The Message, Volume 40, Number 9, December 2004 Page: 2 of 8
This periodical is part of the collection entitled: Hidden Selections of Houston’s African American and Jewish Heritage and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Rice University Woodson Research Center.
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With Rabbi Rosen
The embarrassment of ignorance
campus, it now featured articles on Israel, Jewish program-
ming at Hillel and Hebrew House, and the state of campus and
world Jewry. A trip to Israel, courtesy of the United Jewish
Appeal, completed the transformation of David Rosen from
heartfelt but ignorant Jew to someone who loved learning
about his Jewish history and heritage and is still excited by all
that I continue to discover about my great faith and people.
All of this serves to explain why I am always thrilled when
I meet someone who confesses his own state of ignorance
about Judaism and asks me the words every rabbi loves to
hear: “I know so little. Where can I begin to better understand
who I am as a Jew?”
Where does one begin? It’s actually so very easy, even
more so today than when I set out on my own journey some 35
years ago. There was no Internet then and no online book
stores. Jewish books were poorly stocked in libraries and book
stores. Today all that has changed.
And something else has changed too: The range and
diversity of Jewish educational options in our community and
others has mushroomed. Whether it is Beth Yeshurun’s Akiba
Institute or our community’s T.O.R.C.H. or Jewish Information
Center, the number of classes taught by well-versed and stimu-
lating teachers is at an amazingly high level here in Houston,
and most of it (astonishingly) is freely available just for the
asking.
A wonderful place to start: Come to our community’s an-
nual Yom Limmud on Sunday, Feb. 20, this year at Congrega-
tion Emanu El.
Yom Limmud means “Day of Learning,” and that’s pre-
cisely what it is—a full day of literally dozens of outstanding
classes drawn from every field of Jewish study, taught by
rabbis and the most talented educators from throughout the
entire Houston Jewish community. All of our Beth Yeshurun
rabbis will be there, of course, but it won’t be just rabbis;
Houston is blessed to have so many exceptionally talented
teachers whose mastery of Judaism is simply amazing. And on
Yom Limmud, you can go from one class to another and learn
all day long. This gift from our community’s Bureau of Jewish
Education is the ideal moment and opportunity to begin your
own voyage of Jewish discovery.
Couple Yom Limmud with the wonderful classes in our
congregation’s own Akiba Institute and, before too long, you
will move as I did from feeling so inadequate in my Jewish
knowledge to someone who still has so much left to learn but
who now knows where at least to find the answers. It’s a
lifelong journey that begins with one book, one class, one
commitment.
So do it! And no longer be embarrassed by what you
don’t know and instead feel truly comfortable and at home
inside your Jewish skin. I promise you it’s a journey that will
leave you richly rewarded.
■
THE MESSAGE of Congregation Beth Yeshurun (USPS 968-500) is published semi-monthly Sept. - May, monthly June & August by
Congregation Beth Yeshurun, 4525 Beechnut, Houston, Harris County, TX 77096. Periodical Postage Paid at Houston, Texas.
POSTMASTER send address changes to Congregation Beth Yeshurun, 4525 Beechnut, Houston, TX 77096.
ne of the most embarrassing moments of my life came
I lone day when I was a student at the University of
Texas and spent an evening at an off-campus student
residence called Hebrew House. Here
was a place established for Jewish stu-
dents who wanted to live in a communal
setting where they would attempt to
speak Hebrew with one another and live
more fully by the calendar and teachings
of traditional Judaism. This was an ex-
perimental endeavor which lasted several
years and, though I didn’t live there, I
enjoyed going there whenever I could.
My interest in Hebrew House was
heightened by a role I had assumed in the campus Jewish
community as editor of the Jewish student paper. The stu-
dents who lived in Hebrew House were a wellspring of knowl-
edge about all things Jewish and my many friends there helped
me immensely.
But one evening over dinner I apparently asked a ques-
tion which revealed just how little I knew about my Jewish
heritage. I don’t remember what I asked, but it must have been
an unbelievable comment because the entire table fell quiet
and no one looked at me. Then one student said, “You know,
David, if you’re going to be the editor of the Jewish paper, you
should really learn more about Judaism.”
Ouch!
I was appropriately chastened. At first I was both angry
and hurt. My second impulse, which thankfully I resisted, was
to storm out of Hebrew House and never return. But if I did
anything right that night, it was to follow my third impulse: To
get even by learning more about Judaism than anyone else in
that room!
The very next day I went to the UT Hillel library and
began pulling books off the shelves. I didn’t know a good one
from a bad one, so I just started reading them all. One book led
to another and the next thing I knew, I found myself moving
up the rung of learning from “completely ignorant” to “mar-
ginally learned.” What was both fascinating and frustrating, I
discovered that the more I learned, the more I realized I didn’t
know! Soon I moved from books on basic Judaism to more
specialized books on Israel, anti-Semitism and the Holocaust,
the Jewish holy days and calendar, liturgy and Jewish law.
My interest in Judaism dramatically took off when I dis-
covered that the University of Texas had a very good Hebrew
Studies Program. So I started taking whatever classes were
taught. I soon discovered that, even after years of attending
Hebrew School as a child, my Hebrew was actually inadequate.
A University course in Hebrew helped me immensely.
And you guessed it: The Jewish paper I edited slowly
started to change. No longer focused on Jewish social life on
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Congregation Beth Yeshurun (Houston, Tex.). The Message, Volume 40, Number 9, December 2004, periodical, December 19, 2004; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1318607/m1/2/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.