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Courses
At the center of the Institute are a wide array of courses offered in morning and afternoon sessions. Each course has a maximum of 20 students and is led by a teacher who is also an Institute participant, presenting material that she or he loves in an inclusive style that encourages everyone to participate. Choose from classes in traditional texts, Jewish politics, poetry, Jewish ethics, dance and singing, Judaism and world religions, and contemporary topics.
Extended Format courses meet during the regularly scheduled course time and the adjacent workshop time.
AM-01 - Bind These Words - The Art of the Wimpel
Jane Trigere
Her course will explore the significance of the Wimpel (Torah Binder/Cover), and build the skills to create one! The class will examine the 500-year history of this resurgent folk art and its relationship with rituals, blessings, and life events. Participants will learn the basics of Hebrew lettering and design their own wimpel to honor a special person or an event, such as a birth, a bar/bat mitzvah, or, less conventionally, a wedding, an anniversary, a conversion, or a memorial.
Jane Trigere has steadily trained in the arts - nurtured in the family fashion business, an undergraduate degree in theater arts at BU, architectural studies in London and Boston, training in book binding and restoration, and finally a Master's in Jewish Art & Visual Culture at the Jewish Theological Seminary in NYC. Jane's recent art work uses textiles to explore the lives of women in an orthodox shul. She collects artifacts and stories and then responds to them as a visual storyteller... a curator of memories. Her next project is about Becoming/Conversion using Eve as inspiration. She is also looking for stories about ironing.
Categories
- Arts and Literature
- Spiritual and Religious Life
- Extended Format
- Morning Course
- Artist in Residence
AM-02 - Kiveyn Libo: Directing the Heart -- Jewish Meditation for All Backgrounds
Julia Appel
In the Talmud, the question arises: in which direction should one face for prayer if one does not know where one is? The answer: kiveyn libo, one should direct one's heart. We will direct our hearts through silent meditation, Jewish chant, and Jewish contemplative teachings. We will learn the basics of posture, breath, and concentration, and move to focused imagery, prayer, and song, with the intention of taking our practice back into our everyday lives, especially for when we feel we’ve lost our compass. Prerequisites: none. Open to seasoned practitioners and complete beginners.
Julia Appel is the Outreach Rabbi of Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom in Montreal. A graduate of the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College, Julia has sat on many weekend to week-long silent meditation retreats over the years. She has taught Jewish meditation on retreats and Hillels and hopes to offer it soon in Montreal.
The class currently has a waitlist
Categories
- Spiritual and Religious Life
- Morning Course
AM-03 - History and Mathematics of the Hebrew Calendar
Ben Dreyfus
Why do some Hebrew years have 12 months and others have 13? Why did some of the Jewish world observe the holidays two days earlier than everyone else in 922 CE? Why will Passover fall in July in about 20,000 years? This class tells the story of the complex Hebrew calendar, from the early days of witnessing the crescent moon to our current mathematical algorithms. [Prerequisites: Familiarity with addition, subtraction, and multiplication. Division recommended.]
Ben Dreyfus is a Ph.D. candidate in physics education research at the University of Maryland. He is an organizer of Minyan Segulah on the DC/Maryland border, and blogs at mahrabu.blogspot.com .
This course is being underwritten in honor of Yonatan Leo Richman-Dreyfus.
The class currently has a waitlist
Categories
- Text for Everyone
- Morning Course
AM-04 - Love of God and Awe of God: An Introduction to S'Fat Emet
Richard Friedman
The S'fat Emet is a collection of summarized homilies given on Shabbat and holidays by Rabbi Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter, the third Rebbe of the Gerrer Hasidim. He's a highly creative (even audacious) thinker, who often suggests novel readings of Torah verses. A strong theme is the application of the Torah's rules about different topics to the individual's spiritual life. We'll study selected homilies given on Shabbat Ekev (the Torah portion for Institute week).
