Around the Calendar with Drisha

Rosh HaShanah 5777: ”Imagining a Different World: The Prayer of Chana” with Rabbi David Silber

In this session, we will look at the haftarah of the first day of Rosh Hashana (I Samuel 1:1-2:10) and use it to gain a better understanding of the holiday.

Shavuot 5776: ”Thoughts on Shavuot” with Rabbi Dr. Sam Lebens

Sam Lebens shares his thoughts on Shavuot.

Pesach 5776: ”Go Forth and Learn: Thoughts on the Haggadah” (2/2) with Rabbi David Silber

David Silber shares his thoughts on the Passover haggadah.

Pesach 5776: ”Go Forth and Learn: Thoughts on the Haggadah” (1/2) with Rabbi David Silber

David Silber shares his thoughts on the Passover haggadah.

Yom Kippur 5776: ”Themes of Yom Kippur as Reflected in Our Liturgy” with Rabbi David Silber

Through an examination of the Yom Kippur prayer service, we will uncover major themes of the holiday.

High Holidays 5776: ”Teshuva and Personal Identity” with Rabbi Dr. Sam Lebens

To what extent is it possible to become a new person? Is that what teshuva demands? What does the concept of repentance have to teach us about what and who we really are?

Rosh HaShanah 5776: ”What’s God Doing on Rosh Hashana” with Rabbi Dr. Sam Lebens

Do we believe that God is in time, or does He somehow stand outside of time? How is this question relevant to Rosh Hashana? Together we will think through some of these philosophical issues, and use them to interpret a puzzling Talmudic debate as to what we have to repent for each year.

Rosh HaShanah 5776: ”Themes of Rosh Hashana as Reflected in Our Liturgy” (2/2) with Rabbi David Silber

Through an examination of the Rosh Hashana prayer service, we will uncover major themes of the holiday.

Rosh HaShanah 5776: ”Sister Wives? Sarah, Hagar, and the Day of Judgment” with Miriam Gedwiser

The banishment of Ishmael and the Binding of Isaac - read on the first and second days of Rosh Hashana respectively - are often seen as companion stories of Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his own children for God. But what of the mothers in these stories, Sarah and Hagar?  We will examine the two characters, their differences as well as uncanny similarities, in order to understand the root of their opposition to each other.

Rosh HaShanah 5776: ”You Can’t Fix What Isn’t Broken: The Indispensable Errors of Religious and Spiritual Growth” with Dr. Rabbi Tsvi Blanchard

A Rosh Hashana paradox: The longer we live the more we understand our lives as a story and a journey. We all have our developing life narratives. But our stories and journeys are complex and complicated. Ironically, the best of who we are today sometimes derives in part from some of the most serious faults and misdeeds of our yesterday. Making mistakes, both moral and religious, seems necessary for our individual spiritual development and growth. Teshuva, however, requires regretting what we did wrong however necessary it was for our growth. In this class, we will explore Jewish texts and our own life experience that deal with the paradox of repentance in a world of indispensable moral and religious errors. What exactly is regret about errors that were necessary for our moral and religious growth?  How do we avoid using the idea of necessary errors as an excuse for bad behavior? Is the logic of regret the same for “necessary sins” against other people as for “necessary sins” against God? How can we sometimes consciously turn what was a sin into the origin of what is a positive good?