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NEWSLETTER
MAY 2008 HEBREW GROUP
Steve Pruner writes: Eleven Jews, twelve views. And just think: we only need ten for a minyan. The last Adult Hebrew session was our largest gathering, yet. Eleven of us at the King of Hearts for coffee, fellowship, support and, of course, Hebrew, was truly exciting. There were also some newcomers, most welcomed; may I say hello to you and hope to see you at future sessions. A business meeting is now in order. The group has grown and there are various views about how the group should progress. It has been suggested we take some time at the beginning of our next session to do some general housekeeping. Everyone’s views are important. I appreciate the various levels in the group from beginners to advanced. Some beginners enjoy being with advanced students for the challenge; some advanced students enjoy helping the beginners. We must also respect the timetable at our end-of-the-month weekends when we have our rabbi with us. Rachel puts a lot of effort into leading us in song, education and worship. There have been occasions when our sessions have run over the scheduled time with an impact on other activities. No one is kvetching here. I’ll leave that to you to figure out and will say more about Yiddish in my next contribution to the newsletter. Suffice to say that Michael Wex’s Born to Kvetch explains that “…alone in the history of the world, Yiddish-speaking Jews long ago broke the satisfaction barrier and figured out how to express contentment by means of complaint.” But no one is complaining. The Hebrew group is growing from strength to strength. I was delighted to sit next to Laurence, our newest member who is fluent in Hebrew, as it motivated me to try harder. But we do need to agree upon the general direction of the group. Wex writes: “Like so much of Jewish culture, kvetching has its roots in the Bible, which devotes a great deal of time to the nonstop grumbling of the Israelites, who find fault with everything under the sun. They kvetch about their problems and they kvetch about their solutions. They kvetch in Egypt and they kvetch in the desert. No matter what God does, it’s wrong; whatever favours He bestows, they’re never enough.” I do not know who coined the phrase “Two Jews, Three Opinions”, but I recall reading somewhere that it may have been Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion. And it may have been another Israeli prime minster who once observed that he led a country full of prime ministers. As a rather large group now, it is necessary to discuss a few administrative matters and seek everyone’s opinions, along with a coffee, a chance to schmooze and study. I look forward to our next session when we will also finish the exercises on page 38 and practice the blessings at the end of this chapter. Next sessions:
Steven Pruner The Adult Hebrew Group exists to encourage, support, and assist adults in our community to learn to read Hebrew. Our specific goal is to be able to fluently read biblical Hebrew so that we can all enjoyably participate in our services by reading our Siddur; and, if called upon to make aliyah, reading from our Torah. Many in the group see our fortnightly study sessions as the early stages in their preparation for an adult bar/bat mitzvah. Please see the diary section of the newsletter for further details of dates, times and locations. If you have any questions or require more information, I would be happy to hear from you. |
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