I haven't posted to this blog in a very long time so it feels as though I ought to post again. Recently I pasted the 33% stage in my rabbinical training which is both encouraging and scary. I am currently doing my apprenticeship at Finchely Reform Synagogue which is proving an interesting and very positive experience. I have quite a lot of course working hanging over me but I am not too worried about it there is a lot to do but generally speaking everything is going okay.
Passover was fun I went back home and had a pleasent family celebration.
Monday, 16 April 2012
Saturday, 25 February 2012
Admission week
Last week was admissions week. We had five candidates in the college all of whom seem nice and quick just the kind of people one would like to study with. I remember from my time being interviewed at the college how tough and how exhausting it can be so i tried my hardest to be friendly and welcoming.
The boring services were really good a good turn out from the students and because we had extra-canidates in college it felt fully and lively which is really nice. Most of my classes were interesting. I especially enjoyed Talmud class we are tattling some hardish texts now. I am also looking into getting some extra-Talmud classes which should be interesting.
On Thursday Rabbi Fuchus from the world Union came to speak with the student society which was most enlightening. All in all a good week.
The boring services were really good a good turn out from the students and because we had extra-canidates in college it felt fully and lively which is really nice. Most of my classes were interesting. I especially enjoyed Talmud class we are tattling some hardish texts now. I am also looking into getting some extra-Talmud classes which should be interesting.
On Thursday Rabbi Fuchus from the world Union came to speak with the student society which was most enlightening. All in all a good week.
Friday, 17 February 2012
Sermon at Leo Baeck college
This is the text of the sermon I gave at LBC a couple of weeks back. Hope you all like it. I am leading services next week so am busy planning/working on that but now its time to go think about getting ready for shabbat and being peaceful for a little while. Shabbat Shalom.
And when Israel saw the mighty power which the Eternal had wielded in Egypt, the people feared the Eternal and they had faith in the Eternal and in His servant Moses. (Exodus 14:31)
The Children of Israel are no longer slaves in Egypt. They have just crossed the Reed Sea, which had miraculously parted for them. They have seen Pharaoh and his armies drowned in it. Now they believe in God and in Moses. In fact they are about to overtaken by prophetic ecstasy and will burst into song; known to us as the Song of Sea.
But how quickly things can change. In the very next chapter the Israelites will complain about Moses. And even before the giving of the Torah has been completed, while Moses is still on Mt. Sinai, they will build and worship the golden calf. The same people who had been saved from slavery and had seen all the miracles, which went along with the redemption, will commit idolatry.
Idolatry and its consequences became a theme of Israelite history. Over and over again the Israelites rebelled against God and worshiped idols: both during the forty years that they spent in the wilderness and when they settled in the Land of Israel, in the period of the Judges and then the Monarchy.
In the Book of Judges every time the Israelites turned away from the Eternal and worshiped idols they would be attacked by the neighbouring nations and according to the Babylonian Talmud one of the main reasons for the destruction of the First Temple and the Babylonian exile that followed it was idolatry.
This phenomenon continued and presented the Sages with a difficult question. How could people who had witnessed the presence of God or had heard the words of the prophets or were very wise possibly have committed idolatry?
The not especially earth-shattering answer they reached was that past generations had an inclination to worship idols.
The power of this desire, to worship idols, is related in a story in Tractate Sanhedrin. A Rabbi was lecturing about King Manasseh, a King of Judah famous for his wisdom and infamous for his idol-worship; during the lecture the rabbi referred to Manasseh in a disparaging way. That night the king appeared to the rabbi in a dream and asked him a difficult halakhic question.
The rabbi was unable to answer and after Manasseh had answered his own question the rabbi asked. 'If you were so wise how did you come to worship idols?' To which Manasseh retorted, 'Had you been there you would have rushed to serve them!'
How could this have happened? The answer is given in one of my favourite talmudic narratives, which can be found in Tractate Sanhedrin.
