Course Descriptions

TALMUD AND MIDRASH (RABBINIC LITERATURE)

TALMUD Level I
TALMUD Level II
TALMUD Level III
TALMUD Level IV
TALMUD Level V
BEKIUT MISHNAH
MIDRASH
ADVANCED MIDRASH
PIRKEI AVOT

TANACH (BIBLE)

CHUMASH WITH RASHI
WRITTEN AND ORAL TORAH FROM MIDRASH TO THE MIDDLE AGES
TANACH AND MEDIEVAL COMMENTATORS
SEFER BAMIDBAR: TRANSITIONAL SPACE, TRANSITIONAL TIME
TORAH PORTION OF THE WEEK
PSALMS
NEVIIM-AMOS

HALACHA (JEWISH LAW)

HALACHA LE-MA’ASEH – PRACTICAL HALACHA
TOPICS IN HALACHA LE-MA’ASEH
POSKIM Level I
POSKIM Level II
GENDER AND JUDAISM
CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN HALACHA (For Nativ Yeshiva Track Students only)

JEWISH THOUGHT

MEDIEVAL JEWISH THOUGHT: CONCEIVING THE WHOLE
THEOLOGY
HASIDUT
KABBALAH
CONSERVATIVE JUDAISM
LIFE VERSUS TEXT IN ZIONIST THOUGHT AND CULTURE

HEBREW

MODERN HEBREW ULPAN
BIBLICAL HEBREW

OTHER COURSES

LITURGY
ISRAEL SOCIETY
SICHA WITH ROSH HAYESHIVA

SPIRITUAL COUNSELING AND REFLECTION

TALMUD Level I
This course is a gateway to Rabbinic thinking and writing in terms of both skills and content.
How should my sukka look, and why? Who were the main disciples of R. Aqiva who left their mark on the Jewish world and streets of modern-day Jerusalem? How much is a smack worth? Am I responsible when a trespasser on my property falls into my pool and drowns? Is swearing nice? What if the miller turned my wheat kernels into semolina when I wanted whole grain flour?
We will explore these questions – and many others – beginning with a rigorous study of the Mishnah with its clear and accessible Hebrew, the basis of the Gemara, and therefore of all halachic Judaism. We will add on the Tosefta, also from the Tannaitic period, and sometimes seek conceptualization through midrashic sources. In the second semester, the participants and instructor will decide together whether to add more Gemara with its Aramaic basis and special forms of logic.

Required texts: No texts need in advance- we will be studying Mishnah Seder Mo’ed (Albeck edition), Talmud: Masechet P’sahim. We will organize a group purchase of the Talmud, and for those who wish, the Mishnah.
Schedule: Meets 4 times per week, 3 hours and 45 minutes per session. The time is divided between havruta (study pairs or small groups) and shiur (class).
Language of Instruction: English
Instructor: Esther Israel

TALMUD Level II
This course is an introduction to Mishnah, Babylonian Talmud, and Rashi’s commentary. It will begin with a critical reading of selected chapters of the Mishnah from the Tractate of Pesahim. Emphasis is given to the literary structure of the Mishnah, its redaction, and possible methods of extrapolation from the text to Halakhah. A close comparison is also done between the laws of the Torah and the laws of the Mishnah. In addition, two chapters of the Tosefta will be discussed with an emphasis on their relationship to the Mishnah and later on its relationship to the Talmud. The second half of the course is a critical reading of the first two chapters of Pesahim (gemara). Emphasis is placed on the use of Talmudic terminology, the structure of the Talmudic sugya, and the Talmud’s interpretation of the Mishnah. In addition, we will become acquainted with Talmudic logic, noting how it differs from modern logic (when it does). When applicable, emphasis is placed on halakhic development from the Torah, through the Mishnah and Talmud and selected Rishonim.

Required texts: Gemara Masechet Pesahim (Steinsaltz ed.), Tanakh, Jastrow and Frank Talmudic dictionaries.
Recommended texts: Melamed Talmudic dictionary
Schedule: Meets 4 times per week, 3 hours and 45 minutes per session. The time is divided between chavruta and shiur.
Language of instruction: English
Instructor: Rabbi Hillel C. Lavery-Yisraeli

TALMUD Level III
This course is for students who have already acquired a certain familiarity with the study of Mishnah and Talmud. We will begin by reading selected chapters of Mishnah P’sachim together with parallel sections from the Tosephta. We will go on to read selected sugiot from Bavli P’sachim with Rashi’s commentary – with special attention being paid to the tannaitic background of the Talmudic discussions, the literary structure of those discussions and their social, moral, and philosophical underpinnings. Finally we will develop the tools to understand and analyse the Tosafot, using this commentary as a key to uncovering the ambiguities in the text of the Talmud.

