Shabbaton Brochure

SESSION ALEPH Friday 7:30-8:40 p.m.

A. The Power and Meaning of Un’taneh Tokef Rabbi Lee Paskind The much-beloved prayer Un’taneh Tokef has been called the heart and soul of the Rosh Hashanah davening. But where does it come from? What is the power of its attraction for Ashkenazic Jews? And how does it exert that same ability to capture our feelings and emotions today?

B. The History and Teachings of Turkey’s Secret Messianic Jews (Donmeh) Rabbi David Bockman In the seventeenth century, Shabtai Zvi was all the rage in Turkey, Greece, and even reaching to the shores of what is now America. We’ll explore the history of the antinomian Zvi and his “prophet” (Natan of Gaza), as well as the people who continue to follow those ideas today on the Donmeh of the Internet!

C. Discontented Jews: Elisha ben Abuya, Uriel da Costa, and Mordecai Kaplan—Positive and Negative Discontent Rabbi Ned Soltz Torah, its understanding, its application, and its followers (Jews) bring many of us contentment and comfort. But what about those Jews for whom Torah evoked significant discontent? We’ll profile a few discontented Jews and both the positive and negative results of that discontentment.

D. We Are One? The Cleaving of the American Jewish Community Andrew Silow-Carroll Jews have always argued among themselves, but always felt a common cause, whether it was internal (Israel, the rescue of other Jews) or external (emancipation, anti-anti-Semitism). But today’s frays run deep, and common cause is elusive. Can anything turn “a people apart” into Am Echad?

E. Freedom from Whom, for Whom, and for What? Exploring the Meaning of Passover as Z’man Heruteinu, a Festival of Freedom Rabbi Eliezer Diamond For most liberal Jews herut means freedom from oppression, and for all peoples, not just Jews. It is this understanding of herut that informs many contemporary Seder celebrations. However, the traditional Haggadah narrative is based on a different conception. What is it, and what meaning does it hold for us?

F. The Story of Noah and the Ark in Children’s Literature Dr. Ofra A. Backenroth We will read excerpts of books by Shulamit Tzarfati, Yael Molchadsky, Gil Kopatch, and Meir Shalev. This class will be taught in Hebrew.

G. The Zohar and the Art of Mystical Narrative Dr. Eitan Fishbane Following the publication of Eitan’s new book delving into the poetic artistry of the Zohar, we will explore this masterly mystical interpretation of the Torah. In the context of medieval Spanish literature, both Jewish and Christian, we will trace how the Zohar strives to capture the mysterious, almost ineffable dimension of being.

H. P’sukei d’What? Eric Segal and Cantor Ronit Wolff Hanan Ever wonder what goes on before 9:30 on a Shabbat morning? Explore the beauty, the magic, and the majesty of P’sukei D’zimrah [verses of song] through its poetry and music. Discover how these under-appreciated texts and melodies (old and new) can help us connect to our individual and collective yearnings and take on new meaning for each of us.

SESSION BET Saturday 1:30-2:40 p.m.

J. Jewish Power and Jewish Responsibility—An Ongoing and Evolving Conversation Rabbi Rachel Kahn-Troster The past two years have shaken the Jewish sense of stability in contemporary America: anti-Semitism and white nationalism seemed to reappear overnight in the corridors of power and in the streets, with horrifically violent consequences. The group will reflect on the challenges of Jewish social justice activism in today’s political and social climate, consider Jewish models for relating to complicated figures in power and as coalition partners, wrestle with questions around issues of security, and hear stories from the front lines of #Jewishresistance.

K. So That’s What It Really Means—the Rabbis Rewrite the Torah Rabbi Joyce Newmark The Torah is, of course, a Divine document, so it contains no mechanism for amendment. Yet the Rabbis found a number of mitzvot whose p’shat (plain meaning) was problematic. So they plumbed the text for clues to the “real” meaning hidden in the text. In this session, the group will look at three examples of how the Rabbis rewrote the text without changing it: ben sorer u’moreh (the rebellious son), ayin tahat ayin (an eye for an eye), and sotah (the suspected wife).

L. Don’t Make Waves: How Traditional Views on Jewish Minority Status Continue to Affect Judaism and Impact Where We Have Been and Where We Should Be Going in the Future Rabbi Joel Pitkowsky Join Rabbi Pitkowsky for a discussion about the future of Jews as a minority in the United States and also how the conversation is similar and yet vastly different in Israel, where Jews are a majority.

