Erev-Shabbat Summer Study Series

The following topics were suggested in discussion with members of the Adult Education’s “sub-committee on summer study” :)

Friday evening, July 11th - “Finding God”(the proposals)

Two of Martin Buber’s main contributions to religious philosophy were his notion of the “I-Thou interaction” ~ the dialogue that we attempt in our relationship with God ~ and Buber’s notion of the “eclipse of God” ~ the idea that the our modern teachings have actually interfered with our ability to sustain this I-Thou relationship. 

How do we find God? Our tradition offers no single solution; instead, over the generations, Judaism has proposed a vast array of paths and directions ~ from prayer and cultic worship, to study and performance of mitzvot, to contemplation and meditation, to mysticism and kabbalah, to modern philosophy and the scientific method, to personal reflection, spirituality, and even to doubt.  

Before delving into the realm of “mystery,” we will first look at a few of the more “traditional” approaches to “finding God” among those listed above ~ approaches that Judaism has claimed are accessible to everyone... (This discussion topic proposed by the committee came from the very readable book Finding God, by Daniel Syme and Refat Sonsino.

Friday evening, July 18th - “Finding God” (the mystery)

After the recent guest-workshop on mysticism held at temple, many of us felt that we still needed to “connect the dots” (i.e., to understand the relationships and the differences) between such a whirlwind of terms as “mysticism,” “kabbalah,” “meditation,” “prayer,” “tikkun olam [repairing the world],” “zohar,” “gematria [numerology],” “sefirot [Divine spheres],” “Ayn Sof [a mystical name for the Creator],” “synchronicity,” “spirituality,” “Jewish renewal,” “rationality,” and the role of “silence.” Egad.

To what extent do these approaches help us in the relationship with our Creator? To what extent are these terms even “Jewish”? Are some of these concepts more “Jewish” than others? Do any of them have their roots in Torah, or are they later additions? Does current thinking within the Reform movement find any relevance at all in these notions today? In what way might any of this enhance our own worship experience?

Interlude: Friday evening July 25th - Habitat for Humanity Shabbat... 

Conceived in a small interracial farming community in the south in 1942, Habitat for Humanity has since been embraced by all branches of Judaism across the United States. In more recent years, because of the concerns for working on Shabbat, some synagogues have even sponsored their own Habitat project homes.  Attending our Shabbat study on this evening will be our members and their guests ~ other Habitat volunteers ~ who will have worked on a local Habitat project earlier in the day. Our discussion will focus on Jewish perspectives on building a home, creating shelter and sanctuary, and repairing the world (tikkun olam).

Friday evening August 1st -- “US Presidents and the Jewish People”

Are you (and should we be) impressed by the current candidates’ relationships to religion in their own lives? Should the religious convictions of our presidents be open to public scrutiny ~ or are these private matters? As a springboard to this discussion, we will look at the religious attitudes of some of our past presidents ~ as well as a sample of their attitudes towards the Jewish community. We will also review “The Bible Goes to Washington: Why presidential candidates use ‘Biblespeak’ more than ever before” ~ one of the lead articles in this summer’s issue of Reform Judaism. (If you have already discarded your own copy of the magazine, you can still find the article is also available on-line at http://reformjudaismmag.org.)

Friday evening August 8th - Judaism in America

Recently, a colleague told Rabbi Herzbrun about an unpublished manuscript (now available on the web) by Ellis Rivkin, a former faculty member at the Hebrew Union College (Reform's rabbinical training seminary)... In the paper, Rvikin makes a prediction about what form American Judaism must take, if it is to survive in the 21st-century United States. His predictions ~ written more than a generation ago ~ were based on the 3 or 4 radical "mutations" in the past that he believes forever altered Judaism and that (more importantly) accounted for its continued existence, where otherwise it should have disappeared.

Whether or not Rivkin's predictions are correct, his style of scholarship represented the kind of out-of-the-box thinking that infuriated some of his colleagues, energized many of his students, and still remains relevant today for anyone who see change and adaptation as necessary life processes.