A Rabbinical Student's Blog

Internship Visit this Past Weekend

2009-03-03T13:48:00.003-05:00

This past weekend, I went up to Boston for my internship. This time consisted of two elements: speaking at the Tremont Street Shul (as I've done previously) and MCed the Yom Iyun that was collaboratively put together by the Center for Modern Torah Leadership and Uri L'Tzedek.
For my speaking at the Tremont Street Shul, I spoke Friday night after the traditional minyan's services on the topic of the Shulhan/table in the mishkan and gave a parshah introduction on Shabbas morning. Following the kiddush luncheon, I led a text study on Ta'anit Esther (source sheet). On Sunday morning, I spoke on the topic of tefillin on the occasion of a boy who was soon to become a bar mitzvah and had wrapped tefillin for the first time.
The other part of it was the Yom Iyun, which I MCed and had helped to put together.

Upcoming Yom Iyun on Consumerism

2009-02-06T13:14:00.003-05:00

My next visit up to Boston for my internship will be taking place in a few weeks, where I will be speaking that shabbas at the Tremont Shul and be helping run a yom iyun program. The yom iyun program will be a joint program between the Center for Modern Torah Leadership and Uri L'Tzedek. The official program blurb runs as follows (also on the UTL website):

The Center for Modern Torah Leadership and Uri L'Tzedek will be holding a joint Yom Iyun on Torah Consumer Ethics & Jewish Buyer Responsibilities. There will be case studies along with learning and discussions led by Rabbi Aryeh Klapper of the Center for Modern Torah Leadership and Shmuly Yanklowitz of Uri L’Tzedek. The program will run on Sunday March 1st from 12-4 PM at the Boston University Hillel (213 Bay State Road) with lunch provided. There is no charge for attendance or for lunch. If you have any questions, please contact us at: cmtlintern [at] drewkaplan.info.

If you are interested in attending, the flier for the program is available online here.

Internship Visit #3

2008-12-14T10:55:00.007-05:00

This weekend, I went up to Boston, and have been speaking at the Tremont Street Shul, much like my previous visit and first visit for my internship this year. On Friday night, following the traditional services, I led a text-study on the timing of the lighting of Hanukah candles (source sheet). On Shabbas morning, during kidush, I spoke on the name change from Ya'akov (Jacob) to Yisrael (Israel) and the wrestling scene in the parshah.
This morning, following shaharit at the shul, I spoke on "Upon What Did The Academies of Hillel & Shammai Disagree Regarding Mehadrin Min HaMehadrin?" (source sheet) (pictured at the right).
I think this visit went well, receiving some positive feedback for my speaking. I also got to speak with Rabbi Klapper about moving forward in the spring in my internship.

Job Pondering

2008-11-25T21:28:00.003-05:00

Although my classmates and I at school had a placement meeting a week ago to start the ball rolling on the job search process as well as a session two weeks ago working on resumes and a week ago on interviews, I still was not super clear on the type of job I wanted. I've been thinking that Hillel might be an idea (perhaps their senior educator positions), although some sort of Jewish institution or organization may also be a good fit. However, I had a helpful conversation yesterday with a staff member to work on my resume and to help me consider more specifically how to market my skills/self and which jobs to consider. The considering begins....

Chaplaincy Seminar

2008-11-25T21:23:00.002-05:00

Over the course of the last three Monday evenings, I attended a three-part seminar series for rabbinical and cantorial students at the HealthCare Chaplaincy, entitled "'A Time to Die': Confronting the Loss of a Child". Attended by around a dozen students and organized by Rabbi Charles Sheer, the Director of Department of Studies in Jewish Pastoral Care at the HealthCare Chaplaincy, each session featured a presentation by a knowledgeable professional.
The presenter at the first session was Dr. David Pelcovitz, a psychologist, who spoke on the impact of loss upon a family. The second session's presenter was Rabbi Mollie Cantor, a pediatric chaplain, who spoke on comforting families and children who are hospitalized. Dvorah Levy, a social worker, spoke at the third session on loss of a miscarriage or a stillborn and the grief that follows.
I don't know that I would have otherwise have spent time learning about this topic on my own, but I found it to be helpful to me in both my personal and professional lives.
As an aside, us YCTers who attended were timely for each of the three sessions, which strikes me as a positive representation of our school.

