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Part of our fall learning series, “Six Days Shall You Labor”: Perspectives on Work in Jewish Text and Tradition

Some of the most dramatic moments in the Tanakh describe the completion of work—the creation of the world (Genesis); the fabrication of the Tabernacle (Exodus); and the construction of the Temple (Chronicles).  In contrast, at the end of chapter 2 of Pirkei Avot, Rabbi Tarfon admonishes us that while we are under pressure with much work, a tight deadline, a penchant for laziness, and a demanding boss, nevertheless “it is not up to [us] to finish the work.” Join Dr. Alan Cooper to discuss the nature of this obligatory “work” that is perpetually in progress in view of both traditional commentary and modern reception. 

ABOUT THE SERIES

Many of us spend more time at work than anywhere else over the course of our lives—but are we defined by what we do? In this text-based series, 91�첥 scholars will explore ideas about the meaning of work and rest in Jewish tradition, Jewish social movements around work, as well as the roles that gender, geography, and shifting economic and social circumstances have played in Jews’ professional paths and our understandings of the meaning and value of work. 

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THIS SESSION IS GENEROUSLY SPONSORED BY YALE ASBELL, 91�첥 TRUSTEE, AND SHELLEY & JOHN HÉBERT IN LOVING MEMORY OF MOLLYE PLOTKA & REVEL SMOLKIN, AND WITH GRATITUDE TO THE DESCENDANTS OF SHIMA & VELYA CHAFETZ

Learn how you can sponsor a Monday learning session. Contact learninglives@jtsa.edu.

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Part of our fall learning series, “Six Days Shall You Labor”: Perspectives on Work in Jewish Text and Tradition

The grandparents or great grandparents of most American Jews were poor wage-earning workers from Eastern Europe. This session will explore the world of Jewish workers in Tsarist Russia, in particular the Jewish labor movement that arose at the end of the 19th��century. The movement organized strikes, underground trade unions, classes, and cultural activity for workers in Yiddish, and a Jewish socialist party known as the “Bund.” Its ideas and practices migrated to the United States and left a powerful imprint on American Jewish life.

�¾��ٳ���Dr. David Fishman,��Professor of Jewish History, 91�첥.

ABOUT THE SERIES

Many of us spend more time at work than anywhere else over the course of our lives—but are we defined by what we do? In this text-based series, 91�첥 scholars will explore ideas about the meaning of work and rest in Jewish tradition,��Jewish social movements around work, as well as the roles that gender, geography, and shifting economic and social circumstances have played in Jews’ professional paths and our understandings of the meaning and value of work.��

View all sessions in the series

Download Source Sheet

Part of the learning series,��“Six Days Shall You Labor”: Perspectives on Work in Jewish Text and Tradition

Toward the end of his life, Maimonides received a request from his translator and admirer in France: to come and visit the great rabbi and discuss with him the important matter of translating his most sensitive work,��The Guide of the Perplexed. In response, Maimonides waves off Samuel Ibn��Tibbon, the translator, recounting how busy he is.��The correspondence between Maimonides and his translator��is rich in detail, providing insight into Maimonides’��life as a renowned rabbi in medieval Egypt��as well as the��economic life of Jews in Fatimid Egypt during that time.��

But Maimonides was not always so busy: the story of his brother David, a successful merchant who once supported the family, tells of a different route to earning a livelihood. These two, intertwined models of working life are also a means of exploring how medieval rabbis navigated making a living while also studying and teaching, as well as how they were able to produce the great works they have handed down to us.

With 91�첥 alum��Dr. Tamar Marvin.

ABOUT THE SERIES

Many of us spend more time at work than anywhere else over the course of our lives—but are we defined by what we do? In this text-based series, 91�첥 scholars will explore ideas about the meaning of work and rest in Jewish tradition, Jewish social movements around work, as well as the roles that gender, geography, and shifting economic and social circumstances have played in Jews’ professional paths and our understandings of the meaning and value of work. 

View all sessions in the series

Download Source Sheet

Part of the series,��“Six Days Shall You Labor”: Perspectives on Work in Jewish Text and Tradition

Work can be uplifting; it can also be draining and demoralizing. This depends not only on what we do but on how we do it. We’ll look at Jewish sources that offer us different ways of thinking about work and some wisdom about how to make the work we do work for us.

With Rabbi Eliezer Diamond, Rabbi Judah Nadich Associate Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics.

THIS SESSION IS GENEROUSLY SPONSORED BY LORI AND MICHAEL GILMAN

Learn how you can sponsor a Monday learning session. Contact learninglives@jtsa.edu.

ABOUT THE SERIES

Many of us spend more time at work than anywhere else over the course of our lives—but are we defined by what we do? In this text-based series, 91�첥 scholars will explore ideas about the meaning of work and rest in Jewish tradition, Jewish social movements around work, as well as the roles that gender, geography, and shifting economic and social circumstances have played in Jews’ professional paths and our understandings of the meaning and value of work. 

