Course Program: Me’ah Select

Daf Yomi 2 – Spring/Early Summer 2024

Daf Yomi 2

Program: Hebrew College Me’ah Select
Instructor: Layah Lipsker  (Read Bio)
Dates: Spring/Early Summer:  20 classes/ 10 sessions in terms of payment
Spring/Early Summer Dates:  Begins on Monday, March 25th through June 17th
 Mondays:  3/25, 4/1, 4/8, 4/15, 5/6, 5/13, 5/20, 6/3, 6/10 & 6/17
 Thursdays:  3/28, 4/4, 4/11, 4/18, 5/2, 5/9, 5/16, 5/23, 5/30 & 6/6
Time: 9-9:45 a.m. Eastern
Course fee: $450 Winter/Spring Semester, financial aid is available
Location: Zoom
Hosted by: Hebrew College

Daf Yomi is an international program to study the entire Talmud in unison, one page at a time. Jews around the world from all backgrounds and affiliations join by following a fixed schedule. This course is for people interested in the fascinating world of Talmud, whose varied discussions have broad and universal resonance.  Our twice weekly sessions will keep us on the Daf Yomi schedule, but we will focus on contemporary relevance of the texts for modern Jewish life. No Hebrew reading is necessary, all texts will be studied in English. This Daf Yomi course will meet twice per week for 45 minutes each time.

For more information, contact Rachel Goldstein rgoldstein2000@gmail.com

What Should a Jew Believe? The Theology of the Siddur

What Should a Jew Believe? The Theology of the Siddur

Program: Hebrew College Me’ah Select
Instructor: Rabbi Neal Gold  (Read Bio)
Dates:  Tuesdays, 3/12, 3/19, 3/26, 4/2, 4/9 & 4/16
Time: 9:30-11:30 a.m.
Course fee: $270, financial aid is available
Location: Zoom
Hosted by: Temple Beth Sholom, Framingham

The Jewish prayerbook is a repository of the most important ideas of classical Jewish thought. This exploration of Jewish belief is not meant to be a history of the prayerbook but rather a springboard for the ideas that the Siddur has codified: about Jewish mission, the meaning of creation, mysticism, the universal vs. the particular, the limits of divine power, messianism, life after death, and the end of days. We will plumb the meanings of familiar texts for nuance and unexpected poetry and power.

For more information, contact meah@hebrewcollege.edu

The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict and the Search for Peace -REGISTRATION CLOSED

The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict and the Search for Peace -Registration Closed

Program: Hebrew College Me’ah Select
Instructor: Dr. David Jacobson  (Read Bio)
Dates: 10 Tuesdays, 2/6, 2/13, 2/27, 3/5, 3/12, 3/19, 3/26, 4/2, 4/9 & 4/16
Time: 7-9 p.m.
Course fee: $450, financial aid is available
Location: Zoom
Hosted by: Beth El Temple Center in Belmont

Meet the instructor: Dr. David Jacobson

The Israel-Hamas war has evoked intense interest in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and has had a powerful impact on our Jewish community. In this course, we will seek to gain a deeper understanding of the events set in motion by the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 by studying the origins of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and exploring why it has persisted for over a century. We will also consider attempts that have been made by Israeli and Palestinian officials to reach a peaceful resolution, as well as grass-roots efforts by Israelis and Palestinians to transcend their political differences. Course materials will include works of fiction and poetry, films, historical documents, and works of historical analysis. As events in the conflict develop in real time during the course, we will discuss their significance in light of our course readings and discussions.

For more information, contact meah@hebrewcollege.edu

 

Zionism Today: Crucial Debates, New Ideas – In Person at Temple Isaiah, Lexington

Zionism Today: Crucial Debates, New Ideas – In Person at Temple Isaiah, Lexington

Program: Hebrew College Me’ah Select
Instructor: Dr. Jacob Meskin  (Read Bio)
Dates: 6 Tuesdays, 3/12, 3/19, 3/26, 4/2, 4/9 & 4/16
Time: 9:30-11:30 a.m.
Course fee: $270, financial aid is available
Location: In Person at Temple Isaiah, Lexington
Hosted by: The Lexington Collaborative, Temples Emunah and Isaiah

Like any living, vital tradition of thought, Zionism has continued to change over time. In this six-week course we will study recent developments within the tradition of Zionist thought, and also some contemporary critiques of Zionism from outside that tradition. We will be focusing on arguments about the state of Israel, the Jewish people, the Palestinians, and the Middle East more broadly. In addition, we will explore certain currents of thought that inform these arguments, e.g., post-colonialism.

After an overview of the early history of Zionism, and of the continuum of Zionist perspectives, we will move on to examine essential issues and debates that have surfaced in recent Zionist thought.  These include: arguments over the status of Zionism as a species of nationalism; different ways of evaluating the particularism of Zionism in an era of “globalism and cosmopolitanism”; important new approaches to understanding the challenges of the state of Israel’s being at once Jewish and democratic; different assessments of the role of Zionism for Jews living in the diaspora; new, and distinct, views of religion in Zionism and in Israeli life; radically divergent Zionist and Palestinian narratives of the history of Israel, and Palestinian critiques of Zionism, and Zionist responses.

In addition to short excerpts from the writings of a number of famous thinkers, every effort will be made to select essays and articles that are accessible. Moreover, wherever possible, film clips, audio of live interviews (with written transcripts), and other alternative media will be included.

For more information, contact meah@hebrewcollege.edu

 

What Can The New Testament Teach Us About First-Century Judaism?

What Can The New Testament Teach Us
About First-Century Judaism?

Program: Hebrew College Me’ah Select
Instructor: Alan Avery-Peck (Read Bio)
Dates: 5 Wednesdays, 4/3, 4/10, 4/17, 5/1 & 5/8
Time: 7-9 p.m. Eastern
Course fee: $225, financial aid is available
Location: Zoom
Hosted by: Betty Ann Greenbaum Miller Center for Interreligious Learning & Leadership of Hebrew College

Jesus, the Christian messiah and son of God, was also a first-century Galilean Jew who stood firmly within the Judaism of his day. Jesus’ message responded to and resonated within his people’s—the Jews’—distinctive theological, cultural, and political circumstances. As much as the New Testament tells the story of Christian origins, it thus reflects deeply on first century Judaism. Christians who ignore Jesus’ Jewish context cannot fully understand what was at stake in, or the urgency of, Jesus’ message. And Jews who ignore the New Testament miss the opportunity to fully grasp Jewish belief in the period that yielded the Judaism we still practice today. Thus, our focus today: What can the New Testament teach us about first-century Judaism?

For more information, contact meah@hebrewcollege.edu

Calling Out from the Depths: Reading the Book of Psalms Today

Calling Out from the Depths: Reading the Book of Psalms Today

Program: Hebrew College Me’ah Select
Instructor: Rabbi Or Rose (Read Bio)
Dates: 6 Thursdays, 2/8, 2/15, 2/22, 2/29, 3/7 & 3/14
Time: 7-9 p.m.
Course fee: $270, financial aid is available
Location: Zoom
Hosted by: Hebrew College

The Book of Psalms has served as a source of inspiration and guidance to countless numbers of Jews, Christians, and other seekers throughout the ages. Our forebears turned to these sources in times of joy and thanksgiving and in times of sadness and lament. What might these ancient poetic texts have to say to us today? How have past generations engaged these sources liturgically and otherwise. In this course, we will examine several the original psalms (each focusing on a different theme) and the writings, music, poetry, and visual artistry of interpreters—Jewish and non-Jewish alike—of these biblical sources.

For more information, contact meah@hebrewcollege.edu