Winter Week of Learning – Hiding in Plain Sight: Kabbalistic Interpretation in Nahmanides

“A Time to Tear and a Time to Mend: Re-Imagining Teshuvah in light of Rabbinic Narratives”

Price: $ 0.00

“A Day of Expiation: The Essence of Yom Kippur Atones”

Located at Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun, 125 E 85th St, New York, NY.

Price: $ 0.00

Location: A private residence on the Upper West Side, details provided upon registration

Thursday, December 13 , 7:00 PM – As a Driven Leaf by Milton Steinberg

First published in 1939, Milton Steinberg’s As a Driven Leaf is a modern Jewish classic that explores the story of the renegade Talmudic sage, Elisha ben Abuyah’s struggle to reconcile his faith with the allure of Hellenistic culture. Recently re-released, the story remains remarkably fresh, inviting thinking about faith and doubt, and what it means to be a Jew in the world today.

Click here for the flyer.

Click here for more information on the Book Salon & Beit Midrash series.

Price: $ 15.00

Location: A private residence on the Upper West Side, details provided upon registration

Thursday, December 13 , 7:00 PM – As a Driven Leaf by Milton Steinberg

First published in 1939, Milton Steinberg’s As a Driven Leaf is a modern Jewish classic that explores the story of the renegade Talmudic sage, Elisha ben Abuyah’s struggle to reconcile his faith with the allure of Hellenistic culture. Recently re-released, the story remains remarkably fresh, inviting thinking about faith and doubt, and what it means to be a Jew in the world today.

Click here for the flyer.

Click here for more information on the Book Salon & Beit Midrash series.

Price: $ 15.00

Co-sponsored by Drisha, The Jewish Publication Society and Sixth Street Community Synagogue
November 29th, 7:00 PM
Sixth Street Community Synagogue
325 East Sixth Street

$10/students free of charge.

Please join us for an evening to celebrate the publication of Dr. Malka Z. Simkovich’s new book, Discovering Second Temple Literature: The Scriptures and Stories That Shaped Early Judaism (Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 2018).

Talks will be given by Dr. Lawrence Schiffman (Judge Abraham Lieberman Professorship in Hebrew & Judaic Studies at New York University) and Dr. Malka Z. Simkovich (Drisha Faculty member and Crown-Ryan Chair of Judies Studies at Catholic Theological Union.) 

We will explore the Jewish literature and communities of Alexandria and the Dead Sea Scrolls in Greek and Roman times, as Jews navigated as a minority through worlds dominated by powerful cultures.

Light refreshments will be served. Books will be available for purchase and signing.

Click here for the event flyer.

Click here for the Facebook event.

Price: $ 10.00

The Drama of Torah: A Day of Learning Featuring Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, celebrating the English launch of 929

Sunday December 2, 9:30 AM
New York University Kimmel Center for Jewish Life, 60 Washington Square South

Price: $ 25.00

The Drama of Torah: A Day of Learning Featuring Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, celebrating the English launch of 929

Sunday December 2, 9:30 AM
New York University Kimmel Center for Jewish Life, 60 Washington Square South

Price: $ 25.00

Location: A private residence on the Upper West Side, details provided upon registration

Thursday, December 13 , 7:00 PM – As a Driven Leaf by Milton Steinberg

First published in 1939, Milton Steinberg’s As a Driven Leaf is a modern Jewish classic that explores the story of the renegade Talmudic sage, Elisha ben Abuyah’s struggle to reconcile his faith with the allure of Hellenistic culture. Recently re-released, the story remains remarkably fresh, inviting thinking about faith and doubt, and what it means to be a Jew in the world today.

Click here for the flyer.

Click here for more information on the Book Salon & Beit Midrash series.

Price: $ 15.00

Kabbalah for our Turbulent Souls:
Zoharic Myths of Anger, Shame, and Desire

The Zohar, the central compendium of kabbalistic myth, is replete with tales of divine, demonic, and human subjects beset by passions, emotions, and longings.  Their confrontations with these forces decisively shape their strengths and weaknesses, indeed their very identities.

These tales make the Zoharic tradition acutely pertinent to the human condition, in a way that philosophically-oriented versions of Judaism, with their remote and impassive deity, cannot.  We will explore these myths through engagement with primary texts (in translation).  No prior background needed.

Location: The home of Nahum and Syvia Twersky on the Upper West Side, Manhattan
697 West End Avenue, 13C (at West 94th Street)

3 Sessions
January 30 (This date was postponed due to weather)
February 6, 20, 27 (added due to weather)

Dedicate a class in honor or memory of a loved one or in celebration of an occasion here.

