This fall, the Hadar community will learn Massekhet Shabbat as part of its siyyum (completion) of Seder Moed. Every Monday we will hold a guided class, with havruta and discussion.
In addition to classes, we will hold an open beit midrash, complete with texts and guiding questions. Come with your own hevruta or let us match you with one.
Learn in the Beit Midrash together with full-time fellows at Yeshivat Hadar.
Celebrate our progress throughout the year, culminating with a siyyum on Seder Moed at Shavuot.
When: Mondays, 7:30-9:00 PM Dates: October 19 - December 14
Where: Yeshivat Hadar, 190 Amsterdam Ave., at 69th St.
Cost: $5 per class, $40 for the series
OCTOBER 19 What is Work? An Introduction to Mishnah Shabbat, Dr. Devora Steinmetz
The Torah gives us scant information about what kind of work is prohibited on Shabbat. We will looks at biblical texts about Shabbat as an introduction to our study of Mishnah Shabbat.
OCTOBER 26 Kavod and Oneg: Cleaning for Shabbat, Rabbi Jeff Fox
Is there a mitzvah to clean the house before Shabbat? Using a variety of rabbinic texts—including the Talmud, its commentaries, and later halakhic rulings—we will explore this question, as well as how this exemplifies the values of the kavod (honor) and oneg (enjoyment) of Shabbat.
NOVEMBER 2 Kiddush and Hallah: Sanctification through Words, Rabbi Jeff Fox
How do I make Shabbat holy through my words? Through an exploration of the commandments to bless both wine and bread on Shabbat, we will explore how our words create holiness.
NOVEMBER 9 Can't Touch This: Withdrawing from God's World on Shabbat, Rabbi Ethan Tucker
One of the central restrictions involved in traditional Shabbat observance is known as muktzeh, the prohibition on moving Shabbat-problematic objects on the day of rest. In 90 minutes or less, we will review some of the core ideas of this area of Jewish practice, trace its historical development over time and reflect on how this sort of spiritual discipline can lead to a greater reverence for both divine and human creativity.
NOVEMBER 16 Who is Afraid of Eve?, Irit Koren
Join us for a session about the construction of gender roles and specifically women's roles through the complex image of Eve and the interpretation given to her by the Sages, using a mishnah in Massekhet Shabbat as our starting point. During this session we will discuss the different ways that we can read the image of Eve starting with traditional sources and moving to modern and feminist interpretations. Thus we will Re-vise the image of Eve and hence women's roles in Jewish society.
NOVEMBER 23 Havdalah, the Zohar, and Women, Rabbi Jeff Fox
How is havdalah different from other positive commandments of Shabbat? In this class, we will learn about havdalah—the service separating the sacred from the profane, Shabbat from the rest of the week—and what makes it unique amongst the commandments related to Shabbat.
NOVEMBER 30 Keeping Shabbat Where Others Don’t, Rabbi Micha’el Rosenberg
What is the status of food cooked by Jews, intentionally or not, on Shabbat? Are you responsible only for your own actions, or should you refuse to benefit from the results of others' Shabbat violations? We will look at halakhic texts from the Mishna thorugh the 20th century on the topic.
DECEMBER 7 Pahad Yitzhak: Philosophical Insights into Shabbat from Legal Texts, Miriam-Simma Walfish
In this class, we will study one of the essays of Rav Yitzhak Hutner, a 20th century Haredi rabbi whose writings combine careful study of rabbinic texts with post-modern sensitivities. In the course of studying this essay, we will not only see fascinating interpretations of Rabbinic texts about Shabbat, but we will also appreciate a uniquely elegant literary form common in Rav Hutner's writings.
DECEMBER 14 Picking and Choosing: Borer on Shabbat, Jaclyn Rubin
Is borer, the prohibition of selection on Shabbat, limited only to food, or does it also apply to sorting books and silverware? In this class, we will not only explore the applicability of this prohibition, but the deeper meaning of both positions, and what it can say about our Shabbat practice.