Note: The text will be studied solely in the original Hebrew, so the ability to read and understand Hebrew is a prerequisite.
Richard Friedman has taught text classes at several Institutes. He also teaches Talmud and Rashi's Torah commentary at his shul. He studied at Pardes, and he is a lawyer with the federal government.
Categories
- Advanced Text
- Spiritual and Religious Life
- Morning Course
AM-05 - A Literary and Spiritual Exploration of Shabbat Liturgy
Jeff Hoffman
The shabbat liturgy includes some remarkable liturgical passages. We will consult historical sources from Rabbinic Literature that undergird Kabbalat Shabbat, ma'ariv, and shaharit in order to trace the development of these prayers. We will then engage in a close, literary reading of the prayer texts themselves. Our studies will be informed by recent academic studies. Finally, we challenge ourselves to apply the conclusions of our historical and literary inquiry to the actual experience of davvenen these prayers.
Jeff Hoffman earned rabbinic ordination as well as a doctorate in Jewish Liturgy from The Jewish Theological Seminary. He is currently Rabbi-In-Residence and Professor of Liturgy at the Academy for Jewish Religion (Riverdale, NY). He plays guitar and is long-time fan of the Grateful Dead.
The class currently has a waitlist
Categories
- Spiritual and Religious Life
- Text for Everyone
- Morning Course
AM-06 - "And You Shall Set These Words of Mine Upon Your Heart:" An Artist's Beit Midrash
Eleni Litt
This class combines text study with art making. We’ll study biblical, rabbinic, modern, and contemporary texts related to the institute theme that address the following types of questions: What are the words we set on our hearts? What does it mean to set these words? Whose words are these words? How and why is the heart the place where we set our words? Art making will be non-judgmental, and uninhibited; no previous art experience required. Supplies provided, but feel free to bring your own.
Eleni is a visual artist and independent scholar/teacher combining art making with work in Jewish Studies and anthropology. She is a long-time Havurah teacher and part of an artists' Beit Midrash in NYC. She works as Asst. Provost at The New School and lives in Princeton with her husband, Neil.
This course is being underwritten in loving memory of Alfred and Eve Litvinoff.
Categories
- Arts and Literature
- Text for Everyone
- Morning Course
AM-07 - Ahava Rabbah: Learning, Loving, Living
Nathan Martin
What is a healthy balance between unlimited giving and bounded constraint in relationship? What does our tradition say about how we should teach and learn? How much do we need to follow Jewish tradition to have a healthy spiritual life? These questions are embedded in the text of the Ahava Rabbah prayer. Drawing upon a mix of text study and experiential interpretation, this course will explore these questions with the goal of deepening our relationships with our loved ones and our tradition.
Nathan Martin works as the Director of Student Life at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. Nathan draws inspiration from Jewish mystical and mindfulness traditions for his activism for a healthier planet. He is blessed with a loving partner, Abby Weinberg, and often finds his two children to be his best teachers!
This course is being underwritten in support of a wonderful teacher.
Categories
- Spiritual and Religious Life
- Text for Everyone
- Morning Course
AM-08 - Tales of Transformation: Joseph, Ruth and Ourselves
Alicia Ostriker
We will read and discuss the stories of Joseph and Ruth as stories of change, asking ourselves to imagine the interior lives (and loves) of these complex characters. What does love mean in their lives? What does God mean? What is the meaning of their transformtions? And what can their stories mean to us today? Each class will end with creating midrashim based on these texts.
Alicia Ostriker is the author of 14 collections of poetry, most recently The Book of Life: Selected Jewish Poems 1979-2011. Her previous collection, The Book of Seventy, received the National Jewish Book Award in 2010. Her work appears in numerous journals and anthologies of Jewish poetry.
