Monday, July 5, 2010

Welcome, Tour Guides and Hartmann

Welcome all to my first serious attempt at blogging. I am using this starting with a blog on my current trip to Israel.

I arrived yesterday morning (Monday July 5) and spent most of the day getting acclimated to the time zone and being in Israel again.

Yesterday evening, while grabbing dinner at Burgers Bar, I ran into a former colleague, Rabbi Aryeh Leifert, formerly assistant Rabbi in San Antonio, Texas and Director of Jewish Studies at the Eleanor Kolitz Academy there. Rabbi Leifert is now in Israel studying to be a tour guide in Israel. For those perhaps not aware, tour guides in Israel go through a very extensive training course. The course is 2 years long, and not only has exams, but also requires those who successfully complete it to write several papers as well. It is much more akin to a masters degree. In speaking with one of Rabbi Leifert's co-participants in the course, a former teacher from Ottawa -- it has become clear to me that Israeli tour guides are not just people who can spew out random trivia about places but are serious educators who just happen to be teaching in the greatest classroom ever.

Later in the evening, I ran into several other colleagues on Emek Refaim including RabbiMenashe East (Mt. Freedom, NJ), Rabbi Etan Mintz (Charlottesville, VA) and Rabbi Yonatan Cohen (Berkeley, CA) and their spouses. They are here as part of the Hartman RLI program. For those not familiar the program is part of the Shalom Hartman Institute (www.hartmaninstitute.com). The Hartman Institute was founded by Rabbi David Hartman, one of the leading Jewish thinkers of our era (I recommend his books, "A Living Covenant" and "A Heart of Many Rooms"). The Hartman Institute is a think tank working to pull together some of the leading thinkers and educators to develop innovative ideas and programs to shape and change the face of Jewish life in Israel and around the world.

The RLI (Rabbinic Leadership Initiative) program at Hartman (http://www.hartman.org.il/Center_Leader/Program_View.asp?Program_Id=13) takes a group of leading North American Rabbis from across the denominations to learn together over a period of three years spending 1 month each summer together in Israel and 1 week each winter in Israel, as well as various occasions over the internet. Together, they learn and discuss ethics, theology, philosophy and politics to better address the issues that Jews are facing in North America and in Israel. Feel free to look at the link above for more info and yasher koach to my colleagues for participating in such a great program.

I've been davening at Ramban Synagogue (not the one in the old city) which is led by one of the most up and coming and promising modern Orthodox leaders in Israel, Rabbi Benny Lau (nephew of the former chief Rabbi). (www.ramban.org.il) Rav Lau is also the Rosh Beit Midrah and Beit Morasha, another phenomenal institution in Israel (www.bmj.org.il). He was also previously the Rabbi on Kibbutz Saad, where I spent a week back in 1995 when I was a senior in high school. Rav Lau also learned at Yeshivat Kibbutz HaDati in Ein Tzurim (now closed), where I also learned for 2 weeks back in 2003 and felt a close connection to the Rosh Yeshiva, HaRav Yoel Bin Nun. I've also had the good fortune to spend some time with Rav Lau in the past and took a plan back to the US with him once back in January 2009, where Rav Lau was headed to speak for a regional conference in Chicago for the International Rabbinic Fellowship, the new rabbinic organization that I have the privilege of serving as Executive Director. (www.internationalrabbinicfellowhsip.org).

Lastly, I have the good fortune of staying in Devorah Harris's apartment. Devorah is the daughter of congregants Dr. Abe and Shelley Pollack, and I'd like to wish a mazel tov to Devorah and her family on the birth of baby boy, Benzion Zev, 2 weeks ago.

I'm off to the Tzohar conference later and will hopefully post again from the conference. (www.tzohar.org.il).

Till then, ברב ברכות מארצנו הקדושה (With many blessings from our Holy Land)

Rabbi J Herman

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