91快活林

Democratizing Education: Lessons from this Week鈥檚 Parashah

Sep 8, 2020 By Michal Raucher | Commentary | Nitzavim | Vayeilekh

Since the start of the stay-at-home orders in March, my eight-year-old son, Naftali, has studied Mishnah on Zoom in a 鈥淢ishnah Club鈥� for kids, taught by Rabbi Ethan Tucker (KS 鈥�06) of Hadar Institute. While my spouse teaches Mishnah to middle school students and my own scholarship involves a healthy feminist critique of the talmudic Rabbis, Naftali had never encountered rabbinic literature. I feared that Naftali might get lost in the complexity, become overwhelmed with the details, or confused by the logic of rabbis from 2000 years ago. I was also curious as to whether he would actually see himself in this discourse.

Joy Is a Radical Act

Sep 4, 2020 By Benjamin Freed | Commentary | Ki Tavo

鈥淎rt is a radical act. Joy is a radical act.鈥�
鈥擱ebecca Makkai, The World鈥檚 on Fire. Can We Still Talk About Books?

A few weeks ago, my fianc茅e and I re-watched the Disney/Pixar movie Inside Out, where anthropomorphized emotions work together and compete to control the feelings and actions of an 11-year-old named Riley. One of the primary lessons is that unchecked 鈥淛oy鈥� cannot by itself bring true happiness or properly prepare us for handling life鈥檚 more difficult moments. Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust all play a role in making us who we are, and we ignore those emotions at our own risk. As someone who strongly identifies with Amy Poehler鈥檚 peppy and unrelentingly optimistic 鈥淛oy鈥� character, this message is both sobering and powerful.

Faith, Forgiveness and Prayer: Finding Meaning in the Days of Awe

Aug 31, 2020 By Jan Uhrbach | Public Event video | Video Lecture | Rosh Hashanah | Yom Kippur

A series of online classes with 91快活林 faculty and staff

From Self-Interest to Self-Surrender: Confronting the Challenges of Prayer

Aug 31, 2020

Isaac Unbound: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam read the Offering of Abraham鈥檚 Beloved Son

Aug 31, 2020 By Burton L. Visotzky | Public Event video | Video Lecture

By reading texts from the New Testament, Church Fathers, and Quran we can see how Christians and Muslims read this seminal story. A medieval midrash shows how Rabbis responded to the interpretations of the other 鈥淎brahamic religions.鈥� The class concludes with a discussion of the problem with the ideology of martyrdom that all three religions read in the harrowing tale of Genesis 22.

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.

Who Are We?

Aug 28, 2020 By Stephanie Ruskay | Commentary | Ki Tetzei

The Jewish master narrative hinges on retelling our own story of being enslaved and freed by God to become a holy people. We tell this story repeatedly, and it is meant to wash over our souls and permeate our brains. Enslavement should feel real, as should the taste of freedom.

Covid, Triage, and Jewish Ethics

Aug 25, 2020 By 91快活林 | Public Event video

In the coming months we hope that an effective Covid vaccine will be approved, but it may take months to produce mass quantities. Who should receive priority status for the early batches? Front line health workers? People with high risk factorss? The elderly? Politicians? 

The ethical dilemma of triage can be divisive. What does Judaism teach about deciding who shall live and who shall die? A distinguished panel explores these timely issues. 

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.

Appoint Judges and Officials

Aug 21, 2020 By Marcus Mordecai Schwartz | Commentary | Shofetim

The year was 1752, the place Copenhagen, and Rabbi Yehonatan Eybeshutz, Chief Rabbi of Hamburg, Altona, and Wandsbeck, was on trial before the royal court of Denmark. King Frederick V himself was acting as the presiding judge. Altona was legally a province of Denmark, and the Altona City Council had turned to the king to resolve a controversy among the Jews that was breaking into violence in the streets. They had already tried placing Eybeshutz鈥檚 opponent in the matter, Rabbi Yaakov Emden, under house arrest. Emden鈥檚 escape to Amsterdam under cover of darkness made matters worse. The intensified presence of the city watch among the Jews only increased tensions. In desperation the burghers of Altona had turned to the king of Denmark.

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?

