When I stand on the bimah next to a young person celebrating their arrival at the age of taking responsibility for observance of mitzvot, I often say something like this: ‘as you arrive at this moment of celebration, please remember that this is not the end of the journey of Jewish learning – quite the opposite! Becoming a Jewish adult is embarking on a journey of life-long learning and Jewish discovery’. I know that in that moment it may be hard for the 13 year old to grasp the full meaning of this charge, but I hope that they remember this as they continue to grow, mature and become the true Jewish adults. Learning is NOT just for kids. In fact, Jewish learning that we offer our children is just a handful of tools and concepts that they will be able to use to continue to engage with Jewish texts, services, festivals and celebrations, as well as many customs and traditions of our people.
Over the course of the year we make sure that all of our religious school families enjoy some family learning – grades 3 and up have an annual Shabbaton, and we run school-wide programs a few times a year. Parents of our 7th graders are offered a B’nai Mitzvah Parents class every year, allowing them to explore our traditions in depth, just as their kids prepare for their big day. This year we once again offered an Adult Hebrew Class on Sundays – many thanks to TE’s own Eyal Yazdi for volunteering to teach this group of dedicated learners!
Our weekly Torah Study group has returned in person (as well as online) with renewed sense of excitement. For the first time in the 13 years that I have been leading this study group we have decided to engage in a slow reading of the Torah text – rather than following the traditional weekly portion schedule, we go through the narrative a few verses at a time, delving deeper and not moving to the next verse until we are ready. So far we have managed to get to Noah, and the conversations have been so rewarding! If you have not yet tried it, why not spend 90 minutes on Saturday morning engaging with a little Jewish learning, cup of coffee in hand?
One of the highlights of the year is TE’s Annual Scholar in Residence program. Over the past few covid years, while we were not able to have our traditional weekend-long programs, complete with meals and a chance to spend quality time with our scholar in residence, we have experimented with a few different modalities online.
I am delighted to announce that our Scholar program this year will be offered by Professor Michal Bar-Asher Siegal, a Horace Goldsmith Visiting Professor in Judaic Studies at Yale University. Stories portraying Jesus and heretics (‘minim’) in rabbinic literature are a central site of rabbinic engagement with the ‘other’. We will use previously untapped Christian materials to arrive at new interpretations of familiar texts and illuminate the complex relationship between Jews and Christians in Late Antiquity. Whether you took the TE class on co-existence of Jews and Christians in ancient times back in 2019-20, or you are completely new to this topic, I promise you an incredible journey of exciting learning! Since prof. Bar-Asher Siegal is based in New Haven this year, the three sessions will be offered on January 24, 31 and March 1 – come to one or come to all! (And yes, we will also be streaming on zoom, to make it more accessible to those who are not comfortable driving at night!). A huge thank you to our anonymous donor who continues to make these learning opportunities available to all TE members.
As our Adult Hebrew learners are conquering the alef-bet, we will soon be ready to begin our Adult B’nei Mitzvah class – so please continue to check the Shofar Blast for more info coming soon. 5783 is shaping up to be a year of great Jewish learning at TE!