Rabbincal Thought

I’ve told you so much about my trips and great adventures, but I have failed to mention all of the classroom action. I am taking 5 classes here at JUC: Rabbincal Thought, Physical Settings of the Bible, Prophetic Landscape, Arabic, and History of Ancient Israel. Each class differs from the other, but all provide challenging questions and excessive amounts of studying. If you know me at all, I remain relatively quiet in a classroom setting. Much of which is because I fear being wrong or saying something completely stupid. But, what is an experience if one is always comfortable? So, over here I've been enduring the uncomfortable aspects of asking questions, suggesting answers, and... oh yes... reading aloud in class [one of my biggest fears]. To my surprise, much of my fear has rooted in pride, but thats another blog.

Join me in my Rabbincal Thought class for a while... This is class base off the studying of Midrash and looking at sacred scriptures of Judaism. Rabbi Moshea is an energetic, lively and outgoing older man that always finds a way to make his class laugh. If it isn’t through his unintentional puns, then its through his intentional corny jokes which is followed by a delayed sympathy laugh. [so funny]. Anyways, last night is a night that will go down in “Amy’s Classroom History”.

We were going through a story on Rabbi Akiva and his relationship with his wife. Their story is one that is valued among Jewish culture and seen as pleasing to God. Briefly, Rabbi Akiva and his wife spent most of their time away from each other as Rabbi Akiva left to study Torah [24 years to be exact]. During that time, Akiva’s wife received flack from neighbors and friends... but she never bashed her husband or her God.

Rabbi Moshea then asked the class a series of questions. One, which goes down in my “classroom history”, “What doe you think is the ultimate meaning of this story?” A few people answered the question, but none were sticking with Rabbi Moshea.

My mind was saying: “Uggg... I kinda think I know. Crap, what if it's wrong. FML, I hate this. But, maybe what I have to say is right. Oh whatever! I’ll just....”

Rabbi Moshea, “OKay we..”

I interrupted, “What about,” and then got quiet.

Rabbi Moseah, “Oh, yes amy.”

Shyly and shakily, “What about commitment.”

With a grin, Rabbi persuaded more out of ms, “what about commitment amy?”

Thinking I was on track and filled with a bit more encouragement, “Commitment among Rabbi Akiva and his wife. As well, their commitment to their God.”

Rabbi Akiva, “EXACTLY! Perfect.. Alright class, align with what Amy was saying...”

[I was so excited! It is totally worth every penny when speaking up in class.]