I am registered at the University. For classes. I even have a username and password for the computer system. Now all I need is a student ID and to pay them–but I suspect they won’t forget to send me the thing about what I owe in tuition, somehow.
This all, of course, took hours, but I have the sweet glowing feeling of accomplishment, and a marginal sense of security that I might not have to ever go through all that again (bli ayin hara, puh puh puh). Plus I have figured out that I can learn a decent amount of Talmud on those long long busrides up to campus, which is also not bad.
Now I am home, and I am tired.
Congratulations, girl.
BTW, I’m curious: when you say “learn Talmud” is that a reference to memorization or to study? When I say “learn Qur’an” I generally mean memorize but I’m so ignorant I don’t know if you guys memorize a great deal as part of religious ed.
Talmud is definitely not (usually, in this advanced day and age) about memorization, but rather, studying the discussions, trying to follow the arguments and the issues raised, and the back-and-forth of idea, proof, objection, rebuttal, counter-objection, and so forth. It’s partly about what decisions get made in Jewish law, and a whole lot about how that happens (and a lot about the love of the discussion and the quest for truth). Good hard yummy work.
“Learning” is a very Jewish/American/yeshiva expression, btw. “Are we going to learn together today?” is like how you ask if you’re going to open a text with somebody and try to penetrate it’s heart and meanings. Interestingly, the expression is “learn”, not “study.” Which in itself lends itself to all sorts of interpretations….
Mazal tov!
BTW, my impression is that “learning” is simply straight out of Yiddish, in which the word is “lernen.”