Week One at the Conservative Yeshiva
Whew! It’s been a long week of classes at the Conservative Yeshiva and we are exhausted! In college and graduate school, we were in class for a few hours a day and some days, we weren’t in class at all and while we did spend a significant amount of time reading or writing, the classroom learning wasn’t continuous.
Here at the Conservative Yeshiva, the days are incredibly long and exhausting. Three out of the five days this week I arrived in time for the 7:30 a.m. morning service (this morning was the only morning I didn’t have to run the distance to do so). After that, our intensive three and a half hour Hebrew class starts at 9 a.m. and lasts until 12:30. Twice this week we had lunchtime lectures that kept us indoors through lunch.
Lunch ends at 1:40 when the afternoon service begins but it’s short and classes resume at 2 p.m. On Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday we’ve been taking a class from 2-5 p.m. that looks at the rabbinic literature about this week’s Torah portion.
On Monday and Wednesday, we have two classes in the afternoon – the first part of the afternoon is a fantastic class all about the prayer book and that’s followed by a class that looks in-depth at the book of Isaiah.
So, we get out of class at about 5 and then spend the evening studying and doing our Hebrew homework and trying to fit in dinner. The day is intense and there’s not enough wind-down time at night at all.
Those who know me know that I’m always reading something; well, this past week, however, as Jen put it humorously “I wish I also had time to read something written in the last thousand years!”
Thus, I don’t think I’ll be attending all three sessions of the Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday class. I’m going to be a truant because I want to experience Jerusalem and Israel (no, I won’t experience Gaza), I need more time to work at my day job, and I need more time to study Hebrew. I realized I don’t need to feel obligated to attend every single class of anything, except Hebrew, because Hebrew is really why I’m here this summer.
In Hebrew, we’re moving at breakneck speed and we’ve already covered six chapters (over 80 pages) in our textbook so thus there’s a lot of vocabulary to catch up on.
The weekends aren’t necessary a piece of cake because Friday is really the only day to sleep in and one must clean, do errands, and prepare for Shabbat (especially all the food needed for Friday night and all day Saturday).
Tomorrow, we’ll hopefully be able to go to Yad Vashem (the Holocaust memorial museum) in the morning and in the afternoon we’ll be helping Jean to get ready for a large Shabbat dinner at her house. We’ll go to services at 6:30 p.m. and then walk with everyone back to Jean’s for dinner. On Saturday, we get to see our rabbi from Southern California at services and have lunch with him and the group of congregants touring with him. Saturday evening will bring a dinner at another the house of another student.
On Sunday, it all starts again!
Well, it's time for a book containing only English letters, a nap, and then some flashcards!
Here at the Conservative Yeshiva, the days are incredibly long and exhausting. Three out of the five days this week I arrived in time for the 7:30 a.m. morning service (this morning was the only morning I didn’t have to run the distance to do so). After that, our intensive three and a half hour Hebrew class starts at 9 a.m. and lasts until 12:30. Twice this week we had lunchtime lectures that kept us indoors through lunch.
Lunch ends at 1:40 when the afternoon service begins but it’s short and classes resume at 2 p.m. On Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday we’ve been taking a class from 2-5 p.m. that looks at the rabbinic literature about this week’s Torah portion.
On Monday and Wednesday, we have two classes in the afternoon – the first part of the afternoon is a fantastic class all about the prayer book and that’s followed by a class that looks in-depth at the book of Isaiah.
So, we get out of class at about 5 and then spend the evening studying and doing our Hebrew homework and trying to fit in dinner. The day is intense and there’s not enough wind-down time at night at all.
Those who know me know that I’m always reading something; well, this past week, however, as Jen put it humorously “I wish I also had time to read something written in the last thousand years!”
Thus, I don’t think I’ll be attending all three sessions of the Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday class. I’m going to be a truant because I want to experience Jerusalem and Israel (no, I won’t experience Gaza), I need more time to work at my day job, and I need more time to study Hebrew. I realized I don’t need to feel obligated to attend every single class of anything, except Hebrew, because Hebrew is really why I’m here this summer.
In Hebrew, we’re moving at breakneck speed and we’ve already covered six chapters (over 80 pages) in our textbook so thus there’s a lot of vocabulary to catch up on.
The weekends aren’t necessary a piece of cake because Friday is really the only day to sleep in and one must clean, do errands, and prepare for Shabbat (especially all the food needed for Friday night and all day Saturday).
Tomorrow, we’ll hopefully be able to go to Yad Vashem (the Holocaust memorial museum) in the morning and in the afternoon we’ll be helping Jean to get ready for a large Shabbat dinner at her house. We’ll go to services at 6:30 p.m. and then walk with everyone back to Jean’s for dinner. On Saturday, we get to see our rabbi from Southern California at services and have lunch with him and the group of congregants touring with him. Saturday evening will bring a dinner at another the house of another student.
On Sunday, it all starts again!
Well, it's time for a book containing only English letters, a nap, and then some flashcards!
posted by Matt | 6:25 AM
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