Recent Internship Visit

2008-11-24T14:00:00.003-05:00

This past weekend, I went up for my second internship visit and spoke at the Tremont Shul. On Friday night, I spoke about the burial of Abraham and how there is little description in either the written text or in midrash about it and trying to conjure up the burial. On Saturday morning, I spoke on Keturah: is she Hagar or not? On Sunday morning, I spoke after shaharit on Jewish perspectives on Thanksgiving.

Presentation on Shulhan Arukh, Orah Hayim §91, Part 2

2008-11-20T19:22:00.000-05:00

Following on the heels of yesterday's presentation, I presented at school today on section 91 in the Orah Hayim section of the Shulhan Arukh, dealing with how one's clothing ought to be when praying. It involves some visuals and I thought it went better than part one of the presentation.
The audio for this presentation is available here and the video is available below:

Presentation on Shulhan Arukh, Orah Hayim §91, Part 1

2008-11-19T19:14:00.001-05:00

This year, my school is having students deliver a devar halakhah after minhah on Wednesdays and Thursdays, lasting no longer than five minutes on a particular section in the Shulhan Arukh (similar to, but different from last year's). So, I spoke today [and will be speaking tomorrow] on section 91, which deals with preparing oneself garment-wise for prayer.
I think I did a decent job in my presentation, but I definitely felt like I was going pretty quickly, but most people said that kind of came out initially, but was not such a big issue. I decided to break it up chronologically: in this first session, I dealt with the relevant Talmudic passages and other statements in Rabbi Yaakov ben Asher's Tur on this section. Tomorrow, I will deal with the Shulhan Arukh and beyond.
The audio for this presentation is available here and the video is available below:

Eitzah

2008-11-05T13:56:00.003-05:00

On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of last week, years three and four at YCT took part in a leadership training seminar, Eitzah. This training that we receive takes place on a two year rotation: one year we learn about the rabbi and the other year we learn about change in the synagogue. Since last year we spent eight days on the latter, this year we are doing the former.
In the first three sessions of this year's seven, we covered “The Rabbi as Leader”, “Authority”, and “Necessary Partnerships”, respectively. In the first session, we discussed boundaries, we discussed leadership in the context of rabbi, and we spoke about different types of followers and how the leader-follower relationship works. In the second session, we spoke about different types of decision-making approaches and authority at work. In the last session, we spoke about partnerships between the lay and the professional staff and the 3 R’s: Relationships, Relationships, Relationships and disturbances thereof.
The next sessions will be in January.

First Internship Visit

2008-10-05T18:52:00.001-05:00

Last weekend, I went up to Boston for my first internship visit to speak at the Tremont Shul's traditional minyan. Although in the fall I will normally be speaking three times at the Tremont Shul's traditional minyan (the third time being on Sunday morning) when I visit, I was going to be taking a flight that Sunday morning with my wife, so I only spoke twice. These two times were a devar Torah at Friday night davening and a presentation/class after Shabbas morning services.
For the Friday night devar Torah, I spoke about Deut. 30:6 to both better understand it to some degree and to see how it can connect to this holiday season (mainly prior to Rosh HaShanah, but also through Yom Kippur). I think it went decently, though not badly.
For the presentation the following day, I gave it on the topic of Sleeping or Not Sleeping on Rosh HaShanah (click here for the source sheet). I think this class definitely went well.
I think it was a nice visit and now I need to schedule my next visit.

Internship for Year 4

2008-08-11T23:36:00.003-05:00

Having not previously noted on my rabbinical student web log, I am hereby noting that my year four internship will be with Rabbi Aryeh Klapper for the Center for Modern Torah Leadership (see).
I had meant to post about my last and ninth visit to my year three internship, although I never got around to it, nor did I have a wrap-up post about my internship (perhaps I will, we'll see).

Eighth Internship Visit

2008-04-15T13:16:00.003-05:00

My eighth internship visit consisted of, on Friday afternoon, of visiting the Hartford Jewish Federation and speaking with the staff member in charge of allocations. I hadn’t previously known about how Federations allocated their money, so it was interestingly enlightening (and not so mysterious anymore). I also learned about other elements about federations.
After that, we visited a lady in a hospital who had given birth just that morning. The maternity ward in that hospital was very nice. It was definitely a place in which I wouldn’t mind having a baby. It was fairly newish and definitely nice, especially the woodwork.
That evening, I gave the Friday night devar Torah between kabbalat Shabbat and ma’ariv, my seventh such time. I spoke about how what appeared in the parshah fit into the larger narrative flow.
The next day, I presented on Aleinu during my sixth "Worship Workshop" class (source sheet).

