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In Search of Abraham Joshua Heschel
Presented together with the "Emanu-El Reads" Program
Rabbi Michael Marmur
Thurs 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM
May. 1
One hundred years after the birth of Abraham Joshua Heschel, his influence as a versatile scholar and highly original thinker continues to grow. Study different ways in which Heschel, a pioneer of interfaith and social activism, is understood and appreciated today. Pay particular attention to the importance of Heschel in two environments that were not always hospitable to his thought: Reform Judaism and the State of Israel.

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Letter from an Unknown Woman: Joseph's Dream
Dr. Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg
Thurs 8:00 PM - 9:00 PM
May. 8
Joseph dreams provocative dreams. His brothers' hatred grows because of them; Jacob apparently dismisses them. But according to Freud, all dreams contain a "navel," a spot that defies understanding, that "reaches into the unknown." In the midrash, that unfathomable element in the lives of Jacob and Joseph is represented by Rachel, the "unknown woman" in their narrative. Literature, film, and psychoanalytic thought will enrich our study.

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A Musical Journey Through Jewish History
The William Rosenwald and Ruth Israels Rosenwald Course in Contemporary Jewish History
Dr. Jasmin Bey Cowin
Tues 12:30 PM - 2:15 PM
May. 6, 13, 20, 27 Jun. 3
Explore the rich traditions of Ladino music, Hasidic melodies, Sephardic love songs, and Polish shtetl music. Look at Jewish composers, Judaism as portrayed in opera, and music in the concentration camps. Finally, travel to Israel without leaving the classroom to experience its rich tradition of folk song and to take a closer look at Israel's classical music life. Multi-media lectures will be interactive, participatory, and accompanied by live harp performances.

Note: This course meets five times instead of six, with each class lasting one hour and forty-five minutes.

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Hebrew, In the Original: Level 2
Michal Nachmany
Tues 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM
May. 6, 13, 20, 27 Jun. 3, 17
"In the Original" is designed for those who want to read the Bible and other Hebrew texts. This course is designed for those who have completed Level 1 and for anyone else who can read Hebrew and now wants to begin to understand it. Aided by a dynamic, patient, and masterful teacher, you will begin to understand a bit of the Bible, prayer book, and more—in the original Hebrew!

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Homeland and Exile
The Leon Finley Course in Jewish Studies
Basmat Hazan Arnoff
Tues 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM
May. 6, 13, 20, 27 Jun. 3, 17
Jewish reality has swayed back and forth between the Promised Land and Exile since the dawn of the Jewish people. Through an encounter with both ancient and contemporary texts, trace how the themes of homeland and exile have been refracted through the prism of the personal and the national, the mythic and the historic.

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Understanding the Relationship Between Judaism and Christianity
The Jane Moyse Gilder Course in Jewish History
Yoram Bitton
Tues 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM
May. 6, 13, 20, 27 Jun. 3, 17
Judaism and Christianity have been compared to a mother and daughter who have a complex and intricate relationship. Explore this relationship from the founding of Christianity through the Middle Ages by comparing ancient ideas found in Rabbinic texts, writings of the Church fathers, and contemporary scholarship. Learn how these two great religions at times lived in harmony with each other and, at other times, fought with each other, by studying their respective customs and rituals including holidays, prayers, manuscripts, and symbols.

Interested in this course? Also see "Reading the Quran Through Jewish Eyes."

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Literature of Jewish Life in America: Three Views
Anne Roiphe
Tues 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM
May. 6, 13, 20, 27 Jun. 3, 17
Read A Bintel Brief: Sixty Years of Letters from the Lower East Side to the Jewish Daily Forward, Herman Wouk's Marjorie Morningstar, and Phillip Roth's The Counterlife to gain insight into three views of Jewish life in America. Through the characters and communities portrayed in this literature, discover how Jews historically responded to the challenge of America and what America made of the Jews who appeared on its shores. Discuss the entire American Jewish experience, including assimilation, the return to one's roots, suburbia, and the relationship of American Jews to Israel.

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Writers' Beit Midrash: Creative Non-Fiction
Shelly R. Fredman
Tues 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
May. 6, 13, 20, 27 Jun. 3, 17
Join a group of creative non-fiction and memoir writers to explore texts that inspire and amaze us, encourage us to wrestle with meaning, and stimulate the connections between our writing and our lives. The Writers' Beit Midrash includes text study, in which we will delve into the theme of "Service and Sacrifice," and a workshop, in which students will receive critique and support from a professional writer and fellow students. Engaging discussions will spur creativity and spark imaginative exchange. Interested applicants should submit a writing sample to sample@adultjewishlearning.org with their registration.

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Transitions and Anxiety: Rites of Passage in Judaism
The Harrison S. Kravis Course in Jewish Studies
Dr. Neil Gillman
Tues 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM
May. 6, 13, 20, 27 Jun. 3, 17
Transitions create anxiety. That is why transitional moments in the day, month,week, year, and lifetime tend to become ritualized. The academic word for these transitions is "liminal," which simply means "thresholds." From the broadest perspective, every human life is marked by many transitions, the most significant ones being birth, puberty, marriage, and death. Every religion has devised ways of celebrating these transitions and locating them within the context of that religion’s distinctive stance regarding the meaning of a human life. This course will primarily study Judaism’s understanding of three of those transitions: birth, marriage, and death.