Gratitude During Challenging Times

Aug 14, 2020 By Malka Strasberg Edinger | Commentary | Re'eh

This week鈥檚 parashah begins with the verse专职讗值讛 讗指谞止讻执讬 谞止转值谉 诇执驻职谞值讬讻侄诐 讛址讬旨讜止诐 讘旨职专指讻指讛 讜旨拽职诇指诇指讛 變 / 鈥淏ehold, I set before you today blessings and curses鈥� (Deut. 11:26). Within the context of the biblical narrative, this verse refers to a choice given to the Israelites upon entering the Promised Land: they could either choose to follow God鈥檚 commandments and reap rewards, or not to follow God鈥檚 commandments and suffer negative consequences. The blessings and curses set before the Israelites are enumerated in Deuteronomy 27鈥�28, and were read publicly upon entering the Land, as recounted in Joshua 8:30鈥�35. 

Times of Crisis and Possibility

Aug 10, 2020 By 91快活林 | Public Event video | Video Lecture

A series of online classes exploring pivotal moments in the Jewish experience with 91快活林 faculty and fellows.

First Failures: Falling Apart and Starting Over in the Book of Genesis

Aug 10, 2020 By Jan Uhrbach | Public Event video | Video Lecture

The first book of the Torah is filled with stories of crisis, brokenness, disappointments, and failure, both human and Divine. What religiousmeaning can we derive from the Torah鈥檚 focus on failure rather than success? Through a close look at some of its key narratives, we will mine the Book of Genesis for strategies for living through difficulttimes, and as the grounding of a hopeful and resilient theology.

A Moment That Is Always Present

Aug 7, 2020 By Benjamin D. Sommer | Commentary | Eikev

Parashat Eikev is surrounded by matching bookends. The verse that ends the previous parashah, Va鈥檈t-岣�annan, and the verse that begins the subsequent parashah, Re鈥檈h, both contain the word, hayyom, or 鈥渢oday.鈥�

Halakhic Responses to Past Pandemics

Aug 3, 2020 By Daniel Nevins | Public Event video | Video Lecture

Our ancestors have contended with outbreaks of disease over the centuries, and rabbis have often responded with daring halakhic activism. We will focus in particular on the case of Rabbi Haim Yosef David Azulai, who served at as the rabbinic leader of Leghorn (Livorno) in Italy, the home of a quarantine facility.

The Wholeness of a Broken Tablet

Jul 31, 2020 By Naomi Kalish | Commentary | Va'et-hannan | Tishah Be'av

Parashat Va鈥檈t-hannan (Deut. 3鈥�7) is always read on Shabbat Nahamu鈥攖he 鈥淪habbat of Comfort鈥濃�攚hich falls immediately after Tishah Be鈥檃v, the day when we commemorate the destruction of the First and Second Temples. It receives its name from the opening line of the Haftarah: 鈥淐omfort, comfort, my people鈥� (Isaiah 40:1).

Israel鈥檚 Prophets as Innovators During Crisis

Jul 27, 2020 By Amy Kalmanofsky | Public Event video | Video Lecture

Prophets were social and political change-makers and theological mavericks. They offered bold responses to grave challenges that enabled their communities to survive crisis and that paved the way for Judaism. This session explores how prophets Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Isaiah offered innovation in the face of destruction.

Retelling the Past

Jul 24, 2020 By Sarah Wolf | Commentary | Devarim

Since the wave of protests in response to the murder of George Floyd, Americans have begun to reckon with the narratives many of us have taken for granted about our national past. As part of this national awakening, the legacies of some formerly beloved past leaders are being revisited. Demonstrators in Portland, Oregon, toppled a statue of Thomas Jefferson, a 鈥渇ounding father鈥� who also owned hundreds of slaves; the statue of Teddy Roosevelt in front of New York City鈥檚 American Museum of National History, which portrays him on horseback next to an African and a Native American man, has been removed. Although this is an unprecedented moment of introspection for the United States, we can turn to the Book of Devarim for some insight on what is at stake in telling and retelling the past.

American Jews and Race: Past, Present, and (Charting a) Future

Jul 21, 2020 By 91快活林 | Public Event video | Video Lecture

Our country currently faces a reckoning with structural racism. As Jews, we have faith that our tradition represents a moral voice for justice and equality. Yet we also recognize that we have often failed to fully heed that voice and so must confront the enduring influence of racial discrimination and white privilege in our community. 91快活林’s Hendel Center for Ethics and Justice presents a discussion with two leading thinkers on the issue.