End of 2014

2014 is rapidly drawing to a close and with it my 9th semester as a rabbinic student. Sadly, I can remember very little of 2014. Although all things considered, the fact that I can not remember much of 2014 is a blessing. As it has been largely a depressing and distressing year.  However, I am slowly getting better and although its a slow process I am happy it is happening at all, there was a time when I was very concerned I was not going to be making progress at all.
I am still at home in Newcastle but am working more, indeed people are starting to send me stuff to do and at times I am having to be quiet firm with them this is a skill that I need to work on.  In fact saying 'no' is something that I am working on with my therapist.
I am also enjoying spending more time back home with my family, although I am missing Emily terribly. That said we are in near constant contact, via Facebook or Skype.
I also find that I am still much more easy to distract than before my seizures, but I am hopeful that this too is improving. I have yet another medical assessment coming up which among other things will establish a base line memory line so I can work out how things are actually improving or otherwise rather than working on feelings.
I am continuing to work on one of my essays, and am trying to pin down a date for my senior sermon which is proving a little tricky.
Anyway I am hopping that 2015 will be less 'interesting' than 2014 was. Anyway wishing all my readers a very pleasant new year's eve and a fantastic 2015.

Not a lot of news

Not much has changed since my last post. I am still at home in Keele recovering after my second seizure and longish stay in stay in hospital. I am slowly, slowly getting back on my feet, but it really is going to take some time. I have caught up with Daf Yomi and I have started Skyping into some of Emily and my 5th classes so this is progress.  I also have another hospital appointment and scan coming up on the 9th of November so hopefully I will have a much better idea of what is happening/what has happened after that.
My short term memory is still a bit patchy, although nothing like as bad as it was. And in fact this might be a side effect of some of my other medication.
I am still resting, and digesting what has happened and I am also still feeling really deeply touch by all the love, care and support I have received from so many many people.  I am learning and in some cases re-learning copying mechanism for my memory, short attention span (I was very very easily distracted as a child in school). So all in all not too much has changed since my last post but what changes there have been have been in right direction, which is a good thing. I am still a bit down but I am hopeful that this also is starting lift.  

A second and much more serious seizure

So times have been a little tough, but for better and or worse I don't actually remember to much about what actually happened. Although I have been able to 'reconstruct' what happened from Facebook, and notes I kept at the time. My last post spoke about a seizure I had back in July and from which I felt and it seemed as if I had bounced back from fairly speedily. However, at the end of August I had a much more serious seizure which resulted in a 16 day stay in hospital (three different ones actually) and I have now been home in Stoke recovering for 16 days as well. I am slowly slowly getting back on my feet but I think its going to be long and slow process, one of months rather than weeks.  There are lots of 'interesting' aftereffects of my second seizure, one is that I am inclined to burst into tears abruptly and for no real reason, although this might be the result of the myriad of different drugs that I am taking at the moment.  My sense of the passing of time is also a bit muddled, so i will zone out and minutes or even hours will pass and I won't notice and it will only seem like a few seconds. Sadly this isn't true when I wake in small hours and can't get back to sleep when time passes so so slowly. On the time front because my second seizure 'deleted' the time between the first one and the second one, and because my 16 days in hospital feel like 5 (I can only actually remember stuff from right at the end) and the 16 days back home also only feel like about a week, my internal clock is telling me its the end of July! And although I know, its actually the end of September, this just doesn't 'feel', right.  Physically I am feeling really really weak, this is what being run down and then over a month of lying down will do to you, I guess.

 I am also being to feel a bit down, something I am keen doesn't get any stronger.
My short term memory is also pretty shot, it is getting better but because I cannot remember how bad it was it doesn't really feel as if it were getting better to me.

On the other hand I am feeling really really loved I received so so many messages of support and comfort in the aftermath of what has happened but I have really been hit for six and it is going to take me a long time to work my way back. College has been amazingly supportive. And Emily was simply amazing. She not only caught what was happening to me from half way around the world, basically she saved my life. (And in true current form I have just burst into tears while typing). She has also been in near constant contact with me and is helping me regain my memories, talking me though our new flat as the picture in my mind that tends to come is of the old flat.

