Me'ah
Current class members can log in to the Hebrew College students' Meah site
by clicking here and by entering your User Name and Password.
To hear class tapes, click here
to enter the Or Zarua Meah site and select the appropriate page for your
class.
|
|
By Debbie Breznay
Text study. Active questioning.
Community building. Personal
enrichment. Welcome to Me’ah,
a two-year intensive and innovative
program of adult Jewish learning
developed by Hebrew College in
Boston almost 10 years ago.
It is Or Zarua’s good fortune to
have been selected as one of two
sites in New York City to participate
in the Me’ah program next fall.
Participants in Me’ah will be immersed
in reading core Jewish texts, including
the Bible, and will grapple with the
historical, political and cultural
aspects of four eras - biblical, rabbinic,
medieval and modern. During
approximately 100 hours of class time
(Me’ah means “100” in Hebrew) 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.
Me’ah instructors are accomplished
Judaic scholars with communication
skills appropriate for adult
education and the ability to adapt
both to the Me’ah curriculum and to a
variety of learning styles. What makes
Me’ah 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.”
An exciting journey, Me’ah offers
a powerful way to bring knowledge
and insight into your personal life
and community as you build your
understanding of what Jewish texts
and ideas meant historically and
what they mean for Jews today.
Participants in the Me’ah program
will be required to commit to three
hours of study each week for 20 weeks
during two academic years. Enrollment
in the program will be limited to 25
members of the Congregation.
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. These sources are
at the heart of the Jewish “conversation" -
a conversation that stretches
over 3,000 years as Jews have interpreted
and re-interpreted the central
texts that define the Jewish tradition.
As a participant in Me’ah, you will
become part of that conversation.
My husband Jim and I were
students in the first Me’ah program
offered in Boston. Our lives were
enriched by the experience, which
was the beginning of what has become
a continuing adventure in Jewish
learning for us. Me’ah introduced us
to the wisdom of the Rabbis and the
richness of our tradition and set us on
the road to becoming educated advocates
for the preservation of both.