7:30pm - 9:00pm

Price: $ 75.00

The book of Judges takes place in the time period following the death of Joshua and during the Jewish nation’s transitional period from tribal society to a monarchy.

In this class we will study the existential and governing challenges faced by the developing Jewish nation during this time period, along with the personalities of the judges – particularly Devora, Gideon, Jephthah and Samson. We will explore their strengths, weaknesses and discuss the overall attitude in the verses toward their leadership and implications for kingship.

The class will begin with the concluding chapters of the Book of Joshua and the nature of his leadership as well.

Co-sponsored by: Shearith Israel / The Spanish & Portuguese Synagogue
2 West 70th Street

10 sessions:
February 3, 10, 24
March 3, 10, 17, 24, 31
April 7, 14

Dedicate a class in honor or memory of a loved one or in celebration of an occasion here.
(Email dedication text to yisenberg@drisha.org)

10:00am - 11:30am

Price: $ 275.00

The book of Judges takes place in the time period following the death of Joshua and during the Jewish nation’s transitional period from tribal society to a monarchy.

In this class we will study the existential and governing challenges faced by the developing Jewish nation during this time period, along with the personalities of the judges – particularly Devora, Gideon, Jephthah and Samson. We will explore their strengths, weaknesses and discuss the overall attitude in the verses toward their leadership and implications for kingship.

The class will begin with the concluding chapters of the Book of Joshua and the nature of his leadership as well.

Co-sponsored by: Shearith Israel / The Spanish & Portuguese Synagogue
2 West 70th Street

10 sessions:
February 3, 10, 24
March 3, 10, 17, 24, 31
April 7, 14

Dedicate a class in honor or memory of a loved one or in celebration of an occasion here.
(Email dedication text to yisenberg@drisha.org)

10:00am - 11:30am

Price: $ 275.00

Kabbalah for our Turbulent Souls:
Zoharic Myths of Anger, Shame, and Desire

The Zohar, the central compendium of kabbalistic myth, is replete with tales of divine, demonic, and human subjects beset by passions, emotions, and longings.  Their confrontations with these forces decisively shape their strengths and weaknesses, indeed their very identities.

These tales make the Zoharic tradition acutely pertinent to the human condition, in a way that philosophically-oriented versions of Judaism, with their remote and impassive deity, cannot.  We will explore these myths through engagement with primary texts (in translation).  No prior background needed.

Location: The home of Nahum and Syvia Twersky on the Upper West Side, Manhattan
697 West End Avenue, 13C (at West 94th Street)

3 Sessions
January 30 (This date was postponed due to weather)
February 6, 20, 27 (added due to weather)

Dedicate a class in honor or memory of a loved one or in celebration of an occasion here.

7:30pm - 9:00pm

Price: $ 75.00

The book of Judges takes place in the time period following the death of Joshua and during the Jewish nation’s transitional period from tribal society to a monarchy.

In this class we will study the existential and governing challenges faced by the developing Jewish nation during this time period, along with the personalities of the judges – particularly Devora, Gideon, Jephthah and Samson. We will explore their strengths, weaknesses and discuss the overall attitude in the verses toward their leadership and implications for kingship.

The class will begin with the concluding chapters of the Book of Joshua and the nature of his leadership as well.

Co-sponsored by: Shearith Israel / The Spanish & Portuguese Synagogue
2 West 70th Street

10 sessions:
February 3, 10, 24
March 3, 10, 17, 24, 31
April 7, 14

Dedicate a class in honor or memory of a loved one or in celebration of an occasion here.
(Email dedication text to yisenberg@drisha.org)

10:00am - 11:30am

Price: $ 275.00

The book of Esther is the biblical book most about diaspora life. How does the book explore this topic, so jarring in biblical history but so central to our own lives as American Jews? What is the relationship between “homeland” and diaspora envisioned? How do the lives of the main characters help build an ideology, and how do their genders contribute to their different existences and different aspects of Jewish life?

Join Aaron Koller, author of Esther in Ancient Jewish Thought, for a four-week class jointly hosted by Drisha and Darkhei Noam exploring these issues, culminating a week before Purim.

February 13, February 20, March 6, March 13
(note: skip 2/27)

Located in a private residence on the Upper West Side, Manhattan. Details shared with registered participants.

7:30pm - 9:00pm

Price: $ 100.00

Kabbalah for our Turbulent Souls:
Zoharic Myths of Anger, Shame, and Desire

The Zohar, the central compendium of kabbalistic myth, is replete with tales of divine, demonic, and human subjects beset by passions, emotions, and longings.  Their confrontations with these forces decisively shape their strengths and weaknesses, indeed their very identities.