I am trying to find things to be positive about, and one is that yesterday I got to be a congregant at a synagogue for Rosh Hashanah, which is not something which I was expecting to happen anytime soon.

But I am feeling 'stuck' although I know I am not really stuck and that this albeit a setback will in turn pass, and I just need to be a bit more patient. Its just that I am not very good at being patient.

The memory effects are odd, I am getting better at 'getting the right answer to the question' and I know its right it just doesn't 'feel' like it has substance, on the other hand I have 'memories', from a year which is yet to happen and was (in my hallucinations) very strange indeed.

I am trying to stay positive, but at the same time not push myself too hard which would be totally counter-productive I certainly couldn't afford a third major seizure. One method I am using is to look for things I can learn from the experience, of which there are actually quiet a few. Both ones I will be able to use when I am ordained but also more academic things, I am thinking of writing a paper about my experiences when I more fully restored.

And a second as mentioned is the overwhelming amounts of care and love I have been given from my family, hospital staff my friends and colleagues from the present and indeed the past, matthew who was great and got me hospital and Emily who has been wonderful. I am also so grateful for the NHS and the doctors/nurses and other staff who work there.

So in summary it has been a scary time, and emotionally very stressful for me (and of course for those around me especially mum). I am trying to draw lessons from the experience(s) and to cut myself some slack. And most importantly not to get down or depressed because in the end all will be well if I have faith and just let things take their own sweet time. It has also given me an insight, albeit a minor one into what people in the community who are living with long term conditions are going though. Again I always knew, but there is knowing and there is knowing.

This was a rather more dramatic end to my 4th / start of my 5th year than I was expecting (I had felt things were running along quiet smoothly thank you.)

I hope that there won't be such a long gap between post over here on this blog and I also hope that I have less news to report. As I am medically ordered rest for the next few months this seems likely.

So to end on a, slightly, funny note. I have found that shaving and steroid induced tremors do not a happy combination make.

Getting back in the swing of things

I am slowly settling back into the swing of things after my seizure at the start of July.  And although I go home for the weekends I spend most of the week back in London in the flat. Last Sunday I had my NMRI scan up in Manchester so hopefully I will know soon what caused my seizure although if it is epilepsy then there is likely nothing to see in the scan.  But in myself I am feeling much better, although I have more moments of blind panic than I would like.  (I am working on this with my therapist) I have also re-started meeting my personal trainer and although i can feel that my conditioning has slipped over the two or three weeks when I haven't been meeting with her it has not slipped as badly as I would have thought.
Apart from this things have been continuing along okay really. I have been getting ready for my 5th placement, although not making as much progress as I would have liked, getting ready for the 5th year, again not made as much progress as i had hoped i would, this is going to become a theme in this particular blog post. My preparation for my MA is in the same place as is my High Holy Preparations. So all in all okay but not great.

And as for my plans of getting lots of work experience over the summer nothing came of that really. Well almost nothing I am preaching on Friday at West London Synagogue.  I am also finishing off the stuff for Limmud albeit that that is now getting to stage where it really is moving on to become other peoples work.

The summer reading continues and I have two more light, easy and fun books on order. I have to make the most of this time because looking at the 5th year I don't think that I am going to have much outside reading time.

I am also making a concerted attempt to meet with friends, last week I got to hang out with Mandy and we went to the Victoria and Albert museum.

I have one more hospital appointment scheduled in the next couple of weeks and then induction begins. Although quiet why I need to be inducted now that I am a 5th year I don't know. Especially as of today I only have 318 days to go :)

Emily is still in Canada, where although busy she seems to be having a great time. But I am really missing her and am really looking forward to her return.

Summer break but thinking about the 5th Year

This is something of a quiet time. After spending July recovering after my seizure. August is also shaping up to be a slow month. During the week I have been down in the flat in London, but I am spending the weekend back home in Stoke, this is more-or-less my plan for the rest of August.

