Lucy Rose Fischer
St. Paul, MN

DOING TORAH

Excerpt from the original d'var tora given by Lucy Rose Fischer at the Adath Jeshurun Congregation in a service honoring their Melton students and graduates.
Dvar Torah/In honor of the Melton Program
August 20, 2005

My parents, although not particularly religious, sent me to Sunday school when I was a little girl growing up in a small town in upper NY state. My earliest memory from that experience is about a lesson on G-d-we were crawling under desks and chairs, walking all around the room, looking up and down and repeating: "G-d is everywhere…" I was pretty sophisticated as a little girl (much more sophisticated than I am now) and I thought that was a silly lesson-even so, it was kinetic learning and I remembered it.

My best year in Sunday school was my last year-the confirmation class. I was 14-I was proud of my abstract reasoning skills and fascinated by ideas. We had 2 teachers, a rabbi and a Mrs. Roth. I spent the year goading my teachers. I don't remember any of the specifics but I do remember our class of girls sitting around a table and debating with these teachers-concept after concept in basic Judaism. I was a skeptic-I challenged anything and everything my teachers said. But I loved it-and I loved the fact that they took my ideas seriously-even when I was being a nuisance.

The odd thing is-that was the beginning of my real interest in Judaism-that was my awakening to the richness of ideas in my Jewish tradition. From that beginning, I became involved in Jewish youth movements, went to Brandeis, started keeping kosher-etc. But that confirmation class was also almost the last time, with few exceptions, until very recently, that I engaged in serious, extended Torah study.

So the level of my Jewish learning was essentially stuck at age 14.

I started the Melton class a year ago as an afterthought and tag-along. My husband Mark wanted to join the class, so I went along with him to an introductory session and sample lesson, with two very fine teachers-Sarah Lynn Newberger and Susie Chalom. I was hooked-despite my busy schedule, my very fulltime art career and various volunteer commitments. What has been most striking to me is the pleasure I get from becoming immersed in the study of text-Biblical texts, Talmud and also other Jewish texts. Each class focuses around a topic-such as, Shabbat, holidays, kashrut, prayer or the meaning of the land of Israel, what it means to be a "chosen" people, the role of women, etc.

The study is dynamic, interactive, and often intense. What I have found is that this study is not simply something I ought to do. This is fun!