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A Melton Moment
August 2003
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Buffalo students trip to the Mikvah
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In a recent issue of the Buffalo Jewish Review there
is a photograph of several members of the first year of Melton
class taken on a field trip to our local mikvah. I
am in the center of the photo. There is a big smile on my face.
It is certainly a long way from my Sunday School Confirmation
photograph taken over 50 years ago in front of our majestic
Byzantine-style Temple Beth Zion, one of the oldest reform temples
at that time. The journey from those early days to the mikvah
has been a long one. After confirmation, my personal pursuit
of knowledge about Judaism was put on hold, but in September
of 2002, I was ready to pick it up again.
Having been raised in a Jewish home, it was only natural for me to provide a Jewish home for my own family. My numerous volunteer activities have been centered around the field of Jewish communal services. I served as president of the Buffalo Jewish Community Center and Camp Lakeland (our local Jewish Fresh Air Camp). As chairperson of the Women's Division of our United Jewish Fund Campaign, I traveled to Israel on fact-finding missions several times. Having a board and committee position on our Jewish Federation, and being active in Temple Beth Zion NCJW, regional UAHC and national JCCA have given me a commitment to Jewish life. However, it wasn't until I began my first year Florence Melton Adult Mini-School courses: "Purposes of Jewish Living" and "Rhythms of Jewish Living" that I began to realize how little I knew about my religion.
I feel as though I traveled a road without a road map, pursued a path without the knowledge of where I was going or why I was drawn to continue and what I would find when I reached my destination. I have been fortunate that the journey these past 50 years has been satisfying and exciting. The people whom I met and worked with - role models, mentors and teachers, have been generous and inspiring. But in 2002, I was ready for more! I was curious and hungry for a more complete understanding of my heritage. I've identified issues, problem-solved and tackled community and organizational crises with some of the best and brightest in Buffalo and beyond. More boards, committees or meetings were not the answer.
Fortunately, we have the Florence Melton Adult Mini-School in our community. They wanted me. I wanted what they had to offer. I have learned and experienced more Judaism in the 28 sessions at Melton than I have in the past 50 years. Other than my experience in Jerusalem the first time I went to the Kotel, the 56 hours of Melton have been the most enlightening and interesting immersion into a world I have only been on the edge of all these years. I am finally in it, and it feels wonderful.
Melton has integrated all the community activities I've had since my temple confirmation. I was provided the synergy which has brought Judaism to life for me and given meaning to all my experiences. Course leaders are brilliant and articulate. Classmates are intelligent and enthusiastic. The curriculum is superb. We begin again in September and I can't wait!
Ethel Melzer will begin her second year of the Florence
Melton Adult Mini-School in September. For more information,
call Evie Weinstein, Director of the Buffalo Mini-School at
the Bureau of Jewish Education at 689-8844
Buffalo Jewish Review August, 2002
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