I spent five meaningful, enriching, and fulfilling years living in Manhattan during my time studying at the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), where I was ordained Rabbi and where I achieved a Master’s Degree in Sacred Music.
My time at JTS was transformative. It also has a critically important impact on the health and vibrancy of our movement. So long as JTS continues to produce compassionate, skilled, knowledgeable, creative, and dynamic rabbis, cantors, educators, and Jewish professionals who go out into this world of ours to instill yiddishkeit and fulfill the sacred task of being Jewish leaders, the Jewish people will continue reaping the many benefits.
Interestingly, the Rambam, Maimonides, in his Codes of Jewish Law, writes about the location of prayer. If you’re by yourself, you should make every effort to go to a synagogue and pray with a minyan. If you’re in an orchard working the fields and it’s time to pray, you should cease what you’re doing and go find a minyan. Then he mentions the scenario of people studying in a Beit Midrash – a house of study. Their task is so necessary that they need not interrupt their study for prayer. That’s what is so wonderful about JTS: it fulfills a very sacred duty, the perpetuation of our tradition through its Torah and academic scholarship.
Rabbi Louis Finkelstein once said: When I pray, that’s when I speak to God. When I study, when I learn, that’s when God speaks to me.
If you’ve never visited the Seminary, or haven’t been in a number of years, you are in for a treat. Please consider joining me for a special tour of the campus on Tuesday, July 15. Here’s the schedule of events:
Trip details:
9:45 a.m. – Chartered bus departs from CBI
11 a.m. – Tour of JTS
12 p.m. – Lunch ‘n Learn with JTS faculty and students
1 p.m. – Private tour of the library and its exhibits with Professor David Kraemer
2:30 p.m. – Chartered bus departs JTS for CBI
With thanks to the generosity of CBI members Susan & Alan Zelman, there is no cost to register for this day trip. Travel & food are included. All are welcome.
Please RSVP to rabbi@cbi-nj.org with your name, contact information, and number of people attending.
Rabbi Ari Isenberg
