To be delivered at GGS after Minchah, Shabbat HaGadol, 5777
From LSJS Website
Rabbi Moshe Shmuel Glasner (1854-1924) came from rabbinic aristocracy and was rabbi of Klausenberg in Romania. Remarkably, he was also a friend of Rav Kook, a fierce champion of independent Torah creativity and a charedi Zionist who saw in the return to the Land an opportunity to reinvent the Oral Law.
In this course we will study his influential essay on the future of Jewish Law, Dor Revi’i, as well as evaluating his views on rabbinic authority and his influence on thinkers such as Rabbi Professor Eliezer Berkovits and Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo.
Session 1: Rabbi Glasner: Charedi Zionist, Rabbinic Critic
This course will explore one of the most well-known and widely interpreted biblical episodes – the Binding (Akedah) of Isaac. Using classical Jewish sources, revisionist Hasidic ideas, Islamic and Christian texts, song lyrics and more, we will build a broader picture of this beloved but deeply troubling story.
As the Gates Close: The Timing and Purpose of Ne'ilah
To be delivered at GGS after Minchah, Shabbat Shuvah 5777
Primary Sources:
From the LSJS Website
In this course, Rabbi Belovski will explore some of the thorniest challenges to traditional Judaism of the past 200 years since the rise of Biblical Criticism. Issues considered will include: Divine authorship of the Torah. The Documentary Hypothesis (Higher Bible Criticism) as well as Lower Bible Criticism and Textual Integrity. This course will involve the study of Maimonides, Ibn Ezra and other commentators to understand responses to these challenges.
Session 1: Introduction
Session 2: Alternative Approaches to the Rambam Session 3: Selected Bases for the Documentary Hypothesis
From the LSJS website:
What does it mean to believe in God and what happens when someone has ‘doubts’?
How central is faith to Jewish practice?
Learn how Jewish law, thought and tradition approaches this issue.
Session 1: Introducing the Jewish God
Session 2: Believe vs. Practice
Session 3: I am God: The First Commandment
Session 4: Does Belief Change as we Grow Older? Session 5: Heresy in Judaism