Rabbinic Literature
We turn to our tradition for answers to the greatest questions of our times: how to handle the messy business of love, sex and relationships.
In this course, we’ll dive into texts across the Jewish canon, from Torah to Mishnah, Talmud to the Legal Codes, exploring questions of “What does it mean to love someone,” “What does a holy, healthy sex life look like,” and “Is there such thing as permitted, sacred sex outside of marriage?”
No topics are off limits for the rabbis! We turn to our Jewish texts as a jumping off point for our own exploration of what it means to be in a relationship.
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Is there a right way to question authority? Should I speak out on every issue or choose my battles? What role should shame and humiliation play? When can I leverage power-dynamics, and when should I just keep quiet? In this 10-session course we will explore Jewish stories where our ancestors pushed back on the authority of their government and society, of their own Jewish leadership and even of God.
This course was inspired by the book Why Be Jewish? by Edgar Bronfman.
This course was made in partnership between Project Zug and Samuel Bronfman Foundation. The course was inspired Edgar Bronfman’s book, Why Be Jewish? which can be purchased on Amazon.
Visiting the sick is an important Jewish value. We learned this as children, and yet many of us still avoid the actual visit. Illness is complicated for both the one who is sick, and for the visitor. What do we say? How long do we stay? Where do we sit? What is the real purpose of the visit?
"Visiting the Sick" will explore a familiar topic from a uniquely Talmudic perspective and delve into the dynamic between visitor and visited.
This course is designed for someone with some previous Talmud study experience, and also for those interested in exploring this important topic.
Parenting young children, while often a blessing, can sometimes be an isolating experience. Now and then, we all need to talk to another grown-up. This course was created in partnership between Project Zug and Kveller to offer parents a way to meet and connect (digitally, or in person) through exploring what it means to be a Jewish parent.
This 4-session course uses text-study as a mode to explore the multiple demands and values that are constantly tugging at Jewish parents. What from your own parent(s) are you trying to pass on to your kids? When should you prioritize yourself over your kids? What does it meant to raise a child as Jewish?
The course was created by Rabbi Avi Killip, Kveller reader, mom to three young children, and Director of Project Zug at Mechon Hadar.
The Jewish people have long been called the People of the Book, a fitting name given our deep love for the Jewish textual tradition. For hundreds of years, we've pored over the same sacred texts in an attempt to unlock their wisdom, understand their relevance, and take part in a dialogue and debate that spans generations. Yet, it can be difficult to enter into this conversation without having a good sense of what these foundational books are, how they work, and how to best bring them into our own libraries and lives.
In this course, we'll take a close look at the essential core texts that make up the Jewish Bookshelf beginning with the Torah. In the course of our study, we will learn not only what these texts are and how they work but we'll use them as an entryway into conversations about creation in the Torah, self-defense in rabbinic texts, and revelation through the eyes of modern thinkers.
How do we define prosperity? What material and non-material goods are needed for a meaningful, fulfilling life? This course will explore a variety of traditional and non-traditional sources that engage the question of our relationship to money, happiness, and the good life.
This course was created in collaboration with Limmud, based on material collected by Limmud Galil for Limmud's Chavruta Project.
Since the dawn of human history, different cultures have drawn a connection between femininity and nature, fertility, earth, water and rain. Notable examples are Tiamit (Chaos) of Mesopotamian mythology, the god of salt water and the female foundation in the Babylonian story of creation, or Thetis, the water goddess in Greek mythology.
Many expressions and images that stemmed from this cultural affiliation are embedded in both modern-day English and Hebrew (mother-earth, virgin ground, mother-nature, and others). What is the nature and what are the significances, both in ancient times and today, of this connection? Do these images contribute toward proper relations between the sexes or damage them? How do images of femininity assist us in understanding our Jewish ancestors' perceptions regarding women, and are they relevant today in Israel or the Diaspora?
The course will deal with a selection of stories and maxims from the Talmud and Midrash that deal with the existence or lack of rain, with the cycle of water in nature, and with the Israeli climate, while making use of feminine and masculine images. We will engage in a discussion of the relationships between God and God's people, between men and women, and between Jews from different geographic locations.
This is a great course for people who are new to Talmud study.
Avraham smashing the idols, Vashti sprouting a tail, and the very fact that the Torah was created 974 generations before creation. Many of the stories Jews (and other readers of scripture) tell about the characters in Tanakh are not found there, but are contained in a large body of literature called Midrash.
How did Midrash come to be, and how old is it? How do practitioners of midrash decide what stories to tell, and did they actually think they were part of scripture?
In this course we learn the tools of learning midrash as a sophisticated and rich method of reading scripture, from its beginnings to the eighth century, but mostly through conversations on and close readings of "classical midrash," redacted in 4th century Palestina/Eretz Israel.
**This course is going to take an academic look at how midrash is structured. If you have experience learning midrash and have always wondered how it "works," this is the course for you. This course will not be an intro to midrashic stories.**
Jews and Christians often say, "Christianity is about beliefs, but Judaism is about actions." It turns out that that's not true – as either a description of the Jewish tradition or in terms of our lived experience of being Jewish in the world: what we believe matters, and it always has.
This class will study a series of related theological and existential question. Are we commanded to believe in God? What if we just can't believe? Does it matter more what we know about God and Judaism, or how we feel towards God and Judaism? The course will examine these questions through the debate between the two greatest medieval Jewish philosophers: Maimonides and his critic, R. Hasdai Kreskas.
We will take up these questions as both intellectual and spiritual concerns, seeking to both understand the ideas of others and to clarify and deepen our own understanding of the world in which we live.
Food is a powerful force at the center of ritual, community and ethics. This class will explore all of these aspects of food by studying passages on food found across the six Orders of the Talmud. How can the act of eating become a practice of gratitude? Who should receive food as charity, and how much? What rights do field-workers have?
Jumping into the lively debate of Talmud will pave the way for rich discussion to affirm, challenge and transform our own approaches to food.