Clal Intrafaith Dialogue

2008-03-31T13:40:00.002-05:00

Today, I went down to the Chelsea neighborhood for a dialogue amongst rabbinical students. This annual event of Clal's was my fourth such one, having attended each of the four years I've been at YCT.
The topic was "How and When to do What with Whom?", essentially a conversation about sexual ethics. In addition to being interested in intrafaith dialogues, which always is reinvigorating to me, I attended in order to find out about how my colleagues in the other Jewish movements make their decisions, especially along these lines, as they would be less tied to halakhah. However, one thing we did, as part of our conversations, we talked about various scenarios (some of which we had talked about in our Pastoral Counseling classes - so yay for YCT's curriculum(!)), which, on account of various suggestions, helped me in various parameters and other things which were helpful in my thinking about when I encounter various situations.
By the way, there was a good turnout from members from my school - eight students from my school of a total of 36 people there. This may partially due to one of the lines of our school's mission statement: "Affirming the shared covenantal bond between all Jews. Promoting love of all Jews (אהבת ישראל) and actively pursuing the positive and respectful interaction of all Jewish movements."
Since I'm on the topic, Rabbi Harry Maryles recently posted on our yom iyyun on prayer with a couple of other schools. I wanted to briefly set straight a few fallacies that appear in that posting:
- R' Maryles wrote "The Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) has recently decided not to recognize YCT ordinations." In truth, there was never any decision on the matter (as far as I know).
- R' Maryles wrote "One cannot have leaders of ‘transdenominational movements’ speaking about prayer and Jewish leadership in the context of the rabbinate, which is what YCT is all about. By default this grants them legitimacy." As a response to the legitimacy argument, I shall quote Rabbi Shmuel Goldin who wrote

We are past the point where I, as an Orthodox rabbi, should to be afraid of appearing at the Jewish Theological Seminary or appearing on a panel with heterodox rabbis simply because others will say that by doing so I am legitimizing what I should not legitimize. I don’t see it that way. We are all who we are, and we do not need, nor should we ask for, each other’s legitimization. We can agree to disagree and learn to move on. In this way we will be able to come to a point where we value each other without validating each other’s beliefs and without compromising our own. We will be able to accept each other’s boundaries without crossing our own.

- R' Maryles, furthermore wrote "The thinking is that as long as there is nothing said that contradicts Halacha, it is acceptable - even laudable - to have such gatherings in an effort to include all Jews. These movements and their members are therefore to be considered under the umbrella of Klal Yisroel. They thereby hope to influence its members by their tolerance to become more interested in Orthodoxy." Referring back to our mission statement, we are for "positive and respectful interaction of all Jewish movements," and not necessarily just to bring them to being Orthodox, and especially not other rabbinical students, who are most likely staying within their respective denominations.

Rising in Front of the Elderly

2008-03-14T14:17:00.003-05:00

Today, I presented a class on the Jewish commandment to rise before the aged (מפני שיבה תקום) for my בין אדם לחבירו (interpersonal commandments) class (for the 2nd - 4th year students at my school). You can see there both the sources sheet I put together and listen to the audio file of the class.

Difference Between Descriptions & Divrei Torah

2008-02-11T19:33:00.000-05:00

Last weekend during my internship, I delivered a devar torah on the verse, “A witch you shall not let live”.* Although there are a lot of interesting verses in the parshah of Mishpatim, this verse sticks out like a sore thumb. It sparked my interest, so I decided to speak about it. I had also given a presentation on this topic at the end of my mekhinah year at YCT (sources for that presentation). However, a presentation on a topic to describe it and talk about it is very different from a devar Torah on that same topic, with my having some measure of difficulty with the latter.

*Also during my internship weekend I gave a “Worship Workshop” on shabbas morning on Shema and its blessings. “Worship Workshops” are a term coined by my mentoring rabbi for a class to be delivered on shabbas morning about a given topic in prayer.

Presentation(s) of Rav Moshe's Responsum on Reading During Hazaras HaShaz Now Fully Online

2008-01-23T07:15:00.000-05:00

My full presentation of Rav Moshe's responsum on reading during Hazaras HaShaz is now online (parts one and two were previously posted).

