Judaism for the End of the World

Judaism for the End of the World

Program: Hebrew College Tamid
Instructor: Matthew Schultz (Read Bio)
Dates: 6 Sundays, Fall 2024: 11/3, 11/10, 11/17, 11/24, 12/8 & 12/15
Time:  12-1:00 p.m. EST
Course fee: $180, financial aid is available
Location: Zoom
Hosted by: Hebrew College
Registration:  Click here

Sometimes it feels like it’s the end of the world. We are confronting ecological destruction, political polarization, and global instability and things only seem to be getting more chaotic. Amidst these bewilderments, I invite learners to turn to the Hebrew Bible. There we will discover a book of impermanence, filled with stories of wanderers in a precarious and ephemeral world. If there is a more effective guidebook for the end of the world, I have not found it.

For additional information or questions, contact the Hebrew College Tamid Team

 

Introduction to Jewish Mindfulness Meditation

Introduction to Jewish Mindfulness Meditation

Program: Hebrew College Tamid
Instructor: Fran Zamore (Read Bio)
Dates: 6 Thursdays, Fall 2024: 10/31, 11/7, 11/14, 11/21, 12/5, & 12/12
Time: 9:30-10:30 a.m.  ET
Course fee: $180, financial aid is available
Location: Zoom
Hosted by: Hebrew College
Registration:  Click here

Jewish tradition is filled with allusions to the benefits of mindfulness meditation. The aspirational tradition of saying 100 blessings a day encourages us to pay attention to what we are experiencing and then take a moment to notice and appreciate it. In this course, participants will gain an appreciation for meditation through a Jewish lens. This class will introduce participants to the principles of mindfulness meditation using a Jewish framework. Over the 6-week course, we will explore meditation focusing on breath — in Genesis God breaths life into Adam; body — using the notion of b’zelem ehohiem (humans in the image of God); sound — listen — the instruction from the Shema; lovingkindness — focusing of the attributes of chesed (expansive love), rachamim (compassion), simcha (joy), and shalom (peace/wholeness); meditation as a Shabbat moment. Each one-hour session will include teaching about meditation, a drash related to the week’s topic, and time in meditation followed by a discussion, with participants having an opportunity to share insights and observations and ask questions. Handouts will be emailed to participants to support them in establishing a daily meditation practice. Participants in this class will learn the benefits of mindfulness meditation, Jewish orientation to meditation, and several different ways to approach meditation.

For additional information and questions, contact the Hebrew College Tamid Team

Dreaming Together: Engaging in the Torah of Dreamwork

Dreaming Together: Engaging in the Torah of Dreamwork

Program: Hebrew College Tamid
Instructor: Yael Linda Schiller (Read Bio)
Dates: 6 Tuesdays, Fall 2024: 10/29, 11/12, 11/19, 11/26, 12/3 & 12/10
Time: 7-8:30 p.m.  ET
Course fee: $240; financial aid is available
Location: Zoom
Hosted by: Hebrew College
Registration:  Click here

Our history and tradition contain text and midrash about dreamers and visioners. The difference between these two is often whether the dreamer is sound asleep or in some state of wakefulness. We will explore this history of dreamwork in Torah, Talmud, and Kabbalah, learn a method of dreamwork based on the Pardes designed by the instructor, and then explore our dreams together in the safe container of a dream circle.

For additional information and questions, contact the Hebrew College Tamid Team

Mussar for a Meaningful Life

Mussar for a Meaningful Life

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.

For additional information and questions, contact the Hebrew College Tamid Team

 

From Darkness to Light: The New History of Jewish Christian Relations

From Darkness to Light: The New History of Jewish Christian Relations

Program: Hebrew College Tamid
Instructor: Dr. Jacob Meskin (Read Bio)
Dates: 8 Tuesdays, Fall 2024: 10/29, 11/5, 11/12, 11/19, 12/3, 12/10, 12/17 & 1/7
Time: 9:30-11:30 a.m. ET
Course fee: $400, financial aid is available
Location: In Person at Temple Isaiah, 55 Lincoln Street, Lexington
Hosted by: The Lexington Collaborative (Temples Isaiah and Emunah)
Registration:
  Click here

Jewish and Christian researchers have invited all of us to re-imagine, in radical ways, the original emergence of what we now call “Christianity” from the matrix of Judaism in the first century CE.

These and other developments promise new hope for those who seek to repair the complex and often tragic history of Jewish Christian relations, and who look forward to Jews and Christians living side by side, in their respective faiths, as friends and allies.

In this course, we will study the often-painful history of Jewish Christian relations, drawing on the latest scholarship and innovative paradigms. Our focus will be on what happened, on why it happened and, above all, on how understanding the deep reasons behind past events can liberate us to envision a better future. Through this kind of study contemporary Jews and Christians can fully grasp that the future need not be like the past.

Among other topics, we will take up the following: the Jewishness of Jesus, the essential role of Paul and the relationship between his teachings and Judaism, the central nature of Rabbinic Judaism, Church doctrine and theological ideas about Jews in the middle ages, the Crusades, popular prejudices against Jews in Europe, the Reformation and the Jews, Christian Hebraism, British Protestant attitudes toward Jews, Vatican II and the Jews, and the relationships between Evangelical Christianity and Jews.

For more information or questions, contact the Hebrew College Tamid Team

Daf Yomi: The Wisdom of Talmud Study

Daf Yomi: The Wisdom of Talmud Study

Program: Hebrew College Tamid
Instructor: Layah Lipsker (Read Bio)
Dates: Monday and Thursday, Fall 2024: 9/16, 9/19, 9/23, 9/26, 9/30, 10/7, 10/10, 10/28, 10/31, 11/4, 11/7, 11/14, 11/18 & 11/21
Time: 9-9:45 a.m. ET
Course fee: $400, financial aid is available
Location: Zoom
Hosted by: Hebrew College
Registration:  Click here

Talmud study is not simply the study of Jewish law, and that’s why it is so fascinating to Jews of all affiliations. The rabbis often use the legalities as a language for articulating foundational Jewish wisdom. The stories and debates of the Talmud have become the language of Jewish thought. A page of Talmud can often help us tap into ancient Jewish language for our own spiritual growth and add to our toolbox of Jewish thought.

For additional information or questions, contact the Hebrew College Tamid Team