Learn about Jewish life.

Meaning, I have expressed this in more concrete ways in other goals.

L’Shana Tovah. This is officially my second year in study. I’m not quite there yet. Tonight I’m going to erev Rosh Hashanah services. Good friends have invited me to their house for the meal before the big event. And I’ve checked in with some other friends, and they will be there, too. It’s a big day in my education, a big day in my life.

But it’s been a sparse summer, meaning, I haven’t hit the books that much. I have semi-learned 3 letters of the aleph bet. BUT…I have signed up for 3 classes which start after the High Holy Days. One of those is Biblical Hebrew, which will start with the aleph bet.

I have completed six months of Introduction to Judaism classes and have two more sessions before it’s over. Last week, a local rabbi agreed to study with me. So I have a rabbi! And I signed up for another introductory class, this time with Lehrhaus Judaica in Berkeley. I went to a couple of Purim services, and am learning about that. Next, I think I want to delve into Torah study on Saturday mornings. And I am steadily increasing my library. It feels like baby steps, but when I realize where I was six months ago, I am so much farther along. And that feels good.

This is a huge step. I signed up for a 6-month Intro class in Oakland/Berkeley. Features 2 different synagogues, 4 different rabbis. I will have my pick. I’m supposed to have a rabbi before I begin, which puzzles me….but perhaps I will find one in the 3-day intro class before the BIG intro class. One can hope.

I signed up for a 3-day Intro class. That starts in a few weeks. And I’m looking into a semester of Intro. I’m on my way!!! And very excited about it.

I come from Methodist beginnings, which to me means I’m a vacant and sterile spiritual book. Color me a tabula rasa, a blank slate in a spiritual quest. So many emotional changes in such a short time have led me here. I want to absorb, learn, apply, and see if I see myself in this mirror.