And The New Semester Is Within Sight

After minyan this morning, I walked over to school to meet with our assistant dean (or whatever he is), and revamped my schedule for the coming semester. I had sat in on the higher level Hebrew class once at the end of last semester, and in most ways it had seemed like a better fit for me- the only thing I'm worried about is my speaking ability. But since that wasn't being pushed or improved much in the other class, we decided that it would be good for me to try the higher level Hebrew. The higher level Hebrew was, however, at the same time as the required Tanakh class for folks in both the lower Hebrew levels (a class I wasn't particularly looking forward to, since I was fairly sure it was likely to be not particularly high level itself, since they seem to have a hard time understanding that some folks are skilled with reading rabbinic Hebrew without having good Modern Hebrew skills). So I also picked a couple of options for a different Tanakh class, depending on what still has room available. One of them looked really exciting: a course on the Writings (Tanakh/Bible being divided into 3 sections, this being the last of them, the part that isn't Pentateuch or Prophets). We also talked about the Introduction to Medieval Kabbalah course, about which I am tentative, having already taken a higher level Kabbalah course last year. So I'm going to email my deans back in the states about whether or not I should get an exemption, and probably go to the first day of class and see the syllabus. I'll therefore also be trying out a class on the stories of Rav Nachman, which looked pretty exciting. Even if I end up staying in the Kabbalah course, I may keep the Rav Nachman class as well- it seems like it could be quite interesting, and it's been far too long since I've studied Hasidut.

I spent the afternoon at home and grocery shopping, and then went to teach a Torah reading lesson to a friend. While there, I found out that another friend, with whom I was supposed to bake tomorrow night, was canceling on me, but my leyning-student-friend is going to come over to bake with me and get a little extra practice in. We signed him up to do his first-ever Torah reading the week following next, before he leaves Israel, so making time for some more practice is good, and I wanted company and he's never made Hamentaschen, so it should be a good combination. And I'd been pretty bummed out, briefly, and this solved that problem. (I'm baking bread with wotyfree on Friday- it's going to be a very social baking-intensive few days.)

In the meantime, tomorrow is a fast day, and I'll have leyning and Esther reading to learn, but mostly I'll probably make it a quiet day at home. And now it's about bedtime.