“What a zechut, an honor, to join the Hebrew College faculty, and to work alongside my rabbinical and cantorial teachers! I am immensely grateful for the mentorship I received as a student at Hebrew College and to have the opportunity to pay it forward is a dream come true,” said Meyer. “I'm excited to collaborate musically, ritually, artistically, with the powerhouse organizations on this shared campus. I can’t wait to see what happens when we get into the Musicant Cohen Center, or into the courtyard, and begin to play together?” — Rabbi Jessica Kate Meyer `10

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As a rabbi and someone who genuinely loves learning Jewish texts, I am fortunate to learn a lot of Torah. Over the last 15 years, my learning has taken me from the midrash of Israeli feminists to the hasidic writings of Kedushat Levi, from the stories of our ancient rabbis in the pages of Gemara to modern poetry on God and revelation. And, yet I wonder: To what extent has my learning made an impact on my actions? To be more precise, I am afraid that all of my learning has simply been an enjoyable and perhaps selfish intellectual exercise that has failed to transform me into a person of Torah. Do I learn Torah simply because I enjoy it? Or, do I learn Torah to allow it to transform me into a vessel of holiness in this world?

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In his essay "Matan Torah," Rav Yehuda Ashlag, a 20th-century Kabbalist and socialist, asks—as many did before him—why the Torah was not given until the Jewish people stood at Sinai? Could it possibly be that our forefathers Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov were not deserving of it?

Rav Ashlag explains that the essence of the Torah is to love one’s neighbor as oneself—ve’ahavta le’reyecha kamocha. In fact, he says, we are actually commanded to love our neighbors more than ourselves, and we should put their needs before our own!

But is this really feasible? If I sacrifice everything to care for my fellow, who will care for me?

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For nearly 30 years, Lev Friedman owned and managed Kolbo Fine Judaica in Brookline, MA. Since retirement in 2011, Friedman became Rabbi Friedman after receiving his semicha from Hebrew College in 2018 and has been furthering his Hebrew language skills through Ulpan since the beginning of the pandemic. “And before you ask, yes, even rabbis can continue their Hebrew language learning through Hebrew College Ulpan!” said Iris Schor, director of Hebrew College Ulpan. “Some students also take Ulpan before applying to a rabbinical school,” she added.

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