Blood, Bread, and Redemption: What is the Real Passover Story?
Given by Jon Kelsen
Thursday, March 4, 7:30 p.m.
FREE

The “Top Ten” or the “First Ten:” What’s so special about the Ten Commandments
Everyone is familiar with the Ten Commandments, but why are these ten laws chosen to be inscribed on the Tablets of the Covenant. We will attempt to answer this question by considering the thematic connection between these specific Laws and the Covenant that preceded the Theophany (visible manifestation of God) - as well as their relationship to the remaining Laws in the Bible. Our study will help us appreciate the ‘universal’ nature of these Commandments, even though they were given specifically to the Jewish People.
Menachem Leibtag
Thursday, February 4, 6:30 – 8:00 p.m.
Tuition: $20 / $10 students, teachers, young professionals, seniors

Searching for God in Judaism: A Rationalist’s Theory of a Spiritual Reality
Religion and God are currently confronting the unrelenting onslaught of the evangelical atheists. Yet, it is evident that the search for God is a primary feature of our generation. This session constitutes a personal effort at articulating a meaningful notion of God that is spiritually fulfilling and at the same time intellectually uncompromising. The search ranges across the Jewish tradition from the fundamentals of biblical monotheism to Maimonides’ rationalism and onto Hasidic mysticism. The result is a contemporary notion of God that is both inspiring and humbling.
Chaim Seidler-Feller
Tuesday, March 9, 6:30 – 8:00 p.m.
Tuition: $20 / $10 students, teachers, young professionals, seniors

Procreation: Halachic Solutions to Childlessness
The yearning for a child and the halachic mandate to procre­ate are taken seriously by halachic decisors. We will engage in a philosophical and legal examination of the solutions provided by Torah law, and subsequently by the religious decisors throughout the ages, to the problem of childlessness. Among the solutions we will explore are yibbum-levirate marriage, artificial insemination for barren couples and single motherhood by choice.
Rachel Levmore
Thursday, March 11, 7:00 – 8:30 p.m.
Tuition: $20 / $10 students, teachers, young professionals, seniors

Seeing Yourself and Telling Others: The Haggadah’s Educational Vision
Following the destruction of the Temple, the Rabbis were faced with the challenge of recreating the holiday of Pesach without its sacrificial center. Through a study of selections from the Mishnah and Talmud we will explore the ways in which the Rabbis turned the seder into a night of identity, education and family and sug­gest ways to make our own seder more participatory.
Mishael Zion
Tuesday, March 16, 7:30 p.m. (one class in the Taste of Limmud program at Drisha)
Tuition: FREE

The Four Children: The Art and Meanings of the Haggadah
The of the Haggadah’s presentation of the four children invite a deeper conversation on identity, ideology, and parenting. We will take an deep look at classic and modern interpretations, Ameri­can and Israeli, of this section of the Haggadah and its relevance to our own seder.
Mishael Zion
Tuesday, March 23, 8:00 – 9:30 p.m.
Tuition: $20 / $10 students, teachers, young professionals, seniors

Songs of the Seder
For many, the songs of the Seder are among the evening’s true highlights. We will explore the midrashic relationships between the Seder and song and focus on the roots and interpretation of three songs: Dayyenu, Echad Mi Yode’a, and Chad Gadya.
David Arnow
Wednesday, March 24, 6:30 – 8:00 p.m.
Tuition: $20 / $10 students, teachers, young professionals, seniors

The Fatal or Fruitful Cut? A Gendered Look at Circumcision in the Bible
Through close readings of Genesis 17, Exodus 4:24-26, and Le­viticus 12 we will explore the meaning of circumcision as a male ritual and consider its impact on the women of ancient Israel as well as its on-going influence as the foundational ritual of Jewish identity.
Amy Kalmanofsky
Tuesday, April 27, 8:00 – 9:30 p.m.
Tuition: $20 / $10 students, teachers, young professionals, seniors

Hypnagogic Appreciation: Modeh Ani and the Challenge of Formalized Prayer
We will take a serious look at a prayer thousands of alarm-aroused, pre-caffeinated Jews mumble each morning while hardly half-awake (i.e. in a hypnagogic state). We will consider the way Modeh Ani’s historical emergence reflects a formalization of Jewish prayer that threatens to sterilize our communication with God and to detach it from real human experience if not approached properly. At the same time, we will see in Modeh Ani an antidote to precisely that problem.
Yehuda Septimus
Monday, May 10, 8:00 – 9:30 p.m.
Tuition: $20 / $10 students, teachers, young professionals, seniors