Overview
Summer 2008 Program
Winter 2009 Program
Contact Us
OVERVIEW
Oraita, an exciting new Hebrew College continuing education program for rabbis, invites you to delve into classic Jewish texts with 25 to 30 rabbinic colleagues from all denominations, guided by world renowned teachers. The program opens with a four-day retreat and continues via user-friendly online faculty lectures,
havruta study and group discussions.
Retreat: Letting go of a rabbi’s daily worries, you’ll delve deeply into Torah learning. Emphasizing
bet midrash–style
havruta learning combined with presentations by our faculty, this retreat will be an intensive text study experience in a nurturing setting, as well as an opportunity to deepen connections with colleagues. Evenings will include programs on the arts and other areas of life.
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"Seeing the Miraculous in the Mundane"
Read about the first Oraita retreat in
the latest issue of Hebrew College Today.
Download article [PDF - 127k]
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Online Program: You will continue the learning and fellowship when you return to your home communities. The semester of study will feature online video lectures, conference call discussions with faculty and participants, and regular
havruta study, either long distance or, if there is another Oraita participant in the vicinity, in person.
We encourage students to invite other rabbis from their area or friends from rabbinical school to form an Oraita study group. Extra workshops with Oraita faculty can be made available for any group of six or more rabbis in a vicinity. Please contact us if you would like help in bringing together a group in your area.
Tuition: Please refer to the specific retreat information below. Participants are responsible for their own transportation to and from the retreat.
Some scholarships are available in cases of financial need.
Support for Oraita has been made possible by the Lasko Foundations and other generous sponsors.
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SUMMER 2008
Judaism of the 21st Century
Paradigms and Practices for
the Global Age
| Retreat |
June 16–19, Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center, Falls Village, Connecticut |
Online
Program |
June–July |
Principal
Faculty |
Rabbi Arthur Green, Rector of the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College
Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (via video-conference), Founder of ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal
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Associate
Faculty |
Rabbi Tirzah Firestone, Congregation Nevei Kodesh, Boulder, Colorado
Rabbi Shaya Isenberg, Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Religion, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; Associate Director, Center for Spirituality and Health; University of Florida–Gainesville
Rabbi Natan Margalit, Director, Oraita, and Assistant Professor of Rabbinics, Rabbinical School of Hebrew College |
| Tuition |
$450—includes retreat and online program; for room and board fees, please refer to the current accommodation rates at the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center, generous cosponsor of the retreat.
*Generous scholarships available in cases of financial need. |
Registration
Deadline |
May 16 |
The 21st century brings a complex mix of awesome challenges and extraordinary opportunities. Our global community is rapidly changing the way we understand cultural and interpersonal relationships. Technological advances hold great promise and present significant dangers. The disenfranchised members of society need to be heard. Environmental degradation threatens our planet and is forcing us to rethink our way of life. As rabbis, we are in need of different paradigms and new theologies. Join these world renowned teachers and visionaries, who will offer their wisdom and guidance as we reread our textual sources to empower us to evolve Judaism for the new millennium. Separate tracks will be offered for rabbis and rabbinical students. Significant scholarships are available.
Cosponsored by Hebrew College and the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center.
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[PDF - 152k] |
Send completed applications to:
Rabbi Natan Margalit
Hebrew College
160 Herrick Road
Newton Centre, MA 02459
For more information, please email Rabbi Margalit at
nmargalit@hebrewcollege.edu or call 617-559-8617.
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Winter 2009
Creating the Divine Image
Becoming Human
| Retreat |
January 12–15, 2009, Camp Ramah Darom
(Clayton, Georgia) |
Online
Program |
January–March |
| Faculty |
Yair Lorberbaum, Professor of Halacha, Law and Culture, Bar-Ilan University, Israel
Nancy Fuchs-Kreimer, Director, Religious Studies Program at Reconstructionist Rabbinical College
Rabbi Michael Paley, Executive Director of Synagogue and Community Affairs, UJA, New York |
The idea that all humans are created in the Divine Image may be the most important idea that Judaism has given the world. We will explore, from various perspectives, what this concept can mean for us personally and for our rabbinate. In a famous interview near the end of his life, Abraham Joshua Heschel pointed out the seeming contradiction in the statement at the beginning of
Bereshit that humans are made in the image of God. How can this be, he asks, when the Torah specifically forbids us to make an image of God? But he answers, “What is the meaning of man? To be a reminder of God. God is invisible. And since He couldn’t be everywhere, He created man. You look at man and you are reminded of God.” As rabbis, what can we teach about this central Jewish idea? As people, what can we know about being truly human? About creating the Divine Image?
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Contact Us
Rabbi Natan Margalit
Director of Oraita
nmargalit@hebrewcollege.edu
617-559-8617
