Rupture with the Divine: Rabbinic Responses to Destruction
Tammy Jacobowitz
In the midst of the mishkan's consecration, tragedy striks. The details are few and ambiguous; what sin did Nadav and Avihu commit, and how is God's wrath to be understood? In this class, we will explore a series of midrashim that struggle to make sense of this early tragedy in the history of the Jewish people. We will also consider how the rabbis' range of responses can help us make sense of ruptures in our relationship with God.
Tammy Jacobowitz is completing a dissertation in Midrash at the University of Pennsylvania, where she studied as a Wexner fellow. She is a graduate of Drisha's Scholars Circle and has taught widely in the New York area.
7/20/10
Why Theology Matters: Lessons from Heschel, Fishbane, and the Wicked Son
The Tent, The Field, and the Battlefield - The Dynamic Face of the Biblical Motherhood
Dr. Judy Klitsner
What do the infertile, tent-dwelling mothers of Genesis have in common with the military and spiritual leaders of the book of Judges? We will examine the stories of a range of biblical women, noting common themes as well as the striking literary inversions of matriarchal and patriarchal language and roles.
Israeli Bible scholar Judy Klitsner is a senior faculty member at the Pardes Institute for Jewish Studies in Jerusalem, and a popular international speaker. Judy is a disciple of the great Torah teacher Nechama Leibowitz, weaving together traditional exegesis, modern scholarship, and her own original interpretations informed by close readings of the text. Klitsner lectures widely in Israel, the US, and Europe, and is the author of the new book, "Subversive Sequels in the Bible," published by Jewish Publication Society this fall. Read more at http://www.JudyKlitsner.com
The Cosmic Power of Shabbat - Competing Images in Zemirot
Rabbi Josh Cahan is Beit Midrash Director at JTS and a Ph.D. candidate in Talmud. He is also the director of the Northwoods Summer Kollel at Ramah Wisconsin.
Devorah Zlochower is a 1996 graduate of the Drisha Scholars Circle, and she has an MA in Political Science from Columbia University. She was the first woman scholar-in-residence to accompany a delegation of rabbinical students on the AJWS mission to El Salvador. She serves on the board of JOFA (the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance), and speaks in communities across the United States and overseas on topics such as the social and historical factors that influence the development of Halakha.
"An Eye for an Eye"- A Rabbinic Recasting of a Biblical Law
Rabbi David Hoffman is a lecturer in the Department of Talmud and Rabbinics at JTS and serves as scholar-in-residence in the Department of Institutional Advancement. Presently, David is completing his PhD in Talmud, writing on notions of honor and anger in Rabbinic literature. David's research also explores the development of early Rabbinic Judaism in the first centuries after the year zero.
The Talmud's Struggle to Define Holiness - A Rabbi or a Soldier?
Rabbi Aaron Alexander is currently the Assistant Dean of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at American Jewish University where he was ordained and achieved his Masters in Rabbinic Studies. Rabbi Alexander received his BA in Religion from the University of Florida, spent two years studying at the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem, while also spending a year doing graduate work in Talmud and Rabbinics at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. When he is not with students at the Ziegler School, you can find Rabbi Alexander teaching Talmud throughout Los Angeles to students of all ages. Rabbi Alexander has also been a staff member at Camp Ramah Darom since its inception in 1997. Currently he is working on a Doctorate in Jewish Studies from the Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies.
"And Moses Did Exactly as the Lord Commanded Him?"
Rabbi Steven Exler The Bible, as a document which exposes Moses' conversations with God and with Israel, often leaves glaring incongruities -- times where Moses says things of which we have no record of his being commanded, and times where we have no record of his delivering God's word to Israel. How do we make sense of these gaps? Are they random? Specific? What are they trying to teach us about communication and the Torah?
The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Ancient Jewish Calendar
Professor Rachel Elior was born in Jerusalem and got both her BA and PhD Summa cum Laude at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem where she has taught since 1978 to date. She is the John and Golda Cohen Professor of Jewish Philosophy and Jewish Mystical Thought and the head of the Department of Jewish Thought in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her research interests are focused on the history of Jewish Mysticism and Kabbalah, on Early Jewish Mysticism in antiquity known as the Merkavah and Heikhalot Literatures, on Sabbatianism , Hasidism and Frankism in the modern era and on presence and absence of women in Jewish intellectual history.
Love of Torah and the Midrashic Process - Contemporary Thoughts
Rabbi David Greenstein is Rabbi-in-Residence at The Academy for Jewish Religion. He is a Core Faculty teacher for the Skirball Center for Adult Jewish Learning, Temple Emanu-El, NY, instructor at the Jewish Theological Seminary, and founder and director of The Shiluv Project at the Shelter Rock JC. He was an exhibiting artist for many years and holds a PhD in Kabbalah and Rabbinics.
The Last Word - Rashi's Concluding Comments in his Bible Commentary
Andrea Wershof Schwartz is a medical student at The Mount Sinai School of Medicine. She holds BAs from Columbia and the Jewish Theological Seminary and an MA in Bible from the Jewish Theological Seminary, where her husband Charlie is a Rabbinical student. Andrea spent a year in Israel on the Dorot Fellowship and has taught Talmud, Tanakh and Torah reading at the Hadar Beit Midrash.