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Rediscovering the Weekly Torah Portion
The Hans A.Vogelstein Course in Jewish Studies
Arlene Agus
Wed 12:30 PM - 2:00 PM
May. 7, 14, 21, 28 Jun. 4, 11
Each week, in communities throughout the world, Jews read an identical section of the Torah in an annual cycle that is both study and ritual. This semester, conclude Leviticus and embark on a journey through Numbers. Consider the desert wanderings as the infancy and adolescence in a “national biography” of this motherless people, and sharpen the distinctions between p’shat, the plain meaning of the text, and drash, a more metaphorical or symbolic reading of the text. Examine insights from 2500 years of biblical commentary in light of the disciplines of science, architecture, art, philosophy, and mysticism.

Note: This course features all new material and is appropriate for students who have taken it in previous semesters.

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Bar Kokhbah and the Rabbis: Making and Recounting Catastrophe
Dr. Motti Arad
Wed 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM
May. 7, 14, 21, 28 Jun. 4, 11
Sixty-five years separate the two catastrophes of Talmudic time: the destruction of the Second Temple (70 CE) and the destruction of Jewish Judaea (135 CE).The Talmud is not necessarily a reliable history book, but it can teach us about the history of the years between the wars, the atrocities at Beitar, and rebuilding Jewish life in the Galilee after the war. By comparing the various layers of the Talmud and Midrash, learn about the role that religious ideology and leadership played in these events, about Rabbinic self-criticism and self-righteousness, and about the place of reality and myth in Talmudic retellings of catastrophe.

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Moses and the Women in His Life
The Robert S. and Kimberly R. Kravis Course in Jewish Studies
Dr. Diane M. Sharon
Wed 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM
May. 7, 14, 21, 28 Jun. 4, 11
From his birth to his death, the life of Moses was marked by the women who loved him, challenged him, protected him, and subverted him. Examine selected texts in the biblical books of Exodus and Numbers, looking at the relationships between Moses and the women in his life. From his most intimate relationships—-with his mother, Yocheved; his sister, Miriam; and his wife, Zipporah--to the women of tribal Israel and of other nations, they pushed him to his limits and beyond.

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Sitting Under the Palm Tree of Deborah: Everyday Ethics Through a Kabbalistic Lens
The Hortense Jordan Course in Ethics
Dr. David Greenstein
Wed 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM
May. 7, 14, 28 Jun. 4, 11, 18
What is the relationship between our theology and our ethics? How can the way we imagine God affect how we lead our daily lives? One answer was produced by Rabbi Moses Cordovero in Safed. That remarkable community of scholars, poets, and mystics, ensconced in the northern hills of the Land of Israel, came together and changed the face of Judaism, and Moses Cordovero was one of its greatest rabbis. Along with his voluminous writings on all areas of kabbalistic wisdom, he produced a small instructive treatise, Tomer D'vorah (The Palm Tree of Deborah), that strove to show how the most profound kabbalistic teachings could have practical applications by teaching us how to live as ethical human beings.

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Reading the Quran Through Jewish Eyes
The Pincus Family Course in Jewish Studies
Dr. David Kraemer
Wed 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM
May. 7, 14, 21 Jun. 4, 11, 18
The Quran is filled with stories and laws that a Jew familiar with his or her own tradition will immediately recognize. But a close reading and comparison of some of these teachings underscore some perplexing differences. How are we to understand this tradition that claims to perfect mine but is different from mine? In this class, read sections of the Quran that raise such questions for the Jewish reader and try to make sense of the relationship between these two great monotheistic traditions.

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Is Torah Equal to Everything?: The Meaning of Study for the Rabbis
Rabbi Leon A. Morris
Wed 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM
May. 7, 14, 21, 28 Jun. 4, 11
The early Rabbis transformed Judaism from a biblical religious system centered primarily on the Temple and sacrifice to one focused primarily on study and interpretation. In their elevation of study as a form of divine service, how did the Rabbis understand the notion of talmud Torah (Torah study)? What is the purpose and value of study? Was it necessary for them that study lead to action, or was study an end in itself? What does a system based upon study say about the nature of God, revelation, and democracy? Analyze what the Rabbis wrote about this most basic concept of Jewish life and explore the mitzvah of study and its relevance for today.

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Early Morning Talmud: Rabbinic Attitudes Towards Non-Jews
Dr. Motti Arad
Thurs 7:30 AM - 9:00 AM
May. 8, 15, 22, 29 Jun. 5, 12
Investigate Rabbinic attitudes toward non-Jews—-their pagan neighbors and the people they met in the marketplace—-as expressed in the Talmud. Some of the Rabbis expressed a basic sense of human equality toward gentiles, while other Rabbinic statements betray contempt and even hostility. Explore whether these differences reflect broader differences in Rabbinic ideology toward the world outside of Torah study. Finally, address the question of whether Christians were considered Jewish or gentile and delve into how such questions were answered.

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