Transforming Reality – The Potential of Leadership Guided by Love

Clarendon Room

Ebn Leader In a world torn by violence and division, what form of leadership can guide us to healing? Come learn with Rabbi Ebn Leader as he explores an approach to leadership that could be useful for our times. Rabbi Leader turns to a surprising place for his insight, wrestling with the charismatic, miracle-working rabbi/teacher […]

Spirituality and Social Justice: Striving for Integration

Dalton Room

Or Rose Drawing on teachings from the traditions of Kabbalah, Mussar, and Hasidism, as well as the writings of such modern religious activists as Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day, and Abraham Joshua Heschel, we will explore the ongoing challenge of Tikkun Ha-Middot and Tikkun Olam.  How do we understand the relationship between the practices of Torah […]

Touchstone Texts on Leadership

Fairfax Room

Rick Jacobs From Rabbi Eleazar in the Talmud to contemporary teachers of leadership including Abraham Joshua Heschel, Marge Piercy, Rabbi Jack Stern, Rabbi Elka Abrahamson and others, we will bore down on what it means to exercise Jewish leadership in our holy work.

Moses & Hasidism: Reflections on Leadership

Dalton Room

Or Rose Like so many interpreters before and after them, the early Hasidic masters engage the figure of Moses in different ways as they seek to articulate their own visions of Jewish communal leadership. When does Moses—as presented in both biblical and post-biblical sources—serve as a positive or negative model for these mystical exegetes and […]

Learning to See an Invisible God

Gardner Room

Harold Kushner Drawing from Parashat Vayera, we will consider how rabbis can help people recognize when God becomes manifest in their lives.

Finding Our Way to the God of Torah

Berkeley Room

Rachel Timoner Lightning on the mountain. Plagues as punishment. War and bloodshed. The God of Torah can be difficult to relate to, even alienating, for our congregants, and for us. How might we connect our own spiritual practices and beliefs with this God? Join with Rabbi Rachel Timoner of Leo Baeck Temple in Los Angeles […]

Sea Sick on the Love Boat: Liquid Modernity, Fluid Identity and Nautical Metaphors

Gardner Room

Michael Marmur In this session we will consider themes of liquidity, fluidity and water in Jewish and Western traditions. In particular, a tradition from Sifrei Deuteronomy concerning peoplehood will be studied. Zygmunt Bauman's concept of Liquid Modernity will also be considered. Our question is: how should we respond to a fluid reality? Go with the […]

The Child in the Halakhah (Freehof Institute for Progressive Halakhah)

Hampton Room

Walter Jacobs, Ruth Langer, Brian Stoller The program will discuss “The Child in the Halakhah,” an area rather neglected by the Traditions. Although the transition to being an adult was discussed in detail in rabbinic literature, this dealt almost exclusively with physical changes. The intellectual development of children was noted, but only in random comments […]

Music and the Interiority Complex

Dalton Room

Josh Jacobson Pre-registration is required. Session is capped at 40 participants. We will struggle with some of these questions: Can music create holiness? How? What musical experiences connect us to our community? What musical experiences connect us to our inner selves, to God? Is there a role for "classical music" in the synagogue? Do we […]

Ahad Ha’Am and the Reform Movement: On the Prospects for Modern Judaism (Taught in Hebrew)

Gardner Room

Michael Marmur In this session, to be taught in Hebrew, we will consider some aspects of Ahad Ha'am's complex relationship with Reform Judaism, focusing in particular on a fascinating and little-known exchange between the father of cultural Zionism, Ahad Ha'am (Asher Ginsberg, 1856-1927) and David Neumark (1866-1924), a professor of philosophy at the Hebrew Union […]

Beyond Laughter Through Tears: The Spiritual Power of Jewish Humor

Fairfax Room

Moshe Waldoks Study with Moshe Waldoks, one of Boston’s acclaimed rabbinic leaders and the co-editor of the Big Book of Jewish Humor. The session will examine the uses of Jewish humor to open both the heart and the mind to advance Spiritual growth.

Judaism Confronting Science

Clarendon Room

Dr. Phil Cohen. Dr. Jonathan Crane, Geoffery Mitelman For centuries Judaism understood science to be a partner. Jewish thinkers did not see a contradiction between science and Torah. It is Norbert Samuelson’s contention in his book Jewish Faith and Modern Science that, for various historical and philosophical reasons, that synthesis has been left behind. He […]