Alumni Courses – Spring 2025

Spring 2025 Alumni Courses

hazzanut

Omnibus Music Course – Yemenite and Yiddish Song

Instructors: Shlomit Levi and Dr. Diana Matut
This course is taught in two parts: 6 sessions Tuesdays 7-9pm, eastern (between 2/2 and 3/24) and 6 sessions, Mondays 10am-noon, eastern (between 3/31 and 5/19)
There will be one additional session with a guest teacher, probably also Tues 7-9pm, on one of the weeks that isn’t already scheduled.

The first half of this course focuses on Yemenite music, the second half on Yiddish song. This course provides exposure to the musical styles of communities whose traditions are not part of the American mainstream and includes a range of styles: Nusach, piyyut singing, and folk melodies.

hazzanut

Leynen for the Rest of Us

Instructor: Hazzan Diana Brewer
Wednesdays 1:30 pm to 3 pm (eastern)
Starting on February 5

Course fee: $375 for Alumni Student (plus 3% T’rumah Financial Aid Fund fee)

Welcome to a step-by-step approach to chanting Torah. Even if you think you “can’t sing,” you can learn to leyn Torah. Yes, we will be dealing with music and singing together, but there’s so much more to it than the notes.
In this course you will:
1) learn the names, functions, and sounds of the symbols that hold the musical AND grammatical notation that inform the chanting of the five books of the Torah. Known as the “ta’amei hamikra” – literally, the tastes of the reading – these symbols unlock the meaning of the text for reader and listener.
2) learn how to use them to inform a meaningful (dare I say “dramatic?”) rendition of the Hebrew text – sung OR spoken.
3) be able to chant full verses of Torah.
4) explore applying the ta’amei hamikra to your creative translations of Torah texts.

hebrew language

Biblical Hebrew 101

Instructor: Rabbi Hannah Laner
Thursdays 5 to 7 pm (eastern)
Starting on February 6

This is the first semester of a two semester sequence. A rigorous and fast-paced foundational course. Students of varied backgrounds are welcome to enroll but are expected to be able to read Hebrew phonetically and to write Hebrew.  Primary textbooks are The First Hebrew Primer, 3rd edition, published by EKS and J. Weingreen’s A Practical Grammar for Classical Hebrew.

Students will work with a hevruta partner. Plan on five to ten hours of study per week. Areas covered: nouns, verbs and other topics in grammar. In this semester (101), students will learn the binyan pa’al (qal) in all its tenses. The goal of this course, by the end of Biblical Hebrew 102, is a solid grounding in translation of Hebrew texts from TaNaKH and Siddur.

To begin the Biblical Hebrew 101 course, students must be able to read Hebrew phonetically and to write Hebrew.

hebrew language

Biblical Hebrew 102

Two sections, one taught by Rabbi Fern Feldman and the other taught by Michal Nachmany 
Wednesdays 4 to 6 pm (eastern)
Starting on February 5

Areas covered: nouns, verbs and other topics in grammar. The goal of these courses is a solid grounding in translation of Hebrew texts from TaNaKH and Siddur. By the end of this spring semester, students will have learned all the seven binyanim.
If you have passed Biblical Hebrew 101, you will be prepared for the spring semester’s Biblical Hebrew 102. If you have not taken Biblical Hebrew 101 you need to have tested out of it: please contact the AOP office: ordination@aleph.org . Biblical Hebrew 102 employs texts from Genesis, parashiot ha-shavuah, and Siddur. 

hebrew language

Liturgical Hebrew Workshop 2

Instructor: Hazzan Diana Brewer
Thursdays 3:30 to 5 pm (eastern)
Starting on February 6

Course fee: $375 for Alumni Student (plus 3% T’rumah Financial Aid Fund fee)

Prerequisite: Passing or testing out of Biblical Hebrew 102, or this workshop may be taken concurrently with Biblical Hebrew 102 with permission from the instructor.
Gain fluency in reading aloud, chanting and singing Hebrew text effectively. Bring your knowledge into real life and deepen your understanding and ability in this practical workshop. Students will be guided to improve pronunciation while making the connection between understanding and bringing out the meaning of phrases, passages and entire prayers. We will study texts from weekdays, Shabbat, holiday, and Lifecyle liturgy.

hebrew language

Rabbinic Hebrew Workshop

Instructor: Rabbi Dr. Natan Margalit
Thursdays 1:30 to 3 pm (eastern)
Starting on February 6

Course fee: $375 for Alumni Student (plus 3% T’rumah Financial Aid Fund fee)

This workshop will offer practice and instruction in Rabbinic Hebrew, both Rabbinic Hebrew Level One: Mishnaic Hebrew, which is relatively similar to Biblical Hebrew, and Rabbinic Hebrew Level Two, Medieval Rabbinic Hebrew, which includes a number of Aramaic terms that are common in the Talmud. We will also work on some commonroshei teivot (abbreviations) reading without vowels and reading Rashi script. (For those who have taken Reb Natan’s Reading the Rabbis courses through Hebrew College, this will follow a similar format). We will be primarily studying texts from the Mishnah along with medieval commentaries.

