From Justification to Justice: Evolving Jewish Attitudes Towards Abortion
Jul 31, 2023 By Michal Raucher | Public Event video | Video Lecture
In the 1980s, the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards鈥攖he Conservative Movement鈥檚 central authority on Jewish law鈥攔uled on abortion鈥檚 permissibility based on a justification framework. This framework assumes that abortion is generally prohibited but permitted in certain circumstances. They based their position on their reading of particular biblical and rabbinic sources. In the decades that followed, many Jewish institutions in the United States supported abortion rights on similar grounds and using the same texts. More recently, we鈥檝e seen a shift in Jewish attitudes towards abortion. As more Jews have shared their own abortion experiences, their narratives have moved to the forefront and shifted the conversation. Jews are now advocating for abortion rights based on their experiences of abortion and a different reading of classical sources. In this session, we explore why and how this change occurred and consider the impact it might have on abortion rights in the United States.
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The Evolution of Law in the Bible
Jul 24, 2023 By Benjamin D. Sommer | Public Event video | Video Lecture
Download Sources Part of the series, The Dynamics of Change This session has generously been sponsored by Yale Asbell, 91快播 Trustee. With Dr. Benjamin Sommer, Professor of Bible and Ancient Semitic Languages, 91快播 Professor Sommer will use laws pertaining to the Sabbath and Passover to show how ritual law evolved in the Bible. During the session, he […]
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Tikkun Olam: Repairing the World, Healing God in Kabbalistic Thought
Jul 17, 2023 By Eitan Fishbane | Public Event video | Video Lecture
The termtikkun, which refers to the process of cosmic-divine repair as well as the personal-psychological repair of the human soul, was central to Jewish mystical thought and literature. The idea and practice flourished especially in the Zohar and related texts in 13th- and 14th-century Spain; in the teachings of Moses Cordovero, Isaac Luria, and other Kabbalists of 16th-century Tzfat; and in the Kabbalah of modern eastern European Hasidism. In this session, we will delve into sources that understandtikkun olamas an act of healing the Divine Self, which has the potential of bringing God closer to our world.
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The Power of Words: How What We Say Affects Us and Those Around Us
Jul 10, 2023 By Eliezer B. Diamond z”l | Public Event video | Video Lecture
How does our speech affect us and others both for good and ill? How can changing our speech impact our character and our relationships with others?Dr. Eliezer Diamond guides us in the study of both traditional sources and contemporary discussions as we seek to answer these questions.
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God: Unchanging?
Jun 12, 2023 By Alan Cooper | Public Event video | Video Lecture
When we sing the hymnYigdal, we declare that God is One and unique in Unity, of mysterious and infinite Oneness.The idea that God is ineffable and unchanging is embedded in Jewish (as well as Christian and Muslim) thought. While thatmaybe true of God, however, it does not apply to the various ways of discerning God鈥檚 Presence from biblical times to the present. In this session, we explore some of the ways in which perception of God has changed, especially in the transition from biblical religion to post-Temple and post-prophetic Judaism.
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What Should an Educated Jew Know? When and Why This Question Emerged in the 18th Century鈥攁nd Continues to Confound Us
May 11, 2020 By Jack Wertheimer | Public Event video | Video Lecture
What should a literate Jew know about Jewish civilization and its foundational texts? And what obligation do Jews have to acquire knowledge so they can function well in society at large? For reasons we will explore, these questions surfaced intensely during the Haskalah, the Jewish Enlightenment. How they were answered then and how these questions continue to reverberate in our time will be addressed in this online class.
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鈥淧erhaps They Will Listen鈥�: Prophets and the Art of Persuasion
Jun 5, 2023 By Yael Landman | Public Event video | Video Lecture
While the biblical prophets wore many hats鈥攄efense attorney, miracle worker, leader, and commander-in-chief, among others鈥攐ne role of the prophets was to persuade their audiences. These audiences are often portrayed as uninterested in the prophets鈥� words, or even violently opposed to them. In the face of resistance, the prophets deploy numerous rhetorical strategies in order to convince their audiences to listen to them; many of these strategies, which we explore in this session, are the same devices that make biblical prophecies works of art that continue to strike a chord with readers today.
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Patient Change, Slow Influence: The Model of the Rabbis of Late Antiquity
Jun 26, 2023 By David C. Kraemer | Public Event video | Video Lecture
Download Sources Part of the series, The Dynamics of Change With Dr. David Kraemer, Joseph J. and Dora Abbell Librarian and Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics, 91快播 Perhaps the most important change-agents in all of Jewish history were the Rabbis of Late Antiquity. It is they who transformed Judaism鈥攁nd Jews鈥攆rom a Temple-based religion to one that needed no […]
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