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COMMUNITY EDUCATION
Winter/Spring 2021 Newsletter | Social Justice & Community
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Hebrew College Courses to Feed Your Soul
וּמָֽה־יְהוָ֞ה דּוֹרֵ֣שׁ מִמְּךָ֗ כִּ֣י אִם־עֲשׂ֤וֹת מִשְׁפָּט֙ וְאַ֣הֲבַת חֶ֔סֶד וְהַצְנֵ֥עַ לֶ֖כֶת עִם־אֱלֹהֶֽיךָ׃
"Loving to do justice and walk humbly with your God."(Micah 6:8)
As the weather gets colder and the pandemic rages on, we invite you to join us from the comfort of your home for Jewish learning and community connection. While life may feel challenging in today’s unprecedented environment, our courses provide opportunities to delve into timeless Jewish tenets like social justice, goodness, and community. Enrich your winter experience with Hebrew College Community Education.
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In These Turbulent Times
By Rabbi Natan Margalit
Instructor, Open Circle Jewish Learning
In these turbulent times, when we feel bombarded by crises of politics, society, health, climate and more, all the while sitting isolated at home—we often don’t know where to turn. We can get caught up looking every few minutes at the latest news update, jumping up to raid the refrigerator . . . or we can take a deep breath (maybe a few deep breaths) and look more deeply into how we got into this mess, and how we can move in a more sane, healthy direction. Our Jewish tradition has wisdom to offer even—especially—in these turbulent times.
Starting in the fall of this year, 2021, the Jewish world will enter its “sabbatical” or Shmitta Year. Shmitta means "letting go" or "releasing." It originated in biblical times with Israelites releasing debts, land, and property—to press “reset” and restore society to a more equal setting. But Shmitta is more than an economic justice program.
At the heart of Shmitta is the insight that we are not the owners of this earth. All the benefits we enjoy—food, shelter, the beauty and bounty of nature, life itself, are gifts. During the non-Shmitta years, we act “as if” we own property, but the seventh year comes (like the seventh day, Shabbat) to remind us that everything we have is not ours, but has come to us as a part of our relationship with the Source of Life.
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Looking to Midrash
By Rabbi Laura Bellows `18,
Director of Prozdor and Teen Learning
Instructor, Hebrew College Open Circle Jewish Learning
Midrash is not only a guidepost to help us understand Torah, it also serves as a mirror for understanding our own values and society in conversation with the major issues of our day. We keep Torah alive when we study ecologically provocative midrash in the context of today's climate crises (as we will in my upcoming Open Circle class on "Angry Seas, Tender Skies: Learning Climate Resilience Through Midrash") or invite teens to study and build on this rich midrashic tradition through creative writing and cultivating a Jewish imagination. There is no singular formula or Jewish text that will ease the challenges in our world today, but cultivating midrashic imagination, brave conversation, and collective resilience is a good place to start.
Rabbi Bellows is also teaching "Creating Each Day: An Omer Maker Space for All Ages" this spring.
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Deepening Jewish Values Through Me'ah Programs
"Not only [do] these classes help my personal enrichment, but they also inform and broaden my knowledge, as I, in turn, facilitate Torah classes in my synagogue community. Thank you for all the excellent programming that helps us survive and learn in these difficult times."
— Student in "Me'ah Seminar Series: Old Wine, New Vessels: A Hasidic Master Addresses Today’s Seekers" with Rabbi Arthur Green (above) and "Profiles in Leadership and Resilience: Exploring Biblical, Rabbinic, and Jewish Historical Personalities" with Rabbi Benjamin Samuels
Winter/spring Me'ah Select courses begin in February and include another special seminar with Rabbi Arthur Green (above) beginning in April.
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All in the Family: Building Positive Partnerships
“We’re all struggling with this crisis. Teachers are under unimaginable stress. Many of us are working to find new ways to build connections and strengthen relationships with our students, our families, and our communities. Together we will explore and practice secular and Jewish relationship-building theories that result in positive and powerful family, school, and community partnerships."
— Hebrew College Instructor Ahava Vogelstein (above right)
For Ilene Vogelstein and Ahava Vogelstein, teaching family engagement is a family affair. The mother-daughter team co-teaches “Families, School, and Communities,” a Hebrew College graduate education class that prepares Jewish educators, parents, and leaders throughout the Jewish community to build stronger partnerships. This course is open to community members for non-credit.
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Hebrew College Youth Service Programs: Empowering Greater Boston Teens to Make a Difference
“As they look around the world and see the complexities, teens are starting to feel a sense of responsibility towards co-creating and shaping the world that they are going to inherit. They don’t want to sit on the sidelines of life. They want to get involved, and be a part of improving it. And that is a deeply Jewish value, that, ‘it’s not on them to complete the task, but neither are they free to desist from it.’ We hope that the opportunities we offer will propel teens to continued civic engagement, that as they see that their actions can have consequences, they will be even more inspired, as they continue to grow.”
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Hebrew College Adult & Teen Community Education Opportunities
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* We are grateful to CJP for supporting these Hebrew College programs.
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Contact Us
If you have questions about any of our courses or programs, please don't hesitate to email us.
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Hebrew College is an innovative national institute for Jewish learning and leadership based in Newton, Massachusetts. We are dedicated to Jewish literacy, creativity, and community, and a world of dignity and compassion for all. Our students are future rabbis, cantors, and educators, and people at every stage of life who love to learn. Together, we are infusing Jewish life with substance, spirit, beauty, imagination, and a sense of purpose. Please support our work with your tax-deductable gift.
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