Congregation Beth Sholom | Torah Lishmah: Learning for Learning’s Sake

Torah Lishmah: Learning for Learning’s Sake

Sponsored by Adina and Harman Grossman in honor of Harman’s 50th birthday
and supported by the Congregation Beth Sholom Adult Education Committee.

Click here to download a copy of the brochure for the weekend

Yeshivat Hadar is the first full-time egalitarian yeshiva in North America
Faculty and students from Yeshivat Hadar in Manhattan will transform Congregation Beth Sholom into a yeshiva for adult and young adult learners of all levels.
Engaging and immersive encounters with classical Jewish texts in both English and Hebrew, with tracks from beginner to advanced. All sessions are for all levels, except for one labeled advanced
Experience a mixture of havruta (one-on-one learning), shiurim (classes) and other learning formats, all with texts at their center.
Guided by Yeshivat Hadar faculty, we will learn together, and learn how to learn, in a vibrant, intimate, participatory setting.
The weekend will be complete with food, tefilah, song and laughter.
Try it out! Attend one, two or all of the sessions.
Please note: Through the generosity of Adina and Harman Grossman, the only fees for the weekend are for meals. There is no cost to attend any of the sessions, but we appreciate your advance registration so we can properly plan for each session.

7:45 p.m.: Shabbat Dinner
8:45 p.m.: Can Prayer Redeem Us? The Transformative Potential of Prayer
What do we hope will happen when we pray? Do we expect God to answer us? Or is there something about the very act of praying that is redemptive? In this session, we’ll explore a classic essay by one of the most influential Jewish religious thinkers of the last century and discover a surprising and potentially illuminating approach to these questions. Taught by Rabbi Shai Held

12:30 p.m.: Shabbat Lunch
1:30-3:30 p.m.: TWO SESSIONS TO CHOOSE FROM
- “Awake, Why Sleepest Thou, O Lord?!”: Divine Silence and Human Protest in the Theology of Abraham Joshua Heschel
  Heschel is usually thought of as a theologian of wonder. But he was also a man whose entire world was destroyed in the Shoah. In this session, we’ll explore Heschel’s complex religious response to the problem of evil in general, and of the Holocaust in particular. Taught by Rabbi Shai Held
- When Jewish Life Becomes Too Expensive: Must a Jew become impoverished in order to keep mitzvot?
  Jews have grappled with the cost of being Jewish for a long time. In pairs and as a group, we will study sources that reflect on how much we must sacrifice in order to keep mitzvot, as we engage the larger question of whether life conforms to the dictates of Torah or whether Torah is there to respond to the realities of life. Taught by Rabbi Ethan Tucker
6:15 p.m.: Seudah Shlishit with singing followed by Maariv/Havdalah
8:15 p.m.: Grappling with Difficult Texts: What do I do when the Talmud seems offensive?
In small group study, we will wrestle with troubling Talmudic texts regarding non-Jews. We will see how one leading 19th-century rabbi made peace with those texts, and ask how his response might speak to us today. Taught by Rabbi Ethan Tucker

8 a.m.: Breaking Free of the Text in Prayer Taught by Rabbi Ethan Tucker
9 a.m.: Shaharit and Breakfast
10 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.: TWO SESSIONS TO CHOOSE FROM
- How Can I Pray What I Don’t Believe?: Untane Tokef
  Are you troubled by reciting: “Who Shall Live and Who Shall Die?” every year on High Holidays? Does God really mete out just reward and punishment each year? Together we will examine the Untane Tokef prayer, look at its Biblical allusions, and discover its radically divergent internal theological approaches. Taught by Rabbi Elie Kaunfer
- How Maror Became Karpas (Advanced Session)
  In this session, geared towards those comfortable reading rabbinic texts in the original without translation, we will explore the evolution of the first dipping on the Seder night. Come prepared to experience the intersection between critical Talmud study and contemporary practice. Taught by Rabbi Ethan Tucker