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January 28, 2021 | 15 Shevat 5781
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Rabbi Arthur Green Awarded National Book Award
“For close to 60 years, Art has been writing to the Jewish community covering everything from scholarship that transformed a field of knowledge to theology that transformed lives and to gateway books that allow every seeker in,” said Rabbi Ebn Leader, a Hebrew College faculty member and student of Rabbi Green. “It is wonderful that his most recent book, in which he shares the personal fruits of a lifetime of seeking and study, is receiving the public recognition that will allow his voice to reach even more people. As the prize recognizes, these essays are indeed the work of a master of contemporary Jewish life and practice, from whom we can all learn and with whom we can all grow.”
Rabbi Green is an expert on Hasidism, the 18th-Century spiritual revival movement of Jews in Eastern Europe, and a leading figure within Neo-Hasidism, the attempt to apply Hasidic teachings to life in the contemporary world. This semester, he is offering a Hebrew College Me’ah Select community education online course to help seekers around the world connect with the deep spiritual wisdom of Hasidism based on his translation of the Hasidic classic, The Light of the Eyes.
“As one long trained to believe that we 'serve not in order to receive a prize,' I am quite dumbfounded on actually receiving one,” Rabbi Green said after receiving the award. “But if it will encourage people to read, I'm quite happy.”
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Hebrew College Voices on Climate Change
Join Hebrew College faculty and alumni as they present online sessions at the Big Bold Jewish Climate Fest this week. Centered around the holiday of Tu b’Shevat, the new year for the trees, which began last night, this free festival is a virtual and collaborative festival by and for people who want to activate Jewish values to move the needle on climate change. Upcoming sessions from Hebrew College faculty, student, and alumni include:
Rabbinical Training and Jewish Leadership in an Era of Climate Crisis, with Hebrew College President Rabbi Sharon Cohen Anisfeld, and other leaders of rabbinical and Jewish academic institutions, TODAY, 3 p.m.
Joining All Creation in Yearning for the Face of God: Teachings from the OrHaHayyim, with Hebrew College faculty member Rabbi Nehemia Polen, TODAY, 7:30 p.m.
Witnessing Creation: Reviving An Ancient Prayer Practice for Our Time, with Hebrew College faculty member Rabbi Ebn Leader, TODAY, 4 p.m.
Spiraling Through Time: The Radical Practice of Shabbat, with Hebrew College Community Education Instructor Rabbi Getzel Davis ’13 and Leora Mallach, Friday, 1 p.m.
Songs to Sustain Us in the Struggle: A Motzei Shabbat Sing, with Hebrew College Director of Professional Development Rabbi Shoshana Meira Friedman ’14, Rabbi Micah Shapiro ’15, and others, Saturday, 8 p.m.
Breath Lab: Sacred Breath in a Time of Collapse, with Hebrew College rabbinical student Ya’akov Ginsberg-Schrek, Sunday, 3 p.m.
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Lessons from "Fiddler"
Over the years, “Fiddler on the Roof” has become the poster child for Jewish-American theater. The story of a father trying to keep his family and traditions intact, despite trying times in their shtetl, “Fiddler” can be credited with bringing Jewish stories into the mainstream, where before they might have only played in New York’s Yiddish Theatre District.
This winter, as we continue to grapple with our own challenging times, Hebrew College is offering two different perspectives on this timeless musical:
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What is the Point of Interfaith Work?
By Ione Heigham, former Boston Interfaith Leadership Inititative Fellow and Brown University student
Over and over during my time as a Boston Interfaith Leadership Initiative (BILI) fellow, I found myself asking the question: What is the point of interfaith work? I was not asking out of frustration or because I felt like my time in BILI was not well spent. Rather, I was asking out of genuine curiosity. What is so important about interfaith work that sixteen college students would devote so much time and energy into learning how to be better interfaith leaders?
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At the Entryway to New Beginnings: What We Need to Move Forward
Parashat Beshalach (Exodus 13:17-17:16)
By Yael Werber, Hebrew College rabbinical student
Sometimes there are moments in time that are so intense, so momentous, so anticipated that when it finally comes time to experience them, regular prose fails, and the only way to truly capture them is through poetry. The parting of the sea in Beshalach is a moment like that—the emotion and excitement held in those first steps of freedom intermingled with the regret, despair, and fear at what they left behind was able to be captured only through the poetry and song of shirat hayam.
January 20, 2021 in Washington D.C. was also one such moment for many across the nation. A similar emotional scene was set: the violence of extremists nipping at our heels, and a promise of a future of new freedoms ahead of us. This time it was youth poet laureate Amanda Gorman (above) who stepped up to the task of trying to capture the feelings of both hope and trepidation present in the first moments of Biden’s presidency. She began: “When day comes, we ask ourselves, where can we find light in this never-ending shade? The loss we carry. A sea we must wade.” She immediately called to mind Beshalach, and the people of Israel on the precipice of their new lives.
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SAVE THE DATE
Hebrew College Virtual Spring Benefit
May 2, 2021
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Celebrating our visionary leaders
Beverly Bavly - Nancy Kaplan Belsky - Susan Schechter
Myra Snyder - Diane Troderman
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Stay tuned for details!
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ONLINE EVENTS | All times are EST (U.S.)
TODAY THROUGH THE WEEKEND!
The Big Bold Jewish Climate Fest
Hebrew College, co-sponsor & participant
January 27-31 | 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
All sessions free
Join a session
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SUPPORT LEARNING & LEADERSHIP
Hebrew College's educational and cultural programs invigorate Jewish life and bring Jewish values to bear on the critical issues of our time. We do it with your support! Please make your fully-deductible investment to empower our thriving community.
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