I now have a date for my NMR which is the 17^th of August, so after that I should have a much better idea of what coursed my seizure. I have also made time to go up to Newcastle-upon-Tyne to meet with my 5^th community.

I am also trying to make some headway on High Holy Day stuff and on stuff for my MA, God knows that there is some time pressure on there. But generally I am having a restful time, sleeping more (the no coffee is really helping there). And reading fun and light stuff including Lev Grossman's 'The Magician's Land' which is the third part of 'Magicians' Series. I am really enjoying it and am trying to not read it all at once, I have another fun book on order which is good.

Additionally I am doing some work but lighter than normal reading, so some stuff for my 5^th Year Placement, basically a history of Newcastle and the surrounding region and books of the Apochrapha.

On Thursday I actually got to hang out with Matthew which was fun albeit that his house looked like a bomb had hit it. His house mate is moving out and he is reorganising so boxes everywhere, and lots of dust. One of my aims for next year is somehow get better at staying on contact with my friends despite how pushed for time it is going to be.

Emily is still in Canada, although we are in touch most days via Instant messaging, or via Skype. She seems to be having a good time but its hella hard work for her, albeit that it will be a great experience and something to put on her C.V. But I am really, really missing her :(

Yesterday I got my official Transcripts of my 4^th year and PG.Dip part of my course, all was well and good Pass with Merit in all but one of my courses which is nice. So all that is really left now is my MA (oh and our four extra-classes).

In truth my thoughts have largely turned to life after the college, which is in just 329 days. Yeah but scary. There is still quite a lot standing between me and that though. My Placement, the written work that goes along with it, my MA and the stuff that will go along with the four non-assessed but taught courses.

But I am thinking about it terms of 'markers of year' so induction, and then the High Holy Days, the college open days, then there is winter break, admissions week, Passover, dead-line for my MA thesis, deadline write piece for Practical Rabbinics, final Placement events and then Ordination. The end really feels not exactly in sight but I know its there just beyond the horizon.

I still have to finish off this years Limmud Booklet (shouldn't take too much longer now). However, I am seriously thinking of not going to Limmud this year as I think that I will be just to busy.  

Reflecting after four years at rabbinical school

Last Hanukah my elder sister gave me, among some other things, a book entitled 'My Grandfather's Blessing' by Dr Rachel Naomi Remen. I was familiar with the introduction to this book because it appears as a study text in the MRJ Siddur, (Page 594 Forms of Prayer 2008). I had intended to buy and read the book but had yet to get around to doing so. So all in all I was very pleased to receive it as a gift.

I read it fairly quickly and am currently re-reading it. Understandably much of it focuses on the effects of medical training and what this means for doctors as people. However, re-reading it I have been thinking of how some of it might apply to rabbinical school.

In particular one of the chapters is called, 'Holding on to the Heart' (pp.109-111)in it she says, talking about small velvet hearts made, primarily for bereaved children:

Serval of the students have told me that they find if they hold their feelie heart while they study, it relaxes them. But perhaps it does more than this. The first-and second-year medical students at our school and at every medical school are remarkable young people, on fire with the spirit of service. They are people who care deeply and passionately. Research at medical schools throughout the country shows that often this passion does not survive the rigours of the training. (My Grandfather's Blessing Page 111)

I sometimes worry that something along these lines happens to rabbis and cantors at seminary. The training is so long (five years like medical school) so demanding that it takes a terrible physical, emanational and psychological toll. I have seen the damage done firsthand to my friends at the LBC and at other rabbinical-training bodies around the world. But it also takes a spiritual toll.

I sometimes worry that something of what brought us into this in the first place is lost. As in the passage quoted above many of my colleagues are remarkable people. We were nearly all moved by a desire to serve and a love of Judaism and the process takes a lot out individuals.

In the next paragraph Remen continues:

Sometimes I think of one of those young people, late at night, struggling to memorize the countless facts on which the scientific practice of medicine is based and holding on to a little velvet heart. The image fills me with an irrational sense of hope. (ibid)

There is no exact parallel between this and rabbinic training, there is a lot of stuff to learn and memorise. From dates and biblical geography thought to Hebrew and Aramaic. However, at least for me, it is not the academics which is the real 'killer', I also find it hard to put my finger on precisely what is the real 'Killer'.

