Thought of the Week: Frankie Stubbs

Written by Writings & Sermons by others — 18 February 2016

In September I started my new role here at Alyth responsible for the Ruach Bar/Bat mitzvah programme as part of the Youth and Education Hub. I love being able to come here every week and learn with the young people of the community, to work with the creative team and to be present in the Friday night service each week. I also started at Leo Baeck College, two exciting new adventures.

One of the classes myself and the other first years are taking is Cantillation, learning to leyn Torah. This class, as with all of my classes, is challenging and eye opening.

In our class this week we were practising Exodus Chapter 24, The Ten Commandments. This section of Torah contains many lists and longer verses which impacts on the te’amim, the leyning notes within the text. When verses are longer the te’amim become more varied and to beginners like myself, that bit more complicated. Initially the verses were overwhelming and almost like chaos in my brain trying to organise the notes, letters and figuring out what syllable is emphasised in each word. This is not far off from how my brain has felt most of the time since I started this new adventure in September.

My first term at college was quite a steep learning curve, it has been a few years since I have been in education, and getting back in to the routine of classes all day and studying in the evening, combined with part time jobs was a new challenge for me to juggle.

I love being back in education, I love to learn and I love to question things, I feel very lucky to be able to be doing something I enjoy so much. Yet, like with the te’amim, there is a lot to absorb and remember. During the week, I am lucky to learn from knowledgeable teachers and Rabbis, and at Alyth I have the opportunity to learn from, and with, the children at Ruach. I look forward to the time I spend at Alyth each week. Ending the week with friends, colleagues and the children at Ruach has been a spiritual, personal and fun part of my week. Now that I am in my second term, and have got more of a routine, I am able to appreciate the time even more.

I hope we all manage to make time in our lives to be creative and think clearly. I hope we all manage to continue to learn, from teachers and from children.