Today I wore a few different shoes. In the morning, I finished a huge task:
Progress Reports. I had to learn to use
the automatic paper-folding machine (that makes things trifold to go into an
envelope) and then stuff all the envelopes with the proper address labels. Then, I battled the mail machine to stamp and
seal all the progress reports to send out to the Religious School families. It
was quite a task but it is all done and mailed!
At noon, I left the temple to shadow my rabbi during a
funeral and home visitation for a congregant who passed away late last
week. Rabbi wanted to give me the
opportunity to shadow him and learn from him while I am in the office daily. Being fairly ahead of schedule on the task
list, I felt ready to do something more active than just being in the
office. Anyway, I had been to this
particular funeral home before, but not as a “professional”. Instead of being there for a sad reason, I
was there to learn and be behind the scenes.
Many people thought I was a family member or something, but I just explained
that I was shadowing the rabbi. He
introduced me to the staff there and walked me through a lot of the
process. When we went to the cemetery, I
discovered that the family had chosen to use a mausoleum instead of
burial. Though not a completely foreign
concept to me, it was definitely a weird feeling to walk into a hallway of many
graves basically surrounding me. After the
brief service there, we then went to the family’s home. The Jewish practice of Shiva is a week (or
so) of visitation following the funeral.
The rabbi led a short prayer service there before we headed back to the
temple. It was quite a deep, meaningful
day.
I really appreciated the hands-on experience, just being
able to go out and really learn something by watching it really happen. I definitely love interacting with people,
being there for them at a time of need, and being a spiritual presence, all of
which I saw my rabbi doing today.
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