BEIT Midrash
Thursday, November 7, 2019 • 9 Cheshvan 5780
6:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Choose one from this list of many experiences and sessions. Participate in one, two, or all three parts of the evening. BEIT Café offers coffee and nosh all evening.
6:00-7:00 p.m. BEIT Café open for Dinner. Register below.
6:30 p.m. BEIT Experience I
Studying Torah from Iberia to La Jolla
Ian Merles
This class will look at the weekly Torah Portion with the commentaries of three great Sephardic Medieval Biblical commentators: the poet Rabbi Abraham Ibn Ezra, the Kabbalist Rabbi Moses ben Nachman (Ramban or Nahmanides), and the Renaissance philosopher Rabbi Don Isaac Abarbanel. We will examine what lessons these Spanish Sages learned from the Torah 1,000 years ago and compare those lessons to how we understand the Torah today in San Diego, CA.
Ian Merles has a BA in Religious studies, Philosophy, and Jewish studies from SUNY Stony Brook and an MA in Rabbinic literature from the Shechter Institute in Jerusalem. He is currently the West Coast Annual Giving Officer for Hadassah. Ian lived in Israel for ten years where he served as a lone soldier in the Nahal infantry brigade of the Israeli army during the 2nd Intifada.
American Jewish History: 1654-1800
Professor Joellyn Zollman
The genesis of the American Jewish experience contains many of the building blocks that continue to shape and define the community today. Come learn about the adventurous Jews who settled in the British colonies, fought in the American Revolution, and launched American Jewish life.
Joellyn Zollman, Ph.D has taught Jewish history at SDSU, UCSD, and the San Diego Center for Jewish Culture. She recently curated Celebrate, Commemorate! The History and Heritage of San Diego’s Jewish Community, an exhibition at the San Diego History Center.
Martin Buber: The Person and His Writings
Professor David Barzilai
Come explore the thought of the important 20th century Jewish thinker Martin Buber.
Dr. David Barzilai has been teaching philosophy courses for over twenty-five years at Virginia Tech, at UCSD and SDSU. Professor Barzilai holds a Ph.D. in philosophy and Jewish thought and an MA in Jewish history and Holocaust studies and a BA in education and Jewish history from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. This course is based in his book Homo Dialogicus: Martin Buber's Contribution to Philosophy.
Gender and Judaism
Rabbi Yael Ridberg
Jewish tradition has long engaged with gender diversity and the idea of gender beyond a binary concept. This lecture & discussion will explore the difference between sex and gender, looking at Jewish texts and various interpretations of gender fluidity from the Torah to today.
Yael Ridberg is the Rabbi of Congregation Dor Hadash and the immediate Past President of the Board at San Diego Jewish Academy. She and her husband, Mark Laska, are also members of Congregtion Beth El, and live in La Jolla with their 4 daughters.
Beginning Hebrew Reading
Prayer Book Hebrew Reading
Robin Shulman
Begins November 7 and continues each week BEIT meets
Learn basic Hebrew reading for synagogue services. This is a comfortable first step for discovering or rediscovering your ability to read Hebrew.
Intermediate Hebrew Reading & Conversation
Orli Moses
Begins November 7 and continues each week BEIT meets
Strengthen your Hebrew reading and conversation skills.
Torah Reading
Ran Anbar
Begins November 7 and continues each week BEIT meets
Learn to read Torah or grow your Torah reading skills. If you wish, read Torah on occasional Shabbat mornings as member of our Torah reading squad. We meet on a regular basis to teach Torah trope to beginners, review trope with more experienced readers, and practice upcoming Torah readings.
7:30 p.m. BEIT Tefillah: Ma’ariv Minyan
We gather in the BEIT Midrash for Ma’ariv, an evening prayer Minyan. Join us for a brief spiritual break between sessions followed by coffee, conversation, and nosh during our BEIT Break.
7:30 p.m. BEIT Break
Coffee, conversation, and nosh…
7:45 p.m. BEIT Experience II
ReJEWvinate
Rabbi Ron Shulman
Rabbi Shulman’s Yom Kippur message is for us to rejuvenate Jewish life, or to ReJEWvinate. In order to do this we need to be engaged in the 21st century multi-faceted Jewish conversation swirling around us about our values, our people, and our traditions. We must learn to speak with one another not at each other. We need to unpack our beliefs and assumptions while reclaiming authentic Jewish visions of social ethics, communal purpose, and personal meaning. To ReJEWvinate includes conversations about prayer and celebration, theology and social justice, Israel and the Diaspora, technology and individuality, the individual and the community. Join with Rabbi Shulman and synagogue friends to engage in the conversation.
BEIT is sponsored in loving memory of Paula & Jerry Mandell, devoted to Congregation Beth El and dedicated to Jewish scholarship.
Register
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Mon, November 18 2019 20 Cheshvan 5780