course have to prepare my limmud sessions, which start in a week. And there is one last visit with Jewish care to do but apart from that we're done.

I enjoyed Hanukhah although I only got to send one day of it back home.  Friday I went to FPS and their celebrations were really nice and on Saturday I went over to WCS I always enjoy the service there and the community is lovely and welcoming.

I did have a moment of intense nostalgia when in a newsagents I saw Snapple ice tea and more magazine about swimming than I thought there could possibly be these made me think of Tina and Laura and of course HUC and Jlem.

The trip over to WCS was interesting among other unusual things that happen was there there were parrots in the park (the local park to Emily and I).  Shortly I am off we some of my fellow LBC students to see the Hobbit which should be great fun.

Hanukkah and the midway point

I am taking the chance to make another visit home. This time I get to spend the first night of Hanukkah here. I am busy, I have lots of work to do. Both smaller bits for next week and some larger stuff for the weeks ahead. But with just two more weeks of the semester to go I have stared thinking about reaching the midway point. Because I have very nearly reached that particular milestone.
It feels odd really, really odd.
Looking back and thinking about the before Adam, sitting in the garden here in Newcastle-under-Lyme  madly reviewing Hebrew for his upcoming test. (This is way back in 2010) and then getting on that flight to Israel, I really feel like I am a different person. I have learnt a lot in the intervening 930 something days but am so painfully aware of how much there is still to learn (How much I really really really) must master in the coming 930 days.
Its also a little odd that a number of people who are now huge parts of my life weren't even in it just that short while ago.
I have also just reread my application to LBC (I need to refer to something in it) and although I still think its a good application (it cannot have been that bad i did get in) but i was reading it and thinking; I really said that? Again it feels like the words, ideas and emotions of a different person.
This all makes me ask if the first two and half years can produce this kind of change and alteration, what will these remaining two and half years bring?
I think (and hope I am growing) and will continue to grow. But there is still a long way to go. I am also a little worried.
Partly this is because it has cost so much to get to this point. In terms of money, time, emotional resources, and physical resources. That I really get a little perturbed when I think about where I will be find the strength necessary for my remaining time as a student rabbi. (And of course for when I actually am a rabbi).
But also because in a way the time has gone so quickly. So a big thank-you to my teachers and an even bigger one to my friends who have supported me to reach this point. To many to mention really but a particular thank-you to Emily, and Tina.
Now onto the normal business of work and study and preparation for Limmud and of course enjoying the festival.