When the Men of the Great Assembly were building Judaism after the return from exile they were concerned that further idolatry might result in more hardship. So they prayed for their people to be relieved from the inclination to idolatry. Their prayers were successful and they were able to capture and subdue the inclination to idolatry.
Although the inclination to idolatry may no longer be with us, the Yetzer Hara, the inclination to evil very much is. But this might not be such a bad thing, for unlike the doctrine of original sin the Yetzer Hara is not an inherently bad thing.
This idea is powerfully expressed in the continuation of the Talmudic story about the Men of Great of the Assembly and the inclination to idolatry. When they had succeeded in subduing this inclination they prayed to be able to do the same to the Yetzer Hara: at which point the Yetzer Hara appeared in the form of a cat. While attempting to capture it a single hair was pulled from its coat, at which it let out a roar so loud that it shook the building. The Men of the Great Assembly decided that it would be wiser not to try and slay the Yetzer Hara so they sealed it up in a box instead.
And what was the result of a world without the Yetzer Hara?
Basically everything stopped.
The Sages concluded that without the Yetzer Hara people would not learn a trade, study, build a house, or raise a family. According to the story when the Yetzer Hara was imprisoned even chickens stopped laying eggs. Faced with the realisation that the Yetzer Hara was necessary the Men of the Great Assembly released it.
Although the Yetzer Hara is not entirely evil it is essential to balance it with the Yetzer Hatov, the good inclination. Because of the prompting of the Yetzer Hara we work and study hard and go about the business of life. And through the struggle required in balancing the Yetzer Hara and Yetzer Hatov, personal growth becomes a real possibility.
Adam Frankenberg
February 2012
And when Israel saw the mighty power which the Eternal had wielded in Egypt, the people feared the Eternal and they had faith in the Eternal and in His servant Moses. (Exodus 14:31)
The Children of Israel are no longer slaves in Egypt. They have just crossed the Reed Sea, which had miraculously parted for them. They have seen Pharaoh and his armies drowned in it. Now they believe in God and in Moses. In fact they are about to overtaken by prophetic ecstasy and will burst into song; known to us as the Song of Sea.
But how quickly things can change. In the very next chapter the Israelites will complain about Moses. And even before the giving of the Torah has been completed, while Moses is still on Mt. Sinai, they will build and worship the golden calf. The same people who had been saved from slavery and had seen all the miracles, which went along with the redemption, will commit idolatry.
Idolatry and its consequences became a theme of Israelite history. Over and over again the Israelites rebelled against God and worshiped idols: both during the forty years that they spent in the wilderness and when they settled in the Land of Israel, in the period of the Judges and then the Monarchy.
In the Book of Judges every time the Israelites turned away from the Eternal and worshiped idols they would be attacked by the neighbouring nations and according to the Babylonian Talmud one of the main reasons for the destruction of the First Temple and the Babylonian exile that followed it was idolatry.
This phenomenon continued and presented the Sages with a difficult question. How could people who had witnessed the presence of God or had heard the words of the prophets or were very wise possibly have committed idolatry?
The not especially earth-shattering answer they reached was that past generations had an inclination to worship idols.
The power of this desire, to worship idols, is related in a story in Tractate Sanhedrin. A Rabbi was lecturing about King Manasseh, a King of Judah famous for his wisdom and infamous for his idol-worship; during the lecture the rabbi referred to Manasseh in a disparaging way. That night the king appeared to the rabbi in a dream and asked him a difficult halakhic question.
The rabbi was unable to answer and after Manasseh had answered his own question the rabbi asked. 'If you were so wise how did you come to worship idols?' To which Manasseh retorted, 'Had you been there you would have rushed to serve them!'
How could this have happened? The answer is given in one of my favourite talmudic narratives, which can be found in Tractate Sanhedrin.