These tales make the Zoharic tradition acutely pertinent to the human condition, in a way that philosophically-oriented versions of Judaism, with their remote and impassive deity, cannot.  We will explore these myths through engagement with primary texts (in translation).  No prior background needed.

Location: The home of Nahum and Syvia Twersky on the Upper West Side, Manhattan
697 West End Avenue, 13C (at West 94th Street)

3 Sessions
January 30 (This date was postponed due to weather)
February 6, 20, 27 (added due to weather)

Dedicate a class in honor or memory of a loved one or in celebration of an occasion here.

7:30pm - 9:00pm

Price: $ 75.00

The book of Esther is the biblical book most about diaspora life. How does the book explore this topic, so jarring in biblical history but so central to our own lives as American Jews? What is the relationship between “homeland” and diaspora envisioned? How do the lives of the main characters help build an ideology, and how do their genders contribute to their different existences and different aspects of Jewish life?

Join Aaron Koller, author of Esther in Ancient Jewish Thought, for a four-week class jointly hosted by Drisha and Darkhei Noam exploring these issues, culminating a week before Purim.

February 13, February 20, March 6, March 13
(note: skip 2/27)

Located in a private residence on the Upper West Side, Manhattan. Details shared with registered participants.

7:30pm - 9:00pm

Price: $ 100.00

The book of Judges takes place in the time period following the death of Joshua and during the Jewish nation’s transitional period from tribal society to a monarchy.

In this class we will study the existential and governing challenges faced by the developing Jewish nation during this time period, along with the personalities of the judges – particularly Devora, Gideon, Jephthah and Samson. We will explore their strengths, weaknesses and discuss the overall attitude in the verses toward their leadership and implications for kingship.

The class will begin with the concluding chapters of the Book of Joshua and the nature of his leadership as well.

Co-sponsored by: Shearith Israel / The Spanish & Portuguese Synagogue
2 West 70th Street

10 sessions:
February 3, 10, 24
March 3, 10, 17, 24, 31
April 7, 14

Dedicate a class in honor or memory of a loved one or in celebration of an occasion here.
(Email dedication text to yisenberg@drisha.org)

10:00am - 11:30am

Price: $ 275.00

The book of Esther is the biblical book most about diaspora life. How does the book explore this topic, so jarring in biblical history but so central to our own lives as American Jews? What is the relationship between “homeland” and diaspora envisioned? How do the lives of the main characters help build an ideology, and how do their genders contribute to their different existences and different aspects of Jewish life?

Join Aaron Koller, author of Esther in Ancient Jewish Thought, for a four-week class jointly hosted by Drisha and Darkhei Noam exploring these issues, culminating a week before Purim.

February 13, February 20, March 6, March 13
(note: skip 2/27)

Located in a private residence on the Upper West Side, Manhattan. Details shared with registered participants.

7:30pm - 9:00pm

Price: $ 100.00

The book of Esther is the biblical book most about diaspora life. How does the book explore this topic, so jarring in biblical history but so central to our own lives as American Jews? What is the relationship between “homeland” and diaspora envisioned? How do the lives of the main characters help build an ideology, and how do their genders contribute to their different existences and different aspects of Jewish life?

Join Aaron Koller, author of Esther in Ancient Jewish Thought, for a four-week class jointly hosted by Drisha and Darkhei Noam exploring these issues, culminating a week before Purim.

February 13, February 20, March 6, March 13
(note: skip 2/27)

Located in a private residence on the Upper West Side, Manhattan. Details shared with registered participants.

7:30pm - 9:00pm

Price: $ 100.00

How did the Pesach Seder become a Family Affair?

This lecture will explore the origins and development of how Pesach was celebrated, starting with biblical sources that describe a Pesach sacrifice, second temple sources, Mishnah Pesahim, later rabbinic sources, and our earliest haggadot. It will also connect reflections and photos from my visit to the Samaritan Passover sacrifice last year; ideas of time and memory as they are incorporated into the Seder ceremony; connections between the Seder / Haggadah and developing Christian festivals in late antiquity; and others.

The idea would be to think about how Pesach was imagined to originate as a family ritual, then how it took a detour as a scholarly men’s endeavor, and then how it circled back in new ways to the family table. There would also be nice ways of tying it to people’s contemporary experiences and also practical ideas about making it a meaningful way for generations to gather together around a table to tell a story of a shared past.

Located at: Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun
125 East 85th Street

Free and open to the public
(But please RSVP)

Price: $ 0.00