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.

Limmud, home and assessments

Limmud was as always wonderful so many people old and new. Great learning and teaching.  That first and second day there is always a joy I cannot go more than a few feet without meeting someone  I know and greeting an old friend.
This year I was teaching four sessions as part of the new Beit Midrash program (which is a fantastic idea and one with which I am keen to help with, next year).  These went well, they were on the topic of Judah and Tamar. (Looking at it four ways). I was also helping out with the Chervarta project, this also went well.

Although I enjoyed limmud tremendously I am very tired. Back home in Stoke getting on with work for the new semester and with my assessments. Busy as always. Happy but Busy.

End of semester, manchester, Limmud.

I was thinking about where to post this entry. Here or in my other blog. However, I think that the other blog is no more or less defunct so I shall post it to this particular one. Thinking about it I feel that the semester ended with something of whimper rather than with a roar. And I still have assessments to do for it. But my seventh semester at rabbinical school is over. Currently I am in Stoke although only for a single evening.

This morning I went for an NF check up in Manchester, good news I am in excellent health. Better in fact than when I was last seen. Way back when in 2007. But what struck me was how much the hospital has alter. It is almost unrecognisable from what it was last time I was. Very bright very modern.

What I found more alarming was how much the whole area around the university has changed. I wont say that I hardly recognised it, because it was still very clearly my old stomping ground. But considering how much time I spent there over such a long period of time it was really really different and it felt really disconcerting. To be somewhere which was simaltainously utterly familiar and yet very changed. And in the end I no longer felt at home there. Which given how long its been since I went back is hardly surprising.

After this very short visit home I go back to KLS tomorrow to lead a Friday night service then I have one last day to get ready for limmud.

Then on Sunday though Thursday there is Limmud and then I come home for a bit. Probably about a week. Then some concentrated work on assessments and my eighth semester starts.  

Homiletics Bibliography

Those of you who read my blog will know that I am writing my rabbinic dissertation on the pedagogy of Homiletics in progressive seminaries. What follows is a partial bibliography. Those entries marked with (coll.) are collections of sermons, those with (ReMeth) relate to research methods and theory. Anything else, unless otherwise stated will be a book about preaching. Mostly this will be a straight up Bibliography. However, sometimes I will make a very short comment about a particular entry. I hope this is interest to every one and useful to those looking to learn about preaching either for first time or to improve their skills.
Most of these books, especially ones on 'how to preach et al', are from a Christian context and are really very Christian indeed. They are nevertheless full of good advice and ideas on how to give a sermon. But if like me you are coming at them from a Jewish perspective just be prepared for the fact the sermon works differently in liturgical contexts of Christianity and Judaism. (AF)

Berkowitz, Henry. 'The Rabbi as Preacher' in Intimate Glimpses of the Rabbi's Career.  Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press, 1921.

Berry, D., H., (ed., trans). Cicero Political Speeches. Oxford World's Classics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.

Cohen, Louis et al. Research Methods in Education. 5th edition London: Routledge Falmer, 2003 (1st edition 2000).

Day, David.  A Preaching Workbook.  London: SPCK, 2004 (1st 1998).  This is an interesting book in general just because of what it can tell about the history of American Reform Judaism.

Hamilton, Donald L., Homiletical Handbook. Nashville: Broadman Press, 1992.

Heywood, David. Transforming Preaching: The Sermon as a Channel for God's Word. SPCK Library of Ministry: London, 2013.

Lord, Jennifer L. Finding Language and Imagery: Words for Holy Speech. Minneapolis:  Fortress Press, 2010.

Mason, Jennifer. Qualitative Researching.  London: SAGE, 2002. (ReMeth).

Moore, Henrietta L., (ed.)., Anthropological Theory Today. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1999.

Rayner, John D. An Understanding of Judaism. Providence and Oxford: Berghahn Books, 1997. (coll.)

Sangster, W., E.  The Craft of Sermon Construction.  London: Marshall Pickering, 1989 revised (1st 1954)

Schostak, John. Interviewing and Representation in Qualitative Research. Maidenhead: Open University press, 2006. (ReMeth).

Shulman, Sheila. Watching for the Morning Selected Sermons. Beit Klal Yisrael by Pronoun Press, 2007. (coll.)

Tanner, Mark. How to Preach a Good Sermon: A Practical Guide R38. Cambridge: Grove Books Limited, 2009. (This series is more Booklets than books but the ones I have read have been very useful nevertheless.)

Tashakkori, Abbas and Charles Teddlie. Combining Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. Applied Social Research Methods Series Volume 46. London:  SAGE Publications,  1998.

Vibert, Simon. Excellence in Preaching: Learning from the best.  Nottingham: Inter-Varsity Press, 2011.

Waller, John. How to prepare and Preach a Sermon W182. Cambridge: Grove Books Limited, 2005. (This series is more Booklets than books but the ones I have read have been very useful nevertheless.)

All busy is relative

There is a famous Chasidic story. About a man who goes to see his Rebbe because of his troubles. He lived in his one room house with his wive and his children and it was always crowed and nosey. It was always so nosey and there was always so much going on that he found it impossible to conduct his work as a taylor, study of pray.

The Rebbe listens to his tale and then paused for thought before suggesting, 'Why don't you take your dog into the house?'.

The man is baffled, but follows his Rebbe's advice. A week later he goes back to his Rebbe and pours out his heart. 'Rebbe, its even worse now'.  Its crazier than ever and nosier as well.

Again the Rebbe paused, before he suggested, 'Why not bring in your chickens as well'. The man was doubtful but followed the advice.  He moved the chickens into the one roomed house along with his family and their dog.

A week latter he was back with the Rebbe, 'Oh Rabbi he said now its unbearable, the chickens clucking, and the dog barking and my children running around all night because they cannot sleep! I'm at my wits end what shall I do'.

Again the Rabbi pauses for thought and prayer before saying. 'One last try, you have two cows nun?, well move them in as well.

Again the man follows the advice of his rabbi and moves the cows into the room along with the dog the chickens and of course his family.

This time its just two days before the man is back with his Rebbe. The Rebbe takes one look at him and says. 'Alright take out the cows, and the chickens and the dog and then come back in a week.'

Always the dutiful chassid the man followed this advice as well.

The next week when he returned he was all smiles, the small house seemed so quite and there appeared to be so much space.

One moral being its how you look at things that makes all the difference.

I have been going though my diary and looking at what I have on and its a lot.  But because of how insanely busy last year was even though I have assessments, and commitments at KLS and Limmud and all sorts of other stuff. It feels not only manageable but good.