John Carrier

This weekend my wife and I watched season 3 of Weeds on DVD while we sorted through our junk in preparation for our move to Los Angeles.  I love Weeds.  One scene that got stuck in my mind was when Shane is riding in a Mexican drug lord’s limosine to his first day at a new school.  A henchman gives him the sage advice, “Sometimes you eat the bear; sometimes the bear eats you.”

This adage was all I could think about as I completed my Mishnah & Tosefta placement exam for rabbinical school in the wee hours of the morning.  When I went online to email my exam to the dean, I googled the saying to find its source.  Turns out, it’s The Big Lebowski.

I finished the exam not knowing who had eaten whom.  I was at once mentally exhausted, humbled by my own ignorance, and proud of deciphering as much as I did, knowing how far it means I’ve come with my Hebrew (regardless of how far I have to go).  It was actually kind of “fun”…in the sense the rabbinical school deans and others told me my admissions interviews would be “fun”.

Which I guess presents me with an awkward segue for the highlights of what has happened since my last post.

My wife gave birth to our daughter.  My wife is awesome.  Our daughter is perfect.

I have run two marathons — Knoxville, 3/29/09, 6:23ish and Minneapolis, 5/31/09, 5:26:30.  The former I ran with virtually no training — and generally under-slept — about 6 weeks after my daughter was born.  I was dead last among the people who finished the race in under the 7 hour mark.  I zig-zagged the last 50 yards because they’d taken all the bunting off the finish line and I couldn’t find it.  I learned my lesson, trained harder, and finished Minneapolis in my second-best time out of my 4 marathons run to date.

I picked a rabbinical school.  This fall I will begin learning at the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies, on the gorgeous Los Angeles campus of American Jewish University (formerly known as University of Judaism, or the UJ).

We picked an apartment.  We found a great place in the heart of the Pico-Robertson neighborhood of Los Angeles, just south of Beverly Hills and just east of Century City, less than 8 miles from the Pacific Ocean.

Now we’re getting ready to move to Los Angeles.  I can’t believe it.  The couple of months since my last post have been like the culmination of the total dream-come-true that my last couple of years have been.  My life now revolves around my great wife and three great kids, making beer, running marathons, and serving God.  How awesome is that? 

Sure, there have been ups and downs, but in all, I’m glad I took a shot at the bear.  I think I nailed it.

Thanks for being there.

Just over a year ago I decided I wanted to become a rabbi, and I began the process of applying to rabbinical schools.  A couple of months ago I announced that I was accepted by the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at American Jewish University in Los Angeles to begin studying to become a rabbi this autumn.  Today I’m happy to announce that I have been accepted to the Rabbinical School of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York as well.

On one hand I couldn’t be happier about this.  I’ve been accepted by two of the finest schools in the world for Torah study.  Being accepted to one changed my life; being accepted to both is a dream come true.

On the other hand I now have to make one of the most difficult decisions I have ever faced.  I love New York.  I love Los Angeles.  Ziegler is breaking new ground in the training of future leaders of the Jewish community.  JTS, over the las 120 years, has trained the finest rabbis in the Conservative Movement, including most of the rabbis at Ziegler.  I have a lot of friends in New York.  I can run outside year-round in Los Angeles.

I have about a month to decide where I want to go to school — and relocate my family — this fall.  During that time I’ll be consulting a lot of rabbis, doing some serious thinking and serious talking with my wife, friends, and family, and more than a little praying.  I welcome any comments, questions or suggestions any of you have.

But for the moment I’m going to enjoy the fact that through a lot of hard work over the last year and with the help of many, many kind and generous people, I have made a dream come true.

I’ve been sitting on this for more than a week, but I have leaked the news slowly to family and friends — which probably includes all eight subscribers to this blog — and I feel the time has come to put in into the ether. Perhaps then it will seem more real.

I have been accepted to the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at American Jewish University in Los Angeles, California, USA.

I flew into Los Angeles right before my marathon in Vegas, had some great conversations with the rabbis on their faculty — great lights in the Conservative Movement and in Am Yisrael as a whole — and also with a really inspiring rabbinical student. Now I’ve been accepted into their program, and I could not be more grateful for or humbled by the application process or its outcome.

I’m still in the process of applying to the Rabbinical School of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City. It will take a couple of months to know the outcome of that process and make a final decision about where I’ll be studying to become a rabbi.

The punchline (tachlis?) is that, God willing, as of next fall I will be a full-time student again, starting the path toward a life in the service of God and His people. Even though it’s still only a beginning, few moments in my life have made me happier than the phone call notifying me of my acceptance to Ziegler.  Many thanks to the many, many great people who helped make this happen.

Of the great Rabbi Akiba and his wife Rachel, “it is related that once, when a bundle of straw was the only bed they possessed, a poor man came to beg some straw for a bed for his sick wife. Akiba at once divided with him his scanty possession, remarking to his wife, ‘Thou seest, my child, there are those poorer than we!’ This pretended poor man was none other than the prophet Elijah, who had come to test Akiba.” (Ned. 50a, from Wikipedia).

I know times are tough.

I know the US economy is the worst it has been since the Great Depression. In response to my appeals to help Chai Lifeline, at least 3 people have said, “John, I’d love to help, but I’m out of work right now, and I simply can’t.” I can dig that.

When I signed up to run this marathon and meet this fundraising goal for Chai Lifeline, I was out of work, too. It gave me more time to run, but it was hell on my PowerAde and sneaker budget, not to mention my confidence in the future. As a consultant most of my jobs are measured in weeks or months, if not hours. Usually, my projects line up one after the other, with little or no break in between. This time, the break lasted two months. So I get it, believe me. By the grace of God, I’m working again, and I can even afford to take off a couple of days for a little jog in Las Vegas.

The same sages from the Jewish tradition who tell us we are morally obligated to give 10% to 20% of out net income to charity ALSO say that we are FORBIDDEN to give a dime until our own and our family’s basic needs are met, lest by our charitable giving we become a burden on our brothers, too. So if you really can’t give, please, please don’t.

But if you can…

Please Sponsor My Marathon For Chai Lifeline

Checking my progress toward the $3,600 goal — 40 sponsors have given a total of $2,523 — I noticed that the lowest sponsorship amount has been $18. And I’m not knocking my $18 sponsors; far from it. I’m wondering why I don’t have any sponsors at $10, or $5.

My message today is this: If you feel like you want to help, but you can’t justify $18 right now, consider $10. If $10 is a stretch — and I know I’ve had times recently where $10 is a stretch — consider lucky number $7. This is Vegas we’re talking about, after all.

Please Sponsor My Marathon For Chai Lifeline

When times are as bad as they are now, everyone hurts — you, me, and even great organizations like Chai Lifeline whose donor pools dry up and whose endowments shrink with the stock market. As family budgets shrink, it’s more important than ever that we be careful with our giving. Your donation to Chai Lifeline is 100% tax-deductible, with 83 cents on the dollar going straight to programs like Camp Simcha and 17 cents going to organize and promote the race. It’s also more important than ever to help families with seriously ill children — facing their own budget crises AND soaring medical costs — have access to Chai Lifeline’s totally free programs.

Time is short. I have 10 days to raise $1,077, and just $10 from you could make all the difference in the world, not just to me, but to the families of Chai Lifeline as well.

Please Sponsor My Marathon For Chai Lifeline

Thanks again for reading and for your consideration. May God bless you in these difficult times.