Categories
- Arts and Literature
- Spiritual and Religious Life
- Text for Everyone
- Morning Course
AM-09 - "American Idolatry:" Exploring How Mass Media Can Thwart or Support Jewish Spirituality
Brian Primack
Like it or not, we live in a fiercely media-driven society in which marketers frantically vie for our attention. In this course, we will discuss the challenges this brings to developing Jewish spirituality. We will examine multiple media messages—from advertisements to film clips to Web pages—alongside readings from the Tanach and Talmud. But this is not merely a course about criticizing the media; we will also develop ideas for projects that utilize the power of mass media to support Jewish spiritual growth.
After working as an actor, developmental psychologist, cryptographer, and physical education teacher, Brian Primack finally settled on becoming a family doctor. On the faculty at Pitt Medical School, he combines his interests by researching the influence of mass media on public health. He is an active member of the Reconstructionist Pittsburgh shul Dor Hadash.
Categories
- Contemporary Issues
- Spiritual and Religious Life
- Text for Everyone
- Morning Course
AM-10 - Alternative Communities in the Ancient Jewish World
Adele Reinhartz
The creation of alternative Jewish communities is as old as the Jewish people itself. In this course, we will examine four such movements that flourished approximately two millennia ago: the Therapeutae, the Essenes, the Jesus movement, and, yes, the Havurah. By reading the ancient sources from and about these groups, we will seek to discern what ideas and practices held them together and how they placed themselves in relation to other Jewish groups.
Adele Reinhartz is Professor in the Department of Classics and Religious Studies at the University of Ottawa (Canada), where she teaches courses in early Judaism and Christianity as well as Bible and Film. She is a long-time member of the havurah committee and has taught at numerous summer Institutes.
The class currently has a waitlist
Categories
- Spiritual and Religious Life
- Text for Everyone
- Morning Course
AM-11 - Hostile Interpretations
Dawn Rose
Countless Muslims express their horror at the use of their Holy Koran--wherein they find a message of peace--to justify terrorism. Many Jews feel similarly when the Torah is used to justify aggression and violence in and around Israel. This course is an examination of interpretive methods used by Jewish and Muslim extremists towards justification of violence, terrorism, and genocide. Included will be discussion on how to preserve the sanctity and spirituality of these texts in the wake of such hostile interpretations.
Dawn Rose holds a doctorate in Jewish Philosophy, and is a former Director of the Center for Jewish Ethics at RRC, where she taught ethics and theology. Today, she is Rabbi of Temple Emanuel in Lowell, MA and a recognized leader in Boston area interfaith relations.
Categories
- Contemporary Issues
- Text for Everyone
- Morning Course
AM-12 - Yeast of Eden: Bread Making and Jewish Lessons from the Rising
Jonathan Rubenstein
Baking is a kind of offering: we separate the challah and burn it to remember the offerings of our ancestors, and we present the baked goods of our hands to express the intentions of our hearts. In this class, while learning to bake a different bread each day, we will also look at the mitzvah of separating the challah and related practices and texts and explore their meaning in terms of what we eat and how we eat it.
Jonathan Rubenstein is co-rabbi with his wife, Linda Motzkin, of Temple Sinai in Saratoga Springs, NY. He is a baking teacher, baker, and founder of Slice of Heaven Breads, the non-profit, volunteer bakery operated out of Solomon’s Kitchen at Temple Sinai. He is also the Pastoral Care Director at a private psychiatric hospital.
The class currently has a waitlist
Categories
- Suitable for Families
- Spiritual and Religious Life
- Morning Course
AM-13 - My Heart. Myself. East. West.
Alana Suskin
Using the words of poets, classical rabbinic sources, and modern thinkers, we will examine "placing these words upon our hearts." Our focus will be on narrative and forgiveness, ultimately tackling some of the most difficult questions of how our stories can help us define ourselves with regard to others and how can we change our stories using the words of Torah to forgive ourselves, one another, and God, make new stories, and move forward in peace.
