"We Can Fix That"

Once there was a poor shepherd named Akiva. He enjoyed caring for the sheep: he took them to pasture, protected them, made sure they found food and water, and brought them home again. He lived happily, with only one regret. He never learned how to read and write, and so he could not study Torah. He wanted to learn, he wanted to study, but he was already forty years old. What good would it do to start his education now?

One day, as Akiva walked with his sheep, he came to a stream. In this stream rested a huge boulder. As he looked closer, he noticed that the water actually flowed through the boulder, through a hole in the middle of the rock. He stared at it, wondering how that hole had come to be in just the right spot to allow the water to flow through it. Finally he realized that the water itself had made the hole; many years of water rushing against the rock had slowly eroded it, breaking

through it to create an opening. He said to himself: “This stone is ancient, and yet it was able to be penetrated by the water. Is my head older than this rock, or harder than it? Perhaps if I begin to let the water of Torah flow into my mind, it too will penetrate into me.” So Akiva went home and began to study.

Over time, he became Rabbi Akiva, one of the greatest scholars of our tradition.

With some regularity I hear adults talking about their absence of Jewish education. “I don’t remember much of what I used to know as a child.” “I never had a Bat Mitzvah service.” “I don’t know how to read Hebrew.” “When I was growing up, my family didn’t belong to a synagogue, so I didn’t go to school.” Whenever I hear someone make a similar comment, my answer is always the same: “We can fix that!” My point is that, as Rabbi Akiva experienced, it is never too late for adults to renew, refresh, or repair their Jewish knowledge. At Or Ami, opportunities for Jewish learning are not limited to our children. Adults too can take advantage of our wide range of educational opportunities, from ongoing classes to occasional speakers, from Torah study to Jewish music, from S’lichot to Shavuot, from Jewish ethics to book groups.

In particular, I am delighted to announce that this fall we will begin a new Adult B’nei Mitzvah class! While Jews become b’nei mitzvah (responsible for the commandments) automatically at age 13, not everyone has had a chance to affirm that status, and to receive the honors and privileges that accompany that responsibility. So this class will lead up to an opportunity for the students to celebrate by leading a service, reading from the Torah, and teaching the congregation. Adults who have participated in these classes in the past have found them to be profoundly meaningful experiences. But it has been a few years since our last class; the time is right to begin again.

The class will stretch over approximately two school years. I will shape the schedule to the availability of the students; most likely we will meet approximately every other Sunday morning to study the Jewish holidays and life cycle, introductory Jewish texts, ethics, history, and theology. Additionally, we will schedule an adult Hebrew class, which may also take place on Sunday mornings, starting with the alphabet and moving on to real reading.

I am very excited about beginning this course! If you are interested, please come to an introductory meeting on Tuesday, June 14, at 7:30 PM, at the synagogue. This conversation will be a good opportunity to meet your fellow students, and to begin to make some plans for the fall. If you cannot make the meeting but would like to participate in the class, please contact me to let me know of your interest. (rabbi.carr@or-ami.org or 610-828-9066)

Two more important notes. First, this class will not just be for prospective B’nei Mitzvah. Enrolling this fall does not require a commitment to continue all the way through the service. If someone would simply like to study, but does not want to celebrate becoming Bar or Bat Mitzvah, that person is certainly welcome in the class. Second, it is possible to “pass out” of these classes. For example, if someone has already taken Introduction to Judaism and would now like to participate in the B’nei Mitzvah experience, that person may be able to do so without needing to take the class. Please talk to me about that if you are interested.

We offer lots of opportunities for our adult members to deepen their Jewish knowledge. Whether you have never learned, or used to know, or want to continue your education, together we can fix that.