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OUR RUACH STUDY
North Miami Beach,Florida 2-9-2000 Aaron H. Schectman
THINKING ALLOWED
Essays on issues, ideas and reflections on the times. Published now and
then. Opinions pro or con are welcome. For other essays see the archives
in: http://homepages.infoseek.com/~thinkingallowed
OUR "RUACH" STUDY
You must understand that I didn't really know what the word "ruach" meant
(it is pronounced "ru akk) when Carol and I began to attend the Saturday
morning sessions at Temple Sinai of North Dade. We had been members of a
Torah Study class at Temple Beth Miriam in Elberon, New Jersey that
metamorphosed into a Talmud Study class. They were the same but not the same
as what we have been enjoying here in Florida.
For many years I had taught in Hebrew School and thought I didn't need
spiritual refreshment from dipping into religious texts. However, what I
found by attending these Saturday morning study sessions after Friday Night
in the Temple for "religious" services was humor, interesting ideas and
especially the interaction with many fine minds. The class attracts between
thirty and fifty people every Saturday morning.
What some people will not understand because of tradition and a
fundamentalist approach is that these sessions are brightly alive and
sparkling with rapid fire open ended discussions. What you "must believe"
because of the written word and its doctrinaire explanations are lacking
here.
Rabbi Sam Rothberg leads us. He had a Conservative religious education and
is an ordained Reform Rabbi. There are several other Rabbis, two cantors,
religious educators, lawyers, at least one psychologist, business people and
others like myself who are seeking understanding. A goodly number have
doctorates. There are some young ones brought by parents and those edging
into their thirties. There are a lot of us older types. We have several
Jews by choice and others who drop in because they have heard of us. Being
in Florida we have people with Hispanic backgrounds.
What is so distinguishing about our sessions in Ruach Study in Temple Sinai
is the humor. We leave our sessions uplifted by the fast pace of repartee
and the ability to extract something funny and definitely uplifting in our
discourse.
Rabbi Sam has promised to collect examples of our insights and the slightly
askew observations which we believe to be modern day "drashes" (from midrash
or commentary). He is planning to publish them as a volume, "Midrash from
Ruach". One example of these is when a member misspoke when describing God
speaking to the people at the foot of Mount Sinai: "Beware of God's rash"
(Because God might break out).
Carol's Evaluation: 10 out of 10.
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