Interested in immersing yourself in Jewish text study with adults of all ages and backgrounds from around the country?
Looking to integrate with the dynamic, cutting-edge community at Yeshivat Hadar?
Save the Date for:
Yeshivat Hadar's Executive Seminar
Sunday July 8, 2012 (evening) -- Thursday, July 12, 2012 (evening)
We welcome both new and returning participants!
Click here for more information about:
REGISTER TODAY
Register: Complete the application here.
Don't miss this unique opportunity to study, interact and become energized!
Questions? Looking for more information? Email Mindy Schachtman, Director of Institutional Advancement atschachtman@mechonhadar.org.
WHAT OUR EXECUTIVE SEMINAR PARTICIPANTS SAY
"Thank you so much for providing this extraordinary opportunity for full immersion in Torah Lishma, in an egalitarian setting that was accepting and welcoming.
"This was, quite simply, one of the richest, most satisfying, most joyous weeks of my life. The study was superb. All teachers were excellent and beyond. Learning with the younger folk was a source of tremendous hope and optimism for the future of the Jewish people. The concept of the yeshiva, and the dedication and commitment of its leadership, surpass descriptive adjectives--just absolutely superlative.
"I can't think of any time when I have been this stimulated in many years." – 2010 Executive Seminar Participant
PROGRAM
Join us for an intense week-long study program at Mechon Hadar, the only egalitarian immersion learning program in North America. You will study with a small group of men and women from around the country, and participate in sessions along with the dozens of young adults studying for the summer at Yeshivat Hadar.
This program will give you a unique opportunity to:
o Get a taste of the intense Jewish learning at Yeshivat Hadar and be part of its energetic community
o Interact with other serious students for Torah Lishmah ("Learning for its own sake")
o Engage in discussions about key issues in Jewish thought and Halakhah (Jewish Law)
o Study with exciting and engaging teachers in classes appropriate to various levels of knowledge and background
o Learn from outstanding guest speakers
A Typical Day at Yeshivat Hadar Includes:
Morning
7:30 am - Davening with Yeshiva community (optional for Seminar participants)
8:00 am - Breakfast
9:00 am - 12:30 am -- Text Classes offered for participants with varied levels of Jewish text experience, with special Talmud class for beginners, and an opportunity to integrate with Yeshivat Hadar's Talmud class for participants with Jewish text backgrounds.
Afternoon (all classes are with the Yeshivat Hadar fellows)
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm -- Lunch with the Yeshivat Hadar community
1:30 pm - 3:00 pm -- Halakhah Seminar with Rabbi Ethan Tucker
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm -- Break and Minhah (optional for Seminar participants)
4:00 pm - 6:30 pm -- Jewish Thought Seminar with Rabbi Shai Held (and Yeshivat Hadar students)
Evenings:
Dinner
Special Speakers
Nights out in NYC
Detailed course descriptions and faculty biographies can be found below.
COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
Talmud (All Talmud classes will be studying the same material on different levels)
Talmud: Introduction (Level I)
Rabbi Alvan Kaunfer
You will have an opportunity to jump right into the "sea of Talmud." We will be studying the same material as other classes but on a more introductory level. Students will have a pointed Talmud Text with facing English translation, study guides, and notes. We will begin each class with an orientation to section (sugya) for the day, and then will join the dynamic Beit Midrash atmosphere where students will work in pairs or small groups (havrutot) to prepare the section for the day. We will reconvene at the end of the morning to review and analyze the sugya. This will be an intense but "user friendly" venture into real Talmudic learning.
Talmud: Structure of the Sugya (Levels II and III)
Avital Hochstein and Rabbi Elie Kaunfer
Each unit will begin with a close reading of the Mishnah, as we carefully analyze its structure and meaning. We will then turn to decoding the logical steps of Talmudic sugyot (literary units), empowering the student to follow the flow of Talmudic argument and discussion. The focus of the class will be on the skills involved in reading a page of Talmud so that the student will be able to walk into a beit midrash and feel sufficient ownership to study independently.
Talmud with Rishonim (Level IV)
Rabbi Ethan Tucker
We will learn the Mishnah and its Talmudic sugyot in depth, with special focus on the rishonim (medieval commentators) and their insights into the difficulties and complexities present in the text. Our ultimate goal will be a synthetic analysis of the sugyot such that we can appreciate their historical development and the meaning that emerges from their final form. We will invest significant time in sharpening skills for reading and understanding rishonim, with a strong emphasis on Tosafot.
Level I - For students with little or no Hebrew text backgrounds.
Level II - For students with some Hebrew text background, but no Talmud experience.
Level III - For students with some Talmud experience in the original.
Level IV - For students with significant experience with Talmud in the original.
Halakhah
Halakhah Seminar
Rabbi Ethan Tucker
With Yeshivat Hadar fellows
Each meeting will focus on a different topic in Jewish law and practice, as we take an in-depth tour of the various sources and personalities that have weighed in on our question throughout Jewish history. Beginning with Tanakh, continuing with classical rabbinic literature and following through with the periods of the rishonim and aharonim, we will span the various genres of halakhic literature in a quest for a bird's eye view of the topic under discussion. Detailed source sheets and bibliographies will empower students to explore these various topics further after the summer. Topics may include: Keeping Kosher in a non-Kosher world; the halakhic bases for egalitarian tefillah; limits on and guidelines for liturgical flexibility; relations between Jews and non-Jews; negotiating potential conflicts between Jews of differing levels of observance; various issues relating to the observance of Shabbat; proper standards for conversion into Judaism.