But there is something and just as medical schools have worked on their curricula in recent years to prevent the more depersonalising elements of medical training from damaging doctors to be, I wish that seminaries would do the same. That said I do not wish to add to an already overly burdened schedule and a curriculum that is bursting at the seems. But there needs to be something, perhaps one of the history course needs to go? Or something. Facts I can learn for myself.

Repairing damage done by the process is a lot harder. I now have a personal trainer to try and combat the physical effects and a therapist to help with the psychological ramifications. However, this feels a little like surring-up a seawall which is being undermined valuable but holding where I am, and I am not sure what to do about the spiritual aspects

Don't get me wrong things aren't as negative as this post makes them sound. As I said academically things are going just fine, in many ways better than fine. (Not that I am all that concerned about my actually academic marks anymore). I also feel that slowly but surely (actually rather faster than that) I am gaining and growing in the skills and experience necessary to not only become a rabbi but to become a really good one.

But maybe it is this skills focus that is the problem, both in medical schools and in rabbinical school that results in this decline in the 'internal motivation' for wont of a better word, of the individual rabbinic and medical student.

I can see its a problem, and from the rabbinical side I have and continue to experience. But it is one that I do not know what to do about.

Now for a more mundane update. I have now officially passed all my assessments and examinations which I guess means I am officially a 5^th year, well I am a 5^th year but it is taking some getting used too.

I am still recuperating after last month's seizure which means I have been taking things easy back home in Stoke. And enjoying the hot sunny weather.

Today I went back to Menorah for a service, for the first time in years. It was really lovely to see and talk with so many old friends. It was actually Haim Shalom's last service as well as a special celebration for Jack Z., who is going to be 90 on Wednesday.

I now know that my 5th Year placement will be Newcastle-Upon-Tyne and I have my first proper meeting with them next week. I am excited and am looking forward to it. 

This has been a very long post compared to my usual short and infrequent posts. I will try and post something again before too long.  

It seems in the end that I ran out of steam before the year did. After the long and never ending second semester there was Haggigah and the first week of Kol Bo., and then I had some kind of Seizure early in the second week. On Tuesday I remember almost nothing about it. Other than feeling ill and my morning coffee not tasting at all nice and the next thing I really remember I was in hospital and it was a couple of hours latter.

Emily was fantastic she took charge of everything and called my family and other people. The upshot is that I am back in Stoke resting up (and didn't go to the rest of Kol Bo and am going to miss ordination which is tomorrow).

Emily is now in Canada at a wedding and then working over the summer.

I am discovering quiet how bad I am at taking time off, at the same time that I can tell I need to recharge  badly.

Anyway I now guess I am actually a 5th and will certainly be one after Sunday when the current 5th years are ordained and I am very sad not to be there.

Really the end of 4th year

I have now finally and fully done with the 4th year. Last week I had my final presentation at college it was on a community based use of a megilah, and if it did not go as well as it might have it did go and I am sure that it was good enough to pass.
I have also had my last rabbinic tutorial of the year. So I am basically done. There is still the matter of Kol Bo (weeks one and two) but this does not require me to do much other than turn up and pay attention, that is it is not assessed.
I also have one or two things left to do at my fourth year placement but this things are basically fun and I am looking forward to them.

Then in early July the current 5th students will be ordained and I will become a 5th year student myself.  looking back apart from year one (which of course was in Israel) i find that years two, three and four have kind of mixed together in my memory and if I really want to sort out when something happened then I have to go though this blog to work things out.

But looking back on the 4th I again feel that i have grown and changed but find myself uncertain as to when exactly this happened.

I am going to spend the summer working of my rabbinic thesis as far as possible as well as gaining community experience. I am looking forward to my 5th year placement (Watch this space).

And for now that about it.

Rounding off the 4th year.

