Can’t teach an old dog new tricks? Say it isn’t so. Judaism believes in life long study. We are taught that these are the things whose rewards to are without measure, to attend the house of study daily, morning and night. It continues with a longer list but concludes, “And the study of Torah is equal to them all because it leads to them all.”

“Rabbi Meir said: Anyone who engages in Torah study for its own sake (‘lishma’) merits many things. Not only that, but the entire world is worthwhile for him alone. He is called ‘friend’ and ‘beloved,’ he loves G-d, he loves man, he brings joy to G-d, he brings joy to man. It [the Torah] clothes him in humility and fear. It enables him to be righteous, pious, upright, and faithful. It distances him from sin and brings him to merit. [Others] benefit from him advice and wisdom, understanding and strength, as it says, ‘To me is advice and wisdom, I am understanding, and strength is mine’ (Proverbs 8:14). It gives him kingship, dominion and analytical judgment. It reveals to him the secrets of the Torah. He becomes as an increasing stream and an unceasing river. He becomes modest, slow to anger, and forgiving of the wrongs done to him. It makes him great and exalted above all of creation.”

What would be the point if we can’t teach an old dog new tricks?

Nonsense. The Talmud teaches us about Rabbi Akiva. One of our greatest teachers. But he began life as a shepherd who could not read of write. His wife, Rachel, insisted that he begin to learn Hebrew at age 40 as a condition of their secret marriage. Her father, a weathly landowner, disowned them and they lived in extreme poverty. Rachel sold her hair to pay for his studies. She brought him to the yeshiva at Lod, his native town to study with Eliezer ben Hyrcanus and Joshua ben Hananiah. He stayed for 12 years. He returned but before even crossing the threshold he heard his wife arguing with a neighbor about his long absence. She answered, “If I had my wish, he should stay another 12 years.” Akiva returned to the academy and after another 12 years returned a Talmud chacham, a wise Talmud teacher with 24,000 students.

What do we learn from this story? That it is indeed possible to teach an old dog new tricks. That it helps to have the support of family. That people can learn Hebrew despite others who might tell you that you cannot, like my two friends who were told that since they were in their 40s, they couldn’t become rabbis because they didn’t know Hebrew. That God wants us to take that first step. That all you have to do is begin.

So where do you begin? Wherever you want. What makes you passionate? What are you the most enthusiastic about? There is probably something in Judaism that dovetails nicely. A couple of examples. I have a friend who is a professional potter. She has a design studio and a kiln, teaches classes. She is passionate about clay. Much of her work has a spiritual focus. Recently she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She reached out to me because she would be exhibiting at an art show focused on cancer and the affects the diagonsis has on the patient and/or those around them. She wanted four Hebrew words to put on a pot to reflect different kinds of healing. The Mi Sheberakh was her source. It gave us the opportunity to learn together the different verb forms. A life long learner.

I have another friend who loves to crochet and knit. She makes kippot, challah covers and more. Her kids are making jewelry. Last year I was given an apples and honey necklace from one of them. I commissioned the 10 year old to make a pin with a Jewish star and a breast cancer pink ribbon intertwined for a 5 year breast cancer survivor. For that family arts and crafts are the way into Judaism and it is all about hiddur hamitzvah, enhancing the mitzvah by making it beautiful. Two generations of life long learners.

Not an arts person? There are other gateways in. If you love cycling, triathaloning, hiking, kayaking or some such, start a Jewish club to do this with other like minded individuals. In the process you will build community. One of my favorite rabbis is the Adventure Rabbi who takes people near Boulder, CO out on hikes or skiing or biking to experience God in nature. When I went with her once, I learned a very valuable lesson. That even after a serious, seven car accident on the West Side Highway in New York, that I could do it and that the title of Rabbi Harold Kushner’s book is not Why Bad Things Happen to Good People but When. Think about it. It changes the answer entirely. Bad things happen to everyone. It is how we respond. An important lesson I learned on a mountainside with Rabbi Jamie Korngold, the Adventure Rabbi. Oh, and I was over 40. Now I dream of joining her for Passover some year when she does seder in Moab Utah. You should see the pictures. They are breathtaking.

Like social justice and making the world a better place? Want to know what Judaism says about a certain topic? Sign up for a class I want to teach that will put the texts into action. One topic, one project each month. A strong social justice program is what sustains many a synagogue according to the book, Finding a Spiritual Home by Rabbi Sid Schwarz. It was something each congregation had regardless of movement that he profiled. But instead of serving food at PADs or across the street let’s explore why we do this from within a Jewish context. Our Torah portion this afternoon is a good place to start.

