Around the Calendar with Drisha

Tisha B’Av 5780: ”On Suffering and Metaphors: Limits and Opportunities” with Dr. Tammy Jacobowitz

The book of Eichah is saturated with metaphors that serve to capture a range of emotions in the wake of the destruction. The rabbis of the Midrash also draw on metaphor to grapple with the impact of loss, drastic change, guilt and anger. In this class, we will immerse ourselves in these metaphors, and consider the power and failings of using metaphor to navigate suffering. 

Tisha B’Av 5780: ”The Impossibility of Mourning: Zoharic Thoughts on the Interminability of Tisha b’Av” with Dr. Nathaniel Berman

“From the day the Temple was destroyed…” – with this phrase, Jewish tradition repeatedly insists that the Temple’s destruction irreparably damaged the cosmos, even the divine itself. We commemorate Tisha B’Av with many of the customs of mourning in our personal lives. Why can we not ever complete this mourning? Do we ever complete mourning in our personal lives? We will study some texts from the kabbalistic masterpiece, the Zohar, on what Tisha B’Av can teach us about mourning … and vice versa.

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.