Shavuot 5786

Evening Schedule

8:45 PM – 9PM | Maariv and Welcome

9 PM – 9:45 PM | Opening Shiur: The Torah of Big Questions with Rabbi Daniel Burg
After praising God for helping us discern day from night, Birchot Hashachar, the preliminary morning service, offers three blessings thanking God for creating us: In the Divine image, As Jews, and Free. These blessings beg three essential questions each morning:

1. What does God’s existence mean for ours (and vice versa)?
2. Why be Jewish?
3. What does freedom demand of us?

This class will not provide clear answers, but it will remind us how asking these big questions can help us live each day just a little better.

9:45 PM – 9:55 PM | Coffee Break

9:55PM-10:40 PM Breakout Session #1

• The Weaving of Creation and Revelation with Ben Sax
  The 18th century Torah commentator and mystic Ibn Attar (known as the Ohr HaChayim) connects the creation of the world with the revelation on Mt. Sinai. How might our understanding of this connection provide a new understanding of the meaning of revelation and Shavuot? How is speech both an act of creation and revelation? Also, did God actually create water? How can answering these questions help us understand the meaning of the ten commandments?

• The Zealous are Praised – Pikuach Nefesh Through the Generations with Ada Morse
  With a few (important) exceptions, halacha places life-saving activities (pikuach nefesh) ahead of other concerns. In this session, we will trace some of the development of this principle through the traditional sources. Through seeing how pikuach nefesh took shape early in Rabbinic Judaism, we will be able to think about how this principle takes shape (and shapes us) today.

10:40 PM – 10:45 PM | Transition

10:45 PM – 11:30 PM | Breakout Session #2

• Adopting from Foster Care – Lessons from the Exodus and Wilderness with Matthew Lowe
  God’s early relationship with the Israelites is similar to that of a new parent adopting an older child from foster care, with all the challenges of transition, bonding, and traumatic history. What steps and missteps does God take in this process? This session fulfills part of Matthew’s (and partner Naomi’s) participation in the YATOM Family Fellowship, a program which is meant to inspire hope for families striving to foster/adopt.
• What Are We Waiting For? Jewish Perspectives on Messiah with Rabbi Tyler Dratch
  Many moments in our liturgy represent our prayer for the coming of redemption and a messianic age. what might this mean to the modern Jew? Jewish thinkers throughout history have never fully agreed! We will look at different perspectives on Messiah and think about how we might interpret this call in our own lives.