Presenting Rav Moshe's Teshuvah on Learning During Hazaras HaShaz, part 2

2007-11-12T17:29:00.000-05:00

As a continuation from my previous post, I spoke last Wednesday on Rav Moshe Feinstein's responsum on reading a book during the prayer leader's repetition. Below follows the video:

Cons: Lack of organization of what to say, looking down at sheet when speaking (especially at the end of sentences), use of fillers, and the side-to-side head movements.
Strengths: When engaging with the audience and usage of facial and hand expressions (especially when explaining the historical element).

Presenting Rav Moshe's Teshuvah on Learning During Hazaras HaShaz

2007-11-06T01:24:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, I presented at school on the topic of Rav Moshe's teshuvah on learning from a book during the prayer leader's repetition. This year at YCT, students get to speak on Rav Moshe Feinstein's teshuvos throughout a given week directly following מנהה (afternoon prayer service). Started last year by some students to present a prayer-related דבר הלכה (piece of halakhah) a couple of times a week, it has now been instituted that one student does so three times a week and specifically on Rav Moshe's teshuvos. This week is my week. The source sheet I prepared is available here. Below follows the video from yesterday's presentation:
There are, I recognize, some things that I did well and some that I did not (and upon which I need to work):
Things upon which I need to work are my mumbling, the looking down, the talking to the paper, and processing what I am about to say while talking. As far as good things, my hand motions were definitely an asset, when I did make eye contact with the audience, when I was speaking smoothly, and my finish with the conclusion.
There are two more parts to this series and I have what upon which to work.

Internship Mentioned in Local Jewish Paper

2007-09-23T04:17:00.001-05:00

I kindly thank Rabbi Yonah Berman to pointing me to this new blurb in the Jewish Ledger, entitled "New Rabbi in Town":

There’s a new rabbi at Beth David Synagogue in West Hartford. Sort of. As it has for the past few years, the Orthodox congregation is opening its doors this fall to a third-year rabbinical student from Yeshiva Chovevei Torah, a rabbinical college in New York, who will intern at the shul under the tutelage of its spiritual leader, Rabbi Yitzchok Adler.
Drew Kaplan, a native of suburban Columbus, Ohio who holds a degree in Jewish Studies from Yeshiva University, will soon begin his monthly Shabbat visits and will have a wide range of responsibilities.

Although I will have to let them know that I did attend Yeshivah University for a few semesters, I earned my BA from Indiana University, I do, nevertheless certainly appreciate the mention (thanks!).

First Internship Shabbas

2007-09-09T22:03:00.000-05:00

For my first internship shabbas this past weekend, we started off on Friday afternoon, going around with my mentoring rabbi to check out some supermarket bakeries to check their adherence to kosher laws on Friday afternoon. He then got a call about someone's death and went to offer prayers with the family, though I was unable to go, as the body was still there and I am a kohen. On Friday evening, I spoke at the shul between kabbalas shabbas and ma'ariv for a few minutes about Deut. 29.14. On shabbas morning, I gave a sermon - actually, my first ever such sermon - on Deut. 30.6. The little speech was, in my mind, a flop, although the sermon worked decently. However, I was told I needed to speak up, though from the bima, I thought I was being loud enough, but, alas, I was not. Other areas where there is room for improvement are my clarity as well as enunciation/avoiding mumbling.

Shehitah Course

2007-09-02T14:19:00.001-05:00

This past summer, I took most of a shehitah course. I say most, as the course is still ongoing. We have learned about slaughtering chickens, of course, but also about sharpening our knives and what to do with the chickens (although we could also do other kosher fowl, as well). There were six other YCTers plus me learning with an interesting rabbi in Westchester county on this topic.

I Have an Internship

2007-07-25T10:05:00.000-05:00

This upcoming school year, my internship will be in West Hartford at Beth David with Rabbi Yitzchok Adler.

Attending YCT's Yemei Iyun

2007-07-25T09:57:00.000-05:00

Four weeks ago, I attended YCT's Yemei Iyun in Tanakh and Mahshevet Yisrael (Bible & Jewish Thought), my third such convention. I found it to be rather enriching, especially to take two days out of my time to spend some time specifically studying the Bible with others who are also serious about the subject. As for the third day, which deals with Jewish thought, it is nice to take one day and listen to people speak about various Jewishly pertinent ideas and issues.
While the sessions were, to a degree, specifically for educators, I thought layperson and student alike got their fair share of material from the sessions.
I look forward to attending more such enriching conferences in the future.

