Shavuot

Bnai Keshet, Congregation Shomrei Emunah, Temple Ner Tamid, and Temple Sholom of West Essex come together to study, talk, and learn as we prepare to accept the first fruit of the divine covenant - The Torah.

Schedule

7:30pm      Festival Maariv Evening Service and Oneg

9:00pm      Keynote Address from Dr. Elsie Stern: We've Got This: Ruth, Sinai and the Defense of Tradition

10:00pm      Study Sessions
Rabbi Elliott Tepperman: From Jerusalem to Columbia: Evaluating Antisemitism in the Discourse about Israel and Palestine

Rabbi Laurence W. Groffman: Two Rabbis Walk Into A Cave...

Rabbi Norman Patz: The Aristocrats of Jewish Resistance

11:00pm      Study Sessions
Rabbi Ariann Weitzman & Cantor Meredith Greenberg: Torah and Song for the Soul

Rabbi Marc Katz: The Hidden Messages of the Passover Seder

Rabbi Julie Roth: GodTalk

12:00am      Reading of The 10 Commandments

12:30am      Final Teaching from Dr. Elsie Stern: Whose team are you on?: Rashi and Ibn Ezraon the beginning of Genesis

Keynote Address from Dr. Elsie Stern: We've Got This: Ruth, Sinai and the Defense of Tradition

The book of Ruth one of Torah’s most delightful stories--- readers and hearers delight in its vivid characters, memorable lines and happy ending. However, Ruth is also a quietly subversive text which presents long-standing traditional practices as an effective alternative to the societal vision that is promoted in the story of the revelation at Mt. Sinai. In this session, we will explore Ruth’s “case for tradition” and its implications for us today.

Dr. Elsie Stern is Professor of Bible at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. She earned her B.A. at Yale University and her Ph.D. at the University of Chicago Divinity School. She is the author of From Rebuke to Consolation: Exegesis and Theology in the Liturgical Anthology of the Ninth of Av Season and is a co-editor of the Dictionary of the Bible in Ancient Media. She has also contributed to the Jewish Study Bible, Torah: A Women’s Commentary and the forthcoming Westminster Study Bible as well as other essay collections for scholars, clergy and lay readers. She is currently the general editor for the New CCAR Torah Commentary, which will serve as the main Torah commentary for the Reform movement of Judaism. In her teaching and research, Dr. Stern explores how Jews and Jewish communities have engaged with scripture over the centuries. 

Rabbi Elliott Tepperman, Bnai Keshet
From Jerusalem to Columbia: Evaluating Antisemitism in the Discourse about Israel and Palestine

We will study the Nexus Document which was created for use in academic settings to understand antisemitism at its nexus with Israel and Zionism.

The Nexus project includes leaders from the Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist movements as well as important Jewish leadership from academia is a valuable resource for having open conversation about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict free of antisemitic rhetoric.

Rabbi Laurence W. Groffman, Temple Sholom
Two Rabbis Walk Into A Cave...

Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai and his son famously lived in a cave for twelve years. We will explore why they did that, what happened when they left the cave, and what this can teach us about faith, awe, and the human capacity to change.

Rabbi Norman Patz
The Aristocrats of Jewish Resistance

Based on a recent visit to Portugal, Rabbi Patz will review and reflect on the largely unknown story of conversos - Spanish and Portuguese Jews forced to convert to Catholicism prior to their expulsion in 1492(Spain) and 1497 (Portugal) — and the amazing after-story in Puerto Rico and, even more recently, still unfolding in Portugal today: a cryptoJewish community that kept the faith for nearly 500 years until “outed ” in 1988?! A scholar’s recent assertion that 1/3 of the Spanish-speaking world has Jewish “connections,” whether they admit to them or not? Inspiring stories in an often indifferent, frequently hostile, even dangerous world — and, by inference, what makes being Jewish so resilient, and are there lessons in that for us today?

Rabbi Ariann Weitzman, Bnai Keshet
Cantor Meredith Greenberg, Temple Ner Tamid
Torah and Song for the Soul

Dive deep and open yourself to the spiritual experience of receiving Torah with words from the liturgy. We will explore the spiritual, biblical, and musical meanings of the opening sections of the morning service, and fill ourselves up with new and familiar chanting melodies.

Rabbi Marc Katz, Temple Ner Tamid
The Hidden Messages of the Passover Seder

You may not realize it, but the Passover Seder isn't just a script to help us remember the Exodus from Egypt. It's a way for Jews to feel more Greek, it takes pot-shots at the budding Christian movements in the 2nd century, and it shows the pain of medieval Jewish persecution. If you know the history of the book, hidden stories jump off the page of the Haggadah. Come learn some of those stories together.

Rabbi Julie Roth, Congregation Shomrei Emunah
GodTalk

Tonight we celebrate the Torah that God gave to us at Mount Sinai. This session will focus on talking about God, a topic we often avoid in Jewish circles. Through interactive exercises, reflect on your own beliefs and learn what others think about the most important and challenging theological questions of our times. You will have a chance to describe the God you don't believe in and maybe even to play God.

Dr. Elsie Stern
Whose team are your on?: Rashi and Ibn Ezra on the beginning of Genesis

The commentary on the first verse of the Torah is vast. Beginning in the rabbinic period, Jewish commentators have sought meaning in every aspect of the text, including the shape of the first letter and the precise wording of the verse. In this session, we will explore the commentaries of Rashi and Ibn Ezra on the word “Elohim” to open up our imaginations to this first moment of creation.

Dr. Elsie Stern

Dr. Elsie Stern is Professor of Bible at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. She earned her B.A. at Yale University and her Ph.D. at the University of Chicago Divinity School. She is the author of From Rebuke to Consolation: Exegesis and Theology in the Liturgical Anthology of the Ninth of Av Season and is a co-editor of the Dictionary of the Bible in Ancient Media. She has also contributed to the Jewish Study Bible, Torah: A Women’s Commentary and the forthcoming Westminster Study Bible as well as other essay collections for scholars, clergy and lay readers. She is currently the general editor for the New CCAR Torah Commentary, which will serve as the main Torah commentary for the Reform movement of Judaism. In her teaching and research, Dr. Stern explores how Jews and Jewish communities have engaged with scripture over the centuries.