Business Lunch/Hartman

Yesterday, I was walking down Emek Refaim on the way home and saw a sign outside a restaurant publicizing their business lunch. It made me smile to see that the days of the week for the special were Sunday-Thursday. It makes sense- especially when I think about the full day of class that I have on Sundays and how I am still getting used to the need for my work for Sunday-Tuesday to be done by Friday noon. (It also made me smile to see that there was another resaurant also offering the deal, only they called it a business meal. I guess that would be the literal translation.)

Yesterday was also the first session of the Hartman Rabbinical Program. It is a 27 week program of learning Lishma (just for the sake of learning) for Rabbinical Students from many institutions who are studying in Israel this year. There were students from JTS (Conservative), Zeigler/AJU (Conservative), RRC (Reconstructionist), HUC (Reform), Choveveh Torah (Modern Orthodox), Hartman (Non-Denominational), Hebrew College (Non-Denominational), and Leo Beck (England- Reform). The program is Tuesday evenings and begins with vegetarian soups (toranut- turn-taking schedule) and schmoozing followed by processing, chevruta (paired learning) and then a shiur (class). I was impressed that in the middle of the week, after a full day of class, they were able to hold my attention for 3.5 hours–studying the Zohar, no less. Every other week we study the Zohar with Melila Hellner-Eshed and on the in-between weeks, we study with a rotation of the Hartman faculty on the topics that they teach; Torat Eretz Yisrael (Micah Goodman), Israel as a Jewish State: Theory and Practice (Ariel Picard), Morality and Halacha (David Hartman), The Soul of the Sinner: From Chet to Geula (Rut Kara-Ivanov Kaniel), God After Auschwitz: Dilemmas in Post-Holocaust Theology (Rachel Sabbath Beit-Halachmi), and Spirituality in the Bible (Israel Knohl). I am looking forward to next week. One of the best things if that the program ends at 10pm and by 10:05 I could be in bed with my teeth brushed as Hartman is around the corner from my apartment.