The Book Smugglers of the Vilna Ghetto: Choosing a Life of Meaning Under the Specter of Death

Dec 21, 2020 By David Fishman | Public Event video | Video Lecture

In Vilna, 鈥渢he Jerusalem of Lithuania,鈥� a group of Jewish writers and intellectuals risked their lives to rescue Jewish books, manuscripts, and art from the Nazis. While working as slave laborers for a Nazi looting agency, they 鈥渟tole鈥� Jewish cultural treasures from their masters, smuggled them into the ghetto, and hid them in underground cellars and bunkers. The few members of this group who survived the war returned to Vilna after its聽liberation, and聽led an operation to retrieve the treasures.

Mitzvot and the Path to Human Flourishing

Dec 14, 2020 By Yonatan Y. Brafman | Video Lecture

The medieval聽decisor聽and philosopher Moses Maimonides claimed that the mitzvot (commandments) are a divine law. By this, he meant not only that the mitzvot originate with God, but that they were a medium聽by which people could flourish both聽politically聽and personally鈥攚hich for Maimonides meant the聽attainment of intellectual comprehension.聽This session explores the significance of Maimonides鈥櫬爒iew and how two modern Jewish thinkers, Mordecai Kaplan and Eliezer Berkovits,聽built on Maimonides鈥� ideas to develop their own understandings of聽how聽observance of the聽mitzvot聽can聽advance聽human growth and聽the attainment of聽perfection.聽聽

Trauma and Testimony in an Oversharing Society

Dec 7, 2020 By Edna Friedberg | Public Event video | Video Lecture

The pandemic has forced us to live much of our lives online. But what happens when experiences that used to be private and intimate are exposed to the glare of public scrutiny? How is the impact of experience changed by retelling it, and does sharing our experiences make them more meaningful? This is a discussion of how refugees from war-torn Europe were recast as 鈥淗olocaust survivors鈥� and how trauma morphs when repackaged for broader consumption. The session will include pioneering early audio and film recordings of survivors as young people in the 1940s and 50s.聽

The Certainty of Uncertainty

Nov 30, 2020 By Alan Cooper | Public Event video | Video Lecture

Psalm聽84,聽quoted in the聽Havdalah聽service,聽assures us that human felicity arises out of trust in God.聽But trust is hard to come by, and felicity seems remote in times of duress.聽In this session we will examine biblical texts that acknowledge the challenges of doubt and uncertainty and offer ways of meeting those trials with hope,聽faith,聽and trust.聽

The Wholeness of a Broken Heart

Nov 23, 2020 By Mychal Springer | Public Event video | Video Lecture

Life鈥檚 challenges raise up the reality of human vulnerability. Too often, people experience the heartbreak of suffering. In this session we will explore the paradoxical teaching of the聽Kotzker聽Rebbe that 鈥渢here is nothing more whole than a broken heart.鈥澛犅犅�

Nurturing Character, Community, and Meaning-Making Through Jewish Education

Nov 9, 2020 By Jeffrey Kress | Public Event video | Video Lecture

Even as we are zooming forward into a new, Covid-altered educational landscape, there are goals of Jewish education鈥攚hether in schools, camps, home, or other settings鈥攖hat are enduring. In this session we will look at Jewish education through the lenses of character, community, and聽meaning-making聽to provide context for current discussions of online and hybrid聽learning, and聽to expand our thinking聽about the goals and processes of Jewish learning.

The Torah鈥檚 Take on Happiness

Nov 2, 2020 By Jan Uhrbach | Public Event video | Video Lecture

Moses鈥� final speech concludes with a declaration of the happiness of being a Jew: 鈥淗appy are you, O Israel!鈥澛燘ut does the Torah describe any individual as happy?聽While聽the pursuit of聽happiness, as expressed in the Torah and its interpretations? Is the American ideal of happiness a Jewish concept at all?聽

Spiritual Meaning and Inspiration in Hasidic Teaching

Oct 26, 2020 By Eitan Fishbane | Public Event video | Video Lecture

In this session we explore several powerful examples in which聽hasidic聽spiritual masters read the Hebrew Bible figuratively in order to often playfully and brilliantly convey deep spiritual insights about the nature of life, of the world, and of God鈥榮 immanent presence in our lives.聽

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