Decisions, more decisions

[lethargic_man]

So, having ended up on the Conservative Yeshiva Summer Session I rather by default (it's the course I'd have attended if I had got into Kelim, and, obviously, this way I'll be attending it with people I know from Marom), I now have to decide what options to select.

I had been thinking of doing the ulpan [Hebrew as a spoken language] in the mornings, despite the fact I'm going all this way to attend a yeshiva for Jewish studies rather than Israeli. It's one of my regrets that I didn't put more effort into learning Hebrew on my year off, and maintaining what I had learned afterwards^*. If I did take this option, I would have to make an effort to try and keep my Hebrew up afterwards. Part of this could be by browsing Hebrew-language websites, part by listening to online Hebrew radio stations (once I'd got them to work in Firefox, on Linux), but I would also need to find people to talk with in Hebrew as well.

That is, if I choose this option. I'm not sure how much I could achieve in just three weeks; and it would mean losing out on the chance to study Talmud. Oh, decisions, decisions!

* At the end of my year off, I could just about get by in conversation. Looking through my notes now, I see I still retain a lot of the basic vocabulary, but I have to think to summon up every word, whereas back then not only did individual words come naturally, but so did common phrases—whilst most of my thinking remained in English, bits of it were in Hebrew.

For the Sunday/Tuesday/Thursday early afternoon slot, I think I'd go for the Mishna study on בְּרָכוֹת. For the late afternoon slot, I really don't know. For Monday/Wednesday early afternoons, I think I'd go for the tefillah sessions (though how much would that have in common with the Mishna sessions?); for the late afternoons it's got to be our old friend (or enemy) the problem of evil.

Comments

[troo.livejournal.com]

These two websites play israeli radio using just the WMP plugin:
http://radio.coolsite.co.il/radio.php
http://dnet.no-ip.biz/radio.htm

[green-knight.livejournal.com]

I'd go for the things you _can't_ get easily elsewhere. Immersion to spoken Hebrew/language classes/practice are things you can get at another time/in another place; I'd have thought the talmudic knowledge would be at the core of what you can acquire.

Also, I would have thought that was right down your street. You enjoy that kind of logic.

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

Possibly, but there's also the question of ease of access. For example at Limmud last year there was a dancing slot in the evenings—learn a fusion of salsa and jive, to the latest Israeli music. Now, I could have done that any time here in London, but it would have involved paying money, and shlepping somewhere (wherever) in the evenings when I was tired from a hard day's working (and cycling!); and it would just never have happened. But when it was available at Limmud a couple of minutes walk from where I happened to be at the time, effectively already pre-paid for, and with no committment to turn up to the following day's session, it was easy to choose, so I went along, and enjoyed it.

The same applies to learning Hebrew here. (As for Talmudic study, I could get that here too, but not from a Masorti perspective, so maybe that is different...)

[hatam-soferet.livejournal.com]

I'd say head straight into the Talmudic stuff. Ulpan and Talmud don't really overlap all that much - ulpan's useful if you want to read responsa literature, otherwise just mug grammar and Talmudic vocabulary.

Esther Israel's worth taking no matter what she's teaching. Shaiya might be a bit on the fluffy side for you. Haven't learned with the others much - well, except R' Goldfarb, whose style annoys me but other people love his pants off. Do you have to choose now? I thought they usually have a taster slot of everyone on the orientation day.

[snjstar.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed Rabbi Goldfarb's teaching.

They did not have taster sessions last week, but the afternoon had a general level and an advanced level option.

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

I'm coming around to the idea of taking the Talmud instead. I wonder whether I should go for the beginners' or advanced course. (Digs out exercise book from cheder with Talmudic abbreviations in.)