Required texts: Mishnah Masechet P’sachim, Gemara Masechet P’sachim, Jastrow and Frank Talmudic dictionaries.
Schedule: Meets 4 times per week, 3 hours and 45 minutes per session. The time is divided between chevruta and shiur.
Language of instruction: English
Instructor: Rabbi Joel Levy

TALMUD Level IV
This course is an in-depth study of Babylonian Talmud with the classical medieval commentaries Rashi, Tosafot, and other Rishonim. The course begins by focusing on the structure of the sugya, its components, and its use of earlier sources including the Mishnah, Tosefta, and Midreshei Halacha. In addition, the student will develop the tools to understand and analyze the commentaries of Rashi, Tosafot, and subsequent Rishonim.

Required Texts: Talmud Tractate Pesahim
Schedule: Meets 4 times per week, 3 hours and 45 minutes per session. The time is chevruta and shiur.
Language of Instruction: English
Instructor: Dr. Josh Kulp

TALMUD Level V
The course will emphasize the development of the conceptions internal to any given sugya. Attention will be paid to the breadth of material in the Tannaitic literature and to parallels in the Yerushalmi. After the Talmud itself has been studied, we will turn to the rishonim to trace the development of the halakha after the Talmud. We will study selected sugyot from Masechet Pesachim.

Required Texts: Talmud Tractate Pesahim
Schedule: We will hold shiur twice a week
Language of Instruction: Hebrew
Instructor: Rabbi Shmuel Lewis

BEKIUT MISHNAH
This is a survey course intended to provide a broad overview of Mishnaic literature, its style, language, and content. In order to preserve organic rabbinic units, only full tractates will be studied, as opposed to an artificial collation of material. In this manner attention will be paid to the organization of material within chapters and full tractates. Attention will also be paid to the relationship between Biblical law and Mishnaic law. Each class session will cover approximately one full chapter of material.

Recommended text: Albeck edition of Mishnah.
Schedule: Meets once per week, 3 hours each session, part chevruta and part shiur.
Language of instruction: English
Instructor: Dr. Josh Kulp

MIDRASH
This course is an in-depth overview of the classic rabbinic midrashim to the Bible. The course will provide the student with the tools to handle and analyze major works of classical Tannaitic and Amoraic Midrash. We will examine the genre of Midrash on several levels, as a tool of Biblical interpretation but also as a mode of asking and answering fundamental questions of theology, psychology, peoplehood and what it means to be human and Jewish. We will pay careful attention to the interpretive process as it unfolds, in the links between different Biblical texts and the many layers of meaning found in the text. The first half of the course will be dedicated to midrash aggadah and we will look at excerpts from Bereshit Rabbah, Vaykira Rabbah and Shir haShirim Rabbah. The second half will explore midrash halakha with special attention to Mekhilta d’Rabbi Ishmael and Sifrei Devarim.

Required texts: Photocopies to be distributed.
Recommended texts: Jastrow Talmudic dictionary, Hebrew/English Tanach.
Schedule: Meets once per week for 3 hours each session, part chevruta and part shiur.
Language of instruction: English
Instructor: Shoshana Cohen

ADVANCED MIDRASH
This course will be an in-depth study of selected passages in the midrash. Its purpose will be to give the student the tools to analyze the midrashic literature as a rabbinic attempt to answer Biblical textual problems in a religiously meaningful way. This course also aims to give the student the tools to evaluate critical textual problems in midrashic texts, to trace the evolution of the use of midrashic texts through their historical evolution, how to evaluate variant textual traditions, and how to use classical and modern commentaries in interpreting midrashim.