Looking For An Internship

2007-07-05T18:18:00.000-05:00

As a part of my school's curriculum, third and fourth year students are obligated to take on an internship. As I will be a third-year student this fall, I need an internship. My first choice for an internship fell through, though, fortunately, it went to a classmate of mine, and I wish him הצלחה (success). So, now I am looking for an internship somewhere. Most of the internship opportunities of which I am aware are along the east coast, though I would rather something elsewhere in the country (I am [originally] a midwesterner). We shall see....

Chaplaincy

2007-05-10T13:37:00.000-05:00

As part of the pastoral counseling curriculum at my school, my classmates and I completed a six-week course in chaplaincy this past spring. The course, led by Rabbi Naomi Kalish, lasted over the course of six Mondays, the first and last being from 9-5 and the middle four being several hours in those four afternoons. Unfortunately, I missed the first session since I was at the JFSJ conference [that Monday (1, 2, 3)].
The course was a mix of classroom discussion, assigned readings, some writing, and, of course, meeting with patients - both accompanied by chaplains and by ourselves or with other students - at St. Luke's hospital several blocks away from our school.
I appreciated the course and learned from the course about how to interact with patients. Our interaction with the patients came in the form of being assigned a floor and visiting patients in their rooms. While this activity was no doubt beneficial, I imagine that seldom will I, in my rabbinate, be randomly visiting patients. Imaginably, most, if not all, of my visits will be with congregants or their relatives. (It is possible that while visiting someone, someone may call me over to visit with them, thus the possibility for a visit with someone unconnected with me.) Nevertheless, as pointed out to me in our feedback session, this type of visitation is more difficult than the type in which I may be engaged, thus, it is good training.

Kehillot Kedoshot (Posting #5): Day 3

2007-02-15T02:03:00.000-05:00

The two main programs Tuesday morning were breakfast and the second Beit Midrash session. There was a special breakfast get-together for all of the rabbinical students in attendance. Although the discussion was largely, though not solely, about remaining in contact with each other, perhaps having some sort of network with each other. However, I was interested in no such thing, so I didn't find it to be so pertinent to me.
The second beit midrash session used the story about the members of the Sanhedrin deposing Rabban Gamliel as the Nasi and then eventually reinstating him, but with certain limits (Berakhot 27b-28a / ברכות כז:-כח.) as a jump-off for discussion about leadership models and social organizing. It was interesting, especially since I have read this story before, but now doing so in a new light.
Anyways, the conference came to an end shortly after that session.
I came away from the conference with finally getting a much better and more complete picture (albeit not as full as possible - but full enough) of social organizing and social justice work through faith-based organizing. I was glad I did so as I now know that I do not have such an affinity for trying to incorporate this work into my future rabbinate. However, there are tools that are aspects of this work that I do hope to utilize - most significantly, one-to-ones, as well as developing relational relationships and the importance of [developing] public relationships.

Kehillot Kedoshot (Posting #4): Day 2, Evening

2007-02-15T01:50:00.000-05:00

After מנחה (afternoon prayer), I was chatting with my two fellow YCT students who had attended the conference and we came to dinner a bit late. On account of needing to depart on time for the evening's program, we had little time to catch up. Although the food was good (and the dessert was amazingly yummy - a great chocolate cake or chocolate mousse cake), I was definitely feeling stuffed afterwards.
We then attended an "action" at a relatively nearby synagogue (an "action" in community organizing parlance is "usually an event at which the community comes together to hold decision-makers accountable on a particular issue, piece of legislation, etc…" (source)). This action was my first, which was good to see, as we had discussed them plenty over the course of the last semester in our social organizing class. One important thing I learned at this action was the recognition of the politicians attending as well as other assorted VIPs in attendance. The shocking thing to me attending this action was that all along I have heard that actions are where politicians are "put to the fire" - basically, being asked tough questions and to deliver on their promises as well as not being so easy sometimes - but this turned out to be, as another attendee called it, a "lovefest". It was bizarre to me that all of the politicians were so into this idea and committed to it, it was weird. After speaking with other people, I found out that this is, indeed, the exception and not the rule for actions as well as that there had been talks in the weeks leading up to this action that were unlike what came across.
Anyways, all throughout the action I wasn't feeling well and remained in that condition when we returned to the hotel for the evening.

