Jewish Learning/Adults
Introduction to Judaism
Sundays as noted, 11:30 am - 1 pm
Sundays as noted, 11:30 am - 1 pm
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2011 – 2012 SYLLABUS
1.October 16: INTRODUCTION TO JUDAISM “What is Judaism” Jacobs (xerox) “Belief in Action” Jacobs (xerox) 2. October 23: INTRODUCTION TO THE TORAH Telushkin ## 1-63 (pp. 1-112) “Blessing for Torah Study” (xerox) “Commentaries on the Torah Portion of the Week” (handout) “The Books of the Bible” (xerox) “Our Literary Legacy” Ammiel Hirsch (xerox) “The Bible and Jewish History” (xerox) “Biblical and Rabbinic Foundations” Yerushalami (xerox) “Who Wrote Genesis?” Allen Kaplan (xerox) “Divine Authorship?” Jeffrey Satinover (xerox) “God and the Bible” Kushner (xerox) 3. October 30: THE RABBINIC PERIOD: THE MISHNAH AND THE TALMUD Telushkin ## 67-70 (pp. 119-125); ## 73-84 (pp. 131-158) “Sources of Jewish Law” (xerox) “A Page from the Talmud” (xerox) “The Talmud” (xerox) “Appendix: Orders and Tractates…” (xerox) “Prohibitions Against Work on Shabbat in the Torah” (xerox) “Prohibitions Against Work on Shabbat in the Mishnah” (xerox) “Prohibitions Against Work on Shabbat in the Talmud” (xerox) “Response – Mitzvah (Divine Commandment) L. Kushner (xerox) “Mitzvah Without Miracles” Gittelsohn (xerox) “Religious Authority: Who Commands” Gillman (xerox) 4. November 6: JEWISH TIME I: SHABBAT Telushkin ## 314-317 (pp. 599-605) “Baking and Braiding a Challah for Shabbat” (xerox) “How to Light the Sabbath Candles” (xerox) “How to Make Shabbat Evening Kiddush” (xerox) “How to Make Havdallah” (xerox) “Shabbat at Home” (xerox) “The Art of Jewish Living: the Shabbat Seder” Dr. Ron Wolfson (xerox) “The Sabbath” Abraham Joshua Heschel (xerox) “The Sabbath” Samuel H. Dresner (Xerox) 5. November 13: PRAYER AND SPIRITUALITY: FEELING AT HOME IN THE SYNAGOGUE Telushkin ## 331-346 (pp. 641-670) “Understanding Jewish Prayer” chs. 1 & 5 Petuchowski (xerox) 6. November 20: JEWISH THEOLOGY/THEODICY Telushkin ##283-287 (pp. 545-551) “Describing God” Kenneth Seeskin (xerox) “Revelation: What Really Happened” Neil Gillman (xerox) “What We Believe About God” Harold Kushner (xerox) “Yigdal: Maimonides’ 13 Principles of Belief” (xerox) “Contemporary Jewish Theology” Dorf & Newman (xerox) “The Book of Job” chapters 1-3, 39-end. “Sometimes There is no Reason” Harold Kushner (xerox) “Suffering: Why Does God Allow It?” Neil Gillman (xerox) 7. December 4: JEWISH MYSTICISM: THE KABBALAH Telushkin #106 (pp. 200-202) “Kabbalistic Texts” Lawrence Fine (xerox) “The Turn to Mysticism” Eugene Borowitz (xerox) 8. December 11: JEWISH DENOMINATIONS Telushkin #120 (pp. 230-232) #121 (pp.233-234) #206 (pp. 396-398) #218 (pp. 420422) #225 (pp. 436-438) “Modern Jewish Religious Movements” David Rudavsky (xerox) REFORM: “Reform Judaism: A Centenary Perspective” (xerox) CONSERVATIVE: “A Statement of Principles: Emet ve-Emunah” (xerox) RECONSTRUCTIONIST: “Where We Stand: Theory and Practice of Contemporary Reconstructionism” (xerox) “The Question of Authority” Dorf (xerox) “Four Basic Religious Issues That Divide Us” Gillman (xerox) “Zecharias Frankel on Changes in Judaism” (xerox) “The Trouble With One Size Fits All Judaism” Winkler (xerox) |
