Monday, February 27, 2012

Observing Mussar Sickness

I am generally a happy, girl who doesn't usually sweat the small stuff. But today i was sitting in class and instead of learning the sefer, it's pshat and meforshim, we were spoon fed two pesukim, heard a beautiful Rav Hirsch and spent the rest of the class just discussing the matter and how it applies to life. Now, if this was a class we had once in a blue moon i would not be complaining. But this class we have several times a week. I feel like the teacher is trying to give us a spiritual uplifting class, but i feel spiritually downlifting. I listened in, commented my opinion, and doodled in a special notebook (i set aside for doodling. i think the best way to create an art portfolio is during classes you are not busy taking notes.) The next class, our next teacher walks in, smiling but reserved. she has that face of the person who is planning to blow you away in a second with all her inspirational stories. I might like her as a person, but as a student i cannot say i am learning anything. We are learning the parsha. But for some reason we are discussing the importance of what we wear. Perhaps that was tied to the parsha of truma, but i cannot recollect clearly. By now, i was tired of doodling, i leaned back in my seat and stared at the teacher. my back was tight, i was uncomfortable, i felt bored and angry that i was not learning anything. I was starting to feel really angry, that our school does not value academics. I started feeling that my brain is taken as a joke, while my nefesh is there to be inspired. But what got me really infuriated was that when the teacher told her story about this person, and how that led to the next, and before you know, you have created blah..blah...blah... I looked around and was disappointingly surprised to find my classmates staring at the teacher awed and inspired. How could they fall for this? I immediately started feeling so angry, that i got up and walked to the bathroom. I sat down on the floor and tried to reconcile what was bothering me so much. This is not me. Why am i having a fit over a few nice fluffy classes? I did 50 jumping jacks and felt a little better. But only a little. I was angry at the fact that i was not being pushed to learn or question, i was angry at the fact that so many of my questions are answered by ignorance floating in verbiage. After class i expressed my feelings to a friend, she said, "Just space out," Why? Why should i space out? I just learned how to conquer my issue with focusing in class, was i supposed to go back to day dreaming? Though i do feel better now, i don't know how to treat the rest of my fluffy Mondays till the rest of the school year.

1 comment:

  1. I went to my local BY (I wasn't willing to commute) and I knew what to expect. Tznius and marry a learning boy.

    I did have a few amazing teachers who did have mind-blowing classes, but in the end those teachers are rare. How many can there be in one small institution?

    So I kept for the most part quiet, and when I graduated I ran. No seminary for me. I go to shiurim by speakers that I enjoy, and I went to college.

    As long as one has the personal strength of character to know what religion means to them, one is ok. If a teacher gets nervous from a question, it is because she can't answer it, or her own mind is so narrow she can't handle it. Fine, I won't push her.

    So question. But not with this crowd. You won't win, nor will you get answers, because they don't have the knowledge to deal with it. You'll get the answers later.

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