One of the difficult things about the spring semester is how it drags on but with so many breaks. Currently I am waiting to do a presentation, which has been rescheduled but one that is ready to go save for some minor printing and a very little preparations. I am also waiting of Kol Bo. The summer study. But basically I am done with my 4th year. And I am really happy be so. A couple of days ago I was down in Kingston for Erev Shavuot, I led the evening service and led a Biblodrama study session. I think it went well, especially the study session part. I am also decompressing from the stress of exams. And have really started thinking about and planning my 5th year. Basically this means that I am starting to think about my 5th year placement although things are still rather range on that front. I am also starting to work on my Rabbinic dissertation I am actually beginning to get excited about this it should be an interesting project.

However this dose mean that the 4th and 5th year are going to run into each other with very little in-between. But I am feeling more and more nature in my role as rabbi-to-be, in a way that I haven't before. I have grown a lot during this past year and working with Charley and at KLS has been great.

One down side of things at the moment is that I do not feel that I have made enough progress with my work for Limmud as I would like although I am sure that it will get done and will be good in the end.

I am still training with my personal trainer but I do seem to have hurt my knee or rather re-injured my knee which is a bit of a drag.  As its really painful and its stopping me from training as hard as I would, like.

But all in all things are good.

Feels almost like summer

It feels almost like summer, the weather is hot and humid, which makes me less inclined to work, which is a shame has I still have plenty of work to do. One essay has been handed in, I am still hard at work on the second, then there is the presentation to think about. Plus finishing off my 4th year placement at KLS, the stuff of Limmud and already thinking about my 5th year, early I know but the 5th year is rather truncated so I need to get going.  I am also waiting to here where my 5th year placement will take-place. This is making me somewhat nervous as this will have a massive effect on what my whole 5th year will look like and how/where I can make the transition from student rabbi to out and out rabbi.

On a lighter note another of mile stones of the year has passed the annual college dinner. (See Photo) it really was a lot of fun and I am in a much better/happier place this year than I was last. But now its time to get back to work: I have essays to write, massive numbers of emails to send and meetings to go to.

I promise a more substantial and reflexive post soon.

LJ Biennal, Home and Assessments

I have returned home a few days, a short break (Thursday though Monday) but as always I have brought work home with me.  I have been and returned to and from LJ's Biennial, which was great fun. My session, on Jeremiah went well. I got about 15 people which was much more than I had expected for an early morning session.
Now I have one essay still due, although it is well under hand, and one presentation remaining before I am done with my fourth year.  I also have a presentation to get ready for for the MRJ Biennial. Apart from that there is the Kuafmann Dinner next week. (As well as a couple of meeting looking forward to my 5th year.)

Then there is Kol Bo, both weeks one and two. And although it is a case of counting my chickens I am thinking of my self as a 5th year.  (I am starting to wonder where my 5th year placement will take place as this is likely to set a major portion of the tone of my final year.

Last Day of the 4th Year

Today was my last class as a 4th. All I can say about this is wow. It feels like it has simultaneously happened very slowly and very fast. Today was quiet light after an informal morning service and pleasant chat with a few of my fellow students all we had was our last reflexive class. Yesterday however had been quiet tough double rabbinic literature and spirituality. In fact I am feeling really tired as this has proved to be a long hard semester.  Earlier in the week Emily and I had our presentations for Spirituality class, which I think went very well.

Also for once I do not feel overloaded with work and assessments although I am still busy. I have two essays to write one for rabbinic texts and one for spirituality. Additionally we have a presentation for Megilot Class and then that is is it.

Tomorrow I head off for LJ Bienniel and I am both looking forward to it because i think its going to be great fun but I am also dreading it. (Because I am very tired and the last thing I want to do is go off and be active for a weekend).  I am also going to be do a session at it.

After that we have the annual college dinner in about a fortnights time. As I've mentioned here in earlier  posts I am once again involved in the Limmud Chevaruta project (and I will need to start making some real traction there soon.)

Then there is the MRJ Biennial latter in the year and the two weeks of Kol Bo on either side of it. (So that is going to be one tough fortnight. Then its Ordination of the current 5th years and then that's the year fully over. So at the moment I feel I am in the slightly uncomfortable place of no longer an active 4th but certainly not a 5th year. (I will want to wait until it is confirmed that i have successfully pasted all my 4th year stuff before I will feel that.).

