Melbourne Mini-School Graduation

Dr Benny Monheit

Rabbi Ronnie Figdor reminded us at our first session with him that the Pirkei Avoth teaches us that: The day is short but the task is long.I kept remembering this as we raced along 3000 years of Jewish history, Jewish ethics, basic religious concepts and the Jewish life cycle.  Our group consisted this year of twelve diverse bright individuals: 10 females and two males who were mainly from professional background who met after work on Monday nights at Temple Beth Israel. We had a feisty group who did not refrain from challenging the lecturer but at the same time challenging ourselves for we had to clarify what our opinion was on a particular issue and then defend that view or at least discuss it.  

We had some marvelous sessions on What Happens after We Die with Ilana Sztokman, on the battle for Jewish emancipation in Europe in the 19th Century with Rebecca Forgasz and on the Jewish view of organ transplantation with Ronnie Figdor. I well remember our first Melton session last year on Purposes of Jewish Living. It was held in one of the upstairs staff rooms at Bialik College. Over 30 over- eager people crowded into the room where Debbie Miller had to try to keep control whilst discussing what we mean by the attributes of God. By half time my head was swirling and it was not improved by devouring two tasteless Melton biscuits. These infamous biscuits became our staple diet on Monday nights and contributed no doubt to hyperglycaemia attacks with some people nodding off during the night.

Anyway, gradually the numbers dwindled to a more manageable class size and I started to comprehend what the Melton program was about. Its pluralistic approach, its use of original texts and its interactive, non judgmental approach greatly appealed to me and I think to all participants. Certainly the feedback from our group about the course has been extremely positive. We loved the breadth of topics, the discussions, the opening up of new frontiers of knowledge for many of us. Esther Lewin in our group for example loved the fact that many of the issues we debated around the table were age old questions that Rabbis throughout centuries had been grappling with. Denise was fascinated that even orthodox women could recite Kaddish in some  synagogues and Ruth Mushin and Sam Helfenbaum found  that the course added an extra  dimension to their trip to Europe just after completing the class on the Golden Age of Spain. We all loved our teachers.  We are really blessed in Melbourne that we have such talented erudite people who can teach adults. This we all appreciate is no easy task. Our teachers were stimulating, fun, and treated us with respect and kindness even though many of us have staggering lack of knowledge in their field of expertise. Yet they made us feel that our questions were valued and even contributed to their better understanding of the topic.  

When in preparation for this talk I did a Google search for the Melton course I got  a staggering 104 thousand hits. I read about 10 of those articles from around the world and it quickly made me realize that students overseas also thought their teachers were marvelous and the course was brilliant. For example Jackie Hermanson from Kansas City wrote: “Next Tuesday I will wake up to a definite void in my life. For the past two years I’ve had the privilege of participate in the Melton Mini School. This week 31 of us will graduate, joining more than 500 others who have completed the course since the international program came to Kansas City eight years ago.” Melton, she wrote, “offers a serious challenging and intellectual course of study, with no homework, that opens an incredible door to Judaism no matter what your point of entry.” So there is something universal I think about the Melton course that appeals to certain group of  Jewish adults around the world and brings out their deep curiosity about Jewish learning and traditions. I think we must admire the vision of Florence Melton and the Hebrew University for taking on this challenge to develop and run such a successful international program. 

At a local level, our group wants to sincerely thank Leah Justin for organizing us all and for her infectious enthusiasm  about the course and Jewish education in general. The Jewish Museum as well as  TBI , Bialik College and Bnai Brith also deserve our heartfelt thanks for hosting us.  Evaluation of the Melton course overseas by Stephen Cohen  has shown that the main impact on graduates  is on their change in ‘meaning making’, the enhanced ability to derive sense and purpose from every day Jewish activities. Cohen found that the course had little impact on the actual behaviour of the students, few people started to keep kosher or became Shomrei Shabbat after graduating. But the program had a significant and widespread impact on students meaningfulness of their Jewish lives. They knew their cultural roots better and they saw a lot more ethical implications in their ordinary activities. 

We also experienced that in our course. We argued in last weeks session about what to do about the big spider that runs across our breakfast table – can we kill it? Is this a Jewish issue  about dominion over animals as per Genesis Chapter 1? Is there a Jewish answer? How does one kill the spider humanely? Oh, Melton is  just mind boggling.

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