Alana Suskin is an educator and a writer published in dozens of anthologies and journals. She is a senior managing editor of Jewschool.com, and contributes to several blogs, and sits on the boards of RHR-NA and American Rights at Work. She is the Director of Strategic Commmunication at Americans for Peace Now.
Categories
- Contemporary Issues
- Intermediate Text
- Spiritual and Religious Life
- Morning Course
PM-01 - Let Them Dance on the Mountaintops - Embodying Judaism Through Israeli Folk Dancing
Michal Richardson
How can we not only set the words of the Jewish tradition upon our hearts, but express the full range of our relationships with that tradition through our bodies? Israeli folk dancing, choreographed by Israeli and diaspora Jews, and danced to Israeli pop and religious music alike, embodies all the complexities of these relationships. Beginning with the hora and culminating with modern folk dances enjoyed in Israel in the present day, this course will explore Israeli dance as a cultural phenomenon and as an artistic form, and cultivate a repertoire of folk dances from the classic to the contemporary.
Michal Richardson has taught Israeli folk dancing at camps, schools and community events for over a decade. She earned her B.A. in Anthropology and Dance at Barnard College, and her M.A. in Educational Media at NYU. Michal dances (and by day, works as an instructional designer in educational technology) in New York City.
The class currently has a waitlist
Categories
- Arts and Literature
- Contemporary Issues
- Spiritual and Religious Life
- Afternoon Course
- Artist in Residence
PM-02 - Commandment Lab
Rebecca Ennen
Our tradition understands Jews to be bound, responsible, commanded, liable, required… something. This Commandment Lab will investigate that ‘something’ through traditional text and experimental practice. What does it mean to be commanded? Are you keeping the mitzvos or keeping them away? We’ll open up the hood on commandedness, by studying ancient, medieval, and contemporary thinkers, and try out different ways of doing mitzvos. Our lab will kick off before the NHC Institute with creative, absurd, reverent, counterintuitive, and provocative mitzvah assignments.
Rebecca Ennen expects something to be expected of her at all times and worries when this is not the case. She has been a teacher, theater artist, grocery store worker, bike accessory maker, standardized patient, yeshiva student, dialogue facilitator, and writer, and now works for community organizing powerhouse Jews United for Justice.
Categories
- Intermediate Text
- Spiritual and Religious Life
- Afternoon Course
PM-03 - Teaching As a Spiritual Practice
Marisa Harford
For centuries, teaching and learning have been two of the activities par excellence in Judaism. What makes teaching holy? Is there a Jewish approach to teaching? What techniques and approaches can enrich our teaching and make it more meaningful for our students and ourselves? In this class-- part text study, part workshop-- we will explore Jewish texts about teaching, discuss our own teaching experiences and strategies, and problem-solve teaching challenges we've faced.
Prerequisites: None. The class is open to those who have never taught formally as well as to those who have had formal and informal teaching roles in Jewish or secular contexts.
Marisa Harford is the director of the New Visions for Public Schools -- Hunter College Urban Teacher Residency and has been working in urban education as a teacher, instructional coach, and teacher development facilitator for 10 years. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband Russ Agdern and usually prays at Altshul.
Categories
- Spiritual and Religious Life
- Text for Everyone
- Afternoon Course
PM-04 - Seeing God
Sherry Israel
In the Bible, people hear God speaking with them--and these encounters are presented straightforwardly. But seeing God seems to be a different matter: rare, puzzling, dangerous. We will look at several mysterious Torah texts in which humans see God, but don't know it, and at Psalms, which also posit direct experience of the Divine. What did these texts mean in their own time, what did the rabbis find problematic about them, and what can we learn from them that speaks to our spiritual lives now?
Sherry Israel did Jewish social science in a variety of settings until her retirement in 2007 from the Hornstein Program at Brandeis. She has four adult children and nine grandchildren, is a past chair of the NHC board, and is now participating in Lev Shomea, a program to train Jewish spiritual directors.
