I got up early to dash to synagogue so I could borrow a volume of Talmud for one of my classes. Then Torah study at the coffee shop (I am blessed to meet with three rabbis and a cantor for coffee and learning each week; we're working our way slowly through Isaiah this year.)

Then home for my liturgy class, which met (over conference call) until noon. We talked mostly about the blessing for light which precedes the shema, in its morning and evening forms, and how that piece of liturgy evolved, and how we would approach different aspects of it if we were creating our own siddurim today.

After a bite of lunch, and a chance to natter with Ethan about the Auslander book we both just finished, I plugged back into Skype for hevruta (paired study.) I spent two and a half hours on the phone with colleagues in two other towns, laboriously working our way through about a page and a half of the Me'or Eynayim for the class on the Chernobyler which meets again tomorrow morning.

And now it's approaching 5pm and I've been actively immersed in Torah since 8 this morning. I feel awesome. My brain is also dribbling out my ears. I think it's time to listen to some Bjork and warm my hands on a mug of ginger tea; the useful part of my day is just about done.

When I imagined rabbinic school, in the days before this adventure began, I'm not sure I realized how many different kinds of days rabschool would include and entail. I like this kind of day -- overfull, but in a good way.

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