hatam_soferet (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
hatam_soferet) wrote2005-05-04 09:47 pm
hatam_soferet) wrote2005-05-04 09:47 pm
Nother one of them interesting days
OK, first up, a piece of sagely advice. If you want to go from Queens to North Riverdale to Mount Vernon and back to Queens on public transport all in the same day, plan to spend at least eight hours of your day travelling.
North Riverdale was a return visit to the previously-mentioned Academy of Jewish Religion. I was glad I'd given them a second try, because the class I sat in on was very, very good. A group of students had put together a Prayer Experience, everybody had done said Prayer Experience, and then the teacher did a postmortem on it. The purpose of the postmortem was to show why they did what they did, and to discuss related ideas, and to discuss how you, the prayer leader, can spice a prayer experience up to keep your congregation with you. The teacher very clearly knew his stuff, and managed to convey the fact that I Thought That Was Excellent But Some Denominations Wouldn't Like What You Just Did without being rude about any denominations.
After that I had a talk with some students about the text-based classes; they seemed to be at a reasonably advanced level (not very, but respectably), and they thought interestingly.
Mount Vernon was a trip to the sofrut studio, where I had an enjoyable afternoon watching restoration happening, and learning a new method of cutting quills. It was very relaxing. There are three chaps working in the studio under the Top Bod Sofer, and they are very nice. Top Bod Sofer was travelling, so I didn't get to do anything responsible :) yet.
North Riverdale was a return visit to the previously-mentioned Academy of Jewish Religion. I was glad I'd given them a second try, because the class I sat in on was very, very good. A group of students had put together a Prayer Experience, everybody had done said Prayer Experience, and then the teacher did a postmortem on it. The purpose of the postmortem was to show why they did what they did, and to discuss related ideas, and to discuss how you, the prayer leader, can spice a prayer experience up to keep your congregation with you. The teacher very clearly knew his stuff, and managed to convey the fact that I Thought That Was Excellent But Some Denominations Wouldn't Like What You Just Did without being rude about any denominations.
After that I had a talk with some students about the text-based classes; they seemed to be at a reasonably advanced level (not very, but respectably), and they thought interestingly.
Mount Vernon was a trip to the sofrut studio, where I had an enjoyable afternoon watching restoration happening, and learning a new method of cutting quills. It was very relaxing. There are three chaps working in the studio under the Top Bod Sofer, and they are very nice. Top Bod Sofer was travelling, so I didn't get to do anything responsible :) yet.