Content to be a Slacker

I’m taking a break from gloom and doom to announce that I have finally learned how to do something I thought impossible: go to class and just ignore the homework. After all these years of Type-A behavior and over achieving, I have proven that I can be a complete slacker and still fool the teacher.

Last fall when my friend Reya introduced me to Miriam and told me about her level 2 Hebrew class at Temple Micah, my first reaction was: NO! I don’t need another activity in my over-burdened life, and I would never have time to prepare for class – to do the homework.

But out of curiosity I decided to go to just one class. I’m not all that proficient in Hebrew, but even though the class was already on Chapter 4, I knew enough of the stuff they were doing to fake it actually quite well.

You see I have a head for languages. During my lifetime, I have studied Latin, French, Spanish, German, Norwegian, and a little Hebrew. With all of them, you come to understand how the grammar works and some of the constructs of the language and then it starts to make sense.

Hebrew is actually not a difficult language. It’s based on a system of roots. Many words will then be derived from the same root. It’s sort of like word families, where they are all somewhat related.

After the first class when I hadn’t managed to embarrass myself too much, I talked to Miriam and said I might come again, but that I didn’t have time to do homework. She quickly said, "That’s OK. Just come to class."

And so I have been going most every week since November. I really look forward to Tuesday night now. We first have the equivalent of an "assembly" with the Hebrew 1 class taught by the Rabbi. It’s always a vigorous fast-paced (if you know Toby, you know what I mean) lecture that gets us ready for our smaller classes.

We have around 12 people in our Hebrew 2 class. They are not always the same faces from one week to the next. Class opens with a little ritual of saying the Hebrew prayer for studying the Torah and then singing (yes I said singing) the Aleph Bet (Hebrew alphabet) – remember the ABC song? Then we read and translate some sections of the current week’s Torah portion (something in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy). We then work on reading and translating some part of the Shabbat morning service. Finally we look at the textbook, which tries to make sense of the grammar.

This revelation that I can actually do NOTHING in between class and just show up guilt-free is a completely new and wonderful feeling. Studying just for the sake of learning with no thought of the grade at the end of the course is liberating.

This all makes me wonder how much more fun I could have had through years of school if I had just trusted that I was smart enough to keep up and not do all that miserable homework! It just proves it’s never too late to learn how to learn!