Past Classes

An exploration of the text with Talmudic, Midrashic, Kabbalistic, Chassidic and contemporary perspectives and applications.
Three Monday mornings beginning February 28, 2011.

Explore the mystical, psychological, social, and cultural dimensions of Shabbat as we unlock a model for achieving balance and serenity in a 24/7 world. Six Tuesdays beginning May 10, 2011.

A 30-minute lesson on practical life dilemmas, based on the weekly study of Pirkei Avot, Ethics of the Fathers.
Monday mornings, 9:00 - 9:30.

Does Judaism believe in guardian angels? Why do Jews use matchmakers? Who wrote the handwriting on the wall? A fun course in Jewish cultural literacy, full of surprising facts, myths, and mysteries surrounding Jewish tradition and practice.

Is Judaism socialist or capitalist? Who is responsible for preventing poverty? Is unionization a Jewish ideal? Must Walmart pay its workers a livable wage? Where would you draw the line? An ethical, Talmudic, and legal debate on the economic issues of our time.

Examine the arenas of love and respect, of intimacy and communication, of fidelity and domestic harmony. This new six-week course provides a practical and spiritual guide to making your marriage more enriched and fulfilling.

We present the sources. You decide.
Taxation, immigration, health care. What is the Jewish perspective on the hot button issues of today? Drawing on sources from the Torah, this course examines hotly debated contemporary political issues from a Jewish perspective.

The Kabbalah of You is meant for everyone who can be called “you.” Bringing light to what it is that makes you YOU will enable you to discover new depths of meaning that will have an impact on every aspect of your existence. Joy, contentment, courage, self-control, a meaningful relationship with G-d, beautiful relationships with others—these are some of the benefits of being in sync with your deepest self.
This course will uncover how you have a birthright within the Infinite—and how to tap into that awareness for the rest of your life.

Are you obliged to keep all commitments? What are the responsibilities of the sandwich generation? Are the ungracious deserving of our charity? How far should we go to give the benefit of the doubt? A discussion on personal ethics and the Jewish view on laws that test the limits of our integrity. Beginning January 29.

Everyone loves a good story. Knowing this, the sages of the Talmud used stories to encode messages about life that are far too deep and profound to communicate directly. This course decodes some of these extraordinary Talmudic mysteries to uncover layer within layer of insight into the nature of life, the universe, G-d, and man.
Begins April 23.

Modern medicine has brought us near miracles. It's also brought us some of the most difficult decisions we'll ever have to face. Are we obliged to prolong life even at the cost of terrible suffering? Should we legalize the sale of organs, such as kidneys, to save the lives of transplant patients? May a woman with a multiple-fetus pregnancy opt for fetal reduction, thus forfeiting the lives of some to possibly save others? When it seems that every available option is morally questionable, how do we decide?
Starting October 29, 2013. CLE & CME accredited.

What was it like for our ancestors to say goodbye to the shtetl,
to set out to discover new lives for themselves, along with all of the liberties the free world had to offer? At the dawn of the enlightenment, how did our parents adapt their Judaism to the developments of a modern age? And what can we learn from their struggles to connect deeply with our own Jewish identities?
This new course will give you the opportunity to make sense of your personal Jewishness; it will help you overcome perceived incompatibilities between Judaism and modern society; it will provide you with the clarity and conviction to pass on a legacy of Jewish pride to the next generation. Begins Feb. 4, 2014.