When the Men of the Great Assembly were building Judaism after the return from exile they were concerned that further idolatry might result in more hardship. So they prayed for their people to be relieved from the inclination to idolatry. Their prayers were successful and they were able to capture and subdue the inclination to idolatry.
Although the inclination to idolatry may no longer be with us, the Yetzer Hara, the inclination to evil very much is. But this might not be such a bad thing, for unlike the doctrine of original sin the Yetzer Hara is not an inherently bad thing.
This idea is powerfully expressed in the continuation of the Talmudic story about the Men of Great of the Assembly and the inclination to idolatry. When they had succeeded in subduing this inclination they prayed to be able to do the same to the Yetzer Hara: at which point the Yetzer Hara appeared in the form of a cat. While attempting to capture it a single hair was pulled from its coat, at which it let out a roar so loud that it shook the building. The Men of the Great Assembly decided that it would be wiser not to try and slay the Yetzer Hara so they sealed it up in a box instead.
And what was the result of a world without the Yetzer Hara?
Basically everything stopped.
The Sages concluded that without the Yetzer Hara people would not learn a trade, study, build a house, or raise a family. According to the story when the Yetzer Hara was imprisoned even chickens stopped laying eggs. Faced with the realisation that the Yetzer Hara was necessary the Men of the Great Assembly released it.
Although the Yetzer Hara is not entirely evil it is essential to balance it with the Yetzer Hatov, the good inclination. Because of the prompting of the Yetzer Hara we work and study hard and go about the business of life. And through the struggle required in balancing the Yetzer Hara and Yetzer Hatov, personal growth becomes a real possibility.
Adam Frankenberg
February 2012
Saturday, 28 January 2012
Start of the fourth semester
This is the last weekend before the fourth semester states, wow this is a scary thought. In the end I got all my assessments in. I think that Megilot went well (well it really should have), I also think education went okay (not really sure what was wanted so I wrote what I wanted, which may or may not pay off), then there was History I'm really not sure how well this one went (although I am more or less certain that I passed both the essay and the course), then there is the wild card 'rabbinic philosophy' my essay for this was frankly wired; and it was either brilliant or awful and until I get my marks back I will not know how my tutor felt about it.
I am enjoying my Bar Mitzvah tutoring, but it is a learning process both for my student and for me. I am also enjoying my Sunday school teaching Job-teaching about God; which means writing my own syllabus and of course actually preparing the lessons. I am looking forward, kind of, to the term restarting although considering that the Semester hasn't started yet I am already behind the curve: How is that possible?
I am enjoying my Bar Mitzvah tutoring, but it is a learning process both for my student and for me. I am also enjoying my Sunday school teaching Job-teaching about God; which means writing my own syllabus and of course actually preparing the lessons. I am looking forward, kind of, to the term restarting although considering that the Semester hasn't started yet I am already behind the curve: How is that possible?
Thursday, 22 December 2011
Illness and Hanukhah
I have been, its been rather horrid actually, but I am almost back to full health although my meds are giving me very vivid and disquieting dreams. I go home tomorrow and now I am so much better I am tidying my room so it is nice when I return I am also working a bit many on my education essay. But this Hanukkah is certainly less joyous than last but now I am getting better it can only improve.
But it has set me thinking one think I am learning as part of my rabbinic training (I may even have learnt it already) is not to approach new situations with to many preconceived ideas. So many of the things that I was dreading and not looking forward to at all turned out to be great and things that retrospect I would not have missed for anything. That applied in a big way to the whole YII. But in small ways too to classes and events. Ah but it cuts the other way too. Things that I was really looking forward to be it particular classes or events have been real disappointments. So I think I'll try in the new year just to see what things are actually like and try not to form ideas before hand. Who knows maybe that will make every thing both better and easier.
Well Happy Hanukkah to one and all.