View all sessions in the series

Download Source Sheet

Part of the series,��“Six Days Shall You Labor”: Perspectives on Work in Jewish Text and Tradition

We often think of the rabbis in the Talmud as��having careers as full-time rabbis.��However, numerous narrative traditions tell us about their other jobs and their financial struggles. If one cannot make a living learning Torah, how should we balance Torah with more mundane concerns? We’ll study some of these stories together��and��look at some models for lives that are enriched both by Torah and by work.��

THIS SESSION IS GENEROUSLY SPONSORED BY SUSAN AND STAN TENENBAUM

Learn how you can sponsor a Monday learning session. Contact learninglives@jtsa.edu.

ABOUT THE SERIES

Many of us spend more time at work than anywhere else over the course of our lives—but are we defined by what we do? In this text-based series, 91�첥 scholars will explore ideas about the meaning of work and rest in Jewish tradition, Jewish social movements around work, as well as the roles that gender, geography, and shifting economic and social circumstances have played in Jews’ professional paths and our understandings of the meaning and value of work. 

�¾��ٳ���Dr. Rachel Rosenthal, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Talmud and��Rabbinics, 91�첥.

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Part of the series,��“Six Days Shall You Labor”: Perspectives on Work in Jewish Text and Tradition

THIS SESSION IS GENEROUSLY SPONSORED BY JANE AND RABBI JEROME M. EPSTEIN IN HONOUR OF DEAN SHIRA D. EPSTEIN

Learn how you can sponsor a Monday learning session. Contact learninglives@jtsa.edu.

Early 20th century elementary school teaching became synonymous with being female, and particularly in NYC, with being the right kind of Jewish young woman.

In this session, led by��Dr. Shira D. Epstein, we will explore the sociocultural and historical forces that shaped this image of teachers, and how many of the discourses of what makes for an “effective teacher” have endured in Jewish settings.

View all sessions in series��

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Part of the series,��“Six Days Shall You Labor”: Perspectives on Work in Jewish Text and Tradition

October 25, 2021

This session will explore the historian Lucy S. Dawidowicz’s challenging essay, “The Business of American Jews: Notes on a Work in Progress” (1992), which called for a reassessment of Jewish economic social mobility as a positive value in Jewish life.

Today—in our moment of social justice reckoning—many Jews, particularly younger cohorts, express ambivalence about capitalism and the middle class, and the Jewish community’s “investment” in what they argue are systems of oppression and racism. The session will begin with a survey of earlier critiques of Jews and their concentration in the middle class, and then focus on Dawidowicz’s essay, which anticipated the current “economic turn” in American Jewish historiography, as a jumping off point for a discussion of what moral, social, and political challenges face the middle class Jewish community when that status is considered “privileged.”  

With 91�첥 alum��Dr. Nancy��Sinkoff, Professor of Jewish Studies and History,��Rutgers University.��

ABOUT THE SERIES

Many of us spend more time at work than anywhere else over the course of our lives—but are we defined by what we do? In this text-based series, 91�첥 scholars will explore ideas about the meaning of work and rest in Jewish tradition,��Jewish social movements around work, as well as the roles that gender, geography, and shifting economic and social circumstances have played in Jews’ professional paths and our understandings of the meaning and value of work.��

View all sessions in the series

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Part of the series, “Six Days Shall You Labor”: Perspectives on Work in Jewish Text and Tradition

 announces that, after working hard to create the world and humanity over the course of six days, God took a day off to celebrate the Sabbath. Other passages in the Bible build upon God’s day of rest to mandate that all created beings rest, and that heads of households ensure that everyone under their control be allowed to rest on the seventh day. Divine time, we learn, alternates between periods of creative work and deliberate rest.  But what does God’s work entail, how does God manage divine time, does God make time for leisure, and does God have a schedule?

In this class, we will examine rabbinic sources that ask these very questions, and probe the answers they give to understand how the ancient rabbis imagined God to work, rest, care for others, and enjoy leisure time.  Ultimately, we will contemplate how these sources encourage us to examine our own professional and personal commitments and align how we organize and use our work and leisure time with our values, so that we spend our time thoughtfully in the creation of a meaningful life and a just world.

With Dr. Sarit Kattan Gribetz, 91�첥 fellow and assistant professor of Classical Judaism, Fordham University.

ABOUT THE SERIES

Many of us spend more time at work than anywhere else over the course of our lives—but are we defined by what we do? In this text-based series, 91�첥 scholars will explore ideas about the meaning of work and rest in Jewish tradition, Jewish social movements around work, as well as the roles that gender, geography, and shifting economic and social circumstances have played in Jews’ professional paths and our understandings of the meaning and value of work. 

View all sessions in the series