The workshop may be taken by students who have passed Biblical Hebrew 102 or an equivalent level of Biblical Hebrew as approved by the instructor.

JEWISH history

Judaism Confronts Modernity

Instructor: Rabbi Dr. Leila Gal Berner
Tuesdays 11 am to 1 pm (eastern)
Starting on February 6

The Haskalah (Enlightenment) transformed Jewish life in Central and Western Europe. The search for “rational” religion recreated Jewish practice, Jewish ritual, and Jewish communities and led to defining European Jews according to denomination. We will explore the modern age’s answers to the rabbinic project, the impact of rewriting that project on the life of Jews in the modern era, and the implications for Jewish Renewal.

JEWISH THOUGHT

Modern Jewish Thought

Instructor: Rabbi Dr. Aubrey Glazer
Wednesdays 11 am to 1 pm (eastern)
Starting on February 5

Already in the pioneering Feminist Jewish Thought of Judith Plaskow’s Standing Again At Sinai, we find that “partial Torah” structures Jewish communities as sites of debate over what pronouns (if any) to use for God, and that guides members of those communities to see differences of opinion about these issues as natural. This course is meant to be a structured forum of strategies for desire fulfillment in all multiverses, in all stages and orders of consciousness from Judith Plaskow to Mara Benjamin, from Tamar Ross to Joy Ladin, from Susan Taube to Clarice Lispector, from Mijal Bitton to Heidi Ravven and Hélène Cixous. This approach is inspired by Reb Zalman Schacter-Shalomi’s own framing as one technique for working out a desire through these stages and orders, primarily through his challenge of the “glory-flaw” as working through the shadow. Through this process we will interrogate and ponder why tikkun—whether part of a multiverse or not— is necessary to have what we desire in this world? In this way, he becomes more of a thinker of desire and less of an “applied theologian.”

Prerequisite: Foundations of Jewish Philosophy and Theology or by permission of the instructor. (If you have not taken this course, contact the AOP office at ordination@aleph.org, with a little information about your background,  to request permission.)

liturgy

Liturgy: Yamim Noraim

Instructor: Rabbi SaraLeya Schley
Wednesdays 7 to 9 pm (eastern)
Starting on February 5

This course offers a rigorous historical and textual survey of the liturgy of the Yamim Nora’im. The critical texts of The High Holidays will be examined for historical context, and also for spiritual significance and ritual agenda. We will consider the dynamics and structure of these unique gatherings of the Jewish People, and the various strategies that have been employed by denominational streams and Jewish Renewal to construct and reconstruct meaning in the layered rubrics that have been passed down to us. The course will pay close attention to the text but aim “beyond the text” to empower future rabbis and cantors to lead the Jewish People with learning, insight and courage.

If you are interested in enrolling, please contact the AOP office at ordination@aleph.org. The instructor will then communicate with you.

mysticism

Yesh Sod L’Dvar: Themes of Jewish Mystical Tradition

Instructor: Dr. Yosef Rosen
Thursdays 8 pm to 9:15 pm (eastern)  Note: there is an additional 45 minute video lecture that students can view at their leisure each week.
Starting on February 6

Come uncover the enduring relevance of Jewish mystical traditions for contemporary spiritual life. This course will introduce you to the historical development, key concepts, and practices of Jewish mysticism through both academic study and contemplative engagement. While surveying mystical traditions from the second temple period to modern times, we’ll focus primarily on the medieval and post-medieval traditions of Kabbalah. We will examine mystical texts, historical contexts, and the tradition’s symbolic universe while also engaging in guided experiential practice. Our central themes include the theological significance of secrecy, Merkavah mysticism’s models of spiritual ascent and descent, Kabbalistic theories of divine emanation and creation, the mystical properties and meditative uses of Hebrew letters, the ascent of the Shekhinah in Jewish mystical thought, and the use of Practical Kabbalah (“Jewish magic”) for purposes of healing and protection.

mysticism

Shiviti HaShem – Spiritual Practices of Hasidut

Instructor: Rabbi Ebn Leader
Mondays 1 pm to 3 pm (eastern)
Starting on February 3

Hasidism is full of beautiful ideas expressed in the sermons and teachings we have received from the masters. At the core of these ideas is the notion that God is present everywhere in every moment, and that nothing exists outside of God. At the core of this notion are the practices of living in awareness of God’s presence. These practices are the focus of this course.