But it has set me thinking one think I am learning as part of my rabbinic training (I may even have learnt it already) is not to approach new situations with to many preconceived ideas. So many of the things that I was dreading and not looking forward to at all turned out to be great and things that retrospect I would not have missed for anything. That applied in a big way to the whole YII. But in small ways too to classes and events. Ah but it cuts the other way too. Things that I was really looking forward to be it particular classes or events have been real disappointments. So I think I'll try in the new year just to see what things are actually like and try not to form ideas before hand. Who knows maybe that will make every thing both better and easier.
Well Happy Hanukkah to one and all.
Saturday, 17 December 2011
End of the semester
The semester is almost over I'm first here in London and the third at rabbinical school. So what's changed; I think I know a lot more than when I started which is a good thing given the amount of time, effort and money invested even at this early stage. I am more open to new things both within and external to the Jewish world. And thanks to my time at HUC I have picked up some Americanism. Hence school, which courses so much confusion with my family and UK friends. I also now talk about stores rather than shops and the edge has come off my (rather posh) English ascent. We only have one more day of school left a catch up class for all the sessions we missed because of the haggim (So Monday is Wednesday) and then I'm off on brake. I have a few assessments to do (get ready for) but there is plenty of time and its nothing to onerous so that's okay. This semester has been a lot harder than last (although academically speaking its still far from difficult). I miss Jerusalem, a lot, and my HUC friends. Thank God for Facebook and Skype.
I have been having extra-reading classes because of my dyslexia...and I am enjoying the Bar-Mitzvah tutoring that I am doing. Really its working in the communities that I am enjoying most. It reminds me of why I am doing this. I am looking forward to Hunnakah and then off to spend some time with my family.
I have been having extra-reading classes because of my dyslexia...and I am enjoying the Bar-Mitzvah tutoring that I am doing. Really its working in the communities that I am enjoying most. It reminds me of why I am doing this. I am looking forward to Hunnakah and then off to spend some time with my family.
Wednesday, 7 December 2011
Better late than never
So I thought it was about time for a post in my much negated blog; so here goes. As my last post was on the second of October a lot has happened in the meantime. Firstly I had an amazing birthday, many thanks to Emily who is great at getting me to leave the flat and go do something fun rather than just work work work. Then it has almost all been about work but in various forms so I guess thats okay as a change is as good as a rest. Aside from class: Aramaic (very hard and lots to do), Meggilot (Whats to say), Chumash, Modern Hebrew (this is more having a chat than anything), Early commentators,(Hebrew Grammar, education Seminar, Rabbinic Theology (this is more philosophy than it is theology), Modern Jewish History and Talmud. Then we have classes on Practical Rabbinics and something called community and councling skills. So that makes for a very busy Adam.
I am also Bar-Mitzvah Tutoring I have started working in a Cheder (possibly two we shall have to see if that works out) and more often than not I am involved with the Friday night or Saturday morning Services somewhere.
This means that all in all i hardly get to enjoy being in London. Although I have had a chance to see a few movies and i already have my coffee shop great cakes. At the moment I am a little under the weather so I took a day off school (well a day and a half actually) those of you who know me will know that this almost never happens. I am feeling much better after a nice rest but have no voice at all. This happened last year and i have learnt from that experience and so am keeping silent i really want it to come back faster than it did that time. Anyhow that about fills everything in, I'm busy but am having some fun.
I am also Bar-Mitzvah Tutoring I have started working in a Cheder (possibly two we shall have to see if that works out) and more often than not I am involved with the Friday night or Saturday morning Services somewhere.
This means that all in all i hardly get to enjoy being in London. Although I have had a chance to see a few movies and i already have my coffee shop great cakes. At the moment I am a little under the weather so I took a day off school (well a day and a half actually) those of you who know me will know that this almost never happens. I am feeling much better after a nice rest but have no voice at all. This happened last year and i have learnt from that experience and so am keeping silent i really want it to come back faster than it did that time. Anyhow that about fills everything in, I'm busy but am having some fun.
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