Required texts: Photocopies to be distributed.
Recommended texts: Jastrow Talmudic dictionary, Hebrew/English Tanach.
Schedule: Meets once per week for 3 hours each session, part chevruta and part shiur.
Language of instruction: Hebrew or English as appropriate
Instructor: Rabbi Shmuel Lewis

PIRKE AVOT
This course will systematically follow the mishnayot of Pirkei Avot, one of the classic texts of Rabbinic literature. The texts will be studied with traditional and more modern commentary and explanation. They will serve as a basis for discussion of the many central points of Judaism that are raised there – about Torah and mitsvot – as well as its many insights into the human personality and condition and the nature of people and society.

Recommended text: “Mishnah: Avot” with commentary by Pinhas Kahati (Hebrew or English – both available in Jerusalem)
Schedule: Meets once a week for 1.25 hours
Language of Instruction: English
Instructor: Rabbi Daniel Goldfarb

TANACH (BIBLE)

CHUMASH WITH RASHI
This course will be an introductory encounter with the theological, literary and historical richness of the Torah, the Five Books of Moses. Students will develop close reading skills and interpretive sensitivity through careful analysis both of the Biblical text themselves and the Medieval commentary of Rashi. Our study of Rashi will be an attempt to understand his methodology, specifically the way in which he creates a unique dynamic between the Biblical text, his own interpretation and the older Midrashic sources from which he draws. This methodology provides a fascinating perspective on what it means to be deeply rooted in both tradition and innovation, to understand and to create, a perspective that can deeply enrich our experience as readers of Jewish texts and as committed Jews today. The first half of the course will explore the Biblical narrative of Bereshit, with special attention to the Joseph story, while the second half will include selections from the weekly Torah portion.

Required texts: Hebrew/English Tanach
Recommended text: Humash with Rashi, Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew-English Lexicon
Schedule: Meets twice per week, 3 hours each session
Language of instruction: English
Instructor: Shoshana Cohen

WRITTEN AND ORAL TORAH FROM MIDRASH TO THE MIDDLE AGES
This course focuses on learning Chumash as Torah, that is, the teaching of God. Learning in this way isn’t only about religious conviction but also about methodology. We will seek to understand the inner logic and meaning of the method that Jewish tradition has developed for hearing Hashem’s voice speak from the pages of the Chumash. The heart of that method is reading the Written Torah through the prism of the Oral Torah. Special emphasis will be placed on systematic study of Rashi’s commentary and its midrashic sources. We will seek to understand both how Rashi exemplified classic Jewish methodology and how he transformed that methodology in the context of his own medieval world. The move from Rabbinic to medieval sensibilities, including many new textual and philological concerns, signals fundamental changes in the kinds of questions biblical scholars asked and in the kinds of answers they sought. In this context we will compare Rashi’s commentary to other medieval commentators. In addition, we will make use of tools provided by modern Bible scholarship, primarily those approaching the Bible as literature but also those of biblical criticism, and consider how these can enrich classic Jewish learning.

Required texts: Chumash with Rashi.
Schedule: Meets twice per week, 3 hours each session, part chevruta and part shiur.
Language of instruction: English
Instructor: Shaiya Rothberg

TANACH AND MEDIEVAL COMMENTATORS
This course divides into two parts: We will begin with a focus on texts from the Megillot, considering Peshat and Drash readings. Studying the classic commentators on these sections will give us some insights into the lives and thoughts of these people, as well as a chance to discuss their understanding of the text. The later part of the year will be devoted to studying texts from Shmot, coming to appreciate the beauty of the biblical story through a close reading of the text. We will use Miqraot Gedolot for the classical commentators. Throughout the year students are encouraged to study the text and understand its challenges, and then examine the various approaches of the medieval commentaries and midrash to the text. The main commentators used for studying the Shmot text are Rashi, Rashbam, Ibn Ezra, and Ramban. While studying the Megillot we will consider (based on availability) Rashi, Ibn Ezra and Radaq.

Required Texts: A full Hebrew Tanach (without commentaries).
Recommended Texts: Miqraot Gedolot “Torat Haim”, published by Mossad HaRav Kook (Shmot part I), or any other Miqraot Gedolot on Shmot. Relevant commentaries on the Megillot will be provided, but students may certainly bring their own books for further study.
Schedule: Meets twice per week, 3 hours per session, part chevruta and part shiur.
Language of Instruction: English
Instructor: Vered Hollander-Goldfarb

SEFER BAMIDBAR: TRANSITIONAL SPACE, TRANSITIONAL TIME
We will explore the dynamics of travel and rest, turbulence and quiescence, rebellion and epiphany – the dynamics of the wilderness – as they are intimated in the Torah text and amplified in midrashic and Chassidic sources, as well as in medieval and modern commentaries. Psychoanalytic and literary material will aid us in our exploration.