Kehillot Kedoshot (Posting #3): Day 2, Afternoon

2007-02-15T01:22:00.000-05:00

After Training Session II (see previous posting), there was lunch, followed by denominational caucuses. For the Orthodox, that meant, essentially, the Chovevei guys who were attending the conference to talk about the issues about this work and bringing it into Orthodox shuls. It was interesting to discuss, as some of our issues are different and sometimes opposed to the non-Orthodox movements.
Following the denominational caucus, we had our third and final training session. Of four choices, I attended the session entitled "Relational Power: How to Analyze and Engage Power". Except for a little at the beginning and the end, most of it seemed like a review for me (similar to the first training session). I thought the session was going to be more about analyzing power, but it barely touched upon it, even though that was in the title. A more fitting session during the same time-slot would have been "Power Mapping/Matrix: A Powerful and Mighty Tool", but that sounded too technical of a session title to me. Oh well.
After this, we davened מנחה (the afternoon prayer service) in our respective spaces (which, again, for the מחיצה (separate seating) people meant davening (praying) on our own).

Kehillot Kedoshot (Posting #2): Day 2, Morning

2007-02-15T00:27:00.000-05:00

Starting off our day with davening wasn’t so grand, as the מחיצה (separate seating) service did not achieve a full minyan. Afterwards, I went to the fitness center and used the elliptical, which was a great way to start off my day. Following which, I came into breakfast [a bit late, due to my exercise escapade] into the midst of a guided conversation about this work at a table of rabbis and rabbinical students, which was a helpful conversation to have. Immediately right after the breakfast discussion, we had our first בית מדרש (beit midrash) session, in which we looked at some of the texts regarding Moshe and the burning bush incident as well as some midrashim on this and examined it with questions guiding us to look at the scene through the lens of social organizing.
One term that kept popping up during the speakers who spoke after we had looked at the texts was “covenantal relationship”. I was immediately bothered by it because it was assumed we all knew what this term meant while I had never heard of the term, but moreso after figuring out, to some degree, what they meant by it. Eventually, I came to understand that they meant by this some sort relationship that's built up between people that creates some sort of relational imperative. It bothered me mainly because the paradigmatic covenantal relationship - the Sinaitic covenant - seemed to be unimportant for many of the attendees of the conference. This was somewhat frustrating to me, I think, because my main connection to Judaism comes through this covenant and to see it ignored by many of my correligionists is sad to me.
Following this session, we had our next (second) training session of the conference. For this session, we had two options: go to one on "The Art of One-to-One Conversations" and one on "Cultivating Personal Narrative". As I had heard a lot over the last semester on one-to-ones and knew nothing of the latter, I chose the latter. I made the right choice. I got the most out of this session than any other in the conference. I struggle, myself, with narrating my personal stories and this skill is something that is important for oratorical performances, which is a must for a rabbi. Two very important points that came through in this presentation were to, aside from telling a story (which includes a context, a protagonist, an antagonist (the last two of which provide a tension), a climax, and a resolution), revealing oneself is important and the other is to use a calculated vulnerability. One last point that I caught during this session was interesting about relationships in this social justice work was that they are not relationships of charity, but, rather, relationships of solidarity.