Categories
- Intermediate Text
- Spiritual and Religious Life
- Afternoon Course
PM-05 - Redefining (Jewish) Masculinity in the 21st Century
Rob Levy
Modern society presents a pervasive vision of masculinity based upon ideals of power, money, professional success, emotional distance, dominance over women, and unbridled individualism. What does Judaism have to say about being a man? What should the values of the new man be? Using feminist, Jewish, and anti-capitalist texts, pop culture media, and intimate conversations exploring our own experiences with masculinity, we will break down perceptions and together create a new MANifesto for the 21st century.
Prerequisites: none. Though geared towards men, this class is open to all.
Rob Levy, a seven-year Institute attendee, has studied masculinity issues for several years and attended the Jewish Men’s Retreat with his father for the past two years. He taught this course as a workshop last year and co-led the Everett program for three years.
Categories
- Contemporary Issues
- Text for Everyone
- Afternoon Course
PM-06 - Moses and the Godless Jew: A Search for the Meaning of "Truth"
Neil Litt
Psychoanalysis is a “Jewish science,” with roots traceable back to the Talmud and Midrash. The challenges that Freud confronted in developing his theory are the very same challenges that any modern reader must wrestle with when studying Talmud and attempting to reconcile that ancient text with life today. We will juxtapose a study of Talmud and Midrash with Freudian texts, creating for ourselves a fresh perspective on tradition and modernity, all in pursuit of an understanding of what we mean by “true.”
Neil Litt is a former chair of the National Havurah Committee. He has taught at three previous Institutes. Read Neil’s blog about preparing for this course at http://supposingmoses.wordpress.com/.
Categories
- Arts and Literature
- History and Culture
- Text for Everyone
- Afternoon Course
PM-07 - Elijah
Solomon Mowshowitz
Folk hero, failed prophet, rebel, avatar of stern judgement, harbinger of Messiah, second divider of waters and first raiser of the dead; summoned to every seder, havdalah, and circumcision; immortal, transfigured as Sandalfon, companion to the Rabbis: Scriptural, Rabbinic, Mystical and Folk strata reveal different aspects of Elijah. We’ll also learn: how other religious traditions revere him, his role in Moby Dick, significance for Phillip K. Dick, and what Elijah has to do with why dogs are sometimes happy for no reason.
Mosh is a former NHC Chair who loves the Summer Institute. He teaches Immunology at Columbia University.
The class currently has a waitlist
Categories
- Intermediate Text
- Spiritual and Religious Life
- Afternoon Course
PM-08 - Finding Meaning In Leviticus
Michael Rosenberg
For many Jews, the book of Leviticus is one of the most challenging—or perhaps more honestly, boring—texts encountered in the synagogue. And yet, when we dig beneath the surface, the religious ideas of Leviticus are some of the most relevant and contemporary of the Torah. In this course, we will study sections of this book, on its own and through the lens of traditionalist and academic commentaries, as we try to find religious meaning in the ideas of sacrifices, purity, and holiness.
Micha’el Rosenberg is the rabbi of the Fort Tryon Jewish Center, an independent egalitarian synagogue in the Washington Heights section of New York City. He received rabbinical ordination from the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and a PhD in Talmud and Rabbinics from the Jewish Theological Seminary.
Categories
- Advanced Text
- Contemporary Issues
- Spiritual and Religious Life
- Text for Everyone
- Afternoon Course
PM-09 - Dramatic Midrash: What is it? How Do I Write It?
Ethan Seidel
After a few short drama presentations to get the ball rolling, we will discuss problematic texts, study classic commentaries on those texts, learn about what works when writing plays, working on basic acting skills, brainstorming ideas, and trying things out in front of each other. By the end of the week, we will have come up with a short play to present to the community.
Ethan Seidel has been a pulpit Rabbi in Washington, DC for the past 20 years. In addition to writing & performing dramatic midrash, he loves to study Talmud, juggle, unicycle, play piano, garden, bake, and bicycle.
