Lifelong Learning
Visit the Adult Education Handouts and Readings page here.
Shabbat Education Series
Shabbat Study following Kiddush
Saturday, February 4, 2012
S. Rayburn
Origins of Ashkenazic Jewish Culture
This discussion will cover the development of Ashkenazic culture from its earliest roots in the Judea of the Roman Republic to the development of the great Yiddish world of Poland and Lithuania at the end of the Middle Ages. In a class similar to the class on Sephardic Judaism, we will explore the history, culture, economics, religion, and language of the Jews of northern Europe, showing how Ashkenazim developed from its ancestors, the Jews of Italy and Greece. Slides will be shown during these classes.
Class notes here
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Phyllis Goldstein
Anitsemitism in Jewish History
Phyllis is the senior editor for the non-profit organization, Facing History and Ourselves. Her talk will be on aspects of her new book, A Convenient Hatred: The History of Anti-Semitism. She will also provide the context of how and why the book was written.
Conversion Class Outlines and Materials
Rabbi Zimmerman conducts classes on Jewish culture, history, life-cycle, and literature for conversion candidates. Listed below are the RRA’s recommendations for conversion requirements, the training outline Rabbi Zimmerman uses based on these recommendations, and a list of recommended reading materials for candidates.
Community Learning Activities
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 those of Rashi, Ibn Ezra, Nachmanides, the Anchor Bible, Nehama Leibowitz, and Nahum Sarna.
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 including commentaries from the sites of the Orthodox Union, Jewish Theological Seminary, and Union of Reform Judiasm as well as other sources of current commentaries.
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, Ezekiel,
1 Maccabees, Daniel, Jonah, Ezra, Nehemiah, and the post-exilic prophets, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. We are currently engaged in studying
the rest of the Minor Prophets.
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.
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