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Our confirmands took a trip to Twin Lake Farms to learn about God in Jewish Theology. Why, might you ask, would a barn be beneficial in finding God?
One of Judaism's most famous philosophers, Martin Buber, once suggested that we find God in our "I-Thou" relationships with one another. Rather than transactional, "I-It" encounters with people in which we need to borrow things, Buber argues that God can be found in genuinely authentic encounters with people on a daily basis.
This fantastic piece of theology popped into Buber's head one night as he pet his horse:
When I stroked the mighty mane, sometimes marvelously smooth-combed, at other times just as astonishingly wild, and felt life beneath my hand, it was as though the element of vitality itself bordered on my skin, something that was not I, was not akin to me, palpably the other, not just another, really the Other itself: and yet it let me approach, confided itself to me, placed itself elementally in the relation of Thou and Thou with me." -Buber, Meetings
Our 10th graders got to experience I-Thou for themselves on a chilly night in November, learning how to do the horse-handshake, and create meaningful I-Thou relationship with their equine partners. Now what other Jewish institution can you name that's doing similar innovative work as WRT!?
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