Thursday evenings beginning November 7th at Beth Am | 6:30 – 8:45 PM | Register here
Great Jewish Debates with Rav Daniel
6:30 PM – 7:30 PM
We live in a time of heightened polarization and political animus. Zero-sum thinking is pervasive. Jewish tradition is sensitive to this tendency but resists it. Our Sages suggest a better approach: mahloket l’shem shamayim, “arguing for heaven’s sake.” Utilizing Rabbi Barry L. Schwartz’s 2012 book: Judaism’s Great Debates: Timeless Controversies from Abraham to Herzl, we’ll examine great disputes from Jewish history such as those between Hillel and Shammai, The Vilna Gaon and the Baal Shem Tov, and Spinoza and his contemporaries. Considering issues from Jewish law to spirituality to the policing of boundaries, we’ll also consider how the manner of disagreement can increase the value of disputation itself. Cost of participation includes refreshments and a copy of Schwartz’s book.
Swimming in the Sea of Talmud with Rav Tyler
7:45 PM – 8:45 PM
The Babylonian Talmud, compiled in the 5th century CE, has come to represent a central text of the Jewish religion. It is the rabbinic cannon from which Jewish laws, traditions, and ethics have been debated and preserved. In contemporary times the study of Talmud has exploded; studied by new groups of people in most creative ways. Many innovations in Jewish tradition still develop out of the overflowing discourse around the Talmud. In this course, we will think about what it means to be a ‘People of the Book’, and look at some important sections of the Talmud, both to understand the work itself and to think about how its style of discussion may be a model for how we can have more constructive debates in our own lives! All of the texts will be studied in English translation, but we will look at the Hebrew and Aramaic text to understand how the book is put together and how it shapes Jewish living.
There will be a 15 minute break from 7:30 – 7:45 pm between each class.
1 class: $36 for members/$54 for non-members
2 classes: $54 for members/$62 for non-members
If pricing is prohibitive to participation, please reach out to Alex Pomerantz for assistance.
