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.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Jeremiah 29:7

I heard a quote of the verse Jeremiah 29:7 today on NPR and now it has become one of my favorites. I think it symbolizes my work in nonprofits and emergency response, such as my new role on the Crisis Response Team, and my learning toward the rabbinate...

Seek the welfare of the city to which I have exiled you and pray to the Lord on its behalf; for in its prosperity you shall prosper. -Jeremiah 29:7

When searching Google for more about the verse, I found this cool video...


Sunday, March 09, 2008

Latest Doings

On Shabbat I co-officiated at a morning learning service for those in the conversion to Judaism process. While I didn’t lead any part of the service, I provided input and my thoughts about the key prayers and the Shabbat liturgy. It was a great experience and I really look forward to learning more so that I can take a greater role in opportunities such as this one and others. Nonetheless, I know that a year ago, there was no way I would’ve been able to say anything coherent about the liturgy so I do realize that I’ve learned a thing or two.

I have two upcoming speaking engagements in the next week. On Friday, I am speaking about my trip to Ghana with a group of seniors at their weekly Friday afternoon pre-Shabbat get together. Then, on Sunday night I will be speaking to a group about my experiences in Ukraine last Passover.

The semester is nearly halfway over and it’s gone by so quickly! It’s been such a busy semester. I returned from Ghana and then started classes four days later. In mid-February we moved from our cramped apartment into a rental house with plenty of space and a nice backyard. Last weekend, three weeks after we moved, we hosted a barbecue for 35 of our closest friends at our new house. It was a lot of fun and felt so great to finally be social after living in a place where we couldn’t really entertain. Coming up are midterms, Purim, Passover, and finals and final papers.

I’m finishing up training with the City of Los Angeles to be a member of the city’s Crisis Response Team (CRT). The CRT responds to fatal incidents in the city (such as automobile accidents, drive-by shootings, murders, suicides, and other disasters) to provide support to family members of victims. The training has been pretty intense; it also began a few days after I returned from Ghana and it’s every Tuesday and Thursday night from 6:30 to 9:30. It’s been making my Tuesdays and Thursdays very long – I’m on campus by 7 a.m. and not home until nearly 10 p.m. I look forward to graduation on Thursday and for the opportunity to respond to incidents and help my neighbors. I also look forward to having my Tuesday and Thursday nights back.

The semester ends in mid-May and my summer is looking like it’s going to be fairly relaxing – I won’t be interning or working anywhere. I do plan on working on my skills in leading services and chanting from the Torah so that I can take care of opportunities such as I mentioned above.