It is taught that “the study of Torah equals in value all the other commandments” (Peah 1:1). Maimonides teaches that one is “required to study Torah, whether poor or rich…young or old…” and that one “must set aside definite times to study by day and by night…”

We at Town & Village we are dedicated to providing a variety of learning opportunities, at all levels of knowledge and at many times of day. We hope that you will find something here that you wish to study with us. If there is something you would like to see us offer in the future, please let us know.

Town & Village Synagogue is dedicated to making adult Jewish learning accessible to all of its members and to the community at large. If you are interested in a class we offer and the cost is a concern, we invite you to contact Carol Green or Rabbi Sebert privately to make arrangements that are affordable for you.  We look forward to  seeing you soon.

The coming year promises to be very exciting as we continue some programs and begin some new ones. Please check out our offerings listed below.

Sincerely,

Sharon Keller, Carol J. Green, and Louise Sherby
Co-chairs, Adult Education Committee

Town & Village Synagogue
ADULT EDUCATION CLASSES
5779
2019-2020

BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP

LED BY DR. STEFANIE HALPERN

10 Thursdays, 10:30AM  – Noon

FEE: $250,  Free for T&V members

LIMITED TO 15 PARTICIPANTS. This group is intended for readers who are committed to reading the entire book before the discussion and are prepared to come to the discussions with open minds and respect for the opinions of others. Priority will be given those who have previously participated in this group.

Stefanie Halpern is the Acting Director of the YIVO Archives at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in New York. She received her PhD from the department of Jewish Literature at the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2017. Her dissertation, Crossing Over from the Yiddish Rialto to the American Stage, explores the ways the Yiddish theater intersected with and ultimately became part and parcel of the mainstream American theatrical institution. Stefanie was the curatorial associate for the current “New York’s Yiddish Theater: from the Bowery to Broadway” exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York.

If you have any questions, or to enroll, email adulted@tandv.org

DEEPEN YOUR DAVENING (PRAYER) EXPERIENCE

Led by Rabbi Melinda Zalma

Sunday mornings 10:30 am - April 26 | May 3, 10, 17 | June 7, 14, 21

Delve into:

The meaning of prayers

Why we pray them

How to pray them

The spiritual impact of them

Whether you’ve been attending services for a long time or are  new to the experience, we promise you’ll learn something new!

No knowledge of Hebrew required. Transliterations and translations will be provided.

BEYOND DISPUTE: DEBATES THAT SHAPE JEWISH LIFE

TAUGHT BY RABBI LARRY SEBERT

MONDAY EVENINGS,  starting May 4, 7:05-8:30PM

Free - all materials available online after registration

Debates—philosophical, spiritual, ethical, and cultural—are at the heart of Judaism and Jewish life. Are religion and reason compatible? Can Jewish law change based on context? How do we teach and talk about the Holocaust and the State of Israel? Should we prioritize Jewish causes or universal causes in our giving? Is Jewish tradition intrinsically patriarchal and ableist? Is our relationship with God defined by human obligation or divine compassion?

BRAVING THE WILDERNESS: COUNTING THE OMER IN COVID-19 TIMES

Taught by Marcelle Hohl, Rabbinic Intern

4 Tuesday afternoons: May 5, 12, 19 and 26 from 12:00 to 12:45 pm

The counting of 49 days from Pesach to Shavuot is traditionally an opportunity for

reflection, self-elevation and fulfillment. It is a spiritual practice that makes us connect the coming out of the narrow place of slavery with the expansion of the revelation at Sinai.

While we wander in the wilderness of COVID-19, we will study and discuss Jewish texts from Pirkei Avot, the Zohar and by Mussar masters. We explore them as tools to see the way forward, and we will learn how to use their teachings to overcome our current challenges and emerge stronger and more resilient on the other side.

STORIES OF MUSIC

TAUGHT BY CANTOR SHAYNA POSTMAN

5 WEDNESDAY EVENINGS, 7-8:30PM

MAY 6, 13 AND 20, JUNE 3 AND 10

Join Cantor Shayna Postman for a course on stories of the evolving nature of Jewish music. We will discuss various aspects of Jewish music including ritual and performance. Stories of Music will include multimedia presentations as well as discussion.

