New Podcasts Are Up!

We know that not everyone can make it to every lecture, so we do our best to bring the lectures to you with our podcasts. The two newest recordings are Dr. Michael Brenner’s Prophets of the Past (on Jewish historiography) and Dr. Jacques Berlinerblau’s Can the Jewish People Survive as Secularists? (on the different ways in which the term “secular Judaism” can be interpreted).

Listening on the go? We’re also on iTunes. We also post handouts, .pdfs of PowerPoints used in-class, videos, and preparatory readings website.

Do we need God, or does He need us?

That is one of the questions asked by Dr. Daniel C. Matt, who is in the process of creating the Pritzker 12-volume, annotated English translation of the Zohar, and we’re lucky enough to have him speak at our upcoming President’s Day Weened Study Retreat. Over February 20 – 21, he will lead participants in four intensive study sessions, with topics ranging from Jewish mysticism to the harmonization of science and spirituality. For more information or to register, visit our website and check out this NPR interview with Dr. Matt.

The Muslim Brotherhood – Good or Bad for Israel?

There’s no way you can miss what’s happening in Egypt. The government is toppling, and democracy is on the rise. While Israel and the US both support democracy in the Middle East, everyone is wondering whether or not the Muslim Brotherhood – a group that has eschewed violence for decades but is still, as its name suggests, Islamic – would be good or bad for Israel. Tzipi Livni feels the Brotherhood would ultimately be “non-democratic” participants in the nascent democracy, while Peter Beinart feels the Brotherhood would hold Israel accountable for its own less-than-democratic policies. What do you think?

Loring Cornish “In Each Other’s Shoes” – New Exhibit at the JMM

If you’re in Baltimore February 13th and looking for something to do, check out In Each Other’s Shoes at the Jewish Museum of Maryland – take the time to support your local non-profits and museums!

Was Gershom Scholem a typical representative of his generation in pre-Hitler Germany?

Contrary to common belief, Jewish life in Germany before the rise of the Nazis was culturally thriving. While one segment of the Jewish community was assimilated, there was a tendency, especially among the younger generation, to show renewed interest in Jewish matters. German Jewry in the 1920s was perhaps the first Jewish community that lived in a relatively open and democratic society and began at the same time to look for modern expressions of its Jewish identity. In many respects it serves as an example for modern American Jews, even though the circumstances of its existence were quite different.

Interested? Join us for Dr. Michael Brenner’s lecture on February 8th at 7:30.

In the meantime, here’s an article on Scholem. Read it and decide for yourself whether or not he was a representative of his generation.