Adult Education
Adult Congregants may participate in this rich set of adult education offerings at Or Zarua:
Prayer and Language - To further Congregants' tefilah participation and leadership, OZ offers the following courses:
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The Shabbat Service
- focuses on instilling familiarity with the structure and the content of the Shabbat morning services
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Reading Torah
- provides an opportunity for Congregants above bar or bat mitzvah age to learn Torah trope with the goal of being able to read Torah at services.
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Chanting Haftarah
- gives Congregants the chance to learn the haftarah tropes necessary to read haftarah during services
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Hebrew Conversation
- creates a great setting in which to learn and to practice modern Israeli Hebrew; offered at beginning and intermediate levels
Text study. Active questioning. Community building. Personal enrichment. Welcome to Context, a two-year intensive and innovative program of adult Jewish learning.
Context, the flagship adult education program of The Institute for Jewish Learning at JTS, is purposefully designed to be an intellectual journey guided by leading Judaic Studies scholar-teachers from a variety of academic institutions, providing a sophisticated understanding of Jewish history and thought. It offers students a context within which to understand the Jewish past, refine their personal approach to the challenges of contemporary Jewish life, and develop their unique and informed outlook toward the Jewish future.
Context is a four-semester program conducted over two years. Each semester consists of eight academic sessions. The calendar includes a month long break in January The curriculum explores the span of Jewish civilization and focuses on two major themes:
Jewish Texts and Interpretation (Year I):
The Bible
Rabbinic Texts
Jewish Cultures and Communities (Year II):
Jews in the Medieval World
The Jews in the Post-Enlightenment World
Context instructors are accomplished Judaic scholars with communication skills appropriate for adult education and the ability to adapt both to the Context curriculum and to a variety of learning styles. What makes Context a unique adult education experience is the opportunity to study a wide range of materials with the same group of learners over a two-year period, a contemporary adaptation of the classical Jewish method of learning with a partner - "Chavrutah."
Each class will be based on assigned readings, including passages from both primary sources and supplemental scholarly materials that reveal the richness of Jewish literature and thought. During approximately 100 hours of class time over a two-year period, participants will study the major works and ideas of each period within its unique historical context and discover interrelationships among the periods. No prior formal Jewish education or knowledge of Hebrew is required.
For a more in depth overview of the Context curriculum, click here.
If you have any questions, please call the Context office at JTS at 212-870-5850. Office hours are Monday-Thursday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Special Classes
Click on these links to hear Rabbi Wechsler speak about Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook's teachings about
teshuvah:
Selihot Lecture 5765
Selihot Lecture 5766
Click on this link to hear Rabbi Wechsler teach from the Zohar I, daf 4a - 4b:
Lag BaOmer 5766
Download the Zohar text for this lesson.
Click here to listen to Rabbi David Silber's talk on the story
of Hagar and Ishmael and why this story is the Torah reading for Rosh haShanah:
David Silber Elul Lecture - September 13, 2006
