Photo by Bruce Shaffer

Next Year in Jerusalem, I’ll be embracing rigorous, daily Torah study for five months. I’ve been reaching for this since Summer of ’06, when I attended Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies. In the North, Lebanon2 raged on. In the Holy City, I was safely “surrounded by lilies”.

This refers to the words of Torah. They are as delicate as lilies. Song of Songs  Rabba 7:3

With eleven prior visits to Israel, I’ll be quite comfortable holed up in the small Nachlaot apartment I’ve grown fond of. I know my bus routes, beit knesset, and favorite falafel stands. I have a few Israeli and ex-pat friends, a cache of seasonal clothes, books and a bike. But I’ll miss my family, friends, partners, cat and kehillot – and, what shall I do when the semester’s over?

So, I dream of a lily field growing in Boulder – already a comfy place to be Jewish with doors open as wide as you want and the most rabbis (per capita) this side of the Jewish Theological Seminary; and all the more so if we had a real adult-oriented beit midrash (house of learning) of all-time Jewish texts, from Amichai to Zohar.

It was said that Rabban Yochana ben Zakkai’s studies included the following: Bible, Mishna, Gemara, legal and homiletical material, the intricacies of the Written and Oral Torah, various rules of Torah-logic, astronomy, arithmetic, washer’s proverbs, fox fables, the languages of demons, palm trees, and angels, and great matters [the study of God’s  divine chariot] and small matters [the intricate legal discussions between Rava and Abayye]. Bava Batra 134a

One of those places — where hevruta partners dig deep into Hebrew and Aramaic to mine the mysteries; a blur of heads and hearts and hands catching flying letters that coalesce in words creating worlds. Already, there’s excellent learning with wonderful teachers to be had in Boulder – the many parsha hashavua groups (that’s another article) and other multi-session courses found here and there. But serious talmud-torah freaks seeking longer term, sustained, consistent, daily in-depth study still gotta.get.outta our fair Emerald City now and then.

Among the greatest sages of Israel were woodcutters, waterdrawers, and blind people. Nevertheless, they were involved in Torah study day and night. Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Torah Study 1:9

It may be for our Genwha? sages to roll in lilies under palm trees here in the Rocky Mountain medina, and during Pesach I could spill a drop for each of 10 good reasons why not now. Better, I’m grateful for the fine learning we’re blessed with, and while eating matza – the meditation that charted our future – I’m mindful that the dreams spoken on the eve of the Exodus narrated into being a story we’ve told ever since. So to each of BJN’s 28 Ideas dreamers, tell your future story now. It may take 40 years to arrive, and there’s not a minute to waste.