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Please plan to join with Reform, Liberal and Progressive rabbis from across the globe as we gather in Jerusalem for a special Rabbinic Kallah (March 17-18) as a prelude to the opening of the World Union's 34th International Convention on March 18 in Jerusalem.
The Rabbinic Kallah will be an opportunity for colleagues to join together in study, worship and networking on all levels. You will certainly want to be part of the event, so please mark your calendars now and plan to arrive in Jerusalem for the start of the Kallah at 17:00 pm on Tuesday, March 17. The Kallah schedule will be as follows:
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March 17-18, 2009
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Tuesday, March 17 - Beit Shmuel |
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- 17:00 Welcome and Introductions
- 17:30-19:00 Dr. Michael Marmur
Boats and Palaces - Jewish Unity in Liquid Times
In this session we will study a midrashic text relating to the theme of Jewish Unity, and consider some of the myths and sacred cows which tend to inform our discourse on this theme. We will look at some of the key challenges and obstructions to Jewish unity, and dwell on the ways in which this concept is pressed into the service of different religious and cultural agendas.
*followed by dinner and open evening program.
- 19:00 Dinner
- 20:00 Evening Program
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Wednesday, March 18 - Beit Shmuel |
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- 8:30 Shacharit Worship
9:15 Coffee and Cake
9:30-11:00 Dr. David Levine
Red Cows and New Moons - Inclusivity in Early Rabbinic Thought
We are in the midst of the four special Torah- readings associated with the Hebrew month of Adar. Three of these readings deal directly with Temple and Pesach related matters. These special Torah-readings are first mentioned in the Mishnah, but seem to go back even earlier to Second Temple times. This is because of the prominence of the Jerusalem Temple, its cult, and pilgrimage. The issues addressed in these readings were disputed in the late Second Temple period because they dealt directly with ability of laypeople, non-kohanim, to participate in the Divine worship of the God of Israel. We will discuss and read texts dealing with this matter and its implications.
- 11:00 Coffee Break
- 11:30-13:00 Rabbi Rich Kirschen
Making Sense of Jewish Public Culture: In Israel and the Diaspora
So often in Jewish life we speak about religion as well as sovereignty but we almost completely ignore the idea of pubic culture. What is the impact of living in a dominant culture that is not Jewish? Conversely what does it mean to live in a country where the dominant culture is Jewish? Often times the key to navigating Jewish life is learning to decode both the overt as well as the obscured messages being transmitted by the surrounding dominant culture. And only then can we begin to understand the importance between public culture and the possibility for institutional change.
- 13:00 Lunch
- 14:00 Start of the World Union International Assembly Meeting
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Cost: $65
For more information please contact:
Rabbi Joel D. Oseran
Vice President, International Development
World Union for Progressive Judaism
joseran@wupj.org.il
Tel:972-2-6203480
Fax: 972-2-6203525 |