Feel like you need Judaism 101 or as someone suggested, “Judaism for Dummies.” First of all, you are not dumb. You haven’t had the opportunity to learn yet, for any number of reasons. Or you may feel like an outsider, even if you were born Jewish because of the amount of jargon and code words we use, or the amount of Hebrew. Stop me. Make me explain. My job is teacher and to make each of you feel comfortable and welcomed into this ancient tradition. Part of my role is to make the tradition accessible and meaningful. Whether you were born into the tradition or you are thinking of converting and joining us. These days we are all Jews by choice. There are any number of groups, activities, social organizations that compete for our time. Each of you could choose to be elsewhere but you chose to be here. What holds us here? I hope that part of it is this community and part of it is because you feel, as I do, that Judaism enriches your lives. I will be starting a 10 week course to teach the basics. Need to learn how to decode Hebrew or what the prayers say. There will be a chance for that too. And remember the great Rabbi Akiva was 40 when he started. So it is not too late.

Curious about the legacy that you will leave your children and grandchildren? Sign up for my two session class on writing an ethical will, a concept we received from Isaac who blessed Jacob and Esau, from Jacob who blessed each of his children and from Moses who left us his own ethical legacy that we are reading right now as we finish reading Deuteronomy.

Perhaps the class I am most excited about is the Many Streams of Judaism. We all know the terms Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, Reconstructionist. Maybe we have even heard renewal, post denominational, trans denominational, unaffiliated, secular humanist or more. Do we know what those terms mean or what the movements stand for, now or historically? I will offer a six week overview that will include some history, some theology, some cultural pieces and I hope a few field trips. Rather than say categorically “Well we could never be that.” Or Reform always does that. Or Orthodox don’t have women rabbis. Let’s learn what really happens. My husband once said he would be uncomfortable in a Conservative shul coming from his Classical Reform background. Then he studied Emet V’Emunah that Rabbi Robert Gordis wrote for the Conservative Movement in an attempt to define what Conservative Judaism is. His response, “I can agree with that.” We can’t reject something until we know what each movement stands for. We can’t define ourselves until we understand all of this. All the major movements are changing some. What we might have known may not still be true. Let’s learn about each of the groups and unlearn our preconceived notions. In the process we may learn to embrace our own diversity more and understand the wider Klal Yisrael, the entirety of the Jewish people.

Perhaps one of those field trips will be to Chicago for the Chicago Limmud. It is the weekend of February 16 and 17th, after our 120th Reunion Weekend. It is a chance to do serious and sometimes not so serious Jewish study with adults and children. Last year I presented on two panels at the Boston Limmud. It was a fabulous experience. Engerizing, enriching, meaningful. My school used it as a chance to allow our teachers a morning of professional development. Each teacher had to choose one session about their curricular area and one for their own enjoyment. This role models something really important to our children. That each of us is a life long learner.

Have you always wanted to learn how to daven a particular part of the service? Give a d’var Torah and teach your unique piece of Torah? Take on a mitzvah that you think might be meaningful to you personally? I believe that each person has a unique piece of Torah that is all their own and a unique mitzvah. Frederick Buechner explains it this way: “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” For Ken that might be his shofar blowing. For Sherry that might be feeding the hungry. For me that might be taking the ancient tradition of mikveh and making it meaningful. Each of us has a unique role. It is about finding that passion.
I know at least one woman wants to learn to chant her birthday Haftarah. I have a dream of empowering congregants to actively lead parts of the service. Whether that be Friday night or Saturday morning, whether that be leading parts of the service or chanting Torah or Haftarah. It is part of my own commitment to lifelong learning. With every new piece I learn, with every new skill I gain, I draw closer to the Divine. You can too. To that end, I will be offering an award for anyone who reads/chants from the Torah scroll 10 times. You will earn a yad, a Torah pointer because you have pointed the way for each of us.

I don’t know everything. I will meet your questions with honest answers or I will try to look it up or bring in my own consultants. One of the projects that has been so meaningful to me since I have arrived is working with a returning congregant to better understand his status. The laws of cohainim were not something I had studied much in school. Not something I had given much thought to because I am neither a cohain nor a levite. However, the process of studying the codes, the responsa literature, convening a beit din, a rabbinical court and looking at this question seriously and deeply was enthralling to me. t was deeply meaningful to our friend. I am proud to say that after intensive research, and six rabbis on a beit din who ruled as a court of law with eyes toward halacha, Jewish law and balancing justice with mercy as we are commanded to do, Leonard is now officially Areye Label ben Osher Hacohen, his status returned. He and I together with a host of other rabbis, Conservative, Orthodox and Reform, professors and actually rabbi judges, are life long learners.

We have all learned so much, even as adults. Remember the world before cell phones, smart phones, LinkedIn and Facebook? Somehow we mastered all of that. And a good thing since that is what enabled that beit din to convene over the past month. There was an article that appeared this week, shared twice by two rabbinic colleagues from Huffington Post, the relatively new Internet “newspaper, a social media site that combines news and blogging and is up to the minute. The article was about how to improve relationships. It seems like an appropriate topic for Yom Kippur since Yom Kippur is about taking stock and reflecting on what we would like to do better. One thing that many of us probably want to do better with is our relationships, with our parents, our siblings, our children, our spouses. Entitled Switching to a Better Partner, this columnist outlined her own relationship. After going into counseling herself, to learn something, the therapist told her to bring her spouse. He agreed to go.

