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Back to School

There are a lot of things I do on a daily basis beyond the usual personal hygiene chores of tooth brushing, showering, etc. One thing I have long wanted to do - but have never given myself the drive or discipline - is do what the words above the entrance to my synagogue say I should do: Aseh torat'cha keva ... set a fixed time for study.

The online study opportunities have always seemed out of my intellectual reach and I have become overwhelmed by the amount of work involved. So it was with some hesitation but lots of determination that I joined a group called "Sefer Ha-Bloggadah."

It's a two-year daily study of Sefer Ha-Aggadah (The Book of Legends) organized by participants at the National Chavurah Committee.

Compiled by the Hebrew poet Hayim Nachman Bialik and the editor Yehoshua Ravnitsky, it is a collection of thousands of stories and folklore from the Talmud and throughout rabbinic literature, from the creation of the world to the world to come. At the end of the 2008 Institute, people across the extended havurah network will begin studying Sefer Ha-Aggadah, reading a little bit each day for two years, and completing it at the 2010 Institute.

Yesterday was the first day - meaning that I have exactly one day of daily study under my belt.

If you want to join me on this journey, you can find information at
http://bloggadah.blogspot.com. You can also find the group on Facebook.

This is good ... more to come.

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