The Florence Melton Adult Mini-School FMAMS

Two hundred people filled the Beth Meyer Synagogue hall in Raleigh for the first graduation of the Raleigh Mini-School. Friends and family of the 44 graduates came together to celebrate the completion of the graduates two years of study together. The evening opened with the singing of the national anthem followed by greetings from Joyce Zeitler, chairperson of the Mini-School advisory board, Raleigh director, Debbie Laxer and the guest speaker, Judy Kupchan, Director of Teacher Education for the Mini-Schools in North America. The certificates were handed out to the graduates by their wonderfully inspiring teachers Rabbi Aaron Herman and Dana Talmi. The evening ended with the singing of Hatikvah, however the end of the evening did not mark the end of learning for these graduates, most of whom have already signed up for graduates courses next year and the Mini-School summer school program in Raleigh.

On Tuesday May 13th the Richmond site graduated twenty five graduates. This is our third graduation which was celebrated with a dinner at graduating students Rich and Dianne Goldberg 's home. The evening started with a few words from our faculty who spoke on the importance of continuing to devote time to Jewish learning. The students each spoke about their two year journey, and what the Melton experience meant to them personally. It was very clear that this group will be back for our graduate courses which will begin in the fall.

The evening was wonderful. Each of our students had written a moving and heartfelt reflection of their two years in Melton. We even had a few tears shed as they read them to those in attendance.

Divrei Torah on Shavuout were given by instructors Sara Lynn Newberger and Robert Portnoe. In the true Melton tradition they both came at it from different directions. It was a meaningful learning experience for us all.

Certificates and beautiful copies of their Reflections were presented to the students. The students then made some presentations of their own to their instructors.

The evening concluded with a dessert reception in honor of the Melton Class of 2003.

Philadelphia Graduation
by 2003 Philadelphia FMAMS Graduates

Philadelphia Graduates Entertain

Family and Friends in their 2003 Graduation Ceremony

Introduction

I believe it was Monty Python who uttered the immortal words, “And now for something completely different.”

Some of us thought that since we each have our own views on many of the topics we have studied and have no hesitation in sharing them, it would not be appropriate for only one of us to try to speak for us all. Others thought that we should utilize this graduation ceremony to enable our family and friends in attendance to experience first hand the Melton text-based way of learning that has so enriched our lives. Of course, being a group of Jews, there were several other views, but our time is limited so I’ll not mention them.

For these reasons we’ve decided to depart from the usual format of graduation speeches to share with you a brief vignette from one of our classes on Jewish Ethics. I’d like to invite my classmates to come forward now for this demonstration, while others are distributing the program for today’s lesson. We will be demonstrating how we apply what we have learned in two years at Melton to one of the most burning issues of the day, and for that matter every class day.

A Lesson on Jewish Ethics
as Understood by
Tractate Melton Class
(Tuesday Evening Class)

Lord Jim - legal scholar
The DEKO
Targum Steve - translator / explainer
Rav Bart A. Nora - 12th c. Mocher
The MARLA - Most Articulate Reader of Lower Ardmore
The Seer of Havya Seena - Seer of Lublin
Lana Lana Bonana Fee Fi Fo Fanna - She is our Lana
Targum Carol - explainer/translator
The Barbara Nel- Nel was the lesser known cousin of the Medieval commentator
My Lucky Charna - Ukrainian Spice
Zena Jutcovich – Peaceful warrior queen of the Jews

Also Featuring:

- Bubba Kamma, Bubba Mitziah, Bubba Batra, and the rest of the starting defensive line of the Eagles
- Temple Beth Shirley - Your choice of Sottah and a splash of grenadine
- Commentaries of a talking dog
- Acta Retracta
- Journal of Irreproducible Results
- The Perelman Talmud

Lord Jim -The Mishna starts with a question: which class member should be responsible for providing snacks each week? The Gemara initially attempts to answer this question by identifying the Rabbinic authority behind the Mishna. This is based on the theory that the view of some sages (like Hillel) almost always prevails over the view of other sages (like Shammai), and therefore by identifying the author and his view we can infer whether his is the prevailing one. In this instance it might be Lord Jim since he was known to have resolved the issue of who is responsible for providing the drinks each week.

The DEKO - The Gemara goes on to explain that the DEKO is the author of our undesignated Mishna because she wrote this whole play. However, in the end we resolved that this is not really relevant to the case in the Mishna, because one would not necessarily be able to learn from drinks to snacks or from snacks to drinks.

