Study
“For Jews, education is not just what we know. It’s who we are.”
— Rabbi Jonathan SacksJewish learning isn’t about accumulating facts and figures; it’s not about mastering the content of Jewish wisdom. It’s about learning to live it.
While Jewish intellectual thought is rich and deep, the purpose of immersing ourselves in it is to be transformed by it in the way we choose to live our lives, as Jews and as human beings. Towards that end, learning at Sha’ar challenges the mind and rouses the soul and is designed to lead towards active engagement with the world around us.
Sha’ar’s wide array of educational offerings engage with texts ancient and modern, with Jewish voices and those from different traditions, and invite robust and respectful discussion honoring the manifold views that enrich our communities.
Sha’ar Wednesday Night Limmud Programs 2020
7:00 - 8:30 PM EST
Sha'ar Justice Beit Midrash 2020/2021 : Wednesday, March 3, at 7:00pm EST
Rabbi Rachel Grant Meyer is the Rabbi-in-Residence at HIAS, the world’s oldest, and only Jewish refugee resettlement agency. She develops materials, resources, and programs that educate American Jews about refugee issues, connecting the plight of contemporary refugees to Jewish values and history, and she travels around the United States teaching and speaking about the global refugee crisis.
Register HERE.
Every Wednesday evening Sha’ar will gather to explore texts and teachings -- ancient and modern, Jewish and general -- that will engage us in these questions and in the moral and ethical foundation for our activism. In the traditional style of a Beit Midrash (House of Study), we’ll combine wrestling with sources together with guided teachings focused on a range of societal issues: civic responsibility, democracy, leadership, race, immigration, healthcare, income inequality, climate, and more. Each unit will be capped by a visit with a leading activist or advocacy organization to build the bridge between learning and doing, and to catalyze the transformational impact of our study.
Series begins Wednesday October 14.
All sessions will run from 7pm-8:30pm EST.
Until otherwise noted, all sessions will be online and open to everyone. Donations are always appreciated.
Past Justice Beit Midrash Guests
Not Free to Desist: Reimagining the Jewish Commitment to Racial Justice
With Special Guest Lindsey Newman
Lindsey Newman is the Director of Community Engagement at Be’chol Lashon. She has over a decade of experience working to advance racial justice in the Jewish community and in the fields of women’s rights advocacy and early childhood education.
Watch the recording HERE.
Adrienne Evans
Previously we had an extraordinary session with relational organizer Adrienne Evans from Idaho. Her presentation was filled with warmth, compassion, courage and commitment, and left us feeling both inspired and empowered to do the hard work of healing the divisions tearing at our families, friendships, communities and our nation. We are proud to share this recording of the session with you.
Watch the recording HERE.
Watch previous session with Dr. Tamara Mann Tweel HERE.