Categories
- Arts and Literature
- Spiritual and Religious Life
- Text for Everyone
- Afternoon Course
PM-10 - Tikkun Olam And Tikkun Halev
David Seidenberg
How does our heart-work strengthen our power to transform and heal the world? What can we do to deepen our spiritual practice, so that we can play our part in Tikkun Olam? How do we stay connected to the holy when the politics of the world can pull us so far away from our center? How do we “choose life” within and without? We’ll look at resources from within Torah, prayer, midrash, Shabbat, Kabbalah and meditation to find help and answers to these questions.
Rabbi David Seidenberg has taught at the Institute many times, and first attended in 1981. He writes and teaches about eco-theology, embodied Torah, dance, Maimonides, Kabbalah, Rebbe Nachman, etc. His website is neohasid.org
Categories
- Contemporary Issues
- Spiritual and Religious Life
- Text for Everyone
- Afternoon Course
PM-11 - Jokes in Midrash and Beyond
Max Weinryb
Using texts in the original rabbinic Hebrew, and modern Hebrew sources on Jewish jokes, we will examine the rich connections of Jewish wit to midrash. We'll use midrashim that are closely paralleled by contemporary jokes; midrashim that display humor, wit, and wordplay; jokes that parody midrash, and selections from sources in modern Hebrew, including one that focuses on Yiddish jokes. We'll also look briefly at some of the standard sources discussing Jewish jokes.
Max Weinryb has been a participant, leader, and teacher in SF Bay Area havurot for many years. He has taught Hebrew, Talmud, and Rabbinic texts in havurot, congregations, and at the NHC Summer Institute and regional retreats. He is a software consultant and urban homesteader in Berkeley
Categories
- Advanced Text
- Afternoon Course
PM-12 - Occupy Talmud
Ari Weisbard
Jewish law was born out of fierce political battles, filled with drama and intrigue, waged by “warriors of the war of Torah.” These “warriors” wielded different kinds of power: aristocratic, economic, intellectual, majoritarian, and purportedly divine. We will sketch a portrait of power’s role in shaping Jewish law through careful study of a few powerful Talmud stories, and related commentaries, to begin to understand how power shapes the lives of our Sages and their teachings and our own lives today.
Ari Weisbard is a long-term Havurahnik. He lives in Washington D.C., where he faces his own share of political intrigue in squaring off against members of the D.C. Council while advocating for stronger employment protection on behalf of the D.C. Employment Justice Center (www.dcejc.org)
Categories
- Contemporary Issues
- Intermediate Text
- Text for Everyone
- Afternoon Course
PM-13 - What Did You Just Say? A Multi-denominational Study of American Amidah Variations
Talya Weisbard Shalem
The Amidah has served as a microcosm of Jewish theology for the past two thousand years. This course will focus on the weekday Amidah and the tremendous range of liturgical creativity it has inspired in American Jewish siddurim published over the past 150 years, and what that means for us as we struggle to craft our own personal theologies. Issues at stake include our beliefs about what happens when we die, our relationship to Israel and the ingathering of exiles as a goal to pray for, and what we think a redeemed world should look. We will begin by exploring Isaac Mayer Wise’s 19th century Minhag Amerika, an incredibly rich text that even appears radical by today’s standards. We will also study texts from Reform, Reconstructionist, Conservative, Orthodox, and non-denominational siddurim, as they have changed over the past 100+ years. By the end of the week, participants will have a much better sense of what a difference even a tiny word change can make in enabling people to relate to this prayer from different vantage points.
Talya grew up attending the NHC and it is where she decided to become a rabbi. Ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, she has taught both courses and Kids Camp at prior Institutes, and serves on the Everett committee and the NHC board. She lives in the Bostonarea with her partner Josh and their son Noam Yaron, and davens at Havurat Shalom.
Categories
- Spiritual and Religious Life
- Text for Everyone
- Afternoon Course
