Download Sources  | Download Presentation

Part of the series, The Dynamics of Change 

It鈥檚 human nature to build and rebuild, organize and disorganize. Institutions both large and small are grappling with the challenging tasks of shaping the present and future.  Rabbi Stephanie Ruskay, Associate Dean of The Rabbinical School, 91快活林, will lead us in a process of exploring communal narratives and asking provocative questions that help us discover solutions.  

Special guest speakers include Joy Friedman, Director of Organizing at Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism and Rabbi David Baum, Congregation Shaarei Kodesh. They will share their models of relational work and transformative change, helping us imagine a Jewish future in which we want to live.  

Download Sources

Part of the series, The Dynamics of Change 

With Annabel Gottfried Cohen, MRes, PhD student in Modern Jewish Studies, 91快活林, and curator of Living Yiddish in New York exhibit, 91快活林 Library  

For newly arrived Jewish immigrants, New York was a city of contradictions. Here they experienced freedoms and opportunities they hadn鈥檛 enjoyed in the 鈥渙ld country,鈥� allowing for the development of a mass popular culture that was at once Yiddish and American. Yet for many Jews, the pace of change was too fast, representing the decline of traditional Jewish values and cultures. Meanwhile, for those who found success on the Yiddish stage, screen, and in the press, America was indeed a 鈥済olden country,鈥� but the vast majority of Jewish immigrants lived in extreme poverty and hardship. Home to the first popular Yiddish press and the world鈥檚 biggest Yiddish theater district, New York was also soon home to a sizeable Jewish labor movement and an important center for the transnational Jewish left. Using materials featured in the 91快活林 Library鈥檚 exhibition, we learn about Jewish immigrants in late-19th to early鈥�20th century New York, and the various ways that they embraced, resisted, and demanded change. 

About the Series

Change is an integral part of life and a central feature of the Jewish experience. Join 91快活林 scholars for an in-depth exploration of significant changes鈥攔eligious, political, and personal鈥攖hroughout Jewish history and life. Together we鈥檒l consider core questions such as: What inspires change? What circumstances are most conducive to change, and what (or who) drives it? How do we experience change and adapt to its impact? How can Jewish values and ideas inspire us to change the world for the better?   

Download Sources 莯 Supplemental Sources

Part of the series, The Dynamics of Change 

With Dr. Michal Raucher, 91快活林 Fellow and Associate Professor of Jewish Studies at Rutgers University 

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. 

ABOUT THE SERIES

Change is an integral part of life and a central feature of the Jewish experience. Join 91快活林 scholars for an in-depth exploration of significant changes鈥攔eligious, political, and personal鈥攖hroughout Jewish history and life. Together we鈥檒l consider core questions such as: What inspires change? What circumstances are most conducive to change, and what (or who) drives it? How do we experience change and adapt to its impact? How can Jewish values and ideas inspire us to change the world for the better?   

Download Sources

Part of the series, The Dynamics of Change 

This session has generously been sponsored by Yale Asbell, 91快活林 Trustee.

With Dr. Benjamin Sommer, Professor of Bible and Ancient Semitic Languages, 91快活林 

Professor Sommer will use laws pertaining to the Sabbath and Passover to show how ritual law evolved in the Bible. During the session, he will offer examples that provide evidence of legal evolution within the Torah itself. These examples will show how the revision and remaking of Jewish law begins neither in modern times nor with the Rabbis of the Talmudic era but with the sages and scribes of biblical Israel. 

ABOUT THE SERIES 

Change is an integral part of life and a central feature of the Jewish experience. Join 91快活林 scholars for an in-depth exploration of significant changes鈥攔eligious, political, and personal鈥攖hroughout Jewish history and life. Together we鈥檒l consider core questions such as: What inspires change? What circumstances are most conducive to change, and what (or who) drives it? How do we experience change and adapt to its impact? How can Jewish values and ideas inspire us to change the world for the better?   

Download Sources

Part of the series,听The Dynamics of Change听

With Dr. Eitan Fishbane, Professor of Jewish Thought, 91快活林 

The term听tikkun, 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 understand听tikkun olam听as an act of healing the Divine Self, which has the potential of bringing God closer to our world. This is often referred to as 鈥渢heurgy鈥� in the study of religion. The mystics believed that our human actions in this world have the power to effect change and transformation within God鈥檚 very self!听What is more, we will explore how听tikkun听was used in describing the process of mending one鈥檚 moral and devotional life, sometimes referred to as听tikkun ha-middot. This process of听tikkun听as personal growth and positive change听was also understood to have a broader theurgic effect upon the healing or repair of God.

ABOUT THE SERIES 

The Dynamics of Change听

Change is an integral part of life and a central feature of the Jewish experience. Join 91快活林 scholars for an in-depth exploration of significant changes鈥攔eligious, political, and personal鈥攖hroughout Jewish history and life. Together we鈥檒l consider core questions such as: What inspires change? What circumstances are most conducive to change, and what (or who) drives it? How do we experience change and adapt to its impact? How can Jewish values and ideas inspire us to change the world for the better?   

Download Sources 莯 Download Presentation

Part of the series, The Dynamics of Change 

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

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. 

ABOUT THE SERIES 

The Dynamics of Change 

Change is an integral part of life and a central feature of the Jewish experience. Join 91快活林 scholars for an in-depth exploration of significant changes鈥攔eligious, political, and personal鈥攖hroughout Jewish history and life. Together we鈥檒l consider core questions such as: What inspires change? What circumstances are most conducive to change, and what (or who) drives it? How do we experience change and adapt to its impact? How can Jewish values and ideas inspire us to change the world for the better?

Download Sources

Part of our the series, The Dynamics of Change 

With Dr. Alan Cooper, Elaine Ravich Professor of Jewish Studies, 91快活林 

When we sing the hymn Yigdal, 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 that may be 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. 

ABOUT THE SERIES 

The Dynamics of Change 

Change is an integral part of life and a central feature of the Jewish experience. Join 91快活林 scholars for an in-depth exploration of significant changes鈥攔eligious, political, and personal鈥攖hroughout Jewish history and life. Together we鈥檒l consider core questions such as: What inspires change? What circumstances are most conducive to change, and what (or who) drives it? How do we experience change and adapt to its impact? How can Jewish values and ideas inspire us to change the world for the better?

Download Sources

Part of our the series,听The Dynamics of Change听

With Dr. Yael Landman, Assistant Professor of Bible, 91快活林

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. 

View all sessions in the series

ABOUT THE SERIES 

The Dynamics of Change 

Change is an integral part of life and a central feature of the Jewish experience. Join 91快活林 scholars for an in-depth exploration of significant changes鈥攔eligious, political, and personal鈥攖hroughout Jewish history and life. Together we鈥檒l consider core questions such as: What inspires change? What circumstances are most conducive to change, and what (or who) drives it? How do we experience change and adapt to its impact? How can Jewish values and ideas inspire us to change the world for the better?