Anyway I felt like i owed you guys an update.  And now I had better get back on with packing for Biennial.

Article in Jewish News

All is well with me. Although as per-normal I am tired and stressed. I have, however, had a piece published in Jewish News.

Here is the link

Anyway. I am off shortly to do a Song of Songs themed Kabbalat Shabbat Service down in KLS. I have taken an Advil in the hopes of clearing a bit of my headache before I get there.

Shabbat Shalom.

Passover, Emily's Birthday and the Continuing 4th year.

So how I always forget how hard the second semester is, even in a year when it is not overloaded with classes. It seems to drag on and on and on.  At the moment I am back home in Stoke because its Passover, or will be the 1st night Sader is tonight. But the semester did go right up till the end. In fact we still have a week of classes left after the Peasch holidays. Plus some catch-up classes.  Fortunately the assessments this semester are relatively light. I have a fairly major essay for Rabbinic Texts, a major presentation of Megilot, a presentation (and I think a report) for spirituality and finally a report for Tikkun Olam.

Then there are both of Biennials to attended, one for LJ and one for the MRJ. Kol Bo in the summer and the LBC Day of Celebration and finally Ordination. And then my Fourth Year is over. It somehow seems like a lot and like a little simultaneously. And i have as always taken things for limmud, which somehow I also always manage to forget how much work they will actually be. Although I am sure I will enjoy them as well.

As busy as the year has been I have managed to see a few friends. Matthew and others and last week it was Emily's birthday, which is always a lot of fun.

My extra reading lesson continue, and I am pretty sure that they are making a difference which is great. I am also continuing to meet and train with my personal trainer and I am sure this is making a difference. Last week was the first time that we have been able to properly train out of doors. Because the weather was finally nice enough.

Oh I almost forgot that one marker on the year that is still left is the College Dinner.  Anyway this is just an update and really a very profound one at. Things are carrying on much as they have before. And as of today I have 447 days to go until ordination.

Lots of things to keep my busy

As the title of the post suggests, I am currently very busy. March turned into a mad month. College continues okay, there is in truth not a lot to report there. Megiloth classes continues and is interesting enough. I am still finding my feet with Tikkun Olam class, still rather more Emily's thing than mine.  I am enjoying Midrash and Talmud Class (although its a lot of hard work), that leaves Spirituality which i am still struggling to place what it is and what its meant to accomplish. Although its under the heading of Vocational Studies. So all in all the classes are going well.

Emily and I have finally managed to schedule our, 'reflexive classes', indeed with have had two of the eight already. This is satisfying because for various reasons PCCS and Practical Rabbinics is an area in which I feel that we have missed out rather…my placement is still proceeding at KLS (still learning practical stuff there). One surprising thing I have done there is give a Lenten talk (standing in for Charley) at All Saints Church Kingston, which went well and turns out to be a fascinating place with a long history. Going all the way back to the Saxons Kings. In someways its where England was born.

The Limmud Chrevruta Project is getting under way. I am involved with the Limmud Beit Midrash Project also, but nothing has happened there yet. Additionally I am in the middle of giving four Talmud classes at Woodford Liberal Synagogue. Last week I observed Richard conduct a 'mixed faith blessing', down in the City (an interestingly disereted place on a Sunday).

So all in all things are moving on but I am very very busy and rashing about like a mad thing. This weekend I have taken the opportunity of a flying visit back home. (It is also of course Purim, which acts as one of the markers of my year. And means my 8th Semester is well under way.)

On that front I can feel myself focusing more on more on what happens after rabbinic school, even though I have 476 days to go. I am already thinking about how to draw my 4th year placement to a successful and meaningful conclusion. What will happen in my 5th year (although I still have very little idea what my course will look like or where I will be.) and then of course the start of my post-rabbinical school career. But thats all a long way off. For the moment I am trying to trick off a day at a time.