Required texts: Photocopies will be distributed.
Schedule: Meets once a week over 10 weeks for 2 hours each session, part shiur and part discussion.
Language of instruction: English
Instructor: Dr. Avivah Zornberg

TORAH PORTION OF THE WEEK
Yeshiva faculty members and guest lecturers representing a wide spectrum of approaches will present the Torah portion of the week to the Yeshiva Community. Students will have the opportunity to engage the teacher of the week in dialogue and derive inspiration from the weekly parasha. One half the sessions will be taught by Rabbi Matt Berkowitz, thus providing a base method of thinking about the parasha.

Required texts: Hebrew/English Tanach. Photocopies of various sources will be supplied.
Schedule: Meets Thursday afternoons for one hour and fifteen minutes, part havruta and part shiur.
Language of instruction: English

PSALMS
This course is an in-depth study of Psalms from the daily and weekly liturgy. Attention will be paid to the structure of Biblical poetry, linguistic aspects of Psalms, theological and spiritual messages of the Psalms, and the relationships between the Psalms studied and other passages of Biblical narrative and poetry. As time permits, we will also focus on Rabbinic midrash and medieval commentaries on the Psalms.

Required text: Hebrew Tanach.
Recommended texts: Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew-English Lexicon; Even Shushan Concordance.
Schedule: Meets during the first half of the year, once per week, 3 hours each session, part chevruta and part shiur.
Language of instruction: English
Instructor: Rabbi Gail Diamond

NEVIIM-AMOS
Insofar as our understanding of prophecy is based on the prophetic books, how does one go about reading prophecy? What is the nature of the prophetic book, its organization and composition, as well as its literary and theological integrity? This course will center around a close reading of the book of Amos, explicating its contents and understanding its relationship to biblical tradition. In addition, we will inquire into the nature and origins of biblical prophecy – its ancient Near Eastern sources, the nature of prophetic experience, and how prophecy changes and develops within the Bible. Moreover, we will explore what characterizes the prophet’s life and experience: To what extent are prophets cut from the same mold, and to what degree do they speak with a similar voice and offer the same message?

Schedule: Meets during the second half of the year, once per week, 3 hours each session
Language of instruction: English
Instructor: Dr. George Savran

HALACHA (JEWISH LAW)

HALACHA LE-MA’ASEH – PRACTICAL HALACHA
This course is a general survey of normal, daily halachic practice which introduces the students to primary halachic material and concepts. Topics covered will include prayer, blessings, shabbat, chagim and kashrut. This course is not designed to be entirely theoretical – students will be encouraged to experiment with their observance in the areas that are covered and keep a journal of the phenomenology of religious practice.

Required texts: Hayyim David HaLevi, Kitzur Shulchan Aruch: M’kor Chaim. Shulchan Aruch Orech Chayim with Mishnah Brura.
Schedule: Meets once per week, 3 hours each session, part havruta and part shiur
Language of instruction: English
Instructor: Rabbi Joel Levy

TOPICS IN HALACHA LE-MA’ASEH
Traditionally, the way a Jew has fulfilled God’s will is living a life according to divine precepts as expressed in Halakha – Jewish Law. This course will concentrate on areas of the Jewish way of life such as Prayers and Blessings, The Life Cycle, The Laws of Family Purity, Kashrut, Shabbat and Holidays.

Required texts: Mishnah B’rurah; Issur v’Heter
Schedule: Meets once per week, 3 hours each session, part hevruta and part shiur
Language of instruction: English, Hebrew as appropriate
Instructor: Rabbi Shlomo Zacharow

POSKIM Level I
This course will introduce the student to the basic medieval codes and the working out of halachic issues over time. In the first semester we will study consecutive treatments of a number of topics in the Mishneh Torah, the Tur with the Beit Yosef, and the Shulchan Aruch. In the second semester we will examine a number of halachic questions and trace their development from the Mishnah through our own time.

