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| THE CHRONICLE
MEET HUC-J IR’S STUDENTS
A
l
hough I am a trained guitarist, most of
the time I play on my drum, which I
still find fascinating as I never actually
learned how to play the drum. I only started
because one of the traditional egalitarian
minyanim
in Jerusalem asked, at the begin-
ning of my Year-In-Israel, if there was anyone
who could drum for their services. I was the
only one to volunteer, and I’m still drum-
ming two-and -a-half years later.
The following year, I arrived in New
York with its cantorial school and commu-
nity of trained musicians. When my
turn came to lead services as a rab-
binical student, rather than as
an accompanist, I suddenly
had to figure out how to
create this same mood
with words rather
than beats. I learned
how to collaborate at
a higher level with a
cantorial student, and
how to lead, rather
than follow, with the
musical ensemble.
At HUC-JIR we
learn to build sacred
environments. We have
countless chances to try new
things, we tell stories and we
teach, we bring in new melodies and new
translations, and we build moods. Some-
times our ideas and efforts soar, and
sometimes they do not. And that’s ok, be-
cause it is all part of the learning experience.
We all have the opportunity to work-
shop our skills and build a repertoire of ways
to make worship meaningful. We learn from
each other and from our incredible faculty.
There are other forums for learning as well.
I sit on the Worship Working Group, a com-
mittee of students and faculty responsible for
planning the overall worship and spiritual ex-
perience of students. On the committee we
learn what it is to envision and implement
long-term ideas and projects.
We learn from our pulpits and intern-
ships, where we leave the protective HUC-
JIR atmosphere and transpose what we’ve
learned to communities with their own
unique traditions. My own pulpit outside of
Toronto likes to have its own blend of
melodies in Hebrew and English, with a
touch of whimsical spontaneity. They even
have an accordionist. Thanks to the skills
and knowledge taught at HUC-JIR, I have
been able to adapt to that environment and
learn even more.
We have also had some training
in theater. Dr. Lawrence Hoffman
has taught us that the service is
a ‘sacred drama.’ For exam-
ple, when we read
Torah
we
are not just reading from a
sacred book; we are actu-
ally standing at Sinai
and receiving divine
words. In sacred dra-
mas,
intonation,
words, and feelings
matter. Movement
and choreography are
crucial.
HUC-JIR has
hosted several work-
shops in this area. In the
past, choreographer Liz
Lerman has been a visit-
ing faculty member and taught us about
movement. Amichai Lau-Lavie’s ‘Storah-
telling’ organization has led a five-day
workshop on how to bring the
Torah
text to
life through dramatic storytelling. We have
ongoing speech and communication classes
to teach us the basics.
The
Talmud
(
Berachot
55
a) teaches
us that Bezalel, the artist commissioned to
build the Tabernacle and its holy vessels, was
able to bring the experience of God to the
Israelites. Likewise, it is through our art, as fu-
ture rabbis and cantors, that we can bring the
experience of the sacred to our communities.
HUC-JIR gives us a tremendous gift by devel-
oping in us the skills necessary to build our
own tabernacles for our future communities.
DRUMMING MY WAY
TO DAVENNING
David Vaisberg, N ’11,
Mandel Fellow
ISRAELI
AGENTS FOR
CHANGE
A
mong the 22 students enrolled in the Is-
rael Rabbinical Program, there is a broad
diversity of background but a shared
passion and commitment to advancing Re-
form Judaism in the Jewish State. These
students will ultimately join the 59 Israeli
rabbinical alumni who are transforming the
Orthodox-secular divide in Israeli society by
introducing a liberal, egalitarian, and inclu-
sive form of Jewish identity, spirituality, and
religious practice.
Benjie Gruber,
who will be ordained this
Fall, serves as the student rabbi of Kibbutz
Yahel and teaches adult education, provides
conversion programs for soldiers in the Is-
raeli Army, and works at the
beit midrash
at
Congregation Mevasseret Zion and at the
Reform
mechina
in Jaffa. He says, “My four
years at HUC-JIR have given me the chance
to study Talmud,
midrash
,
halakhah
,
theol-
ogy, Bible, and more with wonderful faculty,
and to be introduced to the world of pastoral
care by teachers and mentors who are experts
in both theory and practice.”
Here are some of his classmates who are en-
tering their second year of the Israel Rabbinical
Program, and who will be Reform leaders and
agents of change in Israel in the years to come:
Na’ama Dafni-Kellen
was exposed to Re-
form Judaism through her high school studies
at the Leo Baeck Education Center in Haifa
and has been involved in the Israeli Move-
ment for Progressive Judaism ever since. Upon
completing her Army service, she moved to
Jerusalem and studied Jewish philosophy and
community work at Hebrew University, while
at the same time working as the national di-
rector of the Reform Students’ Association.
After completing an M.A. in non-profit man-
agement, Na’ama became the director of
Kehilat Tzedek, a training center for congre-
gational social action that works with Reform,
Jean Bloch Rosensaft
