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What the Front Seat of My Car Says About Me.

(1) That I am not a neat-freak.

Let’s move on.

(2) Its contents reveal what I am doing at – and for – Tikvat Israel and when I am out and about around the Beltway.

A. Two editions of the Mishnah for Seder Zeraim: My congregant and friend Richard Lederman and I have been studying Tractate Peah (the laws pertaining to leaving the corners of one’s fields uncut, so that the indigent have a food supply) since the end of July. We meet once per week, after the Thursday morning minyan, at the Rabbi’s Office East – i.e., Caribou Coffee.

B. One copy of the Steinsaltz Talmud, Tractate Berakhot, the first tractate of the Talmud. A friend and I have been studying Talmud twice each week, at his synagogue in Olney.

C. One copy of Tractate Bava Metzia. I am studying Talmud with a friend in White Oak, two mornings each week.

I am studying Torah as it should be studied – with another person – five days per week. It has totally reordered my day. I am slowly evolving from somewhat of a night owl into a morning person. It is not easy, but having something to look forward to at the beginning of the day has made a tremendous difference. One derivative effect is that I am at morning minyan more regularly than I have been for years. Another derivative effect: I think that I am losing weight. The brain is a mighty consumer of calories, and studying Talmud is intellectually taxing.

A third derivative effect: People have noticed that I have more energy, that I am more joyous, and that I am more engaged in the life of the synagogue.

(D) Three other books: Rabbi Jonathan Sacks’ A Letter in the Scroll; a slim book called The Truth About Black Biblical Hebrew-Israelites (Jews): The World’s Best-Kept Secret; and Sefer Moadim, an anthology of writings about the High Holidays, including chapters by some renowned Judaic scholars.

(E) Western Union receipts: I have continued to send money to the young woman whom I met in Uganda in 2002 – she is now in the last part of her second year of college – and to the two young men whom I met in Ethiopia during the same year. I dissuaded the older one from going to college; he only would have joined the ranks of the educated unemployed. Instead, he is pursuing vocational training in the tourism and travel industry.

(F) Several lists of recent B’nai/B’not Mitzvah. I am recruiting them – with some success – for monthly attendance at the evening minyan.

(G) A box of Cascadian Farms Multi-Grain Squares: Since I don’t always have time to go home after morning minyan and since Jewish law frowns on eating before one davens, I need something nourishing to get me through the morning.

(H) Knives, forks, spoons and two bowls that I bought from the dollar store in Rock Creek Village Shopping Center. These are for the office. I recently acquired a mini refrigerator. Bringing lunch and having nutritious food to snack on during the day makes it easier to spend more time in the office and will energize me while I am there.

There is an interesting story about the purchase of the utensils. As I was checking out, the store clerk asked me if I were Jewish. (DUH) He told me that his people were Jewish, too. A great puzzlement, since he looked Thai or Burmese. He told me he was from the Mizo group in India – we have come to know them as the B’nei Menashe. He wants to learn more about Judaism; I think that he came to the right person.

What might one conclude from all of this? The word “grounded” comes to mind. “Grounded” in the sense that I have clipped my own wings; the Roving Rabbi has no plans to do any roving in the foreseeable future – and is happy about it! And “grounded” in the sense of “being grounded” or more focused (as opposed to being “flighty?”). And “grounded” is vastly preferable to “ground down.”

And all this feels oh so good!!!