Kehillot Kedoshot: Day 1

2007-02-14T22:51:00.000-05:00

The conference started off with a two-hour welcome and keynote speeches, followed by some little discussion groups, helping us to get to meet people. With these speeches, one question that was on my mind was how does this Jewish justice/social action stuff figure into a synagogue’s schedule/activities/functioning? What does it do to the energies of the shul. I’m still not sure about this. Following this, came dinner. Yeah, Jews and food. However, whenever Jews and food come up, one cannot help but think of kashrus – that is kosher food. I’ve been to previous Jewish conferences and usually there is kosher food served – that is, everybody has the same food. Not so here. Although those of us who had requested kosher food received special, separate kosher food, I still felt it was unfortunate. Yes, most of the people here do not adhere to the Jewish dietary laws, so I could understand why the conference organizers didn’t want to get that for everybody if the kosher food cost more than the non-hekhshered food (food that is certified as kosher). If the cost was prohibitive, then I can understand. But if it wasn’t, then I don’t, especially since one of the buzz-terms is unity. If unity is supposed to be so important, then we should break bread together (even the bread put out on tables wasn’t hekhshered, though the bread in our special kosher meals was). This seems to be the exception and not the rule in my experience at Jewish conferences, but it’s certainly interesting, nevertheless. Following dinner (and birkat hamazon (the post-meal blessing)), we davened ma’ariv. Although the Orthodox among us all moved to the side (it actually to the eastern side) and davened on our own, it was still weird to see a vast room of people davening ma’ariv around dinner tables. I had never seen davening immediately in a space of eating with the food (people were still eating dessert) and furniture not moved out of the way. I’m not sure I would schedule that sort of set-up. After dinner, I went to the first of our three training sessions. I went to the one I had been selected to attend [according to the assignments sheet]. It was entitled “What is Broad Based Organizing?” It was fine, but it seemed like חזרה (a review) of what I had learned last semester in our social organizing class, but in a brief, pretty compact time block. Also, I was exhausted by this point. Even when it started around eight, it was still eleven o’clock EST for me, plus I hadn’t slept on the plane, nor much the night before (the flight left before nine). Following this, there was a late-night debriefing session amongst the rabbinical students with some of the leadership wherein we discussed some of the things we had encountered. Of interest was a little bit of discussion regarding the training sessions – that some of us were randomly put in to the various sessions and that if we were not finding any given session to go to one where we would find it important. The first afternoon and evening of the program thus concluded.

JFJ Conference

2007-02-11T17:44:00.000-05:00

Hi, I just arrived to California (for my first time) for Jewish Funds for Justice's second gathering of synagogue leadership. I, along with my classmate, Ben Greenberg, and fellow schoolmate, Michael Schultz, are attending on scholarship thanks to JFJ (thanks!).
I plan to blog about my experiences at this conference. Stay tuned.

My Class: YCT Class of '09

2007-02-09T01:55:00.000-05:00

My class at YCT ('09) is currently on its way to becoming the sixth class to graduate from YCT (last year's graduation was the third such event). We are currently comprised of twelve students (as of this time), being one of the larger classes within the yeshivah currently.
Some of us (five to be exact), including me, have been with the yeshivah since being in the mechinah program, the first year of that program (whose name has now been changed to Beit Midrash program).

My Class Helps Out For Hesed Week

2007-02-09T01:49:00.000-05:00

During our last week of school prior to our intersemester break, 18-22 December, my class went to various places - in the Bronx for the first four days - and helped out as part of a special Hesed Week.
On Monday of that week, we went to the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty's Metro House in University Heights and painted a couple of kitchens there.
On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings, we went to the Beth Jacob-Beth Miriam School in Pelham Parkway and sat and helped out with seventh- and eighth-grader boys.
Tuesday and Thursday afternoons found us at a couple of different apartment buildings where, although there used to be a much greater Jewish population in them, there still is a significant number of Jews. We helped entertain residents there with songs and schmoozing, along with elementary schoolchildren on Tuesday.
On Wednesday afternoon, we were at the Bronx Community's annual Hanukkah celebration, helping to distribute beverages, latkes, and sufganyot (jelly donuts). Those four days of experiencing the Bronx were very interesting to me to see how little is remaining of Jewish life there, whereas only 50-60 years ago, it would have been quite the scene of abundant Jewish life. It was sad to hear that there used to be dozens of kosher butchers in the Pelham Parkway area and now there's only one kosher store around. Apparently, aside from the Riverdale section of the Bronx, the Bronx has only several little enclaves of Jewish life, as many Jews have left the Bronx in the last several decades in favor of the suburbs. The Bronx community Hanukkah celebration on Wednesday further helped in giving me a better sense of a picture as to what it used to be.
Lastly, on Friday, we went to a place on the Upper East side of Manhattan to work with some developmentally disabled persons.
The main point of this week was to get us a better [and hands-on] sense to what is out there for our future congregations to be able to do. I think we did get some of that.

To see more pictures and short video clips, click here.

About This Blog

2007-02-09T01:28:00.000-05:00

Why am I starting another blog certainly is a legitimate question, especially since my main blog hasn't experienced a new posting in over a month. Nevertheless, I thought I should start this blog at some point. The main reason I thought to start this blog was in order that people shouldn't think that my main blog is supposed to be representative of how I would like people to think of my future rabbinate - it is my blog (perhaps there is something in there that has led me to a certain blogging paralysis...). Plus, there are things I probably could put up on the YCTChevre blog, but that may find a better venue elsewhere. Thus, this blog has now been created. A special feature of this blog will be my posting various experiences of a rabbinical student.