This course is an Adult Education Project of the Lowell Milken Fund for American Jewish Music at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. The curriculum was developed in partnership with the Cantors Assembly, the American Conference of Cantors, and the Milken Archive of Jewish Music.

For questions, email cantor@tandv.org

To register, email adulted@tandv.org 

POSTPONED

THE JEWS AND THE GREEKS: HISTORY, MEMORY, AND JUDGMENT IN ANCIENT JUDAISM

TAUGHT BY  DR. JENNY R. LABENDZ

4  TUESDAY EVENINGS, 7:00-8:30PM

Feb 25th, March 3rd and March 24th, 31st

Fee:  Free for T & V members, $125 for non-members

The Greek world of the Jews in the last centuries before the destruction of the
Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE resulted in complex relationships to Jewish and Greek heroes,
Hebrew and Greek language, and the legacy of the land of Egypt. Understanding that
complexity through rabbinic and other texts raises questions about how we ourselves
might think about both our collective past and present. The first two classes in this course address ancient Jewish texts about Alexander the Great, the hero of the ancient Mediterranean world, and Herod the Great, the revered Jewish king who renovated the Temple, who was also a maniac and a Roman. The second two classes relate more broadly to the Jewish interaction with the Greek world, looking first at the translation of the Torah into Greek and then at ways in which the Jews related to Egypt. Both Greek language and the land of Egypt are the epitome of foreignness on one level, but also the context in which an undeniably vast amount of Jewish people and Jewish literature thrived in several centuries prior to the rabbis.

Jenny Labendz is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at St. Francis College in Brooklyn
Heights, and she previously taught at Barnard College and Drew University, as well as at
City College of New York and JTS. She holds a BA in Philosophy from Barnard College, an
MA in Jewish History and Talmud from Hebrew University, and a PhD in Rabbinics from
JTS. She is the author of Socratic Torah: Non-Jews in Rabbinic Intellectual Culture (Oxford,
2013) and is currently working on a second book, Beyond Hope: Rabbinic Eschatology of
Late Antiquity in Comparative Perspective. In addition to her academic work, she taught
middle school Talmud, Tanakh, and history at two Schechter schools and at Carmel
Academy in Connecticut, and has taught adult education courses at Pardes, Drisha, Wexner
Heritage Foundation, and synagogues in New York and New Jersey. She lives in Hoboken,
NJ with her husband and two children.

To enroll, email adulted@tandv.org

POSTPONED

Antisemitism: The History of an Idea

TAUGHT BY DR. SHIRA KOHN

7 TUESDAY EVENINGS 7-8:30 PM

APRIL 28-JUNE 7, 2020

Fee:  Free for T & V members, $250 for non-members

In this course, we will explore the history of antisemitism through case studies ranging from the medieval period to the present. We will consider a variety of source materials including written texts and material culture to consider ways in which manifestations of antisemitism evolved through time and place to fit the needs of its producers. Whether through church architecture to demonstrate supersessionism, to the "City of Slaughter" depicted by Haim Bialik as a response to the 1903 Kishinev Massacre, from gatekeeping within America's college fraternities and sororities to prevent Jewish membership, to contemporary debates about the intersections, if any, between antisemitism and anti-Zionism, we will engage in study and discussion to think about the transformation of antisemitism over the centuries and ways in which Jews have responded to - and rebutted - its various permutations. 

Shira Kohn is a member of the Upper School History Department at The Dalton School. She, along with Hasia Diner and Rachel Kranson, co-edited A Jewish Feminine Mystique? Jewish Women in Postwar America (Rutgers University Press, 2010) and in 2018, published an article focusing on Jewish student refugees in the United States during the 1930s in American Jewish History. She is currently working on a monograph about Jewish college sororities and their encounters with civil rights and Cold War anticommunist movements. 

To enroll, email adulted@tandv.org