Taking the Torah Home
"Taking the Torah Home" is a unique way of studying Torah (parashat ha'shavuah), a way which we call the "vertical Torah." Instead of studying with just one or two sources and the text itself ("horizontal" study), we study simultaneously from sources across all Jewish denominations and also bring in major Christian commentators. Our sources include a wide range of scripture translations, including the ArtScroll, Jewish Study Bible, Etz Chaim, JPS Torah Commentary, Soncino Chumash, W. Gunther Plaut, Everett Fox, Robert Alter, Richard Elliott Friedman; and major commentaries such as Rashi's, Ibn Ezra's, Nachmanides', the Anchor Bible, Nehama Leibowitz's, and Nahum Sarna's.
Our sources also include very early texts such as the writings of Josephus, the Pseudepigrapha, the Enuma Elish, and the Amarna letters, as well as books and articles on biblical archaeology, paleosociology, and anthropology. Finally, we use sources from the Muslim and Christian religions such as the Qu'ran and the King James and New International Bibles and their commentaries, and a wide variety of sources from the Web.
In addition to Torah and haftarah study, we have also studied the books of Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, Amos, Ezekiel,
1 Maccabees, Daniel, Jonah, Ezra, Nehemiah, and the post-exilic prophets, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. We are currently engaged in studying
Pirkei Avot, and frequently study the current Mishnah passages and the commentaries from the URJ website.
This group has been meeting since early in 2002, and we've been told that our "vertical Torah" approach to study is unique. Please join us to see for yourself. We meet Thursday evenings at 7:30 p.m. at Shaarey Zedek in the library. You can find out more about the class by
Conducted by local community members.
