Program:Hebrew College Tamid Instructor: Rabbi Jeffrey Amshalem (Read Bio) Dates: 8 Mondays, Fall 2024: 9/23, 10/7, 10/21, 11/4, 11/18, 12/2, 12/16 & 1/6 Time: 7:15-8:45 p.m. EST Course fee: $280, financial aid is available Location: Zoom Hosted by: Hebrew College and Co-Sponsored by Temple Sinai in Brookline Registration:Click here
In this course we’ll study recent archaeological and historical research about the interrelated origins of the Jewish people, the Torah, and what would come to be known as “Judaism,” and discuss their ramifications for our own identities and practices as 21st century Jews. The goals are for the learners to understand current theories about the development of the Jewish people as a self-identified nation and the narratives and laws — which would become the Tanakh — used to develop, maintain, and shape this identity. The class will include scholarly sources, in light of which we will study classical Jewish texts with an investigator’s eye to see how they align with the new scholarship.
Colliding Dreams: The Modern Zionist Movement as Told Through the Eyes of its Inhabitants
Program:Hebrew College Tamid Instructor: Jan Darsa (Read Bio) Dates: 6 Tuesdays, Spring 2025: 4/22, 4/29, 5/6, 5/13, 5/20 & 5/27 Time: 7:30-9:00 p.m. EST Course fee: $240, financial aid is available Location: Zoom Hosted by: Hebrew College Registration:Click here
The Course will explore the evolution of Zionism from a concept to a modern reality and necessity. Through film, poetry, music and readings we will explore the evolution of modern Zionism and its impact on the people who live in the modern state of Israel. We will examine the Jewish national rebirth in its historical homeland in Palestine- one of the most dramatic stories of rebirth the world has ever seen. Yet its history is fraught with conflict. The very legitimacy of the Zionist idea and the state of Israel are questioned more today than ever before. The debate over Israel, triggered by the latest conflict, is often guided by emotion rather than substance, by fear, anger or deep loyalty, rather than an understanding of Zionism and its history. The course is an attempt to bring these issues and the questions they raise to the forefront of our conversations. Drawing on the latest historical scholarship and the celebrated documentary film Colliding Dreams, we will address the internal battles as well as the continuing conflict between Jews and Palestinians, between Jews and Jews, attentive to a wide range of viewpoints. The course will provide a powerful antidote to the lack of knowledge many have regarding these issues. We will read Daniel Sokatch’s relatively new book “Can We Talk About Israel” and portions of “My Promised Land” by Ari Shavit as well as articles, poetry and literature.
Program:Hebrew College Tamid Instructor: Laila Goodman (Read Bio) Dates: 8 Sundays, Fall 2024: 9/22, 10/20, 11/17, 12/15, 1/26, 2/23, 3/23 & 4/20 Time: 10-11:30 a.m. ET Course fee: $320, financial aid is available Location: Zoom Hosted by: Hebrew College Registration:Click here
The course will focus on learning Mussar texts to guide students to work on incorporating ethical principles in small everyday actions. Each class will focus on one middah, a character trait (e.g.-patience, respect, gratitude.) Students will share their practice, which will allow others to be inspired by their successes and gain a more compassionate perspective on common challenges. The class will accommodate new and returning students, with a mixture of new middot and revisiting previously studied texts for new insights. The class is based in Jewish texts and Jewish practice and the work is done through self-reflection and setting small goals. It provides a structure and opportunity to do the inner work of exploring and discovering each student’s moral fabric. Students will have a chance to discuss in small groups, and havruta pairs, the character traits that come naturally and character traits to work on to be their most holy, best self. This is a course that touches on heart and head.
Program:Hebrew College Tamid Instructor: Dr. Alan Avery-Peck (Read Bio) Dates: 5 Mondays, Fall 2024: 10/28, 11/11, 11/18, 12/2 & 12/9 Time: 7:30-9:00 p.m. ET Course fee: $200, financial aid is available Location: Zoom Hosted by: Hebrew College Registration:Click here
Judaism as we know it today took shape in the first six centuries C.E., in the same period that saw the emergence and growth of Christianity. This course explains the emergence of Rabbinic Judaism, asking what happened to Jews in the first six centuries and evaluating the beliefs and world-views they developed. Our goal is to understand how Judaism evolved on the basis of inherited texts and practices as well as in response to the experiences of the Jewish people. Thus we will come to comprehend the foundations of both Judaism and Christianity and to better conceive of the relationship between evolving religions such as these and the historical settings in which they exist. Significantly, we will see the ways in which Judaism appears to have been, or at significant points was not, the foundation for the Christian ideologies that emerged in this same period.
Program:Hebrew College Tamid Instructor: Rabbi Or Rose and Reverend Dr. Rob Schenck (Read Bios) Dates: 3 Thursdays, January 2025: 1/16, 1/23, & 1/30 Time: 7-8:30 p.m. ET Course fee: $150, financial aid is available Location: Zoom Hosted by: Hebrew College Registration: Click here
The time has come for a new conversation among members of the Jewish and Evangelical communities to discuss our relationships to Israel? Turmoil in the Israel and the Palestinian territories, as well as in the United States call for an honest and searching discussion of our theological, historical, and political connections to Israel. What, for example, is the role of messianism or eschatology (interpretations of “end-times” prophecies) in this context? Do we share some common values and commitments? Where do we differ? To what extent are these differences present within each of our respective communities?
Program:Hebrew College Tamid Instructor: Rabbi Nehemia Polen (Read Bio) Dates: 5 Wednesdays, Fall 2024: 11/6, 11/13, 11/20, 12/4 & 12/11 Time: 10-11:30 a.m. ET Course fee: $250, financial aid is available Location: In Person at Hebrew College Hosted by: Hebrew College Registration:Click here
Who succeeds the parent/leader/teacher/prophet? This is a key question for any culture, and certainly for Judaism—so focused on transmission of Torah, spirit, historical memory and blessing. Our study explores biblical, rabbinic, kabbalistic and hasidic accounts of transmission of wisdom, leadership and charisma. Succession may be accomplished with grace and generosity, or with tension and rupture—and often with both at the same time. In the biblical period we will focus on prophetic transmission, such as that between Moses and Joshua, Elijah and Elisha. We will also read the narratives of royal succession, especially in the houses of Saul and David. For the Rabbinic period, we look at the many stories of the sometimes kindly, sometimes fraught relationship between teacher and student, as well as tales of both camaraderie and competition among disciples of a great Rabbinic teacher. We will explore charismatic discipleship in kabbalistic circles and the culture of Hasidism, which views the master-disciple relationship as an intimate covenant binding soul to soul. Finally, we will examine contemporary parallels in the fields of science, medicine and the arts, especially music. As a case study, we will read composer Philip Glass’s account of his relationship with two great but very different teachers–Nadia Boulanger and Ravi Shankar.
