Prepare for Rosh Hashana’s most famous piece of liturgy by Rabbi Dorff.
Listen in with the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies for a lively Lunch & Learn! Students grill Rabbi Artson on creating an ethics curriculum for government service, responding to Prime Minister Netanyahu inviting a Kahane party into a future coalition, fighting addictions to technology, making Judaism egalitarian, limits to human knowledge, why is Siri gendered!
Listen in as Rabbi Artson and the Ziegler students discuss what it means to study Torah, inheriting Judaism from one’s parents, matrilineal & patrilineal, the role of prayer, ways that human choices alter history (or don’t), what Conservative Judaism can do to energize itself, and questions of gender!
Rabbi Artson offers an Opening Address for the new spring semester, enlisting the Ziegler students to resist the false bifurcation of Judaism — either social justice or spiritual depth — and instead to integrate the two into a way of life that is resilient, splendid, and transformative!
Join Rabbi Artson and the lively crew of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies as we explore: will apps replace rabbis? why is ArtScroll so awesome? (rare words of praise from a Conservative rabbi!), where is the line for unacceptable behavior? How do we balance online privacy and ethics? How do we find resilience in catastrophe? What is the meaning of a Hanukkah candle possibly causing the burning of a Capetown synagogue? and most important of all … do hotdogs count as a sandwich?
Listen in as Rabbi Artson and the students of the Ziegler School explore: what would you wish you could change in the Torah? Gun control? Donations from a bad person? Is Los Angeles the Diaspora? Is Tel Aviv? What’s new in Jewish Philosophy? Rabbis working outside of congregations? Must converts believe in God? Connecting the work of social justice and personal growth?
Lively conversation between Rabbi Artson and the Ziegler students exploring: can Jews participate in Halloween? Reflections on the shooting at the synagogue in Pittsburgh, antisemitism and our responses, what would you say to the family of the baby having its brit milah in that synagogue that morning? Support from other communities and our connections to them, and exploring what does it mean to politicize or not politicize this event?
Two letters from Rabbi Artson’s grandmothers, one written in 1972 and the second in 1983, highlight the ways that memory allows the past to live in the present. Rabbi Artson reflects on how people live in deeds, not in time, that our mammalian brains are literally shaped by our experiences so that our loved ones live in us. One of Judaism’s great gifts is crafting moments to visit our memories and gain strength from them.
Rabbi Artson answers Ziegler students’ burning questions about sexual harassment and abuse, how the Internet has hurt and helped, seeking a solution to move us forward, what advice Senator Graham’s rabbi ought to offer, what advise Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s rabbi might suggest. Oh, and a question about Sukkot rituals that seem pagan (and why they’re so much fun!)