This course will explore the writings of major Jewish thinkers living in the modern era and place them in the context of their historical setting. The class will focus on the various ways these thinkers from Mendelssohn to Buber understood the dynamic relationship between inherited tradition and modern conceptions of religious life.

Through intensive, guided study of one full chapter of the tractate Berakhot, this first semester inducts first-year Rabbinical students into the discipline of traditional Rabbinical learning. Course work covers essential themes in the field of liturgy while building skills that are necessary for reading, understanding, appreciating, analyzing and participating in Talmudic discourse and for accessing the full range of classical Rabbinical sources.

This course will provide an introduction to theories of halakhah and halakhic literature. We will explore some of the major features of halakhah and the ways in which they've been understood and debated by thinkers throughout the centuries. As we gain a more expansive understanding of the development of halakhah and halakhic literature, we will also have the opportunity to consider how the languages of halakhah can be a resource for our individual and communal Jewish practices.

This course is an intensive introduction to Biblical Hebrew. A basic familiarity with Hebrew is presumed. Working in close coordination with the Tanakh--Parashat HaShavuah course, students will learn grammatical concepts to be applied to the decoding of Biblical texts.

This course explores the relationship between human development and a lifelong trajectory of Jewish growth and learning. By exploring various developmental theories, including cognitive, psychosocial, and moral development, students will gain a deeper understanding of the developmental needs of, challenges facing, and opportunities for learners from early childhood through adulthood. The course will also delve into the realm of social and emotional learning and its place in Jewish education. Over the course of the semester students will both analyze and design Jewish educational programs that address learners' developmental needs as well as reflect upon their own developmental trajectory as Jewish educators.

This class is an introduction to basic concepts of Torah cantillation. It is not just about learning the ?melodies. Students will acquire and/or improve skills to chant Torah on weekdays, Sabbaths and ?Festivals using a common Ashkenazi trope. Topics will also include the rituals surrounding the Torah ?service, the history of cantillation/trope, correct contemporary pronunciation of Biblical Hebrew, and ?the underlying syntactic structure of the whole system of cantillation. While this course is primarily for Rabbinical students, others are welcome (depending on size of the class), provided they have an adequate sense of musical pitch and the ability to read and translate Biblical Hebrew (with the help of a dictionary).

In this course, we will engage in close readings of selected passages in Genesis (Bereshit), revolving primarily around the matriarchs and patriarchs. Focus will be on honing skills in reading the biblical text, ?as well as delving into Rashi's commentary and the midrashic sources. We will address questions of gender and family dynamics, character development and narrative arc, themes of procreation and barrenness, as well as rivalry and sacrifice.