Breaking a Leg for God - How Much Must One Sacrifice While Performing Ordinary Mitzvot?
Shmuel Kadosh
To what extent does the halakhah demand that a Jew incur serious harm (short of death) in order to keep its dictates? On August 22, 1963, Ruth Friedman and Jack Katz, two counselors on their day off from camp, went on a hike at the Belleayre Mt. Ski Center in the Catskills. They took the ski lift to the top of the mountain, and hiked there most of the day. On their way back down, the ski lift stopped, leaving Jack and Ruth stranded on the ski lift. Concerned about violating the Jewish law prohibition against the seclusion of men and women (Yichud), Ruth jumped off the ski lift, breaking both her legs. (See Friedman v. State, 282 N.Y.S.2d 858 (N.Y. Ct. Cl. 1967)) In this class, we will examine Ruth's decision to jump, both from the perspective of normative Jewish law and in a broader discussion about the tension between Divine Will and human need.
Dr. Ruth Walfish completed her PhD in Jewish Education at Hebrew University, where her focus was teaching biblical and miracle stories. She has taught in numerous institutions, including Matan, Midreshet Lindenbaum, and Efrata Teacher's College, where she is the head of the Bible department.
Seeing is Believing - Reflections on Mitzvat Tzitzit
Ayelet Libson is pursuing a PhD in Talmud at New York University. She holds a BA in Jewish Thought from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and is a graduate of the Advanced Talmud Institute at MaTaN. Ms. Libson has taught at MaTaN, Yakar, Pelech High School and Emunah College in Jerusalem.
How should we think about the economic, religious, and political implications of the Biblical agricultural cycle for contemporary Israeli life? This class will use Biblical, Talmudic, and medieval sources to develop the diversity of opinions formulated in canonical Jewish sources and their potential contemporary relevance.
Rabbi Irving "Yitz" Greenberg is one of the leading Jewish thinkers and activists of our time. He is the President Emeritus of Jewish Life Network/Steinhardt Foundation. He served as founder and president of CLAL from 1974-1997. Author of The Jewish Way, Living in the Image of God, and For the Sake of Heaven and Earth: The New Encounter between Judaism and Christianity, he has written extensively on the theory and practice of pluralism among other topics.
Rabbi Josh Gutoff has taught and written about Jewish prayer for over twenty years. He is currently a doctoral student at the William Davidson School of Jewish Education at the Jewish Theological Seminary.
Wendy Amsellem is Director of the Dr. Beth Samuels High School Program and an alumna of the Drisha Scholars Circle. She is pursuing a PhD in Judaic Studies at New York University and has a BA in History and Literature from Harvard University.
The Prophet Jonah in the Bet Midrash of R. Yohanan
Professor Avigdor Shinan holds a PhD from the Hebrew University, where he is now a professor in the Department of Hebrew Literature. He has been a visiting professor at Yeshiva University, Yale, and the Jewish Theological Seminary. His fields of research include midrash and aggadah, the siddur, and Aramaic translations of the Bible.
Rabbi Jill Hammer, PhD, is an author, educator, midrashist, myth-weaver, and ritualist. She is the director of Tel Shemesh (www.telshemesh.org), a website and community celebrating and creating Jewish earth-based traditions. She is also currently serving as an adjunct at the Academy for Jewish Religion in Riverdale, NY.
Dr. Yehuda Kurtzer recently completed a PhD in Ancient Judaism at Harvard University and the co-founder of The Washington Square Minyan (www.wsminyan.org). He is a former faculty member for the Bronfman Youth Fellowship in Israel and an adjunct faculty member in rabbinics at the Hebrew College Rabbinical School.
Ruth Messinger is the president and executive director of American Jewish World Service (AJWS), an international development organization providing support to more than 200 grassroots social change projects in Africa, Asia, and the Americas. AJWS realizes this vision through strategic grant making and volunteer service in the developing world, and education and advocacy within the American Jewish community. Ms. Messinger is also a visiting professor at Hunter College, teaching urban policy and politics. Prior to assuming her position at AJWS in 1998, Ms. Messinger was in public service in New York City for 20 years. She served 12 years in the New York City Council and eight years as Manhattan borough president. She was the first woman to secure the Democratic Party's nomination for mayor in 1997.
Andrea Wershof Schwartz earned her MA and BA from the Jewish Theological Seminary, where her husband Charlie is a Rabbinical student. She earned a second BA at Columbia University, and is currently a medical student at Mount Sinai Medical School. Andrea is more than two years (and nine tractates) through the Daf Yomi cycle (a page a day of Talmud). She has taught Talmud, Parshat Hashavua, Haftarah and Torah reading at the Hadar Beit Midrash.
Rabbi Jill Jacobs is the Director of Education for the Jewish Funds for Justice (JFSJ), a national public foundation dedicated to mobilizing the resources of American Jews to combat the root causes of domestic social and economic injustice. Jill also holds an MS in Urban Affairs from Hunter College and a BA in Comparative Literature from Columbia University. Her writings have appeared in a number of magazines, journals and websites, including Conservative Judaism, Tikkun, The Reconstructionist, Lilith, the Forward, Women in Judaism: A Multidisciplinary Journal, and MyJewishLearning.com.
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