The Book Smugglers of the Vilna Ghetto: Choosing a Life of Meaning Under the Specter of Death
Dec 21, 2020 By David Fishman | Public Event video | Video Lecture
In Vilna, 鈥渢he Jerusalem of Lithuania,鈥� a group of Jewish writers and intellectuals risked their lives to rescue Jewish books, manuscripts, and art from the Nazis. While working as slave laborers for a Nazi looting agency, they 鈥渟tole鈥� Jewish cultural treasures from their masters, smuggled them into the ghetto, and hid them in underground cellars and bunkers. The few members of this group who survived the war returned to Vilna after itsliberation, andled an operation to retrieve the treasures.
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Mitzvot and the Path to Human Flourishing
Dec 14, 2020 By Yonatan Y. Brafman | Video Lecture
The medievaldecisorand philosopher Moses Maimonides claimed that the mitzvot (commandments) are a divine law. By this, he meant not only that the mitzvot originate with God, but that they were a mediumby which people could flourish bothpoliticallyand personally鈥攚hich for Maimonides meant theattainment of intellectual comprehension.This session explores the significance of Maimonides鈥檝iew and how two modern Jewish thinkers, Mordecai Kaplan and Eliezer Berkovits,built on Maimonides鈥� ideas to develop their own understandings ofhowobservance of themitzvotcanadvancehuman growth andthe attainment ofperfection.
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Trauma and Testimony in an Oversharing Society
Dec 7, 2020 By Edna Friedberg | Public Event video | Video Lecture
The pandemic has forced us to live much of our lives online. But what happens when experiences that used to be private and intimate are exposed to the glare of public scrutiny? How is the impact of experience changed by retelling it, and does sharing our experiences make them more meaningful? This is a discussion of how refugees from war-torn Europe were recast as 鈥淗olocaust survivors鈥� and how trauma morphs when repackaged for broader consumption. The session will include pioneering early audio and film recordings of survivors as young people in the 1940s and 50s.
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The Certainty of Uncertainty
Nov 30, 2020 By Alan Cooper | Public Event video | Video Lecture
Psalm84,quoted in theHavdalahservice,assures us that human felicity arises out of trust in God.But trust is hard to come by, and felicity seems remote in times of duress.In this session we will examine biblical texts that acknowledge the challenges of doubt and uncertainty and offer ways of meeting those trials with hope,faith,and trust.
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The Wholeness of a Broken Heart
Nov 23, 2020 By Mychal Springer | Public Event video | Video Lecture
Life鈥檚 challenges raise up the reality of human vulnerability. Too often, people experience the heartbreak of suffering. In this session we will explore the paradoxical teaching of theKotzkerRebbe that 鈥渢here is nothing more whole than a broken heart.鈥�
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Nurturing Character, Community, and Meaning-Making Through Jewish Education
Nov 9, 2020 By Jeffrey Kress | Public Event video | Video Lecture
Even as we are zooming forward into a new, Covid-altered educational landscape, there are goals of Jewish education鈥攚hether in schools, camps, home, or other settings鈥攖hat are enduring. In this session we will look at Jewish education through the lenses of character, community, andmeaning-makingto provide context for current discussions of online and hybridlearning, andto expand our thinkingabout the goals and processes of Jewish learning.
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The Torah鈥檚 Take on Happiness
Nov 2, 2020 By Jan Uhrbach | Public Event video | Video Lecture
Moses鈥� final speech concludes with a declaration of the happiness of being a Jew: 鈥淗appy are you, O Israel!鈥滲ut does the Torah describe any individual as happy?Whilethe pursuit ofhappiness, as expressed in the Torah and its interpretations? Is the American ideal of happiness a Jewish concept at all?
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Spiritual Meaning and Inspiration in Hasidic Teaching
Oct 26, 2020 By Eitan Fishbane | Public Event video | Video Lecture
In this session we explore several powerful examples in whichhasidicspiritual masters read the Hebrew Bible figuratively in order to often playfully and brilliantly convey deep spiritual insights about the nature of life, of the world, and of God鈥榮 immanent presence in our lives.
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