Hatikvah - A Blog About Life in Rabbinical School

Matt and Jen's blog about their adventures while Matt is in rabbinical school. Hatikvah, the name of the Israeli national anthem, means "the hope." This blog reflects their many hopes and adventures about their experiences during this process.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Looking to the Fall

In my undergraduate and graduate education, there was nothing quite as fun as registering for the next semester's set of classes. There is so much home and anticipation and there's the great feeling of a clean slate (especially if it's been a bad semester) in the future. Well, I am equally giddy about my fall schedule and now that it is summer, I can hardly stop thinking about it.

In the fall I will continue my foray into Talmud study with a three-day-a-week class on the Mishnah which includes thrice weekly working with my study partner in the Beit Midrash (house of study or study hall) three afternoons a week. That one class is nine units and represents almost half of my class load. My Hebrew class is reduced to twice weekly with "Advanced Hebrew Expression" but I don't feel I've mastered basic Hebrew expressions yet! I will continue my close study of the Torah with a new Bible faculty member who stats in the fall. I will also be exploring the realm of the mystical in a Kabbalah class. And, if I can swing it, I will be taking a course from the MBA program on fundraising and marketing. I might have to jettison a class or two, depending on how the waters look in the fall. But I'm excited for the future!

A Year In Review

Yesterday I finished my first year of rabbinical school. During our orientation last fall, we wrote our future selves letters, one letter to be delivered to us at the end of our first year and a second letter to be delivered to us upon ordination. I took my last two finals on Wednesday and once I arrived home I opened the letter that had been delivered to me on the last day of classes. I was worried that it would be silly because I really didn't remember what I'd written, that whole orientation week was such a blur. But, it turned out to be a pretty good letter and the first two sentences really hit the nail on the head, "Congratulations on completing year one. I'm sure it has been an incredible year filled with much growth, change, hardship, and I'm sure you'll have learned so much."

I have been in quite a retrospective state these past few weeks as I approached the end of my first year. I was in awe and amazed that I finally achieved this point and was quite overwhelmed at how quickly the year went but simultaneously how it felt like such a long period of time. I am shocked by how much I learned this year and how far I've come toward becoming the rabbi I want to be, the rabbi I hope to become five years from now.

Monday night is the ordination ceremony for eight of my classmates who made it to the end of their journeys. I am so very inspired by their journeys and their accomplishments and I can't wait to see them turn into rabbis on Monday night.

I look forward to my summer break. While my chaplaincy plan didn't work out, I'm going to spend time getting tutoring in chanting Torah and tutoring to improve my Hebrew skills. Jen and I are expecting a baby this summer so I will also be busy in the fatherhood arena. It should prove to be an interesting summer and I do very much look forward to my continuing journey with my fellow students and incredible teachers who have brought me to this place.