Today was a sudden summer preview in L.A.: 90 degrees! So strange (and nice) to walk out into the sunshine and balmy air. It was Shushan Purim; I am glad that things seem to have been relatively quiet in Jerusalem. There's a photo of men dancing in a yeshiva on the cover of Ha'aretz, but that's it. Good.

It's a new term at HUC, a new "quadmester" and I am excited about the new classes. I'm sorry Synagogue Music is over, but instead we'll be taking Commentaries, a class for which I feel an almost desperate need. The resources are vast and I can only make some sense of them; I am hoping that Dr. Firestone will demystify them a bit. And in history, we're moving ahead to the Middle Ages in Europe -- it's a pretty depressing looking syllabus (Crusades, persecutions, etc., etc.) but that's the Middle Ages for you.

This year will be gone in a flash.

I'm looking forward to attending the Reform Community Shabbat in Oakland later this month. A group from my congregation, Etz Chaim in Merced, will be there, so it will be a nice fusion of past and present, as well as an opportunity to touch base with old friends at the Union for Reform Judaism, where I used to work.

OK, that's all for now. Back to Bible.