Internship Visit this Past Weekend

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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: