Around the Calendar with Drisha

Tisha B’Av 5780: ”’Megillat Eicha” followed by ”A Cry in the Night, Eicha as a Lamentation’” with Drisha Kollel Fellows and Rabbi David Silber

Tisha B’Av 5780: ”God who Suffers With: Diving Presence Amidst Pain” with Rabbi Julia Watts Belser

Jewish tradition has often mourned the destruction of the Temple by tying loss to collective transgression, evoked most poignantly through the liturgy’s lament mipnei hatatenu, “on account of our sins.”  But the Babylonian Talmud’s longest and most reflection on the destruction puts little emphasis on communal wrongdoing, and indict instead the brutality of state violence and Roman conquest. 
In this session, we’ll examine stories that grapple with Roman power and violence to explore how they imagine divine presence amidst pain, how they invite us to consider God not as one who stands apart, but one who suffers with.

Tisha B’Av 5780: ”Kinot” with Rabbi Daniel Reifman and Rabbanit Aliza Sperling

A discussion of selected kinot (dirges) from the Tisha B'Av liturgy.  Led by Rabbi Daniel Reifman and Rabbanit Aliza Sperling, this will be a chance to look closely at the themes of mourning and destruction central to Tisha B'Av and to connect them to our contemporary lives

Shavuot 5780: ”Revelation Revealed” (2/2) with Dr. Sam Lebens

A key tenet of Jewish faith, and the main theme of Shavuot (the festival of weeks), is the belief that there was a Divine revelation at Sinai. This 2-part course explores various interpretations of that event, and various theories of Jewish revelation in general. In part 1, we'll explore a much neglected puzzle regarding the revelation of the Torah.
Our texts will span the ages from Philo through the Talmud and Midrash, all the way to contemporary Jewish thinkers. Our discussions will shed new light on modern critiques of traditional belief from Biblical scholarship to archaeology.

Shavuot 5780: ”Revelation Revealed” (1/2) with Dr. Sam Lebens

A key tenet of Jewish faith, and the main theme of Shavuot (the festival of weeks), is the belief that there was a Divine revelation at Sinai. This 2 part class explores various interpretations of that event, and various theories of Jewish revelation in general.   In part 1, we explore a much neglected puzzle regarding the revelation of the Torah.
Our texts will span the ages from Philo through the Talmud and Midrash, all the way to contemporary Jewish thinkers. Our discussions will shed new light on modern critiques of traditional belief from Biblical scholarship to archaeology.

Shavuot 5780: ”Megillat Ruth, A Tale of Three Heroes: Boaz — Personal Virtue and the Art of Politics” with Rabbi David Silber

Part 3 of this 3 part series will focus on Boaz, one of the main characters of the book and will involve a close reading of the megillah and several of its intertexts.

Shavuot 5780: ”Megillat Ruth, A Tale of Three Heroes: Naomi — With Age Comes Wisdom” with Rabbi David Silber

Part 2 of this 3 part series will focus on Naomi, one of the main characters of the book and will involve a close reading of the megillah and several of its intertexts.

Shavuot 5780: ”Megillat Ruth, A Tale of Three Heroes: Ruth —Lessons Learned from the Outsider” with Rabbi David Silber

Part 1 of this 3 part series will focus on Ruth, one of the main characters of the book and will involve a close reading of the megilla and several of its intertexts.

Sefirat HaOmer 5780: ”The Rock-Headed Rabbi: Rabbi Akiva’s beginnings, Stories of Rabbi Akiva” with Miriam Gedwiser

The period of Sefirat ha-omer between Pesach and Shavuot is associated in rabbinic lore with Rabbi Akiva, and specifically the death of his students in a plague.  We will study aggadot about the the master teacher Rabbi Akiva himself - his humble beginnings, his family, his intellectual and emotional power, and his tragic end.

Pesach 5780: ”A Personal Exodus: Egypt as a Biblical Metapor in Biblical Texts - Personal Struggle” with Rabbi David Silber