9. December 18: CHANNUKAH/JUDAISM & CHRISTIANITY
Telushkin ## 64-66 (pp. 115-119) Strassfeld pp. 161-168, 173-177“The First Book of Maccabees” (xerox)“ Lighting Hannukah Lights” (xerox) “Hannukah Insertion” (xerox) Telushkin ## 71-72 (pp. 126-131) “Of God and Man” Stuart Rosenberg (xerox) “Confronting the December Dilemma” Ron Wolfson (xerox) “Being a Jew at Christmas” Faye Moskowitz (xerox) “Beliefs” Steinfels (xerox) “Where’s Rabbi Waxman” (xerox) Winter Break 10. January 8: LIFECYCLE EVENTS I: BRIT MILAH (BRIS), SIMCHAT BAT, BAR AND BAT MITZVAH (B’NEI MITZVAH) Telushkin ##273, 318, 319 (pp. 526-528, 609-613) “Bar/Bat Mitzvah” Sharon Strassfeld (xerox) “Brit Milah Ceremonies” pp. 23-37 (xerox) January 15: No class - Martin Luther King Day Weekend 11. January 22: LIFECYCLE EVENTS II: MARRIAGE, DIVORCE, DEATH AND MOURNING Telushkin #332 (p. 617) “The New Jewish Wedding” Anita Diamant (xerox) “The Jewish Wedding” Bradley Artson (xerox) “Marriage” (traditional wedding ceremony) (xerox) “Take Back The Waters” Elyse Goldstein (xerox) “Why I Won’t Perform an Intermarriage” Maurice Davis (xerox) “Marriage of Christians and Jews” Ronald Osborne (xerox) “Time Bombs” Paul and Rachel Cowan (xerox) “Jewish and Gay” Janet Marder (xerox) Telushkin ##326-328 (pp. 626-632) “Death and Mourning” Donin (xerox) 12. January 29: KASHRUT: KEEPING KOSHER Telushkin ##330 (pp. 634-637) “Kashrut: The Spirituality of Food” Ariel (xerox) “The Forbidden Oreo” Hammerman (xerox) “Sources on Kashrut” (xerox) “Jewish Dietary Laws” Dresner (xerox) 13. February 5: JEWISH TIME II: THE PILGRIMMAGE FESTIVALS (PART ONE) – SUKKOT AND SHAVUOT (FESTIVAL OF BOOTHS, AND FESTIVAL OF WEEKS) Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles): Strassfeld pp. 125-147 Telushkin #295 (pp. 570-572) Shavuot (The Festival of Weeks): Strassfeld pp. 69-83 Telushkin #309 (pp. 592-593) 14. February 12: JEWISH TIME III: THE PILGRIMMAGE FESTIVALS (PART TWO) – PESACH (FESTIVAL OF PASSOVER) Pesach (Passover): Strassfeld pp. 5-46 Telushkin ##302-304 (pp. 581-586) 15. March 4: THE HOLOCAUST Telushkin Part 7 (pp. 346-388) “Through the Shadowed Valley” Eugene Borowitz (xerox) 16. March 11: ISRAEL – THE LAND AND PEOPLE OF Genesis 12:1-6; 13:14-17; 15:1-21 Telushkin Part 6 (pp. 260-342) “A Solution of the Jewish Question” Theodor Herzl (xerox) “Ahad ha-Am (Asher Zvi Ginsberg)” (xereox) “Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook” (xerox) AND SOME FINAL THOUGHTS “The Circle of Community” Barry Holtz (xerox) “Some Affirmative Ways of Meeting God” Harold Kushner (xerox) “Why Don’t Most Jews Do Very Much?” Eugene Borowitz (xerox) |