The course will merge text study and practice. We will study descriptions of various practices through the generations of Hasidism, from the Ba’al Shem Tov to contemporary masters. Based on these descriptions we will attempt to apply the practices to our own lives.

We will address practices of the spiritual life such as spiritual friendship and Talmud Torah, practices around the holiday of Pesah which occurs mid-semester, and practices of spiritual community relating to interpersonal relationships.

Hasidic texts will be available in Hebrew and English, and students will be expected to keep a practice journal, and submit a final paper.

mysticism

Hasidism as Mysticism: The Radical Teachings of Nachman of Breslov

Instructor: Rabbi Dr. Elliot Ginsburg
Tuesdays 1 pm to 3 pm (eastern)
Starting on February 4

The focus of this course is on Nachman of Breslov (1772-1810), one of the most celebrated masters of Jewish mysticism and Hasidism, whose radical writings —poised on the precipice of modernity— have attained the status of spiritual classics. The ongoing fascination with Nachman stems both from his singular (mercurial, multi-tiered, seeking) personality and from the profound and uncompromising nature of his theological vision. Together we will explore the existentialist Nachman confronting the absence of God (his Torah of the Void); the questing Nachman wrestling with depression and utopian grandeur; and the mystical Nachman, finding vivid manifestations of the divine in the realm of nature (in Forest and birds, the grasses of the field), in song and hitbodedut, and in interpersonal dialogue and spiritual practices that deconstruct (and reconstruct) the ordinary self. Mitzvah gedolah lihyot be-simcha!

Rabbinic Texts

Foundations of Jewish Practice

Instructor: Rabbi Dr. Natan Margalit
Mondays 7 pm – 9 pm (eastern)
Starting on February 3

In this course, we will survey the Jewish traditional practices pertaining significant aspects of Jewish life, including Shabbat, Kashrut, and practices concerning the body. The course will be organized according to eight different dichotomies intrinsic to the system of applied Halachah (Jewish Law and Custom). As we explore such categories as the permitted and the forbidden; the pure and the impure (tahor/tamei); liability and exemption; we will simultaneously frame and examine specific practices pertaining to Shabbat, kashrut, sex, mikveh, tallit and tefillin. A major goal of this course is to introduce a Renewal perspective on rabbinic concepts, thus giving students the building blocks to continue learning and using Rabbinic Literature as an integral part of their Jewish outlook and practice.

Rabbinic Texts

Second Encounter with the Talmud and Midrash – from an Earth Based Perspective

Instructor: Rabbi Dr. Natan Margalit
Tuesdays 4 pm – 6 pm (eastern)
Starting on February 4

This course will give students an opportunity to improve their skills in reading Talmudic texts in the original Aramaic and Hebrew. It will include study of some of the most essential sugyot of the Talmud and integrate a Renewal, feminist and critical perspective into the reading of these texts. By the end of this course students will need to be able to read rabbinic literature at a reasonable level.  Prerequisite: Foundations of Jewish Practice and First Encounter with Talmud or permission of the instructor. (If you have not taken these courses, contact the AOP office at ordination@aleph.org, with a little information about your background,  in order to enroll.)

TanaKH

Mikraot Gedolot

Instructor: Rabbi Fern Feldman
Wednesdays 1:30 – 3:30 pm (eastern)
Starting on February 5

Students will learn to listen to the different styles and voices within Biblical / Rabbinical / Hassidic / Zoharic interpretation through the lens of the hermeneutics of PaRDeS, encompassing the full range of understanding, from the contextual to the hidden. Focus is on the use of Mikraot Gedolot as a rabbinic tool: reading, translating and analyzing scripture and the commentaries. In addition to building an understanding of the arguments of the classical commentators, students will develop their own “inner commentator.” Biblical Hebrew 101 and 102 (or having tested out of them) is required along with some ability to read without vowels.

TanaKH

Parshat Ha-Shavuah

Instructor: Rabbi Dr. Leila Gal Berner
Thursdays 11 am – 1 pm (eastern)
Starting on February 6

Parshat HaShavua will be a weekly class that will require the students to read out loud and translate the parsha in class, read parshanut (traditional and contemporary Biblical commentary) and discuss the various meanings of the parashanut including our own. It will be an interesting mixture of traditional and contemporary.

Biblical Hebrew 101 or the equivalent is a requirement of the class.If you want to take the course without having taken Biblical Hebrew 101, please contact the AOP office: ordination@aleph.org.

TanaKH

Tehillim

Instructor: Rabbi Hazzan Rachel Hersh
Tuesdays 4 pm – 6 pm (eastern)
Starting on February 4

Study of Tehillim from the daily and weekly liturgy. Attention will be paid to the poetic structure, linguistic aspects of Psalms, theological and spiritual messages of the Psalms, and the relationships between the Psalms studied and other passages of Biblical narrative and poetry.