Targum Steve - Now that we know who wrote the Mishna, what is it teaching us? Who is responsible? The Gemara’s reply to this is “Dibs”, but the Gemara then goes off on a tangent on the Subject of Youth in Asia; specifically who gets to the heart in question? Somewhat surprisingly, the Gemara tells us that the answer is once again “Dibs”. But back to our topic of snacks- what does the Gemara mean when it said “Dibs”.

Rav Bart A. Nora - The Pshat- plain meaning - is best explained by Rav Bart A. Nora, the 12th Century commentator and seller of sundries. He explained that the first one to call out “Dibs” is obligated to provide for the following week’s needs, but has no responsibility regarding the current week. He also tells us that he has learned from one of the Bubbas that you cannot claim “Dibs” two weeks in a row. They are a hungry and not a very forgiving bunch.

The MARLA – The Marla, who always offers an exact and unique reading of this topic in the Mishna, explains that some other versions of the Gemara did not say “Dibs” but rather “Dips”. To her, this means that if someone claims responsibility for the Dips they become obligated to bring the Dips but are absolved of any responsibility when it comes to the snacks.

The Seer of Havya Seena – On the other hand, the Seer of Havya Seena offers a mystical interpretation. She says that, even in our hunger for physical sustenance we should also be hungry for redemption and the return to Zion. So how does she read “Dibs” – Ah-- She reads it as “DIBs” - Darn Israel Bomba, which apparently means that we are all responsible for buying snacks from Israel and thereby hastening the coming of the Messiah- Amen Amen Selah.

Lana Lana Bonana Fee Fi Fo Fanna - Now we know who wrote our Snack Mishna and what it teaches us, but on what is it based. Lana Lana Bonana Fee Fi Fo Fanna said we learn from Torah (Exodus 3:2): “ V’HaSnei Eno Ukal - And the Bush was not consumed.” Of course, this may also teach us the old lesson that some texts are just more obscure than others.

Targum Carol - In the Targum Steve our passage is translated as “ V’Ha Snack Eno Uka l- and the snack was not consumed,“ while in the Targum Carol our passage is translated as “ V’Ha Chips and Cookies Eno Ukal- and the Chips and Cookies were not consumed”. As it is clear from both Targum that the Snacks were not consumed, so we learn from this passage that the one who did consume -- read finish -- the snack is responsible for replenishing the supply. So here we have a source for our Mishna.

The Barbara Nel - It is interesting to note that the Barbara Nel’s commentary to this passage states that the Torah was given in Har Sinai, which she interprets as being “The Mountain of Snack” because it was a place of harmony, peace, and tranquility where there were always enough snacks to eat. She proved her point by citing the fact that although Moses was up on the Mountain for at least 40 days, he did not order take-out even once.

My Lucky Charna - Gufa- Back to the subject of the Mishna – snacks. The Gemara asks, if the responsibility for bringing the snacks is contingent on finishing the snacks, “Who would want to be left alone with the snacks?” Ah -- Israelites are not suspect when it comes to being left alone with snacks. But later Rabbinic authorities decided that we needed a safeguard. No one should be left alone with snacks lest they be tempted to eat them all. But how far may we take this limit. My Lucky Charna concluded that Lord Jim or Rav Bart A. Nora would be permitted to be alone with the snacks so long as they are in their usual in-class state of somnolence.

Zena Jutcovich – But there remains the perennial question of the role of the Jewish woman. While we all know that it is written in Torah (Genesis 2:18) that woman was created to be a fitting helper to man, there is also a minority opinion that says that since women provide everything from matzo balls to the seven-layer matzah torte at the Seder, she should be exempted from further culinary responsibilities during the four week period both before and after Pesach. Consequently, the men must be responsible for providing snacks during this time period, and thereby become the helpmates to the entire Melton class.

We want to conclude our presentation on a note of levity. It is difficult to put into words how much we have learned from our three teachers, Dr. Emilie Passow, Rabbi Albert Gabbai and Peter Margolis, so I’ll not make an attempt that will inevitably fall short of the mark. Suffice it to say that, thanks to each of you, we enjoyed almost every minute (and those we didn’t enjoy were the fault of history rather than anything you did or didn’t do), and we come away from class with a much deeper understanding of our rich heritage and a thirst for continuing our Jewish education. We also want to thank Debby Melissa, our indefatigable administrator and sometime substitute teacher, without whom the Melton program in Philadelphia would not be the success it so clearly is.