User:Spem

Who is Spem
I am currently a law student, and have an undergraduate degree in Jewish Studies and Political Science.

I am a native of New Jersey, have lived and worked in New York City, and currently reside in semi-rural New England.

Interests
My interests are varied, and as I become more comfortable with the Wikipedia format and etiquette, I hope to work on more articles in these areas.

Judaism
I have an interest in almost anything related to Judaism. This includes scripture, Rabbinics, law, the modern state of Israel, Zionism, education, tradition, history, culture, music, etc. I have studied Judaism extensively from both religious and academic perspectives. I spent two years working in the education department of one of the original Zionist organization, have spent time in Israel, majored in Jewish Studies as an undergrad, and studied Tanach and Talmud independently, in the classroom, and in informal groups.

History
I have an intense interest in history, particularly American, English, Jewish, Ancient Roman, and Greek. I have both formal and informal education in this area, but nothing major.

Religion
In addition to my particular interest in Judaism, I am interested in Religion in general, and am well studied in this subject in addition to many specific organized religions and religious philosophies. Among the areas I find most interesting is Christian mythology (creationism, end of days, etc.).

Law
I am very interested in law, particularly its theory, history, and process. I expect to contribute more in this area as I continue with law school. I am also interested in the developing body of international law.

Government
Democratic/republican forms of government are of particular interest to me, and I have studied American government extensively. I have also studied parliamentary forms (Israel and Great Britain in particular), and am also familiar with non-democratic forms of government in theory.

Music
I play several instruments and am interested in music theory.

Computers
I began my college career as a Computer Science major. Since I left that field, I have enjoyed working with computers much more as a hobby than as a career. I am a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, have extensive experience with photo editing tools, have done some Windows programming, etc.

Fiction/Classics
I thoroughly enjoy fiction, and fancy myself an expert on many of the classics. These include the Arthurian Legends, Jules Verne, Dante, Harry Potter, Dan Brown, Greek Tragedies, Shakespeare, etc.

Writing
I tend to be a purist in that I use language in the way it was intended, not necessarily the vernacular. (For example I insist that the word data is plural, and that Judaism refers to being descended from Judah [or at least from the Kingdom of Judah to include Levites and Cohanim], and therefore anyone from before the time of the Babylonian Exile should be considered a Child of Israel or Hebrew and not Jewish.) I have always been taught to write in a formal manner, and therefore may come across as anal retentive, for which I apologize in advance (not necessarily in advance if you have read this page until this point, though it is far from my best work).