Mechon Hadar Online Learning

Ever wanted to know the answer to some deep and challenging questions in halakhah (Jewish law)? Join R. Avi Killip interviewing R. Ethan Tucker with questions sent in by Yeshivat Hadar alumni and others on all sorts of details of Jewish law. This is a joint project between the Center for Jewish Law and Values and Jewish Public Media.

Dena Weiss, Elie Kaunfer. In celebration of 10 Years of Mechon Hadar, the extended Hadar community will be learning all of Pirkei Avot together at a pace of 3-5 mishnayot a week, concluding with a Siyyum Celebration on March 2, 2017. Each podcast includes the full text, a translation with explanations, and a short Dvar Torah inspired by that week's mishnayot.

Ethan Tucker. For many contemporary Jews, the Torah can sometimes seem a weighty system of expectations that do not align with a more general discourse of pursuing the good and doing what is right. This can easily slide into a feeling that the Torah is “empty,” a set of authoritarian commands that operate independently of the moral and religious instincts we otherwise use to navigate life and strive towards righteousness. This is an untenable state of affairs, both philosophically and practically. Addressing it is one of the most urgent challenges of the day, both for our leaders and educators, as well as for each and every Jew aiming to build a lasting commitment to God and to the Torah.

Aviva Richman. On Yom Kippur it is traditional to light a yahrtzheit candle to honor the memory of relatives who have passed away. These candles did not always come from the kosher aisle of the supermarket. Crafting the candle for the dead was a deeply symbolic ritual. The ritual has essentially disappeared, but we need not lose its significance: The origins of the Yom Kippur yahrtzheit candle in oft ignored women's rituals have a lot to teach us about how to approach prayer and teshuvah.

Dena Weiss. In celebration of 10 Years of Mechon Hadar, the extended Hadar community will be learning all of Pirkei Avot together at a pace of 3-5 mishnayot a week, concluding with a Siyyum Celebration on March 2, 2017. Each podcast includes the full text, a translation with explanations, and a short Dvar Torah inspired by that week's mishnayot.

Ethan Tucker. Too often discussion about the mehitzah (the boundary that separates the sexes in many Jewish prayer spaces) is politically charged—the conversation becomes about movements rather than about values. This class cuts straight to the values behind the three models of sex separation we see in modern Jewish communities: (a) absolute sex separation in all parts of life; (b) denying that sex separation has a place in any part of life; and (c) maintaining sex separation in public prayer spaces but not others. What underpins each of these three positions? And how can we turn the discussion away from politics and back to the principles and values that underly them?

Wendy Amsellem (Drisha Institute). In chapter 21 of Genesis, Ishmael is banished and left to die in the wilderness. How could Abraham have done this to his beloved son? Why was this story selected as the Torah reading for Rosh haShannah? We will explore why Abraham sent Ishmael away and how the Rabbis struggle to bring Ishmael back. Recorded live at the 2016 Community Beit Midrash.

Dena Weiss. In celebration of 10 Years of Mechon Hadar, the extended Hadar community will be learning all of Pirkei Avot together at a pace of 3-5 mishnayot a week, concluding with a Siyyum Celebration on March 2, 2017. Each podcast includes the full text, a translation with explanations, and a short Dvar Torah inspired by that week's mishnayot.

Ethan Tucker. Even if God’s covenant with the Jewish people is eternal, perhaps the promise of landed sovereignty expires, and with it any notion of the enduring sanctity of the land of Israel. Or, we might read the boundaries of the land of Canaan laid out in the Torah as binding for all time, as designating a plot of land that is eternally sacred, or at least ripe for sanctity whenever the Jewish people control it with sufficient power and inhabit it with sufficient numbers. Is the land of Israel an important historical site? Or is it an enduring sacred space that constantly beckons the Jewish people to return to it even when they have left it for a long time?

Ever wanted to know the answer to some deep and challenging questions in halakhah (Jewish law)? Join R. Avi Killip interviewing R. Ethan Tucker with questions sent in by Yeshivat Hadar alumni and others on all sorts of details of Jewish law. This is a joint project between the Center for Jewish Law and Values and Jewish Public Media.

Jason Rubenstein. A Dvar Torah for Rosh Hashanah. In Jewish time, we live in an era that began with the sound of the shofar, and will end with the sound of the shofar. This era began with the shofar of Mount Sinai, that grew louder and louder as God appeared, speaking to us. This shofar inaugurated a constitution, a vision of a destination and way, for every generation of Jews from those who stood at Sinai, to us, to our children. And this era will end with the great shofar of the Messiah, whose sound will herald the realization of the dream God spoke at Sinai: The dream of the world's people living together peacefully, the dream of each and every person living with dignity and hope.

Yaffa Epstein (Pardes Institute). This session will examine the concept of Teshuva, often mis-translated as repentance, and attempt to understand the complexities involved in making real changes in our lives. Recorded live at the Community Beit Midrash, September 20, 2016.

Dena Weiss. In celebration of 10 Years of Mechon Hadar, the extended Hadar community will be learning all of Pirkei Avot together at a pace of 3-5 mishnayot a week, concluding with a Siyyum Celebration on March 2, 2017. Each podcast includes the full text, a translation with explanations, and a short Dvar Torah inspired by that week's mishnayot.

Ethan Tucker. The idea that the land of Israel retains a privileged status irrespective of the contemporary Jewish presence on it is one that has coursed through Jewish thought throughout the ages and was a powerful motivator for many modern Jews to return to their ancient homeland even if they had never laid eyes on any part of the Middle East prior to arrival. This problem becomes even sharper for Temple Mount: How can I walk on the place where only the High Priest was once allowed to tread?

Shai Held. Understanding and Questioning Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik's Vision of Teshuvah. Recorded live at the Community Beit Midrash, September 2016.