M. Milton as Midrash Dr. Michael Popkin In Paradise Lost, the greatest epic poem in the English language, John Milton retells the story of Adam and Eve and in so doing expands fewer than fifty verses of the Torah into more than ten thousand. Milton (who knew Hebrew) may have expressed his discontent with the Torah by subconsciously identifying with Satan, a fallen angel who takes the form of a serpent in order to tempt Eve. According to William Blake, “Milton was of the devil’s party without knowing it.” This session will consider that idea, explain why feminists hate this poem so much, and answer the question posed by Indiana Jones: “Why does it have to be snakes?”

N. Fourteen Lessons for Life from Two Great Spiritual Teachers, Rabbi Arthur Green and Thich Nhat Hanh Rabbi Aryeh Meir Both of these wonderful teachers, Rabbi Arthur Green and Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh, have distilled their wisdom for a full spiritual life into fourteen brief lessons. The group will discuss and compare their teachings and see how they may aid them in their personal search for a life of greater harmony and fulfillment.

O. Reading the Talmud in the Era of #Metoo Rabbi Julia Andelman Power dynamics in the realm of gender and sexual relations are at the forefront of everyone’s minds at this moment. Many of these issues—the nature of consent; appropriate boundaries in private and in public; the believability of alleged victims (and of women in general); the significance of shame and other aftereffects of violation—were addressed both implicitly and explicitly by the Rabbis of Late Antiquity, whose approaches to gender and sexuality have shaped Judaism down to this day. In this session, we will look closely at a few Talmudic texts and consider their contemporary resonance in the era of #metoo.

P. The Conversation of a Lifetime Sarah Monchar, Adina Avery Grossman & Harman Grossman Panel Discussion Facilitated by Caryn Loffman Nine out of ten people say that talking with their loved ones about end-of-life care is important, but only 27% have actually done so. We will lead a panel discussion introducing the topic of choosing a healthcare proxy and discussing end-of-life wishes from a professional/bioethical (Sarah), personal (Adina), and halakhic (Harman) point of view. The discussion will be followed up later this winter. Come learn how to start the most important conversation of your life!

SESSION GIMMEL Saturday 3:30-4:40p.m.

Q. Melody and Meaning for Shabbat Tefillah Cantor Estelle Epstein For as long as the Torah has been chanted aloud, music has served as an aid to clarify pronunciation and parsing, adding meaning to Jewish texts. Beginning with this model, we will consider the use of melodies from other sources to chant liturgical texts from Maariv, Musaf, and maybe even Shaharit.

R. Rabbi Goes Bad—The Life and Times of Elisha ben Abuya Rabbi Iscah Waldman In this class, the group will look at what made the famous Rabbi— teacher of Rabbi Meir and contemporary of Rabbi Akiva—leave Judaism and become a heretic. What can we learn about him from classic Talmudic legend and lore and what do we learn about the rabbis who erased his very name from their teachings and declared him the ultimate “Other”?

S. Talk about Discontents—Moses and His Family Dr. Stephen Garfinkel Moses was a powerful communal leader and an unmatched public figure in the Torah. In this session we’ll explore some of his dealings at home and with his family—wife, kids, siblings, and cousins—as we try to uncover a bit more about the “private” Moses.

T. Is Holocaust Cinema Good for the Jews? Eric Goldman We will consider Holocaust films made across the world these past seventy-four years and how cinema both reflects and affects memory and an understanding of the Shoah. Why were they made and what impact did they have? Elie Wiesel famously wrote that he believed that cinema and television depictions of the Holocaust “trivialized” the Shoah. Attendees are encouraged to stream both the 2012 Polish film Aftermath and the 2017 Hungarian film 1945 (both available on Amazon Prime) prior to the session, though it is not required.

U. How Does Transformation Happen? The Civil Rights Movement in Jewish Perspective Dennis Klein, Libby Klein, Bruce Prince, and Stacey Lieberman Last summer, the four of us headed south to Alabama and Mississippi by way of Memphis to rediscover the spirit of landmark historical change. We recognized not only the significant contributions Jews made to the civil rights movement but also how highlights from that expedition reminded us of our Jewish tradition’s own commitment to social justice. This is an expansion of our previous Selihot program.

V. The Gender of God in Ancient Israel Professor Benjamin Sommer While most biblical texts seem to assume that God is a male, there are some surprising exceptions. In this session, the group will examine several texts from Genesis and Isaiah, as well as relevant material found in the archaeological record from ancient Israel, while also glancing forward to medieval Jewish echoes of these ancient perceptions of God. This class will be taught in accessible Hebrew.

CLOSING SESSION Saturday 5:00-6:00 p.m.

Can “Truth” Be Compromised for the Sake of Peace? Rabbi J.J. Schacter Rabbi Jacob J. Schacter is University Professor of Jewish History and Jewish Thought and Senior Scholar at the Center for the Jewish Future at Yeshiva University. He is a historian of intellectual trends in Orthodox Judaism and holds a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages from Harvard University Seminary.