Rabbi's Classes
Being a Mentsch
Beginning with Leviticus Ch. 19 and such Biblical principles as "love your neighbor" students will see how the Jewish tradition has developed wisdom and teachings around the challenges of being a good person. The class will look at such issues as speech and gossip, telling the truth and reproof, forgiveness and holding a grudge, and what it means to love your neighbor.
The class will be offered via a webcast to your home computer.
Taught by Rabbi Michael Strassfeld.
A Walk through Friday Night Shabbat Rituals
In these two sessions, learners will walk though the customs both old and new for celebrating Shabbat as the end of the week. Together we will reflect on where to begin and what might work for your family's needs and interests. Provided: all the resources needed to help you make this day special.
The class will be offered via a webcast to your home computer.
Taught by Rabbis Michael Strassfeld and Joy Levitt.
For more information and to register for the online courses, call Debbie Rudt in The SAJ office at (212) 724-7000.
Exploring Tikkun Olam
Following up on the theme of last year’s Retreat, we will have several sessions to explore Tikkun Olam/social justice. We hope to develop a series of guidelines in a variety of areas for our community.
Aravut- Our responsibility to each other as Jewish community
Sunday, Oct. 28, 2007 at 10:00 AM
Hesed Day Discussion– Our responsibility to the needy of our neighborhood and the world- Sunday, Jan. 27, 2008 at 11:00 AM
Rabbi Michael Strassfeld
Environmental Ethics
In this class, we will examine various ‘secular’ notions for an environmental ethic. We will also study a variety of Jewish texts and sources on issues related to ecology. The class will attempt in its final session to develop a series of principles for an emerging Jewish environmental ethic for us as individuals and as a community.
Tuesdays, Jan. 22, 29; Feb 5, 12, 2008 at 7:30 PM
Rabbi Michael Strassfeld
Scholar-in-Residence Shabbaton
“The Bible in the Modern World”
with Dr. Mara Benjamin, Post-doctoral Associate in Judaic Studies at Yale University
The Bible is the foundation of Jewish culture and, especially, its textual tradition. But the last several centuries have challenged the Bible’s unique status and truth value. Can we still find the Bible authoritative - or at least meaningful? If so, how can we embrace the Bible’s relevance for us without intellectual compromise? In three sessions, Dr. Benjamin will examine how these questions have unfolded in the writings of the most prominent theologians in the modern period and invite us to consider our options for reinvigorating sacred text and its role in Judaism.
Session I - Friday, Nov. 2, 6:30 PM Services and dinner followed by discussion: “Why we no longer believe in the Bible: Spinoza’s revolution”
Session II - Saturday, Nov. 3, following Kiddush “The reinvention of the Bible: Buber and Rosenzweig”
Session III - Sunday, Nov 4, 11:00 AM “Bible or Torah? The delicate enterprise of contemporary commentaries”
Scholar-in-Residence Classes
Both classes taught by Dr. Mara Benjamin.
Dr. Mara Benjamin is Post-doctoral Associate in Judaic Studies at Yale University, where she is completing a book on Franz Rosenzweig. She is interested in how Jewish thought and practice have been transformed in response to the social, intellectual and political challenges from the French Revolution to contemporary feminism. She earned her doctorate at Stanford University and is founding gabbai of Kehilat Hadar in NYC.
Fall Course – “Judaism: Between Theology and Praxis”
Does Judaism demand belief? Many Jews, from lay people to scholars, believe that a basic distinction between Judaism and Christianity is that Judaism is concerned with action rather than belief. This course will examine key moments in the development of this widely-shared bias, focusing on political as well as theological reasons why modern thinkers have emphasized “doing” over “believing”.
See the calendar for specific dates.
Spring Course – “The Feminist Reinvention of Jewish Ritual”
Tuesdays, March 4, 11, 25, April 1, 8 at 7:00 PM
Congregant-led Classes
Reading Genesis
In its eighth year, the Torah class picks up with the story of Jacob. The class will look in depth at daughters in the Bible and the unique danger they present to the family. Learners will study Lot's daughters, Dina and Tamar, as well as Japheth's daughter and others. The class will also explore what has been called the “saturated self,” the contemporary view that most of our descriptions of self are ones of deficits and how that affects our understanding of literature and the Bible in particular. The class is in English and you need not have participated in the past take part this year.
Myron Bassman, SAJ member
See the calendar for specific dates.
Introduction to Midrash
This term, Midrash, refers to the process of Biblical interpretation as practiced by the rabbis of antiquity, and also to the product of that process, a vast corpus of literature. We will study, in translation, selected texts from that literature, specifically texts that comment on the stories in Genesis about the matriarchs and patriarchs of the Jewish people. We will focus on how the Rabbis, through Midrash, were able to make them into role models for their own time, and we will at least open the question of the possibility of Midrash today.
Shel Schiffman, SAJ member
See the calendar for specific dates.
