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Rosh Hodesh Adar | ראש חודש אדר
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Welcoming Adar II
This year we celebrate the Hebrew month of Adar twice. As we welcome Adar II and the holiday of Purim, we are pleased to share an excerpt from a teaching by Hebrew College President Rabbi Sharon Cohen Anisfeld—who begins Adar
each year with her famous headstands!
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More Than One Thing:
Purim and Reflections of the Image of GodBy Rabbi Sharon Cohen Anisfeld
The tradition of dressing up on Purim allows us to play with both the allure and the absurdity of the absolutes we impose upon a world that is insistently and uncomfortably ambiguous. We "try on" the different characters in the Megillah or in our own culture, perhaps trying on different parts of ourselves. As Rabbi Mishael Zion has written: "On Purim we are using clothes against themselves, to deny their power to box us in... like the good carnival that it is, [Purim] makes us wonder if there is an 'authentic self' at all, or whether it is all just endless masks upon masks."
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Acknowledging Holiness Along the Way
Parashat Pekudei (Exodus 38:21-40:38)
By Rabbi Becky Silverstein `14
One of the things I miss most about going to shul regularly is the moment when the final line of a book of Torah is read. In many places, the kahal (community) rises and calls out, “chazak, chazak, v’nit’chazek” (“be strong, be strong, and may we be strengthened”). These words are then echoed by the Torah reader. This thirty second ritual takes an otherwise ordinary moment in the flow of Torah reading and transforms it into a reflection of what we have experienced and what we hope is to come.
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Interpreting Text Though Images
Hebrew College Open Circle Jewish Learning instructor Leann Shamash is currently teaching the course “Feasts, Fasts, and Fakeries: The Scroll of Esther Through a Photographic Lens.” (Right: One of her student's images responding to the prompt "hidden.") After teaching "Glimpses of Light and Darkness: The Book of Genesis Through a Photographic Lens” last fall, Shamash chose to focus on Megillat Esther this semester for its drama, color, and intrigue. The book, she says, reads like a novel, full of rich themes and motifs, evoking images of sumptuous parties, costume balls, carnivals and feasts, as well as court intrigue, bravery, strong women, and heroes and villains, which can all be translated into images. Read more
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Centennial Memoirs
"In my own experience professionally here at Hebrew College, I’ve come to appreciate how I think my deep love and sense of fulfillment in the work is a combination of my role, the people I’m working with, and the mission or the project. Thinking about my experience at Prozdor and at Camp Yavneh, in some ways, it’s similar." — Rabbi Daniel Klein
Tune in to celebrate and enjoy stories from 100 years of Hebrew College and Prozdor, bringing together the philosophical, the fun, and the distinctive memories that have shaped the lives and thoughts of the writers.
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The Double Blessing of Adar II
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ליהודים היתה אורה, ושמחה, וששון, ויקר
כן תהיה לנו
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For the Jews (lit. the grateful people) there was light, joy, celebration, and honor. So may there be for us! (Esther 8:16)
This Rosh Hodesh we welcome the second month of Adar—a doubling of our joy, hope, celebration, and courage, like Esther, to face unprecedented times. We know this doubling well in Prozdor and our Teen Learning programs. For nearly 100 years, Jewish teens have gathered to learn, celebrate, and honor Jewish tradition, history, arts, and joyous community. This doubled Adar and centennial year, join us as we celebrate the Prozdor legacy and double our commitment to a new generation of students with 100 gifts of $360. As it was for our ancestors, so may it be for us!
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