The information within this section is a reflection of the offerings during Summer Institutes 2008. Please check back in late winter 2009 for summer 2009 information.
June 15–22, 2008
Summer Bet Midrash on Judaism and Ecology
"Truth Will Grow from the Earth"
Rose, Steinberg
INTD 010
Note: Not offered for credit.
Scholarships available
Cosponsored by Hazon.
Say "environmental Torah," and perhaps a few verses about trees and not being wasteful come to mind. Yet our spiritual heritage has much more to teach us about existing responsibly and creatively as interdependent living beings in the world. Torah and cosmos are deeply linked in Jewish sources from ancient to recent times. In the visions of our forebears, Torah shaped the world, and there was Torah to be discovered and applied in every nook and cranny of creation. Can it be so for us? How can our Torah be responsive to the state of the world around us, and how can we learn wisdom to survive our times from the sources of our heritage?
The Program
In this week-long, all-day intensive encounter with Jewish textual sources, students will study in the
bet midrash (study house) of Hebrew College’s transdenominational Rabbinical School. Combining the best of the Western university and the rabbinic study hall, the program integrates firsthand encounters with primary sources and seminar-style discussions, informed by traditional and critical scholarship. There will also be a Shabbat program for participants.
A team of scholars and guest lecturers, including Dr. Arthur Green, Rector of the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College and Irving Brudnick Professor of Religion and Philosophy, will guide the exploration. Rabbi Or Rose, Instructor of Rabbinics and Jewish Thought, and Dr. Jonah Steinberg, Assistant Professor of Rabbinics, are core faculty for the Summer Open Bet Midrash.
All sources are provided in the original languages and in English translation. The program will be satisfying and challenging for veteran learners, and supportive of newcomers as well.
Core Faculty
Rabbi Or Rose is Associate Dean and Director of Informal Education at the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College. The author of two recent books on Jewish spirituality, he is a contributing editor to
Tikkun Magazine. Or is currently completing his doctorate in Jewish mysticism at Brandeis University.
Dr. Jonah Steinberg is Associate Dean and Director of Academic Development at the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College. He received his PhD at Columbia University and was awarded the New Scholar Award by the
Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion.
Tuition and Fellowships
Tuition is $850, which includes breakfast and lunch daily, as well as all Shabbat meals.
Scholarships are available. Local housing for out-of-town participants can be arranged by request. For more information, please contact our Administrative Director, Anne Meirowitz, at
ameirowitz@hebrewcollege.edu, 617-559-8632.
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