Restoring Balance: Exploring an Ancient Paradigm for Moving Beyond Our Mistakes
Sep 14, 2020 By Julia Andelman | Public Event video | Video Lecture | Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement鈥攜et the concept of atonement itself is rarely explored. The text of themahzor(High Holiday prayerbook) asks God to 鈥渇orgive us, pardon us, grant usatonement鈥濃�攂ut how is atonement distinct from forgiveness and pardon?Through an examination of biblical and rabbinic sources, we will learn how our ancestorsinterpretedthe concept ofkapparah,atonement, and the great power it held in their understanding ofhowhuman beings鈥攆lawed in our very nature鈥攃ancarry on in theworldafter we have sinned.
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From Self-Interest to Self-Surrender: Confronting the Challenges of Prayer
Aug 31, 2020 By Benjamin D. Sommer | Public Event video | Video Lecture | Rosh Hashanah | Yom Kippur
Why do many modern Jews findtefillahso difficult? We鈥檒l grapple with this question by exploring attitudes toward prayer among thinkers including Rambam and Heschel, and we鈥檒l contrast assumptions about what makes for a genuine and meaningful prayer in Jewish tradition and in American culture.In particular, we鈥檒ldiscuss our expectations of what happens when we pray and the possibilities that emerge when we don鈥檛 put ourselves at the center of the prayer experience. Along the way, we will touch on Thomas Aquinas, Quakerism, Thomas Merton and yoga, and the light they shed on traditional Jewish conceptions of prayer.
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Seeking and Offering Forgiveness: What are We Doing and How Do We Do It?
Aug 24, 2020 By Eliezer B. Diamond z”l | Public Event video | Video Lecture | Rosh Hashanah | Yom Kippur
Forgiveness is at the heart of the High Holy Days season, yet it is far from clear what we mean by this term. Employing insights from rabbinic sources,mussarliterature and psychology, we will think out loud about what we hope to achieve and how to achieve it as we seek forgiveness for ourselves and are asked to forgive others.
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God of the Faithful, God of the Faithless: Belief and Doubt in Prayer
Aug 17, 2020 By Jan Uhrbach | Public Event video | Video Lecture | Rosh Hashanah | Yom Kippur
Do we need 鈥渇aith鈥� in order to pray? Can synagogue services be worthwhile and meaningful even if we鈥檙e not sure what we believe? We are hardly the first generation to struggle with contradictions among our intellectual beliefs, traditional Jewish liturgy, and the act of prayer. What do biblical and rabbinic texts about prayer, and theprayerbookitself, teach us about these conflicts, and how can they help us connect to prayer even in times of doubt or faithlessness?
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When Jews Made Fellow Jews 鈥極ther鈥�: Hasidism and its Opponents
Mar 15, 2021 By David Fishman | Public Event video | Video Lecture
The Hasidim, followers of the Ba鈥檃l Shem Tov and his spiritual heirs, emerged in the 18th century with controversial ideas related to Jewish practice and belief. While Hasidim coexisted peacefully with non-Hasidim in many communities, theMitnagdim(鈥渙pponents鈥�) in many larger Jewish centers in Eastern Europe reacted to the Hasidim not only with condemnation, but with writs of excommunication and measures to persecute the members of the new movement. This internal Jewish religious strife led to the division of the community into rival 鈥渄enominations鈥� for the first time in nearly a thousand years. We will study the conflict between the Hasidim andMitnagdimand reflect on how the core principles of the dispute continue to shape our Jewish lives and guide our homes and institutions.
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From the Outside In:
How a History of Marginalization Affects Jewish Responses to Marginal Populations Today
May 10, 2021 By Daniel Nevins | Public Event video | Video Lecture
In the book of Numbers, the gentile prophet Balaam says that the people Israel are 鈥渁 nation that dwells apart.鈥� This has been both a blessing and a curse. How has the experience of marginalization defined Jewish identity? Join Rabbi Daniel Nevins to look at classical Jewish texts and then consider their implications for the role of Judaism in addressing marginalization in contemporary contexts.
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Entering Our Mother鈥檚 House:
The Book of Ruth as a Model for Welcoming the Other
May 3, 2021 By Amy Kalmanofsky | Public Event video | Video Lecture
The book of Ruth tells the story of a Moabite woman who marries an Israelite man and ensures the future of the house of Israel. Join Dr. Amy Kalmanofsky to examine how this remarkable book understands the formation of identity and how it offers a model of inclusion that remains relevant and essential today.
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Like It鈥擮r Not? The Existential Tension of Similarity and Difference
Apr 26, 2021 By Jan Uhrbach | Public Event video | Video Lecture
Foundational Jewish texts point to a series of irresolvable dilemmas or polarities at the heart of the human condition, among them the way in which each of us is bothlike, andunlike,allothers. How does this fundamental tension manifest in our personal relationships, our collective challenges, and our religious expressions, and what wisdom does our tradition offer to help us manage, and even grow from, our differences?
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