Hebrew College Calendar of Public Events: Winter/Spring 2014

Newton Centre, Massachusetts

Hebrew College

calendar of public events winter/spring

January Th 16

Calendar of Public Events Winter/Spring 2014 BUYING AND RESERVING TICKETS Tickets to all events are general admission. Unless otherwise noted, they can be purchased online at hebrewcollege.edu/tickets or at the door (cash or check) beginning one hour prior to the start of the event.

Registration is requested for free events to assist us with planning.

Visit hebrewcollege.edu/tickets.

06:45 PM

Teaching and Learning in the Presence of the Other: Jewish and Christian Perspectives Marjorie and Alan J. Tichnor Conference Rooms, Hebrew College How can we, as Jews and Christians, best explore teachings of universalism and particularism within and across our religious traditions, cultivating an appreciation of our commonalities and differences? Free.

GETTING TO HEBREW COLLEGE Hebrew College is located in Newton Centre, Massachusetts, adjacent to Andover Newton Theological School. Campus is a short walk from the Newton Centre trolley stop on the Green Line (D branch—Riverside).

For more information, visit hebrewcollege.edu/directions.

ABOUT HEBREW COLLEGE Founded in 1921, Hebrew College promotes excellence in Jewish learning and leadership within a pluralistic environment of open inquiry, intellectual rigor, personal engagement, and spiritual creativity.

Its programs include graduate degrees and courses in Jewish studies, Jewish education, and leadership; community education for adult learners; and a supplemental Hebrew high school and middle school.

For more information, visit www.hebrewcollege.edu.

ACCESSIBILITY ALL EVENTS ARE OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. HEBREW COLLEGE IS ACCESSIBLE BY WHEELCHAIR.

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07:00 PM

Religious Responses to Climate Change Berenson Hall, Hebrew College Join us as we hear from leading religious thinkers and activists on the urgent need for thoughtful action in the face of global climate change.

Speakers will share resources from their personal and communal experiences, and discuss possibilities for interreligious cooperation to heal and transform the planet. $10.

PANELISTS Rabbi Arthur Green, Irving Brudnick Professor of Philosophy and Religion, Hebrew College

PANELISTS

Ibrahim Abdul-Matin, author and environmental policy consultant

Rev. Martin Copenhaver, senior pastor, Wellesley Congregational Church UCC, and president-elect, Andover Newton Theological School

Barbara Darling Smith, assistant professor of religion, Wheaton College

Sara Lee, professor emerita, Jewish education, Hebrew Union College– Jewish Institute of Religion

Bill McKibbin, author, educator, and environmentalist (by remote)

MODERATORS Robert Pazmiño, Valeria Stone Professor of Christian Education, Andover Newton Theological School Rabbi Michael Shire, dean, Shoolman Graduate School of Jewish Education, Hebrew College

RESPONDENT

MODERATOR Rabbi Or Rose, director, Center for Global Judaism, Hebrew College

January Th 30

07:00 PM

The Jewish Spiritual Quest: Future Directions Alumni Dining Hall, Hebrew College In celebration of the tenth anniversary of the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College, our panel will discuss trends in contemporary Jewish spiritual life and priorities and possibilities for the future. $10.

INTRODUCTION Rabbi Sharon Cohen Anisfeld, dean, Rabbinical School of Hebrew College

February Th 13

07:00 PM

Rabbi Rachel Adler: Halakhic Creativity and the Problem of Jewish Marriage Alumni Dining Hall, Hebrew College Second in the Rabbi David Hartman Lecture Series. Classical halakha prescribes a model of marriage in which the woman is unilaterally acquired by the man and is, hence, unable to free herself should she wish to end the marriage. Rabbi Rachel Adler, a leading Jewish feminist theologian, will discuss how and why Jewish law should accommodate a more egalitarian vision of marital relationships and traditions. $10.

PANELISTS Rabbi Arthur Green, Irving Brudnick Professor of Philosophy and Religion, Hebrew College Rabbi Tirzah Firestone, founding rabbi, Congregation Nevei Kodesh, Boulder, Colorado Jay Michaelson, author on religion, sexuality, law, and contemplative practice MODERATOR Adina Allen, student, Rabbinical School of Hebrew College

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07:30 PM

Shiru Lo, Zamru Lo—Sing Praises to God: The Future of Jewish Sacred Music Alumni Dining Hall, Hebrew College Enjoy an evening of beautiful music and energetic conversation as we reflect on the past and present of Jewish sacred music and consider how music can shape Jewish spiritual expression in the future. Panelists include students in Hebrew College’s Rabbinical School and School of Jewish Music. This free event is part of the Boston Jewish Music Festival.

FEATURED PRESENTERS Noah Aronson, Rabbinical School Arielle Rosenberg, Rabbinical School Micah Shapiro, Rabbinical School Becky Wexler, School of Jewish Music

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07:30 PM

The Muslim American Community Today Berenson Hall, Hebrew College To mark the recent appointment of a new Muslim scholar and educator, the Center for Inter-Religious and Communal Leadership Education, a joint center of Hebrew College and Andover Newton Theological School, will convene a roundtable discussion with leading Muslim scholars and community leaders on the life of the contemporary American Muslim community in the United States.

Themes to be explored include transnationalism, acculturation and assimilation, and interreligious and cross-cultural engagement. Free.

PANELISTS Lt. Col. Shareda Hosein, cultural engagement officer, U.S. Special Operations Command, Army Reserves Homayra Ziad, assistant professor of religion, Trinity College

Wednesdays, March 5–May 21, 1:00–2:30 pm Spiritual Foundations: Texts You Need to See from the Teachers You Need to Hear Marjorie and Alan J. Tichnor Conference Rooms, Hebrew College Hebrew College rabbis Sharon Cohen Anisfeld, Ebn Leader, Jane Kanarek, Micha’el Rosenberg, and Michael Shire teach their passions and share the texts that have been most foundational to their spiritual journeys. Each session will feature a different textual exploration and discussion. This series is appropriate for anyone committed to serious consideration of the importance of Jewish texts in their lives. $250/series.

CLASS DATES: March 5, 12, 19, and 26; April 2, 9, and 30; May 7, 14, and 21.

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07:30 PM

The Golden Age Shtetl Berenson Hall, Hebrew College Co-sponsored by the Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Boston Book discussion with author Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern, Crown Family Professor of Jewish Studies and professor of Jewish history, Northwestern University. The shtetl was home to two-thirds of East Europe’s Jews in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, yet it has long been one of the most neglected and misunderstood chapters of the Jewish experience. Challenging popular misconceptions of the shtetl as an isolated, ramshackle Jewish village stricken by poverty and pogroms, PetrovskyShtern argues in his latest book that, in its heyday from the 1790s to the 1840s, the shtetl was a thriving Jewish community as vibrant as any in Europe. Following his talk, Petrovsky-Shtern will sign copies of books purchased at the event. $10.

March

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07:00 PM

Oh God Berenson Hall, Hebrew College Israeli Stage presents this witty, poignant, and touching play about a psychotherapist named Ella (Maureen Keiller), single mother of an autistic child, who gets a visit from a new, desperate patient, God (Will Lyman). Written by Anat Gov. Directed and produced by Guy Ben-Aharon. Free.

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07:00 PM

Wagner’s Jews Berenson Hall, Hebrew College Film screening and discussion. The German opera composer Richard Wagner was notoriously anti-Semitic, and his writings on the Jews were later embraced

by Hitler and the Nazis. But there is another, lesser-known side to this story.

For years, many of Wagner’s closest associates were Jews—young musicians who became personally devoted to him and provided crucial help to his work and career. Who were these people? What brought them to Wagner, and what brought him to them? $10.

PANELISTS Hilan Warshaw, producer, director and writer, Wagner’s Jews Tom Artin, author, The Wagner Complex: Genesis and the Meaning of the Ring Deborah Burton, assistant professor of music, composition, and theory, Boston University Joshua Jacobson (moderator), School of Jewish Music, Hebrew College

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07:00 PM

Sacred Teaching and Spiritual Learning Marjorie and Alan J. Tichnor Conference Rooms, Hebrew College Celebrating the launch of the Reform Jewish Quarterly’s double issue, dedicated to teaching and learning for a spiritual Jewish education.

Contributors to the journal will join co-editor Rabbi Michael Shire, dean of the Shoolman Graduate School of Jewish Education at Hebrew College, to discuss the state of Jewish spiritual education for adults and children, teachers and clergy, artists and musicians. Free.

Yehuda Kurtzer

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07:30 PM

Auschwitz or Sinai: Israel and the Culture of Memory Berenson Hall, Hebrew College Last in the Rabbi David Hartman Lecture Series.

Yehuda Kurtzer, president of the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America, will explore the meaning of the Holocaust in contemporary discourse on Israel and how our language and metaphors inform both our political sensibilities and the aspirations we hold for Zionism and the State of Israel. $10.

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07:30 PM

Gilman Family Lecture: What Do We Mean When We Say God? Berenson Hall, Hebrew College In this interactive presentation, Rabbi Or Rose, director of the Center for Global Judaism at Hebrew College, will lead a discussion on several modern and contemporary Jewish presentations of God. How do these sources build upon and depart from earlier Jewish understandings of the Divine, exploring the contexts—social, religious, political, etc.—in which they were composed.

Most important, we will ask ourselves which—if any—of these materials we find resonant in our ongoing search for meaning. Free.

May 7, 2014 Celebrating the tenth anniversary of the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College honoring Rabbi Arthur Green and Rabbi Sharon Cohen Anisfeld Deborah and Ron Feinstein Rabbi Or Rose and Professor Jennifer Peace

hebrewcollege.edu/celebrate-2014

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617-559-8600 www.hebrewcollege.edu info@hebrewcollege.edu