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Post Me'ah

Over the years Temple Israel’s Post Me’ah graduate program has presented outstanding scholars teaching interesting subjects to enthusiastic students. This year will be no exception. With excitement and pride we announce the Post Me’ah graduate program modules for 2009-2010.

Module 1: Oct. 20, 27 Nov. 3, 10 “Sacred Times Through Time: Sukkot, Hannukah, Purim and Pesach in the Talmud, in Jewish history and in modern Jewish thought”

Taught by Jeff Spitzer

This course will look at four different holidays through different lenses. Each class will include the study of a passage of Talmud, the study of the development of a custom observed with the holiday through history, and a look at some contemporary writings. Texts will be provided in the original languages and in translation.

Module 2: Jan. 13, 20, 27 Feb. 3 “The Principle of Tolerance in Jewish Tradition”

Taught by Rabbi Meir Sendor

We will explore the development of the precious principle of religious tolerance in Jewish Tradition. Our series traces this principle as it is expressed and challenged in the Bible, in the Rabbinic tradition through struggles with Greco-Roman and Middle Eastern religions, through the Middle Ages in difficult relations with Christianity and Islam and on into modern denominationalism and current post-modern thought. We will sample a wide variety of sources including prophets, rabbinic authorities, philosophers and kabbalists. In our present time, in which religious intolerance has intensified, and violence for religious and political ends is widespread, a deeper understanding and appreciation of the delicate flower of tolerance is more critical than ever.

Module 3: March 2, 9, 16, 23 “In the Beginning: Finding Ourselves in the Stories of Our First Families”

Taught by Dr. Marsha Mirkin

Explore what the stories of Adam, Eve, Sarah, Abraham, Hagar, Isaac and Ishmael teach us about ourselves, our relationships with God and with each other and our family dynamics. Using a psychological and theological lens, we will join our foreparents as they struggle, make mistakes and learn the meaning of intimacy, empathy, courage and mutuality in their relationships. We will see how much of what we currently are discovering about family dynamics is highlighted in the stories of our foreparents and applicable to our lives today. Marsha Pravder Mirkin, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist, Associate Professor of Psychology at Lassell College and Resident Scholar (on leave) at the Brandeis Women’s Studies Research Center. She is the author of “The Women who Danced by the Sea: Finding Ourselves in the Stories of our Biblical Foremothers” and numerous articles and chapters about Torah, psychology and woman’s studies. She teaches locally and nationally about psychological interpretations of Torah.

Module 4: April 27, May 4, 11, 25 “Love is a Many Splendorous Thing”

Taught by Dr. Lynne Heller

From the Bible to the Book of Splendor (Zohar) female sexuality is both reviled and revered. Yet curiously, the dominant metaphor for the human/divine relationship between God and Israel, His chosen people, portrays God as the Lover, ever pursuing His female beloved and reaching lyrical heights in the love poetry of Song of Songs. Seductress or femme fatale or Eshet Chayil? In mysticism, is the woman on the zoharic left side (evil) or the splendor of the right side? Journey through selected texts from Tanakh, rabbinic Midrash and the Zohar and decode an ancient archaeological artifact as well, in order to shed light/splendor on love’s matrix of meanings. (Please bring a Tanakh.)

As you can see, all the classes meet on Tuesday evenings from 7:45-9:15 PM at Temple Israel. The cost of each module is $150.00 and a registration form can be downloaded from the link below. Classes will have limited enrollment so get in early and enjoy the program.

Questions? Contact Rabbi Barry Starr

Download the registration form for Post Me’ah Graduate Institute Classes