Jewish Thought
Exploring the World of Modern Jewish Thought
Rabbi Shai Held
With Yeshivat Hadar fellows
Session 1: On Serving God: Does Halakhah Help or Hinder?
We'll imagine a conversation between two diametrically opposed approaches to Halakhah--Martin Buber's and Yeshayahu Leibowitz's, and we'll ask: what does the middle ground look like? And what is Halakhah for, anyways?
Session 2: Less Ego, More God: What Was Heschel's Message?
In this session, we'll explore what lie at the heart of R. Abraham Joshua Heschel's writings--an insistence that the spiritual life is rooted in self-transcendence, in the ability to care for others as well as ourselves. We'll see how this idea plays out in Heschel's understanding of God, prophecy, prayer, and religious observance.
Niggunim and Building Singing Communities
with Joey Weisenberg
Musician, ba'al tfilah, and danceband captain Joey Weisenberg will teach new melodies and lay out practical strategies for bringing communities together in song. While studying Jewish rhythyms and harmonies and creating spontaneous variations of a nign, we'll discuss the process of developing a core of singers, crossing the musical "tipping point," dealing with the musical politics of a shul or group, and leaving room for silence.
The Siddur: A Deeper Analysis
Rabbi Elie Kaunfer
Together we will look closely at a number of prayers in the daily and Shabbat srvice with an eye to the following goals:
1) Investigating primary sources (Biblical and rabbinic) that serve as background and inspiration for various prayers
2) Building an interpretive methodology that you can apply to your own tefilah exploration following eshiva
3) Investing prayers with more personal meaning
Faculty Biographies
Avital Campbell Hochstein is rosh yeshiva at Mechon Hadar and teaches Talmud at Yeshivat Hadar. She is the former rosh kollel at the Pardes Institute. A research fellow at Mechon Shalom Hartman, she has taught Talmud for several years at both institutions and was rosh beit midrash at the new Hartman High School for Girls. She is the co-author of The Place of Women in Midrash (Yedioth Ahronoth 2008). Avital is also a founder of Kehilat Shirah Hadashah in Jerusalem.
Rabbi Shai Held is co-founder and rosh yeshiva at Mechon Hadar and chair in Jewish Thought. He served as scholar-in-residence at Kehilat Hadar, taught at the Jewish Theological Seminary, and is a Jacob Javits fellow in religion at Harvard University. A Wexner Graduate Fellow, Shai was director of education and conservative rabbinic advisor at Harvard Hillel. A graduate of Harvard, he has taught for institutions such as the Drisha Institute, Hebrew College, Meah, UJACJP, and the Rabbinic Training Institute. Shai has also recently completed a doctorate in the department of religion at Harvard University; his main academic interests are in modern Jewish and Christian thought and in the history of Zionism.
Rabbi Alvan H. Kaunfer is Rabbi Emeritus at Temple Emanu-El, Providence, where he served for twenty five years, and where he oversaw educational programming. Rabbi Kaunfer was also the founding Director of the Alperin Schechter Day School in Providence. He is a graduate of Brandeis University, Teachers' College of Columbia University, and he was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary, from which institution he also holds a Doctoral degree in Education. Rabbi Kaunfer has taught courses in Jewish Education at the Davidson School of the Jewish Theological Seminary, and at Hebrew College in Boston. He has published articles on education and on midrash in several professional journals and books. Rabbi Kaunfer is married to Marcia Lapidus Kaunfer and he has two sons, Elie and Oren and three grandchildren.
Rabbi Elie Kaunfer is co-founder, rosh yeshiva and executive director of Mechon Hadar and on the Talmud faculty at Yeshivat Hadar. A graduate of Harvard College, he was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary, where he also completed an MA and is pursuing a doctorate in liturgy. A Wexner Graduate Fellow, Elie is a co-founder of Kehilat Hadar and in 2009 Newsweek named him one of the top 50 rabbis in America. He was selected as an inaugural AVI CHAI Fellow, and is the author of Empowered Judaism: What Independent Minyanim Can Teach Us About Building Vibrant Jewish Communities (Jewish Lights, 2010).
Rabbi Ethan Tucker is co-founder and rosh yeshiva at Mechon Hadar and chair in Jewish Law. Ethan was a faculty member at the Drisha Institute for Jewish Education, where he taught Talmud and Halakhah in the Scholars Circle. Ethan was ordained by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and earned a PhD in Talmud and Rabbinics from the Jewish Theological Seminary and a B.A. from Harvard College. A Wexner Graduate Fellow, he was a co-founder of Kehilat Hadar and a winner of the first Grinspoon Foundation Social Entrepreneur Fellowship.
Joey Weisenberg is is a faculty member at Yeshivat Hadar in charge of all music education. He is a mandolinist, guitarist, singer, and percussionist based in New York City, who has performed and recorded in a wide variety of musical styles. Joey works as the Music Director at Brooklyn's oldest synagogue, the Kane Street Synagogue. He is an artist-fellow at the 14th Street Y's Laba program, and teaches Klezmer music as a faculty member at KlezKanada. He was recently named to "36 under 36" in The Jewish Week as one of 36 new and exciting innovators in Jewish life today. Joey visits shuls and communities around the world as a musician-in-residence, in which he teaches his popular 'Spontaneous Jewish Choir" workshops. He is the author of Building Singing Communities, published by Mechon Hadar. For more information, please visit www.joeyweisenberg.com.