Steady as she goes, again.

Things having been sailing along really very smoothly, and i haven't all that much that I can blog about.  At the same time between school and my fourth year placement I have been really very busy.  Hence the lack of postings to this blog.

School is still going very smoothly.  I have booked to teach my session on Song of Songs, at KLS which is part of my assessment for Megilot.  The other modules are going just as smoothly as well. Outside of school I am still enjoying my placement at KLS I am learning a lot from good as well as from challenging experiences.  I am also continuing my work focusing on my Hebrew reading, which I am pretty sure is continuing to produce good results.

However, my schedule is very very tight which means I have not been able to get home in while, and won't be able to for a few weeks yet. I did have a nice long Skype home over the weekend. Shortly I am going to start teaching a series of four sessions on the Talmud over at Woodford Liberal Synagogue. I am really looking forward to these.

later on tonight I am going to have a Skype meeting about Limmud Chevaruta Project (2014). Although it will be a lot of work I am really looking forward to this as well.

I am also continuing to work out with my personal trainer, this too is really starting to show results and I really love the doing something physical and getting out of school and finchley.

A funny thing happened today. Emily and I were told that one of us had failed to hand in one of the feedback forms for one of our classes. This was despite the fact that both of us were certain that yes we had filled one in. In the end we went into the office and found that I had filled in the front and Emily the back. And yet one or other of us had handed it in nevertheless. It really comes to something then we have started filling in forms as one person.

Today was made especially bright because I got to IM with Tina with whom I have not chatted in ages.

Any way I had better go and make myself ready for this meeting.

Settling into the 8th semester

I am now settling into my 8th semester. And so far things are going pretty well. I have two academic classes and two vocational and although all four are quiet high work load its nothing I don't think I shall be able to handle.  I am especially enjoying the Talmud and Midrash class.  Although that said all I are interesting. Additional I am auditing a class on service leading skills, which technically is a first year class but I think it will be useful as this is something that I feel i have missed out on rather.

Outside of school my placement is still going well. Although a number to times I have gone all the way down to KLS only for nobody to turn up. This is partly due to the horrible weather we have been having lately.  I am still enjoying the mix of stuff that I have been doing and my number of sessions are ticking over nicely.

My reading classes-To help me with my dyslexia are progressing nicely as well. So all in all things are looking really positive on almost all fronts.

Apart from work work work which sometimes realls pretty relentless not all that much has been happening.  I have agreed to take part in the Limmud Chervauta Project again. For the last time, as next time would take me over into when I am actually a rabbi.

And last week I was photographed as part of an art project looking at people who are training to be religious leaders. (It was quiet exciting and I am looking forward to seeing the results).

Yesterday after getting back from KLS I went out to celebrate Matthew's birthday which was fun.

Today was mainly a working day. Albeit that i did find time for a walk around the local park. Enjoying a sunny day which has been so rare of late. There were lots of trees down because of the recent high winds but not as many as i might have feared and the park was very beautiful in sunshine.

Tomorrow another week starts, which looks set to be busy…well they all look that way now. And then on Wednesday I hit the 500 days to go mark.

Vote for change

Hi I am championing a charity called Atzum in something called vote for change. If they win they will receive 1000 pounds its a great organise. So if you could it would be great if you could go to the website and vote for them the link is below.

http://www.uknif-voteforchange.org/2014/02/06/vote-for-atzum-2/

Thanks

First week back at school

This past week was my first one back at school so I now have a much better feeling for what shape the semester is going to take. Overall I am pretty upbeat I only have a small number of classes admittedly ones that are going to take rather a lot of work. I will just need to sort out in my mind what the assessments look like for this coming semester and then I will really have a feel for how things are going to play out.

I am still really enjoying my placement down at KLS which is good as I shall be going there rather a lot in the next few weeks entering a busy patch.  I am also still enjoying Personal Training I can really start to feel positive effects.

I also think that working on Hebrew Vocalisation is starting to pay dividends. So all in all things are good.

I have come back home to stoke for the weekend but I was struck down by my periodic motionless motion sickness so i lost a whole day so I am feeling both a little week and achy as well as behind already with my work. (Not that I really am mind.)

