So, as you may or may not know, I have been accepted into graduate school! Yay :) but more exciting than just knowing I have somewhere to go, is being accepted into my top choice. I have accepted their offer of admission and will be attending Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion beginning this summer. The three year program beings in Israel for a year and finishes the final two in New York. I am so incredibly excited to begin this new journey. If you have been reading my blog, you know that Jewish education is a huge priority for me; almost everything I do relates in some way to Jewish education. So to be able to take this next step and earn a masters degree in the field I love is just amazing.
One of the aspects of HUC that I love is the community. I was able to go to the institute for an open house in October and experienced what the community looks like. We went to Thursday morning services where the Torah is read. The tunes were familiar, everyone was participating and a rabbinical student gave a d'var, a short speech about the current week's Torah portion. This is a requirement of the fourth year rabbinical students, to practice sermonizing in front of a group that is supportive and critical at the same time. After shacharit, the school went down to the social hall for brunch and a discussion of the D'var. His teachers critiqued and congratulated, his peers questioned and commented, and everyone was supportive. It was a really nice experience and you could just feel the connection between everyone, something that's not really possible at a school with 45,000 undergrads.
Something else that I am really looking forward to, and one of the reasons this school was at the top of my list is the year in Israel. I have been to Israel several times before, mostly with family or friends for two week tours of the small country. But this time, I will be able to study abroad for a whole year. Studying abroad has been something I've wanted to do since I arrived at Penn State but always felt that the cost was a major inhibition. But now, since it is part of the program, I have the opportunity to study abroad in a country I love.
But with this amazing opportunity comes a few big stresses. Mainly obtaining a visa and an apartment. The visa shouldn't be much of a problem, mostly just time consuming. But apartment hunting across the ocean is very daunting. The HUC website has a few helpful suggestions, but there are many decisions that need to be made, and leases that need to be signed before I even step foot in the country. So now that the initial excitement has faded (only slightly) I can start to being the administrative tasks of moving to Israel for the year. Wish me luck!
One of the aspects of HUC that I love is the community. I was able to go to the institute for an open house in October and experienced what the community looks like. We went to Thursday morning services where the Torah is read. The tunes were familiar, everyone was participating and a rabbinical student gave a d'var, a short speech about the current week's Torah portion. This is a requirement of the fourth year rabbinical students, to practice sermonizing in front of a group that is supportive and critical at the same time. After shacharit, the school went down to the social hall for brunch and a discussion of the D'var. His teachers critiqued and congratulated, his peers questioned and commented, and everyone was supportive. It was a really nice experience and you could just feel the connection between everyone, something that's not really possible at a school with 45,000 undergrads.
Something else that I am really looking forward to, and one of the reasons this school was at the top of my list is the year in Israel. I have been to Israel several times before, mostly with family or friends for two week tours of the small country. But this time, I will be able to study abroad for a whole year. Studying abroad has been something I've wanted to do since I arrived at Penn State but always felt that the cost was a major inhibition. But now, since it is part of the program, I have the opportunity to study abroad in a country I love.
But with this amazing opportunity comes a few big stresses. Mainly obtaining a visa and an apartment. The visa shouldn't be much of a problem, mostly just time consuming. But apartment hunting across the ocean is very daunting. The HUC website has a few helpful suggestions, but there are many decisions that need to be made, and leases that need to be signed before I even step foot in the country. So now that the initial excitement has faded (only slightly) I can start to being the administrative tasks of moving to Israel for the year. Wish me luck!
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