“Well,” she said, when it was my turn again, “I have to tell you that a lot of very inadequate men have come through this door and sat in this chair over the years. Your husband is not one of them. Frankly, he is a very mentally healthy man, and a peach of a guy. I think perhaps,” she said, looking hard at me over her glasses, “we should work with you.” He had obviously fooled her.
On the off chance that I could learn something, I decided to give her one more chance to see things my way.
She had work in store for me. “I want you to catch him doing something right, will you, please? Any little thing. And thank him like you mean it.”
Since he was in town all week, I noticed that he helped me clear the dishes, which he’d done every night he was home, but I had just taken it for granted. “Thank you for doing this,” I said to him. “It’s a big help.” He looked startled.
The next night he took us all out to dinner.
I thanked him for bringing in the mail. I thanked him for taking the girls for a walk. Catching him doing something right had a peculiar effect on him. Now and then he actually did the dishes. This went on for several months. Finally, it dawned on my razor-sharp mind that I was changing me. It’s a rule we all know but forget so often: catch someone doing something right, thank the hell out of them, and you will have them in the palm of your hand. This is what teshuvah, returning, is all about. She doesn’t know if the marriage will indeed survive, but it is proof positive you can teach an old dog new tricks.

There are many ways to learn. You can learn in a class. You can learn online. You can learn individually. You can read a book. You can learn experientially by doing, building a sukkah, helping in the kitchen, attending services, etc. You can learn with a partner. We call this a chevruta partner, a friend. We see examples of this in the movie Yentl and even in the Talmud. Perhaps the best example is R. Yohanan and Resh Lakish who were brothers-in-law and study partners, and who debated their conflicting opinions on almost every branch of Talmudic law.

When Resh Lakish died, R. Yohanan was left distraught and bereft. R. Elazar b. Pedat, a great scholar, tried to comfort R. Yohanan by substituting for Resh Lakish as his learning companion. “Every opinion that R. Yohanan would offer, R. Elazar would confirm with a Tannaitic source. R. Yohanan lashed out, ‘You are like the son of Lakish? Previously, whenever I would give an opinion, the son of Lakish would ask 24 questions and I would answer him with 24 responses; in such a fashion, the legal discussion became enlarged and enhanced. But you only provide me with supporting proofs. Don’t I know that my opinions have merit?‘ (B.T. Baba Metzia 84a). I am lucky. I have several such study partners. I count among them my husband, my chevruta partner from e school Rabbi Linda Shriner Cahn and many members of the Greater Lowell Interfaith Leadership Alliance and the GenEx Bible Study Group that have been meeting for some 16 years. Find that person (or two). It will be an enriching, rewarding experience.

In public schools in Massachusetts we have students who have different learning styles on something called an IEP, an Individualized Learning Plan. It helps students, parents and teachers learn in the most optimal ways for that individual child. I think that maybe we as Jews should each have an IEP. What would be on yours? What do you want to learn? Then as we are teaching our children through the new Hebrew curriculum Mitkadem, we fulfill our covenant, our brit to each other as a community. Pirke Avot teaches, “Do not say ‘I will study when I have the time’, for perhaps you will never have time.” (2:5)

We talk about “Teach your children diligently” in the V’ahavta as one of the signs of how we show our love for G-d. It really means to set their teeth on edge. I think that means to excite them, to make them enthusiastic and passionate about Judaism. I think we are doing that here and that is part of our vision of life long learning. But it doesn’t stop there. Life long learning is something we do for ourselves. Learning torah lishma, for its own sake, is one way we enrich our lives and draw closer to G-d. Learning torah lishma is about being role models for our children. Perhaps Dorothy Law Nolte said it best:

If children live with criticism, They learn to condemn.

If children live with hostility,
 They learn to fight.

If children live with ridicule,
 They learn to be shy.

If children live with shame,
 They learn to feel guilty.

If children live with encouragement,
 They learn confidence.

If children live with tolerance, They learn to be patient.

If children live with praise,
 They learn to appreciate.

If children live with acceptance,
 They learn to love.

If children live with approval,
 They learn to like themselves.

If children live with honesty,
 They learn truthfulness.

If children live with security,
 They learn to have faith in themselves and others.

If children live with friendliness,
 They learn the world is a nice place in which to live.

I think this is what we want for our children and for ourselves. If this is your vision come join us and learn together, torah lishma as life long learners. The words of Torah will be sweet on your lips and will make for an even sweeter new year. Ken yehi ratzon.
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