Miriam-Simma Walfish is a graduate of the Pardes Educators Program, where she studied in the Pardes Kollel and through which she received an MA in Jewish Education from Hebrew University. She also studied at the Drisha Institute for Jewish Education and at Midreshet Ein haNatziv. She has taught Tanakh and Talmud and the Heschel High School in New York City, as well as at the Northwoods Kollel and Beit Midrash of Ramah Wisconsin and the National Havurah Institute.
Rabbi Ethan Tucker is a co-founder of Mechon Hadar. He is the recipient of the first Grinspoon Foundation Social Entrepreneur Fellowship. Ethan was ordained by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel after years of study at Yeshivat Ma'ale Gilboa and earned a PhD in Talmud and Rabbinics from the Jewish Theological Seminary. Ethan leads the Talmud curriculum at Yeshivat Hadar and teaches Topics in Halakhah.
Irit Koren holds a Ph.D. in Gender Studies from Bar-Ilan University. Her research focuses on the intersection of socio-anthropology with Jewish Studies, Gender Studies and Israeli society. Koren is the author of Aron Betoch Aron (Closet Within a Closet: Stories of Religious Homosexuals), Yediot Aharonot, 2003 [in Hebrew]. She is currently working on her second book, You Are Hereby Renewed Unto Me: Orthodox Women Challenge the Wedding Ritual, to be published in Hebrew by the Hebrew University Magnes Press. Koren has taught in several adult education settings including the Jewish Theological Seminary, the Skirball Center for Adult Jewish Learning at Temple Emanu-El, and Alma New York. She has also lectured about her topics at Brandeis University, NYU, the AJS (Association for Jewish Studies) , Limmud, and the Wexner Foundation, among many other venues in the U.S. and Israel.
Rabbi Jeffrey S. Fox teaches chumash and Rashi at Yeshivat Hadar as well as overseeing the Berrie Innovation Grant for Mechon Hadar. Rabbi Fox was the first graduate of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah. After graduation he served as the spiritual leader of Kehilat Kesher: The Community Synagogue of Tenafly and Englewood where he grew the shul from thirty to one hundred families. In addition to teaching at the Drisha Institute and directing the Florence Melton Adult Mini School in Westchester County, he is a Rabbinic Fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute of Jerusalem and has served on boards of the UJA of Northers New Jersey as well as J-Add. He lives in Riverdale with his wife Beth and their four children.
Rabbi Micha'el Rosenberg taught Tanakh at Yeshivat Hadar this past summer. He is the rabbi of the Fort Tryon Jewish Center, an independent egalitarian synagogue in the Washington Heights section of New York City. An alumnus of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship program, he received his rabbinical ordination from the Chief Rabbinate of Israel following his studies in the kollel halakhah at Yeshivat Ma’aleh Gilboa and is currently a doctoral candidate in Talmud and Rabbinic Literature at the Jewish Theological Seminary. He has taught Bible, Talmud, and halakhah in a wide variety of settings, including the Drisha Institute for Jewish Education, JTS, the National Havurah Institute, and the Northwoods Kollel and Beit Midrash of Ramah Wisconsin.
Jaclyn Rubin completed a year at the Drisha Scholar’s Circle. She recently graduated from Barnard and the Jewish Theological Seminary with B.A.’s in English and Talmud, respectively. She holds an M.A. in Talmud from the Jewish Theological Seminary. Jaclyn has been on the beit midrash team of Kehilat Hadar for four years. She was a fellow in Yeshivat Hadar in 2007.
Dr. Devora Steinmetz is the author of From Father to Son: Kinship, Conflict, and Continuity in Genesis and Punishment and Freedom: The Rabbinic Construction of Criminal Law. She has taught rabbinic literature at Drisha and the Jewish Theological Seminary. She was a visiting scholar at the Hebrew University’s Hevruta program and the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Steinmetz is the founder of Beit Rabban, an innovative day school that is profiled in Daniel Pekarsky's Vision at Work: The Theory and Practice of Beit Rabban. She serves as an educational leadership consultant to the Mandel Foundation.