Are you interested in learning Torah with the wider Hadar community? Curious about the Rabbinic view on Jewish holidays? Ready to be engaged by Mishnah - the classic Jewish code?
Think about joining the Hadar Seder Moed Project. As a community, we are learning Seder Moed, the section of Mishnah and Talmud dealing with the range of Jewish holidays. Learn selected mishnahs, the entire seder, sections of Talmud, or anything in between.
There are three great options to connect:
* Listen to the Podcast: Every Wednesday, beginning January 13, Hadar will provide a podcast on selected mishnayot from the schedule of five mishnayot per week. Click here to subscribe to the podcast in itunes. If you don't have itunes, subscribe to the podcast with the application of your choice using the following URL and account: http://feeds.feedburner.com/MechonHadarOnlineLearning * Come to a class: Every Monday, beginning, Hadar will offer a class connected to the current massekhet. See below for a schedule of upcoming classes * Learn in hevruta: Join Yeshivat Hadar students in the beit midrash or learn on your own; come with your own hevruta or let us match you with one. Learn five mishnayot per week, ten per week, or learn the entire seder. Click here for resources on Seder Moed.
Sign up here to receive updates on events about the siyyum project.
We will celebrate our learning at various points throughout the year, culminating in a community-wide siyyum at the Shavuot retreat. This is a joint project of Kehilat Hadar and Mechon Hadar.
January 11 Inside, Outside, Jews, non-Jews, and In Between: Thinking About Community Through the Lens of the Eruv Rabbi Micha'el Rosenberg Although the explicit purpose of an eruv is to permit the transfer of goods into and out of buildings on Shabbat, it also has the function of defining the boundaries of a "Jewish neighborhood." Rabbinic literature appears to be aware of this fact already, given its concern with the effects of non-Jews and non-Rabbinic Jews on the ability of a community to establish an eruv. Building on the insights of Prof. Charlotte Fonrobert, we will analyze passages from the sixth chapter of Eruvin dealing with these boundary questions in order to understand better what Rabbinic texts have to say about the dangers and benefits of living in religiously mixed communities.
January 25 When is a Wall Really a Wall? Jaclyn Rubin In both Eiruvin and Sukkah, the Rabbis learn that a wall, to be classified as a wall, must be at least 10 tefahim high (about 3 feet). As we examine this requirement, we will think about the connection between humans and God and the gap between heaven and earth. Along the way, we will talk about empty space, sukkot, the Temple, and cherubim. Find out what they all have to do with each other, and when a wall is really a wall.
February 1 What Makes for a Good Day? Jason Rubenstein What and why is Yom Tov? Towards which experiences of holidays and holiness are we directed by the Mishnah? Using the Talmudic material as a starting point, we will look at the directions in which that material leads us in framing and living the twelve days of Hag each year.
February 8 Fooling God: Legal Fictions in Jewish Law Shmuel Kadosh
Jewish law is replete with haramot, mechanisms to avoid the consequences of another law. Selling hametz on Pesah and the heter iska (which circumvents the prohibition of charging another Jew interest) are just two mechanims that Jews utilize every year. At first glance, the use of such mechanisms seems bizarre. Why does Jewish law allow you to cheat and avoid the consequences of a specific commandment? In the class, we will discuss the range of legal fictions utilized in Jewish law, and examine their limits. We will also address the underlying theological difficulty presented by haramot – What does it mean to ‘fool God’ through the use of legal mechanisms?
February 22
Lo Titgodedu: Denominationalism in the Mishnah
Rabbi Jeff Fox
How can we observe a Holiday on different days? The one feature of Jewish Life that unites Jews the world over is the calendar. None the less, the Mishna in Megilla provides alternative days for observing the Holiday of Purim. We will use this as a model for understanding certain debates in the Jewish community today.
March 1
The Second Passover: A Second Chance to Perform a Mitzvah or Concilliation Prize for People who are Lazy?
Rabbi Jeff Fox
Come learn about the Second Passover (Pesah Sheni), a chance to celebrate Passover one month later. What is this second chance about? How do we observe Pesah Sheni? Do you have to rid your house of hametz one month later? What insights does Pesah Sheni give us into the meaning of Passover?
March 8 Can Liberty and Poverty Coexist?: A Look at Mishnah Pesahim Avital Hochstein
We will look at the first mishnah in the tenth chapter of Pesahim. This mishnah describes a few preparations and initial rules regarding the Seder. We will ask about their fundamental aspects in general, and the roles of poverty on the one hand and freedom on the other, following how the relationship between the two plays out.
March 15 Is This Night Different From All Others? Competing Passover Narratives Avram Sand
The Rabbinic sources are unanimous in their requirement that the Seder include extensive discussion. But is the Seder about Passover's unique laws and practices or is it a night for focusing on the Exodus from Egypt? In this session, we will uncover these two competing narratives, discuss the different values they reflect, and explore how they endure in our own contemporary Seders.
March 22
The Rabbinic Hagaddah: From the Mishnah to Had Gadya - How Did we Get There?
Rabbi Jeff Fox
The seder is one of the most widely observed Jewish customs and also one of the most complex home rituals. The first hagaddah seems to be the tenth chapter of the mishna of Pesachim. How did we go from a a brief description of the seder to the rich and robust observance that we all know and love?
