It's official: I'm a student again

Having received approval from the One True Wife, consulted the oracles, and sat with it for awhile, I formally gave word to the University of Chicago Divinity School that I intend to enter their MA program this coming Fall.

This is a two-year program that will require me to ramp up my knowledge of Hebrew and one other language -- probably French -- and study and read more than I have in the two-plus decades since I was last in school full time. It will also help me figure out if I want to go any further into the study of Jewish text and history.

I can't wait.

When I went to a meeting for prospective students last week, I wound up sitting at lunch with two Baptists from Oklahoma who also are entering the MA program. These were big, corn-fed guys with calloused hands, wearing ties and leather jackets. The Divinity school served a vegan lunch. One of the Oklahomans stared at the food and said: "This ain't lunch. This is what we eat before lunch." They were extremely young and extremely polite. One of them was very excited to meet a Jew.

"Have you been Jewish from birth?," he asked.

I allowed as how I had.

"May I ask you a question?," he said.

Anything, I said.

"Does a Jewish person achieve salvation through works or through Grace?"

I said, "Well, to most Jewish people that question wouldn't even compute, I suspect. I also think I'll answer that question better in a couple of years than I can answer it now. But basically, we don't really believe in salvation, and our idea of Grace is a little different from yours, I suspect. We also have this little thing called Ancestry: if you're born Jewish, you're a Jew no matter what you do. If you convert -- well, that's a little complicated, because the Orthodox don't recognize non-Orthodox conversions. You won't be able to get 10 Jews together who agree on this stuff -- and I don't even think I agree with myself sometimes, so maybe we should leave it at that."

He nodded, but looked puzzled.

It should be a really interesting couple of years.

--T.A.

Comments

[Chavi]

Mazel tov! We're both going to be students :) Perhaps we can share the trials and tribulations, eh? I'll be happy to watch you grow as a student, and I hope we can help each other stay sane!

[Avi aka TikkunGer]

Congrats!

[Mom]

YES!!!! I am happy, happy, happy for you and for your whole family (including us!). We shall all be with you in this journey and will share in the wonders of it.

[Ally]

Glad you decided to do it.

[Steve Yastrow]

Will you figure out how to post from your Treo before school starts, so we can immediately read the amazing stories you are going to discover? I sense that this story is only the minor footnote on page one of a yet-to-be-written epic work. (Can the footnote on page 59 include a description of these two guys explaining the feminine nature of the shekina?)