International Seminar for Halakhic Study, Spring 2019

The CJLS is sponsoring the International Seminar for Halakhic Study, a movement-wide seminar in which Conservative/Masorti congregations, communities, and schools will come together to study a specific teshuvah of the CJLS. The recommended day for the Seminar is Sunday June 2, 2019.

The teshuvah selected by a survey of RA members is “Wired to Hakadosh Barukh Hu: Minyan Via Internet” by Rabbi Avram Reisner. Our focus this year will be on the spiritual values of communal prayer in a time of technological change.

The purpose of the International Seminar for Halakhic Study is designed to generate energy and excitement around the Conservative/Masorti halakhic process that defines our movement’s approach to Torah. We want to show how our spiritual values and ethical ideas shape our halakhic practice and to create a sense of a world-wide community among Conservative/Masorti congregations and schools. We hope to emphasize the importance of halakhah and the study of halakhah among Conservative/Masorti Jews.

We encourage rabbis to have their communities and organizations join together in a study session. We have recommended the date of June 2, 2019, a Sunday so that you can make use of the video presentation by the author of the teshuvah. We anticipate that a number of rabbis may feel that a Shabbat program may better suit their congregation. Rabbis who work in schools and other Jewish organizations may want to schedule the program for a weekday.

Program video:

Here are resources to help you:

Participants will engage in a number of the key texts of the teshuvah. After studying the teshuvah, the rabbi and participants will discuss the merits of different approaches.

Please register your congregation, school, community, or organization below.

If you have any questions, please contact Pamela Barmash at pbarmash@wustl.edu or Ashira Konigsburg at akonigsburg@rabbinicalassembly.org

We thank JTS for co-sponsoring this seminar.