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Removing the Stumbling Block: From Theory to Practice
Wednesday, January 19, 2022 at 8:00 PM ET/5:00 PM PT
Teachers: Daniel S. Nevins & Lauren Tuchman
Description: Many of the most important Jewish leaders have been blind, and the Torah commands Israel not to place stumbling blocks to impede their progress. Yet Jews who are blind have often been excluded from full participation in Jewish ritual or been denied access to the riches of Torah available only in print. What pathways to Jewish leadership do halakhic sources offer to Jews who are blind? What paths remain blocked? Rabbi Lauren Tuchman, the first blind woman to be ordained as a rabbi, and Rabbi Daniel Nevins, who wrote a responsum on this subject, continue this important conversation.
Status of the Heresh and of Sign Language
Wednesday, January 26, 2022 at 8:00 PM ET/5:00 PM PT
Teachers: Pamela Barmash & Naomi Brunlehrmann & Susan Cohen
Description: What is it like for a Deaf and Hard of Hearing member of a Conservative/Masorti synagogue to come on Shabbat or for a family simhah and not be able to avail themselves of a sign language interpreter, captioning service, or assistive listening devices? What is it like for a Deaf Jew to read in rabbinic literature that the deaf are placed in the same category as minors and the psychologically deranged, yet read in the Torah, “you shall not insult the deaf”? In 2011, the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards (CJLS) of the Rabbinical Assembly approved two teshuvot on the deaf who use sign language that were hailed as landmarks in the Deaf Jewish community. Susan Cohen, president of the Jewish Deaf Resource Center, Naomi Brunnlehrman, hazzan of the Deaf and executive director of the Jewish Deaf Resource Center, join with Rabbi Pamela Barmash, author of those teshuvot and co-chair of the CJLS, for a discussion of the teshuvot and how you can make your home community more accessible to the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Community.
When Jews Made Fellow Jews “Other”: Hasidism and Its Opponents
Wednesday, February 2, 2022 at 8:00 PM ET/5:00 PM PT
Teacher: David Fishman
Description: The Hasidim, followers of the Ba’al Shem Tov and his spiritual heirs, emerged in the 18th century with controversial ideas related to Jewish practice and belief. While Hasidim coexisted peacefully with non-Hasidim in many communities, the Mitnagdim ("opponents") in many larger Jewish centers in Eastern Europe reacted to the Hasidim not only with condemnation, but with writs of excommunication and measures to persecute the members of the new movement. This internal Jewish religious strife led to the division of the community into rival "denominations'' for the first time in nearly a thousand years. We will study the conflict between the Hasidim and Mitnagdim and reflect on how the core principles of the dispute continue to shape our Jewish lives and guide our homes and institutions.
From Kinyan to Brit: Options for Egalitarian Partnerships in Conservative Halakhah
Wednesday, February 9, 2022 at 8:00 PM ET/5:00 PM PT
Teacher: Gail Labovitz
Description: In classical Jewish law, marriage and divorce are unilateral acts in which a man "sets aside" a woman as his wife at the wedding, and releases her in divorce; concomitantly, the ceremony presumes a heterosexual couple. Could it be possible to have a Jewish marriage in which each partner, of whatever gender, is equally responsible for initiating the binding relationship, and has equal rights to seek its end when necessary? Rabbi Labovitz will discuss her recent responsum for the CJLS, adopted in April of 2020, to validate new, egalitarian options for Jewish marriages.
Stay tuned! Descriptions for our fifth series on Halakha - The Process Moving Forward & the Forward-Moving Process starting on February 16, 2022 will be announced soon. Themes will include the demystifying of CJLS, aid in dying, starting the Passover Seder early, and the status of a baby birthed by a gestational carrier.