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flipping through that Alumni Monthly
May. 29th, 2003 08:21 pmSo I was flipping through my alma mater's monthly alum. magazine, when I happened to spot the name of an ex from college (yes, I once dated boys -- never again, but still, they were nice people :-) and we keep in contact via email).
Right in front of his name, it said "Rabbi". I did a double take. "He's a rabbi?" I thought in amazement.
Mind you, a few years ago he'd told me that he was studying to be one. Still, studying to be one is different from actually having the word "Rabbi" in front of one's name.
In spite of my agnostic, non-religious, sometimes anti-religion approach to life, I still was pretty impressed, simply because of all that studying if nothing else.
Then a did a google search and found quite a few hits. There was one showing his picture and a statement on his congregation's web page. The other hits were in listserv archives, most of which seemed to consist of intellectual arguments amongst rabbis from possibly different types of congregations, he being the reconstructionist liberal advocate, and some others being slightly more conservative (although it was way over my head, filled with terminology I didn't understand, so maybe I misinterpreted it).
This certainly reaffirms my respect for some forms of Judaism at least compared to more conservative religions, despite my general dislike of organized religions. Plus, it's neat to see how people change over the years. Some people's alum. magazine notices read like brag-filled, greedy corporate soulless sellouts, so it is always interesting to see ones that aren't like that.
Right in front of his name, it said "Rabbi". I did a double take. "He's a rabbi?" I thought in amazement.
Mind you, a few years ago he'd told me that he was studying to be one. Still, studying to be one is different from actually having the word "Rabbi" in front of one's name.
In spite of my agnostic, non-religious, sometimes anti-religion approach to life, I still was pretty impressed, simply because of all that studying if nothing else.
Then a did a google search and found quite a few hits. There was one showing his picture and a statement on his congregation's web page. The other hits were in listserv archives, most of which seemed to consist of intellectual arguments amongst rabbis from possibly different types of congregations, he being the reconstructionist liberal advocate, and some others being slightly more conservative (although it was way over my head, filled with terminology I didn't understand, so maybe I misinterpreted it).
This certainly reaffirms my respect for some forms of Judaism at least compared to more conservative religions, despite my general dislike of organized religions. Plus, it's neat to see how people change over the years. Some people's alum. magazine notices read like brag-filled, greedy corporate soulless sellouts, so it is always interesting to see ones that aren't like that.
