On Thanking G-d

I love seminary. I love Israel.

I automatically feel obligated to qualify the above statements with an emphatic “thank G-d.” I guess seminary is getting to me. Just kidding. Well, kind of.

The truth is (yes, take that to mean that I’m usually not telling the truth, or am I?) that seminary is kind of getting to me. In a good way, I think. For example, since fourth grade, I’ve been settled on becoming a lawyer when I grow up. (When exactly am I officially considered a grown-up, by the way? When I graduate college? Grad school? When I start paying for my own cell phone bill? When I get married? When my formerly black Bis from 5th grade stops fitting? (It is elasticated, after all.)) In any case, my experience this year of learning Torah full time—or as full time as one can learn Torah when one has other pressing obligations such as lengthy moviemaking sessions, trips to Fro-Yo (truth is that I’ve only gone twice, or have I?), frequent walks to burn off the Fro-Yo, and all-night crochet parties—has compelled me to consider a career in learning and teaching Tanach full time. (I’m thinking at the undergraduate level.) This is not to say that there’s anything wrong with being a lawyer. I may very possibly become one when I grow up, whenever that may be.

If you’re concerned that I’m flipping out (as in “Flipping Out” by Blue Fringe), don’t be. Or if you’re excited that I am flipping out, you may have to be patient and wait a couple more months for seminary to have its full effect. The reason that I recommend exercising some caution is that although I’ve been pretty set on law for the past decade or so, I have experienced a series of similar career-choice uncertainties.

For example, after taking a class in international relations, I considered a career with the CIA or the State Department. I still find a job in international diplomacy kind of tempting, although I would probably have to majorly improve my foreign language skills (ha’Ivrit shellee lo kol kach tova, v’ani lo midaberet shoom lashon acheret milvad anglit). Then, when I took a journalism class, I was almost convinced my calling lay at The New Yorker. However, when my first attempt at being a creative journalist led to a thinly veiled death threat, I basically gave up on that idea. (More about that another time, perhaps.)

All of this uncertainty is pretty liberating. I’m enjoying the freedom of choice that comes along with multiple career options, a freedom I haven’t felt since prepubescence. This choice is contingent, though, on doing well on my LSATs, G-d willing.

Take the poll:
Should DDP follow a career in…
A. Diplomacy
B. Journalism
C. Law
D. Tanach
E. Other