So steady as she goes. 1/12 of my 8th semester is under my belt. Oh and I have 518 days to go.

Possible Break though

Those of you who know me, and for that matter anyone who reads more or less anything I write, will know that I am profoundly dyslexic. In fact 'profoundly dyslexic' doesn't really cut it.  I have an out of context reading age of something like 8 years, which considering i have an MA a BSc a PG.Dip., is really odd and something which people don't expect. About a year or so ago I went to a dyslexia assessment centre where after some test it emerged that my method for reading in English is to remember what words look like, as pictures rather than by constructing them by phonic methods.  Combining this with making educated guesses from context means that my English reading is really okay.   Luckily I also have a really good memory, which really really helps.
These combined techniques really do not work that well in Hebrew, and trying them which is my natural instincts, means my reading (vocalisation) is less good than it either should or needs to be.
But today during my reading-practice I think that with the help of my teacher I might have made a break though.
Firstly I think I am going to make myself a large (very large in fact) copy of any service which I need to read. Secondly, I need to slow down my reading even if members of the congregation are trying to read faster than I am. Thirdly I need to form a positive feedback loop to stop myself misreading such as Melech, or Barauch.

I am hopeful that this is a break though a mini-one perhaps but one nevertheless.

Start of a New (really has gotten going)

Although classes are yet to start I am really back in flow of things.  Emily is back from Canada and things are settling down into the new year. My assessments are going well. I have finished five of them and am still working on one, my essay for Jewish thought on Walter Benjamin overall I am happy with how things have gone and I think all will be well will just have to wait and see what the marks are.

I am still enjoying meeting with my personal trainer, in fact I have a session with her tomorrow. (I was feel reluctance to go to them albeit that I know that I shall enjoy them greatly when I get there).

I have also been down to KLS a couple of times and am going back this weekend. This is still great working at KLS has defiantly been one of the highlights of my training so far.

Today I went and sat in on, as a rabbinic student, on the meeting of Rabbinic Conference. I found it very interesting both in terms of what was happening but also getting to see my future colleagues in action.

It was, or it felt like, one of those markers where I really started feeling that yes this is my future. I am really appreciating how long it takes to grow into a rabbinic role.

Then I got my time table for the spring semester (8/10) it looks pretty good.  So all in all steady as she goes.

Assessments, training (PE) and other things

It feels as if the year has really gotten going now.  I am back in the flat in London although Emily is still away in Canada so its a little lonely.  Yesterday (Friday) I had my first training session with Danielle of the new year. I found it all a little harder than before the brake although nothing like as bad as I expected. Embracingly I forgot to give her her money. We both remembered only after we had gone our separate ways on the Tube. She was cool about it and I'll give her double next time we meet which will either be monday or Tuesday.
I also forgot to put my anti-nusia bracelets on, and only remembered I wasn't wearing them right at the end and I wasn't sick once. (Now there is an improvement).
In all seriousness I am so much fitter now than when I started and its only been a short time.  We moved where we meet to Parsons Green because of the weather so much rain and thunder and winds. But its not really cold at all C.F., with USA and Canada.

Then after training it was back home for a shower and a change of outfit and off the synagogue FPS., it was the evening before a Bar-Mitzvah and the boy although very nervous gave a truly exceptional D'var Torah.

Rabbi Rebecca was in good form and it was also nice to meet up with Kathy again and catch up.  I have also been working away on my assessments I have done quiet a few of them but still have four remaining so I need to a) Finish Liturgy (not to bad but I really want to do a good job with this one.) b) Finish Modern Jewish Thought. (I've already done quite a bit on it but its complex).  c) Progessive Jewish Decision making. (In effect I have to write a resonsa done some research and have been thinking about it but still have a long way to go. and finally d) An analysis of two academic articles for Research methods. shouldn't be that much trouble.

Tomorrow I go around to Matthew's for our much delayed winter celebration. Then it serious will be nose back to the grind stone.  Although I hope to be able to get in another visit back home.