John Carrier

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.

I took the GRE last Friday.  I think I did OK, but I’m reserving judgment until I get the score report with percentile rankings and my analytical writing score.  I totally nailed the verbal section, and I think I made a fair show of the essay section, but I choked on the math section – got bogged down on some early problems and didn’t have time at the end — which bugs me because I’m really good at math.  In fact, I didn’t practice for the math section because on my first diagnostic test, I got a perfect score.  Whatevs.  I’ll retake it if the rabbis tell me to.

Yesterday I finished the first draft of all the essays for one of the schools I’m applying to.  This was doubtless the hardest part of the application process, and with the first batch out of the way, I should be primed for the rest.  I celebrated this victory with a couple of glasses of my Hefe-Wit (hefeweizen brewed with orange peel, coriander, and ginger), which has turned out smashingly, thank you for asking.

I’ve given recommendation forms to 2 of the 3-4 people I’ll need recommedations from.

 Today I mailed transcript request forms to 2 of the 3 schools I need transcripts from.  I already have a sealed transcript copies from the remaining school and will forward them with my applications.

Left to do: More essays, a couple more more recommendation requests, and the application forms themselves.  I’m shooting to get it all done by Thanksgiving, so that I can be thankful that I’m done with my rabbinical school applications and concentrate on the marathon coming up in (gasp) just over 3 weeks.

This afternoon I’m taking Graduate Record Examination (GRE) for my applicatioon to rabbinical school.  I generally do very well at standardized tests; I took the SATs every year from 7th grade through 11th grade (not 12th…I’d plateaued), and I think familiarity with the test-taking environment is a big help.

Nevertheless, wish me luck!