Required texts: Photocopies to be distributed.
Schedule: Meets once per week, 3 hours each session, part havruta and part shiur
Language of instruction: English, moving to Hebrew as the year progresses
Instructor: Dr. Josh Kulp (Semester I) and Rabbi Shlomo Zacharow (Semester II)

POSKIM Level II
We will study three contemporary halakhic disputes in Israel: whether it is permitted to demonstrate against public hillul shabbat on Shabbat, and if so under what conditions; whether it is permissible to give up Jewish sovereignty of parts of the Land of Israel for security interests; whether Torah study should be a reason for exemption from military service (or for reduced service). We will use these disputes as an opportunity to inquire into the role of halakhic discourse/dispute in a (Jewish) democratic society. The basic texts are contemporary, but we will also look into the sources they bring, both ancient and medieval.

Required texts: Photocopies to be distributed.
Schedule: Meets once per week, 3 hours each session, part havruta and part shiur
Language of instruction: English, Hebrew as appropriate
Instructor: Rabbi Shmuel Lewis

GENDER AND JUDAISM
This class will be an exploration of the points at which feminism meets traditional Judaism. We will touch on a range of topics including halakha, Biblical and Rabbinic studies, theology through the distinct and overlapping prisms of traditional textual analysis and feminist theory. We will examine traditional sources for explicit and implicit concepts and biases about gender. In discussion, we will explore the extent to which these traditional concepts apply in our contemporary lives and how they impact our sense of Judaism, the world and ourselves. Lesson titles include “Feminist Perspectives on Theology”; “Egalitarian Prayer”; and “What is the Root of Gender Inequality in Judaism?”

Required texts: Photocopies to be distributed.
Schedule: Meets once per week for 2 hours
Language of instruction: English
Instructor: Shoshana Cohen

CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN HALACHA (For Nativ Yeshiva Track Students only)
The weekly study sessions will expose students to a broad range of sources devoted to contemporary issues in Jewish law. Part of the class will be either study together with the teacher or in hevruta followed by discussion. Among topics to be examined:

Medical Ethics: Abortion, End of Life Issues
The State of Israel as a Halakhic Entity: The Redemption of Captives; Fast Days commemorating the destruction of Jerusalem – To Fast or Not to Fast?
Shabbat & Mo’ed: Musical Instruments; Attitude to the non-observant
Sexuality: The commandment to be Fruitful and Multiply, Intimate relationships outside of hupah v’kiddushin (marriage); homosexuality; tohorat hamishpaha (laws of family purity); Complexities in Divorce, the Agunah

Required texts: Photocopies to be distributed
Schedule: Meets once per week, 1 1/4 hours each time
Language of instruction: English
Instructor: Rabbi Shlomo Zacharow

JEWISH THOUGHT

ZIONISM AND THE “NEW JEW” (For Nativ Yeshiva Track Students only)
Zionism not only emerged as a response to anti-semitism and as an answer to ancient Jewish prayers. For many Jews at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, Zionism was a cultural movement intended to bring into being a “New Jew.” In this course we will investigate this fascinating and often overlooked dimension of Zionism. Has a “New Jew” emerged as a result of Zionism, in whole or in part? What virtues do Jews in Israel possess today thanks to this aspect of the Zionist movement? To what degree did this intended revolution in Jewish life mirror other revolutionary movements? And to what degree was violence done to Jews who did not fit the vision of the New Jew, such as Haredi and Sephardi Jews?

Required texts: Photocopies to be distributed
Recommended texts:
Schedule: Meets once a week for three hours
Language of Instruction: English
Instructor: Aryeh Tepper

MEDIEVAL JEWISH THOUGHT: CONCEIVING THE WHOLE
The Classical or Medieval Jewish thinkers sought a systematic theory of Judaism. They fashioned compelling concepts of God, Prophecy and Redemption from both earlier Jewish tradition and contemporary intellectual trends. Their interpretations of Judaism addressed not only theology, but also the actual workings of Torah as expressed in the roles of judges, prophets and kings, and in the principles underlying Jewish Law. This class will explore critically some central themes of this effort of Jewish self-understanding. Maimonides will serve as the axis of our study. We will juxtapose his universalism and rationalism with the particularistic and ‘organic’ ideas of Judah HaLevi (The Kuzari). And we will juxtapose Maimonides’ naturalistic and conservative ideals of law and politics with the mystical and dynamic model presented by Nachmanides. Throughout the course we will focus not only on what these thinkers thought, but what their ideas might mean to us. Also, attention will be paid to providing methodological tools for interpreting the classic texts, particularly the Guide to the Perplexed.

Required texts: Photocopies of material to be distributed.
Schedule: Meets once per week, 3 hours each session, part chevruta and part shiur.
Language of instruction: English
Instructor: Shaiya Rothberg

THEOLOGY
Mekorot veDeot (Sources and Ideas): Ancient Texts, Contemporary Theology
This workshop will address the foundational pieces of a contemporary theology of Judaism through learning key sources of classic Jewish thought. Special emphasis will be placed on the Rishonim of the Middle Ages (primarily Maimonides, the Zohar and the Gates of Light), but we will also touch on other periods and streams of Jewish thought, from the Bible to modernity. We will seek to understand concepts such as “God”, “Prophecy” and “Torah” in a manner that is faithful to the meaning and function of these concepts in Jewish religious life and at the same time true, real and compelling in light of our own contemporary understanding of ourselves and the world.

Required texts: texts and commentary will be provided and available online.
Schedule: Meets every other Tuesday from 12:15 – 13:30 (after the chagim).
Language of instruction: English
Instructor: Shaiya Rothberg

HASIDUT
A weekly encounter with the extraordinary world of Hasidism will be an opportunity to gain appreciation and understanding of the classic Hasidic masterworks. Oral teachings (torot), especially as they originated in the first three generations of tzadikim, the disciples of R. Yisrael Ba’al Shem Tov (1700-1760) and their disciples who recorded and edited these texts, created the sacred literature (kitvei hakodesh) of Hasidism. Our seminar will study the teachings of: The Maggid of Mezeritch, R. Dov Ber; R. Ya’akov Yosef of Polnoya (Toldot Ya’akov Yosef); R. Levi Yitzhak of Berdichev (Kedushat Levi); R. Shneur Zalman of Liadi (Tanya); R. Elimelech of Lizensk (Noam Elimelech); R. Nahman of Bratzlav (Likutei Mohran); R. Menahem Mendel of Vitebsk (Pri Ha’aretz); R. Leiner, The Izbizer Rebbe (Mei Shiloach); and R. Yehudah Leib Alter, the Rebbe of Gur (Sfat Emet).
Increased reading skills and comprehension of Hasidic terms, concepts and nuances will enhance the appreciation of Hasidic approaches to Jewish spirituality and religious fervor (hithlahavut). We will draw our source material directly from the primary classic texts. A brief introductory reading (“Hasidism” in The Jewish Religion, ed. L. Jacobs, pp. 218-223, Oxford U. Press, 1995) or the more elaborate contribution of Rivka Shatz in Encyclopedia Judaica, Vol. 7, are recommended. A new niggun from the classic repertoire of Hasidic music will be taught at the close of each shiur.

Required texts: Photocopies will be distributed prior to each meeting.
Schedule: Meets weekly, three hours per session, chevruta study and shiur, for first half of the year. Starts Sep. 15.
Language of Instruction: English
Instructor: Dr. Pesach Schindler

KABBALAH
Zohar: The Book of Splendor
Since its mysterious appearance some seven hundred years ago, the Zohar has emerged as one of the most powerful forces in the history of Jewish thought and tradition. The Zohar’s radical hermeneutics, its passionate and often erotic religious intensity, and its mystical formulation of Judaism’s fundamental ideas, have riveted many of Israel’s greatest sages while appalling others. Although Kabbalah emerged as a distinct stream of Jewish thought close to two hundred years before its appearance, the Zohar quickly took its place as the “bible” of Kabbalah, as it remains to this day. This class is an introduction to the Zohar through a close reading of its opening section, the Hakdamah. We will approach the text in its original Aramaic alongside Hebrew and English translations. We’ll also consider different ways in which the ideas and experiences presented by the Zohar and Kabbalah might impact upon our own religious and spiritual lives.

Required texts: Photocopies of material will be distributed.
Schedule: Meets once per week, 3 hours each session, part chevruta and part shiur.
Language of instruction: English
Instructor: Shaiya Rothberg

CONSERVATIVE JUDAISM
This course will examine briefly the history of the Conservative Movement and realities facing Conservative Judaism in the 21st Century. It will attempt to identify the beliefs appropriate to Conservative Judaism and survey a variety of halachic issues that distinguish it from other movements.

Schedule: Meets once per week, 1 hour each session, for first half of year.
Language of Instruction: English
Instructor: Rotating Faculty and Guests

LIFE VERSUS TEXT IN ZIONIST THOUGHT AND CULTURE
In this course we will investigate the rebellion against excessively textual culture in the Zionist movement and the concomitant quest for new sources of creative power. This rebellion/quest appeared in both secular and religious Zionist thought in figures such as Berdichevsky and Rav Kook and was reflected in certain trends in Israeli art, which we will also investigate.

Recommended texts: Photocopies to be distributed
Schedule: Meets once a week for three hours
Language of instruction: English
Instructor: Aryeh Tepper

OTHER COURSES

MODERN HEBREW ULPAN
The Yeshiva considers improvement of Hebrew language skills essential to Jewish learning. Therefore, we offer at least three levels of Hebrew Ulpan.
The goal of the course is to enrich Hebrew knowledge to make it easier for students to cope with original Biblical and Talmudic texts as well as to have greater access to and contact with Israeli society.
In order to achieve the above, the course will focus especially on three aspects (as appropriate to each level):
1. The verb system—7 “binyanim” (groups of verbs) and sub-groups
2. Syntax
3. Comprehension
Also, texts from newspapers and writing assignments will be given as needed.

Required text: To be determined.
Schedule: Meets twice per week, 1 1/4 hour each session.
Language of instruction: Hebrew
Instructors: Ms. Nitza Shalitin and Ms. Meira Stern-Glick

BIBLICAL HEBREW
This course is designed to provide students with a sufficient knowledge of Biblical grammar, syntax and vocabulary to enable them to read Biblical prose with the aid of a dictionary. It is assumed that all students will have background in Modern Hebrew, or be learning concurrently in at least level Bet of Ulpan.

Required text (copies in Bet Midrash): Biblical Hebrew for Students of Modern Israeli Hebrew by Marc Brettler.
Recommended texts (copies in Bet Midrash): the Biblical Hebrew Dictionary edited by Brown-Driver-Briggs.
Schedule: Meets twice per week, 1 1/4 hours each session. Some class time will be set aside for homework.
Language of instruction: English
Instructor: Rabbi Shlomo Zacharow

LITURGY
The course will examine in detail both the texts of the principal portions of the Siddur and their contexts, historical and liturgical. The course will cover the weekday services, Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh and the Holidays. Other ritual texts, such as Birkat HaMazon and the Haggadah, will also be studied. The course will also include relevant halachot and an attempt to identify fundamental principles of Judaism as embodied in the Siddur as well as essential characteristics of the nature of Jewish prayer.

Required texts: Siddur (whichever edition the student feels comfortable with).
Recommended texts: R. Hammer, Entering Jewish Prayer and Or Hadash; H.H. Donin, To Pray as a Jew.
Schedule: Meets once per week, 3 hours each session, divided between chevruta and shiur.
Language of Instruction: English
Instructor: Rabbi Daniel Goldfarb

ISRAEL SOCIETY
This course is designed to introduce Yeshiva students to all aspects of life in Israel, through the eyes, experience and words of a series of guest lecturers, who are expert on the variety of issues facing Israeli Society.

Schedule: Meets once a month (a schedule will be provided), during the lunch hour.
Language of Instruction: English

SICHA WITH ROSH HAYESHIVA
A weekly reflection and discussion on the moral and spiritual meanings of our shared and intensive life of Talmud Torah.

Schedule: Meets weekly for one hour
Language of Instruction: English
Instructor: Rabbi Shmuel Lewis

SPIRITUAL COUNSELING AND REFLECTION
This experiential class aims to give over some basic tools and practices of a chaplain by moving on two tracks: one is learning a method of guided reflection – students present materials drawn from their own experiences and receive feedback; the second is an investigation of literature and traditional sources connected to major lifecycle themes: death, birth, suffering, healing, theodicy, choseness, anger, grief, joy, etc. Both tracks aide us in reading everyday human interactions as rigorously as sacred texts. The class compliments a regular course of study at the Yeshiva: helping a student to bring her/his own voice more fully into conversation with the voices of thousands of years of tradition.

Required texts: Sourcebook
Schedule: Meets once per week, 2 hours each session, part shiur and part case presentation.
Language of Instruction: English
Instructor: Daniel H. Silberbusch