Mechon Hadar Online Learning

Dena Weiss. The debate about Noah persists: Was he a great man or not? The answer to this question not only teaches us about Noah but also gives us insight into what it means to be a good person and what it could mean to aspire to greatness.

Aviva Richman explores midrashim on Hannah and prayer as invitations to speak up to power. Recorded at the 2017 Executive Seminar.

וינח אלוהים ביום השביעי. מסופר לנו על שבתו של האלוהים משום שהיא מספקת עבורנו מודל לשבת אותה אנו מגלמים וחווים. אם נביט היטב בתיאור זה, נוכל לזהות שעומדת מאחוריו הנחייה לאופן בו אנו אמורים לממש את השבת שלנו, ולהפוך אותה לשבת לשלנו. התיאור מדגים עבורנו כיצד השבת מתפקדת עבור ובתוך כל אדם ואדם בנפרד, משום שמה שמייחד כל כך את השבת ועושה אותה כה אהובה עלינו היא העובדה שהשבת של כל אדם ואדם היא באמת ובתמים שלו בלבד.

Dena Weiss. On the seventh day, God rested. We are told about God’s Shabbat because it provides the model for the Shabbat that we enact and experience. If we look closely at this description we can see beyond it to an instruction for how we can make our own Shabbat and how to make Shabbat ours. It demonstrates how Shabbat functions for and within each individual person. As what makes Shabbat so unique and beloved is that each person’s Shabbat is truly and entirely their own.

פרשת וזאת הברכה מהווה הזדמנות לעיון מחודש בתורה: התורה כמושא, התורה כמורה, התורה כישות בלתי נפרדת מהווית החיים היהודים ומהקשר שבין אלוהים לאדם.

Avital Hochstein. Our parashah invites us to re-examine the Torah: the Torah as subject, the Torah as teacher and guide, and the Torah as an entity inseparable from Jewish life and the relationship between people and God.

Ethan Tucker. Many of us recite a special prayer when we leave our sukkah for the final time at the end of the holiday of Sukkot. This prayer helps us long for the opportunity to sit in the ultimate sukkah. And what is that? One constructed out of the mythical Leviathan, the epic biblical sea monster that represents the forces of chaos and evil and which will be ultimately slain by God and prepared as a banquet for the righteous. Animal hides are completely invalid for sekhakh, the sukkah's water-permeable roof, so the image of Leviathan’s skin here is meant to conjure up the walls of our future sukkah in our mind’s eye. Why are we talking about the sukkah’s walls at all?

Join Elie Kaunfer and the Singing Communities Intensive 2014 participants exploring the meaning of the prayer so common to our High Holiday liturgy, Ki Anu Amekha ("Because we are Your people"). Ki Anu Amekha is an attempt to characterize our relationship with God. What animates the metaphors in this poem? How might we think about our relationship with God differently by uncovering the source of these descriptions?

Yaffa Epstein of Pardes. The first time the Shofar is mentioned in the Torah is in connection with the giving of the Torah. But - what is the connection between the Shofar, and the Covenantal moment of Sinai? And what can the Shofar teach us about our own relationship to Torah? This session will explore these questions, and attempt to understand how we bring our full selves to both repentance, and Torah study. Recorded live at the Community Beit Midrash on September 26, 2017. Rabba Yaffa Epstein represented Pardes.

Eliezer Diamond of JTS. Vidui is an essential - according to Rambam, the essential - element of the teshuvah process. We will examine its transformative power drawing on rabbinic wisdom and insights from psychology and twelve step programs. In particular we will look at its dual role of challenging and comforting us. Recorded live at the Community Beit Midrash on September 26, 2017. Dr. Eliezer Diamond represented JTS.

Erin Leib Smokler of Yeshivat Maharat. The season of the High Holidays contains both climactic moments (Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur) and in-between times (the Aseret Yemei Teshuva). What is the meaning and the message of this rhythm? How might we harness the unique energies of both kinds of time in doing the work of teshuvah? Recorded live at the Community Beit Midrash on September 26, 2017. Dr. Erin Leib Smokler represented Yeshivat Maharat.

David Silber of Drisha. Rav Nachman of Breslov famously said that the goal of Torah study is to transform our study into prayer. The ancient liturgical poets, though, strove to make our prayers a form of Torah study by interlacing the blessings with poems that recount biblical narratives. How do the piyyutim (liturgical poems) of Yom Kippur reflect the essential nature of the day? How can these prayers help us arrive at a deeper understanding of ourselves? Recorded live at the Community Beit Midrash on September 26, 2017. R. Silber represented Drisha.

Avi Killip, Yom Kippur 5776. Why Does Kol Nidrei Begin Yom Kippur? Annulling our vows is a strange way to start a communal day of atonement. And yet, we come together in the moments before Yom Kippur to recite Kol Nidrei. Promising not to keep our word seems like a particularly lousy way to enter into a day of judgement. Wouldn’t we prefer to be a people who honors our vows? Using sources from the Talmud and Mishnah, we will investigate why we still begin Yom Kippur with Kol Nidrei.

Rabbis Joseph Telushkin and Shai Held in Conversation in 2016. Forgiveness is extremely important but also enormously difficult. It raises questions that elude easy answers: When should we forgive? Why should we forgive? Are there situations in which we should not (may not) forgive? If forgiveness is so important, why is it often so hard? Join us for this timely exploration of what it means to forgive (and not to).

Ethan Tucker. For more classes and for accompanying source sheets, visit www.mechonhadar.org/online-learning