Because my column is monthly, my subjects are chosen so as not to be out-of-date by the time they get to my readers. This month is a great exception. First place, I’m late writing it; second place, planning I’m not responsible for what was done last winter.
I’ve written about my Wednesday afternoon study group before, but a small repetition is warranted. This is a group of scholars, mostly retired professors whose disciplines are varied. It consists of men and women; Christians, Jews and Sikhs by faith, and a couple of non-believers to make it interesting. Belonging means that each of us is assigned a topic once a year to lead a discussion on. The first time one presents, he fears to run out of material and that there will be no discussion. Unnecessary fears – we have rarely completed the material and discussion goes on all the time.
Last Wednesday and the next, the topic was the United States Constitution. The presentation was assigned to our resident Sikh, a brilliant ophthalmologist, whose citizenship had been acquired. Unfortunately, our friend died several weeks ago, and a new member who happens to also be brilliant agreed to take his place. I’m sure the new member – a native college teacher – presented the subject differently from that of a non-native citizen, but we will never know.
What we do know is that we got as far as completing the Preamble – next we will do the Bill of Rights. We will meet again on the Fourth of July, and I will take wagers on the knowledge that members now have exceeds greatly that which we had before.
I know that I never leave those Wednesday sessions without having my thoughts challenged and my wisdom enriched. I’ve been a member almost from the first – that means a lot of years. I was lucky to be invited as we began – I think I may have been a charter member and I’ve seen a great many people become members and leave mostly because they died or moved away. I’m the oldest member, as a result of the deaths of my seniors, but fortunately our membership has been enriched by a number of recent retirees who are welcomed with open arms.
Our program committee is presently meeting to choose the subjects we will be studying next year. Those will contain poetry, politics, science, religions, history and the classics. Their next chore will be to assign the topics to members (maybe gently twisting arms in the process). One member had two very complicated topics, which she presented brilliantly, but requested that her next assignment be nursery rhymes.
Come and join us at Temple Adath Israel on Wednesdays at 2 p.m. for tea and cookies and at 2:30 for mental stimulation. If you hate it, you can leave – but very few do. As timely as our study of the Constitution this year is, perhaps trying us out may be timely in your life.
Harriett Rose is a native Lexingtonian, a retired psychologist, and an avid bridge and Scrabble player. She can be reached by e-mail at harriett77@yahoo.com.