I'm entering the home stretch of my rabbinical school years. The last year or so I've not posted so much, because frankly, I thought that the fine details of halakhah and ethics courses would be less than spellbinding reading for my friends and family.

I have the last third of my internship ahead of me in the coming term, 125 hours at the Jewish Home for the Aging in Reseda, CA. I love that work very much: I feel like I'm making a real contribution and it includes the bonus of meeting fascinating people and hearing their stories.

My coursework is winding down. I'm meeting tomorrow with the Registrar at HUC to go over my transcript and make sure nothing is lacking, but as it stands now, I'll take a couple of courses this spring, and have only a tiny bit left for the fall. People have been asking me all through this process what could possibly take five or six years, and now I have the transcript to answer that question.

The big project on the horizon is my rabbinical thesis, and I'm completely at sea on that one. I hope to have some news in the near future, but for now it consists of ongoing conversations with several faculty members.

Increasingly, I miss my home up in Oakland. My sons are moving on in their lives: the "baby" who started college when I started HUC now holds a B.A. in Psychology from UC Santa Cruz. His older brother is out in the working world, full of plans and building a life. A couple of years back I reconnected with an old sweetheart, someone who'd been my friend for the 15 years since we went separate ways, and we're planning a wedding in May. Wherever "home" will be after my ordination in May 2008 (b'ezrat Hashem!) right now it is with the people I love, and they are all 400 miles north of Los Angeles, along with many dear friends.

I've just overhauled the template for this site, since Blogger.com offered some new possibilities. Welcome to 2007; I wonder what it will bring?