Jewishing: An On-Going Conversation about Doing & Being Jewish

Description

With Rachel Brodie

In partnership with The Richard S. Dinner Center for Jewish Studies at the Graduate theological Union

What is quintessentially Jewish? The Passover Seder? This most ancient Jewish celebration was actually modeled on an ancient Greek banquet. What about the intricate layout of a Talmud page? A joint creation of rabbis and Jewish scholars working with Italian Catholic printers under the direction of a Dutch Protestant publisher. And then there’s the questionable origins of the bagel.

“Jewishing” is an exploration of Judaism not as a monolith of static concepts and practices but as a dynamic system of choices and questions. Listen and talk, read and write and sing and eat your way into questions of Jewish identity, seeing through a Jewish lens and living among Jews in the Bay Area in the twenty-first century.

This course addresses some of the same themes as does the “Introduction to Judaism” course but employs a different pedagogical methodology. Making use of the idea of a “flipped classroom,” the course is conceived as an ongoing conversation where together students make sense of what they’re reading, observing, wondering and questioning.

Sessions include presentations by instructors versed in specific Jewish wisdom, practices, texts and traditions, followed by group reflection and conversation. In past sessions, explorations of broad themes such as avodah – work as labor, worship, and service – and meeleem – the lineage of literacy – have catalyzed group discussion and prompted personal reflection. Complementing the group classroom experience, students are also guided through a process of individualized self-study, using books, media, other courses and tutorials that enhances group process and deepens learning.

Instructor Bio:
Rachel Brodie is the JCCSF's CJO (Chief Jewish Officer). Rachel was a cofounder and Executive Director of Jewish Milestones. She spent a year in Israel on a Melton Senior Educator’s Fellowship and holds an MA in Rabbinic Literature from The Jewish Theological Seminary of America.

For more information and to register, visit jccsf.org/jewish.

More Info

Link

http://jccsf.org/jewish

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415.292.1200

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