Bringing in the big machers (aka the big bosses have arrived)

The deans of all three stateside campuses (Cincinnati, New York, and Los Angeles) are in for the week, and have been quite helpful in giving out information for the upcoming four years. I won’t go into all of it here, but let’s just say that in addition to normal classes, I’ll have a High Holy Day pulpit next year, will be teaching Hebrew school once or twice a week, and have the option to have a monthly pulpit. Life seems like it will be affordable, the school provides insurance, and the dean is so genuinely *nice* that I’m really looking forward to moving (read that as: both eagerly anticipating and scared out of my wits).

Today’s Rabbinic Forum was a panel of the three deans: the LA dean, Rabbi Richard Levy, talked about the holiness of everyday life, and Rabbi Ken Kanter from Cincinnati gave us wisdom story tidbits from his 26 years experience as a pulpit rabbi (as opposed to a chaplain, or an administrator, or a college Hillel rabbi, or any of the other numerous types of rabbis one can be).

The presentation I found most interesting was from NY campus Rabbi Shirley Idelson, who spoke about the challenges to us as rabbinical students next year when we return to the States. Here in Jerusalem, for instance, we’ve taken Shabbat for granted, and it may be hard to culturally acclimate back to the US where Shabbat needs to be actively made, rather than just happen. Friends won’t live within walking distance, work doesn’t stop, etc; how will we deal with it? We will need to search even harder for the balance between academic graduate studies and religious seminary work, because juggling a busy schedule will make it easy to overlook spirituality.

She reminded us that the congregants in our student pulpits will most likely be extremely intelligent, complex people, and just because they may not know the Alef-Bet doesn’t mean we can talk down to them, or try to dumb down Judaism. She challenged us to respect other people’s traditions and knowledge, and not to impose our way of doing things on others. In that same vein, she also spoke of our first Holy Day pulpits, and cautioned us against being so wrapped up in logistical concerns that we forget to pray ourselves. The best part was when she said that it's okay, and almost expected, to feel that we're absolute frauds and be completely terrified come September - what do you mean, they’re calling me Rabbi?! She's the only person from the "establishment" who's said that! It was quite reassuring, because I'll tell you, at this moment, the thought of *leading other people* on Yom Kippur makes me feel decidely queasy.

Each campus also sponsored a dinner last night with the respective deans. The information presented was good, but in terms of food, I felt shrifted! LA and NY went to nice restaurants, one Mexican, one Italian, but we went to an Israeli hole-in-the-wall falafel place outside of the shuk! Hmph. I think there’s a definite Midwest slight… our last “catered” meal came from tinfoil-wrapped take-out containers. The LA lunch, in contrast, was at the King David Citadel Hotel. I wonder if it’s for financial reasons, like maybe the Cincinnati campus sponsors allocate the money to other places or something? I think I’ll do some detective work and find out.

And there's more to say, but I'll take Becca's suggestion and separate the entries for length and comment purposes.