The 2012 Rabbinic Torah Study Seminar program at the Hartman Institute campus in Jerusalem will have the theme, "Dilemmas of Faith: God and Spirituality in the Modern World."
Each summer, the Shalom Hartman Institute brings together a pluralistic group of rabbis from across North America with senior Hartman faculty members in Israel to address a major issue facing contemporary Jewish life. The 2012 Rabbinic Study Seminar in Jerusalem will explore the foundational Jewish issue of faith: its place in the landscape of Jewish values, and the challenges of modern life to that faith and in which faith plays a part. In an age of radical polarization around religion in modern society, with a rise in fundamentalism on one hand, and atheism and secularism on the other, how does the Jewish tradition approach dilemmas of faith? Recent sociological research suggests that a growing number of North American Jews view their Jewishness solely as their religion, rather than as their “Peoplehood.” In such an environment, questions of faith and the nature of Jewish spirituality become pressing concerns for those interested in Jewish continuity and involvement.
This 11-day intensive study seminar will bring together leading scholars in Bible, Talmud, Jewish philosophy and theology, Jewish history and Jewish mysticism, to share texts and ideas from the Jewish tradition on the following dilemmas of faith:
These and other questions will anchor our study program this summer. In addition, each week the program is made richer by the elective courses taught by Hartman Institute and visiting faculty, by encounters with major figures in Israeli life, and by excursions out into the Land of Israel itself.
|
