This week's class will be taught by Rabbi Jeff Fox and it is entitled, “The Rabbinic Hagaddah: From the Mishnah to Had Gadya - How Did we Get There?”
The seder is one of the most widely observed Jewish customs and also one of the most complex home rituals. The first hagaddah seems to be the tenth chapter of the mishna of Pesachim. How did we go from a a brief description of the seder to the rich and robust observance that we all know and love?
Rabbi Jeffrey S. Fox is a faculty member at Yeshivat Hadar. He teaches chumash and Rashi as well as oversees the Berrie Innovation Grant. Rabbi Fox was the first graduate of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah. After ordination 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-Federation of Northern New Jersey as well as J-ADD. He lives in Riverdale with his wife Beth and their four children.