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.
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 Thursdays, Fall 2024: 10/31, 11/7, 11/14, 11/21, 12/5 & 12/12 Time: 7:30-9:00 p.m. ET | 4:30-6 p.m. PT 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.
White Christian Nationalism & the Presidential Election
Program:Hebrew College Tamid Instructor: Rabbi Or Rose and Reverend Dr. Rob Schenck (Read Bios) Dates: 3 Thursdays, Fall 2024: 9/12, 9/19 & 9/26 Time: 7-8:30 p.m. ET Course fee: $150, financial aid is available Location: Zoom Hosted by: Hebrew College Registration:Click here
What is the relationship between religion, race, and democracy within conservative Christian circles in the United States? What is the history of these ideologies and alliances? To what extent is white Christian nationalism a danger to our country—particularly in this election cycle? What role can members of different religious and cultural communities play in countering this form of bigotry and work with Christians to promote the rights and freedoms of all Americans?
Program:Hebrew College Tamid Instructor: Rabbi Or Rose and Reverend Dr. Rob Schenck (Read Bios) Dates: 3 Thursdays, Fall 2024: 11/7, 11/14 & 11/21 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.
Program:Hebrew College Tamid Instructor: Carolyn Ringel, J.D., M.B.E. (Read Bio) Dates: 4 Sundays, Fall 2024: 11/17, 11/24, 12/8 and 12/15 Time: 7-8:30 p.m. ET Course fee: $160, financial aid is available Location: Zoom Hosted by: Hebrew College Registration:Click here
Designer babies? Artificial wombs? Psychedelic therapy? This is not just the stuff of science fiction; these topics were all pulled from current news headlines. In this four-week class, we will wrestle with issues in reproductive ethics, mental illness and addiction, end of life decisions and other “hot topics” in bioethics